I'd like to start this article by saying I am a big fan of Daniel Negraneu.  He is one of the few players at the very top of the game who always seems to be promoting poker and and has a great demeanour at the table.  As well as being a great promoter of the game, he is also a great self promoter.  I'm still not entirely sure how someone can take playing optimally, given it a name and promote it as though it is his own concept, but kudos to Daniel for pulling this off.

This was the question posed to me about a year ago. Take a random person in his/her twenties of average intelligence and turn that player into a winning poker player. Given time and experience could you teach this person to play exactly like you and succeed?  My answer was yes. Why couldn’t I? There’s nothing inherently special about me that lends me to be winning poker player. Poker is not about natural ability, it’s just something that can be learned. On closer inspection however, I’ve learned that this above statement is not entirely true.

(1) A SHAKING HAND

This is very common for newer poker players. It occurs when the player bets, their hand will shake when they put their chips out. This is not an intentional tell and it almost ALWAYS means a huge hand.  They have hit big and are excited.

With the recent introduction of Badugi to the available games on PokerStars players are scrambling to get the upper hand in the race for information on the game.  With next to no literature, coupled with the fact that it is naturally an “action” game, Badugi has become extremely profitable for those willing to put in the time.