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.

The Art Of Bluffing In Online Poker

Ah, bluffing. When you get it right, you feel like a master strategist; when you get it wrong, you feel like a doofus. Bluffing is lying, to put it plainly. To be more specific, bluffing is lying about the strength or weakness of your hand. There is a common school of poker strategy that teaches to play every good hand as if it were a bad one and every bad hand as if it were a good one. Now while that may be a bit too simplistic to be applied across the board, it speaks to a sound underlying principle — you can win with a good hand and you can win with a bad one; it’s all in how you play.

If you’re playing No Limit poker especially you’re going to need to know how to bluff (and as a bonus consequence, how to tell when others are bluffing). Bluffing is generally more effective in No Limit poker than in Limit poker because in Limit poker, you can only raise so much at once, and you can only raise so many times in each round of betting.

A player in a Limit poker game is much more inclined to call a bet or a raise with a mediocre hand than a player in a No Limit game, and the main reason why is the size of the bet or raise. In No Limit poker, you can call “All In” at any of your turns and set the whole table on tilt. There’s just no equivalent in Limit play.

Now to extend the conversation on bluffing to the online poker arena, there are far fewer methods of bluffing online than there are offline. The main way to bluff online is to place a humongous bet or raise (when your hand doesn’t merit it, of course). You can try a bit of “coffeehousing” or blustering over the chat window, but if your opponents aren’t reading the chat window (or have that feature turned off) you’re wasting your time.

One way to heighten the impact of a bluff is to do it quickly and confidently. Though they can’t see your face while you’re doing it, like they could if you really were sitting across the table from them, but they can gauge how long it took you to come up with this maneuver based on how look it took you to execute it.

You’ll find 3 basic types of bluffs at the poker table, online or off:

The Stone Cold Bluff: Betting a huge amount right away with lousy cards; the choicest time to pull this is when you’re the last player to act in that round of betting and not much action has happened yet;

The Semi-Bluff: Betting on a potentially winning hand that for now is worthless (such as four cards to a straight or a flush); it’s considered a bluff because it’s currently a garbage hand, but since it could turn into “the nuts” or the best hand possible at that time, it’s considered to be only a semi-bluff;

Representing the Flop: Bluffing in two parts – first, raise a small amount in the initial round of betting, making folks think you have the beginnings of an excellent hand, though it seems clear you need to pull something useful on the flop to make it happen; in this round, you raise just enough to get the majority of players at the table to fold. After the flop, then, go ahead and bet a ton (maybe even going so far as to go All-In) suggesting that you just pulled whatever cards you needed on the flop.

It takes nerves of steel to pull off a good bluff, but it takes even more than that to fold when you believe your opponent is bluffing. If your hand is weak, especially, then no matter how convinced you are that your opponent is trying to pull one over on you, you still want to walk away and save your chips for another hand. If you don’t think you can win this round with the cards you’ve got, then by all means you can try bluffing. But if you sense you’re being bluffed, make sure you can beat it before you go ahead and call it.

Poker Plans

Knowing how to win at poker takes planning, strategy, tactics, technique and methodology. It takes work and study and carefully consideration of every move – both before and during the game. As a poker player you’ll need to make some tough decisions in some poker games if you want to win. You generally have to make four choices to win at poker. The choices are to check, or raise, to fold or to call (in other words, to bet.)

Knowing how to win at poker means the player’s ability to make a sound decision. This decision is made by learning the various possible moves ahead of time based on the anticipated moves of the other players, and then choosing the move that will offer the best return, or the need to fold.

A poker player who wants to win must learn to calculate the odds, determine the return as opposed to the odds against that return and make an accurate decision about whether the odds are in her or his favor. Should you determine the odds as heavily in your favor, it’s not just a matter of how to win at poker. It now becomes how much you can dare to bet to win as much as possible at poker. For this, psychological strategy is crucial to knowing how to win at poker.

Even though strategy and planning are part of knowing how to win at poker, what you don’t want to do is look like you have a plan or strategy. You must regularly vary your poker play, as one of your best winning poker tactics. There are many times you will have to bluff in the poker game, making it more difficult for the other poker players to make a decision about what you really intend to do and what cards you have in your hand.

The second most important move in knowing how to win at poker is to learn how to control your conversation and your body language. Not achieving control of these can give away just how weak or strong a poker hand you have. While those with whom you don’t play on a regular basis may not know that running your thumb across your eyebrow means you’re concerned about your weak poker hand, those who play with you often will soon pick up on that. It can be the same with the language you use as well.

While you may have the highest poker hand, that doesn’t mean you play it. The ultimate poker win, rather than the highest hand, is the biggest pot. If you want to win at poker you must learn to disguise your poker hand well and to memorize the cards that have been played. The latter will help you know what cards are still live in your poker game.

There are a number of handy gambling sites, periodicals and books that can help you learn how to win at poker. One online site, for example, allows you to sign up for a free gambling newsletter that you’ll receive monthly by newsletter.

This poker enthusiast’s newsletter keeps you up on the newest events and gaming news about products, idea and advice on how to win at poker. You can sign up for the e-zine on the Web and it’s totally free of charge. You can find out not only about what’s going on in the world of poker and gambling but the upcoming events and shows at casinos in every part of the country. If you want reliable reviews of casinos, tips on strategy for winning at poker and advice on the best software to teach you to play poker and other money making games.

Poker Strategy: Bluffing Your Cards

Poker is all about winning, but losing as well. And when he loses, a player gets decepted. Bluffing is a typical poker method. The reason you bluff is obvious: you want to trick the others, making them think you have a better hand than the one you do, and even a better hand than they do. If you want your bluff to be successful, you need to actually persuade the others that you have better cards. Players without experience love to bluff. They would do it all the time. And that leads them to bankruptcy. The efficiency of a bluff is sometimes increased by situations and it is closely related to the information you have about the others that are playing with you. It’s difficult to give specific situations when bluffing works, because it depends on people’s reactions and they can often be unpredictable.

When it comes to online poker playing, some situations just ask for a bluff.

1. When you are playing against just a few players.

It’s actually quite simple to understand, and as you know fewer people are easier to trick. When there are just a few hands, odds tell us that the chances for a good hand are low and you can go ahead and bluff. But experienced players know that you can bluff in this situation, so they might go ahead and call you till the end. It’s tricky as is bluffing always and you should try it only when you play with persons you are familiar with.

2. When you play beside tight persons.

Tight players will go along with bidding only if they have something they usually fold when they have nothing, or they make small bets. If you bluff early and the others are still calling your bets, then it is probable that they really do have something and maybe you should stop bluffing because they can stick to their cards.

3. When the last card is dealt, on the river.

You can bluff here because the ones that really have bad hand will fold, they have to other chance of improving their hand. If you got this far without bluffing you probably have something, like an Ace or a low pair, and the bluffing you are about to pull off it’s actually semi-bluffing.

4. When you are last and every one else checked.

If they all checked, this means their hands are not that great at all. Be aware because you will force some to make the bid, but some will probably fold. You might need to make this a persistent bluff, betting and raising bets a few times, because the bluff is common and others expect it.

5. When you placed a bet early but didn’t get the cards.

Of course, if they see you are still betting they will think you found the cards you need on the table. It is fairly risky and there are no patters for this, you just have to feel the table and analyze the cards and odds accordingly.

6. When the others fear you.

If you just won a good hand or some consecutive less important hands, then they know you can really play. If they type “Nice hand” they are now in your power, they respect and fear your hands. They are likely to fold if you raise the bet, only if you play this bluff the same way you played the winning hands.

7. When the cards in the flop are bad.

It is possible that players will fold when they see bad flops. If the flop has three rainbow cards that don’t match at all, like for instance: 5, 8, and 2 most likely no one has anything. So try to bluff, but pay attention to the reaming two cards. If they are also low, go on with it.

When using any of these bluffing strategies, think about the fact that other players might know them too and because of that they might see that you are bluffing. But bluff only against players you are familiar with to have better chances of succeeding.

Poker Strategy – Texas Holdem

Texas Holdem is a game of poker odds, luck, and outplaying your opponent. Most people ask “what is the best poker strategy Texas Holdem”? That answer is a very simple one but it depends on a lot of factors. When we talk about the best poker strategy for this article we are going to be referring to poker sit and go’s. Sit n go’s are probably the single most powerful game to make a stable income playing poker games on the internet. There are many factors that go into your success of winning a poker tournament or sit and go. If you are just starting out and do not know what sit n go’s are, let’s discuss briefly.

Sit n go’s are a poker tournament consisting of 10, 9, or 6 players. The most common form of a sitngo is 9 players. There is only a few poker sites such as absolute poker that have 10 player sit and go’s. Almost all sites you run into you will see 9 player sit and go’s and 6 player sit and go’s. I would try to avoid 6 player sit and go’s as much as possible, they just are not profitable. With 9 player sit and go’s the object of the poker tournament is to be the last player standing out of 9 players. The top 3 left make it to the money. If you finish in the top 3, at worst you at least DOUBLED your money. Texasholdem poker is extremely profitable because of this. A 9 player sit n go may take you at most 40 minutes, once you develop a great poker strategy with a lot of holdem help you can constantly play high stakes and make as much profit per hour as you would like. Once you get good, you will be playing 100 dollar sit n go’s in no time. First place for a 100 dollar sit n go is 450 bucks. 350 dollar profit in 40 minutes of work is not to shabby. This is done everyday by so many people across the world. They play sit and go’s as a constant and stable living while most people are throwing all their money away in a cash game. Cash games are horrible. The number one reason why is bad beats! Bad beats are a part of poker and there is nothing you can do. I can’t tell you how many bad beats Doyle Brunson has taken in his life time in which he describes so well in his brunson super system poker book. Bad beats are part of the game and no matter how well you outplay and outsmart your opponent they are going to happen. That is why you need to limit your losses and by playing sit and go’s your losses are limited. You can only lose a set amount per game (the tourney buy-in) and nothing more. If you suffer a huge beat this high in stakes it may cost you 100 bucks in a sit and go, but in a cash game you may be looking at a 1k or higher loss.

Texas Holdem Strategy Top Starting Hands

Play From Any Position Play Mid to Late PositionPlay in Late Position OnlyIf you are just beginning to play poker, playing these hands at the recommended positions will help you always be in a safe position before the flop. As your game progresses, you will be able to add more hands to this list and know how to play them in specific situations. If you are just beginning to play cards, I would suggest playing for nickels and dimes at home or for free at an online poker site. Poker websites are nice because you get to see many more hands per hour than you do at home.Some goods sites to play for free are UltimateBet and PartyPoker.com. Remember, the more you practice at anything, the better you get.

For more articles about poker visit Texas Holdem Strategy.

Poker strategy: Would you like a secret weapon with you at the table?

“Texas hold em poker is a game that takes minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master.” If you’ve played poker much at all you’ve likely heard that quote — but have you ever wondered why that is? The reason why games like Texas hold em and other poker games take so long to master is because there are so many variables that come into play. When it comes online poker, however, there is a secret weapon that you can use as a shortcut to poker mastery – Pokerbility. Pokerbility is a supremely accurate poker odds calculator that gives you an undeniable edge over the majority of online players by providing real-time probabilities and clear direction on how to play hands in an easy to use format that runs right alongside your favorite poker room.

Using the proprietary, patent-pending CombiCalc™ Calculation Method, Pokerbility combines the most effective methods for a poker odds calculator; game simulations and probability calculations. By taking into account the active information in a current hand, Pokerbility will calculate your chances of winning when you are pre-flop, and run game simulations to determine continuing odds based on the flop, turn and river. You can even input variables such as your style of play in order to produce the most accurate poker odds calculation results possible.

Compatible with about 50 online poker rooms, including the popular Party Poker, Doyle’s Room, Empire Poker, Pokerstars and Europoker, Pokerbility will be your partner in mastering and winning at online poker.

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