Hoyt was schooled in poker games by his father who taught him a fierce, aggressive and confident manner of playing that Hoyt retained through all his growing years and till date. It is this ‘no fear’ motto of his that has helped Hoyt Corkins not only successfully deal with all types of experienced and fierce opponents even those regarded as Titans of Poker, but his astute playing style has contributed to keen abilities to read opponents for poker tells. These qualities have helped Hoyt become one of the most respected poker players of all times.

Currently located in Glenwood in Alabama, where he was born in 1960, Hoyt reveals that his favorite place in the world is Vortex Springs in Florida. His country roots are the reason for his music choices: obviously Country music! When he’s not playing tournament poker and his favorite Pot Limit Omaha game, Hoyt can be found watching ‘The Godfather’ movie!

His 54 cash wins and total poker winnings of $5,257,693 with 5 first place finishes and 2 WSOP bracelets to his credit lend strength to the fact that the younger you begin, the better you get (Hoyt began playing pro poker from the age of 19). His Pro Rank position is 26, an enviable place by any standards.

However, his fierce tournament style is a contrast to his other soft-spoken, polite demeanor that sets him apart from other senior players on the poker circuit.

His initiation into poker was from the weekly poker games organized by his father who’d allow him to sit at these home games when Hoyt returned from school and this was his first introduction to cash games. By the time he reached his teens, Hoyt had been permitted by his father to play a few hands to follow the game’s flow; it wasn’t long before he learned how to observe and calculate full tilt cards from reactions of the players before him and what guided their decisions for hands.

But, with all the practice and evaluation of home poker games, Hoyt only made a dent in the tournament circuit in 1989 when he placed 4th in the World Series of Poker for its $2500 Pot-Limit Omaha game.

The years that followed were good for him because Hoyt finished in the cash at 3 consecutive WSOP events, with the year 1992 heralding his first big win at the World Series of Poker Championship for the Pot-Limit Omaha category in which Hoyt raked in $96,000 in addition to his primary gold bracelet!

Personal issues, including a bitter divorce compelled Hoyt Corkins to leave the poker world for 11 years and turn to raising cattle in his hometown. However, it was hard to ignore his calling and his passion for poker was recognized by his fiancée, so 2003 saw the return of Hoyt Corkins to tournaments and another big win: the Foxwoods World Poker Finals in the No Limit Hold ‘Em event for which he earned $1,089,200 in the World Poker Tour!

The following year, he earned 2nd position for the Caribbean Adventure hosted by Pokerstars.com losing the top rank to Gus Hansen but earning a sizeable $290,065 for his efforts, which was commendable considering he was suffering from the flu at the time, but made no excuses for missing the first position.

In 2005, during the WSOP Tournament of Champions, he placed 2nd again behind Mike Matusow to earn 325,000 and in 2006, during the 5th season of Legends of Poker tour, he reached the final table, ranking 3rd.

More recent wins include a first in 2007 WSOP (his second gold bracelet) and the 2008 WPT second position that earned him $458,267! He continues to go strong in tournament poker – and for many serious poker fans and tournament enthusiasts, Hoyt Corkins is nothing short of a ‘Nightmare,’ as that is what he subjects his opponents to if they sit with him at a poker table!

There are four tricks that all Texas Hold ‘em players need to know.

The first trick has to do with blinds. There is going to come a time when as a player, you find yourself dealing with either a small or large blind. This is a case when you seem to be surrounded by players who are just folding or limping in. Some players are able to predict a flop when they are in this particular situation and are able to get a lucky hit that results in a big payout. Other times the player decides to go with the safe option and folds.

If the player is dealing with a pre-flop they need to bet a similar. In other words, no matter what kind of hand you are holding, you should make your bets consistent. Most of the professional poker players feel that the best rule of thumb is to bet three times the amount of the blind bet. By doing this it makes it harder for the other players at the table to predict exactly what kind of hand the player is holding and if they are bluffing.

Just because a player might be holding either a flush or a straight, it does not mean that they should just bet their entire bankroll and expect a huge win. They need to proceed with caution. Good players know that they need to calculate the odds of the pot and use the number that they get to decide if they should call. The best way to make the calculation is to take the current amount of the pot, add the amount the player would have to add before they can see the next hand, and then divide the number to get the percentage. If the final number is larger than your chances of hitting the card, the player should call. If the person does not like the final number they should fold. This type of process is referred to as stacking the odds.

The final trick that the player needs to know about will only be an issue when they are playing poker online instead of in an actual casino. Anyone who is playing a great deal of poker online, should setup a program that will calculate the probability of the hand. The program takes the value of the cards that the player was dealt, and calculates it against the number of players who are in the same poker room. Based on the information the player gets, they will be able to determine if they should call or fold.

Many people think there are some kind of predictable patterns involved in the outcome of each spin of the online poker machines. However, these machines use random number generators which create a new number each time you play the game.

These numbers are not in a sequence and are not related to previous results by any formula.

Sometimes, it may happen that you find what it seems like a pattern, but they were generated by pure chance, being a coincidence and it’s not an actual pattern which will last. It’s quite likely the next time you’d start getting the same results; the final outcome would not be repeated.

Some gamblers think that once you had a big win, the machine ‘goes cold’ and you won’t have the same chances as before winning. In fact, each spin gives you exactly the same chances. Likewise, if you didn’t win anything in a long time, it doesn’t mean you have to win something soon.

The same is valid about the jackpot: the odds allow you to win it twice the same day, but you could also play for an entire year without winning it. It’s completely non-predictable and the chances remain constant throughout the game.

Another myth developed by poker strategy is that if you play with only one coin, you’re going to win more frequently. This myth was developed by unlucky gamblers, who played many games without winning anything, then they switch to fewer coins, and sooner or later, they win again, but they believe that switching to one coin it was what changed their luck.

Some poker machine gamblers think that you can increase your odds if you press the button at the exact time. Although this is technically true, as the poker machine computers generate hundreds of numbers every second, you’d have to know the exact microsecond when to hit the button and that’s not possible, because by the time your brain told your finger to hit the button, a hundred numbers have already passed.

* You will need to re-analyze your starting hand selection first when you make the move to a short handed game. You will need to play a wider selection of hands on a table with fewer players because the values of the hands go up. Since there are only six players with cards the likelihood of someone holding a monster hand is lower then if we were comparing it to a table with nine players.

* Since there are only six players a lot of the game will be bluffing and determining when you’re being bluffed out. A lot of pots nobody is going to hit which means if you bet first you will often win the pot. In hands when the board isn’t very threatening you will often find players throw out a bluff bet to see if they can take it down. If you can spot these bets then you should re-raise the player as they will often fold.

* The blinds will be coming around a lot quicker on a short handed table so you need to make sure that you’re playing enough hands and not playing to tight. Its one thing to be conservative, but you also need to steal the odd blinds when you aren’t being dealt anything. If you haven’t played any hands for a little bit then when you raise the pot to steal the blinds you should have enough respect that everyone folds. If you aren’t willing to bluff and steal blinds then you aren’t going to stand a chance at the short handed tables.

* Often the players who play short handed tables regularly are very loose so you need to make sure you’re fairly loose as well, but within moderation. You need to try and see a lot of flops so you have the potential of hitting and taking down some pots. A lot of pots will be raised so you need to be willing to call some raises and not be afraid to play.

Short handed poker can be quite profitable since there will be action for you to find, but you need to be careful at the same time because it can be a dangerous game. You can practice playing short handed on PokerStars or Party Poker any day of the week. Often you will not be able to get a read from your opponent when they have a monster hand in a short handed game and this can be one downfall. Since you don’t expect full houses or nut flushes to be dealt every hand you can easily get trapped into big hands if you’re not careful.

Since you only need to finish in the top five you don’t necessarily need to even make any huge moves in the tournament to win money. If the other players are aggressive then they will eventually knock each other out of the tournament which will usually allow you to fly under the radar in fifth place. The only time you really want to play any hands in double-up tournaments is when you have a high pocket pair or when you have a premium drawing hand. There is no need to play any small pocket pairs or low suited connectors because the likelihood of winning the pot isn’t high enough to warrant any action on your side.

You only need to wait for one good hand in a double-up tournament in order to make the money so make sure you don’t risk your tournament life on a coin flip. The worst thing you could do is go all-in with a low pocket pair and end up being against an A/K because you’ll often lose. You want to wait until you have a nut straight or flush until you move your chips all-in in these tournaments. There is no need to make any unneeded risks unless you’re the short stack in the tournament. As long as you aren’t the short stack then you don’t need to worry about making a stand.

If you are the short stack in a double-up poker tournament then you’re often going to need to start making some moves because nobody else is going to do your job. You will need to begin going all-in with marginal hands and hope that you can double-up once or twice depending on your situation. You will typically be called when you’re the short stack because the chip leaders want players gone so make sure you don’t have a complete junk hand. Always try to have at least suited connectors as a minimum when you make an all-in stand.

If you win some big pots early in a double-up tournament you can’t let it get to your head. Often players will begin pushing the table around and it won’t work this early in the tournament. You should just sit tight with your chips and wait out some of the action. You can usually win these tournaments by sitting out after doubling up once so don’t be anxious to play in pots as it’s often wiser to not play in pots. Generally the tighter poker player you are the better you’ll do in double-up tournaments.

In order to win the bounty off one of the players on your table you need to knock them out of the tournament. In the tournaments without any prize pool you will find that most players will go all-in fairly often when they have a hand. The best way to win money in these tournaments is by waiting for premium hands only. If you’re dealt a high pocket pair such as A’s, K’s or Q’s then I would try to get your chips into the pot before the flop. If you have a premium drawing hand such as A/K suited then you will want to make sure that you keep the pot as low as possible until you see if you hit.

You also want to make sure that you don’t play a lot of marginal hands in the beginning of these tournaments because it can often end up biting you in the back, down the road in the tournament. For instance, if you call a 100 chip raise preflop with a small pocket pair the first hand and then fold on the flop you’re going to have 100 less chips then everyone. This means that if you end up getting into an all-in hand with another player within the next few hands you won’t be able to knock the player out. You will have less chips then the other player and although you will double up your chips you won’t make any money because you didn’t knock out the player.

You need to always try and have more chips then most of your opponents in bounty tournaments so that you will have them covered on an all-in bet. Often when you’re one of the chip leaders you will be able to push the smaller stacks around because they won’t want to risk their tournament life unless they have a premium hand. This will allow you build up your chip stack, but more importantly it will chop away at the other player’s stacks. This will mean that when the other players do decide to make a stand they will have less chips and it will be less likely to hurt your stack if you call.

Bounty tournaments are fun for those players who like lots of action. They often don’t take that long to finish because players will usually go all-in every time they have a good hand. If you’re good at reading opponents and you aren’t scared of calling big bets then you should try playing some bounty tournaments to see how profitable they are for you.

First off, virtually nobody at the $1/$2 or $2/$4 games on PartyPoker is there to read you and take your car payment. They’re probably there because they’re bored or wanted to get close to the big screen TV’s playing golf without having to cram in at the bar. These people are usually just like you. They think they know poker enough to “compete,” but aren’t interested in really gambling at one of the riskier tables. Not a big deal, nothing wrong with that. But if you know that, you should know nobody cares if you’re trying to bluff. Nobody is getting scared off by a $4 bet in an actual casino. It ain’t happening. You’re wasting your effort.

Now here’s why this is counterproductive. Since you know nobody is dropping out from a power move (if they do fold mid-hand, it probably just took them long enough to realize they’re hand sucks and/or they didn’t catch what they wanted on the turn), the only thing you really do by trying to bluff is add more money to a pot you’re eventually going to lose. If you do the simple math for a full table of nine, odds are the blinds are going to stay in, and at least one other person besides you…which is still less than half the table. After the flop, maybe one will drop out, leaving you still with three opponents to beat with your rags. Like I said, it ain’t going to happen. And in the end, you just feed your money into someone else’s chip stack.

Betting strong is fine, if you at least have a high pair or something you can sneak in and win with…or if you start with a bluff but are playing to a straight or flush, at least there’s hope, but don’t try to bully players at a low-limit game. You’ll probably just get yourself booed off the table.