Magic Antonio Tries to Bluff Aces with 9-5 Offsuit (Analysis)

magic antonio bluff

Live games can get crazy at times, especially in high stakes games that are streamed for thousands of viewers. Some players love to make ambitious (and sometimes reckless) plays when there is an audience to entertain. This recent hand between Antonio Esfandiari and Jeremy Levin from Hustler Casino Live is a great example. “Magic Antonio”…

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How to Play Pocket Eights in Cash Games (Preflop & Postflop)

pocket eights

Let’s talk about the snowmen! Playing pocket eights can be tricky. The middling pair is a strong hand that’s very frequently worth playing preflop, but most of the time the flop will have at least one overcard. This makes them difficult to play, so I wrote this article to make it a little easier for…

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[QUIZ] Would You Win the WSOP Main Event?

2021 wsop main event quiz

Every poker player has dreamed of playing at the final table of the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event. This quiz will give you that chance, putting you in the shoes of 2021 WSOP Main Event Champion Koray Aldemir. Your goal is to pick the move that he chose. And because Aldemir is a…

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The Final Hand of the 2021 WSOP Main Event (Analysis)

koray aldemir vs george holmes

High stakes poker pro versus fearless amateur… It’s a matchup that happens daily on poker tables around the world. But it usually doesn’t happen with the World Series of Poker Main Event title and $8,000,000 on the line. In the final hand of the No Limit Hold’em championship, German pro Koray Aldemir held a slight…

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What are Reverse Implied Odds & Why Do They Matter?

reverse implied odds

You’re probably familiar with implied odds, but what about reverse implied odds? If you are not familiar with implied odds, I recommend checking out How to Use Implied Odds Like a Veteran Pro before reading on. Reverse implied odds can be a tricky concept to wrap your head around, but today’s article will make it…

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How to Play Open-Ended Straight Draws in Cash Games

how to play open-ended straight draws

I get a rush of positive energy whenever I flop an open-ended straight draw. It’s just so amazing to hit one of those 8 sneaky outs and win a huge pot. I’d be willing to bet that most of you feel similarly. But playing straight draws correctly isn’t necessarily easy. This article will help you…

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What is Geometric Bet Sizing & How Do You Use It?

geometric bet sizing

Introduction to Geometric Bet Sizing Geometric bet sizing — sounds pretty math-y and complicated, doesn’t it? It’s actually not that complicated at all. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve basically applied this concept at the table before, even if you didn’t know it by name. When used in the proper situations, geometric bet sizing…

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How a Top Live Poker Crusher Deals with Six-Figure Losses

garrett adelstein losses

Unless you’re an absolute sicko, you probably hate losing money. But if you play poker regularly, it’s impossible to never have stretches during which you lose a significant amount of money. Learning how to emotionally handle losing is one of the many factors that separate the elite players from the rest. And one of those…

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How to Play King-Queen Suited in Cash Games (Preflop and Postflop)

how to play king queen suited

King-Queen suited is a pretty premium hand, but that doesn’t stop your average poker player from playing it poorly. It’s hard to mess up too much with super-premiums like pocket Aces or even Ace-King. But I see players overplay and underplay King-Queen suited (KQs) on a near-daily basis. In this article, I’ll lay out some…

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How to Play Trips Flops Like a Poker Boss

how to play trips flops

Trips flops are the rarest kind of flops in poker. Out of a total of 22,100 distinct flops, only 52 of them are trips flops. This means that you will encounter such a flop once every 400 flops or so. Nonetheless, trips flops are still part of the game, so it’s still worth your time…

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Should He Fold Pocket Aces to a Close Friend? (Analysis)

aces vs friend

When two friends clash at the poker table, it generally goes one of three ways: Some friends go after each other relentlessly; Others (consciously or unconsciously) try to avoid each other; And some just play their game and let the cards fall where they may. I ended up in this situation when I squared off…

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How to Play Pocket Queens in Cash Games (Preflop & Postflop)

how to play pocket queens

Who doesn’t love looking down at Pocket Queens? The ladies are the third strongest starting hand in No Limit Hold’em, and you should expect to win the pot very often when you get them. Despite the raw power of Pocket Queens, not everyone knows how to play them optimally. With the help of this article,…

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Doug Polk Semi-Bluffs All-In With $3.7 Million at Stake (Analysis)

doug polk vs martin jacobson

To mark the beginning of the 2021 World Series of Poker (which started yesterday), today’s article zooms in on a key hand from the 2017 WSOP. Specifically, a hand from the $111,111 buy-in One Drop between Doug Polk and Main Event champion Martin Jacobson. This battle took place with 9 players left at the final…

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When Should You Call With Just Ace-High?

when to call ace-high

Do you ever try calling with Ace-high? You probably see the pros pulling off this move pretty often on live streams. But, unless you’ve worked on this part of the game, you may be making these relatively light calls at the wrong times. This article explains when it is (and isn’t) okay to call with…

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What is a Button Straddle & Should You Ever Do It?

button straddle

Listen up, live poker players. If you’ve spent enough time on the live felt, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered a Button straddle. Button straddles create interesting table dynamics that are worth exploring. This article answers the following questions: What is a Button straddle? How should you adjust your strategy when the Button straddles? Should…

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