Three basic tips for playing Texas Hold em Poker. Texas hold’em online poker Playing style, sitting order and recognizing a bluff when presented with one are key elements to winning the game.

Author: Rick Braddy

Article:
The Texas Hold’em poker phenomenon has taken the country by
storm. There are reportedly over 100 million active poker
players worldwide. Poker’s popularity is largely the byproduct
of technology and several recent trends:

1) online gaming, where players engage and socialize in
real-time over the Internet, and

2) the broad publicity created by high profile TV shows like
the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour.

With all the poker-mania, there’s an amazing shortage of quality
information to help people learn how to play properly and become
great players quickly. This is the first in a series of Texas
Holdem strategy articles aimed at helping players learn how to
win at Texas Hold’em poker. Tournament play is a popular, fun
sport. These articles will help players understand how to
approach tournaments, which differ greatly from regular “ring
game” play.

This installment deals with the most-asked question: “How do I
deal effectively with aggressive players?” Many players struggle
against “maniacs”, the aggressive, wild players who play most
every hand, somehow seem to pull cards out of thin air, and
often manage to dominate the table.

Here’s what actually happened in a recent poker tournament. I
entered a tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
in Hollywood, Florida, about 20 minutes from my home in South
Florida. This weekly $300 entry-fee tournament fills the poker
room with 220 players every Monday night.

The blinds start at 50/100 and go up every 15 minutes. I spent
the first 30 minutes just hanging out and occasionally limping
in to see a flop. The reason for “treading water” was to study
my opponents and their playing patterns very closely. There were
a number of solid poker players, but right away I spotted the
aggressive ones.

I was sitting in the middle, directly across from the dealer.
There were two “wild men” to my right. These two participated in
most every hand, and agonized with themselves whenever they had
to throw a hand away. This was hilarious to me, and it was also
very telling. I knew these dudes were doomed from the onset, yet
they were extremely dangerous if they caught something with one
of their trash hands. These types are great targets, but only
when you know how to play them correctly. If you do, you’ll end
up with most or all of their chips in your stack. The key is to
get to their chips before someone else does.

There were some squeaky-tight and solid players, as usual.
Finally, there were two other players to my left who knew one
another very well and spoke what sounded like Russian. These two
played very aggressively. They rarely called or checked. They
would bet or raise the pot significantly, so if they played a
hand, you knew they were going to bet it big and you’d better be
prepared to push a bunch of your chips into the middle. As a
result, the table became tight overall, except for these four
players who controlled the early action and dictated the table
tempo for the first hour or so. They gambled with wanton
abandon, trading chips with each other as the rest of us just
observed and wished for a real hand to materialize.

It became apparent that our maniacs were playing mostly garbage
hands, and using assertive chatter in an attempt to intimidate
everyone. They were enjoying pushing everyone around with their
aggressive betting and raising style. Humorously, they got into
a number of showdowns, causing all of their trash hands to
become openly exposed; e.g., 69 off-suit, Q3 suited, etc. I
definitely had these guys pegged now – if only I could get a
strong hand…

Later, one of my Russian “friends” came in over the top of a bet
I’d placed with a huge raise, then smiled at me as he leaned his
head back as if to say “Go ahead. I dare you”. My middle pair
just wasn’t strong enough to engage with him, but I remembered
this little “lesson” and my mistake. He’d used this tactic many
times against the others and I should’ve expected it. I also
realized that we had not seen any of his supposed “big hands”,
as he always mucked them. Whenever you see an aggressive player
dominating, and then mucking all those supposed “great hands”,
you know you’ve spotted a target.

We played on, with the two maniacs to my right getting busted
out by the Russian contingent. It’s been an hour and fifteen
minutes – and I still haven’t seen even one decent hand yet!
This is, unfortunately, typical poker.

After about an hour-and 45 minutes, I finally pick up a pair of
wired 9’s (99). Now I was hoping the flop would yield a set
(trips). Sure enough, it came: 9, K, 5. I was elated and jumping
up and down (inside). I was finally in a position to make my
move, and hoped it would be against one of my aggressive Russian
friends with their big stacks.

To prepare my trap, I delayed and muddled around for about ten
seconds, and then casually “checked” verbally and using my hand
in a chopping motion, with a slightly disgusted look. Next, the
younger Russian moves in with a big bet of 3,000 chips. I was
sure I had him now. As expected, everyone else quickly folded
and got out of his way – except me. This fellow had pushed
everyone around and I was finally properly armed and ready to do
battle on my own terms. Note that this had been my “battle plan”
all along. I was deliberately targeting these aggressive
characters, knowing that when the time was right, their
ill-gotten stacks would become mine!

The action came back around to me, so now it was just the two of
us heads-up. The two Russians said something to each other that
the rest of us couldn’t decipher. I delayed and bobbed my head
around as if to be struggling with my decision. Then, I motioned
with both hands and uttered “I’m all-in”. I knew this series of
actions would likely trigger an aggressive reaction, since my
“check-raise” made it appear as if I was trying to steal this
pot! A check-raise almost always triggers a full-tilt response
from an aggressive player.

He immediately called me – he was so aggressive (and
pot-committed) that it was like a fish taking the bait and
running for deep waters – hook line and sinker! I threw my pair
of 9’s over, revealing the trip 9’s. There was a low murmur
around the table from the other players. My young Russian friend
reluctantly flipped his five/trash hand over – he had a pair of
fives (with a King over-card showing on the board!). He was
definitely angling to drive me out of this pot with his
ascertive play – one too many times…

You see, no one actually gets that many great hands in poker -
nobody. If someone plays 30% to 40% or more of the time, they’re
just “gambling” and bluffing. This guy thinks he has a “good”
hand, because he actually had a real pair – something he doesn’t
often have when pushing everyone around with mostly aggressive
betting as his only real weapon.

The turn came and it wasn’t a five – then someone pipes up and
says “he’s drawing dead”. Believe me, you never want to hear
that when you’re in a showdown! I looked over as he said
something in Russian to his buddy – another violation of
tournament rules, as everyone is compelled to speak English at
the tournament table. It wouldn’t matter, as he stood up,
grabbed his jacket and left after receiving some consolation
from his friend.

His older friend glared over at me and uttered something
derogatory in Russian. I had no clue what he said, but I knew
from his tone that I didn’t like it. I also knew I’d gotten
under his skin by taking down his buddy and raking in all of his
chips. I responded with “what’s that, I don’t understand what
you’re saying since you’re not speaking English?” loudly so
everyone at the table could hear me.

He mumbled something about his friend…I smiled and said
politely with a smile “I deliberately laid that trap for your
friend and he fell right into it!”, pushing the knife in deeper,
knowing he’d be gunning for me anyway – might as well make sure
my next trap was fully set. This also signaled to everyone else
at the table that whenever I checked or limped, it could be
extremely dangerous if assumed to be a sign of weakness -
something I’d leverage later as the blinds and antes rose and
the proper time to bluff and steal blinds actually arrived.

After a slight pause, my Russian friend noticed that everyone
was now looking at him. He looked down at his chips and said
“nice play” with a reluctantly polite tone.

Boy, I was elated! My battle plan was definitely becoming
field-proven here – and my next target was clearly sighted. It
had taken careful observation, planning and a lot of patience to
wait for the right hand, and then play it correctly to take this
highly-skilled, aggressive player out and rake in all of his
chips.

About ten minutes later, it was tournament break time, after two
hours of play. I counted my chips, which totaled 14,900 (we
started with 5,000 each), then grabbed a quick bite to eat,
reflecting on what had just taken place.

Within ten minutes of returning from break, I finally picked up
a serious starting hand: Cowboys (KK). I knew it was time for my
new Russian friend and me to tango, so I fired out a bet of 3
times the big blind: 3,000 chips, bait that I was sure he
couldn’t turn down. Sure enough, he bit – big time. His all-in
raise came almost instantaneously, before I could even get my
bet onto the table. He was totally ready to engage, and had been
laying in wait for me – just like I had planned. I had set him
up by taking out his friend and then challenging his poker ego
in front of everyone. He just had to retaliate against me – it
was a totally predictable “full-tilt” response from this kind of
player.

This is what the game of poker is really all about – having a
well-defined strategy, the patience to wait for the right hand,
and then executing properly. It’s what makes poker a game of
strategy instead of a game of chance (for some of us).

He raised by going all-in with around 8,000 chips to my roughly
14,000. I quickly called his all-in bet. Everyone else quickly
folded and got out of our way.

I flipped my pocket kings over, then looked him straight in the
eye and just smiled. Then someone says “Yeah! Now we’ve got some
action!” He sighed and flipped over QQ – he actually had a real
hand for a change. That’s one of the problems with these kinds
of “semi-solid, aggressive” players, like my Russian friend
here, and other poker greats like Gus Hansen. You never really
know exactly what to expect from them. Of course, my opponent
could’ve held pocket rockets (AA), but I’ll play those KK
cowboys strong each and every time I get them, since there’s
only one hand that can beat them heads-up. I also knew this
aggressive player on tilt was likely to be overplaying his hand,
improving my odds significantly.

The flop, turn and river came and went without another Queen and
it was done – my cowboys stood up and I had all of both
Russian’s stacks, which included most of the other two poor
maniac’s chips (who lost to the Russians earlier). This
instantly made me by far the chip leader at our table with well
over 22,000 chips!

I went from having an average chip stack to being the table chip
leader, against tough, aggressive opponents, within less than
half an hour by: a) Playing solid, reasonable tournament poker,

b) Not taking big, undue risks with weak or “drawing” hands,

c) Studying my aggressive prey and where the chips were
sitting,

d) Formulating and refining a battle plan while observing the
game progress,

e) Remaining patient while waiting for the right hand to make
my move, and

f) Executing this plan with precision against a predetermined
opponent, and on terms of my choosing – not the opponent’s.

There was no luck involved at all – except that my opponent
didn’t hold AA or pull some lucky cards with a trash hand –
which was simply playing the odds in my favor.

I started out with a high-level strategy to target aggressive
chip leaders, and go after them with strong hands from the right
position. I planned this before I ever arrived at the casino
that day, or knew who these players would be. Then, I refined my
plan once I knew for certain whom the evening’s targets would be
and how I’d provoke them. It certainly helped that I caught two
decent hands during those first hours of play.

Unfortunately, I later lost to a legitimate full house, but made
it into the top 40 – it happens…

The key to playing against aggressive and maniac players is
having a viable Texas Holdem strategy you can profit from when
you get some good hands. If you have a good plan, you can
convert it into a formidable stockpile of chips – a stack that
you‘ll definitely need as the blinds and antes increase and the
tournament field narrows in the latter stages.

This is how I approach Texas Holdem strategy for tournaments now
- at least when the tables are full with 8 or more players, some
of them aggressive and maniacs. So, the next time you encounter
wild and aggressive players at your poker table, get ready to
have some fun! It’s like Tae Kwon Do – using the opponent’s own
energy and momentum against them.

In the next installment, we’ll detail this Texas Holdem strategy
more formally, along with exploring some other tournament tips
for playing better Texas Holdem poker.

Until then – good luck!

Rick

Rick Braddy is an avid writer, poker player and professional
software developer. Visit his Texas Holdemwebsites
to learn more.

Have you ever lost a huge pot because you had a flush draw or straight draw and didn’t catch the card you needed?

It’s happened to all of us.

And frankly, it sucks.

Because when you’re on a draw, you’re just ONE CARD AWAY from raking in a ton of chips.

And you WANT to keep calling everyone else’s bets, in hopes that your card will pop out on the turn or river.

Am I right?

Of course, what ends up happening is you have to put a ton of your chips in the middle… just to call everyone else’s bets.

That makes you pot-committed… and if you DON’T catch your card, you’re screwed.

Now let me ask you…

Wouldn’t it be WONDERFUL if every time you were on a draw all the other players would CHECK around?

That way you didn’t have to risk any chips, and could bet only after you KNEW for sure whether or not you caught your card.

That sure would be nice, wouldn’t it?

AND…

What if there was a way to STILL WIN THE HAND… even if you DIDN’T catch your card?

That’d be nice too, huh?

Luckily, there IS a technique you can use to make BOTH of these things happen.

Let me show you how…

OK, so let’s say I’m at an 8-person no limit table and I’m sixth to act.

I’m dealt a 5-6 of diamonds.

Josh comes out firing with a $10 pre-flop bet. Sarah and Derek both call.

Now it’s on me.

I love suited connectors… especially busting my opponents with them unexpectedly, so I jump in and call.

The players behind me muck their cards right away… scared to death of so much action.

The flop hits:

4d-9s-7d

That means I’ve just flopped an open-ended straight flush draw. I couldn’t have asked for a better flop in this situation.

Unfortunately, Josh comes out firing (again) with a no-hesitation bet of $20.

Sarah and Derek both FOLD this time…

And the action is to me.

I’m putting Josh on a high pocket pair, or maybe A9 or A7. And he’s figuring the scraps on the board didn’t help anyone, hence the strong bet.

Which puts me in a tough situation.

Think about it… If I CALL, I might miss my flush or
straight on the turn card. Then what? Josh will make another
strong bet… what will I do then?

And if I call to see the river and miss, then I’ll have just
given Josh most of my chips and lost a major hand.

On the other hand, I don’t want to FOLD, because I have a
ton of outs and I want to WIN this!

Now let me ask you, what would YOU do in this situation?

Most amateur card players don’t think ahead, and they’d call
Josh’s $20 bet. And if they missed on the turn, they’d call
another bet to see the river.

And if they missed on the river, they’d probably fold, watch
Josh rake in all the chips, and wonder why they “never catch
the right cards”.

Now a more skillful player would ANTICIPATE what’s about to
happen… and would probably call to see the turn, but then
fold if Josh bet again.

And of course, there are always the tight players who would
never have played the 5-6 of diamonds in the FIRST place.

So what do I do?

Remember, I’m sitting on 5-6 of diamonds. The board reads:

4d-9s-7d

And Josh, who made a strong pre-flop raise, just bet $20
after the flop.

Here’s the answer…

I RAISE.

Not some wimpy raise either… I raise him $40 more to play.

Most players would NEVER think to raise in this situation…
but here’s what I’ve done:

1. I’ve TAKEN CONTROL of the hand and bought myself a FREE
CARD when it matters most.

You see, if Josh calls the $40 raise, when the turn hits
he’ll CHECK to me.

(Remember what I said at the beginning of this email?)

That means I get to see the turn and river for a total of
$40 more, which is a BARGAIN compared to what Josh’s next
bet would have cost me.

2. I’m representing possible trips.

Josh now has to wonder whether I called his pre-flop raise
with a low pocket pair and just caught trips on the flop.

Or I could be sitting on a high pocket pair and I’m not
“phased” by the flop.

3. I’ve raised the stakes of the hand in MY favor… not
his. You see, if I just call Josh’s bets and then hit a 8 of
diamonds on the turn, what will happen?

Well, Josh will SEE the three diamonds and the straight
possibility, and he probably won’t make any more huge bets
or call any huge bets from me.

This way, I’ve raised the stakes $40, which increases MY
CHANCES at winning an even bigger pot than if I had just
called.

Make sense?

And last but not least…

4. I’ve given myself a way to WIN even if I don’t catch the
straight or flush.

Now I get to see Josh’s reaction to my $40 raise…

If I sense weakness, I may decide to BLUFF and buy this pot
if I don’t catch my flush or straight.

If I only call Josh’s bets the whole way, he would’t fall
for this type of bluff. But my raise of $40 will sure get
him thinking.

OKAY, BACK TO THE HAND…

Josh shuffles his chips around for a moment, and looks back
down at his cards. It turns out he’s holding an A9… so
he’s got top pair with the kicker. A good hand, but not a
monster by any means.

He calls.

The next card comes out… Queen of spades.

No help.

Josh checks.

THAT WAS IMPORTANT.

This is my “free card” opportunity that my $40 raise bought.

Now I’m in complete control… and feeling pretty good about
this hand.

I can check and see the river for free. I’ve still got a lot
of outs here.

Or I can bet STRONG and try to scare Josh away.

“One hundred dollars”, I say, as I push a huge stack of red
chips into the middle.

True, I only have a Queen high… and the beginner card
player may think this type of play is crazy.

But then again, that’s why they’re called “BEGINNERS”.

Anyway…

Josh thinks for a minute and then mucks it.

I rake in a beautiful pot.

Even if Josh had called, I still had a good number of outs.
And if I missed, I could have tried to bluff again.

Now think back to when the flop came out…

After Josh bet $20, what if I had called? (And not raised.)

Well, here’s what would have happened…

The Queen would have came and Josh would’ve immediately
fired a huge $80 bet.

I would’ve had to either call the $80 to see the river, or
muck my beautiful straight flush draw.

And THAT, my friend, is why it’s CRUCIAL that you TAKE
CONTROL of the betting.

This type of technique allows you to truly DOMINATE THE
TABLES and win more money playing poker. Period.

That’s what makes Texas Holdem such a fascinating game…
there are just so many scenarios that can occur, and so many
special “tricks” and “techniques” you can use to beat the
competition.

Of course, you’ll probably never figure them all out on your
own… and that’s why I’m here to help.

If you’re serious about taking your card playing skills to
the next level, then it’s time you get my eBook, “No Limit
Holdem Secrets”.

This proven, step-by-step “roadmap” will improve your game
TREMENDOUSLY and help you achieve your goals…

Whether that means winning more money, just beating your
friends, having more fun, or perhaps going to the WSOP.

No matter what you want out of poker, THIS book will help.

Here’s the link:

Click HERE

And if you haven’t downloaded “Calculatem Pro”– the #1 odds
calculator available online– then…

Click here to get it.

Calculatem Pro will show you exactly what the “odds” say to
do in every given situation. It glues itself to your screen
as you play online poker– absolutely no work required.

Quite frankly, it’s hard to LOSE when you’ve got Calculatem
Pro, because any half-brained dim-wit can do what they’re
told!

Anyway, go check it out HERE

Your Friend,

Roy Rounder

————————————————————

Disclaimer: I do not promote illegal, underage, or gambling
to those who live in a jurisdiction where gambling is
considered unlawful. The information within this site and
newsletter is being presented solely for entertainment
purposes. I will not be held responsible for any personal
loss of wagers or damages you may incur. Anyone concerned
about having a problem can contact Gamblers Anonymous for
further information.

————————————————————

Author: Scrawnybob

Article:

Starting Hands – “AK Big Slick, Playing it right”

Ace King … It’s monster hand and you plan to get as much
money out of everyone as you can.

Big Slick is called Big Slick for a reason. Yes its a monster
drawing hand but it is a drawing hand all the same.

IF you hit either an Ace or a King on the flop then you’ve got
yourself top pair with the best kicker. You might get lucky as
is connected to get the nuts straight, if its suited you have
got the table crippled if you draw that flush. It’s worth noting
A-K suited is 5th best starting hand but A-K off is 9th best.

But this is the thing – when you haven’t seen any cards what
have you got really ? An Ace high … with a King kicker, just
about any starting hand could beat it.

Top players know AK is a great drawing hand but they also know
its can be a killer if it just doesn’t work out. In the hands of
a new player it has 4king bustout written all over it, quite
simply they fall in love with it.

Now here is the next problem with playing AK – OK it’s a
drawing hand so your thinking – don’t play it too hard until you
see the flop and then you can work out how your doing … Wrong.

Limping in with Big Slick is going to make you a big underdog -
It is an easily beaten hand if you let lots of players see the
flop, that ragged looking board could have given any of them
trips, two pair, straights – allsorts. However AK doesnt fair so
badly against a couple of player with other high cards.

You have to play big slick hard before the flop if your playing
it. Get rid of all the players with low pairs, big draws and
junk – With a big prefop raise you can be fairly sure the one
(ideally) or two players left only have something high or decent
pairs. Then you have the added advantage – you made the raise
and you took control … again.

Dont make the mistake of trying to keep more people in to make
a bigger pot for your “great hands” – thats how to make your own
bad beats.

With most of the players in to see the flop your as good as
giving your chips away – Play it aggressively, raise pre-flop
and then hold yourself back when you see the flop.

But DO NOT go all-in before the flop – remember you’ve got an
Ace high nothing more.

In this situation the only hands that are really going to cause
you concern are AA and KK – but if someone had that they’d have
come right back at your big raise with an all-in before the
flop.

Chances are unless they hit trips with there good pair (see
what they do) you can fire at them once you pair either the King
or the Ace – infact you should fire out a good size bet even if
you dont – remember you’ve already as good as shouted at them
“my hands is a winner”.

Then see what they do – if they come back at you know they’ve
got something, probably trips – then you need to slow down
accept your beat and try to see the rest of the cards cheap.

The chances are they will lay down just about most things that
dont hit.

Now this all works well if you were easily able to take control
of the table ie. you had good position to get a big raise in
after you had seen what everyone else did but remember preflop
this is – on the button and the two blinds. The worst postion to
be trying to play AK from and indeed any other big hands like AA
KK QQ is when your under the gun – this is the first seat after
the blinds.

Why ? well your first to act before the flop and first to act
after the flop. This seat is tricky especially if you dont hit
an Ace or a King on the flop. Again the temptation is to flat
call and see what happens ideally hoping someone else cuts the
field down for you – thats risky – dont do it. Not only are you
risking players limp in, your letting other players get control.

They will sense weakness and have position over you so you
could very easily end up facing an all-in decision after
re-raising a bet and someone coming back at you over the top
all-in with a half decent pair. Then its become a tough decision
with that Ace high of yours – lay it down. No by raising even in
early position you will take control and narrow the field and
against one, maybe two players you have a good chance to avoid
AK becoming that Big Slick.

Good Luck at the tables – Scrawnybob

Poker Articles, Poker Tips & Strategy for Online Poker and
Texas Hold’em by Scrawnybob at http://www.4kingpoker.com

About the author:

Scrawnybob is a recreational poker player and webmaster of the
irreverent poker content & forum site www.4kingpoker.com …
don’t get bitter – get better.

Practice your skills at Carbon Poker.

Omaha hi-lo is an exciting game with lots of actions and big pots.
Players like the game because there are many ways to win a hand and so many opportunities to play and win.
One of the most exciting variations of Omaha hi-lo is when the game is played pot limit.
You can find this game in most online poker rooms, such as Full Tilt Poker.

Here’s how to play pot limit Omaha hi-lo to win.

Pot limit means that players are able to bet or raise the amount that is in the pot at any time.
This is in contrast to no limit where players can bet any amount up to everything they have in front of them at any time.
The reason Omaha hi-lo is played pot limit instead of no limit is that draws are so powerful in Omaha hi-lo that
it would be correct for anyone making a strong hand on the flop to move all their chips in to avoid any draws,
and not too much poker would get to be played.

Because draws are so dangerous, it is important not to slow play, and to bet your hands strongly.
For example, if you have a hand of 9s 9c 3d 4h and the flop is 9d 8d 4c, you may be tempted to slow
play since you currently hold the nuts (note that you only have three of a kind here, not a full house,
as you may not use the 4 in your hand). However, you should bet this hand as strongly as possible.
Any 8, 7, 3, 2, or A will give someone a low and cost you half the pot. Any diamond will have you losing
to a flush unless the board pairs, and even a card as innocuous as a T may kill your hand by giving someone
a straight or three tens.

Also you must remember not to get out of line with the nut low. If you have A 2 and the board shows K 8 6 4 K,
you may raise with reckless abandon, knowing that you have the low end locked. However, there are distinct poker
odds that another player also has A 2, and you will have to split the low end with them.
This is called getting quartered, and if there are fewer than four people in the pot, it can be a disaster,
since you will lose half of every dollar you put in, even though you are a guaranteed winner.
Since pot limit pots can grow very large, this can be a big problem. As long as there are more than four people in the pot,
you will win money even if you are quartered, unless more than one other person has the nut low.
If it is down to you and two other players though, you should slow down.

Author: Mike Summers

Article:

In part one, we talked about building a bankroll through
freerolls. And while there are many big freerolls out there, and
it can be a great place to build your bankroll quickly,
especially if you win a big freeroll, it is not the only way. In
this article, we are going to talk about non- deposit bonuses.
By the end of this article you should have a good idea of how
and where to find non-deposit bonuses, and what to do with them
once you get them

Non-Deposit Bonus Non-Deposit Bonuses are the quickest way to
build your bankroll. You instantly are credited with money to
your account, simply for signing up. The best part about this
is, it doesn’t cost you anything. The only requirement is that
before you can withdraw, they put a restriction on the amount of
hands you play. But if you play multiple tables at once, you can
quickly earn this off and have your non-deposit bonus ready to
withdraw. There are few available non-deposit bonuses, however
there are a couple VERY big bonuses. One of them is $50
instantly to your ultimate bet account. With this you are
basically GIVEN a bankroll. Sure it’s a smaller bankroll, but
it’s definitely something you can work with. If you’re a good
poker player, $50 should be enough for you to work your bankroll
up fairly quickly. So where can you find this non-deposit bonus?
Well, just hang on because at the end of this article I’m going
to tell you. Aside from the Ultimate Bet non deposit bonuses, I
have found a non deposit bonus at party poker and titan poker,
however if you’re a US player this has little use to you. But if
you aren’t from the US, you’ll want that bonus right away! Those
are also both $50 non-deposit bonuses. (There will be a $100
non-deposit bonus updated soon at the site that will work for US
players) Like I said, these are the quickest way to generate a
bankroll as they’re given to you. However, you will need to play
at least the minimum number of hands before cashing out. This is
why playing multiple tables is a very good idea. However if
you’re going to play multiple tables, its going to be very
difficult to pay attention, so I recommend just playing premium
hands, and play them aggressively and I mean premium… Play the
top 7-10 hands, this means TT JJ QQ KK AA and AK and AQ, In late
position you might want to play 99 88 and 77 as well. By doing
this you can’t go wrong… If you’re playing at 3 tables at
once, you can really play a lot of hands fast, and it won’t seem
like you’re making much until you get your pocket kings all in
and completely double up. When you win a big pot like that, I
usually leave the table unless I start at the table with more
chips than anyone else at the table. It simply isn’t worth it to
stick around. You could have it all in once with a 70% chance of
winning, and then have it all in again with a 70% chance of
winning, but your chances of still having chips after both of
those moves is only about 50%. You’re leaving yourself in a
situation that you have to win BOTH the first AND the second.
This is a HUGE key to bankroll management that’s overlooked like
crazy. Once I build up a bankroll, sometimes I’ll actually sit
in with the minimum and play really wild. If I lose the minimum
buy in I’ll buy back in with the MAX buy in. Most of the time,
I’ll not only get my money back, but I’ll get the guys entire
chip stack. I’ve already built up a wild image, and I’ve already
probably lost a hand I still had about a 35% chance of winning,
even if I get a coinflip the chances are that he isn’t going to
win BOTH the 1st one AND the second one. And if I get lucky
enough to win the first hand as an underdog, I’ll leave. One
final thing, once you’ve played enough hands to make a
withdrawl, do it immediately… There are far too many deposit
bonuses and reload bonuses out there for you to be playing
without any extra incentives per hand. If you don’t withdraw
immediately, you’re just throwing away money. Once you withdraw,
you’ll want to find the best bonus you can find.

About the author:

For more information about where you can find non-deposit
bonuses, build your bankroll from scratch, and for the only
place that you can get instant updates on the rest of this
article series, check out bankroll builder
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holdem

When playing post flop, generally, if you did not hit a great flop which is 71% of your entire hand, you do not want to call bets all the way down to the river. The first thing you must do after the flop is to think back to what your opponents did pre-flop and how they have played other hands pre and post flop. You must think before you act and know that most players will be holding high cards or drawing hands if they continue past the flop. You must use all the information you have taken in to put your opponent on his hand.

After you think you know what your opponent has, you must figure out the number of outs you have. You must then understand the probabilities of hitting one of your outs, that would give you the winning hand. You can simply do this by deciding which cards would make your hand a winner and counting how many can possibly be left in the deck. For example, if you have 1 king there are 3 more kings left. If you have 2 hearts and 2 hearts are on the board then there are 9 hears left in the deck. Once you figured out the number of out, multiply this number by 4. This number is a rough percentage of your chances of catching one of your outs on the turn and river combined. Please read hand odds for more details. You should also know your pot odds. This will let you know if it is right to call a certain size bet. Knowing your outs and the amount of money in the pot is needed for this.

If you have hit top pair with a good kicker with no drawing possibilities on the flop you should bet your hand. But at the same time if there is a flush draw or a straight draw, you want to bet enough that their pot odds will not allow them to call your bet. If you are the person who has flopped the draw, you must use your pot odds to know if players are allowing you to call the bet. If so, call. If not, fold. If you are lucky enough to flop a monster hand you can then check if you know someone will bet and then simply call the bet. If you don’t believe no one will fold you can bet and then raise.

There are many different things that can happen after the flop and each street. The following pages will give you some more in depth post flop strategy.

Practice your skills at Carbon Poker

Badugi? What’s Badugi? Maybe you’ve heard it referred to as Padooki? Maybe not. Before getting into the rules of this poker game, if you haven’t heard of it, no worries; the game lived in relative obscurity unless you frequented play on the Asian continent. Now it is becoming a more and more popular poker variation the world over to conveniently accompany the monster explosion that the game of poker is.

If you’re interested in trying your hand at every poker game available, you’ve come to the right place for the basics; no history lesson, no crack-pot poker strategy scheme – the basics.

Badugi begins in a similar fashion to all poker games in which the players are dealt cards. Before the deal, one player will receive the dealer button and will post the small blind, the player to their left will post the large blind. (If no blinds are used, the player to the left of the dealer will bring in the action.) The dealer will deal four cards to each player.

After each player has received their four cards, a round of betting takes place. All players must place a bet equivalent to the large blind to remain in the game, raise the bet or fold. After all bets are equal, the dealer will offer players the
opportunity to discard any amount of their four cards that they choose, and take an equal amount from the deck.
All traded cards are discarded from the deck.

After all players have received their cards, another round of betting takes place. From this point on during the betting rounds, players may choose to check the action. After betting, there is another draw round followed by yet another round of betting; and finally a third draw round and fourth betting round followed by a showdown if necessary. Sounds simple enough, right? 4 Card Draw might be a better name for it, yes? No – definitely not!

Although everything seems “normal” to this point, now you must consider that you’re not trying to accumulate pairs or suits in Badugi, rather the lowest valued high card within a pair-less, four card, unsuited hand. In a complete 4 card Badugi hand, the high cards will be compared. The ace is played as the low card, and thus if you miraculously pulled the 4 aces, you would have the best possible hand. Making sense?

If you have any pairs or suited cards by the time you get to the showdown, you’ll have to get rid of one or more of the suited cards, and one or more of the matching numbers. This may leave you with a one, two, three or four card hand. The 4 card hand will always beat a 3 card hand; a 3 card hand will beat a 2 card hand and so on. Consider a couple example hands and you’ll be ready to rock some Badugi.

Ace(h), 2(c), 5(d) 7(s) – vs – 2(h) 4(h) 3(s) 7(c) – In this example the first hand would win based on the fact that the second hand holds two cards to the same suit.

2(c), 3(d), 5(h), 8(s) – vs – 2(s), 4(d), 6(h), 7(c) – In this example the second hand would win based on the high card being the lowest. In the event that the high cards match, the determining factor would become the next highest card.

Many No-Limit Texas Holdem poker tournament analysts have called the all-in bet
“The Great Equalizer”. Pro players hate going all-in before the flop because it prevents them
from using any of their poker skills. Even the rankest amateur can give a pro fits if they are
not afraid to move all-in before the flop.

This idea is what gave rise to the Sklansky All-In System. A casino owner who wanted to let his
daughter enjoy the excitement of the main event of the World Series of Poker approached noted
poker author and theorist David Sklansky with a proposition. Unfortunately, the casino owner’s
daughter had never played poker before, not a situation anyone wants to be in before entering
the biggest poker tournament in the world. The casino owner tasked Sklansky to find the solution.

Sklansky had realized the power of the all in as an equalizer for some time, so he developed a
Texas Hold em system where the player would move all-in or fold before the flop according to
pre-determined guidelines. What made this system so ideal was that the player did not even have
to know the rules of poker to implement the system, and would allow them to hold their own with
any pro, even if they knew what the player was doing.

The original system was simple: If someone raises in front of you, move in with aces,
kings or ace king suited, otherwise fold. If no one has raised, move in with any pair,
any suited ace, ace king or suited connectors (except those including a 3), otherwise check-fold.

While the system was not a sure fire way to win a tournament, it did enable someone with no
knowledge of the game to hold her own. Sklansky later fine-tuned this poker strategy for
players who have a little experience by including a “key number”, determined by your stack
size relative to the blinds and the number of players. Sklansky has a chart that a player
can compare the key number to in order to determine whether to move all-in or fold.

Since Sklansky has put forth his idea, two other poker authors, Lee Jones and Blair Rodman,
have introduced the “Kill Phil” system, which implements some of the same basic ideas as
Sklansky’s system and expands upon them.

The all-in or fold system won’t make you a better poker player. In fact, many say it is not
playing poker at all. However, if your current style of play isn’t cashing you in at any
tournaments, or you have to play a tournament on short notice and have no experience,
you may want to give an all-in or nothing strategy a try. Even if you don’t win, you can be
sure you’ll give your opponents plenty to think about.

Practice your skills at Carbon Poker

The latest poker phenomenon has strictly been No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.
You put in an entry fee and you play to get to that glorious final table for big money.

This form of poker has only really existed since the first World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas, back in 1970.
The other form of poker (and much more popular overall) is Limit Hold ‘Em.

The betting rounds are structured so that you can not bet any random amount at any time. The most common versions of the game are $3-6 or $5-10 limit.
What this means is that before the flop, you can bet $3 ($3-6 example). After the flop, you still can only bet $3.
During these first two rounds, if you decide to raise after a bet, it also can only be $3.
Most casinos or card rooms allow for up to four raises per round. The fourth card, Fourth Street, allows a bet of $6.
The raise structure is the same, meaning that you can only raise $6 after a bet.
The River card, or Fifth Street, has the same rules as Fourth Street.
This type of poker allows you to not lose everything on a single hand.

However, be warned! There are different pitfalls to this type of game.
You will be very tempted to chase your hand to the bitter end. It may work out for you. The operative word is may.

You will be most likely facing multiple other players doing the same thing.

Think of this scenario as a typically $2 lottery scratch off ticket. You could hit it big.
Theoretically, one in every five tickets should be a winner. That gives you a twenty percent to win.
This is not a sound policy. Playing a bit more conservative might save you money and allow you to be
respected when you do join a pot.

By playing a bit more carefully, other players are more likely to fear that you have a big hand.
This will also give you leverage when you bluff, or make a play at a pot with no hand.

The Limit game also takes a small amount of money to start. Depending upon the blind levels,
you can start playing for as little as $20.
You can always buy back in for more money if you have a bad run of cards and luck.

It is also a much less intimidating way of playing.
The No Limit table will typically be chalked with experienced players that also may have large bankrolls.
However, if you want to make a lot of money quickly, this would be a better option.

You can push all of your chips in at any point to reach a few different goals.
The first is to win big money if you have the winning hand or put your opponent to a very difficult decision.

You don’t need cards to win. You need a good instinct and guts. As the great Greek poet Virgil said around 50BC,
“Fortune favors the brave”. Many of the world’s best players are aggressive.

It’s easy for an aggressive player to push around a weaker player in a No Limit game.
Aggression will allow you to build a chip stack fast.
Your big stack can be used to make calls you would not normally make with a smaller stack.

You may be in position to knock smaller stacks out of a tournament,
if you are in a No Limit tournament setting. The aggression form of poker can also be a destructive theory.
While being aggressive can net high amount of chips, the opposite is also just as possible.

After losing a few pots, your leverage is gone.
It is gone because you can be knocked out of the tournament by someone else without hurting their chip stack most likely.
Leverage should always be preferred to being short stacked.
The ability to control the flow of the game makes other people have to conform to your style.
Conformity isn’t winning proposition.

-Dustin Goad

Practice your skills at one or more of the many online poker rooms.