by gank

Cash Out Curse

I have logged as many hours at online poker rooms as anyone over the last eight years.' I've played on almost every site, and feel I have a strong grasp on the ever-evolving online poker market.

With that knowledge, I do not feel that any of the major sites "pull the plug" on a player after a cash out. Instead, I have found that cashing out creates two different barriers to overcome.

The first is a psychological barrier, one in that the player inadvertently creates for himself or herself.' This barrier results from the player putting more pressure on their self to win; as recent success may have skewed how much the player expects to make per hour/day/week etc.

The Second barrier is one that is strictly mathematical.' Playing at your given limits on a regular basis, you are used to the swings that occur to your bankroll'however, after a cash out, even though you have been used to the swings, you have not been used to them with your now smaller bankroll on the site.' This creates larger percentage swings in your bankroll, which you may not have been as prepared to handle.

All in all, the cash out curse is nothing more than something we create in our heads. Manage your bankroll the same as usual and you should never experience these dreaded streaks of bad performance.

Brett Jungblut

note by gank: this article appeared in Bluff Magazine.

Rebuilding Your Confidence

We've all heard people talking about a bad streak that they have had, or about how brutal poker can be sometimes. Often, they'll say they had been killing a game for a long time, only to run into a neverending string of "bad beats." Some of these guys do not let up, let alone take a step back, take a deep breath, and reevaluate their position. You see, at this point, they've probably taken a substantial hit to their bankrolls, but it isn't their bankrolls they need to begin rebuilding; it's their confidence. They may be playing in a beatable game, but it's probably only beatable when they are playing at their best; something that is hard to do after a long losing streak.

So how do you rebuild confidence? It's actually easier than you might think. The first and most important part is to be able to recognize when your game is off. Keep track of your sessions, not just if you won or lost, but also how well you feel you played. If you find that you have been making an abnormal number of mistakes, or have had a bunch of losses in a row, then it is time to boost your confidence. To do this, all you need to do is win. And to do that, you need to play in games that you know you will dominate, even if you have to move down a few levels. It's at these levels that you will find it much easier to get back into the swing of things. Feel what it is like to dominate the table again! You don't have to spend a long time in the lower levels, just until you have some good momentum, and then go back and give it another shot.

Remember, playing good poker is more than just bankroll management, it includes skill management (understanding where your skill level fits in the bigger picture), and confidence management. If you are able to get a grasp on all three, you'll be a very dangerous player, virtually destroying every game you play in, because you are always going to be playing a game that you feel you can dominate, while minimizing the other risks and pitfalls your opponents may fall into.

Brett Jungblut

Dominating Online Poker

People ask me all the time, 'How do you get to so many final tables'' or 'What is your secret, how are you good at every game'' or 'How do you play 8 or 9 games at once'' Here are my answers to those questions.

First of all, to excel in anything, you must fully understand as much information as possible about the subject. This takes time and requires dedication. In 1997, I fell in love with the game of poker. During my 1st semester at college, I encountered online poker. Now, poker is in my blood, as my dad has been a semi-pro his whole life, but I felt I could not start playing until I turned 21, legal age to play in a casino. However, online poker changed this. Now I could play from my dorm room from 2am till dawn, or in between classes, or all weekend, which, of course, I did. The more I played, the more I wanted to play, however, since it took me several years to become a winning player, I wasn't playing enough as I was always going bust. But then things turned, I started winning consistently, I had finally started to figure this game out. After winning at low limit (3/6) hold'em consistently for a few months, I got bored. So I moved on to Omaha Hi/low, a much more complex game. Unfortunately, being a winning hold'em player did not mean I would be a winning Omaha hi/low player. Eventually, I moved through all the games, making sure I was a winning player at all games, as versatility is always important, especially for game selection. Then it happened! I found out about poker tournaments. I played a few, and I realized I found my poker home. Tournaments attracted me much more then live games, as there was a winner declared. I should point out here that being the best at anything I do is much more important to me then the money earned from it, which is why I liked how tournaments had a champion at the end of the night. I now felt comfortable playing any tournament, as I felt I had very good knowledge of all the games, although my tournament theory needed catching up. I have since played well over 10,000 tournaments, which is highlighted with WSOP gold. It is my never ending quest to be the best that allows me to wake up everyday and want to play poker so much, and it is that effort which allows me to put myself in a position to make more final tables, more often.

As far as playing multiple games at one time, it is important to realize that this is a gradual process that has to develop over time. If you over expand your playing tables to quickly, you will not being giving enough attention to all your tables. I am able to play so many games at once for several reasons. First, since I have played so many hands, it takes me less then a second to know what I will do in a particular situation. Also, I use two 19' Sony LCD monitors, which allows me to view 8 games without overlap. The internet is a great place to practice your game, as you get a lot of hands per hour, and it gives you an opportunity to play all the different games at affordable limits.

Check-Raise in Style,

Brett 'gank' Jungblut

note by gank: This article appeared in Bluff Magazine, you can learn more from me at Pro Poker School

Ethics in Question at the Poker Table

Recently, a few poker forums have lit up with discussion about the topic of multiple accounts under one player. Basically, the issue at hand is the ethical implications of one poker player playing in one tournament, but using more than one account.

This is basically the same thing as having two lives in one tournament. It's like busting out of the main event of the World Series, but being given a second shot in the tournament. Sure, you're paying twice the fee, but you get an edge by knowing that.

The edge comes from the fact that you are knowingly entering a tournament twice, and you can adjust your game as such. On one account you can play relatively tight, ensuring yourself a second shot in the tournament, while you gamble recklessly in another. You can push all-in with gambling hands and risk your first tournament life early for the sake of a large stack.

I won't go into the details of the issues that have come up both in the past and recently. If you dive deep enough into the online poker community, you can come up with your own conclusions on all the posts there are. This article isn't to implicate anyone, but rather open your eyes to the issue.

PokerTrails has always tried to give you, the poker player, an honest and straight forward insight into the professional poker circuit, as well as the online poker world. We feel it our duty to raise questions in the community and to strive to better the game for our fellow players. We're not here to question any specific player's integrity, but to question the integrity and ethical values of the entire online community.

Basically, my stance (and that of PokerTrails) is that this practice of multiple entries into a single tournament by a single player is 100-percent wrong. While you can put up whatever argument you want, the simple fact is this is a rule on the most popular poker room online (for poker tournaments, PokerStars.com has the most traffic) for a reason.

It's obvious that this is a practice that is a very gray area for online poker. Many people will argue that everyone does it, and it's impossible to really police hard, so we should allow it. It's a fair argument but it doesn't hold ground, because you're completely sacrificing the integrity of online poker by ignoring it.

Most people are claiming they didn't knowingly enter a tournament twice. For instance, maybe their friend had a problem and had to leave, so they took over that second account without intending to do so ahead of time. Whatever the circumstance, it should be considered against the rules all the same, since it's impossible to distinguish such things. You might be able to claim you're being ethical in your actions, but PartyPoker or PokerStars has no way of proving said claims.

I think both the detractors and myself would agree that if we could eliminate this practice we would. People on the other side of the fence believe that others only do this because it's the norm and you have to combat it with your own arsenal of entries into a tournament.

However, by letting it go under the radar, we're making it ethical to cheat. If we don't openly acknowledge it and tell everyone who plays online that it's not an okay practice, then we make it okay for people to set up all sorts of shady operations online. We can't let our most prominent players and leaders in online poker to go unnoticed and not question their ethics, or our entire community as a whole will crumble.

Years ago, Vegas was full of cheats and card manipulators. Now they have been run out of town and it's safe to gamble in Vegas poker rooms. I think that online poker will eventually run out people bending the rules and doing other unethical activities, and we'll have a safe haven for poker players in the future.

But, we cannot turn our heads and allow it to go on without calling attention to it. Hopefully this article opened a few eyes on the subject, and people won't be so quick to defend prominent players blindly without realizing what they're doing. We're not here to call out cheaters, but to help our community grow!

Brett "Gank" Jungblut