Free Poker Strategy

Online poker has become quite a phenomenon over recent years, with numerous rooms opening to aspiring poker players.

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The reasons so many thousands of people play online poker, are partly based on it’s convenience. In previous years, players had to find a local live game in order to play, and this could be a daunting task, especially for an inexperienced player. These days, if you are unsure of how to play, there is a lengthy guide to poker games on most sites, and you can enjoy a game with players of a similar standard on small stakes tables, or in play money games. This takes away any feeling of insecurity and concern about making mistakes as you learn. The ease with which you can choose your options to raise, call, or fold, mean that you do not have to worry about accidently acting out of turn or making some other etiquette orientated faux pas.

Online poker rooms welcome players however inexperienced, to enjoy the excitement of the game from the comfort of their own home, offering bonuses for cash deposits as well as a vast array of games to cater for everyones individual needs.

To me, these aspects of online play have contributed hugely to the growth of the game in modern times, but I still stand by my belief that nothing can replace the thrill of the live game.

Facing your opponent in person is how the game began, and still holds the most excitement for me. The social aspect of the game is another reason why it is one of the finest games ever invented, and if the whole world played exclusively online, we would be in danger of losing much of that social enjoyment I feel.

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Only recently I have had a chance to watch the entire final table through, despite following most of the updates throughout the whole tournament when it was going on.
I have to say that I was impressed by the way Peter Eastgate seemed to slowly increase his stack through the early stages of the final table without ever risking a huge pot.

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I certainly have to say that the two best players made it to heads up play in my opinion, but having watched all the hands at that final table, I personally feel that Demidov was the best player there by a considerable margin.
There were two particular plays he made that stand out in my mind. Very early in the game he made a huge raise to risk almost all of his stack against Philips when he had (A,Q) against (A,K) and both had missed the flop. You can say that pushing all your chips in on a bluff is not the best way to win a tournament, but you have to admire the raw talent it takes to pull off such a move. This early in the game, Demidov had to be reading Phillips hand perfectly and entrusting his tournament life to his own judgement, and he read the situation absolutely perfectly. From what I saw of Phillips play, I could personally never have seen him make a perfect read and play in this position. Another hand that springs to mind is when Demidov lays down (Ks,7s) after making two pair on a board of (7h,3d,6s,Kh,3c). Being up against a set of threes, this is a top class lay down considering it only cost him another 5 million chips to call.

After his WSOPE 3rd place in the preceding months, and then his 2nd place in the WSOP main event, Demidov has really shown what he is capable of, and in my opinion, was by far the most talented player at that table.

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This was another hand that took place this evening, and again, involved myself in the big blind, and the small blind. I had been dealt (Js,7s) and made a small preflop raise.

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My opponent called and the flop came down (3h,4d,6h) my opponent made a fairly small bet of 600, and I felt compelled to call as at that point, I felt a Jack or 7 would put me in front even if his bet was anything more than a tester bet, and a 5 would make my straight. It was the 7d that fell on the turn, and I began to doubt whether I should have counted the 7 as an out, although the basis for my thinking was still good in that, to raise preflop, I couldn’t see him holding many hands that contained a 5. Pocket Fives were plausible, but I felt when he made another fairly small bet, I had to try and find out whether my pair was in front. I had 4,000 in front of me, and the bet was 600. I reraised to 2,000 and my opponent sat and thought for a considerable length of time. Finally, he folded, showing (K,K). I never felt he was that strong at all, mainly because the standard play would be to force the issue earlier on in case I was holding an Ace and one appeared on the turn or river.

My aggressive table image helped me out here I feel, because he knew I was capable of calling preflop with suited connectors. Also, I asked him afterwards would he have called if I had reraised all in on the turn, and he said he would have because it would have looked so much more like I didn’t have a Five. If I had made a straight he would expect the same type of reraise I made, not too big to force an opponent out but enough to possibly force a flush draw out.

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Texas Holdem is a wonderful game, and one which has soared in popularity in recent years. Due to this I feel that it is likely the bar has been raised in terms of skilled players try to turn a regular profit. Omaha however, has always maintained some popularity, but the game has never attracted the same interest as Holdem. I can see no real reason why this is the case, as I have grown to play more Omaha I have found it to be certainly more exciting to play than Holdem.

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When it comes to making money at Omaha, I also think the skilled players find it a lot easier to turn a regular profit than the skilled Holdem players do. This is of course partly due to the Holdem players that switch over to experiment with Omaha, and simply can’t switch away from their Holdem state of mind. They consequently make mistakes, the biggest of which, is clinging on to a single big pocket pair when the board is showing every draw under the sun. I saw one such player manage to get all his $21 in with (Q,Q,x,x) on a board of (2,8,10). After being raised and reraised, two players called his all in, one with some sort of straight draw and a pair of tens, the other had (8,9,J,x). The first miracle for our man with the Queens, is that he thinks he is in front when he is raising and reraising on the flop, and due to the certifiable, insane play from his opponents, he’s actually right. The second miracle is that both players with a pair managed to miss pairing either of their other three cards as well as missing their straight draws. However nice the players pocket queens looked with that type of board, the reality was that he ended up having to dodge a cumulative total of about 30 outs both on the turn, and river.

He got incredibly lucky and won, but in Omaha, if you turn up in a Holdem mindset, it’s only a matter of time before the skilled players take you down.

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After learning a new 3 card based game recently, I felt I should share the basic rules of this game with you.

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There seems to be many variations of games which involve making 3 card poker hands. Usually the rules will differ slightly in terms of hand rankings with this type of game. Straights beat Flushes, with the highest Straight being (A,2,3) followed by (A,K,Q) then decending through the rankings in the usual manner. Flushes beat a Pair, and also a High Card, although Three of a Kind is the best possible hand. The other possible hand is the Straight Flush, and that slots in between a regular Straight, and Three of a Kind in terms of strength.

The game we played involved each player having three lives. Three cards were dealt to each player, with another two face up cards in the centre, and one face down. The action would move around the table with each player swapping one card for either of the face up cards, or the ‘mystery’ face down card. If they took the face down card, they had to replace it with their own card also face down. After each player has had one swap, any player thereafter can announce ‘knock’ after they swap a card. The moment this is announced, each remaining player has one swap left, with aim being solely to not turn over the weakest hand at the end. if you turn over the weakest hand, you lose a life.

These different forms of 3 card poker are often fun games to play I feel, and well worthy of introduction into a home game, if your usual game becomes tiresome.

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This was a hand which took place between two players at my local live game recently, and although I wasn’t involved in this one, it was certainly intrueging, and worth examining.

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Both players were from my past experiences of playing with them, were skilled. The first of these players was dealt (K,K) during this hand, and I have in fact seen this player fold the same hand preflop once before, after a raise, then reraise, then a caller before the action had got to her. That is why I found what transpired in this hand, rather interesting. The opponent here was dealt (A,A) which is often a recipe for an explosive pot in itself, but the flop of (6c,7c,8d) slowed things down a little. There had been a preflop raise, reraise, and call as I remember, and our player with (K,K) called another bet on the flop and turn, which was a (10x), and the river, which was an (8c).

Our player with (A,A) moved all in on the river which I think is very risky indeed. In this situation for (K,K), though you may not know it at the time, these board cards are perfect because they give you a real chance to fold your hand, but unfortunately, with over half their stack commited already, our player with (K,K) calls.

Considering that almost every danger to (K,K) imaginable was there, I really think that the fold should have been made, but then it is always easier to say that, when you are a spectator, rather than if you are in the hand yourself.

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In a game of Omaha, you find yourself with the following hand: (Ad,Qd,4h,4c). This is a good starting hand and offers good opportunities to improve. The flop then comes down (5d,6h,9h,Kd). In this position, the most obvious point of interest is the fact that there are two diamonds on the board giving you a chance of a nut flush.

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Let us say you call a small raise, along with a third player, and the turn arrives (3s). If the player who placed the original bet on the flop then makes the same bet, you have to feel that the three on the turn gives you sufficient cause to go on the offensive. It is not the simple fact that this card has brought you more possibilities of making a strong hand, but also the fact that it is not a heart, and not seemingly dangerous to you in any other way. if by some coincidence your opponent has made a set of threes with this card, then all is certainly not lost, as a diamond that does not pair the board will still win you the pot, as will a four on the river. If one or other opponent is looking for a heart flush, you would have struggled to force them out on the flop, but on the turn, our three of spades has now made this possible.

Always look to get aggressive at points in the hand where your opponents potential draws are not likely to have hit, and their chances of making their hand have diminished.

This should ensure a higher success rate of picking up pots, but more importantly, you often have the chance in Omaha, to do this with a sufficient amount of cards that could win you the pot even if you are called.

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Accepting things in poker, or not accepting them, is important I feel, and has much to do with pyschological aspects of the game which affect your play. In terms of not accepting situations, a key example would be when you have just lost a big pot and are short stacked. Many players will immediately feel that all their hard work was for nothing and accept they will soon be going out of the tournament. So much so in fact, that they will simply gamble on the very next hand and push the rest of the chips in.

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Whilst it is understandable to be frustrated in this situation, you have to try and think clearly about what pressure the blinds will put you under when they next reach you, and how long you have to attempt a double through.
Another point to consider would be those players that cannot accept they didn’t play a hand as they should have. It is easy to blame bad luck in poker, and this can of course often be the reason for your downfall, but if you wish to improve, you have to look at your own decisions first and foremost.

When luck does happen to be involved in you losing a big pot and you know you played the hand correctly, acceptance of the fact that these things happen in poker, becomes improtant too. There is nothing to be gained from dwelling on events that have passed, and so accepting you got unlucky and moving on with the game is imperitive to turning your situation around.
All in all, it is easy to play poker when luck is with you, but when things are going wrong, it is important to understand and accept the reasons why, and perhaps apportion blame to your own decision making, however much you might not want to.

On Wednesday, I met the usual crowd at our local venue for the weekly live freezeout game. I can honestly that the first hour stood out above anything I have experienced, in terms of not finding a hand. I can say with complete honesty that the highest Ace I saw in my hole cards was (A,4) off, and I was dealt one pair, of (5,5), in the first hour. My stack had slid from a 6,000 starting stack, to 3,000, and I had two crazy, loose players at my table preventing me from really doing anything creative about my predicament.
Luckily enough after the first break, I sat down to (A,Q), and after shoving all in from middle position and picking up the blinds, my chipstack was looking marginally better.

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I must point out here, that I wouldn’t normally play (A,Q) quite so fast from middle position, but with the two wild characters at my table itching to reraise just about anyone…I felt it best to set my stall out there and then.

After nursing my stack back to a slightly healthier 4,000 I picked up a hand of (Js,Qs). In the big blind, with two limpers, I decided to take a flop. The rainbow flop then came down (3,7,Q) and as it was checked to one of the crazy players to my right, I just knew he was going to raise, no matter what he had. So when he bet out 500, I pushed all in over the top, feeling that the other players check was genuine weakness. Needless to say, it was folded to the 500 raiser, who then called for the rest of my chips. He then proceeded to turn over a feeble (Q,2) off, and spike a 2 on the river to end my tournament.

All in all, not a hand, or a poker tournament I wish to spend too much time reminiscing about.

The game I was involved with today, was a deeper stacked tournament than our usual, with 10,000 chips for each player, and as far as first hands dealt in a tournament go, (Ac,Kc) wasn’t bad. After a preflop raise and a tester bet on the flop of (5,6,Q), the reraise that came back at me was enough to dismiss any thoughts I had about stealing the pot.

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My opponent showed (Ad,Qd), and was of course lucky to catch his queen on the flop.
The second hand dealt in the tournament, was one in which I have written a seperate article about in far more depth, so I shall not go through the gory details. In short though, it involved my (7,7) versus (9,9). Second biggest full house against my opponents top full house ensued, which by anyones standards, is a horrific way to start a tournament off.

I somehow escaped from these first two hands with 6,000 chips left intact, and spent the next hour and a half drifting between 5 and 6 thousand chips. I had taken to making big moves preflop when I picked up decent hands, showing (A,K) twice, (A,Q) once, and (J,J) once. When the blinds eventually went up another level, I decided to switch gears, and hopefully steal a couple of pots. One of the first of these hands involved me picking up (5d,7d) from the button, and moving all in once it had been folded round to me. My opponents had seen me earlier showing strong hands with this type of play, and my plan was that this would help dissuade any callers. Unfortunately one of the stronger players at our table had picked up (A,10) and sensed my weakness. He called, and after picking up a flush draw on the flop, I got no help from the turn and river, and was out.

Overall it has been a tough week for me in terms of live games, and so I have decided to take a week long break from poker. Hopefully, that is enough time for the apparent anger the poker gods have towards me at the moment, to subside.