Free Poker Strategy

If you have spent any amount of time on the lower stakes Omaha poker tables, you will almost certainly have seen them. These poker players are often strange in the fact that most of their Omaha play is relatively good, but show them a big pair, and all this changes.

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As soon as you see these poker players at the table, beware of the obvious sign they have an (A,A) or (K,K), that being a pot sized bet preflop, and a pot bet on the flop. Regardless of what any of the board cards are, you will generally find their poker play does not get much more sophisticated on the turn or river either… Bet pot, bet pot.

Just earlier today I observed one poker player throwing his entire stack away with (A,A,2,5) on a board of (7h,8d,9d,6c,Jd). In this position, when your bet on the flop is called, you should slow right down as there isn’t really much your hand can beat, and your only real way of improving is to hit an Ace. Even if you do catch this Ace, you may well be dead against a Straight anyway.

It is a curious thing to see these otherwise fairly competent poker players suddenly lose control of themselves when they see an (A,A) or (K,K) in their Omaha poker hand. You would have to conclude that the problem is they simply don’t know how to play these poker hands. These poker players seem to be unable to stomach the prospect of ever putting these big pairs down, and feel their only other option is to bet them as hard as they can, all the way to the river. Inevitably, this leads to skilled poker players who can trust their instincts enough, being able to call such maniacs down with even a weak bottom two pair.

According to some online poker experts, your skill and strategy depends on a group of levels, and you should – as a poker player – be able to class yourself in one of these levels by answering the question the level has and this is a top poker strategy tip.

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Firstly, there is obviously hierarchy when it comes to poker players. Some are experienced with playing the odd game at a family function and others have made an absolute living out of it and are living in the lap of luxury, and then of course there are the poker players in between. David Sklansky – a highly respected poker player – believes poker players can be “measured” somewhat by applying and asking them the questions of the six levels and gives this explanation when asked for online poker strategy tips.

Level zero poker players for example would look at their hand and say (a majority of the time) “I don’t have anything worth playing”, where as someone at a level 1 would take a step back, assess their cards and say “What do I have? Is there anything I can do here?”.

Sklansky believes that in order to play at your full potential, you must be honest with yourself and the level that you’re at and work on your online poker method so that all six level’s questions can be answered. A level 3 player is a pretty confident poker player. Level 3 players can confidently ask themselves and assess what their opponents have and level 4 players go one step further and start to think about what the opponent thinks they have in their hand.

Level 5 players simply know what their opponents are thinking they have (but bluffing has made sure they haven’t got what they have made people believe they have). Level 5 is the level belonging to most professional poker players. Before working on your strategy, be honest about your level and then be honest about what you have to learn within the game of poker.

Some of the top and most successful poker players claim that bluffing well is the key to their success, but not everyone can bluff upon playing poker for the first time, and like most things it takes practice.

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If done well and concentration is applied wholeheartedly, then bluffing can be one of the most effective ways of winning poker with a free poker strategy which eventually means hundreds and thousands of pounds.

When learning how to bluff, it is a common mistake to think that you choose your weaker opponents to bluff to. Weak opponents are the type of poker player that calls any wager and these are the types to avoid. Set your sights on the stronger opponents who know when to fold and put themselves out of the game.

Another free poker strategy is Reverse psychology. It works very well within a poker game. You may feel disheartened and worried if you have been rumbled and a fellow good player sees that you have bluffed. This may put you off bluffing again, but the other poker player is probably thinking that you wouldn’t bluff again. Bluff over and over again, as the people that found you out are probably betting you’re not.

Try not to bluff to more than 2 or 3 poker players. Bluffing is said to more effective in poker when you concentrate on “throwing” a certain player. Decide this within the first few minutes of the game and power your concentration into bluffing your selected player. Of course, the hardest of all bluffing skills is the ability to “read” what the other person may have, but when learned, this skill is proven to be completely priceless.

Poker Strategy sites have grown in number recently, coinciding with the popularity of poker in general. These poker strategy sites offer a great deal of information relating to all different aspects of all different popular types of poker game.

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Generally speaking, strategy sites are not something you can spend months studying carefully, and then go to the tables and be an outstanding player. It is difficult to see anything that can make you an outstanding player on it’s own except practice. That does not negate the potential positive aspects of such strategy sites however, you should simply use them to supplement what you are already learning from playing the game.

You do not have to be a complete beginner to find useful information on these poker sites, players of almost any level can use their time well by taking a look through these sites. you should not feel that you are accepting yourself as a weak poker player either, just because you look at these strategy sites. For every poker player, there is always more to learn about the game.

Often simply studying a different perspective on a given siuation can lead to you playing a hand slightly differently, creating a positive outcome for you. Most strategy sites are free to use and you can certainly read up on the thoughts of skilled poker players online without searching to hard. Poker strategy is a matter of perspective in many cases, and it can only improve your game to both study, and consider, different opinions from great poker players within the game.

When choosing to slow play a very strong poker hand on the flop, there are always several issues to consider.

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The first of these issues would be the vulnerability of your strong poker hand in terms of the flop texture, and how the following board cards play out. Making top set on a board with two cards of the same suit showing, would be a less favourable situation to slow play of course. If the turn brings a third card of that suit on the table, then you may be quickly playing your strong poker hand into big trouble.

Strong poker hands should in most cases, be played by betting them, this is partly so that you can gauge potential dangers to your hand by your opponents reactions to your betting. Also, betting your strong poker hand properly is usually the way to extract the most in poker chips too. The very nature of poker is that particular poker plays can work better against some types of players than others, but generally, playing a good poker hand slowly should not be done too often.

Another key issue with playing your poker hand slowly, is that you should only check the action to your opponent on the flop and turn. If you are the first poker player to act and you decide to check the river card to your opponent, you give them the chance to check behind. Most poker players will be suspicious of your check-calling up to this point and will do exactly that if you allow them to on the river. For this reason, you should bet your hand strongly on the river in order to extract maximum value from it.

There are many circumstances in poker where applying pressure to your opponents can be of great benefit. Whilst your opponents wait to find the right hand to play, you are swiftly stacking up the blinds through aggressive preflop raising.

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This type of aggressive play is best used in the latter stages of tournaments when the action gets short handed, as the larger size of the blinds means you can make a lot of chips in a short time. The problem with this type of play is that you have to balance this aggression with giving out the false idea to your opponents, that you are being selective about the hands you are raising with.

As you start to raise more hands in this position, your poker opponents start to judge your hands as potentially weaker, and expand their range of calling hands accordingly. This is why it is important to consider a few factors to make sure that if your bet isn’t overly believable, your opponents will fold anyway.

One such way to do this is by applying pressure on the bubble when there is one very weak stack who looks like going out soon. Your poker opponents might think you are weak, but they want to ensure they make it to the money anyway and so they play tighter. Also if you have made a few preflop all ins to pick up the blinds, try simply raising to three times the big blind. This makes your opponent think that the previous bets were just aggressive moves (which they suspect anyway), and this smaller raise, actually wants to be called.

Understanding how and when to be selective about your aggression, is the key to gaining the upper hand by the time you get heads up in a poker game. Once you have the chip lead, you should always keep the pressure on, but remember to try and make those bets somewhat believable too.

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.