Art Of Being Playful

After all, they've already seen you make these plays.
I get tremendous mileage out of one or two very blatant plays. I like to spread hopeless hands. I want them to be so absurd that players will remember them and giggle with me. If I just play a lot of semi-weak hands, that's not advertising. That's just doing what they do. And they won't notice.
When you master the art of being playful, you can fold and describe ridiculous hands that "almost won," and opponents will think you really had them, because they saw one or two equally silly plays with their own eyes. Mastering this technique is an art form, and you risk seeming forced and phony unless you practice. But, it's worth the effort. At best, you can make a single advertising play and make opponents think you're playing frivolously all the time. This means many bonus calls that build your bankroll.

A Mans True Feelings

You'll see smart lawyers playing Poker and giggling and carrying on like school kids. And a man's hostilities can boil over after a while, too.
Watch a ballgame with a man when he's betting a lot of money on it. You'll learn what kind of temperament he's got, how well he can take disappointment. That's the way it is with Poker.
If you wanted to use Poker just for a test of character, solely to learn about the men you'll have to deal with away from the Poker table, it would be a telling test. As a matter of fact, isn't that what a lot of Friday night Poker games between business acquaintances are really all about? Size them up at the Friday night Poker sessions ... and then take advantage of them during the next business week.
This brings us to another subtlety of Poker: Not everybody you're going to play against thinks the way you do. Almost everybody wants to win, but they expect to win in different ways.

What Makes Him Tick?

Poker depends on your understanding your opponent. You've got to know what makes him tick. More importantly, you've got to know what makes him tick at the moment you're involved in a pot with him. What's his mood ... his feeling? What's his apparent psychological frame of mind right now? Is he in the Mood to gamble ... or is he just sitting there waiting for the nuts? Is he a loser and on tilt (playing far below his normal capability) ... or has he screwed down (despite his being loser) and begun playing his best possible game? Is he a cocky winner who's now playing carelessly and throwing off most of his winnings...or is he a winner who's started to play very tight so he can protect his gains?

The Third Golden Rule of Poker

Avoid playing too consistently; take note of the consistencies in your opponents

Play Money Poker Is a Bad Teacher

Free Games Online are not very useful as a learning tool

Online poker rooms and other internet sites will often offer games with fake or ‘play’ money.
These games are completely free, no risk no reward. It may be tempting as a new player to thinkof these games as a nice practice field. Unfortunately, they would not serve that purpose well atall. When playing in these games, it is human nature to play differently when it is free compared to when there is real money at stake. Players will not be afraid to call any bets, they will have no fear of calling raises and they are happy to bluff often. This is not what poker is about at all. The players in a free game do not have anything to lose, and most people will play accordingly. Poker is only poker when there is something at stake, where losing means losing something that has value to the player. Playing in the free games to get an idea of the mechanics of the game is useful, but not as practice for the real money play. It may actually do more harm than good, as you may get the wrong impression of how other players actually play when there is something real at stake.

Three Reasons To Play Online Poker

1. You do not live close to a poker room
Legal poker rooms are now all over America, but many people still live far from a poker room.
Online poker is a nice solution for the people that do not have a chance to play poker on a regular
basis in brick and mortar card rooms.
2. Even if there is a poker room in your vicinity, you do not have to commute.
Many players do live closer to a poker room but find that it usually takes a bit of a commute to get
there. Even if you live fairly close to the casino, it may still take half an hour or more to get to the
poker room, and even then, you may have to wait a bit before getting into a game. On the internet,
there is no need to commute and the wait for a seat is typically much shorter than in a brick and
mortar casino. Also, for those that are physically challenged and find it difficult to commute or go
to a casino, playing poker online is an ideal solution. They will be able to play comfortably at
home, whereas they may not be comfortable in a casino environment.
3. There is no second hand smoke
A few years ago, the state of California banned smoking in certain establishments. Casinos and
poker rooms were affected by the new law and now there is no smoking in California poker rooms.

Watch The Pot

Insist that all players put the proper amount in the pot at all times. Many card hustlers obtain a decided edge by playing shy and forgetting to make good. Nickels and dimes stolen in this fashion amount to dollars at the end of a poker session. Don't be a sucker for a card hustler: make him put up.

Mathimatics Of Poker

Know the mathematics of the game: It's not difficult to learn this poker strategy. You simply use some common arithmetic plus a little patience to guide your playing. You should remember, for instance, that in poker the average hand becomes less valuable with the addition of more players.
For example: A pair of jacks is worth holding in a two-handed game, but in a seven-handed game it is very weak. A poker player will better his game immediately if he remembers this.

Poker Problems

JV'S KILLER POKER: PROBLEMS

BY: John Vorhaus

If you don't think it's a problem, then it's not. But I watched you play last night, and brother (sister) you got a problem. That K-9 you played? Land o' Goshen, what were you thinking? You limped in in early position and ended up taking a five-way flop for four bets. Four bets! What flop could you possibly have loved with that hand? Q-J-T? It leaves you vulnerable to the A-K, which is very likely out there in any five-way four-bet scenario. Or maybe you'd like a set of nines. But even then you could easily be looking at A-9, couldn't you? After all, A-9 is less crappy than the K-9 you played. (Remember, you can't credit your opponents with being less stupid than you.) Okay, so then you're dreaming of flopping a full house, and while I admire your optimism, you spunky guygal, if that's the kind of poker you play, then you've got bigger problems than I thought.
But that's not even what happened. Not even close. Here's what really happened. You got dealt your K-9 and decided you'd play a little Killer Poker by popping the pot in early position. That's fine, I don't have any problem with that � if you see it through. But at the last minute you noticed someone loading a reraise downstream so you chickened out. But oops, you forgot to fold and you just called and that's where you got trapped in the hand.
And the raiser behind you? He just called! It was the old fake-load and you fell for it. Two other calls and now it's back to the big blind, who raises, and she can't be raising with nothing, not into that crowd. She's into building the pot, not thinning the field. Can't you see that? If only you'd made your escape!
Not you, you look at that big pot and start computing the odds of your straight draw, forgetting for a moment that you don't have a draw, really, but only pieces of one. And if that doesn't work, you'll predict yourself to flop two pair. Anything to delude yourself into calling, which you do. You don't have odds, you don't have outs, you don't have expectations, you don't have anything except the sad rationale that any hand worth one bet is worth two.
But now the fellow behind you gets frisky. That fake raiser? He decides he likes his hand well enough to want to see this pot capped before the flop, and figures that the big blind will oblige him if he puts in a raise right here. Sure enough that happens, and the action comes back to you. You use whatever justifications you didn't use before (good money after bad usually works here) to get yourself to call. Look at the size of that pot! Man, this is action!
As we've already talked about, you hate almost any flop you hit here (Okay, I'll give you quad nines), but last night you elevated creative stupidity to a high art, so let's see how you screwed this particular pooch even further still.
The big blind had a big hand; her actions proved it. Same with the frisky raiser behind you. So even if the other callers are (like you) present in error, you know that there are at least two hands out there better than yours, and you know exactly where they are. And yet you choose to ignore this useful information. Why? Because the flop comes 9-6-3, so now you have top-pair-big-kicker, and who throws away that hand, right? Killer Poker says raise, right? Yes, yes, yes, raise, raise, raise, but please, please, please not into this thicket. A-K or A-Q won't fold. You know a big pair won't fold. Maybe you'll drop a weak draw, but that's about all.
So your bet in this situation has no muscle whatsoever. And yet when the big blind checks, you bet, because that's what Killer Poker taught you to do, right? Carpe collectum, right? Seize the pot, right? Right?
Sigh. I know that one day I shall be punished for my sins when your mishandling of my wisdom is brought to judgement against me. Yet I live in hope. But pay attention: You don't bet here! You have no business being here in the first place but in any case, look around! Didn't the big blind raise before the flop? Twice? Didn't you put him on a big pair? Wouldn't a big pair love to make a check-raise here? And you gave him a shot. Might as well put a Salvation Army sign on your ass, sucker, 'cause you givin' it all away.
Well, the bet goes around. The frisky fake-loader behind you just calls. He has overcards and hopes to hit on the turn. The other two fold, but the big blind, yes, check-raises. Now you're starting to suffer because it finally dawns on you that you'll have to draw out to win here, and in any case your busy betting isn't going to drive anyone else home. So you just call. But Frisky reraises. You hope it's a foreclosure raise, made by a draw looking for a free card on the turn. But could he really hope to slow the big blind down? She hasn't been slow this whole hand.
And of course she reraises, and of course you, with top-pair-big-kicker, call both bets because suddenly you decide that they're both lying sacks and they're trying to steal your pot, and you will not have that. Now we'll have a moment of silence while you pray for a card.
You pray for a king and your prayer is answered. The board now reads 9-6-3-K with no threatening suit noise to distract you from the warm and fuzzy feeling you have that your bleak K-9 has just developed some serious stealth potential. You try to imagine the hands that could be out against you. You discount all legitimate hands and see instead a lot of 8-7s who will fold weeping when the board bricks their straight draw on the river.
So naturally when the big blind checks you bet. And Mr. Frisky raises because his A-K likes that king a lot, especially if he puts you on A-9. But whoops, now the big blind reraises (another check-raise!) and now you just call because what if she really does have kings? Then Frisky fires back and you're whipsawed but good. What a mess.
By now you're pretty far gone, so far deep into delusion that a three on the river actually excites you. You imagine that it has converted someone's king with a big kicker into a king with a small second pair, thus paving the way for victory and glory for you. But the big blind bets out and you feel you must be beaten, but you call just the same, just for the size of the pot.
Do you remember what the big blind had? Does it all come back to you now, like the taste of pepperoni you burp up five hours after the last slice of pizza has been eaten?
The big blind had aces, elevated to the status of winning hand by a nondescript pair on the board. The big blind had aces, and she played them exactly as you'd expect aces to play. The big blind had aces, an obvious reality you ignored every step of the way. The big blind had aces, and you impaled yourself on them. Why did you do that? Because desire vetoed common sense (to the tune of exactly 18 small bets), and this is the mistake you make every time. You let your need to win color reality, and as long as you keep doing that, you will keep losing money. But like I said, if you don't think it's a problem, then it's not.
Or anyway, not mine.

Rocked In No Limit

Rocked In No Limit

BY: Ashley AdamsContact at: (Asha34@aol.com) Author of Winning 7-Card Stud (Order Now on Amazon.com)

I was rocked last night. It could have been different. But two errors blew a whole night of good work. Pay attention and avoid the same mistake yourself.
I was playing in a nearby poker club. It�s a great place with some very nice guys, some of whom know how to play this great game of no limit hold em. Thursday nights are $2/5 blind with a $1,000 maximum. I bought in for $500 � about average.
The game had about six typically passive, loose and sometimes timid players, a couple of solid players, and a very aggressive player who often plays much higher than this game. I rate him as a strong player � though much, much looser and wilder than my ultra tight and aggressive style. I frequently think about the efficacy of our respective styles in games like this.
I have an image that is extremely � extremely tight. I�m not really all that tight, but that�s my image.
I wait for very strong hands for the most part � though not always. And then I typically make my pot sized bets when I think I�m in the lead. Pre-flop I�ll raise whatever the latest �threshold� raise seems to be. That is I�ll raise by whatever has come to be considered the raise that people won�t call without strong hands. It starts at about $15 and moves upward, generally as the night progresses � frequently reaching $50 before the night is out.
My nemesis plays a very different game. He raises to $35 or $50 or whatever he feels like pre-flop regardless of position and often regardless of his hands. He�ll call nearly any raise pre-flop � unless it�s made by one of the more solid players � myself included. Even then he tends to call rather than fold � especially in late position.
He will bet and raise on the flop with nothing, sometimes, frequently winning the hand without competition as we mice fold, fearing potential strength. Since I�m rarely in the hand, and when I raise he tends to fold, we have few hands together. There were a few exceptions.
I had managed to win a few pots by raising his raise and raising after he called. On two occasions he called pre-flop when I raised to $35 after a bunch of calls. On each of those times I hit the flop. The first time he and another player checked and folded when I bet the pot. On the second time he bet about half the pot, I raised the size of the pot and he folded.
He had managed to win a few stacks, when other players went all-in against him and lost. He also picked up many pots with aggressive raises that weren�t called. He lost a few times when his large bet was called and it turned out he was bluffing. All totaled, by the hand in question he had about $2,000.
I had been playing, for lack of a better word, my typical brand of solid poker. I had raised a few times pre-flop when I had the right hand for my position. I had loosened up some as the night went on or after a long string of folds, winning with a couple of semi-bluff raises from late position. I was lucky a couple of times to improve on the flop and get called by a guy who also hit the flop, but not quite as well. I was up about $350 with a stack of nearly $850 by the time the hand in question came up.
I was dealt Ah9h on the button in this 10 person game. My opponent was in the five seat. The three seat, under the gun, raised to $35. My opponent and two others called as did I. All of the players after me folded, leaving my opponent second to act after the flop.
The flop came Ac8h5c. My opponent bet $100. He bet it quickly, just as he frequently did when he had nothing. I had learned to see him exhibiting the basic weak means strong tell � nothing particularly tricky about it -- just pretty obvious pausing when he had a monster and betting quickly and purposefully when he had nothing. I figured this was one of those times.
I also figured that if he had a strong Ace he would have raised pre-flop. He raised with much weaker hands, so I figured he had not hit the flop nearly as well as I.
The other players folded. I thought for a second. And I decided that I had the best hand. I raised by $300. The third player folded and my nemesis went all in � forcing me to call for my remaining $400 or fold. I quickly called � figuring that this wildly aggressive player was just trying to blow me off my hand.
I flipped over my cards as did he. He had the 8s and the 5s. The turn was the 3c. The River as a blank. His goofy two pair held up.
I played the hand poorly � and his style of play contributed to my mistake. I clearly misread his post flop bet, though I was correct that he didn�t have a bigger Ace. His aggressiveness, with little, convinced me that his bet on the flop meant little. I was wrong.
But my mistake was more than that. That misread might explain my mistaken raise to $300. But it didn�t explain my mistaken call of his all in re-raise. I think I was guilty of not wanting to back down from a fight. Had I paused longer and thought a bit more I would have realized that though my image was tight, it was also clear that I only bet high quality hands. A player wouldn�t raise me unless he thought that I was either misrepresenting my hand or that he was stronger than the strong hand I was representing. Given my style of play, and the fact that he was an observant player, it was highly unlikely that my opponent would think the former, so the latter meant made more sense. Hence, his re-raise of my bet of $300, into what he knew to be at least an Ace and probably a strong Ace, given my style of play, meant that I should have credited him with a hand that could beat my pair of Aces.
Had my hand more outs, the call of the additional $400 into a pot that was $1300 would have made sense. But I had only really five outs: Two Aces and three nines, plus some back door possibilities like pairing the turn or getting a couple of gut shots to fill the straight or the flush. Had the board given me a flush draw on the flop things would have been different. My call of the $400 re-raise would have been justified.
So what happened? I think the problem was one that I have been afflicted with before � and that I know afflicts other otherwise solid and tight players. I made my read, I had been playing very tightly, and by god, I wasn�t going to pushed off what was a strong hand. I had developed tunnel vision � focused only on the limited parameters of my initial decision making process � unwilling to step back and refocus on what was happening.
I was outfoxed by an aggressive player into thinking he was playing wildly � when he really had a stronger hand. He was the reason for my initial $400 mistake but I was completely responsible for the rest of my stack�s decline. Live and learn, no?

No Limit Hold Em Tourneys

Playing No Limit Hold Em Tourneys

BY: Ashley AdamsContact at: (Asha34@aol.com) Author of Winning 7-Card Stud (Order Now on Amazon.com)

It�s the recent rage. Everyone wants to play No Limit Hold Em tournaments. And why shouldn�t they. They see them on TV. They see world class players playing what seems to be awfully and winning millions of dollars. So they think that they too can win these things. Who can blame them?
Yes. It�s true. Everyone and his sister wants to be a No Limit Hold Em tournament champ. So how can you profit from this?
I�ve had some experiences in the past few months that you might find useful on your path to poker glory and riches. Not that I�m promising you that � far from it. But, having started out as a home game player, and having learned to win at 7-Card Stud, I think I�ve also learned some valuable lessons about how to win money in these tournaments. Let me share a few observations that have helped me win that might help you. If nothing else, I�ll give you something to think about.
First of all, I�m talking about low limit tourneys. I�m not a world class player on the World Poker Tour nor do I pretend to be. I�m just one step removed from most of you who play in home games and want to win but who may not have found a successful way of doing so. So don�t take this advice and buy into the $10,000 event in your nearest poker room. Well, you can if you want, but that�s not what I�m suggesting.
Rather, I�m giving you ways to approach the $10-100 weekly or daily tournament either on line, among your buddies or in a brick and mortar casino. These tournaments are springing up everywhere these days � even my synagogue hosted one as a fundraiser. So you should be able to find a place to play this game without too much difficulty.
Some simple things first.
Understand the structure of the tournament before you sit down. This is simple and easy but many people don�t do this. Here�s a list of questions you need to have answered before you play your first hand.
1. How much of the buy-in goes into the prize pool. Ideally, you want a tournament that isn�t heavily raked. You want to make sure that the house isn�t taking too much of the action for themselves. 20% is about the most you should be willing to pay, unless the tournament is part of some charity you want to support. So in a casino, online or otherwise, don�t be too eager to pay $40 if only $30 goes into the prize pool.
2. Are there rebuys or add ons. This significantly changes the nature of the tournament. If, as in many tournaments, unlimited rebuys are allowed the first hour or so, then players tend to play very aggressively until the rebuy period is over. You need to know this and adjust your play accordingly. How many rebuys make sense to you? Best to decide beforehand � at least to give yourself an idea of what you�re willing to do, rather than leaving it up to the impulse of the moment when you run out of chips. You can always leave yourself some flexibility, in case the field is very weak and you�ve just suffered some very bad beats, but best to have some limits in advance. In any event, you need to know what your options are before you get started.
3. How long are each of the stages. Some tournaments favor very fast and aggressive play because the limits go up quickly and steeply. Others favor a more patient and careful approach, with long stages that only go up 30% a stage or so. Know this in advance and think about what general strategy you want to follow.
4. Similarly, what is your starting amount of chips and how do they compare to the beginning blinds. If you�re starting with $200 in chips and the blinds start at $25/50 with 15 minute rounds, doubling every stage, then you�re going to have to gamble it up quite a bit if you�re going to succeed. Know this before you start playing, giving yourself a chance to think through the general strategy adjustments you want to make to maximize your chances of winning. If you�re playing a careful tight brand of poker while the blinds and eventually antes are escalating like crazy then you�re doomed to be eaten up before you play a hand.
5. Know how the winners get paid. Some tournaments are very top heavy. Others pay out a high percentage of players compared to the starting field. How the prizes are paid affects how you will play. Similarly, it can�t hurt to get a sense of whether players tend to make deals when they reach the final table or whether they don�t. It makes sense to take some risks to maximize your stack if the tournament is very top heavy and if deals are generally avoided. On the other hand, just surviving to the final table makes sense if the payouts tend to be flat or if everyone tends to just chop up the final prizes among all of the final table finishers. Know this first, before you start, and plan your strategy accordingly.
Here are some general strategy tips that have helped me win and place in some of these No Limit tournaments. I�m deliberately oversimplifying things to give you some handle on strategy considerations. Don�t treat this as the last word on tournament play. It�s aimed more to get you started than to chart out a specific path to tournament victory.
After the re-buy phase if there is one, going all in is a very serious matter that many of your less experienced or wilder opponents won�t appreciate. I�ve found it very helpful to avoid the temptation to just fling in all my chips when I sense weakness or when I desperately want to salvage a hand that may very well be second best. Though others will go all in with abandon, I find that it is generally a mistake to do so unless I am reasonably certain that I am at least in the lead at the moment. Similarly, if I have a hand that is probably a 50/50er (like a pair against two overcards), I will often concede rather than go all in.
When I want to show strength, whether to bluff or to value bet, I will generally make a bet of three times the blind or so rather than shoving all in. Conversely, if I am going to raise, I will raise by more than just the last bet. I want the dual opportunity of winning by either forcing out my opponent with a strong bet or having/improving to the best hand. I generally don�t want to give my opponent a chance to improve cheaply on the next card. I make some exceptions if I have a monster hand and want to trap my opponent by making a small bet, but for the most part I want to bet strongly, happy to win the pot right there, but not risking my entire stack on one betting round.
I take more care than in a limit tourney to figure out the general style of my opponents. Are they generally tight or loose or aggressive or weak? These are extremely important to me especially as the tournament progresses. I need to know whether they tend to fold under pressure or call or even raise. This knowledge comes from observation and memory. But it starts with intent. I intend to figure this out from the very beginning. At this level, nearly all of my opponents will have a general style and will not change gears well or often. So my observation and recall are critically important.
Don�t be afraid to push around the weak players and the short stacks. You�ve got to accumulate chips by taking some risks and making aggressive plays when your position, table image, and your opponents make it likely that they will concede. You can�t just wait for very strong hands to do this. Again, don�t get carried away by betting too large a percentage of your stack to achieve these bluffs. But make them even when you�re not certain that you�ll get your opponent to concede. It helps to have at least a fairly strong hand with some outs to improve to a very trong hand. This gives you two ways to win. And make sure you�re picking your spots carefully � though not too cautiously.
Respect the all-in bet and the reraise. True, some of your better opponents will come over the top and go all in because they are just bluffing with nothing. But, for the most part, it still makes sense for you to fold your hands that aren�t very strong in the face of these kinds of bets. You accomplish two things when you fold to these bets. You preserve your stack for another day. And you encourage them to make this move in the future � when you may well have a hand that is strong enough to withstand their pressure, In other words, they may be convincing themselves to make this move once too often.
If you are at a passive table, where players raise the blinds little or not at all, it is OK to also call along with your mediocre hands for the small amount of the blinds. You are trying to see the flop cheaply. Don�t be so tight that you fold that have even a small chance to improve to monsters. But be careful with hands that play well heads up in a limit game. K-Jo, Q-10o, A-Jo, A-Q0 � these are hands that can end up trapping you for your entire stack if you hit them but run up against someone with a higher kicker. Again, beware of that re-raise if you play these hands. Frankly, unless my position, image and opponents are all perfectly aligned, I stay away from these types of hands even for very short money.
Resist the temptation to just go all in because you have only a few chips left. Think seriously about what type of hand you�d like to have to make your last stand, taking your position relative to the button into consideration. If you�re very short stacked but have just posted the blind that gives you about 8 hands that you can see for free before you have to put more money in the pot. What are the minimum standards for a hand that is worth gambling your last remaining chips on? Think about this before you just throw in your last chips. I�ve seen many players come back from only a tiny stack to finish in the money.
There�s much more to be said about playing in these tournaments � thoughts for another day: relative stack size, letting others knock each other out as you get closer to the money, final table aggression and patience. But for now, this should get you started and thinking.

Using Your Opponents

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com) Author of Winning 7-Card Stud (Order Now on Amazon.com)

Once you�ve �typed� your opponent, you need to adjust your play against them based on their designation. This is really the heart of good no limit play � it becomes one additional key ingredient when you are deciding how to play your hand. Position, hand strength, prior betting action, your table image, and their general type all need to be considered when deciding what the ideal action is in any situation. Even so, there are some general ideas that should help you when you decide how to play against each type of player.
Let�s review the type of player we�re talking about:
SCAREDCLUELESSWILDSOLID
SCARED: Scared players are, generally, pretty easy to play against. They bet weakly, for the most part, unless they are ultra-loaded. So you can draw against them with many hands you might not normally play against a player who raises. Let�s say you have Q-T in late position. They raise to $5 in front of you. If you don�t much fear a raise behind you and believe for whatever reason that it will just be you and this weak player, go ahead and see the flop. Generally, unless the flop hit them well, they will check and fold to your bet.
Similarly, you can knock them out of the hand, often, with over-the-top raises. They raise to $5.00? Go ahead and re-pop them to $15 and expect to win the pot. You can carry this over to the Flop as well. Generally bet the flop against them and expect them to fold. If they call you, generally slow down on the Turn and the River � as they�re likely to have something (but may be too afraid to bet after you check). And if they raise your bet on the Flop, generally toss your hand unless you have a monster.
If they are in front of you and bet very aggressively, however, respect their bet. They are likely to have a monster � since they don�t have the stones to make that kind of bet with anything less than the nuts.
One important caveat. Remember that you are not playing only against them. If there are other types of players still remaining in the hand you must take them into consideration when you are making your moves. You�d hate to make the perfect move with garbage against these scared players only to have some guy still remaining in the hand chase you down or run you over with a legitimate hand.
CLUELESS: A clueless player is also easy to play against � though you have to be careful not to get yourself into trouble by expecting him to respond to your moves in a logical or otherwise rationale fashion. In general, stick to your solid style of play. Raise with your strong hands, call with good drawing hands and respect their large bets. You�ll also be able to take advantage of them in many marginal or toss up situations because you�ll have a very good idea of whether they�re strong or weak � since they�ll often give away their hand with their expression and talk. But don�t make the easy mistake of believing that because you are the better and more experienced player that your hands are preordained to win. Some guys at the Baby No Limit table bet and raise with poor hands against the clueless as if they have some divine right to the pot � and then they�re furious to find out that their clueless opponent actually had a pretty strong hand that held up or improved as the hand progressed. Don�t get tricky or fancy. Bet your hand for value, take advantage of the inexpensive draws they�ll allow you, respect their large bets, and use their transparency to guide your play in close situations and you�ll be fine.
WILD: The key to beating the wild player is to recognize that the value of his hand may not match his betting action. A strong bet is often meant to bully, not because his hand is especially strong.
Playing against him is much like the advice we give to kids who are bullied. The best general response to a raise from a wildman is an over-the-top raise. By showing you are not afraid, you are telling the wild player that you really do have a hand. By fighting back you convince him, often, to fold his hand.
Here�s an example of this. Suppose that the wild player is to your right. Three players have called the $2.00 Big Blind. The wildman raises to $15.00. You look down and see AhTd. Now normally, in late position, with a few callers and then a raiser, this wouldn�t be a strong enough hand to play. But in this case, because the raiser is particularly wild, you should raise to $45 or so and expect him to fold. You�re essentially using turning the tables on the wild guy � who will probably fold to your uncharacteristic re-raise of his action. He�s used to setting the pace and determining the action of the hand. When someone comes back at him he knows enough, generally, to play it safe � and to wait for another situation when he can bully the table into submission.
This works if you are viewed as a tight aggressive player yourself. So you can�t make this move all the time � as if you were the table policeman. But from time to time, when you have a decent hand if not a super strong hand, you can make this move with a strong chance of success.
SOLID: Solid players can be tough to play against because they�ll know, generally, what you know. If they�re in the hand then they have something worthwhile. If they�re raising then they�re usually making it expensive for you to call. And they usually have a good hand. If they have nothing they won�t give you their money. They can also, from time to time, put moves on you if they suspect from your betting action you�re weak. And they are tough to bully with wild or otherwise desperate raises if they have a hand.
That being said, in some respects they�re easy to play against because more than the other players they tend to be predictable. Typically, they play big cards pre-flop. They don�t call with nothing if there�s been a raise. So, for the most part, if the flop is a bunch of unsuited low and medium cards, you can be fairly sure that it didn�t hit them. If you bet the pot they will probably fold. Similarly, if the flop contains a high card and they do bet aggressively after the flop you can be pretty certain that the pot did hit them.
In general, you can play more aggressively against them when they show weakness by checking or when the flop doesn�t contain a high card. You should also be less inclined to play against them when they bet since they usually don�t do so without a strong hand. And, significantly, if the game contains more than a couple of solid players, your best strategy may be to find another game.

New rules OK more poker

Tue, January 23, 2007
New rules OK more poker
By CHRIS KITCHING, STAFF REPORTER




Charitable and religious organizations can shuffle up and deal on a permanent basis due to new licensing rules that allow them to hold real-money poker tournaments.
Starting Feb. 1, those groups can apply for a provincial licence to hold Texas Hold'em poker events that raise money for their cause and reward competitors with a payout.
TWO-MONTH PILOT PROJECT
The move comes after a two-month pilot project that allowed 12 organizations to hold tournaments, and a year-long study by the Manitoba Gaming Control Commission.
Poker has seen a boom in recent years, and charities wanted the opportunity to cash in on its popularity. Bars and restaurants could hold fun tournaments to get people in and make money from food and beverage sales, said MGCC spokeswoman Andrea Kowal, while charities were left out.

As long as the organization oversees the event, a tournament can be held in a privately owned building such as hotel, restaurant or bar, Kowal said.
Unlimited player spending is not allowed during events, a move to address problem gambling, Kowal said. Tournaments are off-limits to people under 18.
Events must meet provincial and Criminal Code legislation.
Before this, Club Regent Casino, operated by the province, was the only place people could play in licensed tournaments to win cash.

Obnoxious Poker Players

We meet them all the time, and they are always annoying. They needle us when we lose, criticize everybody, give lectures, blow smoke in our faces, spread junk all over the table, and throw cards at people. They slow down the game by arguing, squeezing their cards, slow-rolling, and demanding deck changes. They often ruin games by driving away weak players, putting everyone on edge, and generally killing the action.
Fortunately, they are usually weak players. Most good players - but certainly not all of them - can control the nasty impulses that we all occasionally feel. If we stay cool, we can usually turn their nastiness against them, but we naturally want to punish them, a desire that can cost us dearly. This column will analyze why they act that way, and why we often react so foolishly. The next column will suggest ways to take their chips.
Why Do They Do It?
When I hear complaints about jerks, I usually ask that question, but nobody answers. People don't care why they are obnoxious. They just care about their own frustration. But winning poker demands shifting your attention from yourself to other people. Focusing on your own feelings resembles studying your own hand when you should be reading the other players' cards and strategies.
Instead of answering, most people make meaningless comments: "Who cares?" or "He's just a jerk," or "He loves to tick people off." (Note the word "he." I hate to admit it, but at least 90 percent of all obnoxious jerks are men.) Ignoring his motives is foolish, because we can't cope with people if we don't understand the forces that drive them. The answer to my question is quite simple: He's obnoxious because it pays off, both psychologically and financially.
When they hear that, some people get very mad. "What do you mean, it pays off? It really costs him. He chases away weak players. He ruins the game. He makes everybody angry. He doesn't have a friend in the whole place." These answers are examples of The Egotistic Fallacy.
People egotistically assume that the obnoxious person has the same motives they have. Since they want people to like them, they assume he wants to be liked. Since they want weak players to stick around, they think he wants them in his game. But his motives are often quite different.
First, he gets a big kick out of making people angry. You and I want people to like us, but he has a "sick" craving for a different kind of attention. The research on "problem children" shows that they want people to yell at or even hit them. We would regard these actions as punishments, but for some people they are rewards. They learned as young children that they could manipulate their parents and other people by throwing tantrums, swearing, hitting or biting people, and so on.
Second, he gets pleasure just from being nasty. Everybody, even you and I, occasionally has so much pressure inside himself that he wants the relief of expressing it. He's got more pressure than he can handle, and expressing his tensions makes him feel better. If you notice and react, you've essentially validated his feelings, even if you react negatively. You've given him the satisfaction of both expressing his feelings and making you share his misery.
Third, he may have personal resentments toward certain kinds of players, such as women, minorities, or young people. A woman once told me that men have asked her, "What's a pretty girl like you doing playing poker?" She resisted the impulse to reply, "I've been waiting for a fish like you." One sexist pig even said, "As long as you have chips in front of you, honey, I am not leaving this table." He finally left with about $50 ($450 less than his buy-in).
Fourth, he may become obnoxious only when he is losing. Becoming obnoxious could be his way of coping with that frustration.
Fifth, when he makes people angry, they often play stupidly. You have seen countless angry people make foolish raises and calls just to "get even" with an obnoxious jerk, and you may have done it yourself.
In other words, being obnoxious gives jerks both psychological and financial rewards.
What's the Worst Thing to Do?
No matter how annoyed you are, the worst reaction is to fight a jerk. I've heard and read long discussions of how to shut them up or put them down. I've even listened to "conspiracies." Normally intelligent adults make elaborate plans to get even, and all they are doing is rewarding him, usually at their own expense.
Nasty remarks, bluffing him and then showing the bluff, and other actions would embarrass you or me, but they often give him intense pleasure. He realizes that others are so upset that they have shifted their focus from playing well to getting even with him. He craves attention, and they are giving him lots of it, plus losing money by making mistakes.
The Chinese have a wonderful proverb: "When you plan revenge, dig two graves, one for your victim, the other for yourself." Don't dig your own grave to punish a jerk.
Beware of Rationalizations
Although it's important to understand the jerk's motives, it's much more important to understand our own. In fact, a central poker principle is: know why we are taking any action. We usually do when we make a bet or a raise. We think of pot odds, position, opponents, and so on, and then make a reasoned judgment about folding, calling, or raising. By knowing why we made a bad decision, we can avoid repeating it.
This principle is immeasurably more important and harder to apply when our emotions are involved. They can make us respond impulsively, then rationalize that we're just trying to "create a strong table image," "prove that he can't run over me," or "protect other people."
Jerks are an unavoidable part of life and poker. If we let them affect us, they have essentially beaten us, even if they lose their chips. If we keep our heads and play our cards well, we'll get the truly rewarding revenge of taking away both their chips and their pleasure.

Folding in Holdem

In hold'em, you frequently see players who call with hands they should have folded. This is particularly true when players cold-call a raise. You need a much stronger hand to call a raise than you do to raise the pot yourself. After all, calling a raise requires a hand that figures to be better than the one held by the guy doing the raising.
I've held many a hand that I was preparing to raise with, only to have an opponent snatch the rug right out from under my feet by raising before the action got around to me. Most of the time, that hand I was considering raising with is no longer even a calling hand, and winds up in the muck. When their initiative is filched from right under their noses, many players become irritated. You see it all the time, an angry slam-down of a hand like A-10 because a player raised before they could act. These players are wearing their emotions inside out. Instead of being upset, they ought to be thankful. Their opponent's raise probably saved them money, and they should be relieved, not angry. After all, money saved is just as spendable as money won, and anytime I can get a free pass out of a pot knowing my hand is probably a long shot that won't be offset by the pot odds, I'm a happy camper.
When you are faced with a raise, the hand you're holding quickly changes categories: Most likely, it becomes either a folding hand or one with which you should reraise; it's seldom a calling hand. If I'm in the cutoff seat or on the button, and someone raises in front of me, I'm going to throw away hands like A-J or A-10 - even if I would have raised with those same hands if no one had entered the pot before the action reached me. On the other hand, if I'm holding a big pair, I'm going to make it three bets, hoping to play heads up against the initial raiser. When that happens, I feel like I have a big advantage going into the flop. Not only did I get the last raise in, I'll have position on my opponent throughout the entire hand.
That doesn't mean I'm going to play that hand to the river - if, for example, I made it three bets with J-J and the flop contained an ace and a king, I'd be a fool to keep playing if there was any appreciable action. But if no overcards fall, I'm a favorite over anyone who would raise with a pair of nines through a pair of aces, as well as A-K, A-Q, A-J, and K-Q.
Later Folds
The longer you're involved in a hand, the more difficult it becomes to fold. Oftentimes, the size of the pot has grown big enough to make drawing correct, even when your chances of winning might be pretty slim. The opposite can be true, too. If you've flopped a straight draw against only one opponent in a hold'em game, chances are that you will not be getting the right odds to keep calling.
Sometimes you'll find out via the betting and raising that you are not the favorite even when you hold what ordinarily is a good hand. You might have been the aggressor before the flop with A-K, been fortunate enough to see an ace hit the board, and yet watch with shocked indignation when there's a bet, a call, and a raise before it's your turn to act. Top pair, even with top kicker, is probably not good anymore, particularly if the board contains three cards of the same suit, or an obvious straight draw. Even if there's no flush possible, one of your opponents might have made a set and is now a big favorite. You can keep calling - your opponents will love you for it if you do - or you can do the smart thing and save your money for a better proposition.
Sometimes, you'll find situations that are easy folds; other times, they are strictly judgment calls based on how well you read your opponents and your analysis of the betting and raising that's transpired before the action gets around to you. Experience helps, and so does your willingness to see things as they really are, and not play poker with a denial mindset that allows you to talk yourself into calling with top pair because some part of your brain wants to believe that your opponent really did not make a flush and your hand - top pair with top kicker - is still good despite overwhelming empirical evidence to the contrary.
What Makes Poker a Game You Can Beat?
The fact that the odds are always shifting about in poker, and that you don't have to play a hand to its conclusion just because you called a bet or two on earlier rounds, is what enables good players to win at poker. You don't have this option in table games. You make a bet and, for the most part, that bet is still working until the particular confrontation you've wagered on has ended. And even if there is a "surrender" option, guess who figures to have the better of this deal, you or the house? But in poker, you have the ability to opt in and opt out. And it's often the ability and willingness to fold your tents and steal away into the night - saved money clutched tightly in your hot little hands - that provides the resources that enable you to play another hand when you have the best of it.
I know you came to play. And getting involved in a hand and slugging it out with the guys is a lot more fun than sitting on the sidelines. But that's what you have to do most of the time to be a winning player. Watch the good players. They play far fewer hands than you do. If you don't believe me, just clock them and see for yourself. It only seems like they're always in there slugging because they play very aggressively whenever they do enter a pot, and that's what you remember. But the one play they make above all others is the simplest and most boring in poker. They fold.

heads up strategy

If you read poker newsgroups or discussion forums on the internet you will likely see several different approaches to heads up play. Like many aspects of the game, people tend to develop their own styles and mine has been born from trial and error followed by some more error with a hefty side dish of error. So while I’m not the world’s authority on heads up play, here is what I think:General Strategies:Aggression. Thank you, good night.Seriously, if I had to use one word to describe my strategy, aggression would be the word. But since there are varying degrees of aggression, lets discuss some specifics. The most important factor heads up is the chip count. If you play Pokerstars one-table SNG’s, there will be 13,500 chips between you and your heads up opponent. Your initial strategy will depend heavily on how many of those chips you have. If you have 12,000 and your opponent has 1,500 it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that his only move against you is all-in and you can afford to call his all-in with just about any two cards. He’s going to have to double up and double up again without losing anything in between just to start to pull even with you. If you have a massive chip lead the one thing you don’t want to do is just fold your SB, fold to a small raise he makes, in fact, folding *period* should be rare. Pressure him at every opportunity; which means every hand. But I’m getting ahead. Lets back up to differences between heads up and multi opponent action. Heads up hand selection should be radically loosened up. You will play hands heads up that you would never consider playing any other time. This is one of the most difficult adjustments I see from newer players. They get to heads up and start folding their SB. Then they fold their BB when the SB makes a small raise. Then they fold their SB again. That would be fine if you had 10,000 in chips and the blinds were 10/20. You could fold all night with those limits and would be no worse for it. However, you will likely have anywhere from 3K to 6K (sometimes more sometimes less but usually you’ll be in that range) and the blinds will probably be in the 300/600 range (if you play turbo SNG’s) or maybe in the 200/400 range in a regular SNG. Its easy to see that folding a couple of SB’s and a couple of BB’s will pretty much cripple you. So be prepared to play just about any two cards. For example, I will raise out of the SB with any ace, king or queen, suited or not, and any pocket pair or suited connector. In other words, I’ll raise just about everything. Once you get heads up, you should have some idea about your opponents style. Is he the aggressive type, always coming in for raises or was he passive and waited for good hands before getting involved in a pot? You should know that much about his play at the bare minimum. If he’s aggressive, be prepared for a fast and furious conclusion to the contest. He’s defiantly going to remain aggressive and probably raise every single hand (I like him already!) and if you don’t do something to slow him down at the outset, he’s going to take half your stack before you know what hit you. After that, you’ll be left to going all-in with something less than great and just like that its over. So when he raises the first heads up hand between you, consider re-raising him huge. Notice I didn’t say to look at your hand, and if its a good hand, re-raise him huge. Your hand doesn’t matter (remember, this is just *my* opinion), what matters is that you are going to set the tone right from the outset that you are not going to be pushed off your blind. It also tells him you’re ready to gamble just as much as he is and may slow him down. But understand that this is a risky play because he may just re-re-raise you all-in and then you have a tough decision (depending on the quality of your hand, of course). If you’ve read any of my strategies you probably have the idea that I don’t mind taking risks. I take many risks in SNG’s because that’s the style that has been most effective for me. I don’t play with scared money so I’m not afraid to risk busting out of the tourney (especially heads up where I’m guaranteed at least 2nd place money) so if I playback at my aggressive opponent and he actually has a hand at that moment, so be it. But in my experience, that’s rare.If he’s passive, get ready to have some fun. If all through the SNG he’s just been limping and been lucky enough to catch hands and the reason he’s heads up with you is because the AA, KK, AKs, QQ and TT he had on five consecutive hands all held up, he may be very easy to play heads up. You’ll know right away. If he limps or folds his first couple of SB’s, get ready to start running him over. Raise his blinds and raise your BB if he just limps out of the SB. Notice again I’m not talking about what cards you get, I’m talking about playing the man. If he’s showing you that he’s happy to fold his SB, help him along by pressuring his BB and any limps he makes. After about 2 minutes, you’ll have a massive chip lead and he’ll finally make a stand with something. If he happens to win, just start over attacking him. I think you will find that the passive players are just a real treat to play heads up. They are not adjusting their starting hand requirements and if they don’t happen to get some real good cards real fast, you’ll take them down.Which brings me to how to handle a heads up opponent who catches hands. Its easy, you take second place and start another SNG – lol. Seriously, because of the size of the blinds, if your opponent catches a run of cards for three or four hands, say goodnight Gracie. There just isn’t much you can do if your opponent gets run over by the deck. I guess you could avoid it by folding every hand but that’s just going to leave you short-stacked or crippled and even if you finally get what you consider a good hand to play, you’ve got no chips to move around. Maybe that style can work for you but it doesn’t for me. When I win a SNG I’m delivering the knock-out punch and when I finish second, I prefer to go down swinging, not folding until I have 500 chips left and then going all-in with pocket threes. In other words, I don’t fear losing and consequently I’m aggressive from the outset, especially against a passive player.You may have noticed that I haven’t discussed post-flop play. The reason for that is that my style heads up is not to see a lot of flops. But if I do see a flop I will be very aggressive if I catch any piece of it. And that includes good draws. If I flop bottom pair and am first to act, I’m betting. If I flop four to a flush or straight, I’m betting. If I flop nothing and my opponent is a passive player, I’m betting. Sensing a theme here? If I flop a full house, well, then I’ll check. But mostly I’m looking to bet. Its been my experience that most players get uncomfortable when you’re just firing at them relentlessly and that’s what I’m looking for. I want to be the aggressor and I want my opponent on the defensive. If my opponent is skilled (a rare thing) then I’ll adjust my aggression and look to trap him if I catch on the flop. So again, my opponents style is critical to my strategy. All of the above brings me to this - one thing you must understand about SNG’s is that the structure of the game is built for speed and because of that the limits rise very fast which turns heads up until a bit of a crapshoot. If you and your opponent are about equal in skill and chip count, luck is going to play a large role in the outcome. That’s just the way it is. Which ever one of you catches the first decent hand while the other one catches something less decent will likely determine the contest. Because of that its my opinion that your best chance of winning a SNG doesn’t lie in your heads up strategy. It lies in your mid-game strategy. My goal is not to just squeak into the money (although circumstance sometimes makes that a reality), my goal is to build my stack to an overwhelming advantage so that by the time it gets heads up, my opponent is going to have to get very very lucky to beat me. If I’ve got 10K when we get heads up, for example, I’m going to finish 1st nine times out of ten, regardless of my opponents skill level. So I play the middle rounds of the SNG with that in mind. I’ll take risks and try to bust people out because I know that having an overwhelming chip lead is my best chance of winning. If it doesn’t work out that way in the middle rounds, and I have an average or below average stack come heads up, then see the above. And all the above can really be summed up with one word – I leave it to you to figure out which word.

AK and AQ

A lot of the sit and go tournament literature suggests that in the first three rounds of the tournament, you should be tighter than normal. Some go as far as to say only play AA, KK, and QQ, and if you do decide to play any other hands, notably AK or AQ, you should not raise with them. You should fold AK and AQ after the flop and play it hard if it hits. Conversely, new strategies, such as the one presented in Kill Phil, have emerged which instruct players to go-all when they get AK or AQ early in sit and gos. I disagree with both of these strategies, here’s why.
Case 1: Limp in
Imagine you are in the first 10 hands of a sit and go, and you pick up AK or AQ. You decide not to raise the hand. No one else raises and you go to the flop five handed. The Ace hits giving you top pair, top or second kicker. You bet 3/4 the pot and are called by one or two players. What do you do now?
By not raising, you have cause yourself a tremendous headache. Here’s why:
1. Unless you have played with these players before, you have no idea what types of players they are. It is common to be playing with complete strangers. Therefore, you have no idea what they might possibly have.
2. You’ve got a hand that can be sticky. If there are no draws out there, you will feel confident that probably you have the best hand. The problem is that at a ten handed table, two players are dealt aces in the same hand 75% of the time. You could have just let a weak Ace in who has two pair. Plus, the always hard to detect trips could be out there.
3. Some players would consider this a cheap call to draw to flush or straight draws given the stage of the tournament. You may be calculating pot odds and implied odds, but a lot of players aren’t. If they don’t think it’s a lot of chips, they will call and hope to get lucky.
4. You’ve left yourself no play on fourth street. Here are all the situations:
A. It checks around. You may survive here, but you also just broke the cardinal sin in Poker twice in one hand. You gave an opponent(s) another free card to beat you
B. An opponent makes a small raise at you. You are probably not going to fold here with this hand.
C. An opponent makes a large raise at you. I’d probably lay it down, but could the average player? There is a compelling case to call or re-raise here unless and obvious straight of flush is out there. You only get so many good hands in a sit and go and you have to push them hard.
D. The obvious draw misses on fourth street. The action checks to you. An opponent on a draw may fold if you stick in a nice bet on the turn, but is sticking in a nice bet on the turn a good idea? Your idea at the beginning of this hand was not to lose your shirt early in the tournament. The person called a pot sized raise on the flop, so what hands are they likely to fold? In all likelihood another bet here just makes the hand harder to get away from.
Seeing how calling here has complicated the hand for you, it’s easy to see how not raising here can escalate to cost you a lot of chips and a headache to boot.
Scenario 2: Go All-In
I have seen this play in a lot of sit and gos recently, and many of the those times, the person was put out of the tournament.
The reason I believe that this is such a bad play is because there is only one scenario in which you are a significant favorite. Here are the scenarios:
1. The only scenario that you can realistically expect a call is when your opponent is holding a pocket pair. In this situation, you will either be a slight underdog or in a coin flip situation. With pairs occurring every one in seventeen hands, there is a good chance that you will run into a pair.
2. Another semi-realistic scenario is that the other play calls with suited connectors. This is likely in the latter part of a sit and go, but the player would likely fold here. Should they call however, you are only a 12-10 favorite. You are really looking at nearly another coin flip situation.
3. The other player calls you with a weaker ace or King . This is the only scenario you really want. You are a 70% favorite, but you still lose 30% of the time
The moral of the story is that by going all-in, you will either be an underdog going into the flop or you will induce a lot of folds. Why would you want to risk all your chips when the most you will probably win is the blinds?
In conclusion, I would suggest raising the hand from the start and playing it normally regardless of the level of the sit and go. It will make your post-flop decisions easier, and also allow you to get away from the hand with a small loss if you need to

Sit and gos made easy

The Sit N Go (SNG) is online poker's great gift to the aspiring tournament player. Prior to the SNG, final table experience was hard to come by. You could enter a dozen multi-table tournaments and never find yourself at a final table. Or you could make one or two, only to get knocked out in 8th or 9th place. Adapting to an ever-diminishing number of players at a single table is a crucial skill in tournament poker, and it's a hard experience to find offline without investing a lot of time and money. Online, this experience is a mouse-click away. The SNG's advantages are many. For starters, it's low-cost, or even free. It's also fun, and convenient: You don't need to schedule it -- a SNG starts every time the table fills up -- and it's usually over in less than an hour. It is the flight simulator of Final Table play, and mastering it should be considered mandatory homework for the serious student. Now that you know why you should play, let's look at how: The most obvious difference between a SNG and a multi-table tournament is that when someone goes broke in a SNG, there isn't someone waiting to fill their spot. Multi-table play consists mostly of full-table, ring game poker. But as players get eliminated from a SNG, the table gets shorter- and shorter-handed. This reduction in players basically serves to artificially raise the antes. For instance, say you are playing five-handed and the blinds are 100-200: You are paying 300 in blinds for every five hands, or 60 per hand. As soon as someone gets knocked out, you're four-handed. Now you're paying 75 per hand -- a 25% increase -- despite the fact that the blinds have remained the same. Accordingly, you're forced to gamble more, or risk getting blinded out. Since the size of the blinds relative to your stack size should always play a major role in you hand selection, I recommend starting out with pretty conservative starting hand requirements. This serves two functions: First, the blinds dictate that you play fairly tight early; the blinds are small and you are nine-handed, so they don't come around as often. Second, this helps you establish a tight image, which you hope will pay off later when the blinds are high and you might really need a timely ante steal. But there is another not-so-obvious reason to play tighter earlier and looser later: The payout structure rewards tight play. Most SNG's pay 50% to first, 30% to second, and 20% to third. This payout structure dictates that you play for third. Why? Looking at the payout structure another way might help. Basically, the payout means that 60% gets awarded once you are down to three players, 20% gets awarded when you get down to two players, and the final 20% gets awarded to the winner. If you can just get to third, you get at least one-third of 60% of the prize pool, or 20%. You've locked up a profit, and you have a chance to win up to 30% more. It's only now that you're in the top three that your strategy should take an abrupt turn. Now it pays to gamble for the win. Let's look at the numbers again: 60% of the prize pool is off the table, and moving up one spot is worth only another 10%. But move up just one more spot and it's worth a whopping 30% extra -- that's three times more for first than it is for second. And with the blinds going up, gambling for the win is even more clearly the correct play. I see many players employ a nearly opposite strategy. They figure they have nothing to lose, so they go for the quick double-up early. They take chances too soon when, in their view, there's "nothing on the line". Then, once they're in the money, they tighten up, thinking about that extra payout for moving up a spot. If you start to rethink your SNG approach and adopt a "slow early, fast late" strategy, you will see an almost immediate improvement in your results

No limit tournament betting

Introduction:

So you've been playing low limit ring games and finally decide to give a NL SNG a try. Your first hand in your first SNG is AA. Two limpers in front of you and now its your turn to act. Now what? In the limit ring games you click the "raise" button with little thought. But in a NL SNG, you actually have to decide how much to raise. I can remember quite clearly the first time I played in a NL tourney and without a doubt, figuring out how much to bet or raise was the most difficult adjustment I had to make. Let me just say at the outset, I despise a minimum bet or minimum raise in a NL SNG (unless its very late in the SNG and the limits are up to 300-600 or so, then the minimum raise can put you all-in!). Whenever its your turn to act you always have the option to click the "bet" button if you're first to act or its checked to you (other than preflop where your option is to ca ll), or the "raise" button if someone has bet in front of you. The default bet will be just the minimum bet you must make given the current limit. If its checked to you and you click "bet," your bet wi ll be the minimum bet you can make or exactly the same bet you would be making if you were playing a limit game instead of a NL game. Similarly, if its bet in front of you and you just click the "raise" button, your raise will be the minimum raise you can possibly make. If that's the way you want to play you should consider playing in limit SNG's. If you're going to play NL SNG's, however, you must develop some idea of how much you want to bet or raise in various situations. Also pay very close attention to the amounts of your opponents bets. Take note of which bets are getting callers and which are not. These things will change from SNG to SNG so you must always pay close attention to the betting patterns for each SNG you play. It shouldn't take more than a few hands to begin getting a feel of the table betting patterns. When choosing your bet you must have some idea what you wish to accomplish with the bet. Do you want callers or not? Do you have a strong hand or is it vulnerable? Are you drawing? Can you get a worse hand to fold? These are just some of the considerations. Also, understand that there is no right way to bet or magic number of chips to bet to always accomplish what you wish. Different betting patterns work for different people and if you play enough NL SNG's you will develop your own ideas. With that in mind, here are some of mine, of course, your mileage may vary.Betting Strategies:I'm generally not looking for big confrontations in the first few rounds. If I limp in the first round with AJs and a player raises it to 500, I'll dump the hand. I have no interest in risking my tournament in the first round. But lets say I limp with AJs and a few players limp after me and four of us see a flop of A74 rainbow. Its checked to me and I have two players to act behind me. The first thing I look at is the current pot size, in this case we'll say its 80 chips. I feel I likely have the best hand so I will bet at least the pot in this spot, and probably more like 100 to 150. My goal isn't necessarily to have everyone fold, but I don't want to bet 20 (the minimum) because I want the guy with 54 to fold. If I bet 20 or 40, anyone with the smallest piece of the board will call and I won't have a clue about their probable holdings. If I make a larger bet, I can get a better idea what they might be playing. If I get one caller and the turn appears to be a brick I may bet 120 again. If he calls again whether I bet the river or not will depend on my position against him and the texture of the final board. If he has to act first and he checks it again, I may well check behind him. I will not value bet the river nearly as much in tourneys as I do in cash games (especially in the early rounds). At that point, the pot is plenty big enough given the limits and I'm not interested in walking into a bizarre two pair, hidden straight or some other like hand. Besides, if he has nothing, he's not going to call my river bet and I will lose the chance to grab the hand history to see what he was calling with.Same situation, same flop, only this time I have AT. I make a bet of about 100, late position player raises it to 700. What would you do? I can tell you that just about all your opponents would call in this spot if they were holding AT. My advice is to be very wary of calling massive raises when you hold just a pair, even if its aces. Again, I'm talking about the early rounds. Sure its possible your opponent has a worse hand . Sure he could be bluffing. But why risk over half your chips (and what will likely be all your chips because once you call that raise, how do you expect to get away from the hand on the turn or river?) when you've got 1300 or so in front of you and the limits are 10-20? If you want to risk your chips because you just like action and don't really care whether you cash in the SNG or not, then go for it. Otherwise try to avoid busting out of the tourney in the first round with just top pair.When you have a raising hand (and only you can decide what a preflop raising hand is. Mine vary SNG to SNG and hand to hand, the purpose here is not to discuss which hands to raise, but how much to raise when you plan on raising). Make a raise relative to the BB. For instance, 3x the BB or 5x the BB. That will help you decide quickly on a specific amount to raise. I generally raise at least 3x the BB but can raise as much as 8 or 10x the BB in certain situations. Specifically if I'm the chip leader and am trying to force people to commit all their chips.Common Plays Your Opponents Will Make:My favorite is the early position player who calls your big preflop raise and then bets the minimum on the flop. There's just something funny about a guy who calls a 120 raise (so the pot now has around 300 chips in it) and then leads out a 20 chip bet on the flop. Come back over the top of that paltry flop bet and he'll fold almost every time. Minimum increment raises. Many of your opponents will just make the minimum raise. If you have a premium hand, come back over the top of those minimum raises by at least 3x. Players who make minimum bets and raises are probably not used to NL and you will be able to push them around. Of course its certainly possible that a tricky player would bet or raise the minimum in an attempt to get you to play back at them but that isn 't going to happen often. Most players in the low limit SNG's are anything but tricky.Going all-in. If you read poker newsgroups and other websites, you will often see the argument that going all-in is the sign of a weak player who doesn't have the ability to manage his chips and therefore has to go all-in as his only big move. What a bunch of bullshit. Going all-in can be extremely effective, especially if you have an opponent covered. There are times when I think your only choice preflop is fold or all-in. For example, mid to late rounds, you're an average sized stack, big stack makes a medium sized raise and you look down at JJ. Calling is terrible. First, just calling is probably going to eat half your stack. Whats your play when the flop comes AQ5 and your opponent bets enough to put you all-in? No thanks, I'd rather fold the hand preflop before just calling and praying for no overcards . Lets back up. You look down and see JJ. You have 1200 chips left and your opponent has 2500. Limits 100-200. He raises it to 700. All-in is a no brainer here. Force your opponent to have to call 500 more preflop as that gives him a chance to fold (although that isn't likely unless he's on a complete steal). Even if he calls, you aren't faced with what to do if over-cards flop and he bets into you. Another time all-in raises can be effective is after a large number of limpers. You're on the button with AKs, limits 75-150, 5 limpers to you. Pound those limpers with a huge raise. If there are that many limpers, chances are that no single player has a huge stack so the only really effective raise you may have is all-in. Watch the limpers drop one by one. In other words, going all-in can and should be a tool in your betting arsenal. When you're short-stacked, its pretty much your only tool. When you have a huge stack, its not necessary since you can simply make bets which are big enough to put your opponent all-in. I once read something from a guy who was criticizing players who go all-in by writing something to the effect of, "going all-in is for losers who don't want to make difficult decisions later in the hand." He's exactly right concerning difficult decisions. I don't want to make any difficult decisions at all if I can help it. I want to be putting my opponents into positions where they are making difficult decisions. Moving all your chips in is one way to accomplish that.
Conclusion:
Remember, pay close attention to your opponents betting and calling habits. Think about what you want to accomplish with your bet before just throwing a random amount of chips out there. Avoid minimum increment bets and raises unless you think by doing so an opponent will raise and you are looking to re-raise. Don't be afraid to go all-in, even in the face of a raise from an opponent. And keep playing the NL SNG's as the more you play, the easier betting will become.

Strategy—single table

There are several different kinds of SnG's, ranging from single table events to multi table events. I prefer the single table SnG's because they take around an hour and that usually fits nicely into my playing schedule. While they have limit SnG's, I play exclusively NL so my strategies are all based on a NL table.The first order of business in any SnG is to determine who your opponents are. Most SnG's will have at least one guy who will be risking all or substantially all his chips very early, sometimes in the first few hands. Occasionally there will be two or three of these maniacs. You need to identify who they are immediately. It usually isn't difficult. The first round limits are 10-20, so if a guy raises it to 400 on the first hand, that's a pretty good indication. You basically want to avoid confrontations with the maniacs unless you've got a premium hand. If you've got aces and they raise it big, push it all-in. If you've got AJs, dump it. The maniacs hardly ever do well in SnG's. They may bust out two people in the first five hands and build their chip stack up to 5K, but they will piss it all back to the field because they just can't stop playing like a maniac. Sooner or later the tight players will push it all-in (usually with a very good hand) and the maniac will donate all his chips back. Happens all the time. Almost in every single SnG I've ever played.The next category of opponent is the "out of his element" player. This is the guy who thinks NL and limit are pretty much the same and so when he bets, he bets the minimum and when he raises, he raises the minimum. During the first round (10-20), he'll bet 10. When he raises preflop, he raises 20. These guys are not used to making (or facing) big bets and because they don't really know how much to bet, they just push the button Pokerstars provides to make the minimum bet allowed per limit. They generally try to limp into a lot of pots in the early rounds and will usually muck when facing large raises early.Then there are the "tricky" players. I put tricky in quotations because they are the players who think they know how to play SnG's but in reality are really very mediocre. These are the players who will limp with AA or KK trying to trap you. They make obvious position raises, tend to "pattern bet" and are just generally not very tricky at all. Most players fall under this category.Last but not least, are the real tricky and/or solid players. These guys won't hesitate to re-raise someone's weak preflop raise. They play tight but not too tight and when they enter a pot, they can play passively or aggressively, you just never know. These are the guys to watch out for. They change gears a lot, playing like a maniac for a hand or two, and then check-folding after they make a preflop raise. I sort of place myself in this category and fortunately for me, there aren't a lot of us playing the low limit SnG's.So that's a quick snapshot of your likely opponents. It doesn't take more than a hand or two to start getting a feel for who fits into which category. General Strategies:The early rounds: Limp often in the early rounds unless your table has more than one maniac. The idea is to see cheap flops while holding mediocre cards in hopes of catching a good flop. I will limp early in SnG's with hands like Kxs, T9, 56, Axs, QT, KT, J9 and other similar mediocre hands. I will call out of the SB with just about anything, exceptions are 72o and the like. Remember, this is not a ring game. Your goal here is to bust people out, not to save or gain an extra bet or two, like a ring game. You've paid your buy-in and are now no longer risking any money to call the extra half bet out of the SB, for example. So your thinking needs to be completely separate from ring game thinking regarding what you will limp with. When you get a big hand in the early rounds, either raise it big or limp. First, I will almost never limp with AA, KK or QQ. If I get one of those hands, I will raise at least 4x the BB. If someone has raised in front of me, I will re-raise (probably all-in). If I have AK, I will either raise or limp, depending on the kind of players I'm against. Usually I like to limp with AK and get rid of it if I miss the flop. I will even fold AK if one of the tight players raises big. Remember, I'm talking about the early rounds here. I usually won't get into huge preflop confrontations in the early rounds unless I have a big pair. Once you've limped, your post flop play needs to be very solid. You need to be prepared to fold top pair when you have a shitty kicker and someone makes a large bet in front of you. When you're in the pot with a hand like J9 and the flop comes J high, check it if there are 5 or more players in the pot. Evaluate the action before just automatically continuing. If someone bets the minimum, go ahead and call. If someone bets 300, dump it. When playing mediocre hands, you're looking for huge flops. Straights, flushes, two pair, etc. Flopping just top pair, or second pair is nothing to get excited about. When you flop a big but vulnerable hand, make large bets or raises to push out the draws. For example, you have 55, flop comes 5K9 with two of a suit. Someone bets 100 in front of you. Raise that bet huge - either all-in or close to all-in. Do NOT let someone draw cheaply when you flop a hand. If someone is going to draw out on you, force them to make a bad call to do it. If you get cute and try to suck them in with little bets, you'll get burned. Middle rounds: If you've survived the maniacs and the limits are at about 50-100, you will probably have a stack around 2K to 3K. Now you will tighten up your starting hand requirements. You will no longer be limping with mediocre hands. Even if the table is still passive and other players are doing a lot of limping, resist the urge to limp. You can occasionally limp with something like AJ, KJ and the like but otherwise you are mostly raising or folding. Now when you flop top pair, you will bet more aggressively. Your goal is still to bust players so you want strong hands, big aces, kings and queens and pocket pairs that can flop sets. Blind stealing: blind stealing is worthless in the early rounds. There's just not much tourney equity in stealing 30 chips. But once the blinds get to 50-100, a successful steal is worth 150. From that point on, be prepared to steal when its folded to you in a late position. I generally won't steal at this point unless I have at least a mediocre hand. A7s, KT, QJ, etc. If I've got 52o, I'm not going to attempt a steal. If you wake up with a premium hand in a steal position, all the better. If you've got AKs on the button and its folded to you, your raise will appear to be a steal raise and the blinds may play back at you. If the blinds play back at you while you're holding a premium hand, come back over the top.Dealing with a blind stealer: part of your strategy at this point will be to start "training" your opponents. If you're in the BB and its folded to the SB who makes a minimum increment raise (meaning the smallest raise possible given the current limit) re-raise him. If the SB just limps and you have any sort of playable hand, raise him then too. The idea is that you are training your opponents not to take shots at your blinds and also training the SB not to just limp hoping to see a cheap flop. The effect of this training is that your opponents will start folding to your BB which saves you from having to pay the BB for that round. (All of this advice assumes you have at least an average, if not above average stack).The End Game: One word. Aggression. When its down to 4 players, everyone gets tight. If you have a chip lead, start making large preflop raises regardless of your cards. Nobody wants to bust out fourth so your opponents will be folding just about anything to a large raise. Take advantage of that by stealing pot after pot, preflop. Your goal now is to build a huge chip lead so when it gets down to three and eventually heads up, you have a big lead. Now, I'm not suggesting you raise every single hand. But any ace, any two faces, any pocket pair (even 22), hands like that.When a short-stack goes all-in, don't be afraid to call him if you've got decent but not great cards. A5, K9, pocket pairs, etc. are all fine to try to take out a short-stacked player.If you and your opponents are all pretty much equal in chips, don't be afraid to be the one who's most aggressive. You may bust out but you have to be ready to risk that on any given hand. The goal is to win, not to just fold and fold and fold, hoping for AA. The best way to win is to push your opponents around so much that they finally play back at you with less than great hands. I call that the Gus Hansen Effect. Because you're raising so much at this point, when you actually have a great hand like AK or JJ, they will go all-in on you and then you get paid off.But. This is poker and nothing works every time. You will lose some big pots, big hands and even bust out in the first ten minutes if you run into some real bad luck. But that won't happen often.

Hand rankings

Make sure you know the ranking of winning poker hands:Royal Flush - the best possible hand in Poker Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10, all of the same suit.Straight FlushAny five-card sequence in the same suit (e.g.: 7, 8, 9, 10, and Jack of hearts).Four of a KindAll four cards of the same value (e.g.: 10, 10, 10, 10). Full HouseThree of a kind combined with a pair (e.g.: 10, 10, 10 with 6, 6). FlushAny five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence (e.g.: 5, 6, 8, 10 and King of clubs). StraightFive cards in sequence, but not in the same suit (e.g.: 5 of clubs, 6 of hearts, 7 of diamonds, 8 of clubs and 9 of diamonds). Three of a KindThree cards of the same value (e.g.: Jack, Jack, Jack). Two PairTwo separate pairs (e.g.: 5, 5, King, King). PairTwo cards of the same value (e.g.: 10, 10). High CardIf a Poker hand contains none of the above combinations; it's valued by the highest card in it.

Poker Tells

A Poker Tell is any physical reaction, behavior, or habit that gives you information about your opponent’s hand. There are some very common poker tells that you should be aware of. Being able to spot these tells will help you make good decisions at the poker table and put yourself in position to win more money.
Also, by knowing what these common poker tells are, you can avoid giving them off yourself!
The majority of players give off tells in the following manner – they act as if they have a strong hand when they actually have a weak hand. They act as if they have a weak hand when they actually have a strong hand.
Online Poker Tells
A quick bet is a sign of weakness.
A delayed action is a sign of strength. When an opponent thinks for a long time and then bets, they will usually be holding a strong hand.
If you have played in an online casino before, you may have noticed how they make it easy to act when it is your turn. This is done through the use of check boxes – “check” “fold” “raise”, or “call”.
You can tell when a player has used a check box, because they act almost immediately after the player in front of them has acted.
Use this to your advantage.
When a player has checked “raise” it should be obvious to you that they have a strong hand.
If a player uses the check box to “check” then you can probably conclude that your opponents hand is weak.
If a player uses the check box to “call”, a good assumption is that your opponent has a drawing hand.
The use of a checkbox is a good poker tell because the player has already made a decision on what they are going to do before even seeing what the other have done.
Remember to pay close attention to how your opponents act and you will be able to spot their own individual poker tells.
Poker Tells
When you first sit down at a table, study the way the players stack their chips. Although it is a generalization, loose aggressive players typically maintain sloppy stacks, while tight conservative players keep neat stacks.
Poker Tells your opponent gives off when they have a good hand.
They act disinterested in a hand that they are playing in.Here they are trying to trick you into thinking they are not happy about their cards.
Shaking Hands when placing a betOftentimes players’ hands shake when they have an excellent hand.
Sighing and ShruggingThis is typically a sure sign that your opponent is putting on an act of weakness when they have a strong hand.
Glancing at Chips After Looking at Hole CardsThis is a sign that your opponent is planning a bet.
Poker Tells your opponent gives off when they have a weak or a drawing hand
Staring If an opponent tries to stare you down they are trying to act as if they have a strong hand.
Holding BreathOften, inexperienced players will hold their breath if they are bluffing.
They Check Their Hole Cards After the FlopIf the flop shows a possible flush or straight, an opponent that checks or re-checks their hole cards is looking to see if they have hit a flush or straight. If they did hit a flush or straight they would know it and not need to check.
Taking a Long Time Before Calling a BetIf a player looks into the pot and seems to be running through some calculations they are most likely figuring out the pot odds to see if it’s worth trying to complete their hand.

The Right Time To Chase A Straight

Click Below
click'>http://www.superpokeraffiliates.com/_page?data=334230_72_6_342_NiR5NnNyMU9MZG1wRQ%3D%3D">
Dear Poker Player,
Chasing straights and flush draws will BURN you... there's no doubt about it.
The term "chasing" means you stay in the hand... hoping to catch a certain card (or cards) that will complete your straight.
The problem with chasing is that the ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU. And as you know, successful Texas Holdem poker is all about keeping the odds in your favor.
But sometimes chasing a straight IS the right thing to do.
SOMETIMES.
Let me explain...
First off, let's look at the two different types of straight draws:
1. GUTSHOT - This is when you're trying to make an INSIDE straight... like if you have 4-5-6-8 and you need the 7.
2. OPEN-ENDED - This is when TWO cards can "make" your straight... like if you have 4-5-6-7 and need EITHER the 3 or the 8.
There's also what's called a "double belly buster", which is actually like two gutshots at once. We'll talk about this a little later.
OK, so how should you play a gutshot straight draw? Let's look at the odds... if you FLOP an inside (gutshot) straight draw, the odds of making your straight are 16.47%.
If you have an inside straight draw after the TURN... with just the river card to go... your odds are 8.70%.
So the odds aren't good. 16.47% might SOUND like it's worth it... but you've got to ANTICIPATE the bet after the turn card.
For instance, let's say you flop an inside straight draw and someone makes a big bet. If you call and then miss your straight on the turn, what then?
Your opponent makes ANOTHER big bet... do you call to see the river card? You feel pot committed, but you know the odds are against you...
This is how you get into trouble with gutshot straight draws. You become pot committed and you chase a hand that's not worth chasing.
As a general principle, you should NOT chase gutshot straight draws... especially on the river.
When I flop a gutshot, I might call a small bet but that's it. And that's only when the odds are worth it.
As we'll discuss in a moment, you must also factor in the IMPLIED ODDS... but first, let's look at how to play open-ended straight draws.
For an open-ended straight draw, your odds of making your straight are MUCH better. If you flop an open-ender your odds of hitting are 31.45%.
If you have an open-ender with just the river card to go, your odds are 17.39%.
Notice that you have BETTER chances of completing an open-ended straight draw just on the RIVER than completing a gutshot straight draw on both the turn AND the river.
Interesting, huh?
OK, so what's the right way to play an open-ender?
Many players will just CHECK with an open-ended straight draw... and then CALL any bets.
This is REACTIVE card playing... and it's the WRONG thing to do.
You need to be PROACTIVE... and here's why:
Let's say you've got 6-7 of diamonds and the flop hits:
4-5-K
You've got the top half of an open-ended straight draw... either an 8 or a 3 will give you the nut straight.
The NATURAL TENDENCY here is to check. You don't have ANYTHING yet... no pairs, no high cards, nothing. So obviously you'd LOVE to wait to see if you make your straight before you risk any chips, right?
Wrong.
If you just check, you're making three dangerous mistakes:
Mistake 1: You're showing weakness.
Mistake 2: You're not increasing the pot size.
Mistake 3: You're giving your opponent a read on you.
There's a strange analogy I like to use for this.
If you're ever in the forest or wilderness and you encounter a mountain lion, bobcat, or other similar PREDATOR, the NATURAL TENDENCY is to get scared.
Most people would run away!
However... the RIGHT thing to do is to SHOW AGGRESSION and NOT show fear.
I'm dead serious here.
The right thing to do if you see a bobcat is to make a lot of noise, to raise your hands in the air and possibly hold up a coat or jacket (in order to appear bigger), and to snarl or growl.
It's counter-intuitive... but it's what you MUST do if you don't want to get attacked (or eaten).
Now... back to Texas Holdem... LOL.
Your OPPONENT is your PREDATOR. Show them weakness and they will likely attack you.
When you have an open-ended straight draw, you want to see the next two cards... and you don't want to risk a lot of chips to do so.
So the RIGHT PLAY is to BET or RAISE the pot.
In our example above, you want to throw out a reasonably-sized bet. Your opponents might fold right there. Or you might get one or two callers.
NOW, when the TURN card comes, your opponents will probably check to you. So basically you're getting a FREE CARD. You can check and see the river for free.
If you HADN'T taken control of the betting, your opponents would have made you PAY A LOT to see the river card. And you might of been forced to FOLD your open-ended straight draw.
By taking control of the betting and coming out strong after the flop, you're actually investing LESS money overall to see the next two cards.
Now... the other reason taking control is important is because it doesn't give your opponent a read on you.
Say your opponent checks the flop and you also check. The turn card comes and it's a 3... giving you the straight.
Your opponent checks again and now all of the sudden you come out betting strong.
Obviously, your opponent will SEE what's going on here and will have a hunch that you just made your straight... and he'll fold.
If you DON'T bet after the 3, the odds of you making any real money off of this hand are slim, and you've let your straight go to waste.
So the key is to bet EARLY... that way if you HIT you're golden and you'll get paid. And if you DON'T hit you won't have to invest any more chips.
Say you took control of the betting after the flop and your opponent called with A-5. He's probably putting you on the King, but isn't sure... He's got middle pair along with an Ace.
The turn card comes and it's a 3, so you bet again. Your opponent calls again.
Finally the river hits and it's an Ace, giving your opponent TWO PAIR. By now he's confident that you have the King... and not the straight... since you were betting consistently after the flop.
So your opponent puts you ALL-IN with his hand... not knowing that you've got him DOMINATED. You win a big pot, all because you played the open-ender properly.
There's also what's called a "double belly buster" straight draw. A regular (single) belly buster is simply an inside straight draw. A DOUBLE means there are TWO different cards to make your straight... but it's not open-ended.
For example, if you were holding A-5 and the flop hit 3-4-7 you would have a DOUBLE BELLY BUSTER.
Either a 2 or a 6 would give you a straight.
Double belly busters are great because your opponents will often never see them coming... and your odds of hitting are the same as an OPEN-ENDED straight draw.
When an opponent doesn't put you on a hand, THAT is when you'll be able to win the most chips. This is known as IMPLIED ODDS.
Implied odds means that when you make your hand, you're going to get paid a LOT for it.
Implied odds is a very important part of making decisions in Texas Holdem... just like regular odds. Except the key distinction is that implied odds doesn't necessarily involve numbers or math percentages.
Implied odds is more about getting a SENSE for how big the pot will be if you make your hand.
When your implied odds are HIGH, you can often bet more early in order to build the pot size.
An example of high implied odds is when there's a straight draw on the board with HIGH CARDS. For instance, let's say you're holding J-10 and the flop comes Q-K-3.
You've got an open-ended straight draw... but you might face opponents who have a REALLY GOOD HAND right now... something like A-K, A-Q, or K-Q.
An opponent with a big hand is going to be very aggressive with his bets... and if a 9 or an Ace hits, you're going to win a ton of chips. Those are high implied odds.
On the other hand, this type of flop is BAD for you because it means you'll probably have to PAY DEARLY to see the turn and river cards.
Be careful... don't chase the straight if it's going to break your chip stack.
An example of a straight with LOW implied odds would be when it's all low cards on the board. After all, if no one has anything decent, no one is going to give you a lot of action.
When you have an open-ended straight draw with low cards and you sense weakness in your opponents, the best move is to act aggressively and take the pot down right there.
After all... nearly 70% of the time you are NOT going to hit your straight. So if you can win the pot by betting, do so.
If you do get a caller, that's OK too, because you still have a lot of outs and a good chance at busting your opponent (and now the implied odds are higher since he's pot committed and must have a good hand).
Another example of low implied odds is when the straight draw on the board is OBVIOUS. This is especially relevant when there's only ONE card needed to make the straight.
For instance, let's say you have K-7 and the board reads 3-4-5. And then the turn card comes and it's a 6.
Of course, with 3-4-5-6 on the board, your opponents WILL be suspicious that someone has the straight. This type of situation is sometimes good for a check-raise... or a strong bet to make it LOOK like you're buying the pot. (It just depends on your table image.)
With straight draws, be extra careful to pay attention to what ELSE is out there on the board. You will often encounter hands that BEAT you and wipe out your entire chip stack.
For instance... look for possible FLUSH draws. If your opponent might have made a flush, back off. Muck the hand if you need to and live to see another day.
Full houses are dangerous too. If two cards on the board pair up, be careful.
And last but not least, always think about what OTHER straights are possible. For instance, if you're holding A-2 and the flop hits 3-4-5, you have the BOTTOM end of the straight. Someone could have 7-6, or maybe 6-2, and would have you beat.
It's the same way with our double belly buster example. In that example the flop was 3-4-7 and you had A-5. Let's say a 6 hit the board.
Even though you have the straight (3-7), it's NOT the best possible straight. Your opponent could be holding 8-5... which would be the nut straight.
It's the same way with FOUR consecutive cards on the board. If the board reads 5-6-7-8 and you've got the 9, that doesn't mean you have the "nuts".
The nuts would be 10-9... which would give someone the straight (6-10).
The possibilities are ENDLESS... and you'll soon discover that the more you play Texas Holdem the more IMPORTANT every possibility becomes.
For the most part, keep in mind that you want to only "chase" a straight when the odds of hitting are most favorable, when the implied odds are good, and when you think you can see a cheap (or free) river card.
Knowing how to INCREASE your winnings and DECREASE your losses is the name of the game. Strategies like these will also minimize your risk during each pot... and help you secure a CONSISTENT winning streak.
I can show you how to master the game of Texas Holdem and play like a pro... whether you want to want to become a full-time "rounder", win some tournaments, or just knock the socks off your friends.
With my free poker tips newsletter, you'll learn simple, step-by-step processes for winning as many pots as possible... along with pro-level tactics that can boost your skills INSTANTLY.
Each newsletter is written in plain English that's easy to understand-- no matter what your current level of play.
So go to this webpage right now and sign up for my FREE, award-winning poker tips newsletter...

See you there.
Your New 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. ------------------------------------------------------------