Bluffing at online poker sites is when you are making it seem like you have a big hand, but you don’t. Although there are many different plays you can make online, there are two main types of poker bluffs when playing online poker.
They are the semi-bluff, which basically means that you are betting on a hand that still has a chance to improve and the stone cold bluff where you have absolutely nothing and can’t win unless you make a move and other players fold.
A good spot where a poker bluff might work when playing Texas Holdem at online poker sites is when you are on the button. Having position or being last to act is very important in Holdem. Being able to see what players are doing before you act gives you a big advantage.
Another good spot to bluff in when playing poker is when there are just a few players in the hand. If you bluff against a full table of players still in the hand you must get every single player to fold in order to win. It is much easier to get just a few players to fold instead of an entire table.
Another poker bluff opportunity at is when you are playing Texas Holdem and have already led out before the flop. If you bluff after the flop it is called a continuation bet and will work if the flop missed everyone. A lot of professional poker players use this move often. Aggression pays in poker.
The poker bluff works better if you have established yourself as a tight player. The more respect you get for having big hands against tight players, the better chances of pulling off a bluff will be. Spend time setting up your image. Occassionally let them see that you had the hand. Some sites even let you flip a card over when you fold.
There will be occasions when bluffing works well and other situations when it does not. You don’t want to try a poker bluff against aggressive players. Bluffing works better against tight players that need the cards to play.
It does not work against maniacs. It also works much better when there are not a lot of players in the hand.
You can get into a bad habit of bluffing too much if you are not careful. Bluffs work best when they are unexpected, not routine. You also have to remember that you can lose a lot of money. Poker bluffs need to be timely. If you routinely bluff and get called you are going to lose.
Remember that for an online poker bluff to work all of your opponents have to fold. If you can see that your opponent is going to call no matter what you do then bluffing is just not going to work. Pick your spots well when bluffing and you will be much better off.
Freeroll update…registration starts at 5pm EST January 29th.
There is no fee to enter. Registration for the $5000 freeroll tournament starts in less than 2 hours. They are only allowing 4000 players so register early.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - Kelly Kim
Kelly Kim, resides in California, is a professional poker player and 31 years old. He cashed three times in the 2007 World Series of Poker and paid cash for his entry to this year’s main event. Before he turned pro, he was a business analyst and has a degree of UC San Diego. He comes into the final table as the short stack, with only 2,620,000 in chips.
Interview video with Kelly Kim
November 9 main event final table 2008 World Series of Poker player
Kelly Kim rounds out the November Nine as the long shot with a very small chip stack of only 2,620,000. That may seem like a lot of chips, but compared to the next lowest (Craig Marquis) stack of 10.2 million, and the highest (Dennis Phillips) of 26.2 million, it will be interesting to see if Kim can increase his stack size soon enough to stay in the Final Table. The professional poker player of Korean descent resides in Whittier, California. Growing up, he played football and wrestled in high school. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UC-San Diego and used to work as a business analyst. During his sophomore year of college, he entered his first live poker tournament at a small Indian casino. Kim’s first live tournament cash came in 2001, earning $798, but those numbers have increased significantly to total 37 cashes and $351,744 in winnings. He respects Daniel Negreanu because he doesn’t hide anything from his fans, and is open and honest. Like many of the “November Nine,” Kim also plans to help his family and friends with the prize money.
Kelly Kim starts the main event final table with 2,620,000 in chips.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - David Rheem
David Rheem or as he is known in the poker world, “Chino”,lives in Los Angeles, California and is 28. He’s a poker pro who’s been playing for 10 years and paid cash to enter the main event.
He starts the final table with 10,230,000 in chips.
Interview video of David Rheem
November Nine final table main event 2008 World Series of Poker player
Growing up, Rheem excelled at basketball and, as most kids following that sport, looked up to Michael Jordan. This California native has been playing professional poker for ten years now, topping the profits list with $634,657 over 15 cashes in the last three years. Five of those came from World Series of Poker events, but this will be Rheem’s first WSOP Main Event cash. He nearly won a bracelet in the 2006 No-Limit Hold’em $1,000 re-buy WSOP event finishing second and earning $328,000. Few people know that Chino is scared of heights. His plans with the prize money are to help his family and friends.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will resume tournament play at the final table this November 9th.
November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table player - Scott Montgomery
Scott Montgomery is from Perth, Ontario in Canada, is 26 years old and sits in third place among the chip leaders in the Main Event final table at the 2008 World Series of Poker. He is a poker pro who’s been playing for about four years and paid cash to enter this year’s main event.
He starts the final table with 19,690,000 in chips.
Watch interview video of Scott Montgomery - November Nine 2008 World Series of Poker main event final table
He received his Bachelor of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and has been playing poker for about four years. All of his live tournament cashes came in 2008 – three of those in the 2008 WSOP – and Montgomery’s total live tournament earnings equal $406,585. His favorite poker memory is winning three consecutive tournaments online. In poker circles, fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu tops Montgomery’s list as his favorite player.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will make the final when the tournament resumes this November 9th.
Peter Eastgate is from Odense, Denmark and is 22 years old, making him the youngest player at the final table. If this poker pro wins, he’ll be the youngest WSOP champ ever. He’s a high school grad and paid his entry fee in cash.
He starts the final table with 18,375,000 in chips.
Watch an interview with Peter Eastgate - November 9 final table main event 2008 World Series of Poker player
Nicknamed “Isser”, Peter is a professional poker player and has been involved with the game for about three years. He paid cash to enter the 2008 WSOP and now finds himself at the Final Table. He has claimed two live tournament cashes over the last two years, earning $76,084. While he respects many poker players, Eastgate says that his favorite is Patrik Antonius because of his “skill and class.”
Update: Peter East gate won the 2008 World Series of Poker main event for $9.1 million. Of the 9 players at the final table Eastgate eliminated four of them.
Last July the 2008 World Series of Poker had 6844 players entering for a grand final prize of $9.1 million to the champion. The tournament stopped when it reached 9 players. These 9 players known as the “November Nine” will make the final when the tournament resumes this November 9th.
November 9 Player Ivan Demidov
Ivan Demidov is from Moscow, Russia. He’s a professional poker player, but 2008 was his first time playing at the World Series, where he also finished in 11th place in Event #44, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with rebuys event.
Watch a interview with Ivan Demidov - main event final table player 2008 World Series of Poker
Nicknamed “Soul,” Ivan Demidov is the second highest chip leader in the 2008 Main Event Final Table. The 27-year-old professional poker player has earned most of his cashes in online poker rooms. Demidov has seen only three live tournament cashes, though his earnings total is an impressive $65,081. Demidov excels in computer games such as Starcraft and Warcraft and was one of the top online players. He is single and enjoys skiing and scuba diving.
The World Series of Poker’s will resume Nov. 9 at Harrah’s in Las Vegas, as the nine remaining players compete for the WSOP Main Event bracelet and the $9,119,338 first prize. ESPN will air a preview of the final table on Nov. 4, and the final results on Nov. 11.
Dennis Phillips is leading the 9 players with 26,295,000 in chips. Phillips qualified for the event by winning a $200 satellite tournament, controls nearly 25 percent of the remaining chip at the final table.
For a brief interview with Dennis Phillips of the November 9 check out this video:
When asked, what does it take to make a World Series of Poker final table, Phillips responds,
If the same 6,844 player sat down and started the main event again, you would probably see nine different players at the final table. But you would also see an amazing amount of the same players who cashed this year also cashing again. It takes some luck and especially no bad luck to advance deep into a tournament but a huge amount of skill. You have to maximize those few premium hands that you get and be able to lay down a monster hand to someone. this is tough. I laid down pocket aces TWICE after the flop in the tournament.
As a member of the World Series of Poker final table “November 9″, Ylon Schwartz, 38 years old, from Brooklyn, New York, is starting with $12,525,000 in chips when the main event resumes this November the 9th.
• Schwartz has 11 World Series of Poker events cashes, including 15th place in the Limit Hold’em event this year. His cashes in 30 live tournaments have made him almost $256,000.
• As a former professional chess player, Schwartz, realized early on he could make more money at poker. He started playing chess when he was 13. At 16, he was making a living from chess in New York’s East Village. At 23, he became a chess master.
What to expect at the Final Table
Schwartz may have had the best attitude of any of the finalists: “I’ll evaluate my play, but I think I’m just going to find a hammock, a beach and a good bottle of tequila.”
How he qualified for the tournament
Schwartz has a Web site, shipthecheese.com, where he credits two men with teaching him poker: his grandfather and “Fat Nick,” whom he describes as “a 350-pound old man with one tooth in his mouth that crack was kind of enough to leave.”
Final table main event poker stardom?
“I still live in the same apartment,” he told the New York Post. “I go to the pub. Nothing has changed, except that I’m getting attention from TV people.”
Sponsor - PokerStars ESPN poker analyst Norman Chad:
“If he wins, he wants to go somewhere no one will find him, like Tim Robbins in ‘Shawshank Redemption.’ He’s smart and strange — you’ve got to fear the smart, strange ones — and he’ll wait for others to make mistakes at the table.”
For a brief interview with Ylon Schwartz watch this video about his expectations of the final table:
Ylon Schwartz, one of the nine players left at the final table in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), has decided to auction an opportunity to sponsor him.
The auction will take place on eBay and the winner will earn a ten-square-inch advertising patch on his hat, chest or arm, reports Poker News Daily.
A starting bid of $100,000 will have to be made and half of all the proceeds will be donated to the EDC Habitat for Humanity charity.
Scott Neuman, president of RecordWeb Communications, the firm promoting Schwartz, said that the poker star was pleased to help out with the fundraising effort.
He commented: “What people have to remember is that while it’s a charity auction, the value of the patch is worth between $100,000 and $3 million.”
Schwartz will sit down at the final table with over 12 million chips, which will put him in fifth place when the other eight take to the felt.
Dennis Phillips is the chip leader with over 26 million and he recently auctioned advertising space on his own jacket to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
How to Calculate Poker Odds
When playing poker, you are often faced with the decision whether to call or fold to a bet. One way to determine whether to call is to see if the odds of winning the money in the pot (”pot odds”) equal or exceed the odds of you getting the cards you need for a winning hand (also called your ‘outs’). Quickly calculating whether the pot odds you face are favorable is essential to a long term winning strategy. In other words, only make a bet if it will pay off in the long run. Here’s how:
You must know how much money is in the pot in order to calculate pot odds. In a limit game, you can easily calculate this by counting the number of bets that are in the pot. For example, if there is $100 in the pot at a 10/20 game on the flop, then there are 10 bets in there. If you must call a single bet to remain in the hand, then the pot odds are 10:1. Online poker rooms have the amount of the pot displayed, so it is easier to just divide the amount you must bet into the pot size.
Steps
Divide the number of cards unseen by the number of “outs” that you have. “Outs” are the cards remaining in the deck that will allow you to make a winning hand.
Subtract 1.
There must be at least that many bets in the pot (i.e., multiples of your bet) for a call.
Example: Say you have 2 hearts. Two more hearts fall on the flop. There are now 47 unseen cards. You have 9 outs (9 out of 13 unseen hearts remaining in the deck) to make your flush on the next card.
Divide 47 by 9 = 5.2
Subtract 1 = 4.2
There must be at least 4.2 bets in the pot for you to call a single bet.
If you don’t get your card on the turn, you may be faced with repeating the process in the next round of betting. Remember that post-turn bets are usually larger than pre-turn bets.
Tips
The preceding steps are a quick method for determining outs on the next card. Other methods exist.
Some people advocate determining the number of outs required to make your hand using all future cards. For example, if you need one card for a flush, you actually have two draws to that card, not just one. Doing the math, you get 1.5:1 odds, so 1.5 bets would be your break even. Since you can be can be forced out on the next round, this is only true if there is no more betting. However, you need to estimate all future bets to get to that last card (yours and theirs), and that ratio needs to be 1.5 or more. It’s much harder to do this math on the fly, however, and usually requires you to memorize an ‘out’ list for different card combinations.
Outs:-1—2—3—4–5-6-7-8-9-12-15 Need
Odds:45-22-14-10-8-7-6-5-4-3–2
Note that it mentions outs to a “winning hand”. There is no automatic system to determine what a “winning hand” is. Maybe that 3-of-a-kind could win. But maybe there’s 3 cards to a flush on the table. Experience will dictate what you consider a minimum strength hand to win.
The actual formula for calculating hand-odds is:(cards_left - outs)/outs (which is the same as cards_left/outs - 1)
A SIMPLE BLUFFING TECHNIQUE for online poker sites
The Mini-Bluff is an easy way to win BIGGER POTS
when you bluff… AND… decrease the chances that
your opponents will call your bluff.
It goes like this:
When you want to “buy the pot” and bluff out an
opponent you think is weak, what you do is make
the MINIMUM RAISE possible in the current round
of betting.
After they call, make your REAL BLUFF on the NEXT
round of betting… and take down the pot.
Here’s what I mean…
Let’s say you’re playing $1-2 no limit with good
positioning. Josh makes a pre-flop raise of $15.
The next few players fold… and the action is to
you. You look down at J-10 of diamonds. You know
this is a “hidden hand” that could bust Josh if
something good hits on the flop… so you call.
It’s just you and Josh heads-up. The flop hits:
7h-9s-2c
Not exactly the flop you had hoped for. It gives
you an inside straight draw… which means you
have outs… but YOU KNOW BETTER than to chase an
inside straight draw.
Josh represents the flop and bets $25. You know he
doesn’t have anything… there’s no way that flop
helped him.
He’s been representing the flop all night with
that same $25 bet…
So YOUR READ on Josh is that he doesn’t have
anything, and that YOU can buy this pot.
What do you do?
The answer is to make the MINIMUM RAISE.
Come back over Josh and make it $50 to play.
(This is your “Mini-Bluff”.)
By doing this, you’re taking control of the action
and finding out EXACTLY where you stand in the
hand.
Most likely, Josh will call your raise. If he has
something really good, he’ll re-raise you. And in
that case you should probably fold.
BUT IF YOUR READ WAS CORRECT– and Josh DOESN’T
have a strong hand– he’ll just call…
The reason he won’t fold is because HE made the
original bet. And since you only raised him the
MINIMUM amount, it won’t be enough to scare him
off.
OK, so Josh calls, and the turn hits:
7d
That pairs the board… but is no help to you.
Josh is first to act again, but this time taps his
fist against the table and checks.
Just as you’d hoped.
NOW it’s time to make a REAL bluff and buy this
pot.
You come out firing $100 in chips…
Josh shakes his head and says, “I can’t call.”
He flips over his A-J.
You throw your cards into the muck FACE DOWN…
leaving everyone wondering what you had. And you
rake a nice pot.
Here’s why the Mini-Bluff technique is so
powerful:
1. It gives you control in the hand.
When you raise your opponent, you automatically
assume a level of CONTROL. If your opponent
re-raises, he takes control again…
The entire POINT of a bluff is to get your
opponent to fold. If he feels like he’s in
control, he won’t fold… and your bluff won’t
work.
2. You get a better read on your opponent.
In our example, Josh could have easily had
something like A-9 (and hit top pair) or an over
pair or whatever.
You didn’t THINK he had something good, but it’s
tough to know for sure.
Your Mini-Bluff eliminates the confusion. If Josh
had a monster, he would have either gone back over
the top of you with a re-raise… or would have
bet after the turn card.
Instead, he just CALLED and then CHECKED the turn.
That’s pretty much a dead giveaway that he didn’t
have anything.
3. It builds the pot.
In this case, you won $25 more by “setting up”
your bluff with the Mini-Bluff. That’s $25 more in
your pocket at the end of the night…
If you use the Mini-Bluff technique five times a
game, that’s a nice chunk of change added to your
wins.
4. There’s less risk involved.
A MINIMUM RAISE is much safer than trying to buy
the pot outright… especially when you’re not
completely sure your opponent is weak.
The Mini-Bluff prevents pot-commitment and leaves
you room to GET OUT of the hand if necessary.
5. Your bluff is more believable.
The Mini-Bluff raises “red flags” for your
opponent… mostly because he’s not used to it.
It doesn’t APPEAR that your bluffing– and that’s
the whole point, of course.
After he calls your Mini-Bluff, he’s going to be
weary of you… confused about your hand. And THAT
is the perfect setup for taking down the pot.
So that’s the power of the Mini-Bluff.
It’s a great technique to add to your poker “bag
of tricks”…
But as with all strategies, use the Mini-Bluff
SPARINGLY. Don’t get careless with it or use it
too much.
The Mini-Bluff is NOT a replacement for your
regular bluffing patterns. It’s meant to keep your
opponents off balance and MILK them for a few
extra dollars once in awhile.
Also, only perform the Mini-Bluff when you’ve got
good positioning and sense weakness at the
table… the same conditions as any other bluff.
Play your position and get a feel for the poker table. Use these considerations when deciding how much to raise the pot. These strategies also apply to free online poker sites.
If everyone is folding when you get a big hand, you need to mix up your game. By that I mean show a bluff once in awhile… that way you confuse your opponents.
When you get to the “bubble” with four players left, try to make your move BEFORE getting short-stacked.
Don’t get “desperate”. Instead, steal some pots! Especially since everyone is folding to you.
Those “stolen” pots will build momentum and carry you into the money finishes…
Pay attention to the player stack amounts. If there is a player who is short stacked, expect 2 things. First they will go all-in when they have an A anything or 2 high cards. Second there will be good chance they will be taken out shortly. So play accordingly. Don’t take chances against the big stack while there is a short stack soon to be blinded out.
Big Sit N Go strategy
The $5 and $50 Sit n go’s are much different. Be careful not to blow your bankroll when you move up to the higher stakes. I see it happen all the time.
If you’re going to play in the $50 Sit and Go’s make sure your game is SHARP… I’d recommend just WATCHING a few before you dive in.
With that being said, I know a lot of guys who find the higher stakes games to be EASIER than the lower stakes ones… because the players are more predictable. Higher stakes tables have fast poker play.
A strong advantage to playing online poker is that you can use training aides while you’re playing at the computer. You can have books, charts, tables, and notes in front of you to assist you in making decisions, a practice that is totally legal and ethical in online poker. Having instructional paraphernalia handy is especially useful if you are a novice at poker. For example, you can put a starting-hands chart in front of you and refer to it when making a decision about whether to call or fold from a middle position. Be careful, however, not to slow down the game.
If you are an experienced player and have been keeping notes on your usual opponents, you can drag them out and put them by your computer. Maybe you remember the online name of someone who you’ve played before. Taking a look at your notes, you see that she’s a loose player who might raise with any two cards, or maybe she’s a solid player who will play certain hands in one situation but not in another one. In a sense, you’re “reading” your opponent by reading your notes! Most of the major online poker sites allow you to take notes and keep files on players. You can review your notes by simply placing your mouse over that player at the table and right-clicking it.
You should constantly keep track of everyone’s chip count in the tournament. It’s easier to do in online poker sites than in land-based poker rooms because the exact amount of chips everybody has is on display right in front of them. In a traditional poker rooms, you have to size up the stacks of your opponents. You are allowed to ask your opponent how many chips he has, and he must tell you, but you usually just estimate his stack size visually. Land based poker rooms require you to place all your big-denomination chips in front of your lower-denomination chips because your opponents have the right to know how many chips you have at all times. In online poker tournaments, the graphics are right there on the screen so that you can easily see how many chips the other players have.
Tables are constantly breaking down so that you’re frequently moving to a new table in multi-table tournament play. As soon as you get to a new table, look around to see who is the chip leader at the table and which players have more chips than you do. Recognize which players can break you and those who cannot. Automatically program this concept into your mind when you play a tournament, whether online or in a regular poker room. This is Tournament 101 basic strategy. Make assessing your opponent’s chip stacks something that you automatically do—it is vital to your success.
As soon as you have mastered the basics in free games online, advance to a small buy-in tournament, preferably a single-table tournament in which you will be playing against nine opponents (when playing Hold ‘Em and Omaha). Play in a $5 or $10 buy-in single-table tournament. Once you experience playing for something, you will have a new enthusiasm for the game. I know I’ve said it before, but here it is again: in poker, decisions should matter. You should be rewarded for good decisions and penalized for bad ones. This concept is critical to your success at playing poker for money.
Try small buy-in tournaments when you first start playing for money. In cash games, you might lose more money than you originally wanted to put at risk. Even in the $3-$6 limit games, which are considered to be pretty small games, it’s fairly easy to go through $100. Why not take that $100 and play $5 or $10 buy-in tournaments? That way you can play time and time again on the same bankroll and experience the joy of playing poker for something.
At most sites, single-table tournaments pay three places. Usually, the winner gets 50 percent, second place gets 30 percent, and third place gets 20 percent of the prize pool. (Note that all online poker rooms charge a nominal entry fee, usually about $1, when you sign up to play in a tournament.) If everybody puts up $10 each, for example, the prize pool is $100. The winner at that table receives $50, second place wins $30, and third place receives $20. In other words, you don’t have to take first place to make a profit. As you progress in your poker skills, you will start to win some of those tournaments.
Small online tournaments are fun and exciting, and they give you a big bang for your buck. Play one and you’ll see what I mean.
Budgeting your time is very important when you’re playing tournament poker online. You need to know how much time you have to play poker before you sign up for an online tournament. Don’t play if you’re in a hurry. You can’t play in a multitable tournament in which there are 1,000 players if you don’t have four to six hours to devote to playing in it. If you only have two hours, you will be tempted to play fast and throw offyour money because you need to be somewhere else in a short time. Rather than playing a big-field event, play a single-table tournament that will take only an hour to play if you win it.
f you’re on a limited time schedule, you can play a sit-and-go tournament. A sit-and-go event is one in which there is no predetermined starting time. Players sit down at a table one by one, and as soon as the table fills up, the tournament begins. You may be the first player at the table, but as soon as the 10th player comes in, bang! The tournament is off and running instantly. (This is how single-table tournaments work, as well as some two- and three-table tournaments.)
In contrast, a multitable tournament is going to have a lot of players in it—and a big prize pool. Multitable events are posted on the site’s tournament schedule, and each has a specific starting time. You must register in advance for these tournaments. Suppose you want to enter a $20 buy-in Hold ‘Em tournament that begins on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. You can register a few days in advance or up to a few minutes prior to the scheduled starting time to play in that event. And you know that if you win that tournament, you’ll be sitting there until midnight (and perhaps partying the rest of the night).
Always choose the type of tournament that will best fit your time schedule.
Don’t always use the Advance Action tab even when you know what you’re going to do before it’s your turn to act. The Advance Action boxes are the little tabs that come up on your computer screen with options such as Bet, Check, Call, Call Any, Fold, Raise, Raise Any, and Raise Pot. In online poker, you have a chance to click one of those buttons before it’s your turn to act, whereas in land-based games you don’t have that option.
The Advance Action button is a nice feature in that it speeds up play. If a player knows she’s going to call, she can click the Call tab and instantly be entered into the pot when the action gets to her. (This action is nullified if someone in front of her raises the pot.) She doesn’t have to wait until her turn to make her decision. The same thing applies when she wants to fold or raise. If someone raises in front of you, your Advance Action is no longer in effect. A tab will appear that forces you to wait to act until it’s your turn in the betting sequence, just as you must do in a traditional casino.
There are tells that you should be aware of in online poker. One of the Advance Action tabs reads “Raise Any.” When you’re planning to raise the pot no matter what anybody else does, you can click that tab. Be forewarned, however, that when you click the Raise Any button, observant players will recognize that you have a big hand because you didn’t take any time in making your decision. This is one of the big tells in online poker. Essentially, your opponents can tell that you have a strong hand because the Advance Action tab lit up instantly, telling them that you intended to raise.
You may not be able to see the whites of your opponents’ eyes online, but you can tell something about the strength of their hands by their advanced betting actions. Don’t give your actions away— wait until it’s your turn to act, especially if you have a big hand.
Whether you’re playing poker online or in a traditional casino, you should never play in a game that makes you feel uncomfortable. If you’re in a game in which you don’t like all the raising that’s going on, you should leave it and move to another table. If you’re playing in a game in which you’re not comfortable with the stakes— they’re too high for your bankroll, or they’re too low for your level of interest, so that you won’t play your best—you should not play in it.
Find a game in which you are satisfied with the people you are playing against, and you’re comfortable with the stakes you are playing for. If you find yourself losing at one limit, drop down to a lower limit until you start winning again and regain your confidence. Remember, too, that you can always practice or get a refresher course at the play-for-free poker tables.
It is easy to change tables online. When you play in a traditional casino, there might be only one or two tables of the game and limits that you want to play, whereas online there may be 100 other tables of your game from which to choose. Having a large number of tables in action is an advantage when you want to shop around to find a better game. You’re always just a click away from another table.
If you would like to check out all the online action available to you at any given moment, visit PokerStars. This site lists the number of people playing online poker in their rooms and the types of games they offer.
You are dealt far more hands per hour online than in land-based card rooms. In fact, the speed of online games is two to three times faster than regular poker games. Since no time is wasted with dealers shuffling and dealing, the cards whiz right along.
Online play has fast action and it’s exciting. It also rewards you in another way: if you play online tournaments two or three times a day for a few months, you will gain the experience of a player who’s been out in the field playing tournaments for five or ten years. Even professional players recognize that dedicated online tournament players can gain as much experience in just a few months as it took the pros years to get. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that you’re going to take more bad beats playing poker online. I’ve heard players complain that they’re unlucky playing online; some of them have even blamed their losses on the online site. But there’s a better explanation than simply bad luck. Since you are dealt at least twice as many hands per hour online as you are dealt in a traditional card room, you’re going to take at least twice as many more beats than you do in a land-based casino.
Whether you took a beat because you were unlucky, or whether it was just the natural result of being dealt so many more hands per hour online, you must maintain your composure when you lose a pot—and that means keeping cool twice as often when you’re playing online. This is not as easy to do as it sounds.
Recognize that luck is the equalizer, the beauty, and the allure of poker. Luck is always a factor in poker, but the best players will get the money in the long run. Luck is the reason that many people play poker: they believe that if they get lucky, they will win. One of the great things about the game is that anyone can get lucky and win one session or one tournament. Even the greenest player can catch cards and win in competition against the greatest players in the world. Of course, if you sit down across the table from great players 365 days a year, you’re probably not going to like your results because, over time, luck is not a factor. In the end, skill prevails in poker.
Use Proven Strategies for Beating Fast, Action-Packed Games
Here are a few tips that will help you survive and thrive in the low-limit poker games you play online. For starters, if the table is playing loose, you’re better off to be playing tight (and vice versa). You should be selective about the starting hands you play—don’t gamble it up just because everyone else is gambling.
Don’t play past the flop unless you hit something that you think is the best hand or unless you have a good draw with proper odds. Remember the maxim “fit or fold.” If the flop doesn’t fit with your cards, fold your hand. I also recommend that in smaller games you play straightforward poker. Don’t try to get too fancy by slow-playing your hand or trying to over everybody at the table. Sophisticated plays don’t work well in low-limit games.
Don’t call your money off. Being a calling station is a surefire way to poverty on the green felt (or cyber felt). It equates to being a loser. And remember, take bluffing out of your arsenal in the lower-limit games. In the vast majority of pots online, the winner will have to show down the best hand.
When people are playing for real money, they play more cautiously than they would in the free online games where a lot of newcomers will play any two cards trying to hit belly-buster straight draws. Still, games at online sites generally are looser than games in traditional casinos. People seem to gamble more and play faster in cyberspace. Why? Players tend to gamble more when their identities are hidden. It’s far more exciting to play a pot than it is to throw your cards away. It’s fun to be in the thick of the action.
Most players like to play low-limit poker online. For the most part, there are no ultrahigh-stakes games. Out of over 1,500 “live” games at PokerStars, for example, there are only two tables with $30-$60 limits, nothing higher, plus a reasonable number of $15-$30 games. Most of the games are $3-$6 because those are the limits that most people like to play. Many players tend to gamble more at lower-limit games. Therefore, expect most of the games you play online to be looser than those in traditional casinos that spread somewhat higher-limit games.
Just because you’ve been winning in the free games online, don’t expect to be able to jump into a cash game and immediately start winning. In fact, that probably isn’t going to happen. You must understand that even though you have won at the play-money tables, you will not automatically win in the real-money games.
Many first-time money players lose their chips when they start playing for hard cash, and they don’t know why. One reason is because the training you get at the free tables is not conducive to being successful in real-money games. Let me repeat that—the training you get at the free tables is not conducive to being successful in real-money games. Basically, people play very loose poker in free games. If you were playing a little tighter than your loose opponents in those games, you should have been winning. When you move on to real-money games, you will find that people usually play tighter and more solid poker when they are playing for hard cash.
If you want to become a better player, don’t stay in the play-money games for very long because you’ll be tempted to play too loose yourself. My recommendation is that you play in free games until you learn how the game is played, understand how the betting works, and have grasped the basic concepts. Then move along to playing in a small buy-in tournament in which your monetary exposure is limited to the amount of the buy-in.
You must concentrate on the game at hand. When you’re playing poker at home on your computer, it’s so easy to be watching television, talking with somebody, e-mailing a friend, or eating dinner while you’re playing online. But if you want to be successful at online poker, you need to focus solely on the game. You’ll find that winners concentrate on the game, while losers scatter their attention among distractions.
Paying attention to the game in cyberspace is just as important as it is when you’re playing in a casino. In fact, nothing is more important than observing what’s going on in the game—-it is the most important prerequisite to becoming a winning poker player.
In online poker, you have the option to play two or more games at the same time. I recommend that you play only one game at a time if you are a new poker player and two games maximum if you’re an experienced player. I know some players who play four games simultaneously, and certainly those people are skilled at playing multiple games. Still, I don’t believe that you can give each game enough attention so that you don’t make mistakes. One screen pops up, another one pops up, a third flashes across the screen, and cards keep whizzing by. Online junkies like the fast-paced action, but I don’t recommend it for the vast majority of players.
Many old-time poker players don’t consider online poker to be “real” poker. They think of it as a video game. To them, “poker” means sitting at a green-felt table looking your opponent in the eye.
In reality, online poker is simply a newer, different form of poker—and there’s no question that it is the real deal. Like many other games, poker has graduated with the times into the computer era. At online poker sites, players from all over the world compete with one another in live, real-time games. The only reason online poker works is because it takes place in “real time.” You are actually playing against real people “in the moment.” You may not be able to see your opponents, but the action is real.
The beauty of online poker is multifaceted. Newcomers can learn the basics of poker in free games before advancing to low-stakes tournaments or games. Online card rooms are open around the clock so you can get a lot of experience in a short time. And they provide you the opportunity to gain valuable tournament experience. The World Poker Tour and online card rooms expanded the poker industry by bringing thousands of new players into the game on a daily basis.
You Can Learn How to Play Poker at Online Poker Rooms
Everyone coming out of high school these days is computer literate. Most kids have been playing video games since they were six years old, whereas in my youth there were no computers and no video games. When we played poker years ago, there were no poker books and no online poker rooms. I learned by playing in a live poker game, coming home broke, and scratching my head while asking, “What did I do wrong tonight?” Like everyone else, I had to figure it out for myself.
Today, the WPT and online poker offer a great way to learn how to play poker before you venture into a casino. You can learn how the betting works, the procedures of the game, and how to play new games you haven’t played before, such as No Limit Hold ‘Em or Omaha high-low split or razz. Playing online gives you a feel for the game.
Think of online poker sites as training grounds where you can learn how to play poker without any monetary exposure. That’s right, folks, you can play poker for free online; you don’t have to put up money to play. In a casino, you won’t hear the floor man say, “Hey, come on in here and have a seat. We’ll hire dealers and take up floor space with free tables so that you can get better at the game.” You can also test various poker strategies online. If you usually are a tight player, you might experiment online by playing more aggressively than you usually do. Or you might practice bluffing and so on. (Let me add that attempting to bluff is pretty well useless when you’re playing for free. Trust me, you will be called.)
As the host of PartyPoker, one of the world’s largest online poker sites, I invite you to come online and play some poker. You’ll be amazed at how enjoyable it is! There are three online poker rooms that host WPT tournaments. PartyPoker sponsors the PartyPoker Million. This unique event, the largest on the WPT, is held aboard a luxury cruise ship. UltimateBet is the sponsor of the Aruba Poker Classic in exotic Aruba. PokerStars sponsors the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure held at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. In addition to these sites, the WPT will be hosting an international gaming site in the near future where players outside the United States can practice and play poker online.
You Can Get Years of Experience in a Short Time Playing Online
Another advantage of playing poker online is that it is a viable way for you to get experience quickly. You can play any time of the day or night, and you can play for any length of time you want to. If you feel like playing for 20 minutes while you’re eating a midnight snack, you can do that; or if you choose to play a tournament that lasts six hours, you can.
For poker players who don’t live near a casino, online poker is a savior. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have a poker room in your city, playing online can be more convenient than driving to the casino, putting your name on the list, and waiting for your turn to play. As we say on PartyPoker, “If you can read your e-mail, you can play online poker.”
You Can Win Your Way to a Million Online
The WPT’s televised tournaments and online poker have really captured the nation’s interest in poker. Prior to the WPT, the perception of poker by most was something that took place in the back of a smoke-filled pool room. Today, poker championships for millions of dollars are taking place in the finest casino properties in the world on a regular basis. Because of that, poker is now viewed as a competition/sport rather than gambling per se. Millions of people have embraced poker and now recognize it as a game of skill rather than pure luck.
Many WPT tournament players earn their buy-ins by playing lower-priced satellites in online casinos. Truly it is beneficial to the poker industry, which is thriving again, for players to try to earn their seats in WPT tournaments by playing online. We’ve certainly seen the success that online players have had in the great championship events. In the Season 2 WPT Championship tournament at the BeDagio, two players who qualified online made it to the final table. Matt Matros finished in third place and took home $700,000, while Richard Grijalva placed fourth and earned $450,000. Between the two of them, their seats cost only $200! Russian poker ace Kirill Gerasimov won a seat via a satellite in the Season 1 WPT Championship event and wound up taking second place and winning $506,625.
And then there’s the famous Chris Moneymaker story. Moneymaker qualified for a seat in the 2003 World Series of Poker in an online satellite that cost him $39—and parlayed it into $2.5 million when he won the title. Moneymaker deserves a lot of recognition for bringing poker to the attention of the public—he is the “Average Joe” who believed in his dream and made it happen. Every small-stakes player in the world looks up to him because he did it. Chris gave hope and incentive to millions of people: “If he can do it, I can do it!” I have a plaque on the wall of my office that says, “Those who achieve SUCCESS are those who take a DREAM and make it come true.” Moneymaker certainly did that.
Online poker provides these kinds of opportunities for new players as well as seasoned veterans. At PartyPoker, you can parlay a single-table tournament win into a luxurious cruise for two and play to win $1 million in a WPT tournament. For the price of two movie tickets and a box of popcorn, you literally can win a million bucks. Does life get much sweeter than that?
Now let’s take a look at some tips that will help you get the most benefit from playing poker online. Translated, that means win as much as you possibly can.
Have you ever been offered 20% extra cash on the money you sat down with at a land based casino? Probably not.
Online poker sites will give you extra cash to play at their sites. They simply want you to play at their room and not their competitors. You will need a poker bonus code to take advantage of these great bonuses. Check out this poker bonus code page.
Poker Stars has this to say about sitting out during a tournament…
A player in a “ring” game (a non-tournament game) can click “leave table”, and take his chips out of the game at any time. They can do this because each hand is its own separate event. If a player sits out too long in a ring game, we do remove them in order to free up the seat for another player.
A tournament is not like a ring game, however. For their “buy-in”, they receive their starting stack of chips, which are not from their chip totals but are instead just scorekeepers for the tournament. Once the event begins, it must proceed until one person has won all the chips.
For the same reason that players cannot just choose to pick up their own chips and leave, we cannot arbitrarily remove the player and their chips from the event once it has begun. Every chip in a starting stack of a tournament must be at the final table in order for a game to be fair to every player.
It’s best to think of a player who is sitting out as simply folding every hand. This is a completely legal tactic, as it is up to any individual player to decide his own best strategy. There is no rule, for obvious reasons, against folding every hand. Therefore, what these players are doing is not against any rule, and no action will be taken against them.
For the same reasons, we cannot make changes to the system to discourage this activity. Once a player has paid their entry, they are entitled to play (or not play) every hand that their chips will buy them.
A player who is sitting out actually puts his opponents at a significant advantage. The player who is sitting out is still forced to pay his blinds and antes, and is never able to build his stack. On occasion, a player might blind off into 3rd place, or maybe even 2nd, but players who employ this strategy are usually far worse off than those who play their best game.
If players are actually winning chips by sitting out the entire time, this is a sign that the play in these events is far too loose and you should adjust your play accordingly. You will find that this is often the case with all play money chip games. I’m sure you’ve noticed, for example, that players will go all-in holding virtually nothing when it is play money.
We hope this clearly explains why this is neither against the rules nor something we can possibly police. If you were to play in our $5.50 cash sit and go events (available only on PokerStars.com, not on Pokerstars.net), we believe you would find that very few players are sitting out, and that the play is much more realistic with real cash on the line.
In addition, we have implemented a limit of 2 concurrent play money sit and go events per player. Players can no longer sign up for an unlimited number of events in an effort to accumulate chips without playing.
You have to keep this one under your hat. Not too many players are aware of what I am about to tell you.
What would you say if I told you that you could see a players mucked cards? You would probably want that info in your next online game of poker. In a live game if a player mucks their cards…thats it…you never get to see what they played. The dealer pushes the muck together and starts shuffling the cards for the next hand.
In online poker there is a way to see what your opponents mucked. I haven’t come across a site that doesn’t have this feature.
Check out the Online Poker Secret to get an edge on the game the next time you play.
Many players forget that your position on the table should make a difference to how many hands you play and the way you go about playing them. Hands that look strong can become weak when playing from early position. Of course, the reverse is true as well. Weak hands get stronger if you’re sitting in a late position.
With an understanding of position you can steal the blinds, trap your opponents and maximize your winnings!
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A-A versus J-J gives you an 80% chance of winning the pot. If you play aggressively pre-flop, narrow the field to one or two callers, and get a read on your opponents, then you’ve done your job.
As for getting “out-kicked”…
Be careful with A-J and A-10… these hands are notorious for getting out-kicked. If there are more than six or seven players at the table when you pick up one of these hands, be VERY CAUTIOUS.
The goal is to find out WHERE YOU STAND before your opponent shows his cards at the end. Get a read on what your opponent is holding and put him to a decision for chips BEFORE the hand plays out all the way.
If there’s an Ace on the board and you’re opponent keeps betting… and you just keep calling with A-10… then you’re asking for trouble.
Raise your opponent to find out where you stand in the hand. If he’s got A-Q or A-K figure it out before the cards are turned over, not after.
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