Doctor Jack's Stack Attack

Dr Jack's Stack Attack

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  • All about Dr Jack

    Dr Jack is one of four brothers from a large family of fifty two. A dapper gent, you will always see him in a suit. Although on the more debauched side, he claims to like a woman with a nice pair and has occasion to get blind drunk on his favoured tipple, “Gin”. He likes to run occasionally and would describe himself as straight, although most people do think he is a bit nuts. He was once caught folding to a gay waiter...

    Flush with cash and a member of several affluent clubs, he once ran a marginally successful fresh water lobster farm. Unfortunately the business flopped leaving him feeling like a bit of a cowboy. He left the world of opulence to follow his heart all the way to poker heaven. His peers describe him as a “diamond geezer” and “one of a kind”. Those who have fallen foul to his superior skills refer to him with less gracious terms.

    Dr Jack lives in a rather full house in the Cotswold’s with his two dogs Siegfried and Roy and a Bolivian tree frog called Boris.

Poker getting you down? Feel the need for some lovin and advice?

Our resident poker pro is half Dr Phil, half Dr Ruth and all Dr Poker-Love. Dr Jack your poker agony aunt is on hand 24/7 to listen to your poker woes, help you find your inner pro and point you in the general direction of easy money.

Doctor Jack is committed to answering all of your emails. In addition to this Dr Jack selects from the great big poker mail-sack and prints them on our web site so that others may gain some insight into his mad poker brain. Not only that but every week you could be selected for our “Stack Attack” feature. Writer of “Stack Attack” letter of the week will receive a $20 Bonus!

Home | Archive | Ask Doctor Jack!

Hi Jack,

I’ve just won a ticket for the Irish Winter Festival! I’m over the moon as it’s the biggest win I’ve ever had, but I’ve never played at a live event before and am really nervous thinking about this (even though it is months away). What are the main differences between online and live play? What can I do to adjust and get myself ready for the tournament in October?

You’re da man, Jack!

KCstoned




Hello KC,

Firstly, congratulations on your big win; I’d love to play in such a large buy-in tournament myself but my darling Jacqueline forbids me to leave her side for more than 4 hours at a time… when the need strikes, I must be within calling distance! She is a wild one, that is for certain. Secondly, I must pull you up on how you addressed me in your letter – I didn’t spend eight years scurrying from quadrangle to quadrangle only to be called ‘Jack’ by those asking me for advice, it’s Doctor Jack to you my lad!

Regardless, you have contacted me with a very legitimate problem; many poker players struggle to adapt when they move from the online arena to live, and vice versa. Like you, my love for poker was nurtured online before being exposed to the different environment that is live; of course, when I started playing poker, fancy online rooms with bells-and-whistles were a thing of the future and we had to make do with poker-by-email and the like!

A quick comparison of the advantages of online versus live poker is a good place to start. The advantages of online poker include the fact that your opponents cannot see you and therefore you give away less information, it is easier for inexperienced players to participate fully in the game and make less mistakes (you get exact chip counts and the software facilitates proper bet-sizing), there is more play as the cards are dealt / shuffled much faster, there are a wider range of games and table stakes to choose from and the rake or fees incurred are usually much less.

Online poker is also much more accessible for practically all players; there are hundreds of games to choose from 24 hours a day and from wherever you can get online, no need to travel to play. Players have the ability to play multiple tables and thus greatly increase their potential profit. Oh, and you can play in your velvet bathrobe and fluffy slippers if the fancy takes you, as it often does me!

Some of the advantages of live poker include the fact that experienced players have a greater advantage over their opponents compared to newer players (who sometimes mishandle the chips due to nervousness or call when they mean to raise) and it is easier to give false tells. Playing poker live is also comparatively more social and enjoyable for some; you get to hold the cards and the chips in your hand and shoot the breeze with a wide variety of interesting characters!

In order to get yourself ready for the Irish Winter Festival by October, I’d advise you to keep working on your game online (as all you’ve learned can and will be transferable to the live arena) and maybe start taking a few trips to your local card room (or even play with your friends at home) to get used to playing live. The vast majority of poker players and dealers are friendly, so don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. You’ll impress the others with chip tricks before you know it!

Hopefully the above has been helpful KC – I may not be in attendance at the Irish Winter Festival (I believe my Jacqueline has booked us into a castle in the Scottish Highlands that weekend, I believe it is on Mount Often) but I’ll be tracking your progress and hoping you take it down.

Good luck in the big one!

Dr. Jack

This week's other letters

Dear Dr Jack,

Lately I have been playing some satellites on Paddy Power Poker as I am trying to qualify for the Irish Open. Im doing ok but I still havnt got my ticket! I feel that the early parts are fine but when we are in a situation where there are 6 tickets and 10 of us left I am exiting on hands like AQ and AJ, one time I exited right on the bubble when I was 2nd chipleader and got knocked out by the chipleader when I was holding QQ!

Am I doing something wrong? Can you give me some advice on how to play satellites?

Thanks Dr Jack.

GimpMask.

PS I love reading your stuff, your awesome!




Hello Gimpmask

My word, it’s been a long time since I wore one of those!  Ah, fond memories - I’ve tried on many occasions to persuade Mistress Jacqueline down to the cellar for some light paddling but she doesn’t seem to think that I am naughty enough – how little she knows!

Now, my dear boy, you have your eyes set on a big prize, and they don’t come much bigger than the Irish Open!  If there is ever a place to have a sherry and a game of cards it is at Europe’s oldest, biggest, warmest, funnest poker tournament – I can see why you want to qualify!

The trouble is you are playing the satellites as if you were playing a normal MTT.  In an MTT the prize money for 1st (or 2nd or 3rd) is generally far bigger than it is for 10th – 4th and it is correct to take well timed coin-flips with hands like AQ, AJ or even QQ. 

In the Irish Open satellite you mention above there were 6 tickets.  That means that 1st-6th place all have an equal payout, so it is not essential to win the tournament (finishing 6th wins you the same prize).  Therefore, there is no need to get involved in pots where you have little or no edge over your opponents (i.e. taking on big coinflip situations all-in preflop). 

As second chip leader you are in a prime position to pick up the blinds from the short stacks (who will be desperately holding on for a ticket).  By bullying the table to pick up lots of small pots you will maintain your position in the top 2 or 3 which will ensure you earn your place in the Irish Open.

This means that you should back out of danger pots which have the potential to cripple you – even if you have the correct odds to call, and even, sometimes, if you are sure you have the best hand.

An extreme example of this would be the following.  There are 7 players left and 6 tickets up for grabs.  You hold AA on the button.  UTG (the short stack) goes all-in. The player beside him then goes all-in with roughly the same number of chips.  Finally the player in the cut-off (who has you covered) pushed all-in over the top. What should you do?

Traditional poker wisdom would have you insta-calling and throwing your hands up in the air in victory!  But if you think about it for more than a second you will realize that you should fold.

For the player in the cut-off to push all-in at this stage would indicate a very strong hand (QQ, KK, AK) which more than likely has the short stacks crushed.  In this situation at least one of the short stacks is certain to be eliminated (barring some miracle split pot) which will win you a ticket.

So, although you are a favourite to win the pot, the odds are negated by the chance that you could be eliminated should you play the hand.  (In this situation the chance of a split pot is less than 1% so you have a 99% chance of winning a ticket.  If the cut-off has KK versus your Aces you have only an 80% of winning the pot and collecting your ticket)

By not entering the hand you are effectively guaranteeing yourself a seat at the greatest poker tournament in the world.

Using the above example as a guide, you should now be able to see that calling all-ins preflop with AQ, AJ (and to a lesser extent AK and QQ) should be avoided unless you have a significant chip advantage over your opponent.

I’m sure, with this advice on board, you will be picking up a ticket in your next satellite and I look forward to seeing you at the bar at the Irish Open… with a bit of luck Mistress Jacqueline will have me in the dog-collar by then!

Happy spanking!

Dr. Jack

Hey Doc,

Recently I’ve been getting tired of playing the same No Limit Hold’em STTs and cash tables at the same old stakes that I’ve been playing for the past few years. I don’t have enough in my bank roll to move up to nose bleed stakes; what can I do to keep poker exciting for me?

I don’t want to have to go back to the way it used to be before I discovered poker, sitting in watching the TV every night with the occasional trip to the pub to play darts against the monosyllabic locals! Don’t subject me to that cruel life again.

In desperation,

j5foreva




Hello there j5!

Hmm, that is a tricky problem alright…without a little bit of excitement our lives are exceedingly boring it must be said. Why, only last week I attempted to spruce up both me and my darling Jacqueline’s lives by introducing all manner of leather goods into the bedchamber.

This well-intended action was dreadfully misunderstood by my lady, unfortunately, and I was forced to sleep on one of the servant boys’ cots in the bowels of the house, dealing with a severe rodent problem and a multitude of strange noises during the night. Some might call my temporary change in circumstance exciting, but if that is excitement I can do without it!

In any case, I recommend that you widen your poker-playing horizons by embracing some of the other variations of the game played on paddypowerpoker.com. While Pot Limit Hold’em and Limit Hold’em poker are worth a try (these games are similar to No Limit Hold’em, with the same number of cards dealt and betting rounds available, the difference being in the size of bets and raises allowed), to re-invigorate your nights without resorting to enough leather to clothe an army of Harley Davidson bikers have a try of Omaha or Stud.

Both Omaha and Stud come in different variations, just like the more popular Texas Hold’em, and I fear I’d exhaust even the most dedicated of readers by listing out each and every kind and the differences from Hold’em! However, I’m happy to give a brief overview, particularly as Jacqueline still refuses me access to the bedroom and I’ve little else to do!

In a game of Omaha, each player is dealt four hole cards and a player must use precisely two cards from their hand and three cards from the board, whereas as you know in a game of Hold’em a player may use any combination of five cards from their hole cards and the board cards to make a hand. The betting rounds proceed in a similar manner to Hold’em.

Omaha variations include No Limit, Pot Limit and Limit (again, like Hold’em), in addition to Omaha Hi-Lo, which is similar to ‘vanilla’ Omaha High except it allows for two winning hands to share the pot; the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand. For more information on Omaha Hi-Lo and the qualifying hand criteria, click here .

Likewise, Stud is an exciting poker game that comes in a number of different variations, including 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo and 5 Card Stud. The principal difference between Stud and both Omaha and Hold’em is that no community cards (i.e. the board) is used in Stud; each player has his own individual hand. For more information on Stud, please click here .

So, there you go j5! If variety is the spice of life, slap me across the posterior and call me Shirley, as I’ve just outlined an entire spice rack of poker opportunity for you. Good luck on the tables (whichever you decide on) and keep trying new things!

From the cellar,

Dr. Jack

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