Gareth Chantler

Gareth Chantler Articles

2020 July

What Not to Do Online: Relative vs. Absolute Hand Strength at 100NL

What NOT to Do Online: Promote Your Blockers

 

June

What NOT to Do Online: Losing Your Head

 

February

Just Because a Card Improves Your Hand Doesn't Mean You Should Stay

 

January

The Temptation to Play it Safe in Poker Tournaments

Responding to Unexpected Leading Bets Postflop

Postflop Strategy Against Players Who Continuation Bet Too Much

 

2019 December

Betting Small When Strong to Induce Crying Calls (or Check-Raises)

The Suspicious Check-Back: When They Don't Bet When They 'Should'

Observe Value Betting Patterns Early to Pick Off Bluffs Later

 

November

Next Stop, Value Town: Recognizing When You Must Have the Best Hand

Bluffing All-in Early in a Freezeout Tournament

 

October

Attacking Weak Ranges From the Big Blind

'Hand Reading' Versus 'Hand Guessing'

Checking Good Hands to Let Opponents Give Themselves Away

Value Betting a Set on a Tricky Board

 

September

Keeping a Bounty in Play in a Progressive Knockout Tournament

Playing Top Pair, Bad Kicker in a Multi-Way Pot

When Checking Back Goes Wrong

Resist Trying to Bluff the Under-Folding Over-Caller

 

August

Hand Analysis: When Bluffs Are in Short Supply

Getting Lost in Hold'em: The Danger of Underestimating an Opponent

 

July

When Less Than the Nuts Won't Do: Having a 'No-Calling Range'

How to Gather Reads When Playing Against Anonymous Opponents

 

June

Call or Fold? On the Relationship Between Blockers and Bluff Catchers

 

May

A Theory About 'Residual Value' in Poker

Short Deck Hold'em: Redefining the Nuts

 

April

Targeting Your Opponents' Possible Hands When Bluffing

What Not to Do Online: Make a Blocking Bet Without a Plan

 

March

Bluffing When an Opponent's Range is Weak

Hand Analysis: When the Risk Ain't Worth the Reward

 

February

What Not to Do Online: Bluffing Into Strength

Beware of Trying to Maximize Value With Strong Hands That Aren't the Nuts

 

January

The Dangers of Trying to 'Protect' Your Hand

Counting the Combos: An Exercise in Range Narrowing

Avoid Playing Weak Flush Draws Too Aggressively in Multi-Way Pots

 

2018 December

Breaking Down a 'Suicide' Bluff

After Bluff Catching on the Turn, Fold to River Bets if Unimproved

 

November

Recognizing When Your Opponent Should Have It

 

October

Hand Analysis: When One Bluff Leads to Another

When Facing River Shoves, Check Your Hand for Blockers to Possible Bluffs

What Not to Do Online: Value Betting Against Chops

 

September

The Entitlement Error: Don't Mistakenly Think You 'Deserve' a Pot

Learn to Notice When Your Hand Blocks Bluffs, Too

How to Respond to the Big Out-of-Nowhere River Overbet

When Not to Slow Play: Don't Take Trapping Too Far

 

August

What Not to Do Online: Don't Just Stop Thinking and Shove

The Nuts That Weren't; or, I'd Rather Be Good Than Lucky

Deciding What Hand Is the Best Bluff Catcher

 

July

What Not to Do Online: Don't Wait for Value to Come to You

Why Not Shove? Going All in When Acting First to Negate Positional Disadvantage

Hand Analysis: It's Not Always Enough to Flop the Nuts

 

June

Knowing the Bottom of Your Range When Deciding Whether or Not to Bluff

Hand Analysis: The Worst Imaginable Bluff

Bluffing With the Bottom of Your Range

 

May

Hand Analysis: A Single-Raised Pot Gets Weird

A Lesson in Hand Reading; or, But What Is Going to Call?

What Not to Do Online: Going Broke in a Limped Pot

 

April

How to React When Opponents Overbet the Turn

Hand Analysis: A Good and Ridiculous Bluff

Learning How to Become Unbluffable

Don't Stop Analyzing the Hand After Hitting Your 'Perfect' Card(s)

 

March

Mistakes On All Sides in a Hand of 100NL Zoom

Hand Analysis: A Thousand Ways to Get Lucky

What Not to Do: The Desperate, Out-of-Position Shove

'Equity' in Poker Is Not Just a State of Mind

 

February

Tournament Strategy: Defending a Short Stack

Extra! Extra! Read All About It: Preflop Mistake Rewarded

 

January

Raise-Folding for Value? Sometimes You Can

What Not to Do Online: Letting It All Hang Out When the Board Pairs

Taking Heat With Pocket Aces in a Hand of 100NL 6-Max Zoom

Hand Analysis: Don't Ignore the River

Learning How to Read Your Own Range; or, Think With Your Hands

 

2017 December

What Not to Do: Getting Priced In

Hand Analysis: You Can Fold a Full House

 

November

Making the Last Bet: Finding Fold Equity with Ace-King

To Catch a Bluff: Looking Back at a Hand of 100NL

Hand Analysis: A Negative Freeroll in a Multi-Way Pot

 

October

When Blockers Don't Count: Analyzing an Online Poker Disaster at 100NL

Big Mistakes When Playing Online Cash Deep-Stacked

Calling All the Way Down in a Hand of 100NL

 

September

Value Targeting Second-Best Hands When Playing 100NL Online Poker

Risk vs. Reward; or, Go Ahead, Let Them Draw Out On You

Bet Sizing When Targeting Second-Best Hands

 

August

'Groan Folding' in Live Poker

Narrowing Ranges on the River in 100NL Online

Don't Try to Bluff Catch a Range Without Bluffs

The Outs That Weren't There; or, How Not to Play a Drawing Hand Online

Tell Me a Story: One Way Not to Bluff Online

Hand Analysis: A Deep-Stacked Online Miscue at 100NL

 

March

Prepare Yourself: Pre-Session Advice for Online Poker Players

Dealing With Uninvited Bluffs

 

2016 October

Learning to Think About Your Own Range of Hands, Part 2

 

September

Learning to Think About Your Own Range of Hands, Part 1

 

June

Let's Talk About Seven-Way Flops: Carnage and Regret

Let's Talk About Seven-Way Flops: Range Advantage and Multi-Way Action

 

March

Ignoring the Alarm: A Lesson to Listen When Warning Bells Ring

 

February

The Pain of a Poker Tournament Exit

 

January

Why So Much? An Exercise in Capping an Opponent’s Range

A Multi-Way Hand: Raise for Value or Call to Keep Players In?

 

2015 December

Using Your Own Hand Ranges to Guide Decisions Against Unknown Opponents

 

October

Obsessed With Your “All-in EV”? It’s a Negative Freeroll

 

September

You’re Chip Leader -- Now What? The Danger of Expectations in Tournaments

 

May

Uncharted Territory: Making the Worst of a Short Stack?

Uncharted Territory: Playing a Final Table Without Antes

 

April

Final Table Puzzles, Pt. 3: Pushing Pocket Tens, and Flopping a Flush

Final Table Puzzles, Pt. 2: After Flopping Two Pair, a Hand Takes a Tricky Turn

 

March

Final Table Puzzles, Pt. 1: Thinking in the Face of the Big Shove

Choosing Your Discards in No Limit Irish

Swirling Pressures: Final Table Decisions in The Bigger $162, Part 2

A New Game: Final Table Decisions in The Bigger $162, Part 1