Learn how to play poker

What to do when you are running bad

Hello-

Haven’t posted in a while.  Haven’t had much reason to.  And it seems like I’m not alone.  Was reading posts on PokerXFactor about some instructors having bad runs of their own where nothing you can do goes right.  Get your money in good and still lose over and over again.

Your overpair gets beat by the donkey’s underpair.

Your 9-1 favorite KK gets beat by K9.

The list goes on and on.

I don’t like talking about bad beats.  We all have them and we all give them.

I get mad sometimes when I take one but then also laugh when I give one.

I especially like it when I crack big hands like aces or kings when they limp or minimum raise and you stack them.  Those beats are really fun.

But when you are running bad you need to step back, take some time off, talk to your poker buddies and see what it is you are doing.  They can help you find out if you are making bad decisions or just getting unlucky.

One common problem that occurs when you are running bad is you begin to play bad as well and it compounds the hits to your bankroll.

If you have access to hand replayers, I would make good use of them.  Watch how you play hands and see if you can make some changes that will lead to better decisions.

If you are playing a lot of SNGs, I would recommend checking your pushes and folds using an ICM calculator.

You can also try another game to try a change of pace.  I’ve actually been playing more 6 max pot limit omaha.  Fun game.  Not for the faint of heart though.  The swings are crazy.

Or just take a week or two off.

I actually did one of those self exclusion things on Full Tilt the other day because I was not doing well.  But by doing that instead of letting my emotions take control of my bankroll I prevented myself from playing and allowed me some time to cool off and come back another day in a better state of mind.

There are many things you can do to get through a bad run.

You could also read other player’s bad beat stories or bad run stories and they may be so large that yours pale in comparison.

All part of the game we love that is poker.

Good luck at the tables!

-Adam

Cake Poker does not allow tracking software

Hello-

One of the main reasons that all the grinders play on Full Tilt and PokerStars is because they have the most software tracking tools available to improve their games.

When you play on Cake Poker, there is no tracking software allowed.

You cannot use your tools like PokerTracker or Holdem Manager or Poker Office.

Here’s what Cake says about these tools:

Cake Poker does not support the use of tracking software (software used by players to track the play of others). We are proud to lead the way in preventing the effectiveness of software that unfairly gives players an advantage over others at the table.

How does this help you?

Because Stars and Full Tilt allow tracking software, that is where the best players will be trying to get an advantage on the other players.

What Cake does is makes their games more of a level playing field.

Cake also allows you to change your nickname every 7 days.

How can you keep track of the bad players if they change their names every week?

The only way to do that is to take notes on the players.

How does all this benefit you?

If you take notes on the bad players, you will have an advantage over them when you see them again even if they change their names.

More than likely, they will not take notes on you because they don’t think on that level and only care about their own cards.

It also benefits you because most of the harder competition will stay away from a site like Cake because of the lack of tracking.

Click here to play on Cake Poker

Good luck at the tables!

-Adam

Cake Poker Review – 3 reasons why you should play at Cake Poker

Hello-

When you play poker, you’re going to make the most money when you play against bad players.  For this reason, you should start playing at Cake Poker.

I have just started playing on Cake and the games are soft and the players are bad.  So I like it.

3 reasons why you should play at Cake Poker:

1.  The players are bad:

Cake Poker Review - Cake has soft games

In this screenshot, you can see a player limping and then calling a 4x big blind raise with K5o and then calling an allin bet on a 789 flop.  I guess he was hoping for a runner runner flush or to hit his gutshot.

Plays like this are not uncommon playing on this site.

2.  The games are good.

Cake Poker tournament review

Here’s a screenshot of the payouts for a sit n go single table tournament.  It’s a $9 buyin and it’s 10 players and 4 get paid.  You don’t have too many poker sites that offer to pay 40% of the field in a SNG.

If you are tight and patient, you should have no problem making the money in this kind of game.  They run these SNGs from the lowest limits – $5 – all the way to the highest limits at $470.

3.  Great way to build a poker bankroll.

With the SNG payout structure shown above and the bad players on this site, you can build a poker bankroll and by playing tight and aggressive.  You can sit back and just wait for the bad players to bust each other and you make the money by playing only a select few hands and just doubling up or not even winning a hand and just taking the blinds as the levels go up.

If you want to make some money, I would recommend you start playing at Cake Poker.  Take advantage of their 100% Deposit Bonus up to $500 now.  Cake Poker is a US Friendly poker room.

Thanks for reading.

Good luck at the tables!

-Adam