We have all had a friend who claims that they will go pro “for six months”, or “until they earn enough for rent”, or “just for a short time”. It seems like a great idea to go pro for the short term; after all, it would minimize those invariable losses that professional online poker players talk about with such fear. However great this idea may be, you have to wonder if it is even possible. Doesn’t it somehow go against the idea of “grinding” to do it for a short term? Where is the “grind” in that? You are right to think that there is something seriously wrong with the idea of short term poker grinding. Poker grinders need to be in it for the long term. They need to be prepared for the ups and the downs. Most importantly, they need to realize that these ups and downs are not really so dramatic when seen on a long enough time line. When you try to grind in the short term, you tend to lose perspective. This can lend easily towards going on tilt when players fail to meet their short term goals. Your optimistic friends, as well as yourself, will end up much happier if they leave the grinding to people willing to commit the necessary time. Professional poker playing is not a short term activity.

It seems like every time you’re dealt pocket kings preflop, the hammer of the poker online gods comes down immediately and drops an overcard ace to your poker hand and crushes the whole spirit of the hand. It can be a total brain smash when that overcard flops, and the immediate tendency is to then assume that your betting opponent has one of the three aces that would break youbut giving up too quickly on those kings isn’t always the right play. First, how likely are you to be able to put your opponent on an ace? Did he raise preflop? Is the kind of player who would just call a raise with an ace? Did he raise and then call your reraise? If the range of hands that your poker opponent plays is wide, it might be that he’s betting his second pair, or worse, feeling sure he can push you off yours. It seems wise to want to keep pots small once your KK has proven knocked down, but depending on the price and your opponents’ range, it can be the right play to try to stick around a street or two and see how his betting changes, and how the board’s texture continues to fit around your hand.

$0.50 +$0.10 rebuy tournament.

In typical fashion, I ran my online poker account down to almost nothing and won a satellite with less than a dollar in my bank account. I literally had $0.63 in my account and bought into a satellite to the double deuce for $0.60 of it. I had no money to use as rebuys or add-ons, so it was a totally idiotic move.

So, with my back against the wall, I make things happen. I doubled up with 10’s early on in the rebuy period by calling a raise with pocket 10s. I hit a set and ended up stacking QQ. There were so many spots where making value bets were just useless because the players in this satellite were willing to get it all in with any draw for any price; some even called all-ins with 2nd pair. When the break came, I had built my 1,000 starting stack up to nearly 6,000. The poker online tournament started with 167 players and 14 places got paid. Only the Final table would get the $22 buy in.

Of course, this is always exploitable by your opponents. If they realize that a lot of the mid to large stacks are playing tight, they are going to play aggressively and try and steal blinds and antes more often. If you let them do this, then no one gets knocked out. You can’t just stop playing, but it’s advisable to play safer and take fewer risks. I actually folded AK preflop to a standard raise from another big stack. It just wasn’t worth it to play an unmade hand and risk losing my position in the tournament.

The daily deuce is a Sunday tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000. First place is guaranteed more than $30,000.

I could unregister from this tournament and get $22 worth of tournament dollars. These can be used for any sit and go or tournament, but not at cash tables. Since I don’t really play with an online bankroll, I will probably play the online poker tournament and hope that I don’t get sucked out on like I usually do.

Boku87, Thomas Beokhoff, is becoming a micro-stake bankroll online poker legend. He plays on PokerStars. His first challenge was to start with $100 and build it up to $10,000 in 15 days. He had to stay low limits, no higher than 16, and he only played sit and goes. If that wasn’t enough, he rallied a string of prop bettors up for a combined $32,000 in side bets. He made it on day 14, after running cold for a patch in the middle, and won on all his side action.

Astoundingly, he’s at it again. This time, his goal is to turn $5 into $100,000 in a year.

He has to start with 0 Frequent Player Points (FPPs) and $5. He can stay at supernova elite status, which earns him FPPs 5x as fast as a new bronze star player. He can use these FPPs to buy into other events, satellites, or trade them in for cash bonuses in the FPP store.

Apparently he went bankrupt on his $5 and then worked his play money up to 250k and sold it all to somebody. I’m not sure if this is complete truth, but it does sound a little like breaking the rules. Either way, he’s still starting with a nominal amount with a goal of $100,000. PokerStars is also paying him to do this, I believe, which helps counteract the money he is losing by not playing poker online at his normal stakes.

While this all sounds delightful and inspirational for all of us with less than $100 in our accounts, let it be known that this guy is a real sicko. He plays ~50 SNGs at once for hours on end. It’s dizzying to watch, let alone make proper poker decisions in.

On his new challenge, I decided to hunt him down on PokerStars. He was playing 38 tables at once, ranging from 45-person SNGs to MTTs like the daily 30 grand for an $11 buy-in. The highest I saw him playing at was $33+3. When I logged on to PokerStars, it said he was up to $1,000 already. I think he’s only been at it for a week, possibly 2.

I went on a pretty sick streak of my hands holding up in Cake Poker sit and go’s. On Cake they offer my favorite cut-to-the-chase SNG’s: The Super Turbo 6-max.

These little gems offer very little play and are completed in a very short period of time. Why, do you say, would a tournament with very little play be good? Multitabling.

When you are multitabling, you don’t have time to make elaborate plays or make hard decisions. You’re basically playing your poker hands, but making a lot of preflop decisions as opposed to playing the flop, turn and river. When the blinds go up fast your stacks become easier to play preflop. You can win significant casino chips in the blinds, and often you can try to exploit your opponents calling ranges with light shoves.

You can call outside of your expected range if you think your online poker opponent is trying to do that same with you. We’ve already seen this bleeding into the live arena on the First episode of ESPN’s WSOP coverage. Greg Raymer made a fairly light call of what he thought was a re-steal attempt by Justin Bonomo.

But it’s much easier to make these calls multitabling than it is in a live event. You have to be correct in the live event, because you’re only playing that singular event. While multitabling, you just have to be right more often than you are wrong, and you should turn a profit.

I feel like the shove/call ranges on cake are really easy to interpret without HUD stats. On Full Tilt and PokerStars it’s a little harder; the play is a bit more advanced. There are certainly more “pros” lurking in small stakes SNG’s.

The speed of cake’s super turbo is also quicker than anywhere else, where Full Tilt comes closest with 3 minute levels. It’s better than starting with 500 chips like a lot of super turbo formats are. You actually have some time to fold and not be obsolete and then come back to life with a double up. From there on, just shove and call your way to victory.

Hotels in Glasgow are near the city’s primary shopping territories. If you fancy a bite to eat you will discover a complete array of Eating houses to accommodate all preferences and pouches at their doorsteps. Those needing to explore Glasgow’s night life will see a number of bars and night clubs moments from the hotel. Selecting from an array of hotels, including budget hotels, business hotels and posh hotels, you can conveniently hold your reservations online.

Even some of the Glasgow hotels are just a adjacent distance from tourist attractions. Sandyford Hotel is one of them. It offers lighter fees compared to those who claim to be cheap hotels.

Being minutes away from Glasgow’s shopping center, Hilton Glasgow Hotel is centrally based. It is very reachable to Glasgow Science Centre and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Regarding that the airport is considerably far-off from the business territory, it is best to get a abbreviated accommodation in a Glasgow hotel with a extended parking scheme. Fixing such an arrangement is very amicable because it renders you time to take a breather before your leave.

Numerous of the hotels in Glasgow propose short term lodging and long term parking packages. Record a extended parking package which takes in an night long stop at one of our refined hotels in Glasgow. Doing so will hold you enough time to take a breather and make preparations for your following day’s itinerary.

Lomond Airport Hotel in Paisley is a sound illustration. This is a handy hotel to abide in if you require to stay approximate to Glasgow Airport. Even So, if you prefer to stop in a more inexpensive hotel, then you select either Paisley Guest House or Dryesdale House.

A lot of poker sites out there offer special incentives for signing up as well as loyalty programs to keep players playing on their site and not everyone else’s. While that’s perfectly understandable in a competitive market, a savvy consumer can take advantage of the entire buffet. Now the key to bonus whoring is to be at least a break even poker player. If you have a lot in your bankroll, you’ll start clearing your bonuses faster. I’d suggest cruising over to BonusWhores.com and checking out their top ten bonuses. The last time I checked, there was over 100k in bonuses to be won, granted you have the time to do it. See, many of the bonuses require that you play for a certain number of points (each site has it’s own name, for example Everest Poker uses Summit Points) to clear your bonus. But once it’s released, it’s basically free money. So for starters definitely check out the sites that offer match or match+ deposit bonuses. Some offer 100% up to a certain amount, others offer anywhere from 110% to 150%, you’ll just have to do your homework. And if you can play online poker (especially on the smaller sites where a good player can fish from a barrel), you’ll be clearing bonuses in no time and significantly building that roll to play on. Oh, and don’t forget to check out any reload bonuses the various sites offer. Those are a good way to get freeroll tourney tickets/invites to keep stacking it up.

When playing a poker hand, it’s wise to have a thought-out strategy on how to proceed with your action in the hand. But sometimes, it pays to change that strategy mid-hand based on your opponents’ actions and playing styles.

For instance, say you are a dealt a low poker pair, like pocket 6s. You’re in late position, and figure you’ll call the blinds or a standard raise. The action moves to you with no raise, so you call as planned hoping to hit a set, but figuring you’ll fold after the flop if no 6 materializes.

The flop brings Q-9-2, and there is always the possibility it has missed everyone. The big blind checks, and one player ahead of you pauses, then bets half the pot. His action seems weak, and though there are two over-cards out there, you decide mid-hand to stay in the action, and actually put out a raise instead of folding as planned. Your bet conveys that you are holding a Queen or better pocket poker pair. By switching up your strategy, you are doing more than simply playing your cards - you are looking to exploit weakness in this situation, and could very well have the pot pushed in your direction.

Before you enter any pot, think about the board possibilities that can arise and how you will play your cards for different scenarios. But be prepared to change your strategy when your opponents’ actions indicate an opening for you to exploit or that you’re up against a monster hand.

In online poker, Aces are prized. Some Texas Hold ‘Em players will call or bet with any Ace, regardless of the other pocket card.

It’s not always profitable to play the Ace. The kicker card should influence your decision to act, along with your position and the overall aggressiveness of the table. A suited Ace, especially with a card of high rank, 10 or above, offers several possibilities - both the nut flush or possible straight. You could also flop the high pair.

An ace suited with a low ranked card is less likely to yield a profit since your chances of hitting high pair on the flop are diminished. However, an ace suited with 2-5 again offers the flush or straight possibilities. The closer your second card is to that Ace, the more potential it offers for a winning combination to make you big money at the casino.

An unsuited Ace with a medium pocket, like 6-9, is risky, especially from early position against aggressive poker players. There are only three other Aces in the deck, making it an approximate long shot of 15-1 that another Ace turns up on the flop. And if the medium card flops, it could still very well be beat by a higher card.

Don’t assume every Ace is top card. An aggressive bet ahead of you usually indicates a high pocket pair or AK. You’ll need a lot of luck to make your Ace a winner in that situation.

Your betting position in a Texas Hold ‘Em poker game is crucial to the decision making process. When you are in the small blind, you are at a tremendous disadvantage to everyone else at the table since you are first to act in every subsequent round after the flop.

In the small blind position, you are forced to put in a bet less than the full amount, usually one-half the big blind. Any other callers at the poker table must match the big blind. In the small blind position, you are basically getting a discount to call since you already have half the bet on the table. But it is best to play only premium cards from this position.

If the there have been callers and no raisers, then you can match the big blind bet if you have decent cards. Raising from the small blind though is risky business, since you will be first to act after the flop, which could miss your poker hand entirely.

When in the small blind, calling or folding pre-flop are the most prudent actions. If you hold pocket Aces or Kings, a raise could be warranted. Since you will likely have several players betting behind you after the flop, tight play and sticking with only premium cards is your best strategy in the small blind.