» Poker Strategy

Online Multi Player Poker Etiquette

The growth of online casino gambling has spurred a whole new set of online multi player poker etiquette, which applies to all online poker players. And when it says all, it means from greenhorn novices to seasoned veterans, excusing nobody from following the unwritten rules of good behavior of online poker games.

Stick to Your Own Level

This piece of advice is more geared to players who aren’t use to playing online, or are just getting started in poker.  The lower levels are a learning ground, and generally are filled with people in a similar boat to you.  In low level tourneys, you will have people who push all in in the first hand…because hey, why not? You’ll have people who call you down with bottom pair (and win) with no read, no clue why they are calling, and then, when they’re taking your money type “lol” into the chat box.

Trust me…if you want to play in the higher levels, you will be welcomed with open arms.  Everyone loves to see people buy in with the minimum, and use the auto check/fold button regularly.  They will take your money, piss you off, and wait for you to reload to the minimum. One thing to remember when playing at any level of online poker: it’s all relative.  If someone is playing at the .05/.10 level, they will call you as often as the guy playing at the $5/$10 level.  The difference is the guy playing $5/$10 will probably have a read on you, and will more often than not call when he can beat you.

Chat Nice, Please

Or don’t chat at all.  Seriously.  Online poker is less of a friends gathering and more for people multi tabling and making serious money. At lower levels, and some tourneys, chat is acceptable (especially when you’ve been sharing a table with someone for 4 hours and they’ve been playing well).  But overall, chat in online poker is filled with aggression, yelling at someone who called another person down (OMFG, i can’t believe you called that, fish!) or criticizing other peoples play.  Sometimes this can be fun to watch.  Hell, sometimes it’s part of strategy.  But I would recommend just staying away and using the extra time to open up a second table.  If you really want to chat, stick to congratulating people on hands, and for gods sakes, don’t blame other players for calling you down with bottom pair!

Speak the Common Language

If you start speaking another language at the table, the other players will automatically call “collusion.”  I personally hate it when i think 2 players are working together to beat a table, and will bitch about it every time.  Stick the the online casino’s advertised language (usually English) and you’ll have no problems.

Let the Cards Speak for Themselves

A lot of poker rooms will implement a “chat disabled on all in hands” to prevent the table coercing someone into calling, or convincing him that the other player “has the nuts.”  This also applies to a hand that you aren’t in.  If you don’t have cards, don’t speculate during the chat. Sometimes poker is all about missing the obvious, so if you point it out, with no risk to you, then you are creating a disadvantage to other players.  This is typically the rule in live poker as well, but sometimes with a computer screen in front of us, and our opponents a world away, it’s easy to forget to keep your comments on the hand to yourself (until after the hand, of course).

Make Your Move on Time

Man, there is nothing worse than waiting for a player to make their move.  It’s annoying and slows down the game play.  Typically there is a time bank for those really brutaldecisions (you have KK, the flop comes AA4 and your UTG opponent pushes….wow…) but if you’re in 4th position with 3/4 os and you dip into your time bank before the flop has come down, get out of the hand.  There is no point. You will only incur the wrath of your opponents, and that’s just no longer fun!

Overall be considerate and friendly and you’ll have no trouble.  Respect the rules and the other players and you’ll be welcomed back. Make 1,000,000 and we’ll all be watching you on the WSOP!

Avoid the Check/Fold Button

Many poker sites offer it, many new players use it thinking that its a good move and professional players hate it and its cost millions of poker players all of their bankroll….

The Infamous ‘Check/Fold‘ button.

The ‘Check/Fold’ button found in all online poker sites have been created to offer players the opportunity to use the ‘shortcut’ to save on time taken to make their action.

While many players think that the button is there to help the button in fact offers the reverse effect!

While the button is only visible each time a player is on the big blind, it secretly offers your opponents information surrounding your hand.

Information on your hand is given away due to the speed of play when the action reaches you, if the action reaches a player on the big blind and instantly there is a ‘check’ call you can almost certainly place them on a poor hand as they have selected the ‘Check/Fold’ option.

Using this button often reveals that your hand isn’t strong, and that you would not have played had there been any raise.

Ok sometimes players will use the option and the flop will deal them the perfect flop but 80% of the time the player will see higher cards hit the board and they will fold at any bet.

Players who are concentrating on the game, regardless of ability will spot that this option is been used, leaving you wide open to out played as they know that you have a hand that you wouldn’t have staked any chips on if you were given the choice.

This leaves you left wide open to opponents placing over sized bets into the pot, knowing that your not going to call due to the fact that you wouldn’t even place the blind if you didn’t have to.

Players who use this option are more likely to finish a poker session with no chips or funds than any other player.

The biggest mistake a player can make is to use this button on a high stakes table, players with that experience are constantly trying to find online poker tells that can help them get the upper hand on you, giving them the opportunity to find a hole in your game will only result in you been left out of a tournament or out of funds at ring table.

Our tip is to avoid this button like it said ‘Reveal Cards To All’ as once opponents find out that your using this option, thats as good as what your doing.

Top 5 Errors in Poker

There are many online poker players out there as you all know. In fact, most of them are bad poker players, and you could be one of them. Don’t despair, help is here! This article will discuss some of the most common poker errors made by online gamblers.

Error #1 – Great Starting Hand that Misses the Flop

This has to be one of the most common situations I see online. Poker players get in trouble because they fail to recognize that a great starting hand can be a terrible “ending” hand. Suppose you have A-K. You’ll probably raise pre-flop with a hand like this and if you get a few callers, an interesting pot could develop. What happens when the flop is 4-4-8? Well, you may still have the best hand, but the more opponents you face, the more you’re likely to loose. What you need to do is watch out for indicators of strength or traps. Too many times I have seen players call an all-in bet with their A-K thinking they had the best hand. When the pot is just $300 and someone goes all in for another $1000, it’s just not worth the risk. Learn those fold those hands early on, especially if you are facing many opponents.

Error #2 – Going All-in on a Bluff

Going all-in is probably the most overused poker move in Texas Hold’em. Many players go all-in with nothing in an attempt to steal a nice pot. I’m not saying that you should never go with this play, what I’m saying is that it’s usually the wrong play. As a general rule, you should never need to bet more than the pot to steal it. It makes little sense to bet all of your $1500 chips into a $400 pot. The only reason you attempt to bluff in the first place is because you think opponents are weak and they will fold. If you are correct, a $400 bet in this case would suffice in making that happen. The risk is that if your read is off, you end up loosing. It’s better to loose a portion of your stack and live to fight another day than to commit poker suicide by going all-in.

Error #3 – Too Much Calling

If you’re doing too much calling actions it’s either because you’re involved in too many hands trying to catch cards, or you’re just too tight. The problem with calling someone’s bet is that you can only win by having the best hand. A raise gives you two ways to win: by having the best hand or by making everyone else fold. In the second case, it is of no consequence what your hand was. You win the pot regardless.

Error #4 – Failing to Gamble When Your Time is Running Out

This is only applicable to tournament poker, whether you’re playing Hold’em, Omaha, or any other card game that uses blinds. There comes a point in a poker tournament where the blind levels get steep and it’s expensive to play poker. This is one of the acceptable conditions to go all in on a bluff. The idea is that you need to gather chips and you need to do it fast. When your chip stack is 10 times the value of the big blind, it’s time to make a move. Pick a hand and go all in. In other words, if you’re sitting on a $1000 chip stack and the blinds are $50/$100, now is the time to thinking about moving all in. Pick a hand and go for it! Obviously, the risk factor is much greater, but you just have to gamble and hope someone doubles you up. If you keep folding, the blinds will quickly eat up your remaining chips and you’ll be out of the game regardless.

Error #5 – Going Easy on Card Chasers

When you’re in a situation where the flop offers a flush or a straight potential and you see people checking all around you, make a nice bet. If someone has a draw, you have to make it too expensive for them to call your bet. This is where the concept of pot odds come into play, where you actually calculate the pt odds an opponent could have, and make a bet that is higher than what they should pay. For example, in a $500 pot where an opponent has 6 outs for a flush, then the pot odds for that person are about 24% after the flop. Bet more than 24% of the pot value. A bet of $250 or more (50% of the $500 pot) should discourage that player from chasing cards.  Remember, when you’re betting $250, they have to call $250 in a now $750 pot, making the cost to them 33.33% of the stakes with only 24% chance to win the stakes. Assuming you’re playing with somewhat experienced players, if they do the math they’ll likely fold. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to read an article on pot odds!

5 Reasons Most People Don't Win Money Playing Poker Online

A lot of people play poker online everyday for real money, somewhere in the hundred-millions! Strangely enough the harsh reality is that less than 5% of those people are actually making money playing.

This may sound shocking, and completely unbelievable, but it is the truth. Sure, players win here and there all the time, but chances are they are probably losing more than they are winning.

Here are the 5 biggest mistakes people make playing poker online…

1) Bankroll Management – Poker is full of ups and downs, so you should really only be playing games you can afford to play. Utilizing bankroll management allows you to take a few loses, then go back to winning again. You need to know your limits and play within them!

2) Gambling Too Much – Sure, poker is gambling, but you should only be taking risks when you have a good chance of winning. If you are calling down to the river on your gutshot straight draws, chances are you are a losing player. Even chasing a flush draw if it is going to cost you too much money is a bad idea over time. You should only be taking risks if you are getting a good price to stay in the hand and you can make the best possible hand. Take risks only if there is a high percentage of odds that your miracle card will come!

3) Bluffing – Everybody watches poker pros on TV bluffing their way out of huge pots. Sure, bluffing is a part of the game, but this is a skill that should only be attempted when you are consistently winning money without it. Everytime you bluff, chances are that you are risking all your chips and depending on your opponent you may get called on a wide range of hands. Be careful if you are going to bluff!

4) Not Knowing When to Stop – Chasing your losses is one of the dumbest things you can do. You can’t think of money gone as something you NEED to get back. Everyone gets into a rut sometimes, but sometimes a really bad rut can cost you your entire bankroll. If you are having a bad time at a table, maybe you should get up and try another table. Like the classic poker song “The Gambler” goes, you gotta know when to fold’em!

5) Not Studying Basic Poker Strategy – You wouldn’t write a college exam without studying, would you? So why would you play at a poker table with your hard earned money without taking time to learn the game. Even the best poker players are learning, so if there is something you don’t know, why don’t you try asking a pro. You have to know how to play your position, which starting hands to play, how to tell what type of player your opponents are and much more before you should even considering risking your cash!

This is really just a basic list and I am sure I am missing a ton of things, but if you aren’t making money playing poker, look over this list and see where you might be going wrong. Practice makes perfect, and you still can figure out the holes in your game to become a winning poker player. Good luck!

Poker Betting Methods

This article is a little bit more advanced than our usual articles…

By now, you must have developed a great betting strategy playing the regular limit, no-limit and pot-limit games. Now let’s see some other methods of betting involved mainly in private games. I will just cover a few for example Set limit, Straddle method, Freeze out and Running out of money. So let’s discuss each of them. These methods bring in a lot of excitement and fun when playing private games.

Set limit:
Here players agree to a minimum and maximum bet where there is enough opportunity for them to make good raises. It is important because if you raise a decent amount of chips then you might force other players into folding. Also there is an agreement on a minimum ante by every player before the cards are dealt, so, there is some money in the pot before you start playing. To stay in the game each player must bet an amount equal to the previous player or raise the stakes up to the maximum as agreed before the play.

Straddle Method:
Here first a player bets an ante and the next player doubles the bet called straddle before the cards are dealt. Now the third player can either fold or double the straddle depending on his cards. The betting continues and each player must bet at least the same amount as the previous player. Here showdown occurs when no one else raises or the maximum bet is reached as agreed before the play.

Freeze Out:
Here the betting is same as in regular games but with few exceptions. Betting is arranged using an agreed method and the objective is for one player to win all the chips. When a player runs out of chips, there is an immediate showdown and the player with the best hand wins the pot. Games like these are already marked as Freeze out tournaments.

Running out of money:
Again the betting here is same as in regular games but with few exceptions. If a player runs out of money during the game a second pot is opened by the remaining players. Now that player has to wait until one player remains or there is a showdown. If one player remains then he definitely wins the second pot or else a player with the highest hand wins the pot. Now the hand that won the second pot is compared to that of the player who ran out of money. The player with the best hand wins the first or original pot.

Written By: Tarun Sharma

10 Tips to Better Poker

Some times simple steps will have incredible impact on your poker game, one way or the other. These tips will help both your offline and online poker game.  Included are some of the most popular and yet simple improvements to anyone’s game. This is based on the experience of active players who experience success on a regular basis.

Top 10 Poker Tips

1) Stay Focused – allowing yourself to become unfocused by trying to play to many hands at once, will prevent you from watching the hands you’ve got to play. Keep an eye on every hand take notes as needed. Focus on your opponent’s weak points and betting patterns. By staying focused on the game, you will be able to stay involved with the game, regardless if you are vested in the pot at that moment or not.
2) Learn through Watching – The concept may seem fruitless, however rail birding could be one of the most valuable assets a poker player can have. With any sport, research is vital, watching a player, their patterns, and learning from their mistakes and successes will provide you with the information needed to compete at any table. Remember that when you are out of the game, you will be able to see plays and moves that may not be noticed while you are competing, so if it is at all possible, watch the high stakes tables.
3) Do NOT Drink and Play – Friends don’t let friends loose their bankroll drunk. It is easier to tilt in that state, poor judgment will always result in bankroll loss, so just don’t open yourself to such a poorly played poker game. What a hang over it would be to wake up after a night of drinking and playing poker, to find out you owe the bank money you didn’t have to lose the night before.
4) Don’t Play a game You can’t Afford – If you are searching for your poker game, look for one you have the bankroll for. By using quality Bankroll Management you will avoid playing in a game you can’t afford to lose, or play comfortably. It isn’t a good feeling to bust out, and be broke. Bottom line, don’t play more than you are comfortably able to.
5) Take Active Notes – Even chess players keep a note pad with them to record mistakes, and advantages, and player patterns. If a poker player keeps the notes specific to an opponent, seeing betting patterns, and other points of view will be advantageous, both for learning to better your game, and how to approach a player in the future.
6) The Button – Remember the most powerful position at the table is the button. Maximize your hands when you have it. Relax your typical standards for betting, and be very aggressive. Basically, steal blinds when you have it, or if you have a strong hand drive home your point, and bring in the pot. The button moves to give the advantage to every player, so do not let this go to waste. Let other players believe you are stealing from the button.
7) Play Strategically to avoid trouble – Do not get incredibly involved in the early stages of tournament play in particular, even in Sit n Go’s. The loose players tend to make big moves early on, or attempt to steal blinds with nothing. Let them do it, in the end, the fewer players for you to compete against the better your odds. Obviously if you have a strong hand to start, don’t put it down, just don’t play ones that are not strong. It is not worth leaving the game early.
8) Invest very small amounts in small pairs – Don’t make big pre-flop moves on pairs under 9. Leave the hand if the flop doesn’t bring you 3 of a kind. Constantly playing smaller pocket pairs will eat through your chips quickly. They are only really effective when you play them sparingly and with a lot of callers in the pot, to better your odds. This will help you manage risk in your online poker game.
9) Don’t play favorite hands – This is a game of skill, not luck. As such lucky hands do not exist, so don’t put a stake in them. Favorite hands are nice, but remember there are odds in everything you do, keep them in your favor, not staking your entire bankroll on a 7c 3d because the last time you had it, you were able to run it. If you can catch a lucky break in football, you can get lucky in cards too.
10) Do not play out AK often – This hand, suited or not, is a powerful draw, however against a pair of two’s it won’t stand. Watch your opponents carefully and know when to put it down.

With such simple strategy integrated into your play, you will find your bankroll increase, your tournament play improve, and you will cash more often. Once these adjustments are made, the results will be visible at the first table.

Risk Management for Online Poker

Risk management and online poker seem like two worlds apart, but are they really? Every time you enter a hand you are taking risks and the key to being a successful player is minimizing that risk.

Daniel Negreanu always mentions that players should try and keep pots as small as possible until they have the nuts. Raising out of position and juicing up pots for no reason can have very negative effects.

Most of the time players raise pre-flop to protect their hand before the flop. If they don’t hit on the flop or get a somewhat weak hand, often players will continuation bet (bet again) to protect the pot even further. This posts a huge risk as you have now commited a large percentage of your stack to a pot with only a marginal hand.

This doesn’t mean that you should never raise, just pick your battles wiseley and know the other opponents at the table. If your table is very aggressive, you are better to just call strong hands out of position. Wait till your hand is very strong and let them bet into you. Once they have commited a large portion of their stack and you are pretty sure that you still hold the best hand, that is the time to make the move. The problem with reraising aggressive players pre-flop is they will call with a greater range of hands, and unless you hit they will be more likely to put the pressure back on you.

Another important aspect of risk management for online poker is position.  When you are in later positions (ie. on the button) and you throw in a raise, your opponents will have to act first on the flop.  Try to bet only if you have a hand, or to find out where you are in a hand using feeler bets (ie. if you raised $5 preflop and the pot was now up to $20 throw in a bet of $10 to see where you are.  When you are in position you will be able to raise with weaker hands, and will control much more of the action in the game.

Playing weak hands out of position is dangerous.  Sure a JTsuited might look like a good hand, but with a raise behind you are most likely behind in the pot.  Try to only play hands like AK, AQsuited, AJsuited, AA, KK, QQ when you are in early position.  Once you are in later position you will be able to open this up a lot more and play a wider variety of suited and connected cards.

By keeping pots small, only playing really strong hands, and playing your opponents and position, you will minimize your risk associated with getting involved with very large pots with aggressive players.  You will be able to do more things like check-raising the best hand against opponents that have already commited to a pot with weaker hands.

Five Tips To Playing Poker Like A Pro

So you want to play poker like a pro? You want to be winning millions a year, travelling the globe and living in the fast lane…..is it possible? Yes. In this article, we will cover five strategies employed by the top poker pros that allow them to consistently win at poker and maintain an advantage over the competition:

1. Self Control: Almost all of the majorly successful pros have a strong degree of self-control and discipline not only in life but in the game of poker as well. This is such a vital component of becoming a great player in the game of poker as the temptation to succumb to frustration and go on Tilt is so common and can be deterimental to a players game. All of the top professionals are aware of the effects of frustration and have learned to effectively control themselves when these situations arise.

2. Instinct: Another extremely important attribute that all professional poker players must possess is great instinct and the ability to listen to it.  If you watch any of the top players you will see that they have this innate ability to know when something is up and most of the time when they will win or lose a hand.  Almost all poker players have this, but learning to listen to it is the hard part.  Really listen to yourself when you play poker because most of the time your first instinct is right.

3. Passion: Poker can quickly become a boring game when you are playing 10+ hours per day 6-7 days a week.  To become a true pro you need to be dedicated to the game and really enjoy putting in the hours that are required to keep your game sharp.  This passion will help you through the days where you fold for hours on end or when you have a poor day playing.  Remember, if you don’t love the game, don’t try to be a pro at it.

4. Bankroll: This is probably the most basic aspect of becoming a pro but it is definetely crucial if you truly want to succeed.  Far too many people try to turn professional without the proper funding to do so.  If you want to play poker professionally, make sure that you have an adequate bankroll to play within your chosen limits and enough money to sustain a bad month at the tables.  Underfunded bankrolls are a sure way to ended a pro poker players career.

5. Knowledge: Being a poker pro means knowing all the games, rules, strategies and tricks inside and out.  Expect all of your oppenents to have all this knowledge as well so it is important that you constently study, practice and study some more.  Most of the top professionals watch countless hours of footage, read hand histories and study their opponents playing styles in order to gain an advantage while playing.  This type of research is essential in developing a sound poker game.

Hope you enjoy the article and the tips on playing poker like a pro.  If you want to play poker with some real professional such as Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen and others check out Full Tilt Poker.  They offer a $600 bonus which you can get by visiting our Full Tilt Poker Page via this link.