The Fold Away Poker Table for Home Games
January 29, 2011
The Fold Away poker table is the mid-range option of tables that you can use at home. If you are choosing this poker table, the cost will rise for sure, but you will also get some additional facilities and will not be compromising on the risk factor of the table tumbling down time and again.
There are many advantages of the Fold Away poker table, and the best part is that it can be stored very easily if storage is a problem. It is also cheaper than most of the constructed poker tables and other varieties.
This is indeed a great option for small apartments, and the table can also be used in homes with small children running around the house all the time. You can store the poker table anywhere and you can also have a poker table that is stable enough at a moderate price.
Using the slow play in online poker
January 18, 2011
If you have caught a big hand, you would have to come out betting. Instead of tempting your opponents into making moves that will allow you to reach the top, place the bet all by yourself. Most amateur players hesitate at the very thought of such a situation and waste a lot of time in big hand, but in the practical sense, you will definitely get some more betting action if you take this path.
By betting a big hand instead of slow play, you will be performing double bluff, as people against you will be playing it slow. Your opponents will also assume that you are bluffing and you might get to see some betting action, which means you win more.
There is yet another reason why your should bet is that in case if you do not bet, you will be allowing the opponents to take a free look at your cards, and while a card is turned over, it will be converted from a losing hand to a winning hand.
Cash Games: Playing Small Pairs
January 17, 2011
One of the trickier nuances – once you sign up poker and create your account – to playing in deep stacked cash games comes when encountering small pocket pairs (in this case, we’re considering 22-99 to be “small). In tournaments, with shorter stacks and escalating blinds, these hands become the perfect hand to three bet shove, open shove, anything that closes action and allows you to get in with some hope of having a coin flip for a stack or a chance to steal a nice portion of chips. But in a deep stacked cash game, these resteals don’t work as often, and you’re less likely to get players to fold early in hands; so how are we to play these small pocket pairs when we’re sitting on 100+ big blind stacks?
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to playing the small pocket pair; small-ball and flopping sets, or aggressive and furious. We’ll look at both styles of play, noting that neither are “wrong” as much as they are situational in use. Starting with the small ball philosophy, small pocket pairs are opening hands if folded to, but folding hands if the amount to see the flop costs more than 5% of their stack; so if we’re sitting on a $200 stack at $1/$2 and someone opens to $15, we’re tossing 66 in the muck. We’re also more likely to fold the pocket pair for less if we’re in early position; if UTG+1 opens to $10, and we’re next to act, we’re likely to fold, fearing any of the remaining players making a three bet that would cost us too much of our stack to take a flop with.
Once we take a flop, we’re only playing the hand on two conditions; we flop a set, or we flop a hand that plays well in relation to the board, like a 338 flop with 66. Otherwise, once we’ve seen the flop, we’re check/folding or trying to play the hand cheaply. This allows us to lose the minimum when we brick the flop, but makes us fold to many winning hands, and makes it a bit too obvious that we like our hand.
The other method in playing the small pocket pair is much more aggressive in play; these are the guys that aren’t afraid to three bet 44 on the button if they think someone is light, or call a continuation bet on a 27J flop with 33 not just to steal, but because they feel they have the best hand. These are the players that bet more than they check with hands like this, and enjoy abusing position far more often. A hand like 22-88 to an aggressive player is a fine choice to three/four bet against certain opponents with position; when they miss flops, they can use their continued aggression to steal pots, and when they flop sets, their hand is completely concealed from their opponent; they’re also much more likely to take flops with these hands when the price is less enticing; at a rate of 10% or less. Neither way is right or wrong; just play the way you’re more comfortable with!
Blackjack Basics: The Einstien Count
January 11, 2011
One of the most popular (and least complicated) card counting methods used by players today is the Hi Opt Count, or Einstein Count. This is an accurate counting method that is a little more complicated than the hi/lo method (which you can read about at www.onlinecasinos.com), but not enough to where you’ll feel bogged down remembering numbers; it also allows for a truer sense of what the actual count is by being more precise on numbers that increase and decrease the count.
In the Einstien count, card values are assigned as follows.
Two, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ace= 0.
Three, Four, Five, Six= +1
Ten, Jack, Queen, King= -1
The higher this count gets, the more likely blackjacks and other big hands will be dealt out, which means you should be increasing your bets with high counts, and decreasing them with low counts. The catch with this, however, is that casinos are trained to pick up on players abusing a count system; dealers and pit bosses look for players that abuse counts, so it helps to be able to banter with the table and dealer, tip at a decent rate, and be willing to not take advantage of every single high count that comes your way; you want the casino to be OK with the fact that you’re going to beat the game, not get suspicious and throw you out for counting. Having the dealer on your side via borderline bribery may seem unethical, but remember; card counting in itself is technically an unethical move at a casino.
The other thing to note about this and any card counting system is simple; if you’re playing blackjack strictly for entertainment, then you have no need for a counting system. Just play good strategy and you’ll hold your own just fine in a casino. Counting is for players looking to push an edge and play for a living (or, at least attempt to) so know what your priorities are before heading out to the casino.
Bubble Play in Online MTTs: Big Stack Strategy
January 10, 2011
1. Aggro, aggro, aggro. With a big stack on the bubble of a MTT, your first thought needs to be, “Who can I pick on at this table?” That’s how you play poker with a big stack. Look for players that are concerned about the coming bubble, short stacks that have enough chips to make a few rounds, but not enough to threaten anyone, or tight players that haven’t shown the ability to switch gears. All of these types of players can be mercilessly picked on at bubble time. The short stacks have no real defense against the aggression; if they call and double up, they’re still fairly short, and if they call and lose, they make nothing for their trouble. Players that alert you to their anxiousness for the bubble are telling you, “Hey, if this means enough to me, I may fold kings preflop. Just watch.” And the super tight players, if they have no other gear, will likely continue to play tight and just wait for the bubble to burst, to take the chips from all the people that will likely start shoving light afterwards.
2. Approaching aggro style. Finding the spots for stealing is a little tricky – unless you’re playing at the easiest poker sites – but many will become apparent as the bubble progresses. If you see a medium stack open from the button or cutoff, you can usually three bet on the bubble with relative ease. If a very short (but not extremely short, like 3 BB’s or less) stack is in the big blind, and you’re in the small blind, you have a profitable shove without looking at your cards if you think the short stack cares about cashing. Don’t just raise though; look for spots to three bet over some of the vulnerable stacks. There’s many chips to be had when the bubble looms, and they aren’t just blinds; and by mixing in three bets with your opens, it makes it harder for players to judge when you’re being light with your bets; it increases the believability of your opens, unless your light three bet gets called.
3. When to slow down. There may come a point in your relentless aggression that you finally do get caught with 93o or something similar, especially when you’re playing at the fishiest poker sites where people never fold.. It’s probably a good time to slow down your aggression, right? Only if the pot you lost brings you below a comfortable big stack; M15 or less. Even losing a pot with rags is not a reason to slow down on the bubble. You don’t get many money making opportunities that are as exploitable as the bubble, so even when you get caught with junk, don’t let it deter you from stealing. If you drop below M15 or you drop below the player to your left’s stack, it may be OK to calm down a bit; the bigger stack may pick up on how wild you are and play back at you with position. Being under M15 makes you much more vulnerable to dropping to short or medium stack status with another loss, and players will pick up on that. Just remember; only slow down if you absolutely have to on the bubble with a stack; after the bubble bursts, everyone will be wild, and you’ll have to tighten up for a bit to compensate.
Some Betting Terms to Remember in Poker
January 10, 2011
Before you start playing poker, you must familiarize yourself with some of the commonly used poker terms, particularly the betting terms and also the slang words. By using such terms, you can actually fool everyone into thinking you are a seasoned poker player even when you aren’t!
The terms and their meanings:
• Buy-In: This is basically the total money required for sitting down at the game and entering a poker tournament. It is also a term that is used for describing the total amount of money used at the beginning of the table.
• Bump: A bump means to raise.
• Family pot: When all the players at a table are in one hand, it is known as a family pot.
• Kick it: To make a second raise.
• Limp: To call or bet the least amount of money; in Texas Hold’em poker, when a little blind meets the bigger blind as opposed to the raising, this little blind will be ‘limping in’.
• Post: To place a bet is known as post. This actually refers to a forced bet, such as a blind.
• Stack: The total number of chips you have on your poker table, which is your bankroll, is also known as a stack.
Using Tells to Spot Weakness in Poker Games
January 2, 2011
Some of the best poker players have this unique ability of judging their opponents by looking at their body language across the table. A “poker tell” is basically a physical reaction or a typical behavior that gives a player some information about the hand of the opponent. If you have an in depth understanding of all the poker tells, both strong and weak, it will be easier to play the game.
Everyone has unique traits and poker playing tells. There are some involuntary and commonly occurring tells too. If you have to predict a weak hand, look out for some of these signs:
- When a poker player starts staring at others, he’s actually trying to show some strength. This is done when he has a weak hand and he does not really want to show it. He might be having a very bad hand that will be beaten easily.
- Poker players with a weak hand tend to hold their breath very often. It is very common in inexperienced players, as they will hold their breath for every move.
- Taking too long to bet is also a sign of weak hand. Such players try to project that they have an average hand and are calculating their steps.