Posts Tagged ‘Blinds’

Beginners Guide to Online Poker

Unlike in casinos, online poker sites offer beginners the chance to learn the game at their own pace, on their own terms and in the comfort of their own home. Online poker also provides new players with plenty of opportunities to win large cash prizes for relatively small cash stakes.

Getting Started

There is no more effective way to learn poker than to dive in and start playing – but beginners ought not to aim for the deep end just yet. The leading poker sites in the UK provide a selection of games for new and existing players. Many of these games are free to play and most sites also offer freerolls, enabling inexperienced players to understand how the game is played in tournament format.

After getting up to speed on the play-money tables, beginners should make a small cash deposit and find a low-stake table. A stake of $0.01/$0.02 is sufficient to get started, but some players prefer the added competitiveness and caution associated with higher stake games. It is important to note that the stakes refer to the small and big blinds, which describe the two players seated to the left of the player holding the dealer chip, which moves in a clockwise direction after each hand is completed. An ante might also be paid into the pot by each player at the start of each hand.

Betting

Beginners need to appreciate that poker – particularly Texas No Limit Hold`em – is a mathematical game, but it is not scientific in nature. This means that even the strongest hands might lose. Odds play a critical role in determining the outcome of each hand, but there is no certainty attached to this: a player holding a pair of aces pre-flop should not expect to beat a player with 2-7, but he can reasonably believe that his chances of doing so are higher than not. Understanding the difference between chance and certainty can help players avoid blunders of great misfortune.

The rounds of betting in poker are easy to learn. Players can fold, check, call, bet, raise, re-raise or go all-in depending on the type of game being played and the stage of betting. Most of these betting phases are self-explanatory with the exception perhaps of checking, which simply describes the decision by a player to neither bet nor fold. A check is essentially a pass into the next phase of betting (assuming all other players checked too).

Hands and Cards

In a game of Texas Hold`em, cards are dealt in four stages. Each player receives two hole cards that are unseen to others. Then three community cards are placed for all to see on the flop. Another community card is dealt on the turn and the final community card is dealt on the river. Players can bet between each of these phases after the hole cards have been dealt.

Hands in poker determine which player (or players) wins the pot. In order of highest to lowest (or best to worst), poker hands are ranked as follows: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and High Card. Learning these hands is essential for all new players.

Free Poker Online Guide To How To Beat Loose Passive Style Players

You have managed to get to the flop with a good hand but what next? Many of us put so much effort into preflop play that we don’t build a solid postflop game. Postflop as preflop knowing who you are playing against and adapting your play to combat them is essential.

You will come up against 4 primary styles of poker player, tight or loose and passive or aggressive. In free online poker micro stakes (.02/.05 blinds), each style of player tends to make certain key errors. In this free poker online article focuses on postflop play against the Loose Passive type opponent.

Methods to Beat the Loose-Passive (LP) “Calling Station” Player Kind

These guys will often be limping or calling hands preflop and not raising very much.

Postflop they usually check-call down whilst only betting or raising their secure hands.

LPs are the easiest type of player to beat, and hordes of them play in micro stakes games. Essentially, you want to broaden your valuebetting range when you play against LPs and not bluff..

A lot of the time you can bet down (bet all 3 streets) using hands such as weak top pairs and even 2nd pair against most of them and just check/fold your bluff hands. Once you get raised, you should realize that your 2nd pair and even top pair hands become pretty useless and it’s probably best to fold , though, as is always the case, it does depend on the particular opponent.

It is also easy to play draws against Loose Passives. Just check doen until you hit the draw and then bet for value.

Out of position, don’t be afraid to lead on flop and turn if you hit a pair. In nanostakes games you won’t be exploited by these loose-passive players for doing this (against some loose-aggressive and tight-aggressive players you might be) and since they’re unlikely to bet (they’re passive) you will gain value in doing this.

Do always remember that there are levels of player types. Some TAGs are almost LAG, some TPs are almost LPs, etc, so you have to adjust your play to your individual opponents, these player types are just a tool to help you do that.

Learning to recognize player types and the degree to which a player fits a type isn’t easy. Yes, sorry to say, plenty of practice is required though if you really focus on this and keep good game notes it will come faster for you. In your early poker days be sure not to risk very much if any money while you learn.

Start of with the lowest stakes games or with free online poker games and work up from there.

For a mega version of this article with all 4 player types covered and some advanced postflop play tips see the free online 14e3e3ad7a5e4a6c65f44244a4fd656e blog at NoPayPOKER.

How effective is pot control?

Why pot control is an essential part of the game

Article written by best selling author Carl “The Dean” Sampson

In deep stack situations in no limit hold’em cash games then pot control is an essential part of the game. This is because there are times where your hand strength simply does not merit the pot becoming too large. Like for example if you open raise with A-Js and both blinds call you. The flop comes A-Q-6 with two suits and you c-bet and get two callers. The turn card is the 9h which doesn’t make the flush but you bet again and you get called again by both players. The river card is the 4h which still doesn’t put the flush on board but the small blind bets the pot……what do you do?

Well a pre-flop raise begins the process of defining the hand because you are already starting to escalate the pot. You raise before the flop for different reasons but one of those reasons whether you realise it or not is to build the pot. This is fine if you have the best hand or can get your opponent out of the pot with them having the best hand because in both cases you make money. But these pots are usually small to medium pots but when the pot escalates with you having just one or two pair and it looks like it is shaping up for an all-in situation then this is where you can start to have problems.

However your stronger opponents will suspect that when you check that you are slipping into pot control mode because they have seen you either keep on betting when you have the goods or keep on betting when you are bluffing. Pot control is a very effective strategy for novice and intermediate players because it prevents them from making very big mistakes in escalated pots. This is a pivotal stage for novice players because the biggest leak for them at the outset of their poker lives is that they make big errors in deep stacked situations too frequently. So when you play at higher levels then you need to mix up your play by value betting on lighter holdings so that your opponents cannot exploit a polarised range.

Why not play poker with Carl at www.pokerstars.co.uk

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