Playing poker drunk can be detrimental to your bankroll.  Often players play way more hands than they usually would, and are willing to call off their entire stack with much weaker hands.  A few drinks may not always be such a bad thing as I find a couple drinks makes me much more alert, but once you have had 4 or 5, LOG OFF!  Chances are you are gonna do something really stupid and cost yourself a lot of money.

On the other hand, playing drunk players can be very profitable.  If you play poker online around 2-4am you will see some crazy players and could make a killing.  Time your play, wait for really strong hands, and get your chips in there.  Chances are some drunk donkey will call you and you can make a pretty penny.

Good luck!

Each and every single online poker room offers its players some sort of sign up bonus these days. It’s not just a fashion fad, it is a must for every poker room intent on surviving in today’s highly competitive online poker market.

Due to the fact that not all the sign-up bonuses offered by poker rooms are meant to achieve the same goals (some are merely there to look good on your computer screen), and because of the variety of factors involved in determining the true value of a bonus, finding a lucrative deal is much more complicated than a rookie would think.

Here’s what you need to know about sign-up (or first deposit) bonuses:
The bonus sum advertised on the site of the poker room and in most reviews, is usually not what you’ll be getting once you join. If you see $600 advertised, that most probably means that the room will match your bonus 25-50 or even 100-200% up to a maximum sum of $600. That’s a huge difference, because in order to obtain the whole sum, you need to invest quite a significant amount of money.

Most people think that bonuses will reduce the amount of investment needed to start a poker bankroll, when in fact they’re meant to help in an entirely different way.

Once you get this first issue out of your way, there’s some more evaluating ahead. All right, so the poker room matches your deposit 100% (which is pretty good, though not particularly outstanding) and the max sum offered is satisfactory as well.
Next you need to see what the catch is. Never mind people telling you that there are no fine-prints involved in bonuses these days. There’s always something backstage that you don’t know about and that will potentially drain value from the bonus. Once you understand the mechanism behind these bonuses, you won’t find this appalling at all.

Bonuses are not only meant to draw players to the room, they’re also supposed to keep them playing, at least for a while. What they offer is a medium term edge on the rake that is usually taken on every single real money hand that you play. While this alone should be worth sticking around, the poker room has to make sure you don’t pack up and leave with their money, after all, financing you is not their objective. That’s why every bonus has to be unlocked. There are no exceptions to this rule. One way or the other, you have to unlock bonuses. Sure, there are the free bankrolls that supposedly come with “no strings attached”. That may be so, but you’ll need to play them through several times before you’re allowed to cash out.

This is where the most important factor in judging the value of the bonus comes into the picture. You need to know exactly how much rake you have to generate in order to redeem your bonus, and how the unlocking process works. Some bonuses are unlocked in smaller chunks (e.g $10 at a time) thus giving you a better shot at pocketing at least some of it before it expires. Other bonuses are only unlocked as a whole. If the validity period is short, you run the risk of not getting a single cent of it despite all the hard playing that you do.

The redemption of a bonus is always a direct function of the rake you generate through your play. It’s kind of like a rakeback deal. The more rake you make, the more of your bonus finds its way into your real money account.

While it may be one way to get rake back from the poker room, It’s certainly not the most efficient one. It only lasts as long as it takes you to unlock your bonus or until it expires, so it’s not really a loyalty reward.

Anyway, another factor you need to consider when looking to unlock your bonus is the rake calculation method the room uses.
If you’re a loose-aggressive player, dealt rake is going to cut you down. You’ll end up releasing bonuses for the tight passive fish at your table.

The contributed rake method will make it pretty much impossible for a rock to unlock anything, while a maniac will be at advantage.

Keep these things in mind when you apply to a seemingly lavish bonus offer and make sure you never bite off more than you can chew, or you’ll go to bed hungry.

Written By Kevin Venclauskas

1. Early Position Raise : One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is not respecting someone who raises in early position. Remember he has another 8 people after him at the table who he has to fade, so chances are that he is holding a big hand.

2. When you have the nuts and someone betting into you : I was watching a friend of mine play a poker tournament online, and although he made several mistakes that I corrected him on, the biggest mistake he made was pushing someone out of the pot by reraising him on the turn when he should have slow-played thehand. Let me give you the scenario. My friend Mike was dealt 10-hearts and K-hearts. Someone raises preflop and there are 4 callers including Mike. On the flop came K-diamonds, 10-diamonds, K-spades. Yes, he flopped the dead nuts. The first player checks, the second player who was the original preflop raiser bets $100. Next player reraises $100, the third and fourth players fold, lastley its up to Mike. He just called the bet which was the proper play. Next card on the turn was 3-spades, no help to anyone. Original player in first position bets $200, second player calls, and what does Mike do, raises the pot $600 and the other 2 players drop out. You need to ask yourself “What am I trying to accomplish with this bet.” What was Mike trying to do, make everyone fold. Number one he already has the dead nuts and he has position. So it is imperative to give the other players an opportunity to catch their card. The proper play was to continue letting the player bet into you, then take him off on the river. He might be holding 2 diamonds and hit his 3rd diamond on the river and you could have taken all his chips. You want those players to get so committed to the pot that they simply cant lay down their 2 pair or their flush or their set. Remember in no limit poker you can always raise the pot or even go all in on the river so its really quite simple. If your playing NL Holdem and someone is betting into you when you have the dead nuts and are in position, let him continue betting into you and do the raise on the river as to maximize any chance you have at getting most or all of his chips.

3. Protect Your Hand: Dont give players an opportunity to draw out on you, make them pay for it. If your holding top pair and there is flush or straight potential, dont let them get any free cards to draw out on you with. Make a good size bet and you should thin the herd.

4. Thin The Herd: If your holding an adverage hand, say pocket 10s and there have been no preflop bets yet,, go ahead and make a bet, I prefer to triple the pot. You certainly dont want the guy next to you who has King Duece to hit his King on the flop and beat you. Your bet should thin the heard down and will lesson your chances of getting out drawn.

5. Chip Lead: Listen people, if you have the chip lead tighten up a little. There is no sense in getting involved in too many pots. I see it all too often. A player has the chip lead and starts getting involved in every pot. . Then he catches one of his cards and gets committed to the pot and ends up losing 20% of his chip stack to the pocket rockets. You want to hold on to the chip lead folks, so try to avoid getting involved in too many pots unless your in position and you can see the flop for cheap. Simply let the other players on short stack weed themselves out and you will find yourself at the final table. I am not saying play scared, just play smart and don’t risk a large amount of chips unless you have the pot odds to do so or you have a pat hand.

6. Common Sense: Common sense supercedes all the advice given to me over the years. Use your head for crying out loud. My friend Mike was on the big blind and there were no raises preflop, so he got to see the flop for free. There were 7 people in the hand and the flop comes A-hearts, K-diamonds, -10-diamonds, now Mike was holding crap, 6-7 off suit. Well nobody bets and it comes around to Mike and he triples the pot. It goes around the table and one guy calls, another raises, then another goes all in. Of course Mike folds but common sense tells me with a flop like that everyone got a piece of it, wether its a gut shot straight or 4 to a flush or just top or second pair. My experience has been that usually players discard their low cards and stay in with their big cards or pocket pairs. When a big flop like that comes up common sense tells me when there are 7 other people in the pot that a few if not all of them caught some part of that flop. What a horrible time to try to buy one. Chalk another mullet move up to Mike.

7. Play like a champion: Try to imagine yourself at the WSOP final table playing for 1.5 million. Then ask yourelf how would Doyle Brunson play the hand. Take your time and you will probably make the right call. Remember skill will only get you so far, you also have to be lucky and not get too many bad beats to snap a big tournament off so dont get discouraged if you made the right play and lost the hand. If you played the hand like Doyle would have played the hand and you get a bad beat, well thats just part of poker so you might as well get used to it now.

8. SURVIVAL . Your goal of course is to snap the tournament off, but your first priority should be to get into the money. Just use your head and play smart.

9. Study Your Opponents: Study your opponents and make note of their tendencies. For example, if you have a player that calls just about anything, obviously it would not be wise to try to steal a pot against him as he will probably call you with his low pair. Conversly, if you have a player like that and you have a strong hand, bet more than you normally would as you will probably get a call out of him unlike if your playing against a good player that would probably fold his adverage hand.

10 . Realize The Amount Of Players Left In The Tournament And Where They Stand In The Money: If your in a tournament that pays the top 9 places and you have 11 people left in the tournament, this may be a good time to steal a couple of pots if your in position. They are trying to get into the money and wont risk their chips unless they have a premium hand. On the other hand, once everyone is in the money, if your going to play a hand make sure it is one where you are willing to risk a large part of your chip stack on. My experience is when it gets down to the money players, you see many people on the short stack going all in so although it may be tempting to play that 9-10 suited, it may not be a hand you want to risk a large amount of chips on.

These are just a few of the bigger mistakes I see players make when playing texas holdem tournaments. There are many more strategies that I will be sharing in the future. A quick note for cash ring game players. Take a minute before you sit down at a table and watch the game until the button goes around the table once. What your looking for are the saps who think they can play, but don’t have a clue. When I play online poker, my goal is to win money. And don’t understand the players who like to sit down with the poker guru’s. Frankly, when I play poker I am looking for the easy action, not the tough action. And unless you don’t like the color green, there is no percentage in playing the poker guru’s.

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Written by Kevin Venclauskas Top Online Casino Bonuses - Poker Strategy

Many Texas hold em poker players understand that it is very important to be the aggressor when playing online Texas holdem. While it is true that aggressiveness is an important Texas holdem strategy, some players take it too far and forget to fold when they are beaten.

Many players who have a losing hand will opt to go all in when raised, instead of folding when they know that they have a losing hand. This may work on occasion, but in the long run the player with the best hand will call your bluff.

Some people that play Texas holdem online will call large bets in hopes of catching a winning hand. For example, if you have two clubs and the flop comes out with two aces and one club another player will bet, and probably has an ace. Here many people who know how to play Texas holdem will fold their three clubs. Some who value aggression will call in hopes for catching two more clubs. This is not a smart way to play Texas hold em.

While it is true that you will get lucky from time to time by playing this way, in the long run you will lose by going all in with marginal or unmade hands. It is often much better to fold and to be patient, waiting until you actually have a very strong hand when you play Texas holdem online.

This type of aggressive behavior is seen more when you play free online Texas holdem poker than when you play for real money. Having patience and folding is the best practice when you play free Texas holdem for fake money online.

If you were to calculate the odds of winning a hand after the flop comes you would have a good idea of whether or not you should fold. As a rule of thumb, many players will fold to a large raise after the flop if they have nothing. If, after the flop comes, you do not have even a pair, an open ended straight draw, or a four card flush, you should probably fold.

Bluffing will work when you play Internet Texas holdem, but bluffing when there are three or more other players in the hand will often result in someone calling you that actually has a good hand. Do not forget the art of folding when you play a Texas hold em game online.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

Warren Kuhl is a expert online Texas Holdem Poker player. Visit his website Poker Chips & Supplies.

There are multiple ways in which you can win a hand while playing Texas hold em online. One mistake that novice Texas holdem players make is to go all in as soon as they have what is most likely the best hand. For example, if a player has an ace and a king, and the flop comes with a queen, jack, ten, many novice players will immediately go all in when playing Internet Texas holdem.

A better strategy may be to let the other players bet into you with a check raise. A check raise is when you have players who will act after you and you check your hand. Once the other players bet, you then raise them. If you were to bet at your very first chance when playing Texas holdem online, the players after you may simply call or fold. By using a check raise as a Texas holdem strategy, you are able to garner more money from the hand.

In the above example, if you go all in on the first chance that you get and all of the other players fold, you will make minimal money from the hand. Another option to this example is to simply call the bet that the other player makes. Now you can call every bet that is made all the way until the last card is dealt. Implementing a check raise when playing online Texas holdem you can get more money for your winning hand.

A check raise bet is considered to be a deceptive play when you play a Texas holdem poker game online. This type of play will not make you any friends while playing, but it will help you to win the game. Knowing when to utilize a check raise when you play Texas hold em is crucial to winning games.

Players who move all in right away with the best hand hope to have other players call them, but more experienced players that know how to play Texas holdem will fold leaving you to win only a small pot.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

About the Author:

Warren Kuhl is a expert online Texas Holdem Poker player. Visit his website Texas Holdem Strategy.

By: Chris Holdsworth

After you’ve been playing poker for a while, you will inevitably want to get your feet wet and head down to your local casino or card room to play some live casino poker. Along with this desire comes a certain level of anxiety or nervousness about going down to the brick and mortar for the first time.

This is perfectly normal!

But don’t worry! There really isn’t anything to fret about, as playing poker at the casino is one of the most fun forms of playing the game.

Despite my reassurances, however, I’m sure you still have some reservations about going, and are probably a bit worried about what to do when you get there, what stakes you should play, etc.

The good news is that this article should explain a lot of the questions you have about playing at the casino. After reading the following tips you will be ready for the live casino poker game, allowing you to relax and really do what you came to the casino for in the first place - to win money!

The first thing you’ll want to do upon arriving at the casino is to talk to the front desk area in the poker room and have them either assign you a table, or place you on a waiting list to be seated. You’ll have to decide what stakes you wish to play. Normally most casinos will have a low stakes limit game ($4-$8), a low stakes no limit game ($1-$2), and maybe some mid-high stakes games.

After you are assigned a table, the floor person will likely point you toward the cage to get some chips. I would recommend buying in for at least 20 big bets (so $160 for $4-$8) if you are going to play limit holdem. If you are going to play No Limit, then typically buying in for the maximum or close to it is optimal.

Now that you have your chips, sit down - the fun is about to begin! Soon enough you will win your first hand… what a rush. There’s nothing like the feeling of winning a big pot and stacking up your chips.

One thing to remember in the casino though after winning a hand is to ALWAYS TIP THE DEALER! This is common courtesy just like tipping your server at a restaurant. Usually in low limit games I will give the dealer any $0.50 chips that they give me from making change for the rake. If I don’t get any chips that size, then I will generally tip $1.00. This is completely up to you though, and I would suggest anywhere from $0.50 to $2.00 is more than acceptable, although you may wish to tip more if you win a large pot.

As you play more and more at the casino, there is bound to be a time when you have a question about the way a hand was handled, or you feel that a mistake was made. Always keep your cool in these circumstances, and point it out to the dealer first. If they aren’t handling it to you satisfaction, call a floor person over - but ALWAYS give the dealer a chance to make things right. Dealers are people too, and no one likes it when someone goes over their heads. That said, if the dealer isn’t doing anything about your problem, certainly ask for a floor manager.

These quick tips should get you ready for your first trip to a live casino poker room.

But one more thing!

Remember the most important rule of all for going to the casino - Have Fun!

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

Copyright 2006 - Chris Holdsworth, www.LearnToPlayTexasHoldem.net - All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as the resource box remains intact and there is a live link to this site. 

This will not be about game theory, how to play each hand or even what to do in scenarios, I will leave that up to the authors of the many books already out there. I do believe that a player should have a guideline of hands they follow but like anything in poker, everything depends on the situation.

I hope the 5 P’s will help you focus on the task at hand, making money off other peoples mistakes. With a little variation, the 5 P’s could extend over a lot of different games, but for this article I will deal with Limit Holdem.

POSITION

Position is THE factor to base all your decisions on in Limit Holdem. Why? It is the only factor that can add or subtract value to your hand on a consistent basis. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at a few examples.

A) You are on the button. You look down and see ATo. Good hand. It is folded around to you and you raise. You are on the button. You look down and see ATo. Good hand. It is capped before it gets to you and you fold.

B) You are UTG with 89s. You fold You are on the button with 89s and 4 limpers. You call.

Not convinced, let’s look at actual numbers. Poker Room tracks EV (The unit for EV is average profit in big bets.) by position for every hand played on that site. Nearly ALL hands make more money in later positions than early. Let’s look at one, the mighty AA.

UTG it yields 2.48 bb’s profit, yet on the button it is 2.96 bb’s. That’s over ½ bb difference! In a $2/$4 game that would be $2 MORE profit in late position than early and that is with the best starting hand in poker.

Position plays an enormous role in the way a hand is played and followed through with. So let’s look at the basic positions and some recommendations on how to play.

Early Position – First three positions to the left of the BB. There are not many hands to play from this position. To make money from early position you must play tight and aggressive. You have no information about how the other players will play behind you. If you play a hand from the first three positions, you could not go wrong by always bringing it in for a raise.

Middle Position – The next three positions after early. Loosen your starting hand requirements a little but still play tight vs. an early position raise. Tend to raise more first in and start to add a little deception to your play. Maybe just calling a raise with AKs or re-raising with a small pocket pair for example. Just be prepared to release if you miss the flop.

Late Position – The cut-off and the button. The whole play book is now wide open. There are obvious exceptions but most hands play. If it is raised before you, still tighten up a little with your calls. If it is raised and re-raised before you, play only the premium hands. Limped around and most any hand will play that likes multi-action, like suited connectors. Folded around to you, most players will automatically raise. I would suggest raising 70-75% of the time. Blind stealing is an art and if you auto raise every time you are first in, you will start to get played back at and put in tough positions.

The Blinds – Treat the blinds like early position. A lot of players like to defend their blinds to the death. Don’t fall into that trap. Remember you will be first to act in every round and no use losing more money than you already had to put in.

Choosing the right hand in the right position can be a great money maker but playing the wrong hand out of position can wipe out hours of hard work. Let’s do the math. A player can expect to win 2bb/hour from limit holdem. ($3/$6 table = $12 a hour) One misplayed hand played out of position could literally wipe out hours of solid play. This example can be applied to all the other segments coming up as well. I would highly recommend a starting hand chart for new players. There are many out there but I would recommend the Internet Texas Holdem book for a good start.

One last advice – Cold Calling. It is very rare that cold calling a raise from any position (except BB) is a good play. If you are facing a raise you should either 3 bet or fold. There are rare exceptions and that will have to do with the 2nd P.

PAY ATTENTION

There are only two things you have to pay attention to while playing limit holdem; yourself and the other players. That’s it, that’s all the information you will need to play good limit holdem. So let’s start with the easy one first…..yourself.

Are you mentally ready to play the game? Are you focused? Have you set enough time to play a solid session? Are there any distractions?

As you know, emotionally, poker is tough. The suck outs, unreal calls, luck and just bad play can stress you to the maximum level in a short time. You have to be prepared for the inevitable and try to stay on as smooth an emotional level as possible. You never know when that next opportunity will arise to take advantage of bad play.

That is a lot easier said than done. Hand after hand of losing to pure dumb luck can work on a person. So during a session, re-evaluate yourself and make sure you are still emotionally “in the game”. If not, sit out a few hands, take a break, switch tables or whatever it will take to calm you enough to play solid poker again. Be honest with yourself, whether you have played 2 minutes or 2 hours, if you are getting emotionally out of control QUIT! From our example above, if you can lose an hour of profit from one misplayed hand, imagine what tilted play will cost you over the long term.

Stress relief – Don’t want to quit but not playing optimal? 1) Take $5 to the penny tables and live it up! Raise, cap and just cause chaos. 2) Define a set of rules. AQ – AA is all in. 22-TT is half in. All suited cards are 1/3 in and go cause havoc in some freerolls. (My personal favorite)

Now on to other players. There is finite math that will tell you xx hand is an xx% favorite vs. x amount of random hands. There is no arguing the numbers and they are an important part of poker and should be part of any serious poker player’s arsenal. What I would like to point out is that with good note taking and observation, there might be less “random” hands than meets the eye.

Let’s take this example:

You are in late position with TT. Player in early position raises and it is folded to you. From your notes you see that this player will raise AQ-AA but will only cap the betting with AA or KK. You three bet and all fold to the original raiser.

Math says that your TT is about 75% to win/split a pot vs. 1 random hand. This is not a random hand though. If the player calls your three bet, you could safely assume you are ahead and proceed that way on the flop. If he caps the betting though, you would have to assume you are way behind and if you completely miss the flop, could fold and save you some money. Before I go any further, let me answer some questions from the readers:

Yes, I use Poker Tracker Yes, patterns like this emerge No, they are not rare occasions Yes, I take advantage of them

Do you need a program? No. There are many observations you can get by just paying attention. Does a player overplay AK, does a player bet draws or check/call draws, when a draw hits the board will a player bet or check/raise, will a player see a flop no matter the cost, will a player only bet the nuts, and the list can go on and on. Any information towards a tendency of another player will make you money by making the right call, the right fold or the right raise.

Don’t forget you are a player at this table also. Keep an eye on how you are perceived at the table, tight, rock, loose, aggressive or whatever. Make sure you are not falling into a predictable pattern as well. That’s why I said earlier on rare occasions do you cold call a raise. Always be aware of the patterns you are portraying as well and make sure you vary them from time to time.

We now have our head in the game and we’re taking notes and making observations. We still have to make money. Some hands play themselves, some are tough decisions on whether to check, raise or fold. So let’s take a look at the next P for some help.

POT ODDS

This can be a very lengthy subject and one that can get very confusing. Pot odds, implied odds, reverse implied odds and pot equity could be a book all to itself. For this system though I will keep it simple. Remember this is a basic formula for the beginner or for the player that wants to get back to basic winning poker when your game may have gone astray. So for this I will stay with mainly pot odds with a hint of implied odds.

First some definitions:

Outs: The number of cards left in the deck that will improve your hand. Pot Odds: The odds that are present in regards to the size of the pot vs. how much it costs you to call. Implied Odds: The assumed result of betting for later hands.

So to figure at pot odds, just compare your bet/call with the money already in the pot with the odds of you hitting your hand. I would know 1-9 and figure anything with 10+ outs I am calling to the river. Of course one of the advantages of playing online is that you can print out the odds and stick them up next to your computer for easy reference.

Let’s do one example:

You’re in a $1/$2 game and $4 in the pot. You flop an open ended straight draw which has 8 outs. 4 cards on either end of the straight will make our hand. 2 players bet before you making the pot $6. Since you have to call $1 into a $6 pot you are getting 6:1 on a 4.75:1 odd. It is an easy call.

There are no such things as absolutes in poker. There are always situations, players, reads, etc. that come up that will make one play better than another but for the most part, chasing hands with improper odds will cost you money over the long term. We all have bad runs and losing streaks, but you will find that somewhere in the midst of a bad run, this will be the part that bleeds the most money. Overplaying hands too far and chasing draws well past the point of profitability. On the flip side, pot odds can play a big part in the turn around of a bad run also. Playing solid poker in the long run wins money. Nobody plays perfect all the time and we all know that we only make money off of other peoples mistakes. I know that luck plays a part and that we lose hands that we are favored in all the time. Realize though, in the long term, luck goes away and solid poker wins. Call if the pot odds say to, fold if they don’t…..it is that easy. This leads us to implied odds.

I believe implied odds are the most misused calculation in poker. It is practically impossible to quantify and is based solely on your read of the other poker players. Implied odds basically says that if you do not have the pot odds to continue BUT you think enough players will call your bet/call to eventually get to the right odds, it is safe to bet/call. Since this article is meant to be a guide to keep your game on track, I suggest you forget about implied odds unless you are real close.

For example:

Take our open-ended draw from before. There is $4 in the pot 2 player’s check to you on the flop. You are getting 4:1 now and a 4.75:1 draw but you are close enough to make the call. Why? You are practically guaranteed one of the two players who checked will call your bet. Thus, implied odds say make the bet.

This is a VERY simple overview of a very complicated subject. There are many situations that can and do arise that require you to adjust your calculations. Remember though, that for a beginner or a player trying to get back to the basics, you can’t go wrong by going with the odds.

CAVEAT: Make sure that when applying pot odds you are calling with the chance to draw to the BEST hand. If the card you are hoping for can put a better hand on the board, may not be worth it.

Quick Example:

You hold Ts9s late. The flop comes Js9h5s. Another spade gives you a flush but possible not a high enough one. Be careful here.

Now that you are honed in to the nuts and bolts of the game it is time to expand a little into the next P….Psychology.

PSYCHOLOGY

Don’t worry; I’m not going to get Freudian on you. The psychological make up of the table and the players there and the way they fit into your game play’s a big roll in how your session will be. It can be frustrating to be a passive type of player at a table full of aggressive people raising and 3 betting every pot. It can be equally frustrating if you’re an aggressive type of player at a table that will not play back at you. You can have all the tools and be on top of your game but if you are not comfortable at the table, you will make mistakes and mistakes cost money.

First off you have to be honest with yourselves about how you play the game. Everyone plays the game for different reasons. For relaxation, sport, fun, serious, entertainment and the list could go on and on. Once you realize why YOU play the game then you can make a better valuation of why others play the game. I am afraid there is no real help here that anyone can give you. Just sit down and figure out what it is that motivates you the most about playing poker. Look deep, I am sure there are not many; if any players out there that say “I can’t wait to lose money today!” so saying I play to win money is a pretty obvious answer. You may be surprised to learn that once you figure out what kind of player you are you can pinpoint what kind of player you have a hard time playing with. Then, of course you can study up on how to play that type of player or just avoid them all together. Once you figure out what kind of player you are, you can set out to find a table that will fit you best.

You can find out a lot about a table by just looking at the numbers that most sites give you in the lobby…Avg. Pot Size and % Flops Seen. If you have taken good notes, now is a good time to use them to maybe get a hint about the players at the table also.

Avg. Pot Size (APS) – This figure can give you a peek at the over all skill level of the table. If the APS is high, many people are seeing flops or calling raises and going to the river with them. A low APS could mean people releasing hands pre-flop or flop which could be an indication of better players. The actual number used as a base figure could fluctuate greatly between sites so just use your judgment and observation skills to figure what it would be at the site you are playing at. Somewhere between 4-5 BB’s I think would be a good avg. number here. ($2/$4 table would mean $16-$20 avg. pot)

% Flops Seen (%FS) – This figure can be used to evaluate aggressiveness. Usually a number < 30% would mean an aggressive type of table with not a lot of people seeing the flop. And of course the opposite, if it is > 30% it is probably a passive table with not a lot of raising.

You can use this to narrow down your choices of where you would like to sit based on the type of player you are. A low APS and %FS would indicate an aggressive table with not a lot of people playing each round. High APS and %FS would be just the opposite, a passive table with a lot of flops being seen. Whatever combination it is could tell you a little about the table and type of play you would be getting into. This is by no means an exact science. It will give you a general idea of which table to look at before you take a seat.

For the more serious players, before you sit you may want to go a step further and look at any notes you may have on the players that are there. You are looking for the optimum situation here and the more information you have the better. If no notes, observe the table for an orbit or two, if there is a waiting list, all the more reason to watch and learn before you sit down. You are looking for any edge to tilt the odds in your favor and if the table doesn’t fit well, there are always more to choose from. Of course on- line, table dynamics can change instantly so keep an eye on who comes and goes and switch tables if the dynamics start swinging against you.

Your almost there, but the final P is probably the hardest of all.

PATIENCE

Let the game come to you. In limit holdem, sometimes this one could take a while. You have to have patience at the table and be able to handle the folding hand after hand until the right situation presents itself, patience with yourself for when the right situation comes along at you still get beat and patience with your game for the times when the bad run seems to never end.

Losing patience, out of all the P’s could be the one that costs the most. Sometimes those hands that are marginal start to look real tempting after a few orbits of nothing but junk cards. Then, before you realize it, you are playing hands you shouldn’t have been playing and can’t make it up with the good hands that are winning. Usually you can look back at a marginal to losing session and find the hands that should have been dropped and find out that it could have been a better or even profitable session if you would have left them alone.

Patience at the table is where it all starts. You have to realize that no matter how good you are, you are going to lose eventually. You can’t and will not win every session. You can control how much you lose and to an extent win. There will be nights when you fold almost every hand and just never get started, nights where you fold most hands and the other ones get cracked and nights where you just can’t lose. All three require an amount of patience. On the nights that can’t get going, you must have the patience to keep waiting or quite till another night. Not fall in the trap of trying to push marginal hands and control the amount of the lost. Losing happens. When it is a fold or have your hands cracked night, patience could be the farthest thing from your mind. To stay calm and realize in the long run you will win those hands and not to tilt away even more money could turn a bad week or month into a winning one.

Win everything goes right? Deck hit you in the face. Your big blind is even flopping monsters! That’s right patience. Even here you most optimize you winnings to cover the times when you are not winning. Sometimes you feel any hand can win and you may even see a couple folded hands hit big. Still don’t be tempted to chase with the marginal hands. These nights don’t come easy or often and you have to maximize the winnings.

Patience is the key that drives the whole vehicle. Without it, you may never get started in this game.

I hope that these P’s will help you stay focused and on track through this often frustrating but rewarding game of poker. Staying focused on the basics will allow you to expand your game and hopefully make it a rewarding adventure for whatever reason you are playing for. Good Luck and See You at the Tables!

Steve Vaughan
4Flush.com

Most players, including myself, get mad or upset when this happens to them. You say to yourself, or the player that just gave you that bad beat, “How can you call with that hand” or “why were you even playing that?”

Most poker players get upset at their opponet for making a bad call and then winning the hand. In reality, you should be glad that you are playing against such an opponet because they are giving you a great opportunity to win money.

Bad Players Give Bad Beats

Usually the people that are giving bad beats are bad players. It usually takes a bad call or a bad play for a bad beat to happen. If it wasn’t for these bad beats, bad players simply wouldn’t play poker.

Think about it, if bad players lost every time they got their money into the pot they simply would quit playing. Is this what we really want? The answer is no, because if there wasn’t someone out there trying to give thier money away, this game would be impossible to beat. The only people playing would be solid players that never make mistakes. Then the only people making money off of poker would be the casinos.

Not only do the bad beats keep the bad players in the game, in a way it prevents them from improving their game and becoming better players. The luck that’s involved with poker can convince a bad player that they might be good. These bad players can have a winning session because of a few bad beats. Then on nights they don’t win they can also convince themselves that it was just bad luck that they had a losing session.

Good Players Suffer More Bad Beats

Good players will suffer more bad beats than they will ever give out. The reason is good players get their money into the pot when they are ahead more often than when they are behind. This is the reason why good players are good.

Good players will pick their spots and make better decisions to get their money in as a favorite. When you are constantly ahead and everybody is trying to outdraw you, they’re going to get lucky every now and then.

Conclusion

Poker players need to think more long term than they do short term. Think of a poker session as a life long project. Whenever you do take a bad beat and lose a big pot, think long term instead of short term. If you get your money into the pot 1,000 times in that same exact situation how much money am I going to win? Just an example, if you get all your money in the pot 1,000 times with AA vs. QTo for $300 a pot, you are going to win about 836 times and lose about 160 of them. Over a 1,000 hands you will win about $202,800. So don’t get upset over the 160 times you lose that hand and just continue your life long session and wait for you next opportunity.

About the Author:

Alan Bloomfield is a winning poker player. He writes for and manages the website http://www.pokerall-in.com

Let’s learn some different type of poker other than Texas holdem, 7 card stud, 5 card draw and Omaha. Yes, pai gow poker. Now you must be wondering that pai gow sounds little Chinese; yes you are right this game is a mixture of the Chinese game pai gow and our very own American poker. Definitely this is not one of the most popular forms of poker but still widely played. It can be played by up to seven players.

It is played with one deck of 52 cards, plus a joker. Interestingly, joker can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush, or a royal flush. The important thing here to remember is other than the usual ranking of hands we have one more winning hand that is “Five Aces” (five aces including the joker). Surprisingly, five aces beat all other hands including royal flush.

Each player is dealt seven cards. The cards are arranged to make two hands; a two card hand and a five card hand. The five card hand must rank higher or be equal to the two card hand. Finally both of your hands must rank higher than both of your opponents hands (both five and two card hands). Further the two card hand can only have two combinations; one pair and high card.

After the cards are arranged in to two hands, they are placed on the table face down. Once you put them down, you can no longer touch them. The dealer will turn over his cards and make his hands. Each players hand is compared to the dealer’s hands. If the player wins one hand and loses the other, this is known as “push” and no money is exchanged. If dealer wins both hands then he/she wins the players stake and vice versa. Now what if there is a tie, the only advantage with the dealer here is he/she wins all ties.

After the hand is played, the next person clock-wise becomes the dealer and the next hand is played. The major disadvantage to this game is that there is no skill involved and you rely too much on luck. Also the odds are poor compared to playing with a pot.

You must have developed a great betting strategy playing the regular limit, no-limit and pot-limit games. Now let’s see some other methods of betting involved mainly in private games. I will just cover a few for example Set limit, Straddle method, Freeze out and Running out of money. So let’s discuss each of them. These methods bring in a lot of excitement and fun when playing private games.

Set limit:
Here players agree to a minimum and maximum bet where there is enough opportunity for them to make good raises. It is important because if you raise a decent amount of chips then you might force other players into folding. Also there is an agreement on a minimum ante by every player before the cards are dealt, so, there is some money in the pot before you start playing. To stay in the game each player must bet an amount equal to the previous player or raise the stakes up to the maximum as agreed before the play.

Straddle Method:
Here first a player bets an ante and the next player doubles the bet called straddle before the cards are dealt. Now the third player can either fold or double the straddle depending on his cards. The betting continues and each player must bet at least the same amount as the previous player. Here showdown occurs when no one else raises or the maximum bet is reached as agreed before the play.

Freeze Out:
Here the betting is same as in regular games but with few exceptions. Betting is arranged using an agreed method and the objective is for one player to win all the chips. When a player runs out of chips, there is an immediate showdown and the player with the best hand wins the pot. Games like these are already marked as Freeze out tournaments.

Running out of money:
Again the betting here is same as in regular games but with few exceptions. If a player runs out of money during the game a second pot is opened by the remaining players. Now that player has to wait until one player remains or there is a showdown. If one player remains then he definitely wins the second pot or else a player with the highest hand wins the pot. Now the hand that won the second pot is compared to that of the player who ran out of money. The player with the best hand wins the first or original pot.
Written By: Tarun Sharma