Results:

Source: pokerhunting.com

The following events are completed:

The new and improved ASOP bracelet will still have lots of “bling” with rubies, diamonds and black diamonds coating every spare surface possible, and with even more gold this time around it really is a poker bracelet worth winning. (Photo: www.lyceummedia.com/images/asop-bracelet-2007.jpg) Lou Fabiano, founder of CAP and who helped design this new bracelet commented:

“With Doyle Brunson confirmed to attend CAP Euro in Barcelona and watch the ASOP from the rail, we wanted to make sure the winner got a bracelet that even Doyle would be jealous of! This new design has achieved this and more, I am really proud of the design and can’t wait to hand it over to the champion in Barcelona.”

As well as the bracelet there is prize pool of over $20,000 to win, and with tournament freerolls costing affiliates nothing to play in, the response has been incredible.

Eighteen people have qualified to play in the live game at CAP Euro so far, but there are still 5 freerolls left and another 18 seats so players can still go to www.asop.com and register to play. The two next freerolls are on Sept 12 th and 13th 2007.

About CAP Euro

CAP Euro is a three-day event organized by iGaming Business and CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com specifically designed to bring together the top affiliate minds in the internet gaming industry through intense networking and education. The event takes place directly after EIG on the 4th - 7th October 2007 – Further information can be found at www.capeuro.com

About ASOP

The Affiliate Series of Poker is a series of tournaments for approved affiliates attending CAP events – They are strictly not open to the public and cost nothing to enter. The ASOP is out there to make champions! Register at www.asop.com. Remember this event wouldn’t happen if they didn’t get sponsorship so a big thank you to Aff Club (Royal Flush Sponsor) & Affiliate Web Attractions (Straight Flush Sponsor) for sponsoring the tournament.

Affiliate Club is a collaboration of the leading casino groups in the gaming industry: IOG Casinos and Empire Online. Both groups have teamed up together under the leadership of PartyGaming.
Source: gamblinggates.com

My overall goal is to pick up a lot of small pots without a lot of resistance. I might raise in position and hope for a call from one of the blinds. If I raise pre-flop with something like 6-7, I might miss the flop entirely, but the raise puts me in control of the hand. On the flop, I’ll likely bet if checked to, even if I miss. That small bet on the flop will usually win me a small, but helpful pot.

Of course, sometimes it won’t work out. I’ll bet and get check-raised on occasions. But that’s okay, because I actually don’t lose much in the hands that I have to surrender. Overall, I get to gradually add to my chip stack by chopping at small pot after small pot.

The other major advantage to my style is that, occasionally, I will hit a flop hard. If I do happen to flop a straight, it’s difficult for other players to put me on something like 5-7 or 6-8. If one of my opponents also gets a piece of the flop, I’ll get paid off in a big way.

By adding to my stack early, I have a real advantage over players who play a cautious, tight game. The extra chips that I accumulate allow me to survive some tough spots. So, if I happen to get involved in a race with A-K or a pair of Tens, I can withstand a loss. An opponent who’s playing tight will likely be on the rail after losing a single race.

New players often ask me how they can learn to play more pots. I always suggest that they drop down significantly in stakes and practice. If you’re playing $2-$4 no-limit, drop down to $.50-$1 - a level where some losses won’t hurt you.

Once you’re at that table, try to play eight hands out of 10. Play everything but 2-8 or 3-9 - hands that are entirely unconnected. When you get yourself involved with this kind of frequency, you’ll have to concentrate more on your opponents than on your own cards. You’ll have to be on the lookout for opportunities to take down pots with well-timed stabs. You’ll also learn how to proceed in situations where you flop a good, but dangerous hand.

By dropping down and playing a lot of hands, you’re going to learn a lot about poker. You’re also going to have a lot of fun. Lord knows, playing 50% of the hands is a whole lot more entertaining than sitting around waiting for Aces.

If you look at the success that Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu and myself have had over the last couple of years, you’ll see that being active can be an excellent way to score big in tournaments. It takes practice to play this style, but it can lead to great results and be a lot of fun.
Source: pokerhunting.com

The biggest event in the 2008 World Series of Poker will of course be the main event, the $10,000 no-limit Texas hold’em championship. Poker players, both amateur and professional, wait all year to play in this event, which crowns the World Champion of Poker.
The WSOP Main Event

The game is, of course, no-limit Texas hold’em. In this variation of hold’em, players can bet as many of their chips as they have on any betting round, allowing them to go “all-in” for their entire stack. This game creates some tense moments, as a player could find his or her tournament life on the line at any time. The winner of the event gains instant fame in the poker world as the champion of poker for a year. In recent years, the winner has achieved some notoriety, as large fields have resulted in a series of amateurs winning. This has caused some animosity among poker purists, who believe the title of champion bestowed on the winner may be undeserved.
The 2008 Main Event

After a drop off last year due to concerns about U.S. online gambling regulations, the online satellite system is back in force, meaning we may have record fields again in 2008. This will mean plenty of wild confrontations and plenty of new stars, as the established pros try to navigate a minefield of amateurs who are sometimes talented and sometimes reckless, but always dangerous. The winner, regardless of the naysayers’ opinions, will achieve poker fame, and all eyes will be on him or her to see if he or she can prove worthy of the title of World Poker Champion.
Source: pokerhunting.com

For each example, I want you to assume that antes have come into play, which makes stealing the blinds not only more profitable, but also more of a necessity if you want to maintain a playable stack. If you’re not willing to raise with anything but “premium” hands at this point in a tournament, you’ll find your stack becoming noticeably shorter with each hand and orbit of the table.

With that in mind, let’s say I’m under the gun; I’m going to be raising pre-flop with almost every pair, depending on how aggressive I think my opponents are. I’ll also play suited Aces all the way down to A-8 and unsuited Aces all the way down to A-10. I’m also likely to play any two suited cards that are 8-9 or better. As far as off-suit hands go, K-Q or K-J are probably the worst hands I’ll consider; I’ll play both of these hands from under the gun when there are antes, but I won’t play K-J from this position when there are no antes.

By the same token, I’ll play a lot looser when I’m on the button and it’s folded to me: any Ace, any King, any suited Queen, basically any two suited cards 4 or higher, and usually any two unsuited cards that are 8 or higher. This puts 59% of the hands into play, which are just about how many you should play in that spot.

Of course, you’ll need to adjust your starting hands based on the make-up of the table. If you’re seated with a loose-aggressive player, you’re going to play fewer hands because they’ll call or re-raise you a lot more often than more passive opponents. On the other hand, if the table’s playing tight, the player in the Big Blind is playing tight, or you’re on the bubble, it’s a great opportunity to open up your game and steal more often. This is especially true if you’ve got a huge stack and everyone else is just looking to survive.

Remember, this is a baseline strategy - deviate from it based on your opponents, the stage of the tournament, who is in each blind, and your position. What do you do when you’re facing a pre-flop raise? Think about how you would play in your opponent’s spot and that should give you an idea of what cards they might be holding. If you don’t know anything about your opponent, assume that he’s varying his strategy based on his position; playing tight under the gun and raising with less than 10 percent of his hands (tighter than I recommend) and looser on the button, raising with about half of his hands.

For example, say your opponent raises under the gun and you’re next to act, holding A-10o. You’ve got to respect the raise from under the gun because your opponent is probably only playing about a third of the hands he’d play from the button. Not only that, but the rest of the table is still left to act and any one of these players could easily have a big hand with which they’ll call or re-raise. Since you’re clearly out of position here, you need to lay your hand down and look for a better spot.

If you do call with A-10o in this situation and everyone else folds, you’re probably going to be a 45 percent underdog to any of the hands that your opponent should have been raising with from under the gun. Even in this “ideal” situation, you’re still risking chips when you don’t have to.

If you’re holding A-10o in the Big Blind when someone raises from under the gun, that’s a different story altogether. You’ve already got money in the pot and you’ve seen who’s still in the hand. Similarly, if your opponent raises on the button and you’re in one of the blinds with A-10o, your hand is actually the favorite because he’s likely raising with any Ace in that spot.

There are also some players who don’t take their position into account before they decide to play a hand – they just play with Aces through Jacks and AK no matter where they are at the table. You need to tighten up against these players as you know they’re only putting their chips in the pot with big hands.

All of this is just a framework for playing on the button and from under the gun. Use it to help figure out which hands you should play in these spots and which hands you should be playing when your opponents are in these spots.
Source: pokerhunting.com

In poker, defining your hand means essentially letting other players know what you have so that you can base future actions on their reactions to that knowledge. For example, in a $3/$6 blind no-limit game, you are in the big blind with Qh 5s. Four players limp and you check. The flop comes Qd Ts 4s. If you were to lead out here with a pot-sized bet, you would probably be doing so to define your hand. Essentially, what you are saying is, “I have a queen, so you need to have a good hand to stay in this pot.” If someone raises your bet, you can have a good idea that they have a powerful hand, one that can beat a queen with a bad kicker or one that is drawing to such a hand.
Why Define Your Hand in Poker?

In the above situation, if you were to check your queen and the player on the button were to make the same pot sized bet, you would be in a quandary. Any legitimate hand will have you dominated or in great danger. However, this player is on the button and he could simply be betting that no one has a queen since no one bet. Since you failed to bet to define your hand, it is very difficult to make this determination and you will probably have to fold, since this player has position on you and can put pressure on you on every street.
Bets That Leave Your Hand Undefined

If you fail to bet enough, you may not define your hand sufficiently to gain any information. If you bet $10 into the pot on the above flop, you will probably only confuse your opponents. Are you betting so small because you have flopped a set and want action? Are you trying to see a flush draw cheaply? It obviously can be good to confuse the other players. However, in this situation, you will be unable to deduce much from their response. Since you don’t know what they think you are representing, it will be hard for you to know what their response represents
Final Note on Defining Your Hand

You may not always choose to or need to define your hand. If you flop middle pair or top pair with a bad kicker and strongly suspect based on the pre-flop action that you are beaten, there is no need to bet. Defining your hand is simply another poker tactic that should be situation-dependent and used appropriately in combination with other poker tactics to achieve the best result.
Source: pokerhunting.com

While many pros advocate playing a tight, aggressive game and the importance of choosing “premium” starting hands, I find that there are many newer players who take this advice too far and simply don’t play enough hands. I recently talked with a newer pro who told me he was playing less than 10 percent of his hands pre-flop. This just isn’t enough – I don’t even play this tight under the gun. If you’re playing this tight, you’ve got to loosen up considerably, especially in late position and in the later stages of a tournament.

Let me give you an idea of what I’m talking about. As a general strategy, I want to play about 40 percent to 45 percent of my hands from the button before antes come into play. Under the gun with eight players left to act behind me, I’ll play about 14% of my hands. This percentage goes up gradually as my position advances around the table until I’m playing about 31 percent of my hands from the cut-off.

When antes come into play, I’ll raise about 59% of the time I’m on the button. On the other hand, I’m only going to raise about 18% of the time when I’m under the gun. With or without antes, it’s important to note that I’m raising about three times as often from the button as I do from under the gun. That may seem like a lot, but that’s how much you need to vary your play before the flop.

To give a specific example, let’s say you’re at the 100/200 level, and you raise three big blinds from the button. You’re risking 600 to win 300, which isn’t ideal. But if you’re making the same raise when there’s a 25 ante per person, then the same pot’s up to 500, which means you stand to pickup another 200. Those extra chips make it worthwhile for you to loosen up and raise more often with a wider range of hands, especially when you’re in the cut-off or on the button. If you’re successful with this play even a little over half the time, you’ve got an edge raising with almost anything.

You may have noticed that I’m giving some very specific percentages in this article. These are based on thousands of hands that I’ve played and tracked over the years, and a ranking system that I’ve been able to create that helps me determine which hands I should play and raise from different positions. You can create a similar chart for yourself or find a copy of mine in the Full Tilt Poker Tournament Strategy Guide. Use this information to help fine-tune your pre-flop hand selection and see how loosening up your game can help you thrive in the later stages of a tournament.
Source: pokerhunting.com

How Poker Bluffs Work

A bluff in poker should not be thought of as a bet with a bad hand so much as a bet that your opponent is weak, or that the flop did not hit the opponent. The player who called with 67 suited was probably hoping to catch a well-disguised straight, two pair or flush. That didn’t happen. However, the flop that came is a scary flop for a pre-flop raiser. A player with a nine now has an extremely strong hand. Due to the pre-flop action, the size or nature of Player A’s flop bet, or just the fact that the flop is unlikely to have hit the pre-flop raiser (since there are only two nines that can be in the hands of the players and Player A would not only have to have one but to have decided to raise with it), Player B sees a bluffing opportunity. If he is a strong player, he is not calling off his chips with the hope of hitting something like a running straight, but rather to bluff Player A off the hand on a subsequent street.

Why Set up the Bluff? Why Not Raise Right Away?

A good bluff considers what the opponent is likely to think you have. If Player A is savvy, he may realize that you know that the flop probably missed him. If he bets and you raise immediately, he is likely to suspect a bluff. Why? Consider how you would play if you really had a hand like A9. Would you raise right away and risk losing an aggressively betting opponent? Probably not. In most cases, you would simply call and let Player A put even more chips in on the turn, then you might raise if you thought the turn card was threatening. This is the idea behind the call to set up the bluff. Flat calling the flop and then check-raising or raising the turn or river makes it seem much more likely that you are trying to build a pot with a strong hand, rather than trying to chase away your opponent.

What Are the Downsides to Calling to Set up A Bluff?

First, there is the chance that your opponent really has the hand that they are representing and cannot be bluffed. In addition, it is possible that after you call the flop, a turn card can come that will give the bettor a strong hand, for example, on the 9 9 3 flop, your opponent bets out with 8 8, you call and an 8 comes on the turn. Finally, if you habitually call and then raise the turn when the board is scary, your observant opponents may catch on. However, if you mix up your play and use your own observational skills to assess your opponent’s strength correctly, calling the flop to set up a bluff on a later street can be a very effective play.
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