I basically told him what I could in the short time that we had together. He was doing rather well in the poker games that he was playing in but he had now got it into his head that he wanted to try “real” poker in a proper card room.

I didn’t have the time to go with him as I don’t play much live poker these days myself. Nearly all of my time now is spent either playing online or teaching and writing about poker. I did not like the thought of Dave going off on his own without me.

I sort of felt a responsibility towards him because he used to listen to my stories of how well I was doing and this must have spurred him on to actually playing the game because Dave had never been a gambling man.

“So are you saying that I should never play in a real card room Carl?”
“No Dave I am not, it’s just that it won’t be like playing poker like it is on TV which is all gentlemanly and straight up”.

“So your saying that people cheat in real card rooms”

I smiled and told him not to be so naive. “People cheat in life Dave and poker is no exception whether it is played online or in a real card room. It is just that online poker the site does actually go some way towards protecting you and the other players cannot get hold of the cards which is important”

“So what do I need to look out for then” he replied.

“Well for a start, make sure that you are playing in a cash game that has a house dealer if at all possible. Some of these players can be very slick when it comes to cheating and there are still card mechanics out there plying their trade”.

“What else do I need to look out for?”

“Watch out for players communicating with each other, some of them will blatantly talk in their own language and they are not always talking about the weather either. If you see this then inform them to speak English only and if they refuse then take the matter up with the card room supervisor and if you get no joy from them then a casino manager”.

“Have you ever cheated Carl?” said Dave with a rather cheeky look on his face. I avoided the question by saying that it was a terrible thing to say to a “gentleman” like me. Seriously though, I will take the fourth amendment on that one.

“So are there any specific moves that I need to look out for?”
Look out for part two of this series coming soon.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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The hand I played was in a micro-limit cash game. The $4 I lost on the hand is not painful, although considering it is 200 big blinds that does make it sting a little! I held QQ in middle position and was first to act. I raised to $0.07 and my opponent made it $0.24. I decided to raise yet again and made it $0.72. My opponent went all-in for $2.07. This is where I capitulated and I called off with Queens. He showed Aces and they held. Conducting a hand analysis of this hand I realised the error of my ways. This article is designed to make crystal clear the things I did right and the things I did wrong in the hand.

The raise to $0.07 with the big blind at $0.02 was standard to the game I was playing in and had become the standard raise. My opponents re-raise from late position to $0.24 could have been made with anything better than AJ in my view because he would be in position on me if I called which gave my Queens a decent chance of being the best hand. I was aware of this and decided to test him with a re-raise of my own to $0.72. I was aware of bad flops like Kxx or Axx that out of position could cost me the hand even if I was best so I decided on this second raise as it represents real strength. He instantly went all-in and I made the call. I reasoned he was trying to bully me off the pot in position but I admit I did not think it through properly.

There are two errors committed here. Firstly, I forgot about just how many big blinds were being risked here. My play could easily have been made with kings or even Aces, so assuming that my opponents are terrible at the micro stakes and still calling can never be justified by logically looking at the action in the hand so far. Secondly, I simply had to fold. I had invested 120 big blinds and had been told “You are losing” even with Queens. I became married to the hand and paid the price.

In this position in the future I must consider the question, how often can he be holding tens, or AK here? Even with AK I am racing with only a 55% chance of success. As it happens a flat call would have probably earned him my stack due to the flop and all of the money would have been in on the turn by the time the King hit that in a small pot would have slowed me down. But the re-raise then all-in play is almost always a big hand. I had no reason other than pathetic hope that he was making this bad play. My raise to $0.72 was good, it got me the information I needed but like a fool I did not use it!

I learned a lot from this hand and it is a mistake I will not repeat. This hand also taught me the value of hand history review because this and other hands have highlighted strange moves I make that need fixing. Testing myself at the micro-limits, even if I end up losing down there is far better value paying my tuition in cents rather than hundreds of dollars. This hand could have been a smaller loss, sometimes it is a success to lose less.

Watch Allen Cunningham for real life examples of damage limitation. He is probably the best in the world of getting out of the way in cash game hands when he is losing. I accept that in low limit games the outcome may have been different, but as Texas Hold’em games online get tougher action similar to what is described above will result in Aces or Kings more often than not.

Learn from my mistakes, I certainly have.

By Malcolm Clarke

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He is known as “Durrrr” due to his online name and that has become almost a brand and identity in itself. Dwan said that he came up with the name as he knew even at the start of playing that having a name that indicated weakness to his opponents was a good idea. That should give you some idea how well suited this young man is to beating online poker games right across the Internet.

Starting with a very small buy-in Dwan built his bankroll from scratch. Players remembered Durrrr at the tables during his formative years learning the game remember an aggressive but weaker player. What separates Dwan from most Internet poker players is the immense belief that he is better than his opponents and his stomach for the large downswings that he has endured. He never gave up and did what he had to do to become the best. He has been quoted in interviews saying that he is a young man so risking $400,000 of an $800,000 bankroll was not such a problem for him. Many other players (this author included) likes the idea of this statement in theory but knows that in practise your attitude would be much different.

Tom “Durrrr” Dwan continued learning to beat each level of cash games until he was battling it out everyday with top cash game players like Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and David Benyamine. Plenty of players have appeared at the high stakes online poker tables and started well and then busted spectacularly (think Isildur1 and Martonas in late 2009). Dwan managed to hold his own and post large profits over time. In 2008, under a variety of usernames, Cirque De Soleil owner Guy Laliberte was alleged to have lost around $28 million dollars. Much of this went to players like Dwan and Ivey who prowled the high stakes tables looking to relieve Guy of his money. Since losing all of that money Guy has not been seen at the high stakes tables, much to the dismay of Dwan and co. These large wins gave Durrrr the bankroll that he has today allowing him to push the boundaries even further in nosebleed high stakes games.

Dwan is quite aloof during interviews saying that he does not have a secret to winning high stakes poker or “all his friends would be pros”. He does not welcome the media intrusion into his life although recently has been more visible on TV. Everything from his sexuality to his opinions on fellow professionals are probed and he remains uneasy with the attention. He was signed up recently as a member of Team Full Tilt and looked very ill at ease during the press conference announcing their mutual business relationship.

The public love Dwan because he has done what we all dream we could do. He is rumoured to have around $10 million in liquid online poker winnings and along with that stash of cash he has an excellent monthly income from Full Tilt. He has made it from online poker grinder to probably the most well-known cash game professional of the poker boom era. For many years he will be the poster boy of cash game poker. He remains willing to challenge anyone at any game and is as fearless as he is skilful. Remember his name, because Durrrr is going to be around for some time yet at the pinnacle of cash game poker.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Thank you.

Robert
Robert,

How you track your stats is determined by what you are most comfortable with. If you play a lot live, you are pretty much limited to pen and paper, but if you are an online player, you want to use a program such as Poker Tracker. Poker Tracker will allow you to keep track of ring games, sit-n-gos and tournaments. You can track everything about your play down to the specific hands you played.

The main stats you want to keep track of are obviously your win and loss amounts and also the types of hands you are winning with. Doing this will help you get a bead on your style of play and what is working for you and what isn’t.

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