“I raised to see where I stood”: An Insane Theory.

What is your thought process when you make a bet or a raise? What is your plan for this hand and why are you betting/raising? This is something that should be on your mind all the time.

Basically you bet or raise for 3 reasons.

• You believe you have the best hand and would like to get paid off.
• You believe you have the best hand but you’d like to win the pot without seeing any more streets.
• You don’t have the best hand but you believe you can win by betting or raising.

Notice that I have left out one reason which is very common among recreational players. How often have you heard someone say “I had to find out where I was”? This seems like a logical reason for betting/raising but the truth is it’s really not. You should NEVER bet or raise for information. If you don’t know where you are in the hand then you should usually limit your options to check, call or fold. Take the following hand as a classic example.

In the early stages of a tournament you decide to call a raise on the button with KQ and the flop comes Queen high with two low cards and your opponent fires out a pot sized bet. Unless you’re playing against a maniac who is very likely to continue putting chips in the pot with a garbage hand then raising here is terrible. When you do raise you get all the hands you dominate to fold. These are pairs low than Queens, second or third pair, Queens with weaker kickers and hands like AX which he will be continuation betting with. When he has one of these hands he will have at best three outs. Let’s say he has pocket Tens or Queen-Jack. He will often continue betting unimproved on turn and river or check call believing his hand might be ahead. By raising the flop you miss tonnes of value against these hands.

What if he has a hand that is ahead? Let’s say AQ, KK, AA and sets. Now you’ve turned your hand into a bluff that will never get through. If he raises again you have to give him credit for one of these hands and fold or if he’s a tricky player he may call meaning you won’t get the info you were looking for. If he calls the raise he can have sets, a draw, AQ, KK or AA and he’s looking to trap you or simply control the pot size. He may also decide to raise again on a draw or a bluff because he knows you are “raising to see where you’re at”.

You may think that by raising with top pair on the flop you save money against hands that beat you on later streets but the truth is you don’t and you can find out just as easily by calling and re-assessing the situation on the turn. Yes, you sometimes allow yourself to be outdrawn by doing this but long term it’s more profitable to just call and effectively trap your opponent.

Rob Taylor leads Irish Poker Rankings.

Having made two final tables in two days at the Eglington casino Rob Taylor has taken the lead in the Irish Poker rankings.

Taylor helped his team come second in The Annual Team Event by coming 5th in the 102 player €250 buy in event, then wasted no time in jumping straight into the €200 side event and coming second.

The Team Event was taken down by the casino’s own team lead by Dave Curtin with John O’Shea dragging “Team Bundy” into third by winning the tournament outright on his own having maintained a chip lead from two tables out and defeating John Weafer heads up.

The event attracted some well known pros from around the country including Eoin O’Dea, Paul Leckey, Ivan Donaghy, Michael Graydon and Dara O’Kearney.

Final Table finishing positions at the Eglington Annual Team event:

1st: John O Shea
2nd: John Weafer
3rd: Cat O Neill
4th: Jaye Renehan
5th: Rob Taylor
6th: Dave Curtis
7th: Dan Rankin
8th: Aidan
9th: Nicky O’Donnell
10th: Ken Powell

€200 Side Event Results:

1St Paul Carr €2,600
2nd Rob Taylor €1,100
3rd Aivars Mizs-Misins €1,100
4th Frank !” the tank ” Dunleavy € 620
5th Dan Rankin €200
6th Martin Prudek €200
7th Emlyn Long €200

PaddyPower Irish Open betting market.

paddypowerpoker.com today announced that Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak is the latest professional player to confirm his attendance at this year’s Irish Open, with the list of pre-registered players growing each day. The €3200 + €300 No-Limit Holdem tournament is taking place from April 9th – April 13th 2009 and promises to be a must-attend event on the international poker calendar.

Qualify for the irish Open today!

Neil ‘Bad Beat’ Channing, Irish Open 2008 champion, will return to Citywest to attempt to become the first player to successfully defend the Terry Rogers Memorial Trophy. Meanwhile, Marty Smyth, current WSOP $10k Omaha bracelet holder and Irish Open 2007 champion, will aim to become the first player of the modern era to win the title on repeat occasions (Noel Furlong, WSOP 1999 Main Event bracelet holder, was the last multiple Irish Open champion, winning in 1987, 1989 and 1992).

paddypower.com currently offers an “Outright Winner” market for the Irish Open 2009 and will be rolling out many new markets in time for the event.

Irish Open Main Event (April 10th – 13th) – Outright Winner – selected odds.

Andy Black: 80/1
Ciaran O’Leary: 125/1
Neil Channing: 125/1
Marty Smyth: 125/1
Julian Thew: 175/1
Noel Furlong: 250/1

Open an account with Paddy Power today and receive a $600 deposit bonus

Boylepoker.com challenge inspires player to win €135,000.

Dublin, Ireland: March 11, 2009 – Boylepoker.com pro, Peter Murphy, is just over halfway through his Multiplier Challenge where he has 11 weeks from January 23 to turn $100 into $10,000 and is firing on all cylinders.

However, no-one expected the dramatic twist in the tail when fellow Boylepoker.com player Adrian McCarthy was inspired by Murphy’s challenge, deposited $100, followed Murphy’s lead, and after just 10 days had accumulated $135,000.

First McCarthy won six $20 sit ‘n’ go tournaments in a row on the Jackpot tables at Boylepoker.com and collected $35,000. He then went on to win a seat in the $2.5 million guaranteed tournament at the site and came sixth in the tournament pocketing another $100,000.

McCarthy wrote to Murphy at Boylepokerblog.com saying, “I was inspired by your performance over the past few weeks and decided it was possible for me to do the same. I spent the past three weeks reading and studying up as much as I could. After depositing €100 I had good fortune increasing it to €300 in a few days though cash and $10 six-seaters. Since I was getting on so well in the six-seaters I decided to go to the $20 Jackpot games. I won the six in a row at the first attempt taking down $35k. Anyway thanks for the inspiration, it got me to study hard and I’ve reaped the rewards very quickly!”

A few days later he wrote at Boylepokerblog.com, “Murph that challenge of yours is looking lame now! I won a seat in the $2,500,000 tourney and came out with $100,000 in sixth place! It should be $100 to $100,000 in 10 days!!! Life is good.”

Murphy meanwhile has had a tougher ascent through the ranks but spun his $100 investment up to €2,909.72.

He is confident he is on track to complete the Multiplier Challenge, saying, “I have four and half weeks left but I am off to Cheltenham for the races this week, so by the time I get back I will have less than four weeks left to get to the $10k mark.

“I might start to grind $.50-$1 cash for a while and when (IF) I get back to over $3k then I can move up and play $1-$2 and maybe a few decent tourneys here and there and hopefully I should get there.”

Join BoylePoker now and receive a $600 deposit bonus

Martin Silke Wins Eglington Monster Monthly

Martin Silke moved up to 8th in the Irish Poker rankings with a win at this weekend’s Monster Monthly event at The Eglington in Galway for €4,150. Silke’s other points score this year was for coming 17th at the Irish Poker Championship where he has made the final two tables two years running.

The Eglington has become Ireland premier poker venue in the midwest hosting many guaranteed tournaments, including a €25,000 guaranteed Team event on March 13th as well as a €500 minimum sit down cash game, “The Monday Night Monkey”, for which the Eglington has generously agreed to pay hotel accommodation and parking to anyone travelling to play.

Monster Monthly Results
1st Martin Silke: €4150
2nd Tom Harvey: €2650
3rd Lorraine Lee: €1600
4th Paul Corrigan: €800
5th Michael Murphy: €400

Heads up with John “dagunman” O’Shea

John O’Shea is fast earning a reputation as the new (or is it the first?) bad-boy if Irish poker. The Boyle Poker sponsored pro became the youngest Irish player to make a World Series of Poker final table in 2008, finishing 5th in a $2,500 No Limit Holdem event for just shy of $100,000.

O’Shea is well known for speaking his mind on and off the table and recently caused a stir on Irish Poker forum boards.ie by launching a slanderous attack on fellow Irish online pro “Hollaments” and challenged him to a heads up match for €30,000.

According to Hollaments blog the figure involved has been reduced to €20,000.

“I asked dagunman one last time if he would give any kind of odds. no go. strictly evens. so discussion quickly went back to his orig challenge which we both agreed on and worked out some roughish terms for. Were going to play 10 2k matches. 4 will be played @ irish open 3 @ jpmasters and 3 yet to be announced.”

This grudge match has been dubbed the “Grrrrrrr…. match” (as opposed to the Durr match) and Irish poker players have been stocking up on popcorn in anticipation of what is likely to be a very entertaining spectacle.

New VIP programme offers highest points system in online poker giving back tangible benefits to players as they move through the ranks from Bronze to Elite

Join Boyle Poker now and enjoy a $600 deposit bonus!

Irish Ladies Poker Championship 2009.

PokerIreland.ie have confirmed the date and venue for the 2009 ILPC sponsored by Titan Poker

It will take place on Saturday 21st March 2009 in the Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Northwood, Santry Demesne, Dublin 9

Entry costs $80+8 and it’s a No Limit Texas Hold’em Freezeout with a 12 noon start on Saturday 21st March. The Estimated Prize-Pool will be $32,000 and this is a one day event.

To register for the ILPC

1. Download Titan Poker
2. Play a satellite or buy directly into the Ladies Poker Championship which is located in the tournament lobby.

For further information on the event contact Stephen McLean at stephen@pokerireland.ie

How do I join Titan Poker? and what do I get?

- Download Titan Poker
- Create your account and make a deposit.
- New players at Titan Poker can enjoy a $500 deposit bonus.
- New depositors can play in an exclusive $20,000 freeroll.

Everest Poker Announce a Mountain of a Bonus.

Everest Poker have announced a special one day only bonus for all players.

From midnight tonight (March 5th) until midnight tomorrow (March 6th) players can earn up to $10,000 in FREE money by using a special bonus code. ie.pokernewsheadlines.com have got their hands on the code first! To take part in the special $10,000 bonus day simply follow these steps:

- Join Everest Poker
- Create an account (if you do not already have one)
- Make a deposit
- Go to the Bonus Codes area and enter code: midnight

*** NOTE: the bonus code will only work from Midnight tonight ***

Start playing from midnight tonight and earn $1 for every 14 Summit Points. This is an incredible bonus for multi-table players and single table players alike.

If you are new to Everest Poker you can also take advantage of the new player bonus of $100. Simply enter bonus code: welcome and you can take part in both bonus promotions.

Join Everest Poker now and get ready for 24hrs of bonus whoring!

Why Raising is Superior to Limping.

Think for a minute about why you decide to raise with certain hands but limp with others. I would imagine when you limp it’s usually because you have a mediocre hand that you don’t want to invest more with and you’re hoping to see a cheap flop. On the face of it this seems like a pretty logical plan but the truth is it’s not for many reasons.

1. You don’t take advantage of your position over the blinds
2. You cannot win the pot pre-flop
3. Your opponents find it easier to read you and ultimately easier to play against you.
4. You are putting dead money in the pot for someone to steal.

So what should you do?

Take the hands you normally limp with and do one of two things.

1. Start folding them

OR

2. Merge some of them with the range of hands you normally raise with.

Now think about how much harder it is for your opponents to put you on a hand.

From time to time I’m going to provide Irish Poker News headlines with a short strategy article. These will simply be little nuggets of information for you to take on board. You can agree or disagree with them by posting your comments below.