Let me just start out by saying that this isn’t a post bashing Full Tilt Poker as a whole. In fact, I happen to like a lot of the things Full Tilt is doing including their new Multi-Entry tournaments, and Rush Poker when it was added last year. But one thing I hate is the emails they spam me with under the guise of poker strategy.
Sure these emails do contain legitimate and well-produced videos that contain some remnants of poker strategy. But let me tell you one thing: these poker tips offer the bare minimum! The most recent tip I got through the email was Chris “don’t call me turd” Ferguson ‘teaching me’ how to semi-bluff (oh please).
Some of the gems that Ferguson offers in this video includes:
– You should semi-bluff when you have a good chance of getting your opponent to fold a better hand (really, no kidding?)
– If you’re not getting an opponent to fold a better hand, it’s not a true semi-bluff.
– Semi-bluff with a strong draw instead of cold bluffing.
The video goes on to show Ferguson re-raising twice the size of the pot against an opponent while he has an open-ended straight draw. Besides the overly-large raise on a semi-bluff, this tip could be salvaged if it actually finished out the hand. Of course, it doesn’t though…..
And, of course, there are plenty of other lame, out-of-date tips that might have been useful pre-UIGEA days. One I can recall is a video from Howard Lederer where he’s talking about making money in Limit Hold’em. Here Lederer keeps raising with pocket kings when the flop is all hearts, he’s under the gun, and two other players are behind him. Not exactly the perfect situation to keep raising in, and certainly not the best hand to show for this video.
In any case, I hope Full Tilt stops sending me these wack emails.
