Tag: poker tournaments

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! 

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!

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! 

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 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!