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.
Phil Hellmuth Departs From UB Online Poker Room
December 30, 2010
The player in question is Phil Hellmuth, and the job he’s left is his long-time partnership with online poker room UB Poker (formerly Ultimate Bet).
Rumors of Hellmuth’s departure have been swirling since late November. It was around that time that various members of the poker media noticed that the self-proclaimed best player in poker was not sporting his once-ubiquitous UB gear – patches, hats, and the like – at major tournaments and media events.
If another player with less finely honed shilling skills showed up at a TV tournament patchless, it would be easy to write off – maybe a bit of lost luggage, a shirt grabbed in a hurry, a misunderstanding regarding obligations – but we’re talking about a guy who has become legendary for his sponsored entrances into the WSOP Main Event.
Phil Hellmuth Leaves UB – Read More.
Psychology as an Important Strategy of Poker
December 27, 2010
Poker is a strategy game that involves a lot of psychology as well. Psychology has been termed as one of the major areas of Texas poker, if not the most important of all. As a matter of fact, poker is psychologically played at all steps. The way in which you represent yourself, your image, betting strategies, scare tactics, your overall mindset, and your success are all determined by your psychological self.
There is yet another probability factor; although you will come across many champions who fail to calculate their probability of saving their life while playing the game, it still helps in retaining their game hand. It helps a player to develop a solid ground at the intermediate level.
It is very important to become aware of all these important strategies of poker in order to play the game well. In fact, if you try to learn all the strategies of this complicated game of poker, you will probably come across several areas that you have not yet been able to succeed in. The best thing is that you can always learn these strategies and become a poker pro.
Trouble Hands in Holdem Part 5 – Ace Jack
December 19, 2010
For all those new and intermediate players in the field of poker, the Ace Jack trouble hand could be one of the serious issues that you might experience. In fact, there are very few players that know what the Ace Jack is all about, and most importantly what it is not.
The Ace Jack is not one of those premium hands- that’s the most significant point that every player should identify with. As a matter of fact, it is not even one of the good hands that you can play.
Whenever you raise an Ace Jack at a table that is tight and aggressive regardless of the position you are in, you will be doing only one thing- allowing the opponents to cover up the strength of their hands. When you are sitting at a tight table, your opponent will call only when he is holding a pocket pair, ace king, ace queen, ace ten, or if he is actually in the best position. In most of the cases, you are actually way behind.
Ace Jack is a trouble hand because it is not a favorable condition unlike other hands. Thus, you have to be a lot more careful, focused, and understand how you can read your opponent correctly so that you can turn your losing hand into a win-win situation.
Exploring the Fundamentals of Heads Up Poker
December 17, 2010
Heads-up poker is basically the climax to each game of Texas Hold ‘Em poker. If you believe that you will be winning you will usually face the heads-up situation! Heads-up in poker is the point where you would like to play one-on-one against any single opponent and whether you would start off with 2 players in one game or 2000 players altogether. The results are usually the same- the heads-up occurs between the two final players only.
If you are starting the game of poker with large number of players, or for that matter any number of players that exceeds two, the game has to lose one of the players at one time before the final pairing is done. Today, heads-on poker is totally different from the remaining tournaments, and that requires a totally different mindset for succeeding in the game. Nowhere is this contract bleaker than in an online Texas Hold ‘Em poker game.
Heads-up poker is quite different from all other poker tournaments and playing the game also needs a different mindset for being successful – and having No Deposit Poker Bankrolls doesn’t hurt either. The contrast is not starker than any online poker game, including Texas Hold ‘Em poker. The pace of heads-up poker is extremely fast and furious and it will not give you enough time for thinking. You will have to rely on your experience and your presence of mind in order pull through the entire game.
The most important strategy to be followed here is to make your own strategies that you will have to adopt. One key rule to follow is to be aggressive while you are playing the game. While you are playing a game, it has to be a situation where you can think only of winning the game without enough aggression and determination, and that will certainly affect the opponent as well. If you’re freerolling on a Free Poker Bankroll at PokerStars, that should help reduce the pressure even further.
Sit N Go Poker: ROI and Expected Equity
December 15, 2010
Every time you sit at a different SNG at any of the major online poker sites, the players that you play against will directly determine the amount of equity you will make in the tournament. If you’re playing a table full of pros, your equity stands to suffer greatly. If you’re at a table full of rookies and newbies, you stand to make a great profit for the night; it’s differentiating which types of players are which that can help you pick which sit and gos to sign up for and which ones to avoid; this requires good note taking skills, however.
When you play a few sit and gos with a player (assuming you’re playing real money poker online – notes are useless for play money), take note of some of the tendencies he has when he plays; does he understand end game play, does he make normal raises or oversized and scared bets, and does he overall seem like a good, bad, or average player? Make a generalization, then rank him as such. Get a feel for the types of players you tend to see in your level of sit and go, especially live, where its much easier to find tables with the same player over time. For example, you play a live $130 SNG, and find three players with severe flaws in their game, and all three bust out quickly.
You end up winning the SNG, and look up at the board, and see the three players signed up for another $130. You would be very wise to pass up any other tournament or SNG in order to get in with the three fish; unless the other six seats in the SNG are filled with pros, you’re looking at a nice boost in ROI and equity from the money the fish will be donating to the prize pool.
Think about the prize pool for your SNG in terms of a total investment, and before a hand is dealt, every player in the tournament is given their money back based on the equity they are worth in the long run in the tournament; the pros get a big cut, the average players break about even, and the rookies get flat out destroyed. So, let’s make it a $109 SNG online, and look at the equity of a few player archetypes.
Tight Aggressive/Solid Pro/Loose Aggressive Pro- $130-$150
Super Loose/Tight and Predictable/Super Tight- $90-$110
Loose Passive/Insane Aggro/First Timer- $30-$70
Breaking Down Online Poker Coaching
December 6, 2010
Whether you are here to learn the basics of playing poker or are a seasoned player who wants to refine some poker strategies, poker coaching services have something to offer to all interested poker players.
Typically, a poker coach will offer some of the services mentioned below:
• Poker Mentoring Services: With a poker mentor, you will be assessed on the basis of your strong and weak points. Based on the particular assignment, you will also receive assignments that can be completed. Your discussions and decisions will be recorded for use.
• Single Poker Coaching: In this service, you will be with your mentor to learn all the basic elements of poker. You can analyze and understand your moves and improve the game.
• Poker Videos for Help: The coaching service is offered in the form of videos.
Conversation and discussions on moves can be helpful.
Poker coaching services are inexpensive. The price usually varies, and you can choose according to your budget.
Gifts for Poker Players
November 27, 2010
Now that the holidays are upon us, there are no doubt a lot of parents or friends with poker players in their lives that are trying to figure out what to get them as a present for said holidays.
While there’s no sure-shot gift that any poker player would be thrilled to get, we do have a couple of suggestions that should at least server as a starting point for your gift-giving.
Gift Certificates: Yup, poker rooms offer these as well, not just Wal Mart and Best Buy. The major rooms such as Full Tilt Poker offer gift certificates that allow you to provide a shot of funds into the bankroll of some one on your gift list.
Software: This is trickier, but Holdem Manager has a great suite of applications that are sure to be a hit with online poker players. You might want to do some snooping to see what software they already have before making a purchase.
Gear: Shirts, hats, whatever – live poker players and casual players tend to love to brodcast the fact that they play poker, and a funny poker shirt is just the thing to give them the billboard they’re asking for.
A final thought – don’t discount the possibility that the poker player in your life is sick of poker and would prefer a nice sweater or six pack instead.
Maximising your poker bankroll
November 24, 2010
I have heard of online poker players who have started at very low levels of play and ended up playing relatively high stakes in a very short space of time through simply adhering to one thing……professional bankroll management. While having good control over your bankroll will not make you a great poker player, being a great poker player and having poor money management skills will leave you broke.
If you doubt what I say then there are plenty of high profile big named players who can fit that description perfectly. Having proper bankroll management can turn mediocre players into winning players and good players into very successful players. It can also turn very successful players into mega earners.
So lets say that you wanted to buy into a poker site for $1000 and play Texas Hold em online, what sort of level would be good enough? Well if your fancy was no-limit full-ring then $0.25-$0.50 (NL50) may be a good place to start. You are now starting with 20 buy-ins at that level! If you win say $1000 now your bankroll will be $2000.
Many players who win that $1000 either do one of two things, they cash the money out and stay at NL50 (no bad thing) or they leave the money and have a bigger bankroll at NL50 (no bad thing either). Some players may take out say half ($500) and have a bigger bankroll at NL50 (still not a bad thing).
There is absolutely nothing wrong at staying at a level that you know that you can beat. But you owe it to yourself to at least try a higher level at least once. You may find that you can beat NL100 but how will you know if you don’t try. If you took that $1000 profit and added it to your original bankroll then you have $2000.
That is still twenty buy-ins at NL100 but the point is that you don’t use twenty buy-ins as at this stage, you don’t know if NL100 is too tough for you. So you use the $1000 profit which is ten buy-ins and take a shot at the higher level. If you lose the $1000 then you simply drop back down to NL50 having only lost $1000 and a little time and earnings.
But your potential upside could have been enormous because had you been successful at NL100 then you would have experienced an increased earn rate for the rest of your playing career (hopefully) and that is what’s called speculation. When your upside is substantially in excess of any downside then you just have to take a calculated risk at some stage. This is what all of the worlds great investors have done down the years and people like Warren Buffet have made billions of dollars through this process.
Why stop there, what if you took to NL100 like a duck to water and immediately won another $3000? You now have $5000 behind you and $1000 of that could still be there in case you need to play NL50 again.
Now you have twenty five potential buy-ins at NL200 but you are not risking twenty five buy-ins because NL200 may be too tough for you. You risk ten buy-ins which is $2000 safe in the knowledge that you have the $3000 to play NL100 with and the $1000 to play NL50 with.
It is amazing how far you can take this and if variance hits you favourably then you can spin relatively small amounts of money into very large amounts indeed but you have to give yourself a chance doing it and you won’t know until you try.
This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson