Poker articles, tips and strategies from the pros

Directory of poker articles and tips by top professional poker players

PokerLabRat.com Poker Resources - tips and advice from the professionals.

This page is a directory of poker articles by top professional poker players that have been previously posted in the PokerLabRat Blog.

The Latest Articles, Tips and Advice from Poker Pros

Poker Self Control - ERIK SEIDEL Six Top Poker Tips. "Enbrance risk - don't kid yourself poker involves luck as well as skill...">>MORE

Poker Betting Strategy - KIS NEILSEN "Limit, no limit, cash games & tournaments all warrant potentially different styles of betting to maximise your gains...">>MORE

Knockout Bounty Play - ERIK SEIDEL "Lots of players risk too much as they try to go after bounties. You have to adjust your game accordingly...">>MORE

Smart Bubble Play - JOHN JUANDA "When the bubble approaches most players get very tight. You've an opportunity to increase your stack...">>MORE

Strategies of Short-Handed Limit Hold'em - JOHN D'AGOSTINO
Hand values change in short-handed play and that it’s proper >>MORE

How Bad are the Beats? - STEVE BRECHER While “bad beats” (low-probability events) do occur, sometimes a closer examination >>MORE

What's your starting hand really worth? - STEVE BRECHER Pre-flop position is important in hold ‘em. The earlier your position, the more >>MORE

Check-Raising on Draws
- STEVE BRECHER In No-Limit Hold ‘em, drawing hands can be very difficult to play out of position. >>MORE

Breaking out of your comfort zone
- BEN ROBERTS Beginners naturally gravitate toward a level of game where they feel most comfortable >>MORE

Play More Pots - ERICK LINDGREN
In tournaments, I play lots of hands. I’ll put my money in with all kinds of connected cards, especially >>MORE

Getting Beyond your Cards
- PERRY FRIEDMAN A winning poker player won’t just evaluate a situation at the start of the hand. He will >>MORE

Long Range Benefits of Being Gracious - DOYLE BRUNSON Don’t ridicule opponent’s mistakes. You’ll motivate them, and they’ll play >>MORE

Playing Big Slick in Deep Stack Tournaments - PAUL WOLFE Many pros, me included, feel that Ace-King is a very difficult hand to play in >>MORE

Inducing a Bluff - LAYNE FLACK Beginners come to poker thinking that the bluff has one simple purpose: To take pots when you don’t have >>MORE

Cash Equity at the Final Table - RAFE FURST Zero-equity chip decisions and keeping in mind that there’s a big difference between moving >>MORE

Playing the Blind - DOYLE BRUNSON
It’s often bad to try to bully the game when you’re in the big blind with the opportunity to see a free flop >>MORE

Betting out of Position - GUS HANSEN
Every Hold ‘em strategy guide talks about the importance of positional advantage. Standard thinking >>MORE

Pot Size Manipulation - GAVIN SMITH One of the key skills that winning big-bet players bring to the table is the ability to manipulate the size >>MORE

Finding the Low Cards in Omaha Hi/Lo - MIKE MATUSOW Being able to predict a flop is part of what makes Omaha Hi/Lo so much fun. >>MORE

Sacrifice Marginal Hands in Multi-game online Play - DOYLE BRUNSON There's more than one theory about how to play early in an online >>MORE

Take Advantage of the Training Ground - DOYLE BRUNSON Everyone starts somewhere, and it’s never at the top. If you don’t like the idea of >>MORE

Looking at the Long Term - ERIK SEIDEL On the tournament circuit, even the best players can go several months - or even a couple of years >>MORE

Playing Small and Medium Pairs in 7-card Stud - PERRY FRIEDMAN Small & medium pairs are among the trickiest hands you’ll encounter >>MORE

Watching Your Early Action Choices - DOYLE BRUNSON You can get clues to your opponent’s hands through their early actions >>MORE

Pain Barrier - Manipulating Your Opponent - JOE BEEVERS Your physical and mental state can affect your play - and your opponents >>MORE

Poket Pairs - Know your odds - PHIL GORDON Quick and dirty formula to help you calculate the odds of your hand winning with pocket pairs >>MORE

Sit-and-Go Strategy: Great Warm-up for Tournaments - PHIL GORDON Phil shares his strategy to winning Sit n Gos & considers them great practice >>MORE

Pre-flop Play: The Golden Rules
- PHIL GORDON Selective aggression, playing from position, avoiding domination, not looking at your hand until >>MORE

Staying in The Moment - HOWARD LEDERER The Professor shares some basic and practical tips on game focus, critical for winning poker >>MORE

Don't Take Troubles to the Table
- DOYLE BRUNSON Nothing de-rails your poker train as fast as problems at home, Self destruction is hard to watch>>MORE

Adjusting to Tournament Play Pt 2 - CHRIS FERGUSON Most people would be better off making no change at all rather than changes they do >>MORE

How to win at Tournament Poker Pt 1 - CHRIS FERGUSON How much of a difference is there between ring game strategy and tournament >>MORE

Why I leave sunglasses and iPod at home - HOWARD LEDERER Poker is a game of information. Most is in the form of betting patterns, online poker >>MORE

Don't play a Big Pot unless you have a Big Hand - JOHN JUANDA "All of a sudden, I don't like my hand so much!" The smart move can be to play >>MORE

Common Mistakes - PHIL GORDON Everyone makes mistakes. The thing is a good player will learn from them - poker players that can exploit mistakes >>MORE

Finding Your Inner Maniac
- GREG MUELLER "I had convinced him that there was no difference between a $25 raise and a $4,000 raise" >>MORE

Betting the River with Marginal Hands - ANDY BLOCH "In spots where your opponent might hold a busted draw & bluff, its often more profitable" >>MORE

Winning Poker - its about more than Money - BEN ROBERTS "be careful when assessing your own play. There are a couple of common " >>MORE

Firing the Second Bullet - GREG MUELLER "If your opponent is unwilling to play without a very big hand, firing the second bullet can force bad..." >>MORE

The Mindset of a Winner - KRISTY GAZES "It’s impossible to overstate the importance of money management to your poker career." >>MORE

Sit n Go - the Flight Simulator of Final Table Play - HOWARD LEDERER The SNG is online poker's great gift to the aspiring tournment player >>MORE

Playing Pot-Limit Tournaments - RAFE FURST "In pot-limit, I prefer to be the player re-raising the open-raise. Tighter pre-flop play & looking for spots." >>MORE

Playing Bottom Two Pair - RAFE FURST
"Many players overplay top pair and over pairs, and will either call or re-raise all-in. Players get excited when they..." >>MORE

Big Blind Play in Limit Holdem - JENNIFER HARMAN "Even if the check-raise doesn't win the pot, it helps keep an aggressive player off balance " >>MORE

Managing the Short-Stack - MARK VOS "In no-limit tournaments, it's very important to do your stealing when you have at least 8 to 10 big blinds." >>MORE

Why I Prefer Cash Games to Tournaments - HUCKLEBERRY SEED
"Find opportunities to profit from the weak state of your opponent." >>MORE

Bad Position Decent Cards - HOWARD LEDERER "In spots like this, your best move is to press an edgewhihle you have it - before the flop" >>MORE

Back to Basics - DAVID GREY
"As players improve, they inevitably see more opportunities for profit, and potential in a greater % of hands " >>MORE

In Defense of the Call - GAVIN SMITH "A strategic call might keep me from going broke in a hand where I hold a good, but second-best hand" >>MORE

Stepping up, stepping down - KRISTY GAZES "Early in my poker career I set a simple rule for myself: I would never move to a higher limit until I won three.." >>MORE

Small Pot Poker - GAVIN SMITH
“I’m looking to pick up a lot of small pots by applying a constant level of pressure to my opponents." >>MORE

On Cavemen and Poker Players - BEN ROBERTS "There are four possible outcomes for any session of poker. You might win a little, lose a little,... " >>MORE

Book Smarts vs Table Smarts - ERICK SEIDEL “Just as there is no right way to write a song or paint a picture, there is no right way to play poker.” >>MORE

When Passive Pays - CHRIS FERGUSON ““Ideally I want to get one decent sized bet in over the course of this hand and by checking, I... " >>MORE

Viewer Beware - HOWARD LEDERER "...players who have entered $10,000 buy-in tournaments don’t fully appreciate what they’ve seen on TV.”,... " >>MORE

Hold on to your winnings - AARON BARTLEY "...how to manage your money in a way that will make it grow as quickly as possible with minimal risk" >>MORE

No Limit by the Numbers - ANDY BLOCH "...it’s the long run that matters, so only call if probability of winning is greater than 40%..." >>MORE

Taking on a Short-Handed No-Limit Game - JOHN AGOSTINO "nobody takes up poker because they love the idea of sitting idly at a table folding..." >>MORE

Know your opponent, own your opponent - PAUL WOLFE "Poker is often not so much about the cards you have, but knowing the way... " >>MORE

Big Slick: A Slippery Hand - RAFE FURST "Many people fall in love with A-K pre-flop in No-Limit Hold ‘em because they know that they can rarely... " >>MORE

How Much Luck? How Much Skill? - BEN ROBERTS "all players get paid for every good decision that they make and penalized for their bad ones... " >>MORE

Texture isn't just for fabric - PHIL GORDON “If my hand is unlikely to improve, I tend to bet more than 2/3 of the pot. I want to take this pot now” >>MORE

Floppin a Monster - RICHARD BRODIE “Big hands can mean big pots. But, with a big hand, it’s even more important to strategize and figure out how.. .” >>MORE

Chip Sandwich - PHIL GORDON
“If my raise gets the initial raiser to fold, the meat of the chips will very often be coming my way” >>MORE

Playing Low - KARINA JETT "There’s no shame playing for lower stakes than you think you can afford. If playing high causes you stress or is taking... " >>MORE

So you Wanna go Pro? - RAFE FURST "Poker is a great game; it’s tons of fun, and has never been as potentially profitable as it is today. But... " >>MORE

Playing at Two or MoreTables - ERICK LINDGREN "the best way to keep up with the action is to look for hands you can fold automatically... " >>MORE

Sizing up your opening bet - CHRIS FERGUSON "Poker is like real estate. The three most important factors in deciding how much to raise are..." >>MORE

Not Playing by the Book - PHIL GORDON "Poker is not a game that is best played by the numbers. Poker is a game of situations..." >>MORE

Ask and Ye Shall Receive Part I - ERICK LINDGREN "I want him to view me as a young hot-shot, with the hopes that he’ll bully me later when I have..." >>MORE

Ask and Ye Shall Receive Part II - ERICK LINDGREN "Wouldn’t Casey have been more than happy to raise with his A-A, knowing the older guy..." >>MORE

Understanding Implied Odds - RAFE FURST "Too often, implied odds are invoked as a reason for a play when “wishful thinking” would be..." >>MORE

A Calling Hand in Stud Hi/Lo - HOWARD LEDERER "Stud Hi/Lo is a complex game that presents players with decisions they won't encounter in Texas Holdem" >>MORE

Table Talk - GAVIN SMITH "Every piece of information you gain at the table is something you can use to your advantage..." >>MORE

On Running Bad - CHRIS FERGUSON "...by moving down a level or two, you’ll be risking less in the short term while you try to rebuild your bankroll." >>MORE

Goin' Pro - CHRIS FERGUSON
"...I get these questions all the time and I always give the same answer: “Unequivocally, absolutely not. " >>MORE

Small Pockets & Big Stacks - MICHAEL CRAIG "It’s the first hand and you’re in the big blind. Five players move all-in. You look down at pocket Aces. What ... " >>MORE

Buying in Short in Pot-Limit Omaha - LEE WATKINSON "It’s amazing the difference that two cards can make. Omaha starts each player off... " >>MORE

Bullshit: The Art of Bluffing - JOSH ARIEH "You're letting your opponent know that you are not afraid of losing and that you won't be pushed around..." >>MORE

Going Pro & Beating a Slump - JOSH ARIEH "How did you know when it was time to go pro? What's your best advice for getting over a slump..." >>MORE

Small to Med Pocket Pairs in No Limit - GREG MUELLER "In no limit Hold'em small to medium pocket pairs can be bankroll killers for some players... " >>MORE

This page and it's associated poker articles are brought to you courtesy of Doyles Room , Full Tilt Poker , Bodog Poker and Carbon Poker

Bad Beat? Shut It! - CLONIE GOWEN
"...the only way to get over a bad beat is not to talk about it – to anyone. Analyse your play and put it behind you" >>MORE

Know Your Poker Style - JAMIE GOLD "Poker is a game of controland whoever has the most control throughout the game will usually come out on top..." >>MORE

Continuation Betting - ANDY BLOCH "When you raise pre-flop in no limit hold'em and are called you face a decision when the flop hits the board..." >>MORE

Heads Up Poker - PAUL WASICKA "Heads up play is one of the most important aspects of poker, and many players could benefit from..." >>MORE

A game of incomplete information - EVELYN NG "The more information you have the better your decisions will be. Where you are sitting in ..." >>MORE

Short Stacks in Multi Table Tourneys - ERICA SCHOENBERG "The key to succeeding in tournament play is being able to handle the ups & downs" >>MORE

How to win a HORSE Tournament - ANDY BLOCH PART II "To win a HORSE tournament you've got to understand blinds and antes in each game">>MORE

How to Bluff Against a Solid Player - ROSS BOATMAN "How likely is it that my opponent has a hand? Does my bluff make sense in the context of the ..." >>MORE

Getting Started at Pot Limit Omaha - BRANDON ADAMS "To the uninitiated, the only discernible difference between
Omaha & Hold ‘em is that .... >>MORE

How to win a HORSE Tournament - ANDY BLOCH PART 1 "In HORSE it's really important to remember to switch gears from one game to the next">>MORE

Diet & Exercise - Winning Poker Tournament Strategy - CHAD BROWN "Get and keep that edge. On eating, drinking, stretching and coffee">>MORE

Poker Bully - GUS HANSEN "many players want to control the action, but they haven’t thought through how to take command of the table....">>MORE

No. 1 Tip for New Poker Players - ANNIE DUKE "Never lose sight that poker is a game of decision making, if you;re better at making those calls..." >>MORE

Seating: One of the Easiest Paths to Poker Profit - MIKE CARO
In poker the action happens clockwise, coming from your right >>MORE

When Equal Opponents Compete - MIKE CARO "Every time you wager against an opponent the net outcome for both players is negative..." >>MORE

Poker Tips and Stategy from Professional Poker Players
- In Alphabetical Order by Surname-

Playing a Big Draw in Limit Hold'em - CHRIS FERGUSON “Playing big draws aggressively against multiple opponents can create very profitable ..." >>MORE

Beware the Minimum Raise - PHIL GORDON "Every time I've been faced with a minimum re-raise, I've been up against a monster..." >>MORE

The Other Danger in Slow Playing - HOWARD LEDERER "If he bets on the turn and you raise, you're signalling that the tunr card helped you" >>MORE

Poker Powertips - MIKE CARO
When you're in a game of no limit poker, you're in the game of selling. When you have the better hand you t... >>MORE

Tells in Online Poker - DOYLE BRUNSON There is something useful about pre=select buttons: they can provide tells. The speed at >>MORE

Never Raising as Small Blind - MIKE CARO "Most people will increase their earnings by resolving never again to raise before the flop from small blind...">>MORE

Your Image and Your Bankroll - MIKE CARO "In a poker game you have some thing to sell. Specifically you're selling your best hands and if you can...">>MORE

Establishing a Tight Table Image - ALLEN CUNNINGHAM "I have one very simple piece of advice to help you with this part of your game. It may ...">>MORE

Check your Ego - ANNIE DUKE "You can;t play if you don;t know the rules, many players don;t want to move down in limits, even to learn a game....">>MORE

Recalculating the Average Stack
- PHIL GORDONI "by understanding the true average stack was shorter I was able to apply a strategy that...">>MORE

Playing Large Fields - HOWARD LEDERER "If you were playing in a tournament where the blinds double every hour, the difference between beating a 300 person... >>MORE

Building & Maintaining a Bankroll - PAUL WASKICA "stay in the shallows until you and your bankroll are ready to venture into deeper waters ...">>MORE

The Flawed Concept of Thinning th Field - MIKE CARO "some big hands make more profit when a whole herd of opponents aren’t chasing them...">>MORE

Playing from Blinds in Tournaments JOHN CERNUTO "never get too attached to your blinds early in a tournament. Being first to act is a disadvantage....">>MORE

Playing from the Blinds Part II - JOHN CERNUTO "Players who win tournaments do so because they made the right moves at the right times. If you decide...">>MORE

Pre Flop Raising Strategies - PHIL GORDON "Every chip that your opponent put into the pot before the flop is, in all likelihood, coming to your stack...">>MORE

Bubble Play in Tournaments - PAUL SEXTON "People say "You're not playing to get in the money - you're playing to win", but when you make the ...">>MORE

Top 10 Omaha Tips - JOSH ARIEH
"AAxx is only a slight favorite over 4 random cards, keep that in mind when you are playing a deep stack....">>MORE

Big Field Tournaments: Go for Broke - ANDY BLOCH "Avoiding risk in an attempt to simply make it through the first day - that’s what amateurs do...">>MORE

Cash Game vs Tournament Play - DAVID GREY "Cash games & tournaments are like apples & oranges. In cash games you play each hand for ..." >>MORE

Why Tells Work - MIKE CARO "Poker tells surround you – and they’re pure profit. They work because opponents aren’t accustomed to lying ...">>MORE

Getting Paid on a Monster - ROLAND WOLFE "In reality, making money when you’ve flopped a great hand is one of the hardest things to accomplish...">>MORE

Implied Odds in Poker - ANDY BLOCH "Implied odds are a way to calculate the amount of money that you can possibly win if you make your hand...">>MORE

Hands off the Wheel - BARNY BOATMAN "how do you achieve control in tournament poker? Is it by avoiding gambles? By only playing ....">>MORE

From Zero to Hero - CHRIS FERGUSON On Building a $10K bankroll from $0.
"I had a losing streak and had to go down to $5/$10. That was tough." >>MORE

Poker/Life Strategy - MIKE CARO
Gambling games are formalized, ways of experiencing exactly the same risks we experience in everyday life>MORE

Poker Profit Concepts - MIKE CARO
The most important decisions involve your first two cards AND If you don’t fold, the flop will usually disappoint>MORE

The Latest Articles, Tips and Advice from Poker Pros

Poker Tips and Lessons from the Pros

Poker Tips and Stategy from Professional Poker Players - In Alphabetical Order by Surname-

Poker Tips and
Lessons from the Pros

Poker Tips and Stategy from Professional Poker Players
- In Alphabetical Order by Surname-