Poker Blog: Poker In The Pit - Week 4

The local leg of this year’s GUKPT summer series will of course be held in Sheffield, between Monday 4th July and Sunday 10th July. I’ll be attending the event every day, talking to the players and giving you the inside scoop.

On top of this year’s WSOP is now up and running starting with the Heads Up NL Hold ‘Em Championship which started on the 31st May, all leading to the big one, the WSOP main event on July the 7th. The first event is still underway and all results will be listed here every Thursday.

Now for this week’s questions.

How would I qualify to play in the WSOP? Gary Fisher, Costhorpe

This is the question everyone wants to know. Basically you have two options. You can enter tournaments called satellites online where instead of winning money you win entry to a bigger tournament. For example, you enter a $140 tournament with 100 players and finish in the top ten, then you advance to a $1,400 tournament. A hundred players again would mean the top ten finishers would all win $14,000 packages including flights, accommodation and WSOP seats. Most of the big internet sites are running main event satellites now but I always find POKERSTARS, sponsors of the WSOP offer the best range. Failing that you can just fly to Vegas, armed with $10,000 (£7,000) and enter on the day.

What is a continuation bet? J. Stevens – Gateford

A continuation bet is a standard bet after a preflop raise. If you bet preflop you should always bet the same or more on the flop to sieve out the competition. Beware though that smaller hands may often put you on ace high and call with any cards to suck out on you.

What is sharkscope? Sarah Jacobs – Worksop

www.sharkscope.com is a statistics website housing all online poker players statistics. It is free to sign up to and allows five free searches per day but you do have the option to purchase a higher membership which allows more searches and gives you the option of blocking your statistics from other users. Use caution though as some sites do frown upon the use of sharkscope and could even suspend your account temporarily. Personally I do use the software on a regular basis and I see no harm in looking at opponents recent form.

Should I find chip tricks intimidating? Lee Johnson, Manton

No, not at all. Personally, whenever I see people doing extravagant chip tricks at the table it just tells me they aren’t concentrating on the game. If you are in a long live tournament or just want to impress your friends then my advice is type LEARN CHIP TRICKS into www.youtube.com and learn from the many tutorial videos they have on offer.

MY TELL OF THE WEEK

When the flop is dealt, watch your opponents face. If he quickly glances down at his chips it’s usually a good indication they like what they see and their prepared to bet or call.

Until next week, good luck at the tables!

If you have any questions you would like answering you can email me directly at [email protected].