Poker

Full Tilt Poker Overview

If you’ve never heard of full tilt poker then introduce yourself because it’s the latest trend in poker playing. This is for those who are more of an adrenalin and action junkie. This is a game that deals you into a new hand at a new table right after you fold your cards. There’s no down time when you choose to participate in this game because as soon as you think you’re done, you’re going to start playing again. There is a quick fold button that also gives you the opportunity to fold the hand that you get regardless of the position you are in at the table.

A New Opponent

One of the biggest changes in this game is the idea that each new hand is a new opponent at a new table. You won’t know whether or not he is a regular or a newbie at the game. Since you cannot develop the reads and determine the psychology behind one of the opponents it makes the game a little bit more challenging then it if you were to simply sit at the table with the same opponents the entire time.

If you are playing with a smaller stake the bulk of your money is going to come from the “fish.” In full tilt poker you may now always know who the fish is and who the regulars are until the hand is completely finished. By then it is usually too late to determine what types of strategies you should use against your competitor. You would even play tighter than normal because your opponents wouldn’t even notice or be able to tell. When you move on to a new table it is a clean slate and they will have no idea that you’re about to fold approximately twenty times in a row. All that your opponent can think about is his own cards.

Playing for the First Time

Playing this game of poker is going to be similar to the first time you played poker because that is the “mantra.” During these rounds you should wait for the big pairs and make the top pairs the better ones. The whole game is going to be changed by the fold and the quick fold options. The players will not wait around for a fantastic hand, because they will just leave, moving to a new table if they feel threatened by the weak cards that they have.

The average player range is going to be a little bit together and the fish is going to do what he always does, play a strange hand and it’s going to take him an oddly long time to flop his cards. The regulars are going to play a together hand with a tighter range.

Short Vs. Full Ring

Just like any other form of poker there is a significant different between the shorthanded and the full ring which is very real and in Rush this is a bigger deal than it would be normally. A six max rush game is not the same as the regular six-max game where few players are involved, everyone playing very quickly, and winning or losing depends on your ability to make decisions within seconds. More and more people are starting to come up with rush strategies and find the real value in this game due to the fact that it contradicts a lot of aspects in traditional poker with the same opponents throughout the whole game. If you can beat this game then you’re probably good at both regular poker and adrenalin sports. Rush poker is an extremely fun action packed game that is new to many who are used to the old and traditional, psychological way of playing it.

When you begin to play this game you may be caught off guard slightly, but the best way to deal with it is go with the flow. As a beginner the best way to go is “the tight way,” and don’t take too long to play your hand because someone else can easily fold his, which could be worse than yours. Rock the cards up and rake the cash in. After a few rounds of playing you may even get a nice little workout in!

Lean Into Online Poker Slowly – It’s For Your Own Good

By Martin

I’ve been playing poker for a long time online. I love it. There’s very few thrills in life that are more exciting than beating someone with a flush when they thought they had you with a straight, or when you get lucky with AA to the point that you end up with a nice full house thanks to the flop alone.

However, if you’re going to be a poker newbie, you can’t rush in. There’s a lot of “rushes” that newbies get themselves into, and I wanted to personally cover a few of them.

1. Too Much Limping

The process of limping is all about calling. You have a good hand, like JJ, but you just call rather than actually raising. If you have a high pocket pair, it’s best to raise pre flop, and then raise again once the flop comes down. This gives people the image that you’re really trying to portray — you mean business. There’s no other way to honestly say it. You mean business, and you’re going to claim that pot. If someone thinks that they’re going to beat you to that pot, they’re mistaken. That’s just the way it has to be honestly.

2. Projecting Insecurity

If you’re insecure in terms of how you play poker, it’s going to show eventually. Players are better off trying to hide when they don’t have the type of hand that they really want. It would be in your best interest to make sure that you aren’t trying to look tougher than what you really are, but you aren’t just running out of pots because you think that it’s going to make everyone feel more like you’re playing the right way. If you know that you have a good hand, go in with it. Bet well. Don’t bail out at the last minute. That will get you the image of someone that’s too insecure to really play poker. You just have to make sure that you start thinking about the type of poker that you’re ultimately trying to play.

3. Not Knowing Your Hand Strength

Hand strength is everything within the world of poker. Quick quiz: which hand is better, the Q-10 or the K-J? Well, in this case, the KJ is better. But what about when you’re dealing with a 10-7 suited (hearts) against a 2-3 unsuited? You would still want to keep the 10-7 in case of a flush draw. Be very careful to watch to see who is actually betting rather than just jumping in. That would be absolutely ridiculous.

4. Giving Too Much Away To See Turn and River

Don’t feed the pot when you don’t have anything to really show for yourself. Sure, you might hope for that last card to make a straight or that last card to make a flush…but is it worth it? If you’re a poker newbie, you need to study up on pot odds, implied odds, and reverse implied odds. Yes, that can be a lot of theory to remember going into a poker game, but it can also save you a lot of chips in the long run. We want to make money in poker perpetually, and that means that we need to be aware of the long term game. That’s all there is to it, really.

5. Not Folding Enough

There’s nothing wrong with folding when you know that you have no way of actually making a successful hand with what you have to work with. The mistake that newbies make is that they think that a magical card on the river is going to turn their crap hand into a great hand. That’s a good way to lose a lot of money in poker. What you must do from here is try to rise above that type of thing and really make sure that you’re going to be able to get the type of service that you really need. It’s going to be up to you to figure this type of thing out rather than just thinking that you don’t have anything else that needs to be done. It’s really going to be up to you when you really think about it. Why stay in a hand that doesn’t help you make money? Making money is the name of the game in poker. And if you can’t make money, then you are better off not flushing chips away just because you’re waiting on the river. Do you know what seasoned poker people call newbies that chase the last card on the board? [Read more…] about Lean Into Online Poker Slowly – It’s For Your Own Good

Strategy Against Passive Players

By Martin

Over the past few articles we introduced the basics of poker, including the rules, the hands, the terms, and the no-nos. In the following article we want to give some basic poker strategy advice. This will focus on No-limit Texas Hold’em. No limit hold’em is an intense game of psychology that includes basic tactical skills, which carry into many other forms and variations of poker.

The most important points that should be observed when playing a no-limit game are the types of players that are your opponents and how many hands go to face-off in a showdown. This is how to deal with different types of opponents:

Tight-passive: The tight or loose describes the amount of hands played and the aggressiveness characterizes the amount of betting.

1. Bluff at the flop as much as possible. Raise before the flop and try to steal the pot at the flop.

2. Fold when they back up their hand. When their bets are small, they have a bad hand. You should play more hands in this case then you normally would and if you hold a decent hand you should win. If they bet large that is a very good indicator that they have the best hand at the table and you should back out.

3. Take advantage when you have control of the game to stay ahead and you can squeeze a good amount of money out of these people.

The basics to deal with a loose passive and their varying degrees of extremities:

This is a great type of opponent to play against in no limit games. They will call when having the second or third best hand and hope that others bluff into them. These types of players do not like to play no limit but if they do play with you just milk money from them by betting mid-sized on any good hands.

When playing a strong loose – aggressive person, it often comes down to taking the person out of the game in one pot. They will try to scare you away from forcing them all in and you can not back down because they often have only the second best hand. It is essential to take these people out because they are very dangerous when they win big and take an enormous lead at the table. If the person is a maniac of playing hands, they will both lose major hands as well as win big pots. Maniacs are easier to deal with because they have no discipline and will end up loosing their chips as fast as they gained them.

Top 5 Advantages of Playing Poker Online

By Martin

Poker buffs are often quick to cast online poker aside, labelling it a poor substitute for the real thing. Among their complaints is the fact that, by virtue of its simulated nature, the game offers no personal interaction nor opportunity to read all-important poker tells. At the same time, they lament the fact that outside of the casino players cannot concentrate to the extent they should. What these traditional poker fans often forget to mention, however, are the many advantages that the online world can offer players who are open to making the transition.

1. More games for less

Financially speaking, converting to online poker can be extremely profitable, particularly for newcomers to the game. The majority of online poker rooms, take PokerMira for example, offer punters excellent sign-up and reload discounts, which enable you to play more tables for less money. For amateurs, this is an excellent way of learning without compromising your cash flow – something that cannot be said of the real-life equivalent.

2. A distraction-free environment

Contrary to the complaints of poker experts, the distractions you are subject to while playing online poker online can usually be avoided or controlled. By turning off the television, switching off your phone and deactivating chat software on your computer, you should be able to cut out distractions almost completely. Not so in a real-life casino where scrutiny from other players, noise and crowds can often compromise the concentration of amateurs and seasoned players alike. [Read more…] about Top 5 Advantages of Playing Poker Online

A Return to Reverse Implied Odds

By Martin

Okay, if you already got through our guide on implied odds, then it’s time to go through reverse implied odds. If you’ve mastered pot odds and implied odds, then it’s time to go through reverse implied odds.

Poker theory might be dense in some places, but it’s very important to take the time to learn this stuff anyway. Far too often, people think that they can gloss over these topics, only to find that they really can’t afford to do that. It’s going to be up to you to make sure that you really are doing everything that you possibly can to learn this stuff and apply to all of your poker games.

People often write to us and ask how they can actually win serious money in poker. The reality is that everyone has the chance to win good money in poker, but they’re too busy cashing chance and emotion. Real poker players that make this as their living realized that it’s more about logic and theory than anything else. So while it’s not sexy to talk about things like reverse implied odds, it’s incredibly important.

So, let’s get into explaining what reverse implied odds right now, shall we? In a nutshell, this is the amount of money that you can lose even after you make your hand.

This is something that trips up new players. They see a flush and then they bet heavy, thinking that they’re going to scare players out. Some players may leave the hand, but you have to think about the chance that you could get beaten. It actually happens a lot more often than you think.

For example, if you have a flush, a player could have a higher flush than you. They may even have a full house, which could make you lose money. So even if you catch the right cards, you can still get beaten. As long as you’re willing to allow for this possibility, you can still profit in poker.

Reverse implied odds matter because you can avoid making a costly mistake on the next drawing hand. How many times have you played poker and wished that you could honestly take back something that otherwise ruined your bankroll? Exactly. Preserving chips is the name of the game, especially in tournament circles.

Hands that have reverse implied odds would definitely have to be low flushes, medium flushes, and low ends of straights. You have to make sure that you have all of your options covered to avoid being beaten. There are no direct calculations that need to be made.

Again, it has to be said — never be afraid to fold. There’s always another hand that you can play. If you honestly have no confidence in your hand, folding is better than charging forward like a bull in a china shop. Keep that in mind, and you’ll be good to go!

A Return to Implied Odds

By Martin

We like to cover some basic poker fundamentals just to keep you on your toes and refreshed. A lot of advanced poker players think that they are above this type of stuff, but it affects every single hand that they play. For the beginner, these topics represent even more information that is useful for growing even better in poker. You don’t have to feel like you need to be a poker rockstar overnight. You can always study theses and feel them out on your own time. Many super players like Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey have been playing for years and years and years. If it’s taken them to become downright masterful with poker, then it’s obvious that you need to make sure that you give yourself enough time to learn poker.

So let’s dig in and talk about implied odds. A lot of people start with implied odds but they need to actually understand pot odds.

Where do pot odds come into play? With every hand, of course. Let’s say that you are on the flop with a great flush draw. You’ve got two spades in hand, and lucky you, there’s another two on the table now. Yet somebody else has spotted the same bit of good luck, and they’ve decided to bet. Now, they could be betting for the sake of sake, or they could have a real monster on their hands — and that kills your dream of putting more money in your bankroll at the end of the day.

So if you’re going to figure it out, you need to turn to pot odds, which can help you decide if you want to call, fold, or even raise.

It’s all about profitability based on the cards that you have as well as what’s on the table and even what other people are doing.

Pot odds can be used to make you money, because you will start looking at your options. In all honesty, this is the difference between a newbie who just plays by chance, and a skilled pro. You can bet that any of the WSOP darlings that are making headlines have a firm understanding of pot odds. Make sure that you do the same. It doesn’t really take very long to figure things out anyway.

To work out pot odds with a flush or straight draw, you basically want to look at how likely it is that you will make the flush or straight — or anything else you want to score. From there, you have to compare the size of the bet that you are facing with the size of the pot. It’s simple math from then on out.

OK, so it’s back to math time, right? Right. You need to look at how many cards you haven’t seen, and then figure out how many of those mysterious cards could make the draw (or straight) and which ones can’t do it at all. You put those numbers together and get a good and useful ratio.

Example time? Absolutely.

Say that your hand is actually As 4s, and the flop comes down Ks 9s 5d. You’re probably getting rather excited, since this gives you two chances to get what you want.

As everyone knows, there’s 52 cards in a pack, with 13 spades total. There’s 2 in the hand, and 2 on the flop. Don’t try to assume who has the other spades for hole cards. Simple math tells us that there are 9s’s remaining in the deck.

So there are 47 cards that we absolutely don’t know about. You take the total # of cards and subtract out the cards that you know about (your 2 cards and the 3 on the flop). [Read more…] about A Return to Implied Odds

What Poker Reference Really Brings to the Table

By Martin

Hand rankings. Expected value. Low stakes. High stakes. These are all terms that you’ll hear in the world of poker. For the old pro, this is child’s play, Poker 101 for lack of a better term. However, the newcomer is suddenly in a state of shock and confusion. Can they really get through this new world without getting eaten alive by the sharks? Sure they can. It just takes a good poker reference, determination and yes, a bit of luck too.

There’s nothing wrong with being a newbie in the poker world. Even if some people talk endlessly about fish, the reality is that they were once newcomers as well. They didn’t have all of the answers, because nobody has all of the answers within the world of poker at the very beginning. Even the legendary players that do high stakes poker on the TV don’t have all of the answers. They had to learn along the way and make plenty of mistakes. There isn’t a single poker player that hasn’t lost money. If they tell you that they have a perfect record, it’s time to run in the other direction. There’s no way on earth that they have a perfect record, because everyone has a bad beat from time to time.

By the way, a bad beat is just one term that you’ll find in a poker reference. If you want to get the inside angle on poker, you need to have a reference guide that shows you not only the vocabulary, but it also shows you basic strategy that you can alter to meet your needs. That part is actually very important. You don’t just want to rush in with a strategy that isn’t customized to what’s going on at the actual table. That’s going to hurt you more than anything else. However, if you step back and look at the action on the table you’ll have a better idea of how to proceed. If someone has a bigger stack than you and they’re acting aggressive, shoving back might not be the wisest move to make. Even when you feel like you have the right cards, it’s all about how you time your actions.

A good poker reference is just the beginning, however. The right community will extend what you’re learning from the poker reference and then some. Make sure that you keep playing practice games to get more comfortable. Theory is one thing, but things change when you have to go head to head against live players!

Online Poker May Be a Reality in California Eventually

By Martin

The New Year might bring a lot of changes to the online poker world. The legal issues that online poker has had in the United States is definitely not new whatsoever. You’ll find that there are definitely some who feel that online poker isn’t what the USA needs, but we humbly disagree. If anything, US poker players would only add to the country’s economy, not take away from it.

California State Senator Roderick Wright has introduced another bill to allow online poker in the state of California. It’s Senate Bill 51, which was introduced in late December.

This isn’t the first time Senator Wright has tried to push the issue. The previous effort, SB 1463, was pulled before the first major hearing.

That effort was introduced in February by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Wright, D-Inglewood.

Tribal gaming in California currently holds the exclusive right to offer gaming on video devices — which raises interesting questions. However, technology today has progressed to the point where you have a desktop computer and even a smartphone. The opportunities and possibilities truly are endless.

Online poker has a lot of chances to take off in the United States. If you’re interested in serious gambling, you definitely want to make sure that you’re thinking about investing some time into learning the ins and outs of poker itself. Some people don’t really think about this, but you’ll actually find that there is plenty of opportunity for people that really want to learn poker on a different level. Just because real money online poker isn’t here yet doesn’t mean that you can’t polish your game.

Read up on what it really takes to go into poker, and then practice plenty before you think about playing any high stakes poker offline or anywhere else (like on vacation out of the country). Good luck!

Are You Too Pushy In Poker?

By Martin

Poker is a pretty aggressive card game but that doesn’t mean that you need to always be pushy. It just means that you need to focus on the things that really matter and push away the things that don’t. Far too often poker players think that if they’re just pushy enough, everything else is going to fall into place. That’s something you’re going to have to avoid because if you aren’t careful, you’re going to end up doing something that you can’t take back, just because you think that you’re the aggressor.

This is actually considered a weakness, as some of the best players in the world know when they can be dominant and when they will have to give the illusion of being weaker than the other player. Remember that poker is all about psychological warfare more than anything else. So if you think that you’re going go make most of your wins just by being the pushiest player, you’re actually in for a shock.

It all goes back to knowing what type of hand to keep and which one to give up. You always have to look at your board before you try to commit to any type of pot, no matter how sweet it might look. In fact, you might end up getting pulled into a big pot on purpose, when the other person knows full well that you have a good hand. That’s something that trips even seasoned players.

There are ways to break through it. You might feel that you’re doing the best for your own strategy by always being the bully. However, what you’re really doing is marking yourself. If you’re always the attacker, then people are going to be on the defense. The better approach is to make sure that you are always adjusting your strategy on the table. If you want to be a wolf, be a wolf — but learn how to hide. That’s really going to be the best way to ensure that you aren’t going to have to worry about the type of players that are constantly tracking your moves. You will be able to change your persona so much on the table that they aren’t going to really know what to honestly do with you.

Be sure that you are reviewing your card games, if at all possible. If you can look for patterns where you’re making the same mistakes over and over, that’s only going to make it more likely that you really do get what you want to get in the long run.

What you ultimately want are more in the money finishes when it comes to poker tournaments of all kinds. It would be hard to get so close to winning the money and then avoid it, right? This means that you need to look at your strategy. In the world of poker, people are actively looking for bullies. Therefore you will be in plain sight when the “hunters” come, and that’s not where you want to be.

Good luck with your poker strategy!

Raising Your Strategic Poker Profile

By Martin

Trying to raise your poker game is always a challenge, but it’s a battle worth fighting very single time. Do you really think the pros don’t raise their poker game every now and then? They don’t rest on their former glories all that much, because there’s always somebody bigger and badder coming down the pipe, ready to knock you out of the game. The very nature of poker is very dog eat dog. Even though a lot of people within the community strive to be friendly and helpful, when it’s time for a game they definitely put on their gear and come at you in full force. So you need to ensure that you are always looking at your poker game from every angle.

Take a step back and be honest with yourself — how is your poker game right now? Are you really winning, or are you just breaking even? Doing a little quick math can really make all of the difference. You have to always look at what you’re doing, how it’s being done, and what you plan to do after everything has been dealt with. If you ignore the need to grow in the world of poker, you will only make yourself more and more miserable. There’s no need to feel like it’s impossible to have a great poker game — you just need to get a little more strategic.

Many people play poker by the seat of their pants. If you’re not trying to win money from poker, then that’s not bad. Kill a day and just play if that’s what you ultimately wish to do — but don’t waste your time trying to play that way for real money.

Another point that needs to be said — know when to back out. A lot of newbies think that they should always be roaring into the hands, but that’s not the case. You want to know when the roar and when to, quite frankly, just shut up and hold your peace. Even when you think you have a monster and you’re going to win the big pot, you never know when your three Queens is really going to be stomped by somebody that lucks into getting a full house or worse — a four of a kind!

Strategy isn’t something that’s static at all — it’s always changing, getting stronger and turning you into the great poker player that you were meant to be. However, what you have to remember is that strategy needs to be fed. Don’t sit there thinking that it’s the end of the world if you lose a few games. It’s also not bad if you lose a few games and you have to adjust your strategy. Some players get so hardheaded that they often forget this — there’s no shame in changing things up when it’s not to your liking.

Overall, it is possible to grow your poker game. We’ll write more on this in the future, so make sure that you stay tuned. If you liked this article, don’t worry — we’ve really only touched the very tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more waiting for you on the site in the weeks to come!

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