poker

A Little Concentration Goes a Long Way in Poker

Are you trying to boost your poker averages and struggling to do so? Trust us; you are in very good company. A lot of people hope and dream to really change the outcome of their poker game, only to find that it’s a lot harder than they really make on television. You might want to win big pots, but you have to make sure that you’re concentrating.

Poker is a lot more multilayered than people think it is. You have to consider not only what you’re holding, but what your opponents are holding as well. It’s not just good enough to get a monster — you have to project that monster in order to chase out all of the people with garbage hands that end up getting lucky. That would really make things harder, wouldn’t it? It not really — you can beat players that play trash hands, but you have to adjust your image as well.

When you’re concentrating, the rest of the outside world just ceases to matter. This is a good thing. You want to make sure that you’re keeping your eye on the prize at all times. There’s no reason to believe that you have to just hope and pray that everything is going to work itself out. You owe it to yourself to play the type of poker that you’ve always wanted to play.

So you’re playing from home — which would be most of the players on casino networks in the first place — you’re going to want to make sure that you don’t have other things going on around you. Sure, it’s nice to have friends over, but when you’re deep in a serious cash tournament, you want to be able to concentrate. This goes the same for children — wait till they go to bed before you drown yourself in poker, unless you have a very forgiving and understanding spouse.

Everyone will implement these tips differently. Some people find that going to their favorite casino is relaxing enough that they don’t need to have the television on in the background. Other people will hate the silence and add in at least a little white noise. It’s completely up to you. We’ve found that when we have a lot of other distractions going on, nothing gets done the way it’s supposed to get done. What a bummer, right?

You need to focus on the fact that you’re playing for real money. It’s your hard earned money on the table. Why not make sure that it’s protected at all costs? Why not make sure that you’re really getting things under control? Why not make sure that you have everything you could want tended to in a proper manner. That’s going to really make it easier to get things handed in the proper way. Otherwise, you will spend a lot of time feeling frustrated and ultimately sick of playing poker.

Of course, if you do end up getting burnt out, it’s not a bad idea to step back and make sure that you’re getting enough rest. You might be playing a lot more poker than you think which can be enough to really stress you out. It’s up to you to get things done, so why not start today? Good luck!

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

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!