How to get a psychological edge over your poker opponents

Mess with Their Heads
How to get a psychological edge over your poker opponents...

Poker is a game where the psychological edge can be a deciding factor. When you arrive at a table for a poker game with people that you don't know, a big bluff can be a good way to start when you're digging in for the long haul. If you're up against someone in the showdown and they're struggling to make up their mind and you succeed into bluffing the into a fold, let everyone at the table know it was a bluff when the game's over. This will mess with their heads and have them second guessing every time you go after the pot.

Equally, if you happen to be the victim of an outrageous bluff, don't let the loss get to you emotionally. Professional poker players call that going on tilt or steaming. There's nothing other players like to see more than a player going on tilt. They'll gather like jackals at feeding time. Once you lose focus and your mind is snared by a previous mistake your game can become seriously unglued. If you can't find the discipline to let it go, take some time out until you can or you'll pay with your stack.

Poker Tip of the Day: Table Selection
Why picking the right poker table can pay big time!

If you've decided to snatch a quick hour of online Texas Hold 'em during your lunch break, and you want to make it pay, table selection will be the key.
Take a swift look around the lobby area and check out at least three or four of the available tables. You can quickly work out which is the tightest of the tables by looking at the number of players per table, the average pot size, the number of hands being played per hour at any given table and the percentage of players from each group seeing the flop. You're looking for the most passive tables so that you can attack with aggressive play.

If it happens to have the most hands played per hour as well. you'll have more than the average number of pots to attack in the time you have available.
Make it pay while the boss is down the pub!

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Poker Variations: Omaha and Seven Card Stud

Poker Variations: Omaha and Seven Card Stud

Take a break from Online Texas Hold'em and play some other online poker games...

POKER VARIATIONS
Many of you new players will be getting familiar with Texas Hold’em by now and may be becoming curious about some of the other variations of poker available to you on dailystarpoker.com. Certainly the best alternative to Hold’em is Omaha Poker so here’s a brief rundown of the basic difference between the two games.

OMAHA POKER BASICS
All players are dealt four hole cards face down instead of the two hole cards you would normally receive in Texas Hold’em. The five community cards are dealt in exactly the same way as Hold’em. Three cards are dealt at the flop, followed by the fourth at the “turn” and the fifth at the “river”. Players have to form their best available hand by using three of the community cards with any two of their four hole cards. There is no choice here. You MUST use two hole cards in the formation your hand.

OMAHA POKER WARNING
Because of the nature of Omaha you will find you will tend to land much more powerful hands than you are used to at Hold’em. Keep in mind that this is obviously happening to your opposing players as well. You haven’t been personally singled out by Lady Luck to suddenly get pocket rockets twice as often as normal.

CHOICE OF PROFESSIONALS
Omaha is often the game of personal choice for professional poker players and when you get into it you’ll see why. Take one of the free Omaha tutorials at dailystarpoker.com before you launch yourself into this compelling game.

SEVEN CARD STUD
All players are dealt two cards face down and one face up. The face up card is known as the “door” card. If you have the lowest value door card beaming up at everyone at the table it’s you who has to start the betting. Every player is permitted one bet and three raises in each round of betting. Three further cards are dealt face up and these are known as “fourth”, “fifth” and “sixth” street. A round of betting is initiated in between each street by the player showing the highest value card. The seventh and last card (the “river”) is dealt face down. When the betting is completed and the last card is revealed, the player who has formed the best five card hand wins as in Hold’em and Omaha.

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The 5 Steps From Poker Beginner to Pro Poker Winner

The 5 Steps From Poker Beginner to Pro Poker Winner
The progression from online poker "play money" to "wa-hay" money!

THE FIRST GAME
Whilst it is impossible to take a person who has just played their first “play money” game of Texas Hold’em and turn them into a professional in a few weeks, I maintain it isn’t difficult to suggest a progession of logical events which will assist the inevitably slow and sometimes painful experience of learning how to swim with sharks.

THE BASICS
First: The first thing to gain from “play money” poker is a basic understanding of the mechanics of the game. It won’t teach you much about the psychology of poker because that changes immediately actual cash becomes involved.

THE SELECTION
Second: Select the kind of cash game you get involved with very carefully. Find a game that suits your bankroll. You can’t play well if you are financially intimidated. Remember a skilful player playing another skilful player is much less likely to make money than a reasonably good player taking on a bad player. Selection applies on lots of levels. Always try to select opposition you think you can beat even though your ego wants you to compete with the best you’re able. You get better at poker by winning more often than you lose. It keeps your confidence up.

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THE EMOTIONS
Third: All action decisions you make in any game of poker must be arrived at based on the kind of opponents you are facing and the type of game you have chosen. NEVER make decisions based on your frame of mind. You’d be amazed at how many players use poker as a way of expressing their emotions. Costly mistake.

THE POSITION
Fourth: Become fully aware that the higher up the stakes scale you climb as your game improves, the more critical your position at the table becomes. Whilst it makes very little difference when only small stakes are involved “position” becomes the equivalent of holding a hilltop with your enemy below you in big stake battles.

THE REWARDS
Fifth: Realise that when you are as cool and experienced a player as you ever dreamt you could become you will tend to want to play for large sums of money. Those kinds of tables are populated by people who are as cool and as experienced as they ever dreamt they might become. So you’re back to square one but playing for fortunes. At that point the expression “Good Luck” may be appropriate for the first time in your poker development.

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WYNN BIG!
Steve Wynn is something of an icon in Las Vegas having created a brace of the biggest casino hotels in the world more or less single handed. His latest venture, the truly massive 2,700 room WYNN resort, is an interesting port of call for the thousands of poker fans descending on Sin City at this time of year to watch the final weeks of the World Series. Not everyone can be lucky enough to join the 8,800 fortunate buy-ins for WSOP itself but that’s no reason not to enjoy some exciting cash games while you’re in town and attempt to pay for the flights and hospitality bills. I mention the Wynn because as a relatively new addition to the neon skyline it has been able to design its poker rooms with some real consideration to players’ needs. For example the cardroom’s perfect posture seats would have Chandler and Joey from “Friends” bouncing their butts with joy at the pure scientific comfort sculptured into them. The main cardroom itself is extremely elegant by Vegas standards and if you happen to be a guest you have the facility to play online in your room while staying in touch with your position on the waiting list downstairs, courtesy of an exclusive in-house TV network beamed into your suite. Every poker player hates waiting for a live game and this facility gives you the chance to tune up ready for the action when it comes.

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SILK & LEATHER & SOUP
In the natural spirit of competition which pervades the Strip, the Venetian Casino offers poker players full dress butlers who will actually bring you burgers or soup to the table. A risky business given that the place is decorated throughout in silk and glove leather. But Vegas is of course all about risk.

BARGAIN BASEMENT BETTING
If you’re on a budget, fear not, the Mandalay Bay offers bargain basement tournaments and $2-$4 no limit Hold’em games with $200 buy-ins available daily. It’s the perfect place for novice players to experience live games for the first time and everything is about getting bang for your buck.

CARD COUNTERS & CHEATS
It’s hard to know if the old tales from the 70’s of card counters and cheats being heard screaming late at night in a special side room at Binions are true. What is true is that both those art forms have decreased considerably in Vegas these days. Certainly such methods would have been more of a lasting deterent than A.S.B.O.S.The upshot is in ninety per cent of the poker rooms you’ll get a fair game by “live” standards, if not by the very high standards you’ve come to expect from the software at your online poker sites.

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Turning Poker's Turn Card To Your Advantage

How to play the turn card so that you dominate your poker game...

For the benefit of absolute beginners, the “turn” card is the fourth community card to be dealt face-up on the table following the three cards also dealt face-up as the “flop”. Let’s assume you are holding your two concealed hole cards and have had the benefit of studying the three card flop. You will now be in a position to pretty much assess your chances of forming a strong hand just as the turn card is due to be dealt. It’s this fact which makes the turn card so very important. Your actions following the flop fall into a few simple categories. Either you...

Read more: Turning Poker's Turn Card To Your Advantage

Poker Mind Control: Poker and the Emotional Brain

Poker Mind Control: Poker and the Emotional Brain

How poker players' brains give off clues to their thoughts and how you can exploit those mind tells and limit your own poker tells through poker mind control.

MIND CONTROL
In live social games of poker your brain may not be the slave to your wishes that you believe it to be. Unfortunately the brain is formed of two very different parts. Put simply, the thinking brain and the emotional brain. You may have 90% control of your thinking brain but the likelihood that you understand, let alone control, your emotional brain is probably nudging zero. What does this mean in practical poker playing terms? It’s bad news for anyone who isn’t aware of the facts. How does the emotional brain betray you during a game? Okay. When the emotional brain sees something that disturbs it, it automatically reacts to attempt to pacify the situation. When an opposing player starts talking while making a bet you can be 99% sure he or she is attempting a bluff. If a player leans forward prior to the play reaching them you’ll know they’re emotional brain has already signalled them to act. It means they like what they’re holding, especially if their arms move onto the felt in a confident leaning gesture. Watch for all of this. Check it out. It’ll make you smile until you realise you’re doing it yourself on some level. Maybe you glance sideways when making a bluff or if you raise your eyebrows when the flop comes down you just told anyone who knows what they’re looking for that YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE!

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SO WHAT DO I DO?
The answer lies as it often does in technology. Play your poker online and none of the above “tells” can be communicated. You will still be giving off clues to skilled players but they will be far fewer and harder to spot. When playing in live social games just be aware of the emotional brain and its affect on your opposition. Chances are you’ll be the only one at the table who knows it’s functioning and be able to take advantage.

POKER TIP OF THE DAY
Know why you are betting. A lot of new players decide they like the hole cards they’ve been dealt and place a bet. Immediately someone challenges them with a raise they’re like a hare in the headlights, unsure as to how confident they really are in the cards they’re holding. A good rule when starting out is to be sure you want to bet and have an idea of how you will react to any of the likely responses you might face following that bet. If you’ve got a high pair then raise pre-flop with the certain strategy that if the flop doesn’t give you three of a kind you’ll probably fold unless the flop itself looks fairly unhelpful to all parties. In that case you may decide to proceed if the opposition doesn’t start pumping the pot. Have a definite thought process in place and only deviate from it if the flop indicates your high pair could carry the day. Obviously low cards unsuited and unconnected in the flop would indicate you should at least proceed to the turn.



Source: http://www.onlinepokercolumn.com/Poker-Mind-Control-Poker-Emotional-Brain.html

Death of the Poker Mechanic

Death of the Poker Mechanic
The demise of the card sharp

THE POKER MECHANIC R.I.P
One of the massive benefits online play has brought to the amazing game of poker is its 99% protection from serious cheating. The big sites simply can’t afford to do it. The audits and the huge value of their “good will” make it a ridiculous consideration. Financially they have everything to lose and peanuts to gain when they’re all making millions. No motive. No desire.A random online deal from regularly inspected software is the safest way any human being is ever going to receive a fair hand of cards during a poker game. The implications of this for older and more traditional “bricks and mortar” players carry an element of nostalgia and a sense of loss. One of the great talents in cardmanship belonged to the so-called “poker mechanic”. These days the true card-magician is a dying breed who can only reliably be found in high rolling private cash games. If, like me, you sometimes find yourselves in this kind of an environment, out of a sense of adventure or because you’ve fried the PC with three days and nights of solid online Hold’em, you might catch a glimpse of this wonderful species.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR!
The best way to track the beast is to watch “the deal”. Take a quick look on the web to search out a photo of the classic “mechanic’s grip”. The back of the hand rests on the felt. The pack lies gently on the palm of the hand surrounded by all of the mechanic’s fluid fingers. Watch carefully because all poker mechanics will perform at least two or three tricks at once and you may be quick enough to catch one of them. They will at first attempt a peek at the cards they’re looking for by using a riffle shuffle with the cards angled ever so slightly towards them. This is done very quickly and with a swift downward glance usually while they’re talking as an extra distraction. If the dealer then suggests the game they’d like to play, this will be the second clue that they’ve seen something which might suit that particular suggested game. Card dexterity itself is a clue that you may be looking at a poker mechanic. Anyone who can manipulate cards at speed will at least have learned how to slip a card from the bottom of the pack under the top card being dealt in such a swift and fluid movement it is almost impossible to spot and extremely difficult to prove. Watch for any one of the above give-aways and politely excuse yourself from the table if the offender outweighs you. Or ask if everyone can please cut the cards in order to assist your paranoia. That gesture alone will be enough to have the mechanic postpone his gymnastics until the following night at a different, less sober gathering. Do however take the time to marvel at his dying art before pulling the trigger.

Source: http://www.onlinepokercolumn.com/Death-of-the-Poker-Mechanic.html

Poker odds are odd that way

Poker odds are odd that way

POKER ODDS AND SODS
Sometimes analysing a hand from a major tournament after the event can teach us quite a lot about poker odds and how they are only one factor in poker’s Pandora’s box. Let’s take a look at a real life hand from the recent Ultimate Poker Challenge Championship between eventual winner Jeff Schulman and Kristy Gazes who started with the best hole cards. Kristy was holding King-Jack of diamonds against Jeff’s Queen-ten of clubs. At this pre-flop stage Kristy’s King-Jack same-suited was 60% likely to win the pot and Jeff’s same-suited Queen-ten only in with a 40% chance. The flop produced King of clubs-Jack of hearts and four of clubs. This still left Kristy the favourite with a 52% chance of winning against Jeff’s 48%. The turn and the river produced a five and nine of spades, giving under-dog Jeff victory with his nine-ten-Jack-Queen-King straight against Kristy’s respectable but defeated Kings over Jacks. The odds, rather like the Law of the land, can on occasions, be an ass! Odds are just one of the many elements a player uses in the decision making process. What this example demonstrates is that they shouldn’t be relied on in isolation.

POKER TUTORIAL Q & A

Problem A: Imagine you’re on the button with a pair of Jacks. The pot gets raised three times the big blind directly in front of you. With just ten times the big blind in chip value you are short-stacked.

Should you:
1) Call the raise?
2) Double the raise?
3) Muck your cards?
4) Grit your teeth and go all-in?

Problem B: You’re in a major tournament. A handful of players remain. You’re the chip leader. You’re holding Ace and Jack of spades. You raise six times the big blind. The big blind himself goes all-in with ten times the big blind. Do you call ten times the big blind to attempt to win twenty two times its value or do you fold? What’s the percentage play?

POKER TUTORIAL ANSWERS

Answer to A: You go all-in! You’re facing a raise and you’re short-stacked. By going all-in your re-raise should be powerful enough to drive out less than stellar hands. Likely outcome: Heads up with the first raiser. It’s a value bet.

Answer to B: As the chip leader you’re well placed to flush out opposing players in late tournament play. You call! It’s likely your Ace-Jack same-suited will hold up well unless A-Q, A-K or A-A are out there. The odds are with you at ten times the big blind. Value again.


Source: http://www.onlinepokercolumn.com/Poker-Odds-Are-Odd-That-Way.html

Dangerous Dave, The Short Stack Advantage, and Deciding What Makes a Good Hand

Dangerous Dave, The Short Stack Advantage,
and Deciding What Makes a Good Hand

...Playing the poker game to the limit!

SLIP OUT OF SHORTS
There are some mathematical models which show that poker players who play with a short stack have a slight advantage over higher rollers. There’s an edge when you have fewer chips than are needed to call all bets because you can’t be bullied out of a hand when you’re all-in. Clever short-stackers protect their bankrolls by taking long-shot draws and other street-wise strategies. The best of them can make an art-form out of lean and mean. There used to be a legendary short-stacker called Dangerous Dave who went up against Amarillo Slim on many occasions and caused the great man considerable irritation with his vice-like caution. They used to say that if Dave actually ever offered a raise pre-flop the opposition would part like the Red Sea did for Moses and fold to a man. Apparently, “Dangerous” only ever raised pre-flop if he had pocket aces, hence the wry nickname. Personally I take the simplistic view you should enter every game with the biggest mountain of chips you can afford. Texas Hold’em was invented for and by cowboys and should be played with big guns and large calibre bullets and in a spirit of death by lethal aggression and that’s only on Sundays to show respect. Weekdays, you should be really mean.

GET INTO DRAWS!
New players generally understand that they should bet on a good starting hand. The problem for inexperienced players is deciding what makes a good hand. It’s not always obvious, which is why you need to understand how to “get into draws”! The best hand is the hand most likely to win the game by the river. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the strongest hole cards are the best hand. It’s also the case that the player with the best constructed hand on the flop doesn’t have to be the player who is going to win at the river.I’ll illustrate this with an example:Let’s say your opponent has Ace of spades and ten of hearts and you have Queen-Jack of clubs. The flop is ten of clubs-nine of clubs and three of spades. You are a two to one favourite to win this game with your Queen-Jack of clubs. If the chance that you will win is higher than the percentage of bets you are paying to the pot, you should usually choose the scam that will get the most bets into the pot. Let’s look at another example to make this point even clearer: The flop is Ace-Jack of spades and six of hearts. Your hole cards are King and nine of spades. You have a great potential draw ( two to one against) for a premium flush at the river. On the flop four of your opponents have called and the action falls to you. With this big a draw potential you have to at least call and probably raise. Here’s why: You’re investing just twenty per cent of the bets going into the pot with a thirty three percent chance of winning by the river. It’s value betting at its most obvious.

Poker articles

Here are 3 more poker articles, you'll want to check out to add to your knowledge of the poker game:


The Poker Grand Slam Of Tournaments
Four massive poker tournaments now form the poker equivalent of the tennis grand slam. With millions and millions of dollars of prize money on offer, and plenty of freeroll and satellites offering cheap ways to qualify, there's no reason why YOU shouldn't play your way to POKER heaven!

Tilt Poker Pinball, Poker Strategy Questions, and Mid-limit Hold'em
News of the WPT's poker pinball deal will surely put the poker world on tilt. Meanwhile check out your poker strategy with the latest poker tutorial Q&A session. Plus we look at Middle-Limit Texas Hold'em.

Poker's Guerilla Marketing Strategy: Bumvertising
You have got to check out this audacious new guerilla marketing strategy that is driving traffic to online poker sites while helping out the homeless at the same time. Plus we present a bunch of poker terms that you probably haven't heard of and that you should learn before they creep up and bite you on the ass!

How To Play In The World Series of Poker For Free

How To Play In The World Series of Poker For Free

...And why your chances of winning make the WSOP such an attractive gambling prosposition

Discover The Secrets of Winning Poker Tournaments! Click Here!

BE IN IT TO WIN IT!
The biggest event in world poker will soon be upon us and there’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t be competing. Last year’s winner of the World Series of Poker, Joe Hachem, walked away with $7,500,000 never having played poker professionally in his life. This year’s event is expected to produce at least $8,000,000 for the winner and total prize money in excess of $100,000,000.

HOW TO GET IN FOR FREE!
Just for the privilege of entering the WSOP the buy-in is $10,000 and you’re going to need another $2,500 to install yourself in Vegas for the duration. Don’t be put off. Help is at hand. A lot of sites are offering satellite contests where you can win the buy-in and your fares etc.

THE WSOP
The World Series itself starts July 28th and the first twelve days of knockout events will be held at the Rio Casino when eight thousand lucky entrants from around the world will pit their wits and good fortune against one another for a place at the final table. The final of the WSOP is to be held at its traditional home, “Binion’s Horseshoe” on the 10th August 2006.

HOW IT WORKS
During each of the first four days of the contest two thousand players play down to eight hundred survivors. After the first four days the sixteen hundred survivors from days one and two play down to seven hundred and the sixteen hundred players from days three and four play down to seven hundred. 3rd August is a day off but on the 4th the remaining fourteen hundred survivors play down to six hundred. On the 5th the six hundred play down to three hundred and so on down to the 9th August when twenty seven players fight, bluff and re-raise their way down to nine. The final table on the 10th will consist of those nine, who by then, will already be guaranteed to become very rich individuals regardless of what order they actually finish. Most will be millionaires and the top dog will be looking for ways to spend $8,000,000 of real live dollar bills piled high in a stainless steel wheelbarrow fenced by shotgun wielding casino security.

FREQUENTLY ASKED WSOP QUESTIONS
Q: Is it true that Joe Hachem didn’t have to pay any tax on his $7,500,000 win at the WSOP last year?
A: Absolutely true. Joe was NOT a professional poker player at the time of the win. He was a registered chiropractor in his home country of Australia who had only been playing poker in an amateur capacity for a few years. The tax authorities were not permitted to tax him. He has since become a professional and intends to move to America and add to his fortune.

Q: Compared to the National Lottery what are my realistic chances of winning into the millions of dollars if I enter the WSOP?
A: Figure it out logically. Around 8,000 players will enter the event. Your odds are therefore (allowing for different skill levels as well as lady luck) let’s say somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 to 1 of the big win. Your odds of winning a fortune by reaching the top table are around just 900 to 1. Your odds of winning the Lottery are MILLIONS to 1! In a “heads up” with the Lottery - Poker wins hands down!

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Secret Strategies For Playing Short Handed Poker Games

Secret Strategies For Playing Short Handed Poker Games

Plus, the poker terms, Limping, Inside Straight, and Overcards are explained...

GET SHORTY!
I don’t know if it’s a throw-back to social poker at home in my student days but I like short-handed games. Not many of us play socially with more than five or six pals around the table so there’s a nostalgic over-hang when it comes to playing online. I’ll often seek out a short-handed game, largely because you get more hands and time’s money. The big kick for me is that eight times out of ten you’ll find yourself playing heads up by the time the flop arrives and this means the poker becomes less about the cards and more about the mental make-up of the two duellists. Don’t get me wrong, power cards are cream on the cake in five or six player games and you certainly would tend to fold middle of the range connector cards which you might be tempted to hold in a full ring game.The downside to the short game is you are in the blinds one game out of three so you have to be an aggressive gambler to cope with that inescapable drain on your chip stack.

POKER TIP OF THE DAY
In short-handed games when you’re not in the blinds always try to punish players who attempt to play for a single bet and don’t let the blinds play on the cheap. Raise or fold. Force the action if there’s a raise in front of you and re-raise to try and bully your way into a heads up. Either that or fold if the cards just wouldn’t take the strain. If you limp in short-handed games you’re likely going to get mown down. When you’re in the blinds and maybe under siege you can afford to just call if you have a reasonable hand and re-raise if you have a mid to high pair. You can definitely afford to bluff more often in short-handed games as you can’t really wait for the good cards to arrive. You have to force the issue all the time. The short game is certainly more nerve racking than a full table but for thrill-seekers it pays you back many times over with the adrenalin rush.

FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS
Q: As a newcomer to online poker could you define the following terms for me. 1) Limping 2) Inside Straight 3) Overcards?
A: Limping defines a player who “calls” (matches the bet by the previous player) the big blind (largest of the two compulsory bets) in the pre-flop betting.
An inside straight describes a set of cards which has a gap that needs another card to fill it before a straight is complete. An example would be a player holding 7-8 as hole cards and the flop delivers 10-Jack-2. The player concerned requires an “inside” 9 to arrive on the turn or the river to make his straight.
Overcard or overcards describe a pair of hole cards which are of a higher value than the community cards on the board.

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The Surge in Poker Satellite Tournaments

The Surge in Poker Satellite Tournaments


And how YOU can profit from these extraordinary poker events!


SATELLITES GO INTO ORBIT!
The Messiahs of poker satellite tournaments, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker, have laid down the blueprint for the ordinary Joe to make it all the way through from “Nomoneysville” Cantaffordabuy-in Street to Box No.WSOP, Megamillion Avenue, Nevada. The online poker community is awash with satellite tournaments offering ordinary poker players the chance to win an entry to a premier event with prizes in the millions of dollars. For those newcomers among you, satellite eliminators are used by the big poker sites to attract first time players. Obviously, $10,000 buy-ins to huge Vegas events are not something the average online player can afford. The key to their amazing success is the fact that every few weeks poker news sites are full of bulletins reporting the latest fairy tale story of a multi-million dollar winner who came all the way through to stardom by simply winning his or her major tourney entry at a satellite.

ANT & DEC-HIGH PAIR!
The news a few weeks back that Ant and Dec’s next million pound TV venture will be a poker themed show is bound to raise the game’s profile to even greater heights. As a result, those newbies who are tempted to hit the net in search of Texas Hold’em will find satellites are sure to be first thing to grab their attention. What does this mean? It means MORE of everything! More competition to win seats to huge events balanced by more money to purchase more buy-ins for more prizes. One major advantage inexperienced players gain from this swarm of new blood into the online satellite environment is that it dilutes the professionals who are increasingly disillusioned about having to battle their way through hundreds of raw recruits and are drifting away from these bargain buy-in events for that reason.

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Pocket Rockets Against Small Pairs Post Flop

Pocket Rockets Against Small Pairs Post Flop

Should you pit your strong hole cards

against low pairs that come up in the Flop??

PAIR ON THE BOARD!
Peter Ware is a regular on dailystarpoker.com and his latest question raises an interesting and common problem: What to do if you’re holding strong hole cards like pocket Aces or Kings or Ace-King when a small pair (say 4’s through to 8’s) shows up on the flop? Obviously, pocket rockets or Ace-King are usually to “die for” as openers but when you see that pair of fours on the board you have to take a deep breath. If you’re in a full ring game, the chances of three-of-a-kind being out there are great. If a majority of players stay in the game post flop my advice is to fold every time you see this pattern. Sure, you might pair your Ace at the turn or the river giving you Aces and fours but even two pair won’t save you from trips. The risk-reward is all wrong. Dump ‘em!

Discover The Secrets of Winning Poker Tournaments! Click Here!

FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS
Q: As an accountancy student I’ve never gambled before but poker appeals to me as a fun mental exercise. Is there a betting formula for those of us who put caution ahead of the pursuit of life changing losses or wins?
A: Sane gamblers ask these kind of questions. As a trainee accountant you’ll “get this”. Best rule of thumb is protect your profit by cashing out fifty per cent of your winnings whenever your bankroll doubles. Also, only play for recreational amounts of money until you can demonstrate to yourself with ink on paper notes that you are winning more times than you are losing while playing online.

Q: I’ve just moved up to No Limit Hold’em. Any special tips to help?
A: If you’re the first player to enter a pot before the flop NEVER just call. Go for it with a bet or muck your cards. If your hand is good enough to call it’s good enough to raise. Also, ALWAYS raise by three times the big blind. This will keep the opposition confused and it prevents both the blinds seeing more cards for free. These tips come from Chris “Jesus” Ferguson so you can take them as poker gospel or with a pinch of salt. Either way, good luck. Having the confidence to move up to No Limit is a vote of confidence in yourself.

Q: Is it just movie magazine gossip that Vinnie Jones plays poker with Brad Pitt?
A: No! They became good pals after the filming of “Snatch”. Apparently, Brad, Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham and Vinnie have squared off several times across the green felt on visits to Hollywood. Wouldn’t like to be the pretty faced movie star who had a Full House to Vinnie’s three-of-a-kind with a big pot at stake.

Pocket Rockets Against Small Pairs Post Flop

Pocket Rockets Against Small Pairs Post Flop

Should you pit your strong hole cards against low pairs that come up in the Flop??

PAIR ON THE BOARD!
Peter Ware is a regular on dailystarpoker.com and his latest question raises an interesting and common problem: What to do if you’re holding strong hole cards like pocket Aces or Kings or Ace-King when a small pair (say 4’s through to 8’s) shows up on the flop? Obviously, pocket rockets or Ace-King are usually to “die for” as openers but when you see that pair of fours on the board you have to take a deep breath. If you’re in a full ring game, the chances of three-of-a-kind being out there are great. If a majority of players stay in the game post flop my advice is to fold every time you see this pattern. Sure, you might pair your Ace at the turn or the river giving you Aces and fours but even two pair won’t save you from trips. The risk-reward is all wrong. Dump ‘em!

FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS

Q: As an accountancy student I’ve never gambled before but poker appeals to me as a fun mental exercise. Is there a betting formula for those of us who put caution ahead of the pursuit of life changing losses or wins?
A: Sane gamblers ask these kind of questions. As a trainee accountant you’ll “get this”. Best rule of thumb is protect your profit by cashing out fifty per cent of your winnings whenever your bankroll doubles. Also, only play for recreational amounts of money until you can demonstrate to yourself with ink on paper notes that you are winning more times than you are losing while playing online.

Q: I’ve just moved up to No Limit Hold’em. Any special tips to help?
A: If you’re the first player to enter a pot before the flop NEVER just call. Go for it with a bet or muck your cards. If your hand is good enough to call it’s good enough to raise. Also, ALWAYS raise by three times the big blind. This will keep the opposition confused and it prevents both the blinds seeing more cards for free. These tips come from Chris “Jesus” Ferguson so you can take them as poker gospel or with a pinch of salt. Either way, good luck. Having the confidence to move up to No Limit is a vote of confidence in yourself.

Q: Is it just movie magazine gossip that Vinnie Jones plays poker with Brad Pitt?
A: No! They became good pals after the filming of “Snatch”. Apparently, Brad, Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham and Vinnie have squared off several times across the green felt on visits to Hollywood. Wouldn’t like to be the pretty faced movie star who had a Full House to Vinnie’s three-of-a-kind with a big pot at stake.

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Going Heads Up, Playing Small Pairs or Big Pairs, and Suited Connectors

Going Heads Up, Playing Small Pairs or Big Pairs, and Suited Connectors

Refine your poker game and play like a pro...

GOING HEADS UP
Choosing to play “heads up” poker instead of a normal ring game is really to do with how well you feel your normal game has matured. Nothing puts you on the spot more than a “heads up” confrontation. There’s nowhere to hide and if there are gaps in your game this is going to shine a laser beam onto them and cook your wallet.The plus side is you will be playing an awful lot more hands and you learn a huge amount about your game very quickly. The appeal of “heads up”, if you are ready, is you can win a heap of money very quickly against the right opposition. Selecting and being prepared to wait for that opposition is key to success. You need to be ready for what the poker community calls the “whales” to cruise into view. Your decision making process will be severely tested as you’ll be reacting every few seconds. It’s a bit like Kung Fu. If you have the moves you’re going to get the chance to apply them in quick succession. Don’t delude yourself though. The other guy or gal is likely in the same frame of mind as you so you can get bloodied. Personally, what I like most about “heads up” play is that it’s real poker and it points up in mean fashion any skill shortfalls and helps you correct them. I’d say this is the most skill orientated form of poker and a real adrenalin rush.

SMALL PAIRS
Small pairs are usually defined as 2-2 through to 7-7 and they are tricky to play. If you are a new upstart they are worth limping in with pre-flop. Experience shows that if the flop doesn’t deal you three of a kind, dump’em! A good post-flop mantra is “No Set! No Bet!”

BIG PAIRS
Obviously, these are everyone’s favourites. If you land pocket aces, they are well worth pumping up with a big pre-flop bet but the same “small pair” discipline should kick in post-flop if the set doesn’t materialise, unless you sense weakness all round. If the board is a mess and not scarey I’d take the pocket rockets to the turn.

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PLAYING CONNECTORS
High connectors are obviously worth playing when you’re looking for that power straight but sometimes you can dip your toe in the water with low connectors like 8-9. Go with them if you can do so on the cheap but if the flop doesn’t deliver another two cards to your run, muck your cards. Obviously a flop with a 5-6 in it or better still a Jack-Queen might tempt you to the turn and the river. Don’t let same-suited connector hole cards tempt you to be anymore aggressive than just plain connected. The running flush syndrome has some fairly unrealistic odds attached to it.

Source: http://www.onlinepokercolumn.com

Should you bet large on a bluff?

Should you bet large on a bluff?

Plus, different types of poker games and why you should get a poker mentor...

BETTER BLUFFING!
A lot of new poker players think the bigger they bet on the bluff the more likely it is to come off. In fact, in most cases, the opposite is true. I’m a believer in the David Sklansky theory that big bets go best with big hands. So why is it a good idea not to power-bet on a bluff? Well, players with a reasonable amount of experience expect players to try and milk a premium hand by not betting in a scarey fashion once they’ve landed their pocket rockets or Ace-king. With solid hole cards their mission is to draw as many people into building the pot as possible, not to frighten them away with a huge bludgeoning bet. It’s about getting value into the pot to reward the hand they believe they’re building. So, in my mind, it stands to reason the occasional bluff is going to work better if you keep your betting under control and in fact behave as if you are attempting to milk a genuine premium hand for all it’s worth. The only time I’m tempted to go large is at the river with a nut hand when I want people to think I’m trying to buy the pot with a bluff. Confused? That’s the way I’d want you to be at a poker table. The simple logic here is that your bluffing, even if it goes wrong, isn’t going to cost you too much and your premium hands are going to earn value.

NOT SO F.A.Q.

Q: How many types of poker are there beyond Seven Card Stud, Omaha high and low and Texas Hold’em? I’m a student who has begun playing online with some of my mates and we’ve decide to do a paper on all types of poker.
A: I can get you started with some of the more obscure versions and you’ll be able to track down the better known variations yourselves.Triple Draw Lowball, Draw Poker, Razz, Crazy Pineapple (don’t ask), Kansas City Lowball (Great fun. Check it out.) Follow the Queen, Baseball and our own new game at dailystarpoker.com: Badugi! If you type any one of these games into the web you’ll be able to track down the rules. If you can’t, you’re not going to make your grades. Good luck.

FIND A FRIEND
Sometimes the best advice is too obvious for people to think of it. All subjects taught in school have text books which fully describe everything you need to know about a subject. However, none of us would expect our children to do very well without the guidance of a real life teacher guiding pupils through those books. The same goes for poker. Read everything when you start out but then hook up with an experienced player and have them run you through the concepts and strategies. Everything starts to make much more sense when you do this. Poker boot camps are an excellent hands on method.

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Online Poker Room Conspiracy Theories

Plus, young poker prodigies storming to poker glory!

CONSPIRACY THEORIES
There’s frequently a heated debate in the poker chat rooms about some online poker sites being “rigged” to hit players who cash out the majority of their winnings on a regular basis. The story goes that most of these players claim to do very well on initially signing up to a site but the moment they start drawing out their gains “suddenly” their luck changes and they go on a losing streak. The conspiracy buffs say this is the site’s revenge. Not only would this be illegal and easily spotted by auditors of the big established sites, it would also be insane business judgement. The established sites are in it for the long haul and they have huge cash reserves and levels of profitability which they are not about to risk for small time vendettas. Their only interest is customer satisfaction and loyalty and of course taking their share of the rake for running hundreds of games per hour.

IT’S ALL IN THE MATHS
Perhaps more convincing to doubters are the several mathematical studies that have been done on the so-called “cash-out-curse”. These show that it IS true that players who regularly cash out major slices of their bankroll do tend to bust out more after doing so. There are two self evident reasons for this being so. The first is they tend to be under funded for the ups and downs that inevitably occur. Secondly, they tend to be “loose” players who often find themselves having winning streaks balanced out by short-stacked losing runs. The mathematical studies show “normal fluctuations” are the logical explanation for the apparent “Curse of Cashing Out!” Take a long term look at your own fluctuations of fortune over say a six month period and see what it tells you.

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YOUNG GUNS
Poker prodigies? Maybe. The fact is two eighteen year olds (student Michael Higgins and rising star “Ozzy” Sheikh) both qualified for the final table in the World Poker Tour event staged on the Bahamas. This made them the youngest ever players to pull off such a remarkable feat, defeating dozens of the world’s wiliest on their way to glory.

BLAZE O’ GLORY!
Michael hit the last six with $794,000 in chips and “Ozzy” with $231,000. Their mutual achievement was made possible by the legal environment on the Bahamas which sets its gambling age limit at eighteen against the twenty one year old barrier placed on gamblers in the nearby United States. Apparently you can die for your country in America at eighteen but you’re not allowed to play poker. As the Americans themselves would probably say, “Go figure!”

Source: Online Poker Room Conspiracy Theories

The Most Dangerous Poker Players To Play Against

And why you should "watch out" for Vikings, AND get to bed on time!

As you become more experienced as a poker player, you’ll reach a few quite surprising conclusions. One of the most illogical is that a complete amateur poker player is one of the most dangerous opponents you can come up against. Why? Because...

Read this article here:

The Most Dangerous Poker Players To Play Against

An Example Of Poker's Risk-Reward Ratio In Play

What would YOU have done with these poker cards...

POKER VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Jonathan Bull is an avid online poker player, Daily Star reader, and a friend of this column. He tinkles a mean jazz piano in his spare moments and tends to play Texas Hold’em with the same level of experimentation as he applies to his music.He tells of landing an 8-7 of spades last weekend and raising pre-flop to see 8 of clubs, Ace of hearts, and 10 of spades show up centre table. So this situation presents him with a lot of variations. He’s looking at an extremely optimistic but possible 6-7-8-9-10 running spade flush. Or just a plain straight and all this with the security of knowing he’s already paired his 8 in the hole. The New Orleans card player in his soul tells him it’s time to make “money music” but, if he doesn’t make either of the straights, his pair of 8’s may not be big enough to carry the day if he wades in big time. What would you do in these circumstances? (Think about it for a minute or two and come to your conclusion before you read on).

BULL SEES RED

OK. Long story short. Jonathan lives up to his name and goes Bull-ish, betting heavily into a one-on-one showdown with the turn and the river producing small reds (2 of diamonds and 4 of hearts). With such small cards on the last two streets Jonathan figures his 8’s may make it. Unfortunately, Mr Slik1 opposite him is holding the other ace. Finally, a Bull is milked.

HOLD’EM OR FOLD’EM

Those of you who honestly would’ve folded the 8’s at the sight of the ace on the board get my vote. It’s very tempting to go for it when you a see a potential straight out there with the protection of a pair from the outset, especially when the straight just might turn out to be same-suited. The Ace is the killer and skews the risk-reward ratio against pursuing the straight. Team points to the folders. Lesson learned to the holders.

BREAKING NEWS

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas is one of the oldest established names in gaming. After sixteen years without a single poker room they are splashing out $12,000,000 to build a customised 6,000 square foot space large enough to hold major tournaments. Caesars are at last following in the footsteps of the Las Vegas Hilton, the Mirage and the Golden Nugget who have all recently re-opened their poker rooms. Poker continues its inexorable popularity climb.

Source: http://www.onlinepokercolumn.com/An-Example-Of-Pokers-Risk-Reward-Ratio-In-Play.html

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