THE GLOBAL POKER RANKINGS When my main sporting interest was boxing, way back in the time of heroic gladiators like Ali and Holyfield, I used to avidly follow the world rankings published every issue in the Ring magazine. Now that my main focus is poker I thought from time to time I’d keep all you poker fans up to date with the current ratings of the world’s top professionals as assessed by a mix of the poker media and based on a points system that takes into account tournaments and money won on a month by month basis.
HERE’S THE TOP FIVE Number 1 John Juanda with 717 points. Number 2 Gavin Smith with 626 points. Number 3 Barry Greenstein with 591 points. Number 4 Phil Ivey with 581 points. Number 5 Chad Brown with 573 points.
FIRST LADY IN THE TOP TEN Perhaps the most interesting entry in the top ten is the first lady for some while. Kathy Liebert crashes in at number 7 with an extremely impressive 532 points, comfortably ahead of the notorious Michael Mizrachi at number 8 with 522 points. Quite an achievement.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: Is it a good strategy to raise when you are drawing to a strong hand? A: Generally I’d say no it isn’t, but we need to be a little more specific to be helpful here. Let’s say you have Ten-Jack of Hearts and the flop is Queen of Hearts-Three of Spades and Six of Clubs. I’d still be calling bets if no one is raising too aggressively as your odds of completing either the potential straight or flush are not that good. The flop also wouldn’t indicate to an opponent that you had anything special and so a big raise would likely be viewed as a probable bluff and get called down. Even if you had four cards to your straight or flush prior to the turn and river being revealed, I’d still only be calling because the odds remain unfavourable unless you sense a bluff will dislodge a weak opponent.
A QUESTION OF TACTICS Q: When is the best tactical time to launch a check-raise? A: Let’s assume you have a premium hand and you are down to the river. If everyone has checked up to you, do the same yourself and check. This often lures another player into making a bet as he or she senses a lack of confidence amongst the opposition. When it’s your turn again, launch your raise! This may have the added effect of pulling even more money into the pot if yet another player feels he or she doesn’t want to walk away from the bets they have by now invested, especially if they have a medium to strong hand. This is the calculation you make when you launch a check-raise. The scenario I have outlined is an ideal situation to attempt it.
