In website news, rumor has it that long awaited Forum will be arriving shortly. Also, 751 different people accessed this site in January. Thank you for taking the time to visit and I hope you continue to find it worthwhile.

Also, I promised a number of you to post here when Lee Jones article on his game-theoretical method for playing heads-up NL situations when one of the stacks hold fewer than 10 big blinds has been published in CardPlayer. This situation happens frequently at the end of Sit-n-Go tournaments. Note that this is not an optimal strategy (one that uses your opponent’s weaknesses against him). If your opponent has significant strategic weaknesses, you probably want to exploit them. But Lee Jones (with James Kittock) have developed a method that cannot be exploited. You can read it here. If you hate math and believe Lee, you can just skip to the bottom. Please read this article, as your opponents will, and there is only one correct way to deal with it.

Quick point on moving up in limits: This is not simply a function of your bankroll. It is a function of your win rate (and standard deviation, which in part tells you how much you trust your win rate). In general, if you are not beating a limit for over one bet per hour, you should not consider yourself ready to move up. That does not mean you can’t take shot when you see a juicy game at a limit above your regular one…just be prepared to drop down when the game gets tough again.

Frequently, I hear, “I want to move up so my hands will hold up…I’m tired of the (pejorative term for weak, loose players) drawing out on me.” Well, I am a believer in the theory that if you can’t beat bad players, you can’t beat good ones. Oh, you still get plenty of bad beats at the next level, whatever it is. You will get fewer because fewer of the players will be chasing, but that does not increase your earn. Take your time and learn to beat the game you are in (unless the rake is so absurd that all of the money on the table just goes to the house).