Poker Gym Offers Interactive Poker Training for Cheap

Poker Gym is a straightforward poker-training app that caught our eye earlier this year.
We played around with the software (which is entirely in-browser, btw) for a few hours this week and really liked what the Poker Gym team was bringing to the table.
Poker Gym emphasizes fundamentals and gives players a chance to practice their newfound knowledge on a simulated table.
The training program is broken down into six major components: Counting Odds, Break-even Pot Size, Hand Equity Concept, Combos, Preflop Hand Equity Values and Flop Statistics.
Counting Odds and Break-even Pot Size are free while the other four components cost from $.99 to $2.99 a piece. We tried out the marked cards two free components as well as the $2.99 Hand Equity Concept in our review.
Each component has a learning session, which explains concepts and a practice session where you put the concepts into use at the poker table by completing a quiz. A Poker Gym, so to speak.

A typical Poker Gym practice session.

Each practice session is randomly generated so it’s a different set of questions each time, which keeps things fresh.
It’s the interactive nature of Poker Gym that separates it from competing training products.
Poker Gym is one of the best new poker training tools we’ve used lately and only costs $10 for every component.
If you are a newish poker player or just want to brush up on your fundamentals this is a great product and considerably cheaper than subscriptions to the big training sites.
To learn more just head over to www.pokergym.com and complete the first two training modules for free.

Hits

• Cheap but effective.

• Reinforces simple but useful formulas for counting odds and estimating equity.

• The interactive nature of Poker Gym makes it more compelling than some training tools.

• There are some rather obvious percentages that a lot of people (including ourselves) calculate wrong juice cards. Poker Gym helps with that.

• The major formulas in Poker Gym are surprisingly simple and relatively easy to grasp.

Misses

• A timer would add a degree of difficulty and also foster competition between friends. 

• Would be great if Poker Gym had a way of explaining what you are doing wrong when you answer a question incorrectly.

• Poker Gym will be overly simple for some players.

Great Moments in World Series of Poker History Part 3

In just a couple of weeks thousands of dream-filled hopefuls will take their seats in the 44th annual World Series of Poker Main Event.
With its $10,000 buy-in and historic playing fields the Main Event has produced many of the greatest moments in World Series of Poker history.
Guest blogger James Guill continues his Great Moments in WSOP History series with this Main Event-themed installment.

Action Dan Goes Back to Back in Main Event

When Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 Main Event, 1995 Main Event Champion "Action Dan" Harrington finished 3rd.
The very next year, Harrington navigated marked cards through a then-record field of 2,576 players to finish in 4th place.
While Harrington's 1995 Main Event title may be his greatest victory, many consider his back-to-back final tables in the 2003 and 2004 Main Event to be his greatest accomplishment in the game.

Chan Beats Seidel to Win Back-to-Back Main Events

Johnny Chan was looking to stake his claim to history in the 1988 WSOP Main Event with back-to-back titles.
Erik Seidel was looking to make a name for himself by taking down the richest prize in poker. Both eventually were immortalized but it was Chan that went in the history books first.
Chan held a slight edge over Seidel when he limped in with J♣ 9♣ and Seidel followed suit with Q♣ 7♥. On a flop of Q♠ 10♥ 8♦, Chan had a nearly unbeatable straight and Seidel top pair. Chan tested the waters against a Seidel with a 40k bet and knew he had him when Seidel put in a 50k raise.
When the turn fell the 2♠ Chan checked in hopes that Seidel would overcommit to his hand. Seidel shoved and Chan made the easy call. The river was irrelevant and Johnny Chan made history.
Ten years later both Seidel and Chan would be immortalized in Rounders with Seidel portrayed as the sucker of the encounter. Ironically Seidel has $9 million more in career winnings than Chan.

Lamb Goes From Contender to Bust in Four Hands

Ben Lamb's run in the 2011 WSOP led him to his first WSOP bracelet, three preliminary event final tables and a spot in the 2011 WSOP Main Event November Nine.
Lamb was second in chips when the final three took their seats on the last day and many felt he had the best chance of winning it all.
The very first hand of three-handed play marked cards lenses Lamb decided that it was wise to four-bet shove against the solid Martin Staszko.
Lamb held K♥ J♦ and Staszko, knowing that Lamb liked to shove light, made the call. The board failed to help him and Lamb was crippled.
Three hands later Lamb shoved with Q♠ 6♥ and this time around Staszko had pocket jacks. The board blanked again and Ben Lamb went from possible Main Event champion to third place in four hands.

Bluff of the Century

When Chris Moneymaker reached heads-up play of the 2003 WSOP Main Event, many did not expect him to prevail despite the fact he had two-thirds of the chips in play. Moneymaker even offered an even chop with Sam Farha but Farha wanted to play it out.
A short while later Moneymaker decided to raise to 100,000 with K♠ 7♥ and Farha made the call.
On a flop of 9♠ 6♠ 2♦ it was checked around and the 8♠ hit the turn. While Farha had the best hand with a pair of nines, there was now both a straight and flush possibility on the board.
Farha bet out 300,000 in hopes of winning the pot there and prevent any further drawing. Moneymaker then decided to test Farha and put out a 500,000 semi-bluff raise. Farha made a reluctant call and both saw the river 3♥.
With the multiple straight and flush possibilities on the board Farha checked. Moneymaker, holding nothing but air, knew he could only win with a bluff and shoved for his tournament life.
Farha took a while to make his decision and even commented that he could make a "crazy call" and that it could be the winner. Giving Moneymaker too much credit for a hand, the seasoned veteran folded the best hand in what Norman Chad referred to as the "Bluff of the Century."
Moneymaker's bluff would give him the momentum needed to finally take down the Main Event title and usher in the Poker Boom.

Poker Books

One of the best ways to improve your game is to read every bit of expert poker advice you can get your hands on. There are hundreds of books and eBooks on poker, so how do you know where to start? The list of must-read poker books below should help you select the ones you’ll want for your poker library.
If a book does not reside in the list below, we do not wish to infer that it is not a quality resource. We simply feel that if you are limited in the number of books you can buy and/or read, the books listed here provide you the best foundation for your game, whether you’re a novice player or wanting to take your game to the next level.
Click on the link of any book to purchase it through Amazon.com.
Internet Texas Hold’em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro by Matthew Hilger – This book provided me with the biggest “ah-ha!” in my first year of playing online poker marked cards. I can’t promote this book enough. It is written in great detail about pre-flop starting hands as well as play on the flop, turn and river. Hilger also covers general concepts of probability, odds, bluffing, raising, and check-raising. He also discusses the differences in strategies between Internet and live play. To top it off, there are countless practice hands provided so that you can begin to put the concepts into action. If you only bought one book off of this list, this one should be the one!!

Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 by Jonathon Little – This book came out in 2011. Jonathan Little is a successful poker player who has won over $5 million in poker tournaments over his career to date. In ‘Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker’, he explains exactly how to succeed in this highly competitive MTT field. It’s essential reading for anyone wanting to improve their No limit Hold’em tournament poker skills. This first volume analyses a number of different situations in tournaments, giving solid advice in an easy to read writing style. The two-time World Poker Tour champion advocates a LAG style of play, which is necessary to beat MTTs as it lends itself to winning tournaments not just making the money. The books deals mainly with how to play with different stack sizes during the course of the tournament. Whether it’s playing very deep stacked (125bb+), a medium sized stack (40-60bbs), and smaller stacks (12-35bbs).
Winning Low-Limit Hold’em by Lee Jones – A bible for low-limit players, this book provides a solid foundation on which you can build more advanced strategies. Pre-flop and post-flop play is covered extensively, as well as money management and patience, two virtues usually missing from many a low-limit poker player’s game. If low-limit stakes ($4/$8 and below) are where you play, this book is definitely for you!
The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One by David Sklansky – This is one of the best poker books ever written. If you take poker seriously, you will get this book and study it like a bible. He goes over many advanced concepts that could apply to a wide variety of situations, including hold’em, five-card draw, seven-card stud, lowball draw, and razz. This book introduces you to all the important aspects of playing fundamentally solid poker including concepts such as bluffing, semi-bluffing, slow-playing, playing position well, psychology, heads-up play, game theory, implied odds, the list goes on.
Serious Poker by Daniel Kimberg – This book is very easy to read and is very useful. Serious Poker does not cover quite the number of advanced concepts that several other poker books on the list cover, it would be better suited for new or intermediate players, although still a good book for anyone. He has a nice section that would help make things go smoother if you have never played poker at a land based poker easy cards tricks room before. Anyone who would like to feel more at ease before playing live poker for the first time would want this book.
Small Stakes Hold ‘em: Winning Big With Expert Play by Ed Miller, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth – Anything Sklansky is a part of will be a solid work and this book is no different. Ed Miller, the primary author, takes many of the concepts from Sklansky and Malmuth’s earlier works and applies them to the loose low-limit stakes games you find everywhere today. There are over 50 hand quizzes as well, which are great tools. One word of caution I will give is that these books are not as easy of a read as some others on the list. The concepts are fantastic and considered by many players as the foundation for their game, but in the hands of a novice player who does not understand the logic and math behind these concepts, these advanced concepts could lead them into trouble.
Reading Poker Tells by Zachary Elwood – This book came out in 2012. It’s the first major contribution to live poker tells since Mike Caro’s book on poker tells, which is a bit dated now. It would be a great addition to a poker library for any player who is making the transition from online to live play. A great deal of discussion is given to correlating the behaviour of players over time and forming a read based on that. It provides scientific analysis and doesn’t just say “this means that” and so forth. Definitely worth picking up!
Middle Limit Holdem Poker by Bob Ciaffone – This book is underrated and overlooked (so underrated Amazon doesn’t even have a picture of it!). It is a fabulous book that addresses the necessary changes one must make in their game when moving up from low-limit games to middle limit games. Ciaffone provides real-life examples (a feature, by now you know we love!) to support the theory in the book, which is arranged in a logical, thematic format. Do not be one of those to overlook this book!
$16 / Hour SNG Blueprint by Planet Mark – This is a free eBook course by Mark over at Sit and Go Planet. It comes over 4 e-mailed parts and shows you how to grind 1-table SNG tournaments for up to $16 profit per hour. Mark does not expect readers to be playing SNGs forever. The idea is to use these games to build your bankroll up, then move on to either cash games or tournaments. An ideal choice for beginning players looking to quickly make a steady income from online poker – and best of all, this book is completely free.
Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold’em by Tom McEvoy and T.J. Cloutier – When you are ready to take on the Cadillac of Poker, No-limit hold ‘em, you need to be prepared with a new set of skills in addition to what you bring with you from the limit tables. McEvoy and Cloutier teach you those skills in yet another fine book in the Championship series. T.J. Cloutier is arguably the greatest no-limit tournament player in history with more no-limit and pot-limit titles than any other player. He not only shares his winning strategies but a number of personal poker experiences as well which add a great deal to the book.
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: Expanded Edition by David Sklansky – As I mentioned earlier, Sklansky is not for the casual reader. His attention to the mathematics of the game can be lost on some readers, but his concepts are spot-on. This book is another that fits that bill, but I must give it some props because it provided me another “ah-ha!” with regard to my tournament play. Sklansky discusses the Gap Concept and this concept opened my eyes to a shift in strategy I did not make moving from cash ring games to tournament play. Since that time, my return on investment in tournaments went up significantly. This book covers more than hold ‘em in its examples, so if you do not play stud, you will have to wade through those examples.
Harrington on Hold ‘em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington – I included this book in our list, because “Action” Dan Harrington is the player I most aspire to be like. He is a tight player who has managed to make the final table at the main event of the WSOP four times, winning in 1995 and cutting through nearly 2,600 players in 2004 to make it to fourth. I think the man’s got enough skins on the wall that warrant reading his book!
Super System 2: A Course in Power Poker by Doyle Brunson – I would be terribly remiss if I did not pay homage to what many professional players consider to be the bible of all poker play. Super System and now Super System 2 are comprehensive discussions regarding all poker games. You will want to read this at some point, if for no other reason than that many of your good opponents will have read it. Each chapter is written by a different contributor, all of whom are experts in the field of poker. Doyle’s chapter on no-limit is considered the gospel, but it is a VERY aggressive style and recreational players should use it at their own risk.
Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth – Ah, Phil Hellmuth, the player everyone loves to hate. Well, love him or hate him, there is always action surrounding him. I read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it very much. In hindsight, there are probably several better poker books when it comes to no-limit strategy, but Hellmuth does a good job of touching on a number of hand situations. I particularly enjoyed his defining of the types of players you will face and how to beat each of them. He categorizes players as Jackals, Elephants, Mice, Lions, and the one we all aspire to – the Eagles.
Pot-Limit Omaha Poker by Jeff Hwang – If you’re a Hold’em player that is just getting into Omaha you will want to pickup this book many people consider it to be the bible for Pot Limit Omaha. The author does a great job of explaining the complexities of the game and how playing hands that can make the nuts will provide a solid foundation for playing at a winning level in most low stakes Omaha poker games.
If you can read and digest all the content in the above poker books, you are guaranteed to gain an edge against any opponent you face in the live poker arena or on the virtual felt. But for the best outcome, you should not just read these, but also see how each concept applies to real hands.