Ask A Pro Part 2

Dara O'Kearney aka Doke has come back and given answers to the questions put to him. See below!!

Question: do you use huds, if so, which is the best and how much do you rely on them?

Dara: Very heavily as I couldn't play more than 4 tables otherwise. I have always uesd PokerTracker so it's more a case of habit at this stage but I do think PT4 is amazing, especially the Note feature (it takes notes on opponent tendencies and leaks)

Question: Whats the most reliable tell you've found (online and live?)

Dara: Online bet sizing is the main one. A lot of people vary their sizing depending on hand strength. Some timing stuff too: the most common one I can think of is when a player timebanks then raises or shoves. That's generally strong if the player isn't a pro.

Live: you get sizing tells too but physical tells are more important. The most reliable ones are the hand tells. I know at least two Irish based pros who move the chips into the pot differently depending on whether they are bluffing or value betting. I also know one player who waves at their chips after betting if bluffing. That's definitely the funniest tell I've picked up: literally waving your chips goodbye.

Question: whats the worst TD ruling you've seen?

We are blessed with some of the best TDs in Ireland so can't recall any from here, but in Spain I was on the wrong end of an insane ruling where a player was allowed to retrieve his hand from the muck after the dealer had mucked them, call my all in, and knock me out. (I read about this at the time myself and couldn't believe it, I think Dara may have had Kings!!)

Question: Do u have a set %age of the buy-in you're prepared to spend on satellite qualifying?

Dara: No. I think of them as two entirely different things. A satellite is just another tourney for me: the fact that the prizes get converted into entries for another tourney makes no difference. I don't even track how much I spend.

Question: How Important is Position?

Dara: Depends on a number of things, like relative skill level, opponent tendencies, stack depth and specific hand. Highly skilled post flop players can get away with playing hands out of position against weaker players. If you are up against someone who folds a lot post flop, you can play a pretty wide range of hands profitably just by betting a lot of flops. If they never fold and bloat pots in bad spots, you can do the same if stacks are deep knowing they will pay you off if you flop big. A small pocket pair is easier to play oop than suited connectors because with the pair you can just give up if you don't hit a set, and against many players you can extract value even oop when you do. With suited conns you are more likely to flop a draw and it's a lot easier to keep control of the pot and get free cards in position. Same things for weaker aces or broadway hands: it's a lit easier to keep the pot small in position. A hand like KJs can be costly when stacks are deep if you decide to call down with top pair or chase a draw, but it's an ok hand to defend when stacks are 20 big blinds as you can get it in profitably whenever you flop a pair or a decent draw.

Question: When or how low do you wait before you go all in? (How short)

Dara: I generally shove my entire range once M (my stack divided by preflop pot of blinds and antes) drops below 5. That's 7.5 big blinds pre antes and generally around 12 with antes. Above that, I have some hands that are strong enough to raise and call a shove, and some I raise hoping to steal the blinds or see a cheap flop and go from there but will fold to a reraise (so my range is balanced between the strongest hands, and some that are too weak to shove).

Question: If you raise, should you all always c-bet whether you hit the flop or not?

Dara: No, that's too exploitable. If someone always does that you exploit them by either always raising or floating them (as they won't have it more than half the time). Online I cbet about 70% of the time, dependent on how often opponents fold to cbets, how many of them I'm betting into, board texture. They are factors live too, plus there's the whole physical side. Sometimes I would decline to cbet in a spot where I generally would if I got a strong sense my opponent had hit, or I might cbet a board where I knew he had hit but felt he wouldn't believe me and make a big bluff (you can sometimes see guys literally ready to blow). A few years ago you could profitably cbet all the time, but nowadays even novice players know what a cbet is and won't just fold to one every time they miss.

Question: is poker in ireland, still alive and kicking or is it slowly dyin a death? If so
is this because of higher buy ins or higher reg fees?

Dara: I think it depends whether you are talking about poker recreationally or professionally. Recreationally it's probably as healthy as it's ever been, with lots of events to choose from. Recreational players tend not to worry as much about reg fees as pros, even if they should (they are getting ripped off too). Professionally it's a disaster, with only a couple of events a year worth your time if you are thinking like a pro. My wife continually nags me about playing live and she has a point. Less than 10% of my income as a pro has come from live poker, and it has consumed way more than 10% of my time. Factor in expenses and the hassle of travel and the boredom of one tabling at a slow pace and there's a strong argument for going the entirely online pro route. The reasons I don't are it's good to get out of the house sometimes, and you meet some great people and have a lot more fun than just clicking buttons, so there's a a balance. So I guess even pros aren't thinking of live poker in pure financial terms. Stars have done an amazing job building a grassroots tour with the UKIPT. At UKIPTs it's great to see not just the pros I play against every night but even more so recreational or fun players, who are way more fun to spend time with. So maybe we all just need to stop thinking of live poker in financial terms and treat it more as a social outing. The downside of that is the live scene is no longer producing pro players (all the recent decent pros in Ireland have come from online, some of them never played live). It would be nice to have a more rounded scene with lots of lower buyin events for recreational players, but also more high buyin events that guys on the way up could take shots at. Also, if the low buyin events become the exclusive preserve of recreational players, then there's less chance someone can improve in those games. About a year ago I considered retiring completely from live poker in Ireland, and my friend Connie O'Sullivan (one of the best tourney organisers in the world) made a point I'd never even considered, that it would be sad if I did as recreational players liked having the opportunity to play against me (and presumably other pros). I guess I always assumed they wouldn't like to have a pro at their table, but Connie is clearly right judging from the way people talk to me at the table when I play live: most are happy to have the opportunity. So something will definitely be lost if the live scene in Ireland continues the way it's going and it's all hundred quid games with 30 quid reg that the pros just don't bother with.

I understand that organisers have to make a buck and it's a difficult climate with dwindling numbers, tough economy and rising costs, so I understand why reg fees are rising generally, but some really do take the piss. As long as players let rogue organisers away with it, they will obviously continue. So next time you are thinking of playing an event, don't just look at the guarantee or estimated prize pool and buyin....look at the reg fee and ask yourself is it good value, or is it egregious. If people start voting with their feet, organisers will realise they can't get away with robbery.

Question: Whats the one thing you will tell a poker player if you were to give them some advice?

Dara: Recreational players: stick to your budget. Decide how much you can spend on poker each month and each year, and pick the events that offer the most value based on that. If you get a score, spend it on something you want, don't feel the need to spend it all on poker. Don't get depressed if you "lose" money playing poker, think of it like any other recreation where you spend some money to have some fun.

Pros and aspiring pros: Bankroll management is key. If you go bust, you're now broke AND just lost your job (unless you are a sponsored player or can find a backer). So don't go bust. It's ok to take occasional shots, but the guys who build bankrolls and long careers of playing on their own dime are the ones disciplined enough to build them the right way.

Thanks to Dara for this. You will see between himself and Jason's answers yesterday both have different views and outlook on things. Hopefully someone can take something from the above!!