Poker Strategy: Slow Playing Monster Hands

The art of slow play in poker is a vital skill that once learned is a dangerous play that can destroy and cripple opponent’s chip stacks. Simply put, slow playing is displaying weakness when your hand after the flop is extremely strong. For example, you have pocket fives and the flop comes 7-5-Q all off suit. This is a beautiful flop to slow play because there are no flush draws and remote straight draws that are unlikely.

To slow play in this situation you merely check when its your turn to act and let your opponent(s) do the betting for you. Slow playing is most effective against aggressive and super-aggressive players that will bet if no one else does almost every time. Once they bet, don’t jump the gun and go all-in just discipline yourself and simply call. On the turn there’s not really a card that can come out that will scare you too much so check-call again. On the river when your opponent bets this is when you raise or check-raise if you want to try to extract some more chips.

Keep in mind that slow playing is not the viable option every time a favorable flop comes up or every time you flop a set. You need to analyze the flop carefully to determine if it’s a proper play. Even if it is a favorable flop it should not be done every time especially if you raised pre-flop because checking after a raise can look suspicious to keen players but at weak home games or a weak table you could get away with it most of the time.

As far as analyzing the flop you need to look at what potential draws are possible on the board and how likely your opponent is to hold cards that could be part of the draw. The first thing to look for is flush draws (two or three suited cards on the flop) then screen for straight draws (a flop like J-10-2 or 5-6-7 are bad flops to flop a set with). If one or both draws are present slow playing is not the ideal play however you can try it on the flop then speed up if a scare card comes on the turn to see if your set is still good.

When slow playing straights you need to watch and look for flush draws and that’s the main thing you need to be cautious of unless the board pairs and you’re concerned about a full house. For flushes, you can probably slow play a queen-high and up flush but any lower than that you should semi-slow play by perhaps checking the flop and speeding it up on later streets. Lower flushes are difficult because being beat by the nut (ace-high) flush or other high flushes is hard to read so I do not advise slow play when flopping a flush under queen-high.

Don’t play scared because when you’re slow playing you have a monster hand but just play cautious and be aware of draws and letting opponents chase draws. Slow playing is not optimal play against conservative players because they will likely check behind you to see the free card and giving free cards is the worst thing you can do. Only try slow play if you’re sure there will be betting behind you.

How to play poker – Part 2

So how DO you WIN at No Limit Hold’Em?

I’d like to hazard a guess: you’ve started playing No Limit Hold’Em online. Time and time again you think you’ve played well, yet, when you log off, your cash has been mysteriously taken from you by someone who you thought must have been drunk (at the very least) or just got lucky.

Let’s be very clear about two things. First of all there are an incredible amount of bad players out there ( I myself played for two years before looking into poker strategy that went beyond the very basics that are taught in most books, i.e. only play very strong cards early and loosen up a bit when you are in position etc.). Secondly, the good players who understand the most important aspect of No Limit play spot the bad players a mile off.

So what IS the most important aspect of No Limit Hold’Em? Understanding pot odds, implied odds, pot equity or which are the best starting hands? I agree that all of these subjects are vital to becoming a good No Limit player but in my view PSYCHOLOGY is what it’s all about. It’s all very well having a good hand and making a good size bet to try and win the pot but if an opponent then raises you for all of your cash you have to have the guts to call. If you have top pair and the river card makes a possible flush and you’re raised all-in what do you do? Without having any statistics to prove it apart from hours and hours of poker play I think the majority of players would fold because they’re too scared to lose their remaining money as they think their opponent has made the flush.

If you’re one of those players who would fold you can read almost any No Limit poker book and still not become anything more than an average player. However, I have one piece of advice for you. Stop playing No Limit for a while and force yourself to learn how to play Limit Hold’Em first. Basically, your strategy should be to become a great Limit player before you put another dollar down on a No Limit table. Limit poker will teach you all the poker fundamentals that you need to know without risking losing all your cash in one pot. In particular, playing Limit Hold’Em for hours and hours will teach you how to spot who’s bluffing in a lot of cases on the river or the turn without costing you hundred’s of dollars.

As with No Limit you need to read the best books about Limit Hold’Em or watch the best Dvd’s in order to understand the game properly. The difference, as I see it, is that you can play most of your hands to

Poker Strategy System: How to Calculate Odds – Part 1

This can not be better illustrated than through an example and that is exactly what is going to be done here.

In the flop, the cards you can see are Js , 7h, and 4h.

The player in first position bets and the following two players that are stitted before you call. So the pot became somewhere around $45. if you are looking after that gutshot straight then you have to consider the fact that it has 4 outs that are the card you are missing, the 10 in this example. 4 cards out of the total of 47 cards left in the deck. So odds are 4:47. On the river the cards in the deck decrease by one so the odds become 4:46. Simplifying, it turns out that to hit the straight on the turn you have 1:11 chances. The pot odds are in your favor because you now have to call $3 for the amount of $45 accumulated so far.

It is crucial for you to learn over time to instantly calculate pot and implied odds both. You have always to calculate you pot odds, based on what is situated now on the table, and then try and think about future bets and recalculate the pod and its odds, this way you get to the true meaning of implied odds.

Poker Tips: Multi Tabling for a Rake Race

There are a lot of excellent Rake Race promotions running at top online poker sites at the moment such as the Ultimate Rake Race at LTDPoker where online poker players compete in a leader board format based on the amount of rake they earn at selected online poker rooms.

Well there is also a lot of poker strategy tips out there so I thought hey why not give the average poker player some help on how to achieve success in a rake race.

This is the Second part of my “How to Win a Rake Race” article found at LTDPoker and this section covers poker tips on Multi Tabling techniques.

My first poker tip is not to mix games. Keep it to the same type of game such as Texas Hold’em or Omaha, or at least keep the same betting structure (No Limit/Pot Limit/Fixed Limit etc.) If you mix your games you have introduced an element of complication by choosing to play on several tables at once. Don’t make it more complicated by playing games with radically different betting strategies. Mistakes are too costly as you may lose an important hand simply because in a moment of lost concentration you have made the wrong decision.

My second poker tip when Multi Tabling is to get yourself an onscreen display. If you’re multi-tabling you’re bound to miss some of the plays at one table while you are focused on another. Software will enable you to review your opponent’s play much more efficiently. There is some excellent software like pokertracker that monitors your online play, as well as the play of your opponents. This is very helpful as it is watching the tables even when you are not.

Here comes poker tip number three. Invest in a good monitor – Get a 21” high resolution screen supporting 1600×1200 resolution. If you play more than 6 tables, consider getting a second monitor. Most poker sites now support table resizing, but you’ll still want to be able to see chip counts and the cards in crisp detail.

Be honest with your ability – Multi-tabling is a great option for players looking to increase their hourly earn rate, to become more competitive in a rake race, or to focus their poker skills. Not every poker player can multi-table, however. It takes some skill and experience. It is recommended that you ease yourself in by playing 2 tables at first, and then increase the number of tables as you become more comfortable with playing at numerous tables.

Beware of burnout – Poker is fun and a good way to earn money. The LTD Poker Rake Race is another great way to have fun while growing your bankroll. Just be careful not to become too fatigued as you play. If you’re forcing yourself to cram in hands and hours, it’s probably time to step away and re-evaluate your poker goals.

My biggest poker tip, actually more of a commandment is to concentrate on playing poker. Seems obvious but if you’re one-tabling you can probably read e-mails or poker articles or participate in a poker forum discussion group. But when you’re multi-tabling do not let yourself get distracted by these things. Turn the chat off as you need to be able to focus, and chat becomes an unnecessary distraction. Turn it off or use the feature that enables you to view something useful like stats or player notes.

I hope you have found these useful of course one of the main advantages of playing multi tables in online poker rooms is that you not only build your rake faster but you also increase your poker skills. Doyle Brunson recently remarked that the average online poker player plays more hands in a month with multi tabling than he used to play in a year. This is probably why the poker community is producing younger big prize winners than ever before.

For more Poker strategy on winning Rake Race Challenges check out online poker community sites such as LTDPoker.com or LivetheDreamPoker.com both have excellent poker strategy guides.

Online Poker Systems To Boost Your Winnings

There are many online poker systems you can look at and study which will help you in the way you play to boost your winnings. They can help you with theory, mistakes, and implementing the theory. All of these factors are a part of the theory of winning in poker and you should know them well when you play.

When you play poker you must avoid making certain mistakes. Mistakes include obvious behavior in the way that you play. If you shake your foot when you are bluffing then the other players may be eventually catch on to this and then know every time you bluff. You might bet large every time you bluff too. The biggest mistakes you can make is by having obvious behaviors that your opponents can read when you play.

There are other mistakes players make when they don’t know when to call. Many of the reasons you should call when you are playing poker include so you can see more cards, to limit your loss in equity, to avoid another player re-raising the pot, and to conceal the strength of another player’s hand. Calling is also a strategy to manipulate the odds of the pot and to set up a bluff on a later betting round.

People make mistakes raising also. Many of the reasons you might raise include trying to get your opponents to fold as a bluff, to get more money in the pot if you have the best hand, to get a free card, to drive out the bad hands, and more. Many people raise the pot and they don’t know what they are doing or what their opponent is doing. This can be a big mistake.

Another poker strategy is that you need to be able to read your opponents and their mistakes. You should pay attention to their mannerisms when they call hands, raises, fold, and more. These mistakes can be the reason you win the game. Your opponent may be raising the pot just to increase their winnings because they are sure they have the best hand. They might not be bluffing. You need to be in tune with actions like this so you are not giving your money away. When you can read your opponent then you will be able to tell if they have a good hand or a bad hand by their actions.

There are many different poker strategies online you can learn if you want to increase your odds of winning also. These strategies include game theory, rail birding by watching and learning, the independent chip model, heads-up poker play, and stack size flexibility and inflection points. Learning these different theory models may help you become a better player also.

Poker is a card game but there are many strategies involved in order for you to be the most successful and increase your winnings. Many people wear sunglasses so their opponents cannot read their eyes. You should be careful of your mannerisms but be able to read your opponents. You should also know when to call and hand and when to raise the pot.

Common Poker Tells

 

In order to become a winner at the game of poker, you need to master the common poker tells. A “tell” is any kind of behavior or reaction by someone that you’re playing with that can tip you off about their hand. You may also have “tells” of your own that tip off your opponents. There are even online poker tells.

Now, you should not get the idea that knowing about common poker tells is going to make you a great poker player. It’s just one part of a total plan that includes position knowledge, the ability to calculate pot odds, understanding things like the 4/2 technique for betting, and things like that. Understanding tells involves the psychological component of your poker strategy, a component that is also very important but won’t win you games all by itself.

When you are sitting with people for a while, you can start to get to know their unique little habits that may be their unique tells. But you can use knowledge of common poker tells to even be able to pick up on online poker tells without needing to see the other person, because some of these can come through even online.

First, whenever a player acts like he has a weak hand, he probably has a strong hand. The opposite is also true: acting as if you have a strong hand probably means you have junk. This is behavior that can come through even as online poker tells, because you can pick it up from the betting patterns of the online players. One thing to keep in mind, however: experienced poker players know how to deliberately give off false tells, and they may use false tells to their great advantage and really burn you in moves like the Squeeze Play. Try to ascertain the experience level of your opponents early on.

Common poker tells that you can pick up on when playing in person with people that tell you that a player probably has a good hand include: acting disinterested in or despairing of a hand but staying in; nervous behaviors like heavy breathing or shaking hands (these probably have a very, very strong hand); and looking at chips just after looking at hole cards (they’re figuring out how much they should bet because they have good stuff).

Now, what are common poker tells indicating a probable weak hand? These would be: instead of heavy breathing, holding their breath; and glaring at other players (kind of the silent version of trash talk).

There are even a couple of common poker tells that can reveal a middle of the road hand, a drawing hand: after the flop, if players are re-checking their hole cards, they are double checking to see if they got the exact card they need for a strong hand or if they still have a good possibility of getting it on the next deal; and, if they seem like they are thinking a great deal before calling a bet, that’s because they are–they are doing careful mental calculations of risk because they have a hand that contains possibilities but is not (yet) a winner (this may be a online poker tell).

Once again, knowing common poker tells gives you a competitive edge–and it can teach you how to really fake out your opponents as you gain experience. One of the best sources for learning about poker tells is ‘Caro’s Book of Poker Tells’ by Mike Caro. Pick up your copy and become a Texas Holdem master of the tell-tale signs.

 

Reading recommendations for learning poker

The best way to learn to play WINNING poker is to read ONLINE!

I have been playing poker, Texas Hold’em more specifically, for the last five years. Like most, I have bought a few poker books and tried to read them, but I just didn’t feel like I was grasping what they were trying to say. The books seemed slow and endless; I just wanted to get to the part on how to bluff! So I never really ended up getting anything out of those books.

Recently, I decided to find articles and guides to poker strategy online. I spent about 3 full days worth of persistent poker reading and studying, and I had a revelation. First, because I was actually learning poker from reading. Second, because I discovered I had previously been playing poker TOTALLY BLIND!

Here is your guide to learning poker… for free:

1) Search Google for poker strategy guide. Weed through the crap and find the most professional looking websites, which will give you the best information. Now READ! Make sure to take it one step at a time also. Don’t skip ahead to bluffing before you read about position. Don’t worry it doesn’t go nearly as slow as those books.

2) Reread the same topics over and over again!

3) Learn from the Pros by going through the archive of articles from Bluff Magazine (bluffmagazine.com)and Card Player Magazine (cardplayer.com).

4) Search for specialized poker topics that are essential to winning poker:

- Starting Hand Selection

- Position

- Bet Sizing

- Gathering Information

- Bluffing

- Continuation Bet

- Check Raising

- Value Betting

- Playing Aggressive Poker

- Reading Hands, Opponent’s Range, Tells

- Pot Odds

- Implied Odds

- Reverse Implied Odds

- Expected Value

5) You’ll find a lot of talk about the importance of position… BECAUSE IT IS! The three biggest differences between Ok players and Winning players are 1) Being aware of and using to your advantage your position on the table 2) Playing aggressive meaning usually raising and folding, but always remembering that its sometimes good to check and call, and 3) Trying to read opponents and put them on a range of hands.

P.S. In a No Limit Texas Hold’em game today I was first to act preflop on a hand and folded AQ offsuit. You may think it was a dumb play, but I did it because I was OUT OF POSITION. An Ace hit the flop, and there was heavy betting until the river hit a Jack, where two players both went all in. It turns out one player had AK and the other player had AJ for two pair. If I had played that hand I would have lost money, because I would have come out and bet on the flop, and then depending on how much I bet and they raised, I may have made a mistake of sticking around and losing more.

GOOD LUCK!

How to Play Poker — Poker Table Position

Poker seating and the position one has at the table is one
of the most important and least talked about aspects of
poker. It’s especially relative to the Texas Hold’Em poker
game because it is positional in nature. Where a player sits
each hand determines the amount of information he or she can
gain on other players. This can have a big effect on your
poker strategy and how a hand is played. This article will
reference how to play poker from a table of 10 players and
discuss playing from the dealer, early, middle and late
positions.

Dealer Position — This position, also referred to as “on
the button”, is the most coveted because once the flop takes
place, the dealer is the last to act. This means you can
watch and gather information on all the other players before
making your decision. Aggressive play is expected from this
position, especially when all others have checked. Almost
any hand except trash hands like 9 2, 10 4 offsuit can be
considered for play here.

For example, your opponent has Jc, Jh. You have Qd, Kd and
are the dealer. Your opponent raised $20 before the flop and
you called. The flop shows 2d, 3d, 5d. You both check the
flop and the turn shows 8c. Your opponent checks, you raise
$20 and they call. On the river the Js comes up and your
opponent raises $50. From watching you figure they may have
trips. You raise to $100, they call and you win with a King
high flush. Had you been in your opponents position of
having to bet first, you would have been hard pressed to
figure what the dealer had.

Early Position — This is made up of positions 1, 2 and 3 to
the left of the dealer and are the least advantageous as you
are the first to act after the flop and have no information
on the other players. Here one should play only the
strongest hands like paired A’s, K’s, Q’s, J’s, Tens, or
suited AK, AQ, AJ and KQ. Anything outside of these one
should consider folding and waiting for a better
opportunity, especially with an aggressive table. One thing
that can be done from an early position is bluffing. Betting
from an early position can imply that you do have a strong
hand, but bluffing too often will result in others picking
up on it and can be disastrous, particularly when aggressive
bettors are at the table.

Middle Position — Positions for the middle are 4th, 5th and
6th to the left of the dealer. Because the disadvantage is
not as great as with the early position, you have greater
flexibility to play more hands. Hands like paired 5’s thru
9’s, suited connectors from 5 6 on up, unsuited connectors 5
6, 6 7, on up. There are more hands that can be played but
this covers the majority that can be easily remembered.
Being in the middle, it is better to raise than call if no
one is in the pot, if you have a playable hand and you feel
some players will fold.

Late Position — The 7th, 8th and 9th seats at the table to
the left of the dealer make up the late position. Here you
are in an excellent seating area of the table. You can
gather a great amount of information about the players and
their hands. In these positions, one should be aggressive if
not many have entered the pot. If there are a lot of
players, scale back the aggressive play unless you have the
type of superior hand as discussed in the early position.
Another advantage of the late position is that you can
easily play cards like 5 8, J 7, Q 8. For example, supposing
you have 5 8 in the late position and the flop is 2 6 7
unsuited and everyone else checks. Raising at a
non-aggressive table would be the correct thing to do as it
gives you a chance to gain control of the pot as well as
keeping other raises in check from those who would try to
steal the pot. But remember, it is not a license to play
trash hands.

Poker seating is an advanced player concept, but the basics
are simple enough for anyone to remember and take advantage
of when the opportunity does present itself. Good luck!

About the Author

Tom Howze is a webmaster for 9 sites that relate to online gambling, World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events and updates. For more information, please visit 2005 World Series of Poker .

Poker Tournament Strategy Makeover

With so many television shows these days focusing on some kind of makeover – be it clothing, housing, career or whatever else, it may be time to take the same lesson and apply a makeover to your online poker tournament strategy.

Why would you want to do this? Well you may be one of the following predicaments that demands analysis of your overall strategy. Your ROI for tournament play has always been in the negative. You tend to tilt out of tournaments even the times when you have built a big stack. You have never reached a final table. You rarely make it past the first hour of play.

If some of these issues have been going over in your head after getting eliminated from a tournament, especially if they occur frequently, then you just might be primed for a poker tournament strategy makeover. First of all don’t feel bad that you are losing. No sense in getting yourself down about it. You should actually feel quite good about yourself that you are concerned enough to be recognizing a problem and considering some sort of redirection. Usually a good poker book can go a long way in getting your mind straight but I find, overall that the one thing that can get you back to solid play, is simply playing book tight poker.

Tournament poker is often about giving action to get action but that really only applies, at least successfully to higher buy-in events. If you play online, some of the best ROI tournaments happen regularly, even hourly in the $2, $5 and $10 entry fee tournaments.

This is where a tight-aggressive playing style will reap the most benefits as there are many willing opponents that will offer up their stack playing top pair, middle pair, or even draws with their whole stack in the wrong stage of a tournament. Sit and wait. Play tight. The monkeys will come to you and get your game back on track. Furthermore, decisions are so much easier when you know you are going into a hand ahead of your opponent, and that will lead to your poker tournament strategy makeover.

How To Play Online Poker For Free

Many players consider that online poker has more attraction than playing it at casino. It has become increasingly popular and any player from every part of the world can participate in a poker game or tournament, which is virtually not possible for everyone at real casinos.

Playing poker can be a great way to have fun, make money and meet other poker enthusiasts. With online poker, you also get a chance to earn poker gifts and bonuses that you can use to participate in poker tournaments and to earn cash.

Free online pokers games provide you the chance to learn the real poker game. Choosing to play a poker game sharpens your skills without spending any money. You can also make new friends, share your experiences and get connected with other players.

Winning over a poker game is not an easy task. You need to have some basic skills and knowledge of a particular game. Knowing the basic rules and techniques will give you a definite edge over your opponents.

Every poker room has its own rules and policies. You can find the detailed instructions and guidelines. Some of the most popular poker rooms are Titan poker, CD Poker, Pacific poker, Tilt poker and Everest poker etc.

These poker rooms allow you to play poker for free. Getting started is very easy. You just need to create an account, deposit funds and start your game. No matter if you are a beginner, you will find help and tips with every game. These poker rooms provide you with best online gambling experience that will boost your skills and open the new doors for revenue. You can try the games free of cost and stick around if you like them.

Every poker room offers tournaments on daily basis. Most of these tournaments are free and known as freerolls.

In the poker strategy section, you will learn the strategies and tips that are important to play and win a game.

There are two main options to play a poker game i.e. you can download poker software or play it online. In either option, you will have a lot of fun and find the new opportunities for learning and earning.

Through some research on internet, you can find a lot of poker bonus codes that you can use to register in an online poker tournament, play poker for free and win the valuable prizes.

Different poker sites offer different subscription plans. The highest level of membership is club membership. As a club member, you can a lot of benefits including free rolls, cash prizes and a number of lucrative offers. You take your poker experience to the highest level.

The poker club members will also receive our quality newsletters, which contain tips, strategies and all the information you want to know about poker.

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