Online Gambling

Sit and Go Strategies for Poker Prophecy
- by Marty Smith

My previous articles on poker calculators have not included information on Poker Prophecy because in essence it is NOT an online poker odds calculator. However, it does something equally as valuable in that it displays your opponents overall win rate at the poker site you play. Whether you play at Party Poker, Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet, or a selection of others, Poker Prophecy keeps sit and go records for you whether you are at the table or not. Is it useful? Yes, it absolutely is. If you play sit and go tables even once in awhile, this is the one online poker program that can pay for itself in the same day. In an ideal world you would want to use your poker calculator alongside Poker Prophecy. Now, if you are wondering how knowing an opponent’s win rate will help you, keep reading.

In effect, you can your opponent’s win rate against them. Although you can change the levels of classifications on Poker Prophecy I prefer to use the provided win rate categorizations - as they seem to be right on. To win a sit and go tournament you will be in several hands along the way that are game critical intersects. In saying that, would you want your opponent to be someone that you’ve never played against, or a regular that you have played hundreds, or even thousands of times?

A win rate is determined by adding all the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes and dividing by games played. These rates create 3 player categories. Here are some strategies to use against all of them.

37% or higher - Professional: Anyone with this win rate knows how to play tight/aggressive and does so with incredible patience and discipline. They will not be bluffing early, and will almost always have the best hand when all in. However, their weakness lies in that very foundation, in that they are the easiest players at the table to bluff out of a pot. If you try this often, they will trap you, but if you selectively come over the top in a big way, these players will not call on hands like top or middle pair, mediocre draws, or flop boards that have a lot of chemistry. Stay away from them if they come in early position with a raise. Fold your AJ, KQ, 66, 33, and the like, unless you are short stacked, then over the top is your only play. At this level, players are proud of their win rate and absolutely hate to go out first, or early in a tournament. If you can threaten to cut into their bankroll, they will pause and fold to your aggressive re-raising.

20.01% to 36.9% - Average: These players are the most dangerous in that they may have tendencies of being solid and weak, many of them in poker learning stages that may well be improving. I find the reason why these online poker players are stuck in this zone is that they can’t let go of draws, even when pot odds justify an obvious fold. The course of action here is basically straight up, unless you have some other indication of their play. If you have them on an obvious draw, bet solid. If the river is a brick add one small bet to cap it off, and hope for a re-raise. In game play, they are the ones to watch most in order to help build an identity.

0% to 20% - Fish: Don’t bluff, don’t bluff, and for God sakes, don’t bluff. These are the players who are most often asked - “How did you call with that?” They are the lowest grade opponents for a reason, but can double up ON YOU if you don’t play straight up against them. However, that makes them the most susceptible to being trapped and/or slow played. And that’s what you want to do while avoid being drawn out on an ugly gut shot straight. If you want them out of the hand, all-in is your only play, but make sure you are way ahead. If not, calling/checking down, and folding to a huge river bet is safer. These players will see so many hands and raises that you are sure to get a better shot at them later - if they happen to survive. Poker Prophecy also has other statistics which you should read for every table you join because they have a huge impact on a players TRUE win rate.

How many games have they played? The more they have played (100+) the more that category is true to their fundamental playing style. If your opponent has a 62% win rate but has only played 13 games, you are essentially playing blind - the win rate is a non-factor, save for representing a streak.

What buy-in are they playing compared to what they usually play? Someone could be on a bad losing streak at the $50 buy in, and finds himself trying to bankroll at the $10 buy ins. They may tend to be more impatient and inclined to tilt. On the other hand, moving up a level or two usually means the player is going to be much tighter.

Conflicting styles. If you discover a pro-rated player in a lot of weak hands, and playing carelessly, you may be seated with the spouse/friend of the account holder. I often come across this and pay close attention to that player so that I can override the category myself.

About author

Martin Smith is webmaster of http://www.PokerCalculatorReport.com where all the online poker calculators are tested and reviewed, including Sit and Go Shark, Calculatem Pro, and Poker Spy. He is also editor of http://www.PokerBookReport.com You can contact Martin Smith at support@PokerCalculatorReport.com

Texas Hold’em Poker - Playing Low Pocket Pairs
- by Online Poker Player’s Guide

When playing low pocket pairs (2’s,3’s,4’s,5’s6’s) in texas hold’em poker you have to know what your looking for, and how to proceed dependent on what you see on the flop. Too many people think you should just throw them away in most situations, but these types of starting hands can be the most profitable of all.

This is because low pocket pairs are not the typical ace through ten type of starting hand. Also when you make a set it won’t be obvious because the card needed to make your set won’t be a face card which would normally be part of a typical texas hold’em poker hand. You can use this to your advantage. By not making bets that give away your pocket cards hand strength you will be able extract the maximum amount of money. Keep in mind what cards are on the board, and what your opponents hole cards are likely to be given their actions. It may be that at some point in these types of hold’em poker hands you will have to make more forceful bets to force out chasers.

In addition to being hole cards that won’t have an obvious flop they also will have a very high potential hold’em poker hand strength. This is because if you make your set then all you need is for the board to pair. This will give you a full house which has a very high hold’em poker hand strength. Often times in this type of situation the board pair will give an opponent a set while making your full house. This is like money in the bank. While your opponent feels he has a dominant hold’em hand strength he in fact is drawing dead. It is still important not to make obvious and aggressive raises which may communicate your hand strength. Often times the best course of action is to just call till the river then make you move. If your opponent doesn’t get any kind of obvious cues before the river he will be more apt to go ahead and call your post river bet even if it is sizable.

It is important to know what to look for when your starting hand is a low pocket pair. It isn’t always the third card to make your set. For example if you have a pocket pair of 5’s and the flop is 3, 3, 4. In this situation more often than not your ahead in the hand strength. Most opponents would not have a 3 or 4 in a starting hand, and the fact that there are 2 3’s makes it more likely that the remaining 2 3’s are in the deck or folded. In this type of situation I would suggest making a value bet to see if your hand strength is on top. Two or three times the big blind usually would be sufficient. Also you don’t want to make the mistake of acting to minimally and letting players get a free look at the turn. With a flop like that any players holding an ace would like to see a 5 or 2 on the turn. If they then only need on card to make a 5 high straight they may stay in with a small bet. Also there is always the chance they will make their straight. In which case you would have made your set of 5’s but to no avail.

More often than not if you don’t make your set on the flop it is best to just fold your hand. Low pocket pairs though very profitable have to be played for what they are. If they don’t make a set on the flop they are most likely behind in hand strength and will finish the poker hand that way. The exception to this would be if you go all-in preflop against a drawing starting hand. You are slightly favored. Of course if your opponent does hit either card then the low pocket pair starting hand strength becomes a nearly assured lose. This is why it really is not a very good play to make very often. In desperate situations in poker tournaments as blinds are nipping at your heels you may have to make some desperate plays with low pocket pairs for starting hands, but otherwise you should really just try to see the flop with them.

With this said I still in most situations feel that a starting hand worth playing preflop is worth raising preflop. Even though your starting hand strength with a low pocket pair is most likely behind; a preflop raise can still chase out some opponents that could have potentially benefitted from the flop. By chasing some out you can maximize the chances your low pocket pair will be ahead in hand strength after the flop. Even if a queen or jack come out on the flop you may have chased out an opponent who had a queen and a rag that may have stayed in where it not for the preflop raise. You can make your feeler bet and see where you are in hand strength and see if you want to play the hand further or fold it.

About 3 out of 4 times that you play low pocket pair starting hands you should end up folding it post flop when you don’t make your set. The hold’em hand odds of getting a set are low enough that you won’t make your set very often. Don’t make the mistake of continuing to chase it. Every once in a while if the table conditions allow it perhaps, but most likely your just contributing your chips to someone else’s pot.

Now after reading this you may get the impression I am advocating playing low pocket pairs when ever you get them. Often times if there is a raise and especially if there is a reraise you should probably fold your starting hand preflop. This is because the probability of making your set is low and faced with an aggressive better you don’t want to pay a premium to see a flop that is more than likely not going to improver your starting hand strength.

Playing low pocket pairs in texas hold’em poker is not something to be afraid of. Rather you should look forward to them and play them accordingly. Capitalizing on the less obvious starting hands can greatly increase your level of play in texas hold’em poker, and will keep your opponents guessing which will help your play no matter your starting hand strength.

For a more in depth examination of hold’em strategies, statistics, tips and much more visit the link below.

http://www.onlinepokerplayersguide.com

A Quick Review of Pacific Poker
- by Jimmy Bastowe

There are many poker sites on the Internet. However, it is often hard for some to discern what the best online poker site for them would be. Pacific Poker is one online poker site that might be right for you. Depending on what you are looking for, this review should help you better understand the exact type of poker web site that will best fit your needs.

Graphics are essential to every poker room. In this respect Pacific Poker probably comes in at a “B+”. The colors and tables are clear, but the user icons leave nothing to the imagination. Aesthetically, the poker tables are on par with other poker rooms.

The playability of Pacific Poker is the subject of some debate. Some say that the software is occasionally frustrating to play. Some drawbacks are that users can only play one table at a time, and the actions of other players are not shown (so one can’t see the last hand and how much a player may have raised pre-flop). However many people enjoy Pacific Poker because they believe that the site has easy money and loose games. The software has also improved recently, with the site adding support for note taking on opponents and hand history statistics.

The lobby in Pacific Poker has shown great signs of improvement. There are now statistics available for flop percentages at specific tables. This can be a very useful stat when trying to determine which of the games are loose. There is also information available on the number of hands per hour and average pot size.

Player numbers for Pacific Poker are very good. The site has done well advertising itself, and so the number of players is always growing. The highest traffic is found in Texas Holdem games and tournaments. The tournaments are also very popular, which means that users do not have to wait at all for a tournament to start. Positions fill up very quickly, and the competition is very diverse. There are some very skilled players, and then more inexperienced players.

Many people are concerned with the rake at specific poker sites. Pacific Poker has a very reasonable rake at low limit tables. However, it can be the most taxing rate at high limit tables. The maximum rake is $5 on $50-$100 tables, which is higher than the average of the industry. Conversely, limits below $1/$2 have a maximum rake of $1 which is very reasonable.

There are many promotions and bonuses offered at Pacific Poker. There are also a variety of freeroll tournaments. Pacific Poker allows users to pay using a variety of options. In conclusion, Pacific Poker has many good and (like any poker room) a few bad elements. Overall, it is a good place to play online poker.

About author

Jimmy Bastowe recommends you visit http://www.whichpoker.com/pacific-poker-review.html for another review of Pacific Poker.

Using a Poker Calculator to Win Sit and Go Tournaments
- by Marty Smith

You may know already that sit and go action is where a good, solid poker bankroll can be built. You get to choose your maximum risk, and play against a variety of talent giving you plenty of value for your buy-in, unfortunately, most poker calculators are not designed for sit and go poker. They calculate odds based on pot size, position, draws, and betting - but only for cash games. If you’re like me and play mostly sit and go poker, you have to make moves counter to your poker calculator recommendations to be in the money consistently. These situations will occur when you are short stacked, when you are playing against a maniac, when you are chip leader, when you are heads up, and when you are 3rd place of 3 left.

Hopefully you don’t end up short stacked too often (were you really playing correctly) and someone outdrew you on a bad call or two, but when you find yourself short, you MUST be strategizing to double up. The best way to double up is to get heads up with just one other player with a decent hand. Even if you are behind with KQos and get called with A9, you are in the right spot to double up, but not against more than one player. Your poker calculator will always say to fold KQos against a raise, but that’s when you go your own way and isolate the raiser. You are mostly trying to avoid being dominated here so I look at QJ, or pocket 8’s etc. and feel I am not a huge underdog and may even be slightly favored.

Sometimes you will be up against a maniac, or at least a very loose player and know you are probably ahead. Your strategy here is to re-raise, isolate and not let him draw out. That means over-betting the pot against maniacs. Again, your poker calculator is just not going to agree with this strategy here. Surviving against such players means you have to create certain aggressive opportunities or they will just simply take you down hand by hand.

Another important time to exercise your own judgment over your poker calculator is when you have a huge lead or big chip stack in comparison to your opponents. In such a scenario when you have someone out chipped like 5 or 6 to 1, it is imperative you make underdog calls that normally are a fold situation. With rising blinds, short stacks will be going in with a wide variety of hands so except for dominated Ace-X hole cards, you should be looking to get them all in. You won’t win them all, but if you win one of three situations you are still the table captain.

When I get down to heads up and 1st and 2nd place is on the line, I am quite aggressive with pre-flop raises with a wide variety of hands. I want to train my opponent into frustration. I will lay down to a re-raise but I want to set him up for an all-in where I am favored. In this, you must consistently raise, in particular from the button, holding MOST hole card combinations. If your odds calculator could scream at you, it would be doing so at this stage. Really, this is a time to turn it off, and play an aggressive mental game here. You have to go for the win here, and aim to be the favorite. Blinds are huge so take them when you can.

Ok, you’ve made it to the money but find yourself in 3rd place. Yes, it’s a profit, but turning this spot into win money is a crucial skill for making your overall profit rate of sit and gos really take off. In saying that, aggression is the key. I look for any cards with chemistry, Ace -X suited, two face cards, 97s, etc., any pp for example, and I am all-in forcing the others to make a tough decision. Your poker odds calculator simply won’t understand this strategy so just turn the thing off, otherwise you will be blinded out 19 of 20 times while following its recommendations. You see the difference between 2nd and 3rd is minimal, so don’t be concerned about that. What you want to be able to accomplish with this aggression is to get into 1st place at least one out of every three times you are in this scenario. That will ensure a profitable overall sit and go strategy for you while using your online poker odds calculator to get you into that position.

About author

Martin Smith is webmaster of http://www.PokerCalculatorReport.com where all the online poker calculators are tested and reviewed, including Sit and Go Shark, Calculatem Pro, and Poker Spy. He is also editor of http://www.PokerBookReport.com You can contact Martin Smith at support@PokerCalculatorReport.com

Wealth Creating Texas Holdem Strategies
- by Peter Evans

Playing Texas Holdem Online

For the beginner there is no finer place to start playing Texas Holdem than online. There are numerous suitable online casinos that cater for the novice. For example:-

http://www.Williamhill.com

http://www.PartyPoker.com

At these online casinos you can play Texas Holdem making fictitious bets so that you don’t win or lose any money until you feel sufficiently confident to play for “real”. Perhaps a truly sensible way to start.

There are numerous other advantages to starting out on your winning Texas Holdem career online. For example, online many small limit games, such as 50cents - $1, can be played in a very short period of time. Believe me, you’ll find this is an absolutely fantastic way to gain experience fast with minimum financial risk.

However, it is important to increase your stake money as your ability to play Texas Holdem improves i.e. moving on to limits of 2 - 4, 4 - 8, 6 - 12 etc. By doing this it keeps your play progressive as your skills develop. Increasing financial risk improves focus and concentration. Essential abilities if you are to play at offline casinos and continue to be a winning player.

Mental Attitudes Required to be a Winning Texas Holdem Player

Emotional control is the foundation of your Texas Holdem winning strategy. Without it there is no hope. You’d do better playing tiddly winks!

To be a winner it is essential to be always astute, mentally alert and focused during play. Any distraction can cost you money. Conversely, you must be able to recognise when you’re not playing at your peak and have the courage to refrain at such times. If you don’t you are letting your emotions take control instead of you in control of them which can only lead to a downward losing spiral.

Obviously it’s impossible to constantly win every Texas Holdem hand. It’s suggested that top winning players win just 8% - 10% of their hands over the long term. Therefore consistently evaluate your game over the longer term. Don’t think of winning and losing when you’re playing, just think of your poker career as one long poker game. This way your confidence will continue to grow and not be dented by short term setbacks. It’s where you are at the end of a year that matters not just the ups and downs of each individual session.

Bear in mind that over a reasonable period of time, e.g. two months, good, committed Texas Holdem players will win, bad players will lose.

If you are frequently losing then perhaps you’re playing at too high a level so choose a lower stake game until you become more experienced. Also, even if you are winning on a particular occasion, but you know instinctively you are up against better players - move on. Remember there are times when good players will deliberately play less experienced plays just to make a few quick bucks for themselves. Don’t allow yourself to be their prey. Plan to win. There’s no point in throwing your money away.

Never play Texas Holdem to get even. Always play your best then getting even will take care of itself over time.

Set yourself a time frame in which to play, e.g. 8.00pm to 2.00am. Leave at the appointed time whether or not you’re winning. However, if during the period you become tired or for some other reason you’re playing below par, quit, cash in your chips, go home and have an early night. Whatever you do stay away from blackjack, baccarat, roulette or slot machines as an alternative to Texas Holdem on the way out. They are deliberately placed to tempt you BUT I assure you, over time, you cannot win at these games so don’t even bother to try.

I can’t emphasise it enough, to be a winner at Texas Holdem you must be at the peak of your performance whenever you’re playing otherwise more experienced players will recognise your weaknesses and subtly take you to the cleaners!

Money Management.

Keep your Texas Holdem poker money in a separate bankroll from any other money. If you spend a lot of money from that bankroll on other things it’s never going to grow. Consequently you will never get to afford to play in the higher limit or no limit games where the big money is for the taking.

So what amount of money should you have in your Texas Holdem bankroll? (By the way I’m not talking here about the amount of money you take to the table in chips, that’s another issue.) The general rule is you should have about 300 times the big bet in it. So if you are playing 2 - 4 the big bet is $4. Your bankroll should be 300 times that i.e. $1,200.

This means, for example, if you are playing 2 - 4 as a consequence of a $1,200 bankroll and start losing you should move down to playing 1 - 2 until you increase your bankroll up to the $1,200 again. Conversely if you are winning and thereby increasing your bankroll you can start playing 4 - 8 when your bank roll reaches $2,400 i.e. 300 times $8.

Texas Hold’em is a game of both luck and skill. You cannot do a lot about your luck but you can improve your skill to become a winning player to the extent of being able to change your life style if that is your wish.

Peter Evans makes it easy for you to learn from today’s top winning Texas Holdem poker players. Turn your poker playing into a money machine. For details visit: Texas Holdem Strategies

About author

Peter Evans, an experienced lecturer and personal coach, makes it easy for you to learn from today’s top winning Texas Holdem poker players. Turn your poker playing into a wealth creating machine. For details visit Texas Holdem Strategies

When to Ignore Your Poker Calculator
- by Marty Smith

Your online poker calculator is probably the best internet friend you could ever have, but as with most friends, sometimes you have to use your own better judgment. You see, the magic of using an online poker calculator keeps you in check more often than you can keep track of, but there are certain situations where your poker calculator MUST be vetoed. Yes, I wrote MUST!

The main scenarios where this occurs are playing against a maniac, playing in late position, playing short stack in a tournament, and avoiding being categorized by other players.

We all know playing against a maniac can be frustrating but invigorating as well. This is one of those situations where my instincts guide me more than my poker calculator software, especially if you are seated near the maniac and you know you’re going to be heads up. Check the hand list below for hands that you can add to your tight-aggressive play. Holding most of these hands your poker calculator is going to be telling you to fold. Your strategy here should be to re-raise the maniac and get him heads up. Call down if you have to but let him know you won’t play dead, which is what your software will be suggesting.

A similar situation and hand selection occurs in late position, but especially when you know your opponents in the button/blind play are tight. Your poker calculator won’t take your position into account, so you have to override and use selected aggression here. Consider this aggression as an investment as well, because a tight player is eventually going to jump back at you. In that case, be prepared to coolly fold until you are holding some dynamite. I often use this strategy knowing that I am actually “training” my opponent to give me his whole stack!

I can practically turn my poker calculator off when I find myself in a tournament short-stacked. You are just not going to get pot odds when you need it, but you can’t wait until becoming so short that 3 other players will find it easy to call you. You need to get heads up, hoping to double up. And that means NOT waiting for your software to tell you to do so. Check that hand selection list and go for it!

Most players who use online poker calculators are naturally tight strategists. We all fit into the tight aggressive matrix rather snuggly. It’s simply part of our make-up - which is why, fundamentally we sought out the use of an odds calculator to begin with. However, being from that cozy, profitable matrix doesn’t mean you have to let everyone know it! In saying that, you basically need to get busted once in awhile with those marginal hands. The table has to know you can play J,10os or raise with 97suited, and call a raise with K10os. This way, anyone paying attention will denote you as unpredictable. This will help you gain control over them by encouraging them to play straight up against you. Remember THIS if anything, unpredictability = poker profits and poker calculators are NOT unpredictable.

Here is a selection of hands that I play occasionally and aggressively in situations described above to help disguise my truly tight image, battle maniacs, win tournaments and steal blinds. These are the hands your online poker odds calculator is going to be saying FOLD or CHECK. So be warned this may take a little practice at first, but will eventually lead to bigger pots when you win.

Hands you can ADD to your tight aggressive play;

Ace with a 10 or J or suited 9.

King with a 9, 10, J, Q

Queen with a J, 10, 9 or suited 8

Jack with 10, 9, 8 or suited 7

10 with 9 or suited 8

9 with 8 or suited 7

8 with 7 or suited 6

7 with 6 or suited 5

Any pocket pair

About author

Martin Smith is webmaster of http://www.PokerCalculatorReport.com where all the online poker calculators are tested and reviewed, including Sit and Go Shark, Calculatem Pro, and Poker Spy. He is also editor of http://www.PokerBookReport.com You can contact Martin Smith at support@PokerCalculatorReport.com

Learning The Game Of Texas Hold ‘em Poker
- by Michael Perry

Texas Hold ‘em poker is the most popular of all poker games and is commonly found in casinos throughout America. It is so popular, in fact, that it is also featured as the main event of the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour competitions. Commonly played among 2 to 10 people, Texas Hold ‘em poker can accommodate up to 22 players. The versatility in the number of competitors plays a large role in the game’s championship inclusion. Most televised poker tournaments begin with a larger number of players, which is acceptable in Texas Hold ‘em poker.

The objective of Texas Hold ‘em poker, much the same as other similar games, is to win the money bet by all of the players. The “pot,” as it is called, is awarded to the player who has the best poker hand or who convinces the other players to fold their game. Players are required to place blind bets, which means they are not able to view the other player’s cards.

Texas Hold ‘em poker has been widely shown in a number of major motion pictures and quickly grew to become a popular spectator event. The ultimate competition of suspense, drama and a big winner at the end combine to attract a large audience. Shown on ESPN during various poker championships and on the big screen, many players wanted to learn how to play the game.

So, just what does it take to be a successful Texas Hold ‘em poker player? Everyone has heard of a ‘poker face,’ which is a large part in preventing the other players from reading your physical reactions to the drawn cards. Because the cards drawn are done at random, this the best advantage over the competition. By not showing either disappointment or enthusiasm, the player will gain an instant advantage in that no other players are able to assess their ability to win. Some gamblers refer to ‘bluffing’ when they believe that someone is betting boldly in an effort to scare the other players into folding. In this scenario, it can be difficult to know whether a player is extremely confident or courageous and it is this mystery that surrounds the ‘bluffing’ term.

The information in this article is to be used for informational purposes only. Gambling, if participated in, should be done with responsibility. Anyone who suspects that they, or someone they know, may have a gambling problem should seek help from a local support group or gambler’s program.

About author

Want to learn more about texas hold’em? Make sure you visit our site at: http://www.best-online-holdem-report.info for access to additional holdem poker guides and information.

How to Play Pocket Aces in Texas Hold’em
- by Dave

There is no better feeling in Texas Hold’em than to look down at your cards and see pocket aces. On the flip side, getting those pair of aces out drawn is one of the worst feelings. Unfortunately, many people don’t know how to play pocket aces and refuse to fold them even when there are very clear indications that they are beat. Another thing to understand is that pocket aces are supposed to lose 20% of time against one caller with a pair or suited connectors. If you play them against 3 players you are going to lose around half the time.

Let’s look at a typical way pocket aces get beat. One person limps from early position and you look down at pocket aces in the cutoff (last person before the dealer button). You are afraid to put in a raise because you are afraid everybody will fold since only one person limped and the blinds have been frequently folding to raises. To try to get a big pot you just call. The button and small blind call and the big blind checks. Now you are up against 4 other players and you are going to lose more times than you win. Not a real good result for the best starting hand possible in Texas Hold’em. The flop comes 6, 7, 10 with 2 spades. The small blind bets, the big blind raises, and the early position limper pushes all in. You think sure there is a flush draw out there, but “I have an OVERPAIR” so you call. The button folds because he wants nothing to do with this hand. The small blind and big blind both call and when cards are turned over you see the small blind got in cheap with 10, 7 and made 2 pair, the big blind saw the flop with 8, 5 of spades and has a straight flush draw, and the early position limper had 8, 9 of hearts and made a straight. You are drawing dead to 2 running cards to make a full house or 4 of a kind. This seems extreme, but any of those 3 hands is possible if you let people in cheap and 2 of them beat you right away and the other has enough outs that you are only a slight favorite . . . and that is if you are only against one of them individually.

Now let’s look at how you should play pocket aces before the flop in a no limit Texas Hold’em tournament situation. Regardless of the position you are in, you almost always need to put in a raise. The amount of the raise will vary, but you need to raise enough that you only get one or two callers. If you are sure somebody behind you will raise allowing you to re-raise, you can just call with pocket aces from early position, but you are risking a multi-way pot that you can’t win. You could also just call if you are in a heads up situation of small blind versus big blind to set a trap. You will only win the blinds sometimes with your raise, but in a tournament, survival is more important than trying to win a huge pot with only one pair because that is all pocket aces usually wind up being.

The second part of playing pocket aces correctly is being able to lay them down if it looks like you are beat. If you put in a raise pre-flop, you will have an idea of what cards your opponents have. Usually a raise will chase out anything other than 2 cards bigger than jacks or medium to high pairs. Even better, most hands that call you will have an ace in them and you have about a 90% chance of winning against even a suited ace. If an ace hits, you will probably take all their chips.

After the flop, you need to look at the board and see how it fits with hands your opponents are likely to have. If there are all low cards of different suits, you are almost certainly winning (the only reasonable hand to beat you would be a pair that made 3 of a kind). If there are 2 or 3 cards 10 or higher, you have to start worrying about being beat or against a good draw that will beat you. Many of the reasonable hands that call a raise could have 2 pairs, 3 of a kind, a straight, or a straight draw. If there are 2 or 3 cards of the same suit, you may also have some problems because many players love to play suited cards trying for a flush. You will have to make some tough decisions with pocket aces after the flop, but a raise before the flop will give you information that is critical to making the right decision. If you get check raised after the flop, you really need to consider folding because most people won’t check raise somebody who showed strength unless they have one pair beat. The key thing to remember is that pocket aces are only one pair and just because they are the top pair, doesn’t mean they beat even the 2 lowest pairs.

In a no limit Texas Hold’em ring game (non-tournament) or a tournament where you can buy more chips, you can play pocket aces a little different. You still want to raise and limit the number of opponents and to gain information, but you can play a little slower and try for a big pot because if you lose, you can always buy more chips. The big thing to be careful of is going on tilt after losing with pocket aces to a long shot draw. Many players will lose lots of money trying to return a bad beat which just isn’t good poker.

In limit Texas Hold’em tournaments or ring games, you pretty much bet and raise at every opportunity trying to maximize your profit on the times you win because you will get beat by draws. The one nice thing about limit hold’em is you can revert to checking and calling bets that offer you huge pot odds if you think you are beat but not sure. Pocket aces in limit hold’em can be very frustrating because all you can do is put in a single raise (equal to the minimum raise in no limit) unless somebody else is also raising and this simply won’t chase out anybody once they put one bet in. Before getting angry that somebody draws out to a straight or flush, remember that pot odds are often big enough in limit Texas Hold’em to justify calling with as little as an inside straight draw. This is a part of limit hold’em and if you can’t accept that, you shouldn’t be playing it.

This is by no means an exact recipe for playing pocket aces in Texas Hold’em. There will be situations where you do opt for a large field hoping for a monster pot. One good time would be when you are short stacked in a tournament and really need to triple up or more. If you are planning to be playing with the same group of people for a long time, it may also be beneficial to show them that you may just limp in with pocket aces to allow you to see other flops cheaply. There is no one right way to play pocket aces, but if you want to win more than half the time, you must limit the field to less than 3 callers. That is pure math and if you play long enough, the math will win out in the end.

For more great poker info check out the Poker-4-Profit.com Online Poker Tip and Strategy Guide and the NetPokerReview.com Online Poker Site Review. If you are interested in other online gaming, check out the Internet-Casino-Cash.com Free Online Casino Bonus Money guide.

About author

I am a semi-semi-professional online poker player. I have a “J O B”, but routinely use my poker winnings to pay bills or buy those little things we want or need. I am currently the webmaster for 3 poker or gambling websites: www.netpokerreview.com, www.poker-4-profit.com, and www.internet-casino-cash.com.

Online Poker in Spain - will it hold or fold?
- by Morgan Collins

Spanish residents like gambling. Spain has one of the highest proportions of gamblers in Europe. Statistics claim that 22.68 billion euros was spent on gambling last year, with illegal gambling said to be double that amount.

The El Gordo and ONCE lottery systems have also become massive industries in their own right, with billions being spent on tickets each year.

So how have the Spanish residents taken to the recent phenomenon of online gambling, now that broadband and software technology has allowed online games to progress into their country. Certainly when gambling laws were relaxed in 1977 there was a massive increase in gambling on fruit machines and such. So now, and with no restrictions to online gambling, Spain could be getting ready to experience another huge increase in gambling of a different kind.

Spain’s 468 licensed bingo halls have certainly seen a drop in recent years, but are people converting to online, or is it a sign of the times that people just do not have the money to enter bingo halls and casinos as much as in the past. Nielsen (net research statistics) claim only 10% of Spanish residents with an internet connection actually visited an online gambling site in 2004. But given the recent growth of broadband in Spain over the past year those statistics could be doubled by 2006.

Juega Poker Ya, who are part of the St Minver white label games network, operate Spanish poker dedicated to Spanish residents. Since its launch, it claims to have seen an increase in the numbers of players signing up of some 30% each month, with the average cash drop per player almost twice that for the UK.

The Poker phenomenon arrived in Spain having worked its way around Europe over the past two years, to become the fastest growing internet sensation. Similar to the popular Spanish gambling game Mus, poker is a game of great skill and psychology where players try to out fox the competition.

Over 12 million people worldwide have already played poker online this year alone with the global market continuing to grow at more than 10% every month. Thousands of budding Spanish poker players are queuing up to learn how to play the world’s greatest card game in the hope of repeating the success of Spanish poker supremo Carlos Mortenson, World Poker Champion just three years ago.

What was once the domain of smoked filled gentleman’s clubs has been transformed by the internet into a highly competitive, compelling leisure activity, where groups of players from around the world come together to play cards and chat over the Internet.

Are the Spanish more cautious

Spanish players are a little more cautious. While the numbers of players signing up are growing rapidly, the actual conversion rate (people actually making cash deposits) is lower. Players could be concerned over the security of such poker sites and perhaps they are they holding back until online game brands become more established and the confidence in them grows.

Poker sites certainly take enough precautions to ensure their sites are secure and to allow players the confidence in the sites. Juegapokerya for example has well established fraud procedures in place to monitor any fraudulent behaviour.

Cheaters pose little or not threat in online poker. No one can mark the cards, no one can peak at your exposed or holed cards and no one can stack the deck or deal from the bottom. Playing poker on line is very safe. The things that can and do happen in land based poker rooms cannot and do not happen online.

However, there is one thing that happens in land based casinos that cheaters do try to get away with online. They try to collude. That is, they try to share information and play their hands in order to help each other win. This is also known as playing partners. Customer services monitor their poker sites and track all the play in real time. Any suspected collusion is reported to the security or fraud department for a particular site. Accounts are locked immediately pending a detailed investigation. Play is checked over a period of days to find out if the players involved in the original incident have a history of playing together on the same site. Patterns of play are also studied in detail. Chat logs are continuously monitored and recorded. Colluders will have their accounts frozen and can be banned from the site and all affiliated sites. Some sites will even report to unconnected sites to warn them of potential cheaters.

So when they sign up with the many poker sites now entering into the Spanish markets, players can be assured that the sites will be well protected from all fraudulent behaviour. It may be this factor that proves to the Spanish that online gambling is a feasible prospect

So are the signs there that Spanish players will take hold of this online gambling phenomenon? Well, of the 40 million people in Spain, with 37% now having internet access, the potential for money making is there, and certainly companies will find it tempting to delve into the Spanish markets in the hope of tempting Europe’s most eager gamblers to part with their well earned cash.

How to guarantee a profit with online poker
- by Chris Hunt

With the increase in online poker over the last 5 years, more and more individuals are “logging on” to make a few extra bucks. In fact, some individuals are even quitting their 9-5 jobs and earning a very impressive living through online poker. For the majority of the world however, the idea of earning an income by risking money is just not realistic. But what if you were to learn that it is possible to make a substantial income from poker without risking a penny? Read on and learn how bonus codes, new player incentives, and free roll tournaments can guarantee a profit in online poker.

The first way to guarantee a profit with online poker is by the use of bonus codes. Bonus codes are alphanumeric codes that are entered when a new player signs up, or makes their first deposit. These codes trigger incentives to be rewarded to the players account. Typical bonus codes are either a static value cash reward, such as $100 bonus for any deposit, or a percentage bonus based on the deposit amount, such as 20% bonus on any deposit amount. Either of these bonus code types will immediately generate a positive income in your poker account. “But it is only $100″ many say. Yes, the amount is relatively small but the importance is that one can now begin entering tournaments without spending any of their own money. With a cushion of $100, one can enter 100 $1-tournaments for a chance to win $5000, or perhaps enter 100 $1-satellites for a chance to attend the World Series of Poker. The fact of the matter is bonus codes give poker players a chance to win large amounts of money for free. (Look at the end of this article for VIP bonus codes to PartyPoker.com)

The second way to guarantee a profit with online poker comes by way of new player incentives. At PartyPoker.com, new players are given free access into “rookie” tournaments. These tournaments are real money tournaments that award cash prizes but require no entry fee to new players. On any given day, at least 50-100 of these $100 rookie tournaments are held. That means that on any given day there is $5,000-$10,000 in cash available to new players, without having to risk a single penny.

The final way to guarantee a profit with online poker is by playing in free roll tournaments and satellites. Free roll events are those that require absolutely no money to play in, yet still award real money prizes. PartyPoker.com offers between 50 and 100 $500 free roll tournaments everyday. This means that there is $25,000 - $50,000 up for grabs everyday without having to pay a penny in entry fees. On top of the free roll tournaments are the free roll satellites. These are the tournaments that are always talked about on TV. Satellites are events that award seats to larger events as the prize. The top of the satellites are the World Series of Poker events seen on TV. This means that without risking a single penny, players can give themselves a chance to appear on TV and play in the World Series of Poker.

This article has laid out the guidelines for making money from online poker without risking a single penny, thus guaranteeing a profit. Through the use of bonus codes, new player incentives, and lucrative free rolls, poker players from around the world can safely log on and begin earning a poker income. Good-Luck!

The following are VIP bonus codes to be used at PartyPoker.com. (Note: These must be used at PartyPoker.com, not .net)

$25 bonus on any deposit: VIP25BONUS
20% bonus on any deposit up to $100: VIPUPTO100

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Bad Beat
- by Colin T Fagras

Being inside a poker room during a large bad beat jackpot is as exciting as winning the lottery. Players are cheering, jumping up and down, throwing around high fives, and creating loads of excitement in the poker room.

If you aren’t familiar with bad beat jackpots, let me explain. In most brick and mortar casinos there is a progressive jackpot that builds over time, called the bad beat jackpot. Poker rooms usually take out a dollar or two out of every raked pot and put it into? the bad beat jackpot.

The rules for hitting the jackpot are different in each casino. At some casinos you only need Aces full of Jacks or better beaten, while some casinos offer even harder beats such as a four of a kind beaten. In most card rooms, you must also be playing at a limit table. No limit games generally don’t qualify, as the jackpot would be hit much more frequently with players constantly all in and seeing every card the board has to offer. When a bad beat happens and is verified, everyone gets paid.

The structure for a bad beat jackpot payout also varies from casino to casino. It is common to see the losing hand receive 40% of the jackpot, the winning hand receive 25% of the jackpot, the rest of the table split 15% of the jackpot, and the rest of the poker room split the remaining 20%. As you can see, when someone hits a jackpot, there is plenty of room for everyone to celebrate.

In the last four years I’ve played countless hours of poker in casinos in Missouri, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma and had never experienced a bad beat jackpot until last night.

I headed up to Cherokee Casino, in West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma, with a buddy of mine, to get a few hours of play in. While waiting for our seats to open, we sat down in fairly loose $4/$8 limit game. In this poker room, $4/$8 limit is the lowest limit game offered, so it feels much like playing $2/$4 and $3/$6, where having 7 callers pre-flop on a raised hand is common and where Aces hardly stand a chance.

We had only been playing for about 30 minutes when it all went down. I was sitting in seat 9, with a loose player sitting to my right, in seat 8. This player was 23 years old and was also a dealer at the casino. (In the larger casinos, usually if you are a dealer you are not allowed to play in games in your own card room, but this isn’t a rule at Cherokee Casino.)

The player in seat 8 was holding JJ and the player in seat 5 was holding QQ. The majority of this hand was heads up and the final board was:

J J Q Q 4

Both players were trying to slow play their hands so the betting didn’t get very high until the river, where the player with JJ 3 betted the pot and was all-in for his last few dollars. Our table was only half paying attention because this pot didn’t seem very exciting.

The player in seat 8, holding the JJ, turned up his jacks to show his quads and said, “Can you beat this!” with a smirk on his face. The table woke up a little because a player was showing four Jacks. The player in seat 5 smiled big and said, “Sure can!” and turned over his quad Queens.

Only about three players at the table really knew what this meant; it was bad beat jackpot time. After about a few seconds of explaining the situation, everyone at the table, except for the two first time players, knew what was happening and the table erupted in cheers.

Players from around the poker room were surrounding our table trying to see what had happened. After all, usually players don’t start cheering and jumping around at a $4/$8 limit table.

The bad beat jackpot was up to a little over $80,000. After about an hour of camera checking, card checking, paper work, and verification, the bad beat was confirmed with 4 Jacks losing to 4 Queens. The player next to me, with the 4 Jacks, won $32,000. The player across from me, with the 4 Queens, won $20,000. The other 7 players, including my friend and me, split $12,000, which ended up being about $1720 apiece. The rest of the poker room players ended up getting around $130 a head.

The two first-time players at our table had no idea what was going on and why they were being handed $1700 in cash. We made sure to tell them poker wasn’t always this easy. After playing for a few more hours and never leaving our $4/$8 seats, it was time to head home. Not a bad night, at the $4/$8 tables.

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Mac Lovers Wild Over FullTilt Poker
- by Sage Kalmus

FullTilt Poker has just gotten fuller.

Let’s face it: PokerRoom.com notwithstanding, there aren’t many sites where Mac users can enjoy a good, live game of multiplayer poker. For the most part, Mac users have had to settle for Flash or Java-based “No Download” versions (also called “Lite” versions, for predictable reasons) of their main PC-only poker room. And the rare site that caters specifically to Mac users suffers from a lack of quality traffic, as they exclude PC users from joining the tables. But no more! As of January 19, 2006, Full Tilt Poker opens its cyber-doors to Apple Computers.

FullTilt Poker, the only online poker room where you can learn from and compete in real money games against over 10 top poker celebrities, has released a fully-featured downloadable version of its online poker software for Macs. The Mac supported software will allow Mac users to join FullTilt Poker’s over 10,000 active PC-owning players at the tables. Finally, at one Full Tilt Poker table, you can play against Mac users and PC users at the same time.

FullTilt Poker launched their Mac release with the, “An Apple A Day” promotion, where they gave away one 17″ iMac each day for 2 weeks following the release.

The interface, graphics, sounds, gameplay — everything about Full Tilt Poker for Mac is exactly the same or as good as its PC equivalent. FullTilt Poker players, whether on Macintosh or Windows, enjoy hand histories, player notes, and an “Auto-Center” view mode for the best overall view of game, all the time.

The story gets still fuller, however, for FullTilt Poker is also offering Mac users Podcasting and Videocasting capabilities. That means players can view and even subscribe to webcasts of online poker playing tips, news, interviews, player bios, and more.

FullTilt Poker 4.1.2 for Mac is currently in Beta mode, meaning that it may not have all the kinks ironed out, but updates are imminent. Until then, Beta users identifying any bugs they find in the software are rewarded with a “bounty” of a FullTilt Poker baseball cap. Mac OS 10.3 or higher is required to run Full Tilt Poker for Mac.

The slim selection of Mac-friendly online poker rooms also includes Hollywood Poker, Pacific Poker, and Bugsy’s Club, but only FullTilt Poker for Mac comes with all the benefits of playing at FullTilt Poker, namely “Team Full Tilt”, among them: Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, and Erik Seidel.

About author

Poker-Ranking.com is the premier resource for online poker reviews. Visit http://www.poker-ranking.com for informative articles, poker rules, game strategy, and comprehensive reviews of over 60 online poker rooms, including FullTilt Poker.

The Psychology of Texas Hold’em Poker
- by Online Poker Player’s Guide

Many people think texas hold’em odds and mathematical probabilities define how best to play a hand in texas hold’em poker. It is true that they play a part in deciding how to play a hand, but a much more important factor in texas hold’em poker is the psychology of the game.

The psychology of texas hold’em poker is another way of saying the way people play is largely determined by the way that they feel. Because of this by knowing how a person is acting you can assume some things about what they are thinking and vice versa.

The more you understand about this aspect of texas hold’em poker the better you will do at reading your opponents and making the right calls in given situations. We all have seen someone lose a big hand and come out firing big the very next hand. This is usually an example of the player losing control of his emotions,being angry, and so betting in a “throw caution to the wind” manner. This a less subtle example of how understanding the player’s reasons for making the plays he makes in given situations. Knowing the player is making a large bet out of anger, and not based on his starting hand, means if you have a good starting hand strength you can go ahead and move in to complete his misery.

There are so many different variations of the circumstances and interpretations that it is hard to lay down a strict code of conduct when interpreting human behavior. Also teaching someone to watch for specific actions would not be very effective either. One of the best ways to start to understand behavior in texas hold’em poker is watching how people play and put yourself in their shoes. When they make a play ask yourself what kind of hole cards would I have if I made that play. Over time you can get a pretty good idea of what actions people will take in given situations with certain hole cards.

What I want to focus on is after you have an understanding of why certain plays are made in given situations, with certain hole cards then you can move beyond that to how the emotional characteristics of a person determine how certain individuals will act in certain situations, given certain hole cards. This may seem repetitious, but the point is that different people act differently in the same situations. So one person may have a tendency to want to play aggressively with high hand strength pocket pairs; where another person with the same type of starting hand strength would rather make sure there are no aces on the flop before betting on their high pocket pair. After watching people play for enough poker hands you can get an idea of how they like to play certain starting hands.

The key is to watch very closely to each person as they make their play. If your playing online poker it is still the same just the things you watch for are different. Like in a live texas hold’em poker tournament you can physically watch your opponent to see if he looks calm or nervous, but you may think in an online texas hold’em poker tournament you can’t pick up on tells and can’t give tells yourself. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The truth is that tells exist in the online poker world just as they exist in the live, or bricks and mortar, poker world. In fact the argument could be made that picking up and capitalizing on tells in online poker is easier than in live poker because of some of the built in tracking an note taking options available to the online poker player.

The key to picking up tells in online poker is knowing what your looking for. Understand what differences there can be in actions. Like the amount of time the player takes before making a call, the normal amount of time this player takes before taking prior actions, the amount bet or called by the player in relationship to his own stack and the pot, and many other factors like that. If a player make a very fast call after a low flop on the board and the turn card is also low and he takes a bit of time before making the call he may be on a draw and be showing some reluctance in calling after missing his draw on the flop and turn. Again though this is a general observation so this type of play can be made to try to slow play a poker hand of dominate hand strength.

If all of this seems a bit to convoluted and too hard to understand or pin down look at it this way. What reasons would there be for making the play that your opponent made given the current situation. Often times you will find there are two types of starting hands that could be on different draws and yet still make the same type of play. For example with the starting hand of a middle pocket pair and with the starting hand of high suited connectors. Two very different starting hands, but with a low flop they both may try to make a relatively large bet to represent a dominate hand strength when in fact there hand strength is mediocre at best in the case of the middle pocket pair, and in the case of the high connectors many starting hands would be ahead in the hand against this starting hand.

The main thing to understand with the aspect of psychology in texas hold’em poker is that it is not an all or nothing concept. Which is to say you don’t have to fully understand this poker strategy to use it to some degree, and as I always say something is better than nothing. Having some understanding of how the players mind set will determine what plays they make will help your texas hold’em poker game tremendously. After all that is what it is all about. Knowing the right call really comes down to knowing if your pocket cards are ahead in the hand or not, and even what your opponents may have for there pocket cards. The more you understand the psychological aspects the better you will be at making an educated guess at what your opponents pocket cards are likely to be, or what is current hand strength is.

Making it to the final table in texas hold’em poker tournaments takes the understanding of what motivations your opponent is acting on; weather it be the starting hand strength of their pocket cards, or that they think that by playing aggressively the rest of the table will fold to them. Often times a player simply betting aggressively to steal the blinds when called will often try betting aggressively again to continue the bluff hoping they can still take the pot down.

In texas hold’em poker tournaments making the wrong call when the chips are down means you are shown the door, but making the right call and are that much closer to the final. The more you know about your opponents motivations for making the play can give you an advantage that, given the right starting hand strength, or pocket cards with the right flop, you can know how to correctly proceed to extract the most money out of the poker hand.

For a more in depth examination of hold’em strategies, statistics, tips and much more visit the link below.

http://www.onlinepokerplayersguide.com

Video Poker - When to quit
- by Daniel Hansen

A principle of gambling that is wisdom to all concerned is “the first loss is the cheapest.” If you start with your bankroll of 100 coins and lose it, quit. Something is wrong with your luck that day, and you don’t want to take a big single beating that you will find hard to make up.

If you’re winning, then you have to decide just when to quit. There are several factors that may play a role. First of all, you may be at a machine that is seducing you with fours to a Royal Flush coming up time and time again. If you have a feeling that it may come up, keep playing even though you’re winning big. By big, we mean upwards of 150 credits. With the credit feature of the machine, you can easily see just how you’re doing.

If you feel fresh, keep playing the machine. But if you find yourself making mistakes through fatigue, stop playing, no matter how much you’re winning or losing. It’s time to take a break or pack it in for the day. Don’t fight fatigue.

To insure a winning session, when you hit the 150 credits mark, you may want to put away 50 of those coins, and play the remainder of the 100 left. Since the payout button doesn’t work that way, but pays out all the credits, you simply make a mind decision to stop when the credits hit 100, then cash out.

If you hit the 200 mark after making this decision, you can up the win to 125. If the machine turns cold and gets down to 125, you cash out. If the machine, however, continues hot, with all kinds of big hands coming up one after the other, stick with the machine.

Maybe it will get up to 350. By then, you’ve decided to cash out when the machine falls to 275. By making these mind stops on the way up, you’ll have the advantage of playing on with the “hot” machine, and being assured of leaving the machine a winner.

But again, do this only if you don’t get fatigued and make mistakes.

If you never reach that 150 mark, but hover around the 60-100 mark in winnings, you may decide that, if the machine drops to 50, you’re going to cash out the credits. Again, you’ll assure yourself of a nice win.

If the machine never gets above 50 in credits you may decide to leave when the machine credits drop to 0, so as to limit your losses to the few coins you’ve played.

The figures mentioned are just “ball park” figures. You may want to set a goal of 120 credits, for example, and then quit if it goes down to 60 or 70. Fine. You might want to cash it all in if you ever reach 200 credits. Not so fine. I’d always give myself some leeway. I’d set the mind goal at 30-40 credits below that figure if you’re conservative and leave then (if the credits now are 160-170).

This is known as “stop-loss” playing, and those of you who own stocks know about this concept. You won’t hit the top in winnings, but you’ll give yourself the chance to keep adding to the winnings.

I’ve seen players move up like that, till they were in the 400 credit range, when their initial goal had been 150 credits. The machine was hot and kept hitting big hands. You don’t see those kind of machines every day of the week, so take advantage of them.

About author

Play casino at: http://www.casino-secrets.info