The Hendon Mob Newest Articles

Guardian Series: A call that shocked the table

marius@thehendonmob.com (Vicky Coren) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:51:25 GMT

What's this?

Victoria Coren
It's quite fun, this Guardian experiment. They're having a games slot every day - bridge, chess, that sort of thing - and I'm doing the poker one. It's aimed at the fairly new player, who might have watched a bit of poker on TV and just started playing with their friends and wants a few tips. So for the moment in the column I'm generally advocating caution and covering basics -...

Three Betting in Omaha Hi/Lo by John Cernuto

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:25:10 GMT

Even though Limit Omaha Hi/Lo is often considered to be a post-flop game, winning tournament players know that it’s important to regularly raise and three-bet their opponents before the flop, especially as the blinds and antes increase.
Why? Because applying pre-flop pressure against weaker opponents lets you create better post-flop situations and, on occasion, even lets you steal the blinds and antes with little resistance. With this in mind, the question then becomes, how often should...

I Need at Least an Hour for Lunch

marius@thehendonmob.com (Neil Channing 'Bad Beat') — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:47:16 GMT

Tristan McDonald is quite an amazing guy really.
Admittedly, he doesn’t look much. He’s usually a bit of a scruffy bastard. I was just looking up his results on The Hendon Mob though. He has cashed for $735,000 in 15 events over 10 years. If they included the number of events he played in you’d be much more impressed though. Most years he probably manages about six. He’s cashed twice in the WSOP Main Event. I bet he’s only played it five times. On top of that...

Two Sides to Every Coin (flip) by Team Full Tilt

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:50:04 GMT

Poker is a game of choices. Some of these choices are fairly straight forward and simple while others take a lot of thought. The thing is that when all is said and done, there may not be just one correct path to winning a given hand; it's all up to you to decide what road to travel.
With that in mind, we asked Team Full Tilt's Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson to share their thoughts on one of poker's trickiest decisions – the coin fl...

Running to Stand Still

marius@thehendonmob.com (Alex Rousso) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:20:46 GMT

If 2008 was the year of the four-bet shove light, it should be no surprise that 2009 became the year of the light call of the four-bet shove. Such is the nature of competition. Today’s clever new trick is yesterday’s cliché.
In business it’s assumed that if you do not go out there and secure more customers, your turnover will decrease. There’s a kind of entropy in the competitive world which means that if you stand still, everyone else’s striving for...

Sealing the Win by Team Full Tilt

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:02:50 GMT

If you don't think poker is a competitive sport, chances are you've never made it to the late stages of a major tournament where the only thing higher than the blinds is the pressure of playing for thousands - or even millions - of dollars in prize money.
As a former basketball player, I can compare the pressure of a WSOP final table to the final minutes of a playoff game where every play is crucial and any mistake can mean the difference between walking away a champion or a runner-up. From...

Vegas Insider: 2010 February

marius@thehendonmob.com (Steve Hall 'A Brit in Vegas') — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:32:48 GMT

Kara Scott (left)

Kelly Kim (right)...

Moving from Online to Live Play by Jordan Morgan

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:10:04 GMT

After honing their games online for awhile, many players decide to take the next step and test their skills in a live poker room. For some, the transition comes easily but, for others, the differences between playing at a computer and at a live table can be difficult to overcome.
For many online players, one of the hardest adjustments to make is to the speed – or slowness – of live play. Where you may easily see 50, 60 or more hands an hour if you multi-table at home, you’ll...

Raising Draws for Value

marius@thehendonmob.com (Matthew Hilger) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:32:27 GMT

Editor's note: This column is an excerpt from the new, expanded edition of Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies for Full-Ring and Short-Handed Games, which has been released in November 2008. It includes a new chapter on playing multiway pots, as well as two new chapters for shorthanded games.
Beginning players, and even some players with a decent amount of experience, have misconceptions concerning when they should raise and when they should call with a draw.
Most players...

Overcards in Early Position by Kenny Tran

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:36:18 GMT

Recently, Andy Bloch wrote about the perils and pitfalls of playing big cards - A-K, A-Q, etc. - when they don't connect with the flop. Like Andy, I think learning to play these kinds of hands well, adds an important weapon to any player's arsenal. Of course, like any weapon, you have to approach these hands carefully to ensure that they don't blow up in your face.
One of the most important safety tips I can give in regards to "big" hands is to be especially cautious when you're...

The Hand "You Can't Get Away From"

marius@thehendonmob.com (Alex Rousso) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:58:29 GMT

Pub quiz question: who was the first act to perform the title track from the album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at a live gig? Before you think I’m getting all reverse-reverse psychology on you, yes, it was written by the Beatles. The answer is Jimi Hendrix. The album was released on a Friday and Jimi covered it at his concert on the Sunday (with Harrison and McCartney in the audience) before the Beatles even had an opportunity to perform it themselves!
I’m certainly...

Control Your Environment by Scott Fischman

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:08:10 GMT

We've all had moments in good old fashioned brick and mortar casinos where our senses become overwhelmed by an environment that we have no control over. From uncomfortable chairs to overflowing A/C to the guy sitting next to you who obviously hasn't bathed since the last time the Cleveland Indians won the Series, playing live poker can be a less than pleasant experience at times. That's why one of the biggest advantages of playing online poker versus live poker is the ability to control your...

I Met a Strange Lady

marius@thehendonmob.com (Neil Channing 'Bad Beat') — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:31:05 GMT

I was quite deep into the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em rebuy tournament when I received a text from Marty Smyth. I’d spent $8,000 and there were 24 players left competing for a first prize of $130,000. I now had a slightly below average stack.
“Are you still in?” Marty inquired.
“I had 88k with avg 22k when we both put in 55k pre-flop with blinds 200/400. Me AK, him AA. Back to 20k”
I soon got a text back:
“Apologies. Seem to have texted...

Police Close Another Poker Club

marius@thehendonmob.com (Mick McCloskey) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:18:38 GMT

Mick McCloskey, 03/05/2007

Northern Ireland Police spoiled the pre Christmas festive atmosphere at The River Club in Derry City by arriving in force during the club’s Christmas tournament on the third Sunday of December. Some of the players actually thought that they were about to be robbed as the first police to arrive were done up in riot gear complete with balaclavas covering their faces. I’m not quite sur...

Playing Over-Cards by Andy Bloch

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:49:45 GMT

For many players, there's nothing prettier than peeking at their hole cards and seeing paint. A-K. K-Q. Q-J. They're all big hands and, often times, very playable ones, especially in position. Sometimes though, your masterpiece of a starting hand can lead to a very ugly result.
The fact is over-cards can be some of the trickiest hands to play well if they don't connect with the board. So how do you avoid going broke when you whiff with your overs? In the words of Kenny Rogers, "you gotta...

The Dreaded Min-Check-Raise by Aaron Bartley

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:42:58 GMT

There are a lot of potentially horrendous moves to be made in No-Limit Hold ‘em: playing out of position with a marginal hand, chasing down a draw without the correct odds, overplaying (or underplaying) the nuts. All of these are horrible, horrible plays. But in my opinion, the worst play that you can make (and I see made far too often) is the min-check-raise.
I’ve never seen this play used correctly. In fact, I don’t think it’s even possible to use it correctly. If...

Jonty Rhodes

marius@thehendonmob.com (Neil Channing 'Bad Beat') — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:22:56 GMT

In a recent thread on the ever-popular Two Plus Two forum, my good friend Andy Ward made a case for the utterly intangible and totally subjective hypothesis that I am the best all round poker player in the UK.
I was naturally quite flattered by this statement, and was about to spend a few minutes deciding which other players could be described as true all-rounders, when my eye wandered down the page to the rest of the thread. Don't worry, there was no time for me to get bigheaded at all, as...

The Real Value of Tournament Chips by Bill Edler

marius@thehendonmob.com (Tips From the Full Tilt Pros) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:26:43 GMT

Whenever you’re talking about poker strategies, you’ll find people who make no distinction between tournament play and ring game play. In fact, I know some top players who believe that both should be played exactly the same. Even though some of them have been extremely successful with this approach, I couldn’t disagree with them more.
The basic problem is that in a tournament setting, all chips are not of equal value. In most cases, the chips you lose are going to be worth a...

Multiway Pots

marius@thehendonmob.com (Matthew Hilger) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:07:41 GMT

These hands are taken from the new, expanded edition of Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies for Full-Ring and Short-Handed Games. Take this quiz to test your skills. These are limit hold'em hands at the limits shown.
1. 25¢-50¢: You hold the A 3 in middle position. Three players call from early position, you call, and the big blind checks. Fiv...

The Way of the Exploding Text Book

marius@thehendonmob.com (Alex Rousso) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:37:21 GMT

We’re breaking the first rule of Fight Club. Bluff Europe now has its very own Poker Academy, ever more training sites are springing up on the web, and there is now an established profession of “poker coach”. Opportunities to improve your game have never been so prevalent.
Old timers grumbled if you discussed poker strategy out loud at the table. An earlier Pickleman article exhorted players not to “feed the fish”. At the time, I thought that if you did so, the...