Category: Poker Page 2 of 8

Making the Most of the Bovada Poker Bonus

The Bovada Poker Bonus is a really great one. For new players there is the opportunity to have your deposit matched up to $1000. This means that if you deposit $1000 you will get an additional $1000 to play with, if you deposit less, then you will not have so much free money to use.

It seems obvious that the best way of making full use of the bonus is to deposit the maximum amount so that you get the biggest possible bonus. This is common sense, but it is important to make sure that you make the best use of the bonus, once you have.

Even if you cannot afford to make a $1000 deposit, then you will still get some bonus as they will match 100% of any amount that you deposit which means that you will still get extra money to play with. So think carefully about how much you can afford, when you are making your deposit.

Once you have deposited the money in your account and you know how much you have to play with, then you need to make sure that you spend it wisely. You need to think about what sort of games you want to play and how much you want to spend in each game.

It can be wise to start off in a beginners game and spend just a little bit of money. This will allow you to get used to the way that the website works and what sort of players there are on there. You will also be able to get your online poker skills up to scratch if necessary, without wasting money.

More Experience for Better Odds

Anytime that you play a game you are probably interested in your odds of winning. For instance, your odds of winning at blackjack are never going to be the same as they are when it comes to slot machines. And the same thing holds true for poker. Not only are there many different types of poker you can play, but there are also many different factors that will contribute to your overall success. For this reason, it is nearly impossible for you to determine what your odds are of winning.

One thing is for sure when it comes to the game of poker. The more that you play the better chance you will have of winning. In other words, experience is king when it comes to any type of poker. This is true regardless of if you are playing table poker, or have decided to take up the online version. The fact of the matter is that as you become more experienced you will learn what it takes to move your game to the next level. Some players advance quickly, and some others have a hard time in the experience stages. But you should not become too concerned with this. Instead, just worry about what you can do as a player and you should be fine.

In order to become more experienced you will want to put in as much time as you can at the table. Even if you are only playing friendly games, you should still try to practice your craft as much as you can. And if this does not work out for you for one reason or the next, go online or buy a book to read about the game of poker. As you can imagine at this point, the key to tipping the odds in your favor is to increase your level of experience.

Starting Chip Stacks – How much money you need to play the game

A question burning in the minds of many poker enthusiasts: How much should I buy-in to a particular game with?

It’s a good question and I believe it deserves some contemplation and a deeper look. Typical No-Limit and Pot-Limit hold’em games have a minimum and maximum buy-in. While these are set by the cardroom, casino or online poker room they’re most often defined by the blinds. For example, it’s common for a 1-2$ NL to have a maximum buy-in of $200 (100 times the big blind) and a minimum of $40. Some online poker rooms even allow you to buy-in with less than 10 times the big blind.

Returning to the question at hand, I believe the answer is always, will always and should almost always be the absolute maximum. Holding the most chips gives you an edge over your opponents, and acquiring advantage over other players is the best way to maximize your profit.

When your stack is deep you can play any type of poker. You can play an aggressive or defensive style, you can bully or be bullied, you can be tight or even loose, it simply leaves you more options and allows for you to play a wider range of hands in different situations. Don’t have enough money for the full amount? Move down limits. There’s simply too many instances when you could be maximizing how much money you’ll make in a hand with a large stack. Imagine trying bluff on fourth street when you commit the remainder of your chips only to have it equate to a third of the pot size – it simply won’t put enough pressure on your opponents. Also, a larger chip stack is intimidating to other players which is never a bad thing.

If you’ve been around the tables long enough, or played poker online for any amount of time at all, then you’ve been witness to many a player buying in short. There are many reasons that he or she may be doing so. Maybe it’s their first time at this particular limit and they are uncomfortable with the amount of money in play.

Often, he or she is the kind of person who will sit down and try to win one pot and leave the table as quickly as possible. They’re simply not winning poker players. Another, more valid reason to buy in short is the belief that other players will play looser against a short stack. Often times players will ‘take a shot’ at knocking out an opponent – in a cash game!

Well people, time to experiment with $200. I know the mistakes I made the first time trying this out so here we go for try #2.

I figured I wanted to try out something different this time and see if I could find a good niche. (I played 9max Sit And Goes before and was really good at this format, but its a last resort, as I want to try different things). So here’s what I have done so far after re-depositing.

I started plying $5+50c Heads Up Sit And Goes. I have around 40 buy-ins for this level.

Day#1 was pretty crazy. I pretty much dominated this format and won 85$ playing all day. I found it pretty easy.

Day #2 was also really good. I decided to try a shot 10$+1$ Heads Up SNG. I also pretty much dominated again making 80$. I was a bit confused because this couldn’t be this easy could it.

Also I was pretty much playing my “A” game, taking a lot of notes on betting patterns and how they played draws, top pairs, middle pairs, everything.

Day #3 – Lol, here is where it all comes in with variance and not playing my “A” game. I decided to keep playing the 10$ level. I played this one guy who was a huge calling station and a aggressive bluffer. I found him as an easy opponent to read when he had it and when he didn’t.

I lost 4 buy-ins to him. First 3 to bad-beats and last one due to moving down to my “C” game from losing 3 buy-ins to this guy. (I could read this guy like a book, got it in ahead every time, but its poker and we cant always win). I took a break and went for a walk because this guy frustrated me a lot. I came back won my first match then “BOOM” lost 10 games in a row.

“WTF -I said to myself – I was crushing here before and now I am back down to my original $200 bankroll. ” Ya variance hit big and I wasn’t playing my “A” game. I decided to quit for the day and start again tomorrow at something else. I learned a lot from these HUSNGs which I will tell you about in a future blog.

Day#4 – Well I did about 4 hours re-searching and studying some different ways I could play today. I was almost thinking Pot Limit Omaha High because people are so bad at this game but I am probably just as bad. Plus I wanted to stick to No Limit Hold-em. I ended up coming up across a thread about short-stacking.

I knew what it was and how it worked and knew people just despised these players because they only played pre-flop and were really dependent on fold equity and hand ranges and didn’t let the big stacks get their implied odds. I ended up taking this approach and it is actually a pretty good strategy. I’ll also learn why people hate short-stackers so much and how it can be a winning strategy. Note: 80% of short-stackers are actually really bad and don’t fully understand the concept. Full stacking will make you more money and is more of a thinking poker game, and funnier.

Day#5 is today. I will be short-stacking again today and prob playing around 6k-10k hands today at 10c-25c. So we will see if this strategy is an actual winner.

How to Play Big Pots

Unlike Limit Hold’em, in NL Texas Hold’em sometimes you can find the pots getting quite big. Hence, it is essential as a poker player to know when to build a pot up, when to play in a big pot and when to fold.

Building a Big Pot

The major advantage of playing in a big pot is that you can make large bets and actually have them called. For example if you were to bet $300 into a $10 pot it is very unlikely to be a profitable or wise move. Where as if you were to bet $300 into a $300 pot it makes a hell of a lot more sense.

When Large Pots Can Help You

A large pot is great when you have a very strong hand and wish to win as much as you possibly can, milking the hand for all it is worth. It can also be handy when you are trying to bluff the other players or when you’re trying to stop people from calling on a draw.

Top Hands

When you have a hand that you are sure is a winning hand then a large pot will allow you to bet big on the river.

Big Draws

It’s a lot easier to make someone call a draw and have bad odds with a large pot. For example if there is $80 in the pot and you raise it another $80 it is highly unlikely that anybody would call on a flush or straight draw. However if that same pot was $600 and you raised it $300 with one card left on the board it puts them in a much more difficult position making it very hard for them to fold.

Big Bluffs

It’s a lot better and easier to make a big bluff on a large pot, for example bluffing $300 into a $40 pot is just stupid and worse may not scare anyone away. However if there is $300 in the pot already than you may be able to scare away someone with another $300 bet and win a large sum.

Deep Stacked Poker for Super Happy Poker Players

If you are looking at playing good poker, you also need to make sure that you’re studying the stacks. A lot of players look at what to do when they’re short stacked and they’re scrambling, but a lot of players really don’t know what to do when the stacks start getting bigger and bigger. If you’re deep stacked in a cash game, this usually means that you have more than 100 BB’s. Here’s how to make things work when you’ve actually got some room to breathe.

First and foremost, don’t panic! A lot of people freak out when they realize that they have the most chips out of everyone else on the table. Don’t get greedy and start swinging hands around but you also don’t want to be super timid.

Don’t just go all in for the thrill of it — look at the type of hands that you’re playing. AK isn’t the end all, be all hand to have and you can’t just automatically worship AA anymore. AA can be cracked, and that means that you could lose a lot of money chasing a hand that just isn’t meant to be.

Aside from hand strength, you want to make sure that you can throw around a few bigger bets. Getting people to fall out of their comfort zone will always be profitable for you. If you’re in position, then push forward. However, if you are not in position, then you want to avoid doing a c-bet or a 3-bet.

After the flop comes down, you want to make sure that you’re looking hard at all of the flops. You don’t want to chase the river or do something equally silly. That’s just teaching the crowd around you that you can be bullied even though you have such a big stack. Definitely not the image that we want to portray, right?

Not at all.

If you are willing to be aggressive while you have a big stack, then your chances of profit are much higher. Don’t be timid — it’s poker, after all!

Getting Clarity about the Tight Aggressive Player

Trying to get better at poker is often a matter of analytics. If you’re not analyzing hard data, then you’re analyzing soft data. When it comes to soft data, you have to look at the way other players are playing. Finding weaknesses in their game allows you to change your strategy so that you’re able to actually get money out of them. Increasing your profits this way might sound shady a complete newbie to the game, but veterans have done this for a very long time. It is very likely that they will continue to do so. From here, what you will need to do is make sure that you’re looking at a few player types above all others.

The tight aggressive player is something that we’ve discussed in the past, but it’s time to get a little more clarity on it.

You might believe that the tight aggressive is just like the loose aggressive. However, that’s not the case at all. What you need to know is that the loose player goes into just about any flop that they can. However, the tight aggressive player will not continue with a flop that doesn’t hit him or give them a few outs to look at. The tight player reads his opponents like a book and see who is willing to take the bait at times.

The tight aggressive thrives on making you nervous. They’re going to raise big, they’re going to push in, and they’re not afraid to go all in if they can tell that you will fold like a house of cards. If you’re playing scared money, be warned: the tight aggressive solves this.

The TAG is also a blind stealer of massive proportions. If they know that they can make you pay to play and you do it, you’re going to lose your chips in a hurry. They will be selective about which hands they play, so if you’re in a hand with a TAG that you’ve identified — watch out. They can show their aggression very quickly.

Bluffing is part of the tight aggressive arsenal. However, that doesn’t mean that you can bluff in return. The minute that they realize that you’re bluffing, the game is over. They will call you out in a hurry knowing that you’re willing to play with trash cards.

Tight means just that — tight. The range of a tight aggressive player might not be very big, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be destructive. It’s just a matter of thinking about the game in different “dimensions”, if you will.

There’s a “dimension” of play that means the TAG will steal blinds, push weak players around, and scare off passive players that are hoping for a lucky flop / board.

You can’t play on luck. You have to start playing on skill. And for the love all things strategic, do not allow yourself to play on tilt. Tilt with a TAG is dangerous. You might end up breaking your entire bankroll just to try to get back at one of these players. Not the best move in the world. You just have to get things in motion. Calm yourself down and realize that it’s going to be a battle of wits as well as a battle of cards. There’s no point in letting yourself get worked up.

Good luck — the tight aggressive player is a force to be reckoned with, but trust us — there’s weaknesses involved that you can exploit.

Microstakes Games Have Value

Whether you call them microstakes or microlimits, one thing is clear; a lot of newbies start here. And that’s okay. We love the idea of newbies starting with the lowest of limits because this is where you will build most of your strategy. This is where you’re going to have the time of your life. You’ll meet new poker players. You’ll decide in the microstakes whether or not you want to move up. As much as we love poker online, we realize that not everyone is suited for it. Microstakes let you figure that out in a quick hurry.

For the purpose of this article, micro-stakes refers to 1c/2c and 25c/50c limits. Really, everything under $1 can be referred to as micro-stakes.

Building Your Poker Image

Your poker image matters. We use image in order to scare opponents out of pots, and to otherwise think twice before trying to bluff us. You’re going to find that micro-stakes players tend to play pretty badly. You can’t escape bad poker play, no matter how much you try. Some people just don’t care that much.

Cultivate the image of someone that plays carefully. It’s okay to go tight and play only a few premium hands. You will also find that players around you tend to only go in big when they really have something. You’ll also find calling stations. Cultivating your image is one thing, but you’ll also need to look at the image that others have built — even if they don’t realize that it’s something that they’ve built. The more work that you put in, the more profit that you’re going to get long term. We keep repeating this, but poker is a long term game. It just is — you can’t get lost in hand to hand.

As a side note, you want to make sure that you keep your calm. Some players will make you mad, and it’s tempting to snap back at them. This shows that you don’t have any type of self control as a poker player. That’s not a good thing to try to display to people. You want to show that you’re cool, calm, and in control. You want to show that there’s no reason to mess with you — you’re tough. If you can’t do that, you need to take a break until you can do it. Letting random people get you mad online isn’t good for your blood pressure anyway.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Playing a lot of micro-stakes is the key to understanding them. You can’t do that in 10 hands, 20 hands, or even 50 hands. You need thousands of hands in order to study data. That’s just the way it is. You want to play your best game of poker, and that means that you have to have an understanding of how everything ties together. You’ll be modifying your strategy quite a bit as time goes by, so don’t think that your strategy has to be set in stone. You’re going to be playing to get a better understanding of the players around you. You’ll also find that they aren’t as serious as you, but that’s okay. You can use that to your advantage in some pretty big ways.

The Value of Data

Crunch the numbers. You want long term profitability, not just short term wins. You’re going to be tempted to chase with the chasers, but that’s not a good idea. Yes, they will get lucky. That’s something that you’re going to get upset about more than once, and that’s okay. But you have to know that they’re going to get lucky. They’re going to make plays that you would have never imagined they’d make, and it’s going to make you mad. You might even want to correct them. Don’t. They will not take it well, and you’ll mess up your own game. Take their money instead. We promise that it’ll make you feel better.

When it comes to data like implied odds, you might think that the other players at the table know about this. We promise you that they really don’t have much of a clue about this sort of thing. Players that hang around these stakes often that aren’t real serious about poker aren’t digging in that deep. They want to press a few buttons, see the cards flip, and call it a day. They’re just escaping from work or another time block that’s got them stressed out. Not everyone strives to become a career poker player. You have to know who you’re dealing with.
The Road Ahead

It’s important to make sure that you stay at the microlimits stage until you’re actually profitable. We’re not talking about just a few games here or there. You need to look at thousands and thousands of hands to see how profitable you really are. Getting good poker data is a must. You cannot just “wing it” and hope to survive the higher levels. There are players that’ll eat you alive within a few short hands if you’re not careful. Sure, you might get lucky but poker is about long term play. You want to not just hold onto the bankroll money you bring with you — you want it to grow with time. This is like baking good bread. An aged starter is a great path to good bread. However, starting over and over with fresh starter leads to bread that just isn’t as good. It’s all in the details. You can take your bankroll and watch it grow — which is something that everyone looks forward to. On the other hand, you might want to just take breaks and play only when you’re in the mood. That’s okay too.

Overall, micro-stakes poker has its benefits and disadvantages. You’re not going to make money quickly but it’s probably to grind out a nice little side income over time. Some people do just that, and it hasn’t hurt them in the least bit. You don’t have to be a super high roller in the poker world to get noticed. You just have to show up and be consistent in order to start building a following. Good luck!

Quick Myths and Misconceptions of Beginning Poker Players

Look, poker is something that’s available to everyone — we’ve never shied away from talking about poker, loving poker, and getting other people to play poker with us. However, what you will find is that you need to ensure that you aren’t making the same classic newbie mistakes. We wanted to cover some more misconceptions, because newbie poker players deserve better. You don’t have to get taken for a wild ride as long as you’re willing to push forward to claim some good pots.

For example, let’s start out with the biggest one that gets splashed around: pocket aces. This means that you have AA. It’s a good hand. It’s a great hand. But you have to realize that it’s not a hand that wins every single time. A lot of people put so much stock in the cards that they don’t really think too much about the psychology of the game. You can’t just get sucked into the fact that you have a monster. Remember, if people start folding, then the pot is going to be lost. Make sure that you raise and re-raise before the flop even comes down. This lets people know that you’re aggressive and you might have something.

Now then, when the flop comes down and you study it, pay attention to what you see. You could end up being pushed out even with pocket aces, which isn’t a good idea at all. You will want to make sure that you can think about the road ahead of you — it’s all about winning pots. If you can’t win the pot, then you need to bail. Yes, even if you have a monster. This is even more important when it comes to tournament play, because you don’t want to end up losing your chips. Getting pushed out of the money is never a great idea.

These tips also cover the AK hand — one that gets played a lot just because it’s got such a high value. The truth is that any hand can be beaten, which is why poker captures so much attention. If you don’t get anything on the board that connects, your AK hand isn’t as good as you think it is.

For example, if the board comes down J-10-8-5-2, all rainbow (mixed suits), and you don’t get a flush out of it, it’s not the hand that you should have been in. There’s always time to think about staying alive vs. just winning one pot at the moment.

This is important to consider, especially when you’re really trying to get things off the ground. There’s nothing that says that you have to play each and every hand. This is a newbie mistake that should be corrected a soon as you utterly can.

It’s hard to write a guide about which hands win over which hands, because it’s all relative. The flop can be a cruel mistress to any hand. What ultimately makes poker players successful is what they do with their hands. How successful they can honestly be through all seasons. This is about consistency, which is something that new players really don’t think about.

You’re going to be playing a lot of poker in order to win big money like the people that you see on TV. In fact, you might want to get it out of your head that you need to make big money. Study strategy instead. Avoid gimmicks. Work very hard to get poker to a point where you’re really successful, and the rest will fall into place. Good luck!

Chilled Poker