01 February 2012

» Mid to low pocket pairs in early position

Playing mid to low pocket pairs in early position can be sticky situation, especially when you’re playing 15 to 20 big blinds in the middle to late stages of a tournament.

04 January 2012

» The Art of Thin Value Betting

By Andrew Moseley


I want to share some of my thinking behind thin value betting and when it should be executed against different types of opponents. Thin value-betting is one of those sexy poker terms that people like to throw around without much inclination of how or when to utilise it. In basic terms a thin value bet is when you make a bet for value with a marginal hand.

01 December 2011

» PokerPAL: AGGRRRRRRession and Range Balancing

By Phil Wise from Badbeat.com.


Previous articles detailed the wide range of hands you need to play pre-flop and explained how to play them aggressively. To reiterate, these included both strong hands and bluff hands from late position. It’s important to carry on this aggression post-flop. Many average players only continue with the hand if they hit post-flop and this becomes a major leak. The lack of aggression will result in a low flop C-bet and low turn C-bet.

02 November 2011

» Amateur to Pro – Calling the Turn

This is the seventh part of a coaching series featuring Bluefirepoker coach Alan Jackson, the goal of which to create a roadmap that gives amateur poker players the greatest chance for success when trying to take their games to the next level. In the last article we discussed betting the turn and this time we discuss calling the turn.

29 September 2011

» Take the race or play the stop ‘n’ go?

This is a tournament and you are close to the money or maybe even in the money – it shouldn’t matter. Even though players play differently when they are close to the money because they are afraid of going out, you shouldn’t.

14 September 2011

» From Amateur to Pro Continuation Betting

By Lee Davy


This is the fifth part of a coaching series featuring Blue Fire Poker’s Alan Jackson. The goal of the series it to create a roadmap that allows amateur poker players to take their games to the next level. In this latest installment, we look at the continuation bet.

06 September 2011

» Betting for Max Value

This is a hand I played at the UKIPT in Brighton last month. It was level 3, the blinds were 75/150 and I had only recently arrived at the table but had already played a few pots. I raised to 350 in late position with K-8 and got a caller from the BB, with whom I had clashed earlier.

11 August 2011

» Optimising Position to Establish an Opponent’s Range

As almost all poker players know these days, position is key to gaining information from your opponent. The more information you have when the action comes to you, the better your decision making should be, and, in turn, the better your results should be. Playing in position allows you to establish an opponent’s range of possible holdings with greater detail. The following example displays how to use small bets in position to narrow down your opponent’s range throughout the course of the hand.

01 August 2011

» Amateur to Pro 3-betting

This is the fourth part of a coaching series featuring Bluefirepoker coach Alan Jackson, the purpose of which is to create a roadmap that gives amateur poker players the greatest chance for success when trying to take their games to the next level. In this latest installment we look at the 3-bet.

26 July 2011

» Ask the Pro - Floating The Flop

Poker is a game of strategy and counter strategy. Once some bright spark had invented the continuation bet as a license to print money, it became necessary to develop the float to shut the bastard down. Floating is calling the flop in position in with the intention of taking it away on the turn. Sounds pretty fancy, but risky too. What are the ideal conditions to float a flop? As we were hanging around the bar at the WPT Vienna and Bratislava recently, we decided to ask the pros.