Category: Poker Page 3 of 8

Here’s a Good Way to Navigate an Online Poker Tournament

When it comes to the classic online poker tournament, it boils down to one thing: chips. You have to make sure that you are always pushing for getting more chips than everyone else. Sure, this might mean that you have to work very hard, and it might even mean that you have to push forward when you’d rather shrink back. However, it’s all about accumulating chips. When you have a nice fat chip stack, you’re a target — but you also have leverage. You can push against smaller players who are afraid to lose everything. You can play a very aggressive game when it counts, and that’s always a good thing.

The common assumption is that the early stages of a no-limit Hold’Em tournament just don’t matter — we disagree. If anything, it’s all about the early stages. It’s all about those small pots. Even if the blinds go up later, it’s the efforts you put in now that makes a difference.

Here’s a few things that you will need to think about right at the beginning of a poker tournament that can make all of the difference. For the advanced sharks out there, this might be “old hat” to you, but we hope some newbies gain more insight into a game that has captured so much of our collective attention.

First and foremost, it’s all about position. You need to look at where you stand. In a $10,000 main event, everybody is going to be a pretty fierce player — some more than others, but you don’t have any way to rely on just blind luck. You need to be thinking completely about where you are at the table. Are you in the best position? Study the table carefully with each move. There’s no sense in overreacting, but you also don’t want to get too laissez faire about it, if you know what we mean.

Your hand matters too. You should have a good understanding of hand rankings and hand strengths if you’re going into tournaments. If you don’t, this is something that you need to go back and study very well.

Remember that implied odds (something you should have already studied) matter a lot more than the immediate odds. If you’re facing a good player that’s on the button and your pot odds are only so-so, sometimes it’s better to fold. You need to make sure that you are protecting your chips first. Playing out of position isn’t always a wise thing to do — in fact, most people take this risk to their downfall.

How to Enhance an Experience of Playing Online Poker

The popularity of online poker has been increasing by leaps and bounds because of the numerous reasons. Playing this game online is more convenient than playing at a real casino. Online version not just saves ample of time of the players but it also offers a great opportunity to the worldwide players to interact with each other in order to augment the knowledge about the game. For beginners, the real icing on the cake in case of opting for online version is an availability of a forum. Through the help of a forum, it becomes possible for neophytes to understand the intricacy of a game.

Online forum and communities offered by online poker sites do play an important role in attracting the players since obtaining valuable tips related to the game and clearing doubts becomes easier. If you are among those, who were so far resisting from playing an online poker, have a glance on those valuable tips which will boost your confidence.

Choose an appropriate poker room: A lot hinges on the decision regarding choosing a poker room for playing. It a prudent strategy to carry out an analysis of those websites, that offer lucrative array of deals to the new players. As the number of online poker players is increasing significantly over the world, numbers of websites offering this game are also increasing. The obvious benefit of increasing competition is increment in the special offers and lucrative deals to be offered to the new and existing players, both. Various diverse benefits may be in the form of free sign up for beginners, comprehensive poker guide book, an interactive poker guide, etc. Thus, if you turn bit smart, you would be able to figure out that which poker room provides more benefits.

Opt for sites offering low stake: Another smart strategy for new players is to choose that game which offer low stake. Putting a substantial amount in beginning itself, is not a good idea because when a player loses it, he may lose his confidence and morale. Thus, it is advisable to opt for games, offering low stake, in order to ensure a good practice without losing a huge sum.

User-friendliness of a website and quality of software: These are important aspects so do pay a close attention to both. Software should be clean and less complicated. Sound of a game should not be annoying. However, majority of the Software are safe to download but there is no harm in ensuring whether it is virus-free or no.

Tips to Play Texas Hold’em Like the Pros

Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular forms of poker that people are playing throughout the world. Those that want to ensure that they are playing just as good as the professionals will find that the professionals have tips that they are not sharing with everyone. However, these tips are not really something that are that secretive, once the person learns them, as they are mostly based off common sense and from experience of playing the game.

The first tip is to observe those that are playing against. This is one of those common sense tips that the person will learn after playing on the circuit after a few short months. The more that you are able to know what your opponents are doing; the more likely you are to get under their skin at a later time. If you notice how the opponent is playing then you can exploit their weaknesses for your benefit. For example, you should notice the betting patterns that the person is using and you will be babel to tell if they have a good hand or not by the way that they are betting. This is also going to be useful when trying to catch players that are bluffing since they will have some tales about them thats how that they are buffing. Something as simple as running their hand through their hair can show that they are bluffing.

Secondly, have limits as to how much you will bet and keep a handle on this. You should know that you have a chance of winning and losing thus when you have reached a certain limit; you should call it quits in order to ensure that you do not walk away with losing more than the game. With these limits in place you can also prevent your game into turning into an addiction.

Third of all, take your time in making a decision at the table. Look at your hand and play the scenarios out in your head as to how this could go. This could take some time; however, this is a game of strategy not of speed. Though many people see the pros making decision at the drop of hat, they do this because they are pros and they know the game so well and what they are doing. The average person does not have this knowledge yet.

Last of all, you have to know when to fold and when to stay in the game. If you find that your starting hand is one that contains high cards, and then by all means ride this out. However, at the same time if you have low starting cards and a player makes a big bet, then chances are they have a good hand and it is time to get out of the game.

Profit From Rush Poker

Anyone who has dabbled in online poker has heard of the website, Full Tilt Poker. In January 2011, Full Tilt Poker introduced a new game called Rush Poker. This Full Tilt-exclusive is fast paced and fun, bringing players a boost of action to their poker escapades.

Rush Poker is currently available at small stakes in the no-limit Texas hold ’em style. Players can pick from six-seat or nine-seat tables. While the main rules of the game are no different from standard hold ’em, there is one big difference. Once a player folds or is dealt out, they are immediately sent to a new poker table where they will instantly be given another hand.

Thanks to the “rush” factor, Full-Tilt players can enjoy a face-paced poker game. The days of waiting 30 minutes for a decent hand are over. Now, if a player is dissatisfied with their hand, they can press the “quick fold” button and try their luck at a new hand quick as a flash. On average, players are dealt anywhere from 300-500 hands each hour of game play.

Important Rush Poker Strategies

However, the strategies used at Rush Poker differs from that of typical poker ring games. Since these games make it easy to fold, the majority of gamblers hold excellent hands. Be prepared to encounter players with a pocket pair, Ax or two high cards. And watch out for players during the big blind. Never allow the competition to enter the current hand via limping; otherwise, the cards they hold will be a complete mystery. By raising before the flop, the big blind will be prevented from getting a free look at the flop.

Frequent re-raises are also part of a winning Rush Poker strategy. Players in this new version of poker are quick to fold lousy hands. They know that they will have a better hand soon, so it is wise to take advantage of this fact. By re-raising a great deal, there is a greater chance of stealing the pot.

And low cards are a Rush Poker player’s best friend. Because the majority of players will hold big cards, those who hit the hand with low cards on the flop can trip up the other players, effectively winning the big pot. Over time, savvy players will refine their Rush Poker strategies. However, the aforementioned basic strategies will give any player a solid foundation for becoming profitable at this exciting, new game.

Betting On the Turn – Smooth Move or Bad Idea

Ah, the turn. If there’s one thing that poker players of all stripes seem to like, it’s the turn. That’s because a lot of action happens on the turn. You can have a bad flop and suddenly, that turn card — that one little card — can change a bad hand into a good one. Good hands win decent pots. You can even turn a good hand into a great hand with just the turn card — and if the river is also kind, you sail into a very nice pot that will make you a very happy player indeed.

Yet what do you do with the turn, anyway? That’s the million dollar question, as it were. If you don’t bet on the pre-flop or the flop, betting on the turn can change your image. Some people might assume that you’re an idiot and call you, even when you do have a good hand.

This is where you definitely want to make sure that you’re following good poker principles. You don’t want to rush in with just any hand. Leave the bluffing to the pros — until you’re really good at poker, we don’t think that bluffing is really the best strategy that you could employ for your own needs. It might be smarter to really think about doing something else — like betting.

If you have a good hand, you should bet. You don’t have to be afraid of someone else having a better hand. Imagine all of the possibilities and weigh them against the hand that you have, not the hand that you want. That’s another mistake — you can’t depend on the turn so hard that it’s your only hope of staying in the hand, but at the same time if you know that you’re on fire, you need to bet something to encourage others to put their chips in the pot too. The size of the pot is also something that plays a role in your blueprint, as it were. If nobody’s contributing to the pot, you might want to just hang back and punt, as the saying goes.

Thankfully, you have the benefit of playing a lot of hands before you have to develop your strategy. In fact, scratch that — your strategy should always be changing anyway. The last thing that you really want to do is find yourself not changing anything about your strategy. That’s just going to get you in trouble in the long run, if you ask us. It’s better to really just push forward and make sure that you have what you need rather than just going with your gut all the time.

We’re not going to lie to you and say that it’s never going to fail on you. You can bet hard on the turn and then get beaten by another player’s good luck — it’s really the nature of poker. You take your failures along with your victories and live to fight another day. Why not play a few hands today and keep these tips in mind? You’ll be glad you did!

Little Focus Hacks For Online Poker Players

Ah, focus. Focus is something that you either have or you don’t have as a poker player. When you talk about the greater world of online poker, it goes without saying that there are a lot of variations of poker to play. You can play Pai Gow, Caribbean Stud, Omaha Stud or even Texas Hold’Em. While we have a favorite, the truth is that if you really want to get good at any type of poker online, you need to cultivate good strong focus skills right away. You don’t want to be left with getting just any old poker strategy down pat. On the other hand, you might feel that focus isn’t really a big thing — after all, don’t you already handle things well in the world of poker?

If you’re not making the type of money that you really want to make, you’ll actually find that it goes back to a focus problem. There is something that’s throwing you off your game, and that means that any little focus hacks for online poker players that you can find will help you in the long run.

So let’s go back to that goal setting part — if you’re not hitting your poker goals, you need to step back and see why that is. Looking at your cards is really the first step, and we mean that you will need to look at the history of your past games. As you look through each of your statistics, you might want to also think about how you feel overall when you sit down at the poker tables. You don’t want to end up finding that when you’re trying to play online poker, you seem to always be on the phone as well. We don’t know about you, but we can’t talk on the phone and still play a great game of poker. Likewise with chatting — even if you’re going to chat with people at the table, chances are good that you’re also going to miss out on a lot of action. There’s nothing wrong with being social, but if you really want to play your best game you might want to think about saving the chatter for the message boards. When you’re trying to play poker you don’t have time to really be too chatty.

Let’s not forget that your outside life also plays a role on how well you focus on poker. If you don’t really think about it from all angles you’ll find that you are actually thinking about something that happened to you at work or at home. These thoughts can easily distract you from playing your best poker game yet — and why would you want anything to stop you from the best poker game of your life? It’s better to make sure that you are alert and focused.

Speaking of alert, we have to break for a moment and remind you that taking care of your life really does make a difference. Even though the media representation of poker players usually revolves around alcohol and long hours, you will want to make sure that you’re actually taking care of your body. There’s nothing wrong with making sure that you eat balanced meals and get enough sleep. As far as the alcohol, late nights, and other vices, you might want to keep those to a minimum.

Where you play online poker matters as well. If you play at home, you will want to make sure that you’re not trying to concentrate during a time where your family is also trying to get your attention. Since you can’t pause poker, you will have to either play or resign from the table. This can lead to a lot of tension and resentment that’s better avoided. Why would you want to fight with your family over your gambling habits? Just as you want to keep your gambling money separate from the other money in your life, you will want to make sure that you keep your gambling time separate from the time that you spend with your family. This will make your family feel a bit better about letting you go in order for you to enjoy a great night of poker — or a day of poker, if you’re really that lucky to get that type of opportunity!

Of course, there’s nothing that says that you have to change anything. If you’re satisfied with the poker action that you’re getting and you feel that your chip counts speak for themselves, then you’re definitely where you need to be. No one can ever force you to make any changes. However, if you find that your poker game could really use some fine tuning, then you’ve definitely made the right decision to improve — why not start today? You’ll be glad that you did!

More Points of Strategy for Omaha Poker

Move over, Hold’Em — there’ a new kid in town. Though, we really can’t get away with calling Omaha Hi-Lo Poker a new thing. The truth is that if you really want to play Omaha poker, you’re going to have to play it by really knowing what you’re doing at every turn. The last thing that you want to is try to just take your Hold’Em skills into Omaha and expect to win.

There are many points of strategy to keep in mind when you’re trying to really make a good run in the world of Omaha Hi-Lo; here’s what you need to know.

The first strategy point that you’re going to have to keep in mind is that you definitely don’t want to just think of your hand as a solo deal — the community cards on the board matter in ways that might not always seem apparent at first. However, players that embrace this will find themselves taking pots a lot more easily than before.

You need to think about how your card works with the board at all times. Some veteran Omaha players call this cooperation, but it makes sense. You need three cards from the board for the “high” part of the game, and three cards for the “low” part.

Just like in other forms of poker, your “nut hand” can be broken down into “nut high” (the best possible high) and “nut low” — the best possible low.

The nut low is the one that matters — you want to be the player with the hand to comes closest to 54,321 — that’s the ultimate low hand, made from your cards plus the community board.

Let’s say that you’re holding 38 and the board is 214. You’re in good shape if someone has a “high” hand that they cannot play against you — you would win the round.

It can be confusing, but as you play a few rounds of Omaha, you’ll begin picking up the flow of the game better. It’s something that guides can touch on, but you really do have to put in the practice time to really make sure that you will have everything under control.

Overall, it can sound difficult, but as you get into Omaha Hi-Lo, you’ll grow to love the game’s subtle strategies and efforts — why not check it out today?

A Return To Creatively Developing Your Poker Strategy

Getting more strategic in the world of poker isn’t something that’s just nice to do — it’s actually part of your survival blueprint. We hate to break it to you, but if you’re not willing to polish your poker game as time passes, you won’t be able to make big wins. There’s just no getting around it. The time is now to return back to creatively developing your poker strategy. There’s nothing more important when it comes to maintaining your bankroll. The broken road of failure is paved not with poker players that took too many calculated risks, but ones that never broke out of their comfort zone. Do you really want to be one of those poker players?

Of course not. So if you’re really thinking about trying to become a better poker player, here are some tips to refine your strategy.

First and foremost, if you’re not reviewing past games, then you’re definitely doing yourself a disservice. Even if you have to play poker with a notepad right next to the computer, then that’s what you need to do. Being able to go back and look at past games turn by turn can help you become a better player because you will be able to spot patterns. Now, we’re not just talking about the patterns that you are engaging in. You will also be able to see some of the patterns that people use in order to overcome you. Are they bluffing more than you? Are they engaging in loose play while you’re trying to be tight all the time? You might be telegraphing your strategy without even thinking about it. There’s nothing wrong with having a favorite strategy, but learning to mix it up will help you do a lot better.

Second, if you’re really going to make a better name for yourself in the world of poker, you’re going to have to increase your knowledge base. If you don’t fully grasp the fundamentals of poker, then you will need to make sure that you check out some books and read them. Even if you’re playing poker on a budget, you can’t say that the local library doesn’t have a few poker books to look at. Just as you have a budget for gambling, you should have a budget for education too — this can lead to bigger gains just because you understand more about the theory of poker and not just the practice of poker.

Are we saying that theory is more important than actually going out and playing poker? Absolutely not — you need both in order to not only become a successful poker player but you will also need them both in order to stay a successful poker player.

The long term game is really where you want to be, and you need to make sure that you’re thinking about short term poker goals as well as long term ones. We know that it sucks trying to go out there and get all of these poker resources to study, but it’s all worth it in the end.

The final point that we want to bring up here is that if you’re going to work on your raw strategy at the poker tables, you can’t ignore the psychological element. If you’re not where you need to be in other areas of your life, it’s going to bleed over into your poker game. You might think that you can separate it all out, but every mistake you make on the tables will be magnified if there are other problems that you’re facing. It’s not possible to leave the stresses of everyday life aside when you’re really trying to make real money at the poker tables. If you have support in your real life, and you mess up a poker game, you tend to take it a lot more personally than someone that already has a strong support group. Is the answer to shun the outside world just to make sure that you can play your best poker game ever?

Definitely not! The real answer is that you need to make sure that you’re really open to getting help from other people. Even if they haven’t been playing poker as long as you, you never know what type of advice that people will have in order to help you become the best poker player that you can be.

Overall, all of these tips lead you to being able to make sure that you can actually develop your poker game for the long haul, which is exactly what you want for success. Why not get started today?

Texas Hold ‘Em Tips

While there are many different strategies for playing poker, there is always room to learn what other people do to win. Developing your own set of tricks and tips will happen as you gain experience playing Texas hold ’em poker, but there are a few tips that novices should employ as they work on honing their skills. Some of these tips can be valuable for other free online casino games.

Keep in mind that no matter how valuable the tip, playing Texas hold ’em is like any other poker game in regard to maintaining focus and attention on each game and evaluating each hand objectively. To begin with, a good hand to start out with is essential if you are playing for money. If you are only playing for fun, even the worst hand can possibly make it to the end, but if you are seriously playing – you need to know the difference between a good hand and a stinker. For example, good hands consist of cards such as a pair of 10s, Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces; a King and an Ace; or a Queen and an Ace. All of those combinations can be of any suit. If you have an Ace and Jack, or King and Queen, or a pair of nines, eights, or sevens of any suits – these are call worthy hands as are an Ace and a seven of the same suit.

It’s best to know the difference between playing loose and playing tight. If a player is loose it means they are playing a lot of hands regardless of the hands being any good. While loose players do play more hands, it’s best to play tight as statistically, tight players are more successful in the long run.

Playing the online version of Texas hold ’em requires dealing with a faster pace of game play than the casino version of the game. Casino card games are typically of a slower pace and also allow player to gauge one another’s physical behaviors. If you want to play Texas hold ’em online, be prepared to make your decisions on hands very quickly. Within the ten second window, you need to be able to evaluate whether or not your hand contains any cards that might form a strong enough hand with your cards in the pocket and if you think you might be able to hit a good hand during the next rounds.

Take notes as you play, such as mistakes you’ve made and the mistakes and strategies of other players. Learning how to avoid mistakes in the future is the best way to ensure your future success!