Something that I see constantly when playing tournaments online is players who build a decent chip stack, lose one hand, be it to a bad beat or just a better hand at the wrong time, and then they proceed to get desperate to replenish their chips. I don't call it 'tilt' although it may be close to that, but what usually happens is that players will start to push too much with marginal hands because they are worried about the loss they just had. In every tournament I have ever played that I have won or made the money in, there has been a loss that I have had to recover from. Never will you run through an entire tournament without losing a confrontation along the way. Learning how to deal with this is the key to playing successful tournament poker.

    For example, last night I was playing a $33k KO tournament and the bigger stacks at the table were in the $16k-$22k range. Two players to my right got into a hand all-in. The bigger stack had 19k and the smaller 7k. The big stack had Q-Q and the small had K-K. The K's held up and the big stack went from $19k to $12k chip stack. Keep in mind the blinds were only $200-$400 at this point with no antes.

    To make a long story short, this former big stack starting bullying trying to pick up enough hands to make up for his loss. I picked up A-K and took most of his remaining chips when he got carried away with A-J. I had position, I was playing fairly tight, we should never have gotten that involved with A-J. But, he was still smarting from the previous loss and I was able to exploit that.

    You will see these types of scenarios online all the time, especially in tournaments. If you can exploit it in another player when you pick up a big hand against them, fine, but the main thing is to avoid letting it happen to you. Losses will happen, keep playing your game and you will build your chip stack back up. If you let it get in your head, your tournament will be over quickly.

   This month Sundays on Full Tilt will become a little more wild with the BLT (big little tournament) back and smaller than ever! This time there are 3 tournaments, one each Sunday of the month with a $200,000.00 prize pool that you can buy into for a mere $2.20! Obviously, this is a great value, and just as obviously, there are going to be a ton of entrants, so needless to say, patience will be a virtue. However, if you are going to spend 2 bucks playing poker, this is about the most money that you can win anywhere online or off.

  So if you want a shot at the big one without risking much, check out the BLT on Sundays this month at Full Tilt Poker.

   I have had several emails from players asking my opinion on the new "Rush Poker" on Full Tilt. In case you don't play on FT or have not heard, this is a new cash ring game that you can sit down at, where you are whisked to a new table after eery hand. In fact, not only do you change tables after every hand, you can change tables right in the middle of a hand if you simply fold. The effect is that you are basically involved in a hand constantly, at all times. Of course, once the flop comes down and the subsequent turn and river, the game slows a bit while betting takes place, but you get the idea.

   Just to be perfectly clear, Rush Poker bears about as much resemblence to the actual game of poker as checkers does to chess. That is, Rush Poker is simply not poker. It is a game for action junkies who feel like they want to have a part of every hand. What you will get (and I have tried it to prove my point) is players who are willing to play anything and try to suck out any hand because you won't be sitting next to them in 3 seconds anyway. What this game does is bring more 'luck factor' into the game than it should ever have.

    Part of learning how to play poker is learning patience. Part of the game is watching your opponents and their betting patterns. Seeing what cards they will take to showdown, what they will open with from early position, how they defend blinds, etc is a huge part of the game and a huge part of being a successful poker player. Rush Poker takes away all of those elements and pretty much creates a game of Bingo. While Bingo can be fun if you win, it ain't poker folks!

   So, for those of you wondering, by all means go ahead and try Rush Poker, it is fun as a diversion. Maybe like putting $10 in a slot machine on your way to the tables at a casino; its kind of cool if you win, but you don't really expect your money back!

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