Poker Strategy

Does it Benefit Me to be a Specialist or Should I Learn All the Games?

This is a tough question to answer as it really depends on what you want to do with your poker playing.  If you are just looking to take down your local game, you are probably better off just playing hold’em and becoming an expert.  If you want to be a true player and be successful at the casinos, you are better off getting a well rounded education and learning all of the games.

The reason I say that you should become well rounded is because you never know where opportunity is going to strike.  Most home games are either a compilation of a bunch of silly games like After the Queen, Low Hole and 7, Middle Hole and the like or straight up Texas Holdem Poker tournaments.  Any game with a wild card is pretty much pot luck so you can focus on hold’em and clean up with your buddies.



When you are looking to play cards for a living, you have to be able to play where the money is.  For instance, you walk into your local card room and all of the hold’em tables are not only filled, but are occupied by people that you know are better than you.  On the other hand, the 7 stud table has 2 seats open and has nothing but suckers sitting at it.  Do you want to be on the list to donate your money or would you rather go sit down and make 2 month’s rent in one session?

The other money making opportunity for this is playing poker on poker sites.  H.O.R.S.E. tournaments are becoming more and more popular at the poker sites. While there may be a lot of players in them, they do not always have the best skills once you get into the stud variations.  It is always funny to watch someone play Razz for the first time as it can get quite confusing. These poker sites offer more popular games which might be an opportunity to make more money.

This is where being a well rounded player will help you.  Let them fight it out on the hold’em and Omaha Poker games.  You can sit back and wait for big hands there, but when the stud games roll in, all bets are off.  This is where you can lay down the hammer and take advantage of the weaker players.

As a matter of fact, this is also true of the live game.  I’m not sure if you noticed for not, but the majority of the variation games had all pro’s going deep in the WSOP.  The reason behind this is the fields are smaller and the play is much weaker.  A skilled player can rip right through these games.  In all honesty, if you want to win a bracelet, this is your best chance.

Now is the time to start practicing.  Get as much experience as you can at the micro levels online and then get into the live games at the casino.  Start at the lower levels to get a feel for how the game is played and then start sitting in with the big boys.  You may even find that you like it better than hold’em!

Tags:
Hold’em, HORSE, Omaha, Texas Holdem Poker, WSOP

How Strong Can You Play a Small Flush?

This is a hand that has killed plenty of stacks, most recently at the WSOP Main Event.  The hand in question has one player sitting on a 35d and the other sitting on QJd.  The board hit all diamonds and the smaller flush led out and ended up getting his whole stack in with the second best.  No big deal, only a few million dollars lost on a 5 high flush!

Players tend to get tunnel vision the moment that their hands hit and pay little attention to anything else.  Now this was a notable pro player at one of the most prestigious poker tournaments in the world and he never thought for a second that he was second best. This is proof that it can happen to anyone.

This is something that will also happen with high pairs or when someone hits the high portion of the board with a card.  For instance, you are sitting on K9s and a K hits the board along with two babies.  You lead out and someone comes over top of you and you immediately push.  What makes you think that a 9 kicker is going to hold up?  Even if you are ahead at that moment, more than likely it is a bad play to commit your stack with that type of hand.

The same can be said for the small flush.  Even when the odds are slim that the other player also has a flush, it is pretty safe to assume that they are on a massive draw and if another card hits, you are dead and your chips gets shuffled across the table.  There is no worse feeling than seeing the aftermath and asking yourself, “What the hell was I thinking?”

There is a time and a place to make a stand and a baby flush is not it.  If you are going to make a play, you are much better off waiting until the river anyway.  At this point, you can get a better read on your opponent and pretty much know if they were going after the draw of if they had the same flush as you did, only stronger.

This also gives you the ability to still get out of the hand with relatively little damage to your stack.  If you are leading out, you can do so with smaller bets that won’t cripple you if you end up losing.  You can still make a move on the hand on the river with a healthy raise, but if they come over top of you, you can be pretty sure that they are not just bluffing.

The problem when you get aggressive early in a hand like this is that any draw will come right back at you.  You are then faced with the decision to give someone two more cards and hope that your baby flush holds up or worse, have the cards turned and realize that you are drawing dead.  There is always as time to make a stand, but choose a better hand.

Tags:
Bluf, Flush, Poker, Poker Game, WSOP

How to Beat a Maniac

Welcome to the first edition of this series on how to beat your opponents. We will be discussing the best strategies when confronted with different playing styles. The first style we will be looking at is the Maniac.

The Maniac plays exactly as the name describes. He is crazy, wild, and shows no regard for typical poker theory. In fact, it almost seems like he hates money. This holds true until someone calls one of his crazy bets while he is holding the nuts. This player can win or lose a lot of chips in a hurry. Once they have a lot of chips they can be very dangerous because of their aggressive nature. So strap in as we dissect The Maniac.

Spotting the Maniac will be easy. He makes the biggest bets in the strangest spots and most likely will be doing the most talking. This is due to the fact that everyone will be questioning what the heck he is doing. This is definitely the type of player that we want to beat themselves, but you also want to make sure that you get some of the rewards before he is out of money. First, the setup. Try and play a few pots with this player. Heads up would be nice, but if some others sneak in it won’t matter. The idea is to let the Maniac bluff you out of some pots. Make him think that he will just run right over you. Once he finally gets the idea that you are soft, you bait the hook. It may take some patience, but we are looking for a decent to good hand that connects on the flop. The ideal situation would be for him to raise pre-flop and you slow-play a top ten hand. Once he has his money in there, he will continue to fire at the pot. Setting a trap seems like the logical course of action, but let’s stop and consider it for a moment.  If you lead out to this person, he will at least call because he already created a big pot. Most likely he will raise because he remembers how soft you are. This is where we get the extra bet out of him or even an all-in.

Remember to trust your instinct when he fires out at you. You may have to grow a pair right there at the table, but you will be glad you did when you scoop a monster.

Tags:
Poker, Poker Game, Poker Tips, The Maniac

How to Deal with a Bad Player When They Beat You on a Suckout

This is something that has happened to all of us and the amount of fury that you feel when someone hits their 2 outer when you were making pot sized bets or better can get to the best of us.  Many players will let out a rant and inform the donkey of how idiotic their play was and then state exactly why it was a bad play.  Big mistake!

I am not a big fan of the phrase, “that’s poker,” but it really is.  The nature of the beast is that bad beats are going to happen and you need to be able to deal with them if you are going to be a successful poker player.  What you need to do is keep your mouth shut and deal with the bad beat instead of giving a poker lesson at the table.

When someone makes a play like that, they more than likely think that they have done the right thing and you need to applaud them for their incredible play.  The reality of it is that you want this guy to make that play each and every time.  Sheer odds dictate that you are going to come out on top in this situation far more than you are going to lose.  He may have beaten you on this occasion, but in the end, you are going to be the one holding the chips on him.

If you give him the lecture, you are teaching your opponent how to play the game.  Why would you ever do that?  Not only that, but you are also giving the entire table information on how you play the game and exposing yourself to bluffs and getting outplayed in later hands.  This is one of the absolute no-no’s of poker.  Again, keep your mouth shut and take the beat.  If you open it up at all, it should be to tell him he made a great play.

Dealing with something like this is going to take some discipline.  You were expecting to win a huge hand and all of sudden someone else is taking down the pot.  Start thinking about the times that you sucked out and put a smile on your face.  File the information away for later and eventually, that money will be back in your stack.

When the hand presents itself again and he does not hit, tell him how scared you were to play against him.  Tell him how lucky he has been and you figured he would hit again.  All of this will re-enforce his playing style and get him to continue to feed the pots and help you get that stack back in the positive.  Dealing with a suckout is part of the game and you better learn how to do it if you are going to get the most out of bad players.

Tags:
Online Poker Game, Poker, Poker Strategy, Poker Tips

Ladbrokes Poker Review

	Details:
	Country of Origin	:	United Kingdom
	License	:	Gibraltar
	Year of Foundation	:	2004
	Software	:	Microgaming
	Currencies Used	:	EUR, GBP, USD
	Audited By	:	PWC
	Available Games	:	Texas Holdem, Omaha, 5 Card Stud, 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud
	Bonus	:	Sign up Bonus of Up To $500

Ladbrokes are the oldest and the most prestigious gambling providers with a rich history that goes down to 1887, when they started off with horse race betting. With more than a century of experience the world-renowned company has opened its doors to online gambling as well. Its reputation as one of the finest bookmakers in the whole of Europe stands guarantee to the fact that its online services will be as trustworthy and efficient as its offline services.

It has a lot to offer in the form of games and promotions with huge cash rewards for their esteemed players. These wonderful offers draw a good amount of traffic to the website. There is a lot of cash to be won and players wanting to make money will find this a very good place.

Software

Ladbrokes Poker has made a recent shift from its own software to the vast MicroGaming software. The new software has added some improvements to the earlier dull look that the website possessed. The graphics are clear and offer 3D effects and the interface is user-friendly. The ‘My Lobby’ option gives you access to all the information such as the various games on offer and their variations and level, player statistics, real time hand histories, average pot size, number of players at a table, flop percentages, chip stack amounts and other necessities.

A chat facility is enabled where players can interact with one another. Also available is a calendar that helps players organize themselves for upcoming events so that they are given reminders as the date approaches.

Traffic

Peak hour traffic can go high above 10,000 players playing at various cash tables and tournaments simultaneously. The peak hour here is generally calculated by the European peak time. The Microgaming software is also the reason for an improved amount of traffic visiting the Ladbrokes Poker website.

Games

The games offered at Ladbrokes Poker include Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 5 Card Stud, 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud. The most popular as with all poker sites, are the Holdem games with more concentration of traffic at the fixed limit levels. The games are juicy and loose, resulting in a lot of action and huge amounts in forms of bets can be seen and won. Micro limits starting at $0.05/$0.10 are available for players on low budgets while high rollers can have their fun at the $200/$300 limits.

Tournaments

Ladbrokes promotes a lot of tournaments as they stand to be the favorite among poker players. You can choose to play single or multi-table tournaments, while Ladbrokes Poker offers satellite tournament qualifiers that give players a chance to make it to big international events such as the European Open Tour and World Satellite Open Poker Tournament.

Apart from this there are various other tournaments to select from and these take place at intervals of ten minutes 24 hours a day. Free rolls are offered so that players can accumulate points besides which there are guaranteed tournaments and jackpots too.

Promotions

Ladbrokes Poker offers Player Points to all those players who players who play at the cash tables. These points are accumulated and exchanged for cash into your account or for buy-ins to live satellite tournaments. The points you gather are also calculated and listed on the leader board placing you at a certain rank on the board. The rake race leaderboard promotion has been designed by Ladbrokes Poker in order to reward the top 3,000 players according to their rank on the leaderboard.

To be able to get yourself listed on this board, you need to play a lot of raked hands. The more you play the higher you go on the ranking board. This is a good way of rewarding those players who play at the poker room with utmost dedication. The amount that is given out every month to players on the leaderboard is a generous $1,000,000 distributed according to the ranks of the players.

Deposit/Withdrawal Options

Deposit options as always are more than withdrawal methods and include VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Neteller, Solo. Switch, Delta, Bank Transfers and check while for withdrawals you could make use of VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Bank Wire and Check.

Support

Ladbrokes Poker offers customer support 24 hours a day through toll free telephone numbers and via their email service. The staff is very supportive and comes up with immediate help and answers to queries.

Tags:
5 card draw, 5 card stud, 7 card stud, LADBROKES POKER, MicroGaming software, Omaha, Omaha hi-lo, Online Poker, Poker Game, Poker Room