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Two For The Money
Lou Krieger 02/04/2010
The best 7-card stud, eight-or-better, high-low split (7-stud/8) hands are generally low holdings that can back into high hands too. Everyone knows that. But all low cards, of course, are not created equally, and an ace is stronger than any other card you might be dealt. It's the biggest high-card as well as the smallest low one in the deck, and there are more options available to a skillful player whose starting hand contains an ace along with two other low cards.

Losing
Dr. Mark Burtman 02/03/2010
There was a large string of posts on Pokerpages.com related to a young man who quit his job and turned pro with only $1000 to his name. He was adamant that he had the skills to make it on only $1000, despite everyone's protestations to the contrary. In the course of this string I made a few contributions. He seemed to think that he could not lose. To which I responded, "If you haven't learned that losing is a part of poker, then you are not ready to become a professional poker player." Now this statement echo's in my head as I find myself mired in the worst losing streak of my poker life.

Spreading Limits
Nick Eisel 02/02/2010
Our brain is a very powerful instrument and one thing we don’t want to do is overload it. Playing multiple tables of poker online is tough enough and I don’t advise straining your thought processes with different games or limits.

Defending Cash Game Limit Poker
John Carlisle 02/01/2010
Many newcomers to poker forget that our beloved game involves a lot more than tournaments. In fact, it was not many years ago when it was hard to find anything other than a few Stud cash games at most card rooms. But it seems that the television coverage of tournament-style play has quickly put cash game poker on the back burner for many poker amateurs. I speak to more and more players who consider themselves tournament "specialists." If I mention cash games these players sometimes quip, "Oh no, I don't play in those boring games. Cash games are all about catching cards, especially in limit poker."

Big or Small Pot?
Jay Greenspan 01/31/2010
One of the first questions I ask myself in every hand of hold 'em is this: Do I want to play a big pot with this hand, or would I rather play for a smaller sum? If I've got something like a big pocket pair - Kings or Aces - then I happy to play a big pot, as long as the money goes in before the flop. If I flop a set or something like an open-ended straight flush draw, then I'm looking to play a large pot and get as much money as possible in the pot on the flop. Sometimes, a hand that seems like a great candidate for a large pot before the flop diminishes so badly on the flop that I'm looking to play as small a pot as possible on the flop, or maybe even get away from the hand.

Emotions and Poker
Nick Eisel 01/30/2010
This month I want to talk about something that has been written about many times in the past. Instead of rehashing things others have said, however, I'm going to try to give a unique perspective on the subject by providing some methods that I use, and examples from personal experience. The subject of the month is emotion, and its impact on your game. Specifically I'm referring to players going on tilt, and how you, yourself, can take steps to avoid doing so.