I have an open-ended straight draw on the flop.  What do I do?

Although I'm almost certainly behind on the flop, my hand has a huge 15 outs (assuming all my straight and flush cards give me the winning hand). So, if all 15 outs are live, I'm actually favourite to win the hand if I can see both the turn and the river.

Here's how an open-ended straight draw fairs heads-up against some other hands:

• Against top pair - about a 63-37 favourite
  

• Against an overpair - about a 56-44 favourite
  

• Against two pairs - about a 53-47 favourite
  

• Against a higher flush draw - 44-56 underdog
  

• Against a set - about a 42-58 underdog
  

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What a weekend! 

I went from having no real expectations, to wanting to survive the first day; and then on to reaching the last 18 and then the final table; to thinking that I might actually be able to win it. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's go back to the start.

Broadway Casino & the APAT Tournament Organisers

Although I have very little experience of live tournaments, I was very impressed with the way the APAT and the Broadway Casino in Birmingham ran this event.  Everyone who was there, either taking part or supporting from the sides was very impressed. 

It's definitely the best casino I've seen anywhere in England, although I must admit I'm not an authority in that area.  But from my limited experience it was run well, and the dealers were very competent, especially the last dealer on the final table - but more about that later…

Of course I'm going to say that it was an excellent weekend, but even before I got to the final table and was lucky enough to hit the cards I did, I was thoroughly enjoying it.  For the first ever live APAT event, it went very well from where I was sitting.  The venue helped (great facilities and very good card-room staff), and everyone involved from the APAT made it work.  My hat goes off to Tony, Des, Mel, Rich and everyone who have worked very hard to make it a success.

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The APAT (Amateur Poker Association & Tour) are organising the inaugral English Amateur Poker Championship in Birmingham this weekend (23 & 24 September).

The tournament has been well over-subscribed, so they had to resort to a ballot to allocate the 120 places.  Well, I wasn't feeling too hopeful when I saw that I'd been placed in 69th position on the reserve list (of 80 people).

However, I went to my inbox on Wednesday and there's an email telling me that I'm in - as long as I pay my £75 entry-fee that day.  Quicker than you could say 'all-in' the payment was in, and so was I.

Looking forward to it - and the structure of the tournament is so that it rewards good play with a decent blind structure and a starting stack of 10,000 chips.

Prize Structure

The prizes are for those who are lucky enough to get to the final table, and are as follows:

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If you play No Limit Holdem - you are going to suffer a fair share of 'bad beats'. The most concise and accurate definition of 'bad beat' that I've come across is:

When a player has the best hand but is beaten by an unlucky draw.

Some would also consider holding KK and coming up against AA as a bad beat. I don't (even though I've lost all the chips in front of me a few times with KK), but I'd consider AA being outdrawn by KK when both players are all-in pre-flop as a bad beat. The worst kind of bad beat, is when you outplay an opponent and still lose. You get him all-in on the flop - and you're miles ahead, with him needing runner-runner cards to beat you. You watch in amazement as those two miracle cards fall and the chips you thought were yours slide over to the other side of the table. (more…)

Although many poker books are well-written, and contain valuable information, they are not always focused on what you want to read and learn. Many cover a range of games (Holdem, Omaha, Stud, etc.), and usually cover the different variations of these games; namely limit, pot limit and no limit. Finally, there is also the difference between play in a cash game and that in a tournament. There are times you want to focus on one particular game, and you also want the advice and play to be relevant to the level of the games you're playing.

Low-stakes No-Limit Holdem Cash Games

Most of the poker I play is No-Limit Holdem. Although I play the occasional tournament, the majority of the time I focus on cash games. There are many books that explain the fundamental principles of playing Holdem. Many cover Limit games, or share the focus over Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit. Others assume that the game is being played at high-stakes, and don't include advice on playing at lower stakes, and the sort of play you will encounter. That's where this book comes in… (more…)

I've heard many players complain that it's impossible to have any long-term success on the low-stake No Limit Holdem tables online. They complain that due to the way many people will play with ATC, it's impossible to win if you 'play correctly'. Nonsense. It's exactly because there are so many poor players that the low-stake No Limit Holdem tables are easy pickings. There's no reason whatsoever that you can't make a reasonable amount of money playing these low-stake tables. (more…)

You are playing fairly low-stakes no-limit hold'em cash game, and you look down to see . Now does this bring a smile to your face, or do you start to squirm in your seat with a hand that is always getting you into trouble? I'm going to have a look at how your position, the table dynamic and your stack-size influence your decision; as well as looking at the maths behind the hand. (more…)