Free Poker Strategy

Poker Strategy: In terms of hand rankings, (A,K) ranks right up there near the top, and so any player is happy to be dealt this hand. The problem with this hand is that however great the potential to be dominating an opponent who opens with a raise, Ace king is still only ace high. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that after having built a pot preflop, you will miss the flop and still have ace high.

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When it comes to pocket aces or kings, you can often afford to play it slightly slower because you are near certain you are in front preflop, and so you would not want to force out hands such as (A,J) (K,Q) or smaller pairs. When it comes to (A,K) it is often beneficial to bet out strongly preflop, as any reraise will tell you more about your opponents hand, because of the initial strength of your own raise. The other advantage of playing (A,K) fast preflop, is that as soon as a poker opponent flat calls, you can be pretty certain you are not in bad shape, and are most likely against a smaller ace or an underpair.

Some poker players seem to make aggressive bets on a harmless looking board after missing hands such as (A,K).  Unless your opponent has an overpair or a flopped set, betting out first in this way will often get through to earn you the pot, but you must beware of how much of your stack you are commiting to (A,K) once you miss it. If of course you hit your (A,K) on the flop, your main concerns are Flush, Straight, or even two pair potential for your opponent by the time the turn falls, and this should help to shape your decision on how to play your hand from there.

Extravagant Plays: Many players you see at the tables will tell you that the best part of playing poker is the thrill of setting a trap or forcing a huge bluff through, and I think that every poker player enjoys the thrill of this. Despite this fact, extravagant plays are not always the most profitable. In fact most of the time, doing the simple things consistently, will be what earns you money at the game.

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Betting your strong hands properly is important, and if you are forced into big preflop decisions, use your experience to make sure you get your money in as a favourite as often as possible. If you are playing multiple Sit and Go’s, you need to be aware of aspects such as the impending bubble and the way this affects opponents play. If you are sitting on a nice stack, the best time to use it is when there are 4 players left. Be careful if the next highest stack is on your immediate left, but generally, taking advantage of fearful play with selective poker preflop aggression, is good.

Many players will tell you that keeping your plays simple is a profitable way to play, and particularly at the low levels keeping your play solid, and uncomplicated, will bring results. There is a place for extravagant plays in poker of course, but they are often better used sparingly, and when the blind structures allow. Despite the excitement gained from making complicated plays work, remember that there is no better feeling than to be able to post a consistent profit in poker.

Position in Poker: Learning about position in poker and how it affects the way a hand plays out is probably not the first thing you will learn about the game. It is not essential to understand position in order to play at a social, fun, home game level, but serious players should understand the importance of position.

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In poker, players will always take turns in making their decisions, with the action always moving to the left.
The players who are forced to act early on in the betting round are disadvantaged to an extent, because they have no clue as to what the intentions of the opponents behind them are. If we were to look at a hand such as (A,10) suited, which is not overly strong, we will see that it becomes more playable depending on position.

As the first player to act, if you raise with this hand, you know that the only players who can call or reraise you are very likely to have your hand in deep trouble. With so many players yet to act behind you, playing the hand is usually too dangerous in a serious poker game. It isn’t just preflop that you have to worry about position, but being one of the first to act on the flop too. These marginal hands can sometimes be played in later position to good effect, because if you have already seen most of the players fold, you know that there are very few players left behind you that may have a hand which can challenge you.

In some cases being first to act can be turned to your advantage, check raising a poker player when you have missed a flop can be a risky play, but it looks powerful when you make such a move. Most of the time though, it is preferable to be acting from late position. Generally you should open up your range of playable hands slightly depending on how late your turn to act is, but remember to do this within the framework of your own style of play. Do not feel compelled to play a marginal hand simply because of your position, for example.

Online Poker has brought with it a new and interesting approach to the game of poker. Whilst these new differences do not involve the strategy of playing the games themselves, they do involve something previously unseen in casinos and cardrooms. Players who might usually play on a table where they have a slight edge in skill over the opposition, know that the time constraints on how many hands you play in a live game, do not have to apply in online play.

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All you have to do as a poker player with an edge in skill, is play many tables at once online. This ensures that as luck evens out over the tables, your skill results in an overall profit, which should be more expansive with more tables being played simultaneously.

This is all very good theoretically, and there are many players in the world who put this theory into practice with a great deal of success too. The problem with this type of play is that skipping between so many tables means you cannot concentrate on the finer points of the play going on at each table. You will not for instance have seen the player bluffing constantly, or that the player who just raised you hasn’t played a hand in the past thirty five minutes.

This means that some poker players will lose what edge they may have had in the first place because they are not giving their full attention to any of the games they are playing. Despite this, if you play solid poker and are sensible and straightforward about your choices, you can still find a profit margin there.