Poker Skills – When To Raise From Early Position

• Author: Bill Kernow
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Feb 19,2010

Playing hands from early position in poker is a good way to mix up your play, and that in turn helps construct an volatile image for yourself. Keep in mind though, that when playing lower limits especially, this can become pricey due to the myriad of players and hands that will go behind.

We\’ll assume for a moment that you don\’t have a premium hand in early position, since you should probably be raising with that anyway. Rather, you might consider playing suited connectors, A-X suited or a small pair. That\’s quite a range of hands that could be playable from early position which really enlarges the range of hands you could be playing in your opponents mind. You need to be cautious though, because that also means opponents will play back at your often and you need the skills to play well post-flop.

That means your opponents will be reraising you with quality hands, or even their own bluffs and justifiably so. In addition, at a full table you have eight or nine opponents to act following you, and that\’s as many as 18 other cards that can blend for something better than yours. More often than not that will be the case and you will be creating many multi-player pots if they permit you to stay in. So why do poker players raise from early position then?

There is a reason skilled players do this, at least now and then, and its not just to mix up their play – that\’s a given. The real purpose is to hit a flop in such an innocent way, that other poker players will make pricey mistakes against you because they utterly misjudged your hand and over-dedicated chips or money to the hand. Usually it\’s a huge pot.

You see, even though the majority of early position hands will cost you money, the scheme is to keep all those losing hands in small pots, not big ones. The professionals comprehend that in any given session their winnings often come from just a a tiny number of of the hands played. But when you do hit, those few wins can be so significant they make up for all the other hands and more.

If you are going to play hands from early position use your reading and pot control skills until that one perfect hand comes up and you pick up a massive pot.

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Toponlinepokersites.org Is A Fantastic New Poker Website

• Author: Matt Hayes
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Feb 9,2010

Toponlinepokersites.org, commonly referred to as TOPS, is a new quality resource for poker enthusiasts.

The idea for TOPS was conceived in the mind of a successful poker player, decided to turn amateurs into winning pros.

In light of the large quantity of websites providing advice to new players, he decided to provide a concise summary.

With 5 years of online poker playing under his belt, he felt he had the expertise to provide real value to amateurs.

To this end, he bought a nice design and create an internet site which he decided to call www.toponlinepokersites.org.

Not only does the site have a great look with its blueish background and fun illustrations, it also provides the following:

*A previously kept-secret list of the top three easiest poker sites.

* A list of all the popular card games including Omaha and HORSE.

* Expert advice to better the game of any player.

* Poker website reviews focusing on quality of software, gameplay and volume of tournaments and cash games.

* Explanation of poker site software compatibilities so you always have the right hardware configuration.

* An outline of all the deposit methods for the individual poker sites.

* A listing of bonus codes giving players a 100% deposit bonus.

In the future, TOPS will be much more than a collection of top online poker site related information.

We are planning to have some guest posts from leading poker players that have won millons of dollars.

We will strive to make TOPS an incredibly great resource for poker enthusiasts in the United States.

We hope we will see you soon reading the pages over at toponlinepokersites.org !

In the meantime, good luck at the table and we wish you many successes in poker and in life. You are already well on your way to becoming a profitable player.

Finding the easiest poker sites for 2010 can be a challenge in itself. Toponlinepokersites.org (TOPS) was created for this purpose. Read the TOPS Wiki Page

Rush Poker – Strategies For Full Tilt\’s New Poker Format

• Author: Billy Kernow
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 28,2010

There\’s a new form of poker online and it\’s causing a storm in the online world. Rush poker as it\’s known is a creation of Full Tilt poker and is designed from the ground up to make online poker more fun, with less waiting. and more action.

Rush poker can be Holdem or Omaha, and Stud will be coming soon. The game is played exactly as normal, on 6 or 9 seat tables, but with one huge difference. As soon as a player is no longer in contention to win a pot, they are instantly reseated and dealt a new hand at a new table. This means you can fold preflop, and rather than wait five minutes for the hand to play out, you get right back into the action straight away. This difference means that players don\’t get bored, and can play 3oo or more hand per hour!

Rush poker strategy requires aggressiveness. Since most players will be folding all the time, waiting for a hand like pocket kings, you can raise preflop and steal the blinds. While you won\’t get much chance to read your opponents, since the table keeps changing, the fact is that most players will be folding low hands so you see a flop of 3, 4, 6 and don\’t have to worry too much about someone making a straight. However, the same reasoning means that if you come in with pocket sevens and make trips, your opponents won\’t have a clue and you\’ll probably win a huge pot!

Since players know that a new hand is only seconds away they are more likely to fold marginal or drawing hands, so aggressive raising and reraising pre and post flop and be very effective. Raising pre-flop also prevents the big blind from seeing the flop for free.

Rush poker is not only great fun, but can be really profitable too. You\’ll refine yorru strategy over time, but these tactics outlined here should give you a great start. And the best thing about playing rush is, when you\’re playing 300 or more hands per hour you\’ll be learning and building up that experience fast!

Want to find out more about Rush Poker strategy, then visit Best Poker Sites for poker strategies, articles, videos and bonus codes.

Play Poker With Fish, And Handle The Bad Beats

• Author: Billy Kernow
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 22,2010

So you might be new yourself at poker, but you don\’t view yourself to be an sorry player. Maybe you aren\’t special but you\’re heading towards good and the biggest problem you face is losing to awful players who simply do not comprehend the game.

Playing against such weak players you might feel entitled to their cash because of their frequent misplays. If you\’ve taken the time to learn the game from the numerous resources available to you, then you can see how many errors they make, but are also puzzled at how they are winning at the table, and your bankroll is not. This is normal, and it\’s even more normal to experience some of your biggest beats online due to players who have no hint as to what they are doing. They didn\’t read any books, watch any videos, and care little about bankroll management. Thus they will not be playing position, odds, or hole card strength.

You might as well try and get used players like this because that\’s what online poker is all about. These types of players normally lose their money because they do not realize the games\’ fundamentals, even though they might be up for the moment.It\’s rather improbable that you\’re going to figure out why they are playing to win and are, and in fact since they probably don\’t know either, this isn\’t worth your time. You simply need to trap players like this with choice hands and more than a reasonable prospect of a lucrative outcome. Now there\’s a few ways you want to be doing that so as to preserve your stack at the same time.

Pot size management. It\’s critical to not let the size of the pot run away from you until you know you have the strongest hand, or even the nuts. Weak players will play any two cards so you won\’t be able to estimate what they will have, which leaves the burden on you to make sure you are ahead before your chips goes in. That\’s when you make the suckers pay, otherwise don\’t get involved in big pots with players who can beat you holding 83 offsuit.

Mucking your cards pre-flop. This is even more important if you\’re out of position to the antagonist, but even with medium strength hands you\’re still going to be arbitrarily guessing what he has. That can be a problem playing post flop with an freakish player.

Add the patience factor to your game. When you do this, he will certainly give it back to you – but wait, it may NOT in fact be him, but another loser just like him. That is why you want players like this at your table so you can use your skills against them.

Table position. You don\’t want to get caught in front of these players with \”potential\” hands. Your blinds will get burned away and cause you to make irriational plays because of a dwindling, discouraging game. See low-priced flops against slow maniacal players.

Avoid bluffing. Poker half-wits cannot comprehend that they may not have the greatest hand, no matter how bad the board texture is against them. Do not, I repeat do not try to bluff players who do not figure the strength of their hand.

Catch a donkey by the tail. Once you do get a lousy player in the good situation, then you need to do your best to trap him for all his cash. He may want to bluff you, but he may also call a lot off too. You need to know what kind of fool he is by profiling.

Losing pots to clueless players can be aggravating, but the fact is you DO KNOW they are losers even if they are ahead right now. If they don\’t give it back soon, they will give it back eventually, all you have to do is wait for your place.

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Free Poker Cash Games – Establishing Yourself

• Author: Adam Toscano
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 17,2010

Another item to consider when choosing a site are; what amount is the free poker cash, types of games you like to play, how much you receive for opening an account, what kind of traffic does the site get and how many players play there often.

Start with the site\’s bankroll. Always sign up with obtaining the free online poker bonus they offer new players. The free poker bankroll is an amount of money that\’s put in your account when you sign up. It can be transferred straight into your account. Pay attention to the playing requirements involved. This means you have to play a number of hands have the bonus activated. Whatever, this bankrolls the beginning of your free poker cash games. It\’s free poker money!

Time to have some fun. Think of a \”Poker Nickname.\” This is how you first establish yourself at free poker cash games. At first, this may seem easy to do. But remember, you\’ll have to live with that screen name on in that free poker money site. Also you have to live with how other player\’s respond to seeing that name every time you step into a room. The screen name might affect your competitor\’s play against you. They don\’t really know who you are at the free poker cash games, but they might play some games based on your screen name!

Take this for an example, if you\’re considering a soft name like LetsHaveFun or No1 Mom, you may experience more aggression from other players. Pick a name with meaning like NoMercy (Isabelle Mercier), CardShark or the Quiet Lion (Richard Brodie). Humor is a good tactic, as well, like BadAtThis (April Zwick-Friedman), Mr Wiggles or Dan Druff (Todd Witteles).

So after you\’ve picked a good poker name, it\’s on to the free poker cash games! Pick one you like – Texas Hold\’em, Seven Card or Five Card Stud or Razz, Five Card Poker or or one of their variants. Devote a good deal of time with the game, get the feel of it, discover the players ticks and tells (poker sites have online note systems to record these). You need to reach a high comfort level with the game and own it like it\’s yours. Remember you\’ve got your free poker money to to reach this goal. That\’s the beauty when you play free poker games online. You can learn while you play without risking your own money.

You can do that when you take advantage of the features you can use while playing the free poker cash games. The poker software allows you to analyze the hands you\’ve played on the site! When you look at the hand away from the rush of the game, you\’re likely to notice some flaws that you can work on eliminating. So you can get better when you play free poker games online using free poker money.

Online poker forums are also a good way to educate yourself about the subtleties and strategies of free poker cash games. The great thing about them is that they\’re open communication. You can find yourself engaged in conversations and discuss solutions to issues that you may be having trouble with.

Dennis Levine publishes many articles on how to establish oneself with free poker money when playing free poker cash games for beginners on the web.