BARGE is an annual event bringing together fun-loving gamblers from around the country and sometimes the world for a few days of gambling, fun and some serious frivolity. Featuring low-buy-in high-talent tournaments of various flavors, uniue events, hilarious side games of various limits from $2-$4 (a somewhat home brew game called must-toke CHOWAHA) to high stakes pot-limit (another slightly home brew game called BINGLAHA which you cn play with some of the finest players anywhere - the only $1-$2 blind game I have ever seen with over $250,000 on the table). It takes place in the Union Plaza hotel starting August 15 through August 19, and you can get more details and register (must be on-line) here. If you want to spend some time playing poker, having fun, and meeting nice people, BARGE is the time and place. Please join me.

With the World Series in town, I have been doing more NL tournament coaching that usual. Plus, as it says in the news area (or will soon), I am going to be doing some seminars for PokerStars in the Hospitality Suite at the Rio. Some of those will be on NL tournament strategy.

I plan to do a version of common and costly errors on this topic. Here are some of these:

1 – Putting your self all-in. I do not mean going all-in pre-flop with a hand that might not be called. That is the primary way you will gain chips when you are sort but not desperately short stacked. Let’s look at a couple of other circumstances.

First, you have called a bet before the flop and your opponent has bet the flop. You don’t have much left, and you know you are drawing. Most players just go all-in here and get called. Then they either make their draw or go home. Consider what happens when you just call. If you make your hand, fine, get all the chips in. If you miss, perhaps your opponent will check the turn and you can check too. Perhaps your opponent will bet but your draw has gotten worse (for example the board has paired or a flush has got there that is not your draw). Now you can fold and play another hand. And you can always call the turn for the same price you would have pushed on the flop. Yes, your chances are much smaller if you fold and nobody enjoys playing a tiny stack, but it keeps you in the game. It is infinitely better to have a 0.5% chance to cash (or win) than a 0.0% chance.

Second is using the stop-and-go play, which is under-utilized. You are in the big blind and get raised. You decide that you will play, which pretty much commits you to the pot. If you reraise now, your opponent will call you for sure. Then you need to win the pot to survive. But if you call now and bet the rest of your chips on the flop, there is some chance that your opponent will hate the flop and fold. If not, you are just as all-in as you would have been before the flop, and it costs you nothing (OK, it coasts you his call if you flop a monster and he folds, but your objective when nearly all-in is to survive first, thrive second).

For example, you have T5000 in the big blind with T400-800 blinds and T100 antes. A middle position player raises to T2000 and everyone folds to you. He has T8000, and if you push all-in now, he has to call. The pot contains T2100 in blinds and antes, his T2000, your T2000 call and your T3000 raise, so he has to call T3000 to win T9100. He will never fold. But if you call the T2000 and push the T3000 remaining after the flop, you may induce a fold if he holds, say, KQ and the board has A83.

I will try to put a couple of other errors in next week.

I played next to a guy I had been corresponding with for a while yesterday. He made what I consider a very bad play, and I told him this when he asked. I thus violated my prime rule (never discuss strategy at the table), but I did tell him this was the first and last time.

Since I shared it with him, I might as well share it with you, too. A mediocre but not poker-stupid young lady limped (call her Cora) and I raised on before the cutoff with KhJh. Jake (we will call him) called my raise from the next position on my right. The blinds folded and Cora called. The flop came 763-rainbow. Cora checked and I checked as well. I do not feel obligated to bet the flop just because I raise pre-flop, and here I did not like the flop, I did not like Jake’s call and I did not like the fact that anyone who wanted to could take the pot away from me. Jake checked behind me.

The turn came the 6s, putting a second spade on the board. Cora now bet, I folded and Jake raised. Now stop and think what in the world is Jake representing by this raise? Can you name a hand that would call a raise pre-flop, check the flop in last position and now have a raising hand? Me neither. This was such an obvious bluff (almost certainly based on a spade draw) that I felt it was ridiculous. Anyway, the river was another 6, Cora checked and called, and Jake showed KsQs and Cora showed Qc3c.

Jake offered several silly explanations for his raise. First, he said she might be betting with nothing because everyone checked. True, but even she is not so oblivious to poker logic that she can’t clearly see he is bluffing. I don’t know how she will play for sure, but a good player will simply re-steal. Then he said he was not getting the right odds to call. Wrong again. After the flop, there were 7.6 small bets in the pot or 3.8 big bets. Her bet made it 4.8:1 he was getting for his call. The paired board meant that it was possible he was drawing dead, or that his river spade might fill her up. Countering his was the chance that a K or Q would win the pot for him (which it would in this case).

It is clear call and an awful bluff raise. When you are raising, you need to determine what it is you are representing. If there is nothing likely that you can have, do not bluff.

Ironically, I made the exact same play against this exact same player earlier in the day. She had limped, my somewhat drunk right hand opponent had raised, and I called on the button with Ah6h. If I thought she might fold to a three-bet, I would have made it, but I did not think she would so I encouraged the blinds to come along. They declined and she called. The flop came KK7 rainbow and both players checked to me. I checked as well. Now the turn came the 8h, putting a second heart on the board and giving me an ace-high flush draw. Cora bet, righty folded and I raised.

I hope you see the difference. Here I am representing a king. If I held a hand like KQs, I might well have called pre-flop, checked the flop and raised the turn. My semi-bluff worked and she folded.