Why people play sit and go poker tournaments

The motivations that a player might have to play in a live sit and go poker tournament are many, here are just a few.

• To have a win or loss decided: Some people have to have a decision as to weather they have won or lost a game. The sit and go gives them that answer very quickly.

• To set a limit on their investment: The amount of money that a player has to put up is limited to the buy in for the tournament.

• To compete with others: For some players the competition is the main reward for playing. These players need to know they are the best, so they play to beat others. Any monetary gain is secondary.
  

• To manage time: If a player is limited in the amount of time he has to play then the sit and go is ideal for him. In Las Vegas many tourists find they don't have the time to play in a ring game or a full tournament because of the demands of sight seeing and other activities that they have to take part in. Therefore the sit and go poker tournament can fit their schedule nicely.
  

• For self esteem: To play and win in a Vegas poker tournament is quite a boost to a tourist's ego.

• Impatience: Many players don't have the patience to sit through an entire tournament of two or three hundred people to find the outcome of a session. The sit and go is the ideal way for these players to play without losing their focus.

All of these reasons may apply to any one player at any time. All of the players may be in the game for different reasons and will play their cards in very different ways because of this. You should look at your reasons for playing and adjust your goals accordingly.

Good Luck

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Sit And Go Poker Tournaments-Online vs. Vegas

Sit and go poker tournaments in Las Vegas are quite different from the online sit and go games that you may be used to. These differences call for a change in strategies if you want to win.

The main differences are:

• Pay Out Structure: The pay outs online are usually for the first three places in a single table ten player tournament. In Las Vegas the pay outs are usually for first and second place only.

• Early Level Blinds: On the internet the blinds usually start out low (10/20), in Las Vegas they normally start at a much higher level (25/50).

• Starting Chip Stack: The number of chips that a player starts with online is much greater in relation to the blinds than it is in Las Vegas. Online you start with around seventy (70) times the big blind. In Las Vegas your starting stack is about twenty (20) times the big blind.
  

• The Number of Hands per Hour: On the internet there will be about sixty(60) hands dealt per hour. In a Vegas card room expect about thirty(30) hands per hour. This means that the blinds will go up just about every full circuit of the button in the early levels of the tournament.
  

All these differences mean that playing strategies have to change somewhat between online and live card rooms.

The first change has to be how you play the early levels of the tournament. Online you want to play very tight early on. In a live Las Vegas game you can't do this as the blinds are so much higher in relation to your chip stack. After the first level you will be short stacked if you haven't added some chips. This means that your starting hand requirements have to be somewhat lower than online.

The next change has to be how aggressively you play your hands. Remember the other players are in the same boat as you. When you have a good starting hand and position you have to push it to gain chips.

In short, you have to play as if you are at mid level from the start.

Good Luck

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Bargain Sit and Go Poker Tournaments in Las Vegas

In doing research for another post on sit and go poker tournaments in Las Vegas, I found that most of the poker rooms are offering them at a fairly high buy-in. Although this may not bother some of you, it does cause a problem for the novice who is just trying to get his feet wet in a new type of poker tournament.

There is one poker room, however, that has sit and go tournaments at a very reasonable buy-in amount. The Plaza Casino, downtown, offers sit-n-go tournaments for a $40 buy-in from 9:00AM until 12:00AM, seven days a week.

These start as soon as there are 10 (ten) players signed up for a tournament. Usually this happens about three times an hour. So there is always a game going on or just getting started. When you sign up for the tournament don't go too far away as they fill up quite fast. If you're not there when the tournament starts, you will lose your seat.

The pay outs for these tournaments are $240 for first place and $90 for second place.

See you there.

Good Luck

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poker sit and go

About The World Series Of Poker (WSOP) - 2007

Well it's less than three months until the start of the WSOP at the RIO HOTEL-Las Vegas. If you want to view the entire schedule, the way it stands right now, click here.

We still have to review the schedule in more depth. But one of the things that stands out is that there will be more H.O.R.S.E. events this year. And it looks like many of the complaints made by some of the pros have been addressed.

There are still some problems that need to be reviewed. One is the number of tables being planned for the tournament and the ring games (more in a later post). Another is the money the dealers and floor people will make. This is so important that many of the dealers, that we have spoken with, are not even going to apply for the tournament. If this happens some of the most competent and experienced personnel will not be available.

We hope that Harrah's will have all this taken care of by the start of the poker tournament on June 1, 2007.

Until next time Good Luck.

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Fight Bad Beats and Tilt in Poker

If you are a good hold'em player you will see more bad beats than a mediocre player. The reason for this is that you are only playing premium starting hands. This means that when you are beat, someone has to make a hand that they shouldn't have drawn to.

What is a bad beat? A bad beat is a loss to a hand that the odds say shouldn't have been drawn to. An example of this would be a player drawing to a hand that only has two outs and the pot odds don't justify the draw (see post about odds). If a player makes a hand that the odds say he should have been drawing to then this is not a bad beat.

The first question to ask is. Was this really a bad beat? If not just take it in stride and move to the next hand. But try to learn from the experience by watching the odds that the pot is offering a player to call a bet.

If it is truly a bad beat. Then you have to look out for tilt. Don't get angry because of it or berate the other player. Just remember that this bad draw, or something like it, will happen again and the player will probably make the same mistake again. If you let your emotions take over, your game will suffer and so will your bankroll.

What is tilt? When you go on tilt you play without rational thought. Your emotions take over and you start to play to get even or to teach another player a lesson. You could be angry, desperate, afraid, or have many other feelings. When you find yourself getting like this you have to do something.

One of the hardest things to do is recognise when you are on tilt. If you find yourself playing hands that you know you shouldn't have played, you are on tilt. If that happens take a break. Walk around the room or get a cup of coffee at the snack bar. If that doesn't work leave the game, there will be another one later on.

If you're in a tournament you can't leave the game but you can sure take a break. It will cost you a blind or two but you won't lose your whole stack.

In short don't let bad beats get the best of u and fight going or staying on tilt.

Good Luck

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For New Hold'em Poker Players

If you're new to the game of hold'em poker this guide is definitely one you should read. It won't teach you strategies but it will show you the basic rules and how the game is played.

If you like it please leave a comment.

Good Luck

Short Handed Poker Tournament Play

In a poker tournament if you find yourself at the final table, or are playing in a sit-n-go, it will work down to a short-handed game eventually. A short-handed game is a game with five or less players.Play in a short-handed game is quite a bit different than play at a full table.

The first thing to remember is that the blinds come around much faster so that your game has to loosen up.

High cards go up in value and drawing hands go down in value. In addition, pairs go up in value. The reason for this is that there are fewer players to draw out on you.
Remember that you will never be getting the proper pot odds to draw to straights and flushes.
It is best to raise when you have high cards or any pair (even deuces). Because the chances are that you have the best hand going in and you should make the other players pay to draw against you.

As the number of players decreases the faster the blinds will come around and the more aggressively you will have to play. This means when there are five players you should play higher cards and medium pairs. If there are four or less players you should play all pairs and high cards. You should also be willing to raise more with these holdings.

Remember you probably have the best hand so play it!




Good Luck

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Poker tournaments-downtown Las Vegas

In downtown Las Vegas there are four poker rooms. All of these rooms feature no limit hold`em tournaments. Most are held seven days a week.

• Fitzgeralds: This casino holds re-buy tournaments which are held daily at 12 pm and 9 pm. The buy-in is $35; the re-buy is $15, and the add-on at the end of the re-buy period is also $15.

• Golden Nugget: Tournaments are held daily at 11 am, 3 pm, 7 pm, and 1 am. The buy-in is $65 with one $45 re-buy

• Binion's: Tournaments are held daily at 10 am, 2 pm, 8 pm, and 2 am. The buy-in is $70 with one $40 re-buy. The winners of each of these tournaments receive an entry into a monthly freeroll. This casino also hosts the "Ultimate Poker Challenge", for information call the poker room at 702-366-7397

• Plaza: There are two tournaments held daily 7 pm and 12 am. The 7 pm tournament buy-in is $50 with one $20 re-buy. The 12 am buy-in is $70 with a $30 re-buy. Single table "Sit-N-Go" tournaments are also offered between 10 am to 5 pm with $40 buy-in.

These card rooms also have special tournaments that you can inquire about from the staff, when you visit the room of your choice.

How to know Your Poker Odds

Hand odds
Poker odds can be defined, in the simplest terms, as the odds of making your hand in the remaining cards to come. Though this is important, it is not the only thing to consider when trying to work out the odds on a particular hand.

The easiest way to calculate the odds on a particular hand is to count the number of outs that you have to make your hand. Outs are the number of cards left in the deck that will make or improve the cards that you already have. To work out the odds just subtract the number of outs from the unseen cards to come and the answer will tell you what the odds are for that particular situation.

A good example of this would be, in a game of Hold’em, where you hold two cards to a flush and the flop brings two more, so that you have four cards to the flush. There are nine more cards that can complete your hand and there are forty-seven unseen cards left. If you subtract nine from forty-seven this gives you thirty-eight. So your odds are thirty-eight to nine, or roughly four to one, against making your hand.


You will be most concerned with the odds when you are drawing to a straight or a flush. The easiest way to remember this is that a straight is a 5 to1 underdog when only 1card is needed to make it, if it is an open ended straight. A flush is a 4 to 1 underdog when only 1 card is needed to complete it.

Pot Odds
You must also compare the odds of making your hand with the odds the pot is offering (pot odds) for the bet that has to be made. If the odds of making your hand are xx/1, is the pot offering those or better odds? If it is then this is a good bet, if not then it is a bad bet.

Another consideration to think about is the chances that you will be beaten even if you make the hand you are drawing for. If this is a possibility then the pot odds have to be greater than the odds of just making your hand to make up for those times you are beaten.

Implied Odds
An important consideration, that you need to look at, is the implied odds that the table is giving you. Implied odds are the additional bets that you will collect on later betting rounds if you make your hand. This is mostly a judgment call based on what you know about your competition and how they have been playing the hand so far.

With practice and experience you will be able to estimate what the odds of winning the most from each of your hands are.

Good Luck

Poker TV shows

Last night/this morning, I watched ESPN and they had a poker tournament with a twist. It was a pro-am tournament with the amateurs starting out with 50% more chips than the pros. The name of the show is "Pro-Am Equalizer" catch it if you can. For example, the amateurs were Shannon Elizabeth and Don Cheadle. It was a lot of fun watching these two try and beat the four pros on the table..

Another show I've been watching is "Poker After Dark" on NBC at 2:00 AM. It's kind of late but it's a good show. It gives you an insight into how the pros think when they're just playing with each other.

As I said in an earlier post that the TV shows weren't going to go away. Instead they are becoming more numerous.

MTR sells Speedway Casino

MTR gaming announced yesterday that they have sold the Speedway casino in N. Las Vegas for $18.2 million. As they paid $20 million for Binions (previously known as Binions Horseshoe) and the Speedway (total) this means that they ended up paying only $1.8 million for one of the most historic hotel/casinos in downtown Las Vegas.

Having played at Binions on numerous occasions, I think they have made quite a deal. It has one of the best poker rooms in downtown.

I'll be talking about this room later.

Good Luck