Part of becoming a great player is using the right principles for managing your poker bankroll. You need to not only be a skilled player, but also develop discipline and money management skills. The best players go broke sometimes. Even Doug Polk, Upswing himself, once felt that he had reached a dangerous brink. But what separates stories like him from those of gamblers who never hit the highest stakes? Many potentially great players never raise their bets because they never ...
Parker Tonka Talbot joins the Upswing team
Considered by many to be the best streamer for high stakes tournaments on Twitch, Tonka is the ideal choice for creating tournament content for The Upswing Lab members. His first video "Play & Explain" will be available today or tomorrow! Parker "Tonkaaaap" Talbot has been an online tournament player for seven years and his accomplishments show that he is a serious contender to be reckoned with at the table. Tonka has earned over $ 3 million from online prizes, ...
What's your move with the pocket kings of Calamus? Poker Pop Quiz
Pierre Calamousa is a French short stack poker pro. He gets pocket kings and does a tough maneuver against Ian Bendick in the small blind. Pocket Kings are the hand of dreams in any situation, let alone a big tournament. Kalamusa goes to the standard 2nd open with his 16 big blinds. Some players prefer to push or fold here, but this is most likely a mistake. 16 big blinds are more than enough to have a cut-off opening range. Bendick folds in the small blind and he calls….
Stack to Pot Ratio: 3 Hands That Underline This Principled Concept Of Poker
In this article, we will learn about the Stack to Pot Ratio (SPR) and how it affects postflop play. We will look at three examples with different SPRs. The Stack-to-Pot Ratio (SPR) is the ratio of the shortest stack in the hand divided by the pot. SPR is calculated for each street. For example, suppose you are playing a $ 2 / $ 5 cash game in which ...
Mike Timex McDonald
Mike MacDonald was a teenager when he started playing poker, and quickly established himself with success under the pseudonym "Timex". MacDonald was a minor when he got his start in poker, initially limiting his game to an online format. Once he came of age, Timex brought his game to life. Timex burst onto the live poker scene in 2008 when he became the youngest champion of the European Poker Tour, winning the EPT4 Dortmund for € 933 ...
Doug Polk wins $ 100-10,000 bankroll in 58 days
Challenges have come and gone over the past 2 years, and many expected the finish line to pass in a few months, if Doug can handle it at all. But suddenly, after a massive cash game at the WSOP.com, Doug's bankroll was challenged for $ 10,000, and bottles of champagne shot out before the night was over. What happened? Doug started what no one expected - his last session of the Bankroll Challenge, which played a mix of 50NL, 100NL and 200NL. He planned to have an 11 hour session, but ...
Three poker tools should be used by every tournament player on a daily basis.
To stay one step ahead, serious tournament players usually analyze and improve their strategy. There are still a few winning players who are holding back from training, but it is only a matter of time until they surpass the ever-improving player pool. Poker tools are extremely useful when it comes to improving your skills, and therefore a must for a professional ...
Explaining Big Blind Defense in Cash Games
You buy 100BB and wait for the blinds to start. The cards are dealt. UTG min raises to 2BB and folds you in the big blind. You are looking down at Q ♣ Q ♠. You probably think it's a stack-dunk-3 in 100% cases. After all, QQ is well ahead of the UTG player's opening range, opening in just 2BB, and QQ is the third strongest starting hand in poker. We already have 1BB in the big blind, ...
10 of the best female poker players of all time
Take Barbara Enright, for example. In 2007, Enright was the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, alongside "Poker Brother" Phil Hellmuth. It is impressive that Enright is the only woman to make the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, ending up in fifth place. Enright was also the first woman to win three WSOP bracelets ...
Alex Jacob travels from Champion of Poker to Champion of Danger
Jacob, 33, nicknamed "Fro Poker" for his hair style was first known for winning the 2006 United States Poker Championship Main Event on ESPN. He left several final tables at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT) and then quit poker to become Jeopardy! champion. He is also widely known for his good athletic ...