Texas Poker

Top 5 Tips on Improving at Online Poker away from the Table

With all of the different resources available to players such as video training sites, books, forums and tracking programs, online poker is constantly evolving and players are getting better faster with each passing day. If you want to be able to compete, it’s important that you don’t become complacent and continue to work and make improvements to your own poker game.

To give you a head start, we have compiled a list of the top 10 tips on how to improve at poker online. Included are tips on things you can improve on while at the table and things you can do away from the table. And while these tips are not your traditional, run-of-the-mill bankroll management and anti-tilt tips, we can guarantee that these tips will certainly improve your bottom line as a poker player.

Learn

Admit that you have more to learn as an online poker real money player. Being able to admit you have a problem is usually the first step to recovery.

While having more to learn in poker isn’t actually a “problem,” thinking you know everything there is to know about poker is. Even the best online poker players in the world will tell you they don’t know everything and that they constantly work on their game in order to improve. It can be safe to assume that if someone like Phil Ivey or Doyle Brunson feels as if they have more to learn in poker, you probably do too. If you don’t feel that way, your game will surely suffer.

Study

One of the best ways to improve as a poker game player away from the felt is to study. This means reviewing hand histories, reading books, sweating other poker players, watching poker on TV or watching training videos. Studying is just as important, if not more so than actually playing as it helps you find areas that you can work and improve in.

Consider learning an expert

Learning an expert is a great way to improve because it eliminates the process of learning the hard way on your own. Most coaches that are worth hiring will more than likely have been in a similar situation as yours and can provide you with the tools, advice and resources necessary to beat today’s games. If you cannot afford a coach than finding a mentor that doesn’t mind answering questions about hands or games would work just as well.

Discuss hands with friends and at forums

Posting individual hands-on forums is an excellent way to improve as a player because in many cases there is more than one way to play a hand. Receiving ideas or advice on how to play a hand will give you an insight into how other players think and may even highlight certain aspects or variables that you might’ve not otherwise considered.

Watch, make and criticize poker videos

Watching and making poker videos gives you similar benefits as posting individual hands in forums do. Watching videos made by other poker games online players will give you an idea of how other players analyze hands and the actions they take given their reads. While you watch videos, be sure to take notes as to what you might do differently and why. Take these notes and discuss them with the creator of the video or someone else who has watched it to get advice on if and/or why your thoughts would or would not work.

Happy playing!

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When Online Poker Play is About More Than the Cards

It goes without saying that understanding the game of online poker is crucial to playing it well. Many beginners assume that understanding the game means understanding the cards.

This is certainly a part of it, but far from all of it.

Limiting your study

Limiting your study of poker online to card combinations and odds may make you a good player … but it won’t make you a great player and it won’t save you from the players that have honed all of their skills. You won’t win many poker hands without careful consideration of your own cards but you won’t win any poker hands without considering your opponents’ cards too.

Your cards and their cards are closely related because the value of your hand and your ability to win the pot depends on the value of their hand and how they will play it. It may seem impossible to make a fair assessment of your opponents’ cards, but in truth, it becomes easier the more you play the game and especially the more you play the game with the same opponents.

Detailed observation

Careful observation will yield clues as to whether their hand is strong or weak. Armed with this knowledge, you are better prepared to play your own hand accordingly. Most players still underestimate the importance of playing themselves against their competitors vs. playing their cards against their competitor’s cards.

There are many advantages to this strategy, not least of which is protecting a good hand and playing a bad hand to a win. Alternately, the reverse is also true … after reading an opponent, you may choose to fold a hand that you would otherwise have played.

It is often repeated that the point of poker games online is winning. While this is true, it is far too simplistic to be practical. The point of real poker playing is to win more than you lose.

Sometimes losing is good

Inevitably, you will occasionally lose, but by having a good win to lose ratio you always come out ahead. When you alter your strategy to include the clues you get from other players, you lower your risk of losing big.

This goes back to folding on a good hand. It may be hard to put your cards down but a good hand is only valuable when it wins; if your assessment of another player leads you to believe they have a better hand, it’s better to fold than to pump someone else’s pot.

Ultimately, a good

the strategy is comprised of playing your cards, playing your opponents and betting accordingly. You cannot master the game on cards alone.

Happy playing!

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Losing Less is Winning More in Poker Online

Winning poker is not just about taking down the big pots and stealing the blinds. Winning at poker online isn’t about only playing when you hit premium hands.

Many poker online players conveniently forget the big hands they lose or put it down to bad luck – and this is a huge hole in a lot of players games – Losing big hands costs big cash.

Seriously how many times have you got well ahead in a tourney only to blow it on one big hand that eventually you figured you’d lost – yet still chucked in loads of chips because you were “pot committed”? How many times have you had a winning session only to decide to gamble on making a load more on just one more hand because it looked promising – and then ended up having your stack after you got carried away even when the cards just didn’t sit right?

A chance to cut your loses

The important thing is that 9 times out of 10 you could have seen it coming and you had a chance to cut your losses – and yet you didn’t. Recognizing this hole in your game and seeing a hand is going to be expensive to stay in means that losing less becomes winning more.

Let’s face it if you’ve got a draw to a monster hand or makings of a great hand the chances are those big cards you’ve hit on the flop have more than likely helped the other player(s). You need to be looking ahead seeing problems as well as the opportunities in the cards and take note of the way best online poker players are betting.

If you’re up against a very tight online poker real money player and he’s raising back at you before the flop – you must be thinking he has a strong hand and expect he is going to make you pay for every card along the way – maybe this isn’t the time to chase a draw with you suited high cards – is just going to be too expensive to be worth it.

Think ahead of everything

Maybe you’ve made a straight on the flop but there is a flush draw out there, of course, you’re going to crank up the pot. You want him out before he hits his flush. But you have to be thinking, what if the next card makes the flush am I up against a player who is going call a big net and make a big bet if he hits his draw? Then when he hits his flush, you’re already expecting his massive bet, you’re already thinking how your hand has gone bad and you’re already looking to get out – you’ve thought ahead.

Expected odds are when you call a bet or raise based not on pot odds or what’s already in the pot but on what you expect to be able to make on future rounds – If you’re on the flips side i.e. the victim, then you have to also assess your early bets based on what you think the future calls could cost you. If someone has called your big raise then you’ve got to be prepared for them coming straight back at you when their hand hits and yours doesn’t.

Losing small pots when you’re trying to pick them up or generate some action is fine – this is where you can make good money using skill and leading players by the nose – you won’t win every one but when you lose it won’t cost you your seat or all your money – but being led by the nose and adding to big pots even when your beat is where you lose the most.

Happy playing!

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Fast Play vs Slow Play in Poker online

When you make a strong poker online hand on the flop, you can generally play it one of two ways – slow or fast. Slow playing is generally a way to under-represent your hand by just checking or check to call in order to induce bluffs on later streets and/or set up check-raises. Fast playing, on the other hand, is just how it sounds. You play the hand in a much faster, more aggressive manner by betting and raising. When you play your hand fast, you are doing so to get value from worse hands as well as protect your hands against draws.

While there is no right or wrong way to play a hand (most times), there are pros and cons to both slow and fast playing of poker online that you should consider.

Pros to Slow Playing

Slow playing your best online poker hand will under rep it. In other words, by not betting your hand, you’re making it seem as if you’re weak or have no made hand at all. This can induce bluffs from absolute air or can induce bets from players who feel as if they’re betting for value when in reality they’re only value betting themselves.

Cons to Slow Playing

Slow playing can be risky at times. When you’re not betting your online poker real money hand, you’re not adequately protecting it against other draws. So, when you slow play your hand, you run the risk of allowing a hand that was behind, catch up and pull ahead of you.

Also, when you decide to slow play your hand, you also run the risk of losing value. A hand where you might’ve gotten 3-streets of value from, you are now only getting two. Additionally, many times scare cards can come off on later streets which may scare you and/or your opponent which can lead to you earning little to no value at all.

Pros to Fast Playing

When you play poker handfast, there is a good chance that the board is wet enough for you to get value from worse hands. You’re also making large bets (should be) which will often enable you to get your stack in by the time you reach the river.

Cons to Fast Playing

If your bet sizing is too large or if the board is too dry, you are likely going to fold out hands that might’ve otherwise caught up or tried to bluff you on later streets. This means you didn’t earn any value for your hand. If your bet sizing is too large or if the board is too dry, you are likely going to fold out hands that might have otherwise caught up or tried to bluff you on later streets.

Happy playing!

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5 Rules to Save Your Online Poker Bankroll

Lots of online poker players – even winning players – are prone to burning through their online bankroll, ruining weeks or months of successful grinding by going broke in one or two bad sessions.

Not surprisingly, players who lose money playing poker online also claim they’re unable to keep a bankroll online. What’s surprising is the number of winning players who have the exact same problem. If a player is a consistent winner in poker, it stands to reason that his or her game is profitable and should be similarly profitable online.

However, being successful in online poker requires significantly more discipline and control than poker. Players are stronger, play is quicker, and since you don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of anyone if you go off the deep end, you’re far more likely to go on tilt.

If you’re a good online poker real money player, and you know you’re capable of making money online yet can’t seem to keep a bankroll, here are five rules that just might save your online bankroll.

Play Within Your Roll

Let’s start with the most important concept first: you absolutely must play within your roll if you want to make money online.

Take two players and pit them against each other in a zero-sum game (such as flipping a coin, where each player has an expected win/loss rate of exactly 50%). One player has a finite bankroll. The other has an infinite bankroll. Given infinite repetitions of the game, the player with the finite roll will eventually go broke.

In the online poker world, it’s you against everyone else. This means it’s your roll against the infinite roll of the rest of the world. If poker was a zero-sum game, you’d go broke.

Luckily, if you’re a winning player, you can expect a positive return on your investment. But you need to have enough money in your roll to make the swings and variance irrelevant.

Don’t Monitor Your Balance

If you’re following the first rule and playing with a legit bankroll, then (outside of a serious and lengthy downswing defying all odds) you’re in little-to-no risk of going broke.

You play poker with chips, not money. You can’t think about the money you’re playing the game with as it’s completely irrelevant.

With checking the amount of your online roll as easy as clicking a button, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of micro-managing your account. When you’re on an upswing, every time you check your balance you feel good. The number goes up, so does your spirits. But it only takes one beat to make that number go down. A lot. And if you’re still checking your balance, seeing that smaller number will make you feel bad. You want it back to where it was and you want it back immediately. As soon as you have that thought, you’ve started “chasing your losses”. You’re going to start forcing your play to get back to where you think you should be.

Treat the Game Seriously

When you’re playing for real money, every session, pot and decision matters. Even the smallest of mistakes costs you money. The more money you lose from mistakes, the harder it becomes to generate profit and keep from going broke.

Limit distractions: By the very definition of the word, a distraction is taking your focus away from the game, moving it on to something else. As soon as you start playing best online poker without paying attention, you’re almost certain to make multiple mistakes.

Every person is different. Some players can play just as well, if not better while watching a movie. Other players need to shut everything else down to keep their mind on the game. You need to honestly assess your capability for multi-tasking and set yourself up to play in an optimal poker environment.

Don’t play out of boredom: You play poker because you want to play, or because it’s what you do to make money. Playing because you’re bored will force you to make poker your personal entertainment.

Sometimes, poker is not entertaining at all. If you’re only playing because you’re bored, and you’re having a boring session, chances are you’re going to make dumb moves to push the action. If you’re bored and you don’t legitimately feel like grinding, find something else to do.

Pay Attention to Your Human Needs

You are human. Humans require constant maintenance and upkeep to stay healthy. If you’re not healthy and feeling good, you’re not going to be playing your best poker game.

Hunger: If you’re not eating well or just plain hungry, you’re not going to be thinking as quickly or proficiently as possible. Also, if you’re hungry, that’s just one more distraction to keep you from thinking about poker.

Comfort: If you’re uncomfortable, you’re distracted. Get a good chair, a good monitor, and set yourself up as ergonomically as possible. If you want some good tips, Google is your answer. Use every tip you can find to keep yourself healthy, comfortable and carpal-tunnel free.

Exhaustion: If you’re exhausted, you’re not playing your best game. If you’re not playing your best game, you’re losing money. Regardless of how good the game is, when you feel extremely tired, go to bed.

Mental distractions: If you have anything pressing on your mind, you’re going to have a hard time playing your best game. It’s best to not play at all when you’re in a mental state that’s anything other than “normal”. Drugs and alcohol are other mental distraction. It’s one thing to have a beer or two while you play; it’s another to try and play while hammered. Regardless of what you may think, you can’t play your best poker when you’re drunk.

Integrate a Tilt-Induced Kill Switch

Usually brought on by breaking any combination of the previous rules, or something as simple as a bad beat, tilt can drive even the most measured player into a frenzy of ridiculous bets, raises and calls. The cause of tilt is personal and can come from anywhere. Although it will vary in degree from one person to the next, it’s impossible to avoid all tilt entirely.

Happy playing!

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Survive in Your First Online Poker Tournaments

Playing in online poker tournaments is a daunting experience – both for the novice and expert gamers alike. In these tourneys, you will be inside a huge room with thousands and thousands of participants. Most of these players are eager at sending you home early so they can have greater chances of winning the pot.

Along with these people are other distractions that can keep your focus away from the best online poker game. This includes the clicking of chips and the sound of a roar from distant sources.

Since it is your first time to play poker, you have to be equipped with all the necessary skills and strategies that help increase your odds at winning. Let this be your complete guide to playing in poker tournament games.

Stay Calm

A large tournament is unlike anything you have ever experienced. Some people crack because of the high tension that’s involved in the game. Others experience a sea of emotions that has distracted them from playing properly.

In essence, a tournament is no different than any online game you have played. It needs you to stay especially focused and calm so better results can be expected.

Tight Makes it Right

Most of the gamers inside the tournament will be playing an extremely tight game. Only the strong hands will be risked by these players. So, if someone is playing as if they have better cards, then they probably do hold strong hands.

Chips are to be Protected

Chips are your life in online poker real money. You need to protect them in any way you can. You cannot risk losing these chips from falling into major bluffs. In most tourney situations, players would be running complex bluffs. It is, therefore, necessary to guard your chips against your opponents.

Keep an Eye on the Stack Size

If you get yourself blinded in poker online, then you are really getting yourself into a poor spot. It is best to risk for healthy-sized stacks than letting yourself get down so low without taking the challenge.

Know and Understand Your Goals

Setting goals in poker is very vital. You can keep yourself focused on the career if you know the game rules and mechanics by heart. Aside from learning and crafting these goals, you also need to understand why you’re setting them up. You should have a basis for your goals so you can accomplish them at the most realistic time.

Since you are new at the tournament, it is best to target smaller goals first. You can begin by watching other players play and developing strategies out of the images you have seen.

Learn the Rules

Tournaments may vary in rules. You have to learn old protocols and know new ones as well. It is only important to know the ins and outs of a game considering the high stakes involved in poker.

Once you are familiar with the common rules of poker, you can begin understating ones the complex ones. You can have other poker professionals teach you so you may be properly guided on the matter.

Happy playing!

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These 3 Tips Will Become A Smart Poker Online Player

Actively playing poker used to be a pastime, but as a lot more TV shows and competitions offer to offer hundreds of thousands in awards, poker online is no longer the simple card sport it used to be. Right now, countless individuals are looking to understand poker for beginner suggestions in the hopes of becoming the next poker star. If you have the same goals also, here are points you need to keep in mind.

Train more

Training is the key to success in poker and the number one poker online for beginner tip to adhere to if you want to succeed. Playing a lot more means getting to work out your mind. In addition, it means working out your poker moves.

Many individuals find actively playing best online poker a lot more beneficial to learning. If you are one of those pupils, find a poker discussion board or game room to play in. Having players from other places will help sharpen your capabilities as you get used to actively playing with real people.

If you would like to understand without the need of getting into a game room, find a website that offers gaming against a computer. Actively playing with a computer could be tough, but it can enable you to increase your game just also. It can also enable you to excel at how you can make use of a pot odds calculator for your own benefit.

Pay attention to other players

Poker for beginner tip number two is about understanding your competitor. Many players, whether they like to confess to it or not, have a specific “tell.” This is accurate even with skilled players, though they have incredibly discreet tells. These players would be actively playing poker with you and you would not even notice if they are bluffing or otherwise.

By focusing on other people, you get to know about the player body language. You’ll be able to also notice a small transformation in the mood. These two areas would afterwards help you because the game advances. As soon as you have played long enough, you’ll be able to notice who’s bluffing and who’s generating a legitimate bet.

Being attentive to other people is only relevant when actively playing with other people on a game table. You can’t assume to do this if you are going to learn poker online. Online games may have you actively playing through a computer connection so you do not have the ability to watch other players.

Play with self-assurance

Too many times, your emotions will be your best impediment. If you play as if you expect to get some beating, then this really is most likely to occur. Many online poker real money players who enter into a game are just like sharks because they can feel concerned and intimidation. Actively playing without self-assurance is the quickest approach to lose each playing hand for the rest of the game.

If possible, do not go to a game if you are unhappy or upset. Being emotionally charged will cost you a lot of as other players can see distracted players a mile away. Detrimental energies will also get in the way of performing superior strategies even if you check with a pot odds calculator. Sadness or rage can obstruct your ideas and you will find yourself losing badly.

Other poker tips are also obtainable online if you would like much more information. Many of these guidelines can also have you comprehending regarding gambles, pot odds calculator, as well as other advance themes. Learning and understanding these subjects can support your pursuit to become an expert player sooner.

Happy playing!

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5 Tips for Running Bad in Online Poker

One of the worst things that can happen to an online poker player is not being drawn out on, on the river. Although that is bad indeed, having a bad run or a major downswing is much worse. Unlike being drawn out on where it is over in a matter of seconds, having a bad run can last days, weeks, or even months. A player feels as if they cannot win and are ready to point the finger in any direction possible other than themselves.

It is possible that you chase too many hands, bet too big or even play outside your bankroll. These are all possibilities, no doubt about it. However, this can be your fault simply because when most players realize they are running poorly, they continue playing!

This is the last thing you should do when you are not playing well at poker online. You are only setting yourself up for further disappointment and even worse, a big serving of tilt. So, what should you do when you realize you are running badly? Our Top 5 tips below should be able to answer that for you and they are in order in which you should concern yourself with them.

Play the Right Games:

Did you just start playing poker and now you are losing every game you play? Have you only been playing poker for a month and now you are trying to learn every variation of poker under the sun? While this may not be a big deal to some, others take a while before learning a game well enough to make money. You may need to give yourself time to learn as a few months is simply not enough to have a good concept of some online poker tournaments.

Analyze Your Game:

You need to analyze your game and see where there may be leaks. When you advance in stakes, not only do you need to focus on picking up on your opponent’s mistakes, but you need to focus on yours as well. Before continuing to play, you should really do some careful research on how you play and what you can do to get better.

Analyze Your Bankroll:

Are you playing at too high of stakes for your bankroll? Best online poker is a complete mind game so it is possible that a couple big losses could be mistaken for a bad run. If you are playing tourneys at SNGs with only a small bankroll, never mind your skills, you can simply be facing a normal variation and your bankroll cannot withstand that type of loss.

Steer Away from Tilt:

Your emotion is rearing its ugly head at you and letting you know that it has taken over your common sense. It is too easy to tilt in online poker real money and before you know it, you are making horrendous plays, starting with bad cards, and continuously playing catch up. Tilt can be easy to spot but since you are analyzing yourself, it is just as easy to point to a bad run of cards as well.

Stop Playing:

Although this is the final straw if you cannot find the problem to why you may be doing poorly, why would you waste more money playing the game? it is not making any sense. You need to stop and take a break from the game, regardless of how difficult it may be. the length of time will vary on the person; however, the game will be there tomorrow, the day after and the day after that. The more you continue to blame the cards, the harder it is going to be for you to take loses. It will just end up being a snowball effect that will not only take its toll on your wallet but on your mind as well.

Happy playing!

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Few Tips to Prevent Ego Killing Your Online Poker Game

Playing online poker can be fun and engaging, but one of the mistakes beginners make is being cocky after a couple of lucky wins. There are the rare beginners who have a knack for the game, but they are a very rare exception. The safest and smartest way to play as a beginner is to know that you are bound to win a few and lose a few.

Stop being discouraged

Do not let it swells your head or discourage you too much. You are still learning the poker games online and it will take some time to really get good at it. When you begin playing, spend more time watching the more experienced players. Unless you have a really good hand, you should play it safe and fold when you do not have a solid hand to play.

Learn to bluff efficiently

It is best to learn to online poker real money bluff from watching experienced players before losing a lot of money under the assumption that you know what you are doing. You should also stick to lower stakes where you won’t feel too pressured to keep going when you are not confident in your hand.

Stop suffering from overconfidence

Best online poker beginners are not the only ones who suffer from overconfidence. Even more, experienced players can either drink too much or win enough to feel invincible. Everyone will be dealt with losing hands; the best strategy is to learn when your hand is so bad or you have already bluffed too much and need to sit a handout. The more times you bluff, the more experience the other players will have at seeing how is your strategy. They will start to get suspicious and start analyzing a player who always wins to try to pick up the tells of when that player is bluffing.

Stay in too often and you are giving them more opportunity to analyze you since the odds are not in your favour to win every game. Realizing when you have such a lousy hand that you should fold and sit that round out will throw off the other players. They will see you know that you will not win every hand and are strong enough to know when you are dealt a losing hand, making it harder for them to gauge when you are lying.

Happy playing!

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Learn the Myths about Online Poker Players

There are an array of books and movies where the protagonist is an online poker player, with James Bond’s adventure in Casino Royale being the most notable one. However, on numerous occasions, the game is often misrepresented. Here are some myths the general non-poker playing audience have about the game.

Poker is all about bluffing

Most people believe the game is all about making that one risky bluff at the right time that pays off and results in the player scooping the pot. However, this is not quite accurate. Bluffing is undoubtedly an essential part of the game, and the pros are very good at identifying profitable spots to pull the trigger and bluff. But then again, it is just one of the many aspects of the game.

The pros have genius-level IQ

The misconception exists that to play professionally, you need to be a genius. While the best players do have a higher than the average IQ, this is a fact for most professionals in any field. However, you don’t need to be as intelligent as Isaac Newton to play the game.

All poker pros are exceptional mathematicians

This is not true. The game does involve mathematics to a certain extent, but the calculations involved are relatively simple. Common concepts in poker games online like pot odds, equity, outs etc are easy to understand. You don’t need a mathematics degree to play poker!

Being a good player is enough

People believe that simply being good in player implies constant success from a professional front. But simply being good isn’t enough. The metagame is constantly changing, and in such a situation it is important for any seasoned pro to adapt accordingly.

The Pro Lifestyle is full of glamour

You might have seen quite a few best online poker pros brandishing their luxury villa, high-end cars and even attending classy shindigs now and again. But the underlying truth is: staying at the top is extremely difficult and leading such a lifestyle means having to deal with overburdening pressure. People usually just see the results but not the copious amount of time these pros spend learning and mastering the game.

Happy playing!

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