Online Poker

Manage a Maniac Online Poker Games Player

If you’ve played online poker for even a short length of time, it’s a good bet that you’ve run into a maniac player at your table. Constantly betting and raising and seemingly involved in every hand. This is with no apparent regard for strategic maneuvering except to bet a lot and to bet often. The maniac player presents a unique challenge. Without a doubt, the maniac causes every player at the table to alter their playing strategy. In order to combat and play successfully against a maniac, it’s vital not to be intimidated by the aggressive tactics of such a reckless player who shows no apparent regard for the value of a dollar.

You may be curious why anyone would play in such a fashion and disregard a basic theory of poker online, which is to play only the hands that have a good chance of winning. There may be deep-seated psychological reasons for such behavior. Such as need to control the action at table and have all eyes focused on what he does next. Or the maniac may simply enjoy gambling and is fortunate to be blessed with enough cash to throw around. Without delving too deep into the psyche of such a player, it’s important to realize that the maniac’s style of play. It can be advantageous in certain situations, such as heads-up competition against an opponent. This opponent tends to play passively or even short-handed tables with reluctant bettors.

Deal with a maniac at the table

So let’s examine the best ways to combat the maniac at your table. First of all, it will be crucial to tighten up your game and play only the best starting hands. This is problematic if you happen to run into a string of bad cards. But it’s important to restrain yourself when you see all the chips and money flying around the table and the maniac sometimes taking down pots with garbage hands. Stick to a game plan of playing only premium hands. As if you widen your range you are playing into the intent of the maniac. This is to get you in on the action with weak or marginal hands. The maniac would love nothing more than a wild game with many players competing for very huge pots.

Your position at the table is vital to being successful versus a maniac. You want very much to sit to his left and have the advantage of always acting after him. If you are seated to his right, you will find yourself at a huge disadvantage and frustrated at having the maniac constantly betting and raising right behind you. If it’s possible to change seats to get in a better position, do so.

Whether playing online or in live action, it often seems that other players seated at the table cannot stop themselves from commenting on the maniac’s playing style. The remarks made are overwhelmingly of a disparaging nature. This is detrimental to the game as the maniac may take his reckless and free-wheeling play elsewhere. Despite the maniac’s style and ability to influence the actions of the entire table, you don’t want him to leave. If you play correctly against a maniac, your profit potential can be enormous.

Comments are best left unsaid

It’s best to let the maniac think that he can completely dominate the game. Let him believe that he can manipulate and run all over you. Quietly biding your time to counter his aggressiveness with proper strategies. A prime sin of online poker is underestimating your opponent. If the maniac feels that he can control you, he is committing a fatal error in not being cognizant of your skills in fending off his reckless style.

The maniac tends to meet his demise when other players become more disciplined and play poker in a technically correct fashion. When facing only one or two other opponents in a hand due to most players catching on and shortening their range of playable hands, it’s very likely that at least one of those two players will have a better hand. So your best defense is usually a tight-aggressive playing style that cashes in on the maniac’s multitude of bets and raises. If you wait patiently for the best hand and are confronted by excessive betting and raising by the maniac, you should hold your ground instead of being intimidated into folding.

Regardless of experience and talent, playing too many hands. And tossing way too much money into pots with the worst hand in hopes of inducing a fold. Or catching a miracle card on the river is not a winning strategy over the test of time.

When confronted with a maniac at your table, remember to play tight-aggressive. Seat yourself to the left of the maniac if possible, induce bluffs by checking to the maniac. And raise after he bets when you know you have the best of it. Don’t attempt bluffs as they won’t work. Let the maniac think that he’s the greatest player on the planet.

Happy playing!

Dealing with Calling Stations while Playing Online Poker

A calling station at the online poker table is a player who doesn’t take the initiative in the hand, often simply just calling bets of other players. As you can imagine, this is a terrible way of playing poker. Aggressive, solid play is considered the best style to employ the majority of the time on the felt. Calling stations lack the aggression to be successful, practically ensuring that the hand will progress to the showdown stage. Their tendency to avoid folding can be both profitable and annoying to you as they often lack the good sense of mucking their cards when way behind. However, they will sometimes catch their draws and win the hand, which is the frustrating part of dealing with calling stations.

There are certain ways to combat such play and to maximize your effectiveness against those calling stations who seem to have deleted “fold” from their vocabulary and playing style. Your goal will often be to make them pay for the opportunity to outdraw you. When involved in a heads-up online poker India situation with a calling station where you are sure your hand is best but can be beaten depending on either the turn or river, the size of your bet should be large enough to give your opponent incorrect pot odds. He will invariably call you anyway as calling stations are known to do. But in so doing, he is making a statistical mistake.

As long as you can achieve this mathematical consistency. Or edge of giving him incorrect pot odds to continue playing the hand, over the long run. You will be profitable and successful despite the occasions that he will get lucky and outdraw you.

Players who take control of the game

When confronted with calling stations, you will generally be the player who takes control of the hand, dictating the action and bet sizes. Calling stations will leave the wagering up to you, content to call bets and see how things may pan out without giving any thought to pot odds and the probability of winning. A calling station generally knows he has some sort of hand and will want to see if what he is holding is better than what you may be holding.

This is a double-edged sword to you because your value bets while ahead in the hand can pay off quite handsomely versus a player who continues throwing money into the pot right along with your bet. But if he does happen to hit an out to win the hand when logic. The incorrect pot odds would have forced a better player to muck his cards long ago. All your online poker real money betting while having the best of it will go for naught. But remember that you actually want a calling station at your table who plays that badly because you will profit nicely over time.

Keep in mind that you should avoid bluff attempts against calling stations. They tend to call you down with any sort of pair–even low pair. That is fabulous in the majority of hands in which you will be playing them, as chances are good that if you are in the hand that you can beat a low pair. However, if you cannot beat it and try bluffing, your bankroll will suffer as a result. Bluffs will typically not work due to the tendency of calling stations to play the hand through. You can’t bluff a player who won’t fold.

Spotting the calling station

After sitting down at the best online poker table and playing a few hands, it is usually quite simple to spot a calling station. They tend to be involved in too many hands and will play them through to showdown often without acting first and waiting for other players to bet and set the pace of the hand. Go ahead and take control if you have the hand to do so. If not, checking and getting a free card is the advisable play when heads-up versus a calling station because a bet on your part will not likely scare him away. Your play should be aggressive with good sized bets only if you have the best hand.

Don’t allow a calling station’s inability to fold frustrate you. Of course it’s annoying when they continue to call your bets and eventually catch a card to pull off a bad beat. But the majority of the time, you will be scooping pots after a calling station has happily donated money into the pot incorrectly playing a draw or some other bad hand that he can’t seem to muck. So take the occasional bad beat in stride and realize that over the course of time you will profit nicely from players who call and call without proper pot odds or any strategic method of attack in their arsenal. You want calling stations at your table. Remember to make value bets when ahead in the hand and don’t bluff or bet without a good hand. That is the correct way to deal with calling stations.

Happy playing!

Online Poker Game – Tips for its Security

For many poker lovers, especially real money game players, it is very vital to be mindful against some online security. Using cyber crime about the increase, it happens several times when hackers use malicious software to target poker players harassing their reputation or to claim their bankrolls that are important. Although the majority of the trustworthy best online poker platform invest in security measures; but it is even the task of the players to assure all security measures to secure them.

Here are a couple of tips to secure your online poker accounts:

Applications updates, security suites

Do not settle down for a free antivirus program you have found or already have bundled with your OS. Always choose to get a robust anti-malware security suite that features protection against viruses, Trojans, key loggers, spam etc.. Poker online players ought to use security suites, such as a firewall; it will help prevent someone from discovering your machine. Services usually updates frequently, so you’re always get guard against the dangers. Always download the most recent software updates that are free be it for your OS or some other program.

Make use of passwords

Constructing a password for online poker real money account isn’t hard. A strong password is more than seven or eight characters long, includes a mix of letters, numbers and symbols and lower instances. It’s also a great idea to prevent phrases and words. You should choose for passwords which are convenient to remember hard to crack, as word passwords are much easier to crack. Do not recycling passwords and change them regularly, also.

Pick two-step authentication

A two-step authentication method serves from being sabotaged as a heightened security measure to guard your internet poker accounts. It verifies you’re allowed gain access.

Do not use public Wi-Fi Hotspots

Whether it is at a neighborhood coffee shop or at an airport, millions of gadgets users take benefit of their free public Wi-Fi programs, or “hotspots.” But don’t rely on them and with poker to play online, shopping or banking.

Happy playing!

Strategy Tips to Play Poker Online

For those interested in learning to player poker, the first question most commonly asked is what is the best poker strategy? It’s a good question too. To win at online poker requires, not just plenty of good luck, but plenty of good skill as well. You can start with a rundown of basic poker strategy below.

Perhaps the most important online poker India tip is that players should have a solid understanding of the pot-odds. Essentially, pot odds compare the amount of money. It is in pot to amount of money you would have to add to pot to continue playing. This then begs the question “is it worth it to continue playing? To answer this question, you must also possess an understanding of the card odds. For example, if there are 100 in the pot to stay in the game, you need to put in an additional 10. The pot-odds are 10-1. If your chance at winning is better than that, then it is worth calling. If, however, you have a 22-1 chance of making a winning hand, your best bet is to fold.

New players too often ignore the option to fold. But really it is one of the most profitable plays available. Most amateurs play too many hands because they don’t possess the discipline and patience needed to know when to fold. In fact, if you read any books on online poker real money strategy most of them strongly encourage folding. To be a successful player you need to know when to hold and when to fold.

An important skill – bluffing

Bluffing is also an important skill, but it isn’t used as often as many of us would think, nor should it be. Good advice is to save bluffing for use against the good players (since they will more often throw down a hand than will the recreational player). Occasionally, a well-timed bluff, where you do not lose a lot of money, can help you win larger pots in subsequent hands. Players may think you are a “bluffer” and remain in the game even when you actually have a strong hand. Just remember that when you do bluff, your knowledge of the pot odds should guide your bluffing.

An obvious strategy, but one worth mentioning because of its importance, is that you should always look for best online poker games with players who do not play as well as you do. The successful player knows he needs to play weaker players in order to make a profit.

After all is said and done, just remember that if you focus on enjoying the game, playing calmly and fairly and not too desperately, you will most likely enjoy playing the game as well as its outcome.

Happy playing!

The Power of Fold in Online Poker

In poker there is a large advantage in mastering odds and probabilities. The reason is that online poker is a ‘statistical game’ like backgammon and unlike chess. As randomness plays a key role, you have to measure it to understand its effect and this is what probabilities do. In this vein one statistical concept deserves special attention: fold equity.

Literally, fold equity is the probability that your opponent will fold when you bet or raise the pot. Fold equity must be factored into your decisions as it directly affects the chance you have of winning a hand. Fold equity is based on a simple principle. If you have a hand that you are ready to call a bet with, then you should bet it yourself. This gives you two chances of winning. Of course you win with the best hand, but if your opponent folds you win too (even with the worse hand).

Fold Equity closely related to aggression

Fold equity is closely related to a capital concept of online poker India, namely aggression. Let’s say you will call all bets to the river, so that the strongest hand wins. If instead you were the one doing the betting, then you have a higher chance of winning that hand given fold equity. So being the aggressor instead of calling passively seems to inherently increase your win rate in online poker India.

To be honest this is a bit of a simplification because by being the aggressor you also take the risk of getting check-raised or trapped. In which case and assuming for illustration that you still call to the river, then you would have put more money into the pot, and as it is likely that you lose such a hand, you will lose more.

In other words fold equity adds to your win rate, but the risk of getting raised decreases your win rate. Nevertheless it is known that the net result of aggression is positive and this is why top players like Isildur1 or Ivey have an aggressive style. But the next step to boost your win rate is to know how to profile your opponents so that you identify the ones with the most fold equity. These are the ones you want to be aggressive against.

Difficult to assess the chances of getting a poker player to fold

It is difficult to accurately assess the chances of getting an online poker real money player to fold. For that you must consider many factors including the image he has of you. If he thinks that you are tight he is most likely to fold. It is the pressure you put on him which will also increase your fold equity. Note that so-called calling stations have very low fold equity as they love to call all the time. Avoid bullying them; instead focus on some other players such as the rocks who will fold unless they have a monster.

By betting or raising you force your opponent to make a difficult decision that may lead him to fold his hand. Whether live or online, many players try to stay in a hand by checking or calling. This usually indicates weak hands or players in a drawing position. With few exceptions, aggression should always be preferred in best online poker, as you can raise the pot, to eliminate the weak hands and create fold equity.

Fold equity becomes important at the end of a tournament where the stacks are small compared with the blinds and antes. It is mathematically true of course, but without fold equity, mathematics will not be of much help.

Fold equity to vary

Depending on the time of the tournament, your fold equity will vary. At the beginning of the tournament, the players’ stacks are large so players are more inclined to persist in their hands. Your fold equity is then lower. But some players tend to play very tight to avoid compromising their chances early on. Your fold equity against this type of player is higher, so identify them as soon as possible. At the end of the tournament near the bubble most players tend to play very tight to make the money. Fold equity is very high at this time and aggression is a must.

Happy playing!

Cheating at Poker – What to Watch Out For

There are few forms of online poker cheating that you must know; marked cards, imported chips, mechanics, and collusion. Imported chips are illegal poker chips brought into the tournament. Collusion is playing differently against one or more players at the table than you do against others.

Cheating at low stakes poker online games is not usually a problem. Tournament play discourages cheating due to the relatively low buy in cash amount. Many tourney players are attending for the enjoyment and camaraderie rather than the need to win the money. So don’t worry too much about cheaters at your game.

Surprisingly, the biggest form of “cheating” is peaking at other players’ cards. Seeing your opponent’s cards is sometimes inevitable due to the online poker real money. Remember that is not improper for one player to complain about another player who constantly has the opportunity to view a third player’s cards.

Marked Cards

Marked cards can be purchased. Brand new decks of marked KEM cards (in sealed plastic!) use a dye that is only visible to players wearing special glasses. This cheating method can be easily avoided by never using anyone else’s cards at your tourney.

Some players may also try to mark cards by tearing or nicking them with a fingernail. This is usually a little too obvious a tactic but of greater concern is a ‘punched’ card. A punched card has a little indentation punched into the card in a specific location. You can view a punched card here. A dealer can feel the punch as he deals the card and an observant player can view the punches on everyone’s down-cards.

Imported Chips

You must be on guard against players who might try to bring their own poker chips into your tournament. This is particularly true if you use one of the more common types of chip that is readily available. If you use a customized chip with your name printed on it, you don’t have to worry about a player having an identical chip, but if you are using the plastic Bike chips – what’s to stop a player from bringing extra chips into your tourney?

If you must use common poker chips, try to modify them in some unique way. One easy method is to place little stickers (labels) of a certain color or shape on each chip. Just make sure they don’t come off, you don’t want to make false accusations against an innocent player. You might also use an unusually colored felt marker to permanently mark your chips.

Always pay attention to the chips in play. If you’ve owned your set of chips for ten years but all of a sudden one or two shiny, new Purple (500) chips appears. You’ve got a problem. Make sure your account for your entire chipset at the end of the night. Chips do occasionally get lost under carpets or down ventilation grates. Ensure that you know the exact number of chips you have in your set.

Mechanics

You should pay specific attention to the dealer always as this is where the cheating can occur. Your worries will be greatly lessened if you have a dedicated dealer you can trust.

Collusion

Collusion is extremely difficult to prove and caution must be used when dealing with the issue. It is best to simply walk away from the game when you suspect collusion. Unfortunately, walking away is not an option when you are in your own house hosting 20 guys for a night of best online poker!

Some common forms of collusion are:

Dumping chips: Purposely losing to a partner, perhaps someone you are backing monetarily or with whom you have traded a percentage stake.

Hand-mucking: Switching or altering hands. Couple of players sitting next to each other might effort to switch hands or alter them in some way.

Hot-seat: A fresh player is requested to play a game, only to play against a team of players all stealthily working together.

Signalling: Trading information between partners. Signals can take many forms, from the placement of the chips on the cards, to coughing, to Morse code tapings on the table. The key ingredient in all signalling systems is the ability to be repeated without being noticed. In a game where folks are always watching each other, this can prove tricky. When a cheater is signalling the value of his hand to his partner, he is also signalling the value of his hand to everybody else at the table.

Implicit Collusion

Let’s say there are three players left in the pot and one of those players goes all-in. There is now a good chance that the remaining two players will “check it down”, meaning that they will both check, rather than bet or raise, until the showdown. This is known as “implicit collusion” because the two players are now, in effect, teaming up against the all-in player. There are several legitimate reasons why implicit collusion is somewhat tolerated:

The chance of a successful bluff is much lower since there is a guaranteed card showdown with the all-in player.

Eliminating online poker players players is an important objective in a tournament and both players have a vested interest in seeing the all-in player eliminated. Two hands have a better chance of beating the all-in player than one.

Players not in the pot also have a vested interest in seeing the all-in player eliminated.

For these reasons, don’t be surprised to see many checked-down hands in these situations. It is not considered to be cheating unless done by verbal agreement.

Happy playing!

Defeating Opponents at Online Poker Games

Online poker is a relaxing game. It involves a trouble-free blend of skills and luck to play this game. Whether you are a learner or a professional there are strategies which should be known and mastered which would help you defeat your opponents at poker

Defeating the opponents at online poker is not an easy task

Players should know that all the games are not being played and they should not bring their ego in between if they need to fold a hand. You should fold your hand online poker real money if it has unimportant hands. Just do not massage your ego by playing a losing hand. Moreover, you should also remember that only a hand with finest cards would win the pot.

One of the major mistake most online poker India players commit is that they play their game when they are drunk or in high spirits after alcohol consumption. In addition, alcohol spoils the mood as you do not have clear head to make the right judgment. You may even lose control over your tongue and use obscene words or create a scene.

Bluffing is a great way of duping opponents. But players should bluff just for the sake of it. Bluffing is an art and all the players do not have flair to carry it off with panache. Most of the time seasoned players play bluff or semi bluff which is away to move away from the obviousness of their game.

Attentive to the cards

Avoid continue playing just because you have betted on it. The minute you realize that you lack a winning hand you should fold your game. This would help you losing more money and also you would not be called a reckless player on the best online poker table.

You have to be very attentive to the cards which the dealer is dealing on the poker table. It’s just not the cards you should examine your opponents as well. You should study the game others are playing as it will give you more insight.

Poker online is a glamorous profession. You should play and bet within limits. You should use your concentration skills to play a finer game. Ensure your strategy is forming in the beginning of the game because a good strategy can help you win a pot. Just do not play for the sake of it. It would do you no good.

Happy playing!

Important Skills for Poker Players

Poker is a fun game. It can make a player rich overnight. Also things can happen otherwise if the player does not know the fundamentals of poker. Playing online poker does not involve the player’s money, yet he must try winning the games simply because it is the best possible platform to hone his skills on the game so that he can have a great shift from the online poker India to the bankrolls. It is the skill that he acquires free of cost is what will help him earn dollars once he graduates to a bankroll mode.

However, winning online poker real money calls for basic understanding of the game which involves few key skills. The following are important skills that a poker play must have.

Required skills

# Skill 1

Discipline is the key to winning best online poker. A player needs to be self-assured, rational and disciplined during the course of the game.

# Skill 2

A player needs to avoid hastiness; he must have the desired patience to earn a strong hand and not play random, bets.

# Skill 3

A player must be able to concentrate, be hundred percent alert and he must not lose out on any opportunity. This also involves the need foresight that would enable a player to let go off player’s hands that can push him towards decline.

# Skill 4

The most fantastic online poker players are the ones who have immense self-control. So, players need to have control over their emotions so that they play rationally and do not get carried away by emotions and baseless greed.

# Skill 5

Observance is another key essential skill for an online poker player to have. He needs to keep a tab on every expressive, emotion, and body language of his fellow players. It is wise to maintain the watch along sidelines to have a wider view.

# Skill 6

A player must not intimidated by the hands he is playing with or how strong is his opponent, because a credible poker player would always keep the option open to switch gears. In other words, if a player has consistently been tight with his playing, then he can resort to something called bluff equity. Such techniques are nice changes and confident players do use them in situations.

# Skill 7

On the other hand, often players play adventurous poker, that is they play loose and aggressive, this can also be followed by a switch where the player can go tight in his strategies every few hand. This makes the game increasingly interesting.

# Skill 8

Every player has a style of playing, but it is very important to not follow a specific pattern prominent enough for other players to recognize.

# Skill 9

A player should target at being a steady player. Poker should be treated as an entertainment and not as a source of money exclusively. This can lead to ugly addiction that often leaves many bankrupt.

Happy playing!

Myths about Texas Hold’em and the Challenge

Myths can be useful at the poker games online. On the surface they offer possible explanations of why things are how they are. More than that, they keep believers from finding the truth, permitting those who know preferable to profit at the expense of others’.

In poker online India, the plethora of myths undoubtedly keeps play interesting. Following are a number of the most pervasive ones, a lot of which encourage unskilled players to put more in the pot than they need to or prevent possibly good ones from participating in at all.

Poker is a game of chance

The inventor of this one obviously wanted to entice more novices to stop studying the game, give up calculating odds and put their chips in the hands of fate. Quite the contrary, scientific research has shown that a player’s talent is the single most important determinant of success. Winning poker online is about six parts skill for every part luck.

Good players always win

Even in cash games, the randomness of the cards is still a factor. Although good players succeed more than they fail-perhaps 60% or even 70% of the time-lose they most certainly do, walking away to play poker online another day. That means there is at least an opportunity for lesser players to take them down.

Winners must be super aggressive

Hollywood might like that script, and relentless pressure certainly has its place, especially in big money tournaments. But in cash play and limit games, it can actually work against a good player. Most successful professionals, like a Chip Reese or a Dan Harrington, are selectively aggressive. They can turn it on or off and will go full throttle only for short periods of time.

Great poker players are born, not made

There might be such a thing as “natural poker talent,” but it is no substitute for experience and learning. Many of the top players today have an aptitude for math; they are good with numbers and quick at making calculations. Others are masters of human psychology. But those are just foundations on which to build their poker online prowess. It takes playing in real game situations to develop one’s skills to the point of greatness.

Poker is a man’s game

This has to be true, right guys? Not to mention, there are dozens of other females who now play poker professionally. Sorry fellas, but it’s time to apologize to the ladies for this myth.

Poker is all about reads

Players who can identify poker tells and understand what they mean certainly have an advantage. But if that were the secret to success, nobody would ever be successful online, where opponents are faceless, bodiless and perhaps just poker bots with poor programming. It’s much more important to know how to play your own cards than to focus on mind reading.

Bad players ruin the game

In poker, bad players are the fish that feed the sharks. Even the ones that consistently overplay hands, raising when they should fold, staying in and catching lucky draws on the River, will eventually feed the chip stacks of the better players at a table. Bad players welcome!

Losing bluffs help big hands win

Folks who subscribe to this baloney truly believe that they can’t get opponents to go along with their monster hands unless it appears they might be bluffing. What nonsense! Although getting caught in a bluff isn’t the worst thing that can happen in poker, it should never be a player’s intention. The sole purpose of bluffing is to turn a weak hand into a winner, not to advertise incompetence. Good players win big on big hands regardless of whether they bluffed previously or not.

Happy playing!

Dealing with Suited Connectors in Texas Hold’em Poker

Playing suited connectors in online poker is not an easy task. It is very tricky and one wrong move can make you say goodbye to your stack of chips. If you have an average stack or a large one, it may give you the opportunity to play more hands see more cards.

Suited connectors call for a good position in the online poker games. If you have a small stack on a pre–flop and you are in an early or mid-position, fold. This will help you keep the chips. If there will be some limpers, you may want to make a move in late position.

Remember that you are not hoping for a pair or two but a flush or a straight. Getting pairs may place you in trouble. Always keep in mind why you are playing suited connectors.

Play small raises in early or mid position

You have a bigger space in the game if you have a large or just an average stack. You can play some small raises during the early and mid-positions in online poker India. When a player after you raises on top of your bet, in most cases you need to fold. If a smaller stack player re-raises, then you can call but you have to know up to how much you are willing to risk.

During late positions and you have a favourable stack of chips, you can dictate the game and steal some pots.

Look for a flush or straight

On flop play when you have a small stack, look if you have a chance for a straight or a flush. If you have an open ended chance for a straight, it is most of the time wise to fold.

If you have a good chance to hit a flush, depending on the size of the bet, it will be wise to call. In case a bet is made against you and you have the straight or flush draw, by all means play the hand with a re-raise or all in. There’s a good chance for good money – but keep in mind you’re getting the right odds. Also – pre-flop, your Queen Jack of Spades is much stronger than your deuce four of diamonds. Understand this!

When you have a big or average stack during flop play, you have all the means to bully players around. Watch out though for the strategies of other players that might disguise their hand and overplay you – everyone can pick up pocket aces!

Happy playing!