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Poker Lobby

The foremost thing that you will note about the Lobby is the clean and organized interface that we have designed. This makes the poker players' job very easy; choose the table and head straight for the action. Our neat Poker lobby incorporates all your poker games, a bonus scheduler and a smart cashier. We have made sure that playing at our site would be an enjoyable experience for everyone.

Finding a Table in our Poker Lobby

Finding a poker table of your choice in our Poker Lobby is very easy. Just select the correct tabs to find your ideal Real Money or Play Money poker game of your choice. Once that is done, select the poker game of your choice. Clicking on the table headers in the poker lobby will automatically sort the category. Once you have found what you are looking for click on the table/tournament. The information tab on the right hand side will provide you information about the tournament or cash table.

Joining a Table in the Poker Lobby

Joining a real money table or tournaments and Sit 'n Go games is simple from the tournament lobby. For Real Money Games once you find a table that you would like to join you can either double click on the table or select the 'Open' button on the bottom right hand side in the poker lobby.

For tournaments and Sit 'n Go games select the tournament tab, select the tournament of your choice and click "Open' on the right hand side. This will open the tournament registration tab. Select register to register for the tournament.

Poker Table Details

If you look to the right of the Lobby you will see an information window that will display all the information pertaining to the table you have selected. For Real Money Games this will reflect general table information, players list, the waiting list and related stats.

If you select a tournament you will see that all the information pertaining to that tournament is shown and any additional information about the tournament will be displayed here.

Filter Your Results

Use the filter button on the bottom of the poker lobby to filter out your poker tables for you. For example you are looking for re-buy only poker tournaments then simply select the Re-buy only filter in the filter tab.

Secure Poker Lobby

The Lobby integrates into a state-of-the-art back office system with payment management, risk management and fraud control fine tuned to keep track of your transactions and any fraud. This way we can ensure that your poker account is completely secure. Sit back, relax and enjoy your game, with the assurance of playing at a secure site where Customer Support is our number one priority.

Top 10 best poker players without a WSOP bracelet

I’ve broken this column up into three sections to differentiate between players with a long history of bad luck, and players who just haven’t won yet –I’ve also set aside a third category for one superstar player who I’ll start calling Dan Marino or Charles Barkley!

Long-Time Pros with no WSOP Jewelry
     • Marcel Luske –Just under $2.5 million in career tournament earnings; 20 WSOP cashes; 7 WSOP final tables.

While I was researching this article I was bit amazed that Luske had never won a bracelet; given the Dutchman’s skill level in multiple forms of poker. His best chance came in the $5k Seven Card Stud Championship in 2004, where he finished 2nd. Marcel also has two 3rd place finishes in WSOP events.

     • Andy Bloch – Over $3 million in career tournament earnings; 21 WSOP cashes; 8 WSOP final tables.

Bloch, a former member of the infamous MIT blackjack team, has been a long-time tournament poker competitor. Bloch has two runner-up finishes in WSOP events: In 2006 he finished 2nd in the $50k H.O.R.S.E. tournament, and in 2008 he finished 2nd in the $10k Pot Limit Hold’ Em tournament.

     • Phil Gordon – Over $1.1 million in career tournament earnings; 15 WSOP cashes; Finished 4th in 2001 Main Event

Gordon is perhaps best known as the host of Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, one of the first televised poker shows. The self-made millionaire has also had some success on the felt, but has yet to win a coveted bracelet. Gordon has two 3rd place finishes to go along with his 4th place finish in the main Event in 2001.

     • Bill Gazes – Close to $2 million in career tournament earnings; 28 WSOP cashes; has cashed 9 years in a row at the WSOP.

Gazes, a long-time pro, wallowed in anonymity for years; until a horrendous field goal attempt on ESPN’s ‘The Nuts’ segment skyrocketed him into the mainstream of the poker world (make sure you thank that intern that beaned you with the ball Billy!) Gazes came close to capturing a bracelet in the 2007 $5k H.O.R.S.E. event where he finished 2nd.

     • Gavin Smith – Almost $4 million in career tournament earnings; WPT player of the year; 15 WSOP cashes.

Gavin is well known for his propensity to make ‘prop’ bets, and to make the payout extremely embarrassing to the loser (Google, Gavin Smith+Prop bet, for a good laugh). He’s also known for being one of the best poker players in the world. His chance to add a bracelet to his impressive resume came up short in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’ Em event in 2007, where he finished as the bridesmaid.

     • Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi – Over $6.7 million in career tournament earnings; 19 WSOP cashes; 2 WPT titles.

I had a tough time deciding if “The Grinder should be considered a long-time pro, or an up-and-comer; but when I saw he has 19 WSOP cashes the decision became crystal clear. Mizrachi’s closest brush with a bracelet came in 2008 when he finished 3rd in the $10k Pot Limit Omaha Championship.

Young Guns Seeking Their First Bracelet     • Tom Dwan – There is no doubt in my mind that Dwan, better known as ‘durrr’, will win multiple bracelets. His incredible skill-set, and his absolute fearlessness will make him a force in live tournaments.
     • Patrik Antonius – Antonius has already made three final tables at the WSOP; in only 4 years of playing. Considered one of the best cash game players in the world, it’s unlikely a bracelet will avoid him for very long.
     • Ivan Demidov – Demidov burst onto the poker scene last year, and has only been playing poker since 2006! His runner-up finish in the 2008 Main Event cemented the Russian as one of the top new players.

How On Earth Hasn’t He Won A Bracelet???
      • Gus Hansen – Over $5 million in career tournament earnings; 2 WPT titles; Won the 2007 Aussie Million.

In my opinion the only reason Gus has yet to win a bracelet is because he only plays $10k events. His ‘snobbery’ of the lower buy-in tournaments severely limits his chances of winning a bracelet each year. The typical top flight pro probably enters 30+ each year at the WSOP; Gus enters about 5; tops!

Hansen’s closest brush with a WSOP bracelet came in 2008 in the World Championship Mixed Event, where he finished 10th.

Antonius Interview About Isildur1

In Full Tilt interview Patrik Antonius opines Isildur1 and online poker

In a podcast interview for the Full Tilt Poker Academy, Phil Gordon held a Q&A session with online poker mega-star Patrik Antonius, where the two discussed everything from the strengths and weaknesses of Isildur1 –the mystery pro who has recently showed up in the ultra-high-stakes games—to the astonishing heights the high-stakes online poker games are currently being taken.

With regards to Isildur1, Antonius believes the young player from Sweden is changing the world of high stakes online poker, with a fearlessness never before seen in the online poker world: Antonius feels Isildur1’s isn’t afraid to go down early in matches because “He wants to play deep, to force you to make difficult decisions every hand.” Antonius further explained that Isildur1’s fast, multi-tabling style adds to this effect. In one telling part of the interview Antonius said he worries about going down $1 million in a matter of minutes when playing Isildur1: Using the example of being down $200k –a single buy-in-- only to lose consecutive pots of $400k, $300k, and $200k on three different tables, and therefore you are suddenly in the hole over $1 million.

Antonius did say he felt Isildur1 has tilted for brief spans, but really had nothing but praise for the young online poker phenom. Gordon, worrying if Isildur1 would play until he was broke asked Antonius what he thought the Swede would do should his current downswing continue: Antonius felt it wouldn’t matter much since he thinks Isildur1 is a strong enough player that he could easily build his bankroll from $2,000 to $1 million in a year! High praise indeed!

When asked about the current action in the high-stakes online poker games Antonius seemed to imply that it would be unsustainable, remarking, “you would need a bankroll of around $500,000,000 to play the game comfortably.” Of course, Gordon’s jaw dropped at this figure, but Antonius further explained that, “If you can lose $3 million in an hour why can’t you lose $100 million?”

Antonius says nobody is really rolled for the game, but he uses these ultra-high-stakes games much like he would when taking a shot at higher limits, explaining, “If you have a $10 million bankroll and you take a shot and lose $3 million it’s not that big of a deal.”

Antonius also explained how really good poker players can play under-rolled, not only because their edge is higher, but because it’s easier for a superstar player to drop a few levels and rebuild their bankroll, where it would take a lesser skilled player considerably longer to recoup their losses in this manner.

Preflop Raising By Position Part 2: Late Position

Preflop Raising Range Part 2: Late Position

The cutoff and the button are the 2 most profitable positions at the table in shorthanded no limit holdem. As we get closer to the button, our VPIP should increase exponentially as winrates are far higher in these 2 positions.

Cutoff

Now we only have one person with position on us. If the button is a straight forward tag, we can really take advantage of our position by raising an extremely wide range of hands. We can open all suited 3 gappers, ace x hands, offsuit connectors and big offsuited broadways such as Kto. The tighter the players behind us, the wider range we can open from the cutoff.

Conversely, if there is a good aggressive player on the button who is 3betting our cutoff raises frequently, we need to tighten our raising range. If a player is using their positional advantage to put pressure on us, we can adapt and play a smaller range of hands.

In the cutoff, we should be raising about 32% of hands.

Button

When we are on the button, we have the luxury of knowing we will be always be the last to act postflop. In this position, we should be raising a massive range, composed of almost any two cards under the right table conditions. If the blinds are folding a lot to steals, we can open any 2 suited cards, all ace x and king x hands, all offsuited connectors, off suit one/two/three gappers.

Against more aggressive players, we should tighten this range according to how often they 3bet preflop. If they call a lot preflop we should decide to raise based on how they play postflop. If someone calls and check folds most flops, we can continue to raise a wide range. If they play back a lot postflop, then we should stcik with a  tighter range.

Overall, as a generality, we should be opening between 40 and 55% of hands on the button. A loose button opening range is demonstrated below:

Preflop Raising By Position Part 1: Early Position

Under the Gun (UTG)

This is the position where the action starts. With 5 players still to act a raise here is usually given more respect as it represents a strong hand. If we are the first into a pot  preflop, the best preflop strategy dictates  that we should always open for a raise in shorthanded no limit holdem games. This is because it balances the top and bottom of our raising range and because continuation bets work more effectively due to the perceived strength of our hand based on our preflop raising position.

Generally, our raising range should be tighter from under the gun. We will potentially be out of position (OOP) to 3 opponents postflop so we need a stronger hand range to compensate for this.

We should raise all pairs from 22 to AA. Some poker players like to limp with small pocket pairs in order to hit a set. However, this preflop strategy is highly exploitable as they fail to balance their preflop limping range and most competent opponents will adjust accordingly. Raising preflop also starts to build a pot for the times we hit a set on the flop.

The rest of our preflop raising range should be suited aces (A2s+), suited broadways (QJs+), AQo+   and all suited connectors as low as 56s. There are also some grey area hands that we should raise at some tables – AJo and KQo.

As well as this range, we should also open some suited one gappers some % of the time – 68s, J9s, 79s and some suited 2 gappers (47s, 58s) as these are strong implied odds hands that will rarely be dominated by someone's calling range preflop.

One commonly asked question relates to the profitability of opening suited connectors from early position. Players check their tracking software and find they are losing money from raising suited connectors. Is this a mistake? Are suited connectores bad hands to raise preflop? No. We open suited connectors for a number of reasons:

1. They can make very strong hands postlop
2. We can flop big draws that we can play aggressively and thus win more without showdown
3. They increase our VPIP and PFR numbers to create a more aggressive image in the eyes of the other players at the table

The 3rd point above is the most important one. The reason we open suited connectors is to create a looser and more aggressive image. As a result of raising more hands preflop, we are far more likely to get 3-bet and to be played back at lighter. The money lost from raising these hands is more than made up by the amount of extra money we win from our big pairs and sets.

We should almost never be opening ATo or QJo preflop. The reason we raise queen jack suited but not queen jack offsuit is because the extra few % points in hand strength makes a huge difference postflop, as we can flop stronger hands and draws that we can play aggressively to show a higher winrate.

For grey area hands – KQo, AJo – we need to look to our left. We should always be aware of who has position on us. Furthermore, we should know the cold calling and 3betting ranges of the players who have position on us. The blinds are less important as they will be inclined to play more straightforwardly vs an utg open as our range is tighter and they are out of position.

When there is a fish in the blinds we should be opening more grey area hands. ATo/KJo under the gun is almost exclusively a fold, but is almost a ways an open when there is a fish in the blinds who will call with dominated hands preflop. The reason we normally fold these hands preflop is because the cold calling/3betting range of the players to act after us will always be a range that dominates us rather than the opposite way round. At looser tables where players play too many hands we should be open raising more hands that can flop top pair with good kickers. The one exception is if there is a tricky player in position who is squeezing or 3betting a lot.

Overall, we should raise between 15 and 17% of hands preflop from under the gun. This range is illustrated below. We can add some suited one gappers such as J9s/79s to get closer to 17%.

Under The Gun + 1 (UTG+1)

Our utg+1 raising range will be similar to our utg raising range. We should raise all the hands we raise from utg as well as some more suited one gappers. UTG grey area hands become raises UTG+1. This is because there is one less player to act after us and as a result of card elimination, there is a smaller chance someone behind us has a hand that dominates us. Similarly, KJo and ATo become grey area hands for this position.

Most players tend to group utg and utg+1 together as early position. There is an invisible divide in a lot of peoples’ minds between these 2 positions. Raises from these 2 positions are given a lot of respect and players are less likely to play back light. For this reason, we can begin to open up our range more, particularly if the cutoff and button have this thought process.

Overall, we should raise between 18 and 21% of hands. A sample range is shown below.

Introduction to Preflop Play

The foundation of a winning poker strategy is based around a strong preflop game. For this series of  articles, we will be focusing on preflop play in 6 max or shorthanded no limit Texas Holdem games.

With the ever increasing popularity of poker training sites and poker coaching, most players are improving their preflop game. It is very important to understand how the preflop strategy sets up the rest of the hand.

Currently, online poker players have an abundance of information available to them about the other players at the table. They obtain this information using datamining software, tracking tools and heads up displays (huds). A player's hud will show statistics on every player at the table. We need to be able to use and manipulate this information to force our opponents into making mistakes.

Firstly, let's take a look at 3 important statistics that are displayed in a hud: 

VPIP – Voluntarily Put in Pot

This is the % of hands a player is playing. It is the % of times a player elects to put money in the pot preflop.

The higher a person's VPIP, the more hands they are playing and of course a lower VPIP means they are playing less hands. 

PFR – Preflop Raise 

This is the % of times a player raises preflop when they are entering a pot. When VPIP and PFR are close together, it means a player is cold calling very little preflop and is either raising or folding when they enter a pot.  

WWSF – Won When Saw Flop 

This is the % of times you win a hand when you see the flop.

These 3 statistics are all closely related and can be used to garner valuable information about a player.

As VPIP gets higher, WWSF will intuitively get lower. A higher VPIP means we are opening a wider, thus weaker range of hands preflop. As a result, it will be harder for us to make hands after we raise. Because of this, we will win less hands postflop.

By contrast, as our VPIP gets lower, our WWSF figure will get higher as a result of playing a stronger hand range.

It is said that the true skill of a 6 max poker player can be determined by multiplying his VPIP by his WWSF figures. 

These articles will discuss preflop starting hand ranges and how to exploit the tendencies of the other players at the table in order to devise a winning preflop strategy.

 The best way to approach this is to start in the first position, more commonly referred to as under the gun (UTG) and work around to the big blind, constructing a perfect preflop opening range for each position based on game conditions.

3 Things You Need To Know About Poker

1. Poker is a long-term game

The true measuring stick of a poker player is what type of decisions they make. If they make good decisions they will win in the long-run; if they make poor decisions they will lose in the long-run: It’s that simple!

So, why do so many players make poor decisions? The reason for poor decisions is quite simple, most people view poker in the short-term. These players do not hit the tables enough to think beyond a single hand or session. Even if they have heard the term ‘long-term’, it has never been explained properly, and is too abstract a concept to fully sink in.

In poker: Winning is the result of good decisions, not the other way around.

This is an extremely difficult concept for many players to wrap their heads around. It’s hard to explain to someone who just won a huge pot that they made a blunder at some point in the hand, and were merely lucky. Generally you’ll be told, “gotta get lucky sometimes.”

The truth is, just because you win a pot doesn’t mean you made good decisions during it; and just because you lose a pot doesn’t mean you made bad decisions!

You will find most of your opponents have this concept completely backwards. They feel if they win the pot they did something right; they don’t realize that for every 1 in 10 miracle they hit, there will be nine other times they miss. And, it’s these 9 other times that cause them to lose money. They remember the $150 win, and forget about the nine $20 losses.

2. Your money comes from your opponent’s mistakes

It’s extremely important you understand this concept. Poker is a battle of mistakes; the player making the fewest, and least costly mistakes, is the player who will be taking home the money in the long-run (it’s not the player who knows the most, or pulls off the best bluff). If you play in a game where your opponents make more mistakes than you do, you will come out on top regardless of your skill level. All you have to do to be a winning player is look for players that are worse than you!

This holds true for any game or stakes. If the five best players in the world are sitting at a particular table, and the 6th best player pulls up a chair, guess who is going to be the fish in the game?

3. You don’t have to be the best to make money

Another problem even the best players have is they try to beat everyone. Instead of focusing on the weaker players, they are out to prove their superiority over everyone at the table.  In a typical poker game there will be one or two players who are feeding chips to the rest of the table (at the lower limits you may find three or four players feeding the table). These are the guys playing 75% of the hands they are dealt, and calling to the river.

Good players will attempt to exploit these ‘feeders’ by isolating them in pots, while avoiding the locksmiths with all but their best hands. There is no point in continually battling skilled players, even if you feel you have a slight edge over them, when you have people who are practically throwing their money at you.

I'm not condoning total avoidance of decent players; just contemplate the risks and the reward before you get involved. Sure you can push a locksmith off a hand when he bricks, but if you're constantly playing pots against players who make few mistakes, you're fighting an uphill battle. Remember, most of your profits are coming from your opponent’s mistakes, not from your good plays. And, the worse an opponent is, the more mistakes he will make.

These small gaffes you commit trying to ‘prove’ something, can end up being the difference between winning and losing in the long-run. There is such a small margin for error in poker that a single mistake can put you in the red (Barry Greenstein guessed this edge to be around 3% for the best players, so imagine what it is for you).