Opening ranges – Domination

Source: ChipCave.com

We’ve all heard or read that we should fold ATo or KJo from under the gun in a full-ring cash game. The question is why? In this post we’re going to study what can happen if we open such a hand in early position, with eight or more players left to act behind us.

The first thing we need to talk about is domination. We’ve all been there, going all-in pre-flop with AJ in the late stages of a sit-and-go, where each big blind eats away a large chunk of our stack, only to be called by AK or AQ. Equity: 27%.

The easiest spot to think of when talking about domination is that of holding the same hand with a worse kicker. A broader definition would be the situation where your opponent has a better starting hand than yours, and you are drawing to a maximum of three direct outs.

Harrington on Hold’em Vol.1 – Book Review

Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments

Volume I – Strategic Play

Harrington on Hold’em is one of the books that revolutionized the game of poker back in its day and its influence can only be compared to what Doyle Brunson’s Super System did a few decades earlier.

THE AUTHOR

“Action” Dan Harrington is one of the most successful players of the late 80’s until the early 2000’s. He’s won several major poker tournaments, including the European Poker Championship, the $2,500 NLH event of the WSOP, and the Four Queens No-Limit Championship. Back in his day, “Action” Dan was regarded as one of the most solid players out there, his style allowing him deeps runs in a lot of large-field tournaments.

When you compare good players to extraordinary ones, it all comes down to one thing: consistency. Thousands of poker players have reached final tables or won multi-day tournaments, but there’s only a handful of them that went out and did it again and again. Action Dan is one of them, having played thirteen WSOP main events and having reached the final table in four of them. That, my friends, is performance.

Every Hand Revealed (by Gus Hansen) – Book Review

Every Hand Revealed is the first in what I hope to be a long series of Poker Books reviews.

THE AUTHOR

Poker fan or not, you’ve surely must have heard of Gustav “Gus” Hansen. With several WPT open tournaments, a WSOP bracelet and countless “in the money” finishes in his CV, The Great Dane is one of the most proficient poker players of the early 2000’s. His plays at NBC’s Poker After Dark brought him even more fame and fortune, with the $575,000 pot against Daniel Negreanu being one of the most viewed in televised poker history, while his performance at the Poker Supertars III, where he went all-in thirteen hands in a row, won twelve of them, and knocked out two players, was nothing short of epic.

THE BOOK

One of Gus’ major career achievments was at the Aussie Millions main event back in 2007, where he won the title and A$1,500,000 while defeating a field of 747 players. This is what today’s book is about: Every Hand Revealed.