Learn Play Poker

Hey Guys how’s it going?

I am taking it easy this afternoon and winding down as I have a big big weekend ahead, i’m seeing Bon Jovi play at Manchester.

Cant wait :).

Anyone out there going to be going along too? I think it will certainly be a good night.

I have another poker article for you guys too, this one is about poker bonuses from online poker rooms. You may have notice a lot of poker rooms claiming a lot of things but maybe take the time out to read this article before choosing your next place to deposit.

———-

Poker bonuses are offers online sites make to entice you to play on their site. The most common form of bonus is to give a player a percentage of the first deposit they make.  Some sites will give you 50% of you initial deposit up to a maximum of $100 for instance.  The catch is that you need to bet a predetermined amount of money to release the bonus.  This is where the catch lies.

In principle the bonus idea is great.  It is exactly what they say it is.  You are given free money based on how much you wager at the tables.  You will need to play often to release large bonuses.  The online poker rooms makes its money from the rake which occurs after each hand.  It is to their advantage to have more players at the tables, hence the bonus program.

You need to take the following steps to make the bonus program work right for you.

First, play at the sites that offer the best bonus programs.  When the current program runs its course and you have released the entire bonuses you should find a new site.  IK have hopped back and forth across several different sites. I always have some form of bonus working for me while I play, enhancing the money I earn.  Be sure to read each of the bonus offers carefully.  Some offer more total dollars but take a long time to release the money.  Choose an offer that fits both your bankroll and the amount of time you have to devote to play.

Secondly you cannot allow the bonus program affect your play.  Do not play just to access the bonus. Play when you want to play and while you are in the correct frame of mind to play poker.  You also cannot adjust your betting to release the bonus sooner.  Some people try to create large pots to get more bonus points.  Resist this urge; bonuses are only a good thing when taken in conjunction with your normal strong style of play.  They only become a bad thing for the player when they are mismanaged and affect your style of play.  They are a lot like alcohol in that regard.  Altering your play to achieve a bonus is much like drinking too much or driving while intoxicated.  Playing strong poker to achieve a bonus on the other hand is similar to drinking in moderation or giving someone else the car keys when you have drank too much.

Hey Everyone,

How are you all doing this week, I am busy working on a new project for work so I have not had time to blog too much

I have an article prepared for you though, this one is about the differences between poker software and instant play poker sites. There are lots of choices out there when it comes to forms of playing poker but these are the main two.

Which do you guys prefer? I would be interested to know the overall opinion of people who actually enjoy poker

———-

Online poker is a different game and must be treated differently than live poker.  It is different on several main levels I will discuss in the following paragraphs.

The first difference is the speed in which the game is played.  You have precious little time to make decisions online. Depending on the site you play you can have as little as 20 seconds to make a decision.  Your turn comes fast and you need to know what to do.  The online player must be more prepared with mathematical probabilities learned and strategies developed.

The speed of play should be considered a good thing by all good players.  It is good for two reasons. First, if you are properly prepared and can make good decisions quickly you are of course at an advantage.  Secondly, quicker play means that more hands will be dealt over the course of the session.  This gives the good player more opportunities to win money than they would enjoy at a live game that is perhaps five times slower than online poker. The more rope you give a lesser opponent the better the chance they will hand themselves with it.

The other obvious difference is the method you use to read other players.  In a live game you have many ways to read another player and try to guess his cards.  When playing online you cannot see his face, you cannot tell if his hands are trembling and you cannot look at his neck and see if his vein is twitching.  These are all signs that tell you in a live game valuable information about your opponent.

Online you need to look for different clues, there are clues available.  The first clue is the instant check in a round of betting.  When you see an opponent check instantly it is very likely he selected the check/fold button before his turn to act.  This tells you he has a poor hand and would have folded to a bet.  You can and should bet to drive him out based on this information.

Another tell to look for is observing how much time it takes a player too bet and then observing their cards at the end of the hand.  Quite often you can determine the strength of a players hand by the time it takes him to bet.  Many players have habits you can learn and employ to your advantage.

Hey Everyone,

Hope your ok guys, got a lot going on this week with my house, we are on another decorating spree and its spare room and stairs this time. Not so great becase painting and papers those high bit is no fun.

The weather has also turned this week and Britain loses its summer again. Looks to be going the same way as last year meaning floods and rain for 3 months. I look forward to roads closing and me getting annoyed with traffic.

Lol but on a light note we have some great poker stuff going down, if you didn’t already hear Virgin Poker is comming to Nottingham which is really cool, I hope local poker fans do this best to support the event and try and get tickets.

There is also a bunch of stuff going down at WassPoker this summer, a whole bunch of sxclusive poker tournaments so why not check them out?

The article below is not one of my favourites but it was requested by a reader so I am hoping a lot of you out there wanted to know about this subject too.

The subject is poker calculators, something which I sometimes don’t  always condone but they are not completely unethical. Read more and make your own mind up, I would be interested to see what most people feel about poker calculators so leave comments as you wish.

———-

Poker calculators are online tools that illustrate to a user the value of many different poker hands.  Poker is a constant game of percentages, you must make many decisions based on what you think can happen during the remainder of a hand.  Poker calculators give you the tool to gain this information.

There are two kinds of poker calculators available.  Passive calculators allow you to input cards for several players and then with the press of the button show you the odds each player has to win a given hand.  You can step by step tinker with the cards to see how different holdings compare.

Active calculators are a different animal altogether.  They attach themselves to the online game you are playing and instantly give you your odds of making a certain hand.  Within seconds of dealing the cards they will tell you what your chances of making each rank of hand are. This is of course extremely valuable information you need to make an informed opinion.

In the game of poker you are constantly faced with decisions. You need to have the correct information to make these decisions properly.  Your success or failure at the poker tables is often a direct result of making proper mathematical decisions.  Using a poker calculator you can quickly learn you have a 35% of making a flush when you have flopped four cards of the same suit.  Even more importantly however is that you can learn how much a backdoor or gutshot draw in combination with your flush draw affect the value of the hand.  It is often easy in poker to calculate in your head the value of one specific drawing hand.  Poker calculators teach you the value of hands that have multiple draws with speed you could never match in your mind.

Another key use of poker calculators is for games like Five and Seven Card Stud poker.  In these games there are many cards dealt face up to other players that affect your hand.  When drawing to a straight or flush it is very important to know how the other players upcards compromise your drawing possibilities.  It is an impossible task to generate this information in your head with the same speed and accuracy as a calculator.

In conclusion I advise every player to spend time with both active and passive calculators, learn the odds. But at the same time remember poker is a game of more than odds. Like any other machine a poker calculator must be used properly but not relied on too much.

Hey Everyone,

Just a smaller update today. I have got a new article ready for you. This one discusses recommended strategy when faced with a bad hand in online or casino poker. Let me know what you think.

———-

I define trouble hands in poker as hands that can often win a small amount of money but tend to lose large sums when they are beat. Since Texas Hold’em is the most popular form of poker I will use this game to illustrate my points.

In my opinion and hand with an ace and second card other than king is a trouble hand. You generally cannot win a big pot with this hand unless you flop two pairs. If you flop anything higher than two pair the deck is crippled and you win small. If you flop a pair of aces you generally win a small pot but can lose big when up against ace-king or a higher hand. For this reason I often thrown away these hands pre-flop.

For my money a small pocket pair is a much better hand to play than ace-jack for instance. With the small pair the hand is defined instantly after the flop. You either have a losing hand or a very likely winner. With ace-jack you have a trouble hand if you pair only the ace. You likely have the best holding but are vulnerable. It is a hand that wins small but loses large.

With the pair you not only have a much easier read, you also have a hand that is much better disguised. If you miss the flop and are faced with only a small pair can easily fold to a large bet. If you hit the flop and make a set you now have a very powerful hand that can be played in a variety of ways. If you hit your set with an ace on the flop you can represent a pair of aces and rake a huge pot when faced with an opponent that can beat a pair of aces but not the set you will hit one of every seven times you play with a pocket pair.

The same hold true when playing suited connectors. A hand like nine and ten of diamonds has much more potential than a trouble hand like ace and ten off suit. By throwing the weaker aces away and substituting hands like low pocket pairs and suited connectors you increase your profit potential enormously. You retain the table image of being a tight player and score big when you do hit a hand with hole cards your opponents do not expect you to be playing.

Hey Guys,

Hope everyone is well. I am doing pretty good this week, lots of work, play and food and not much sleep! Anyway one thing that I wanted to mention was that I got a kick ass Jack Daniels dealer chip come, very nice although some scammer is trying to sell it on EBay.

Anyway, here is you article, this one is about video poker, it’s a good read especially as most people in America actually don’t play video poker. Hope you enjoy and remember you can get in touch with any questions and I will sort out an answer ASAP.

———-

Video Poker is in many ways a cross between poker and a slot machine.  It is poker in the sense that it is played with a standard deck of fifty two playing cards.  The cards are shown electronically on a video screen.  The payoffs are set forth in a manner consistent with the game of poker.  The better hand you form the higher your payout becomes.

Video poker is also very similar to a slot machine when you consider the payout schedule.  On most machines there is a massive jackpot for a royal flush that increases with each pull of the handle on one or sometimes a series of different machines.  This is why you play a hand of video poker much different than you would play the same hand at a table game.

You start a hand of video poker by placing coins in the slot and pulling the handle.  You are then dealt a five card poker hand.  The mechanics of the game now are very similar to five card draw poker.  You decision now is which cards to keep and which cards to discard.  To make this decision you need to know the payoff schedule for the machine you are playing. Not all machines are equal.  Most video poker machines only payoff for a pair of jacks or higher.  In table poker you would consider a hand like a pair of tens to be good. In video poker it is preferable to discard this hand often.  After you make your decision you press a button and the final cards are dealt.  You win based where your hand fits on the schedule of payouts.

The key concept you must consider is the payout schedule and most importantly the amount of any progressive jackpots.  Assume you are playing a $1 machine that has a current jackpot of $15,450.  You are dealt king of hearts, king of spades, jack of spades, ten of spades and two of diamonds.  In real draw poker you would keep the two kings are draw three cards.  In video poker this is all wrong.  The concept of a progressive jackpot must change your thinking.  Keeping the two kings ensures you win a small prize, maybe a medium sized prize if somewhat lucky.

Consider what happens when you keep the three high spades.  By drawing two cards you give yourself a chance to hit the progressive jackpot of $15,450.  Sure the odds are long; you can mathematically calculate them to be 2070-1 against (46 x 45).  But the payoff justifies the gamble.  When you are getting paid over 15,000 to 1 to take a gamble of only just over 2000 to 1 it is a good bet.  You therefore must rethink your strategy when playing video poker. You cannot play as you would a real poker hand, that is how a casino makes its money on these machines. You must think big and take long shot bets when the numbers dictate.

Hey Guys,

Hope you are all well, I am abck at work after a nice bank holiday Monday. For you overseas readers that just means us hard working guys in England (with the least holidays in the world pretty much)actually get a free day off (kinda). Either way I had myself a lie in before initiating a fun evening of gaming and poker with my best friends.

We ended up playing a combination of Mario Kart Wii, Texas Hold ‘em and 7 Card Stud. Loads of fun and I came out the winner of our stud contest (after some killer bluffing) and it was definitely a good win for me.

I didn’t do so good in the Hold ‘em game, mainly because I went all in on a flush and my friend hit a full house on the river (sigh) but thats the fun of poker

This weeks article looks at a response from a question I received from one “Hank Smith” of Suffolk, England. He basically asked me what are free roll poker tournaments and what are they used for?

———-

Yes all of the freeroll tournaments I have seen offered online are in my opinion good.  It would hard not to define something as good that offers you the chance to win an asset without risking any money.  The key question becomes not whether they are good but rather which ones are best.

Online poker free rolls generally offer a prize in one of two forms.  Some offer cash or physical merchandise as a prize.  These tournaments often attract thousands of players fighting for a proportionally small number of prizes.  The chances of winning a prize are slim even for a great player.  Still you have invested nothing but your time into the venture; if you enjoy playing they offer a venue with no risk.

Some online free rolls offer entrance into tournaments with much larger payouts.  These tournaments are generally much easier free rolls to win.  In most cases the percentage of players that win prizes is much greater.  This allows you to employ a much more normal style than you must use in a large tournament that offers very few prizes.

Choosing free rolls is again a matter of researching what is being offered and finding which ones are best.  All of the major sites offer free rolls but some are much better than others. Your personal style of play is vital to choosing which freeroll to participate in.  I advise that you create accounts on as many of the online sites as you can to maximize the benefit you receive from playing freeroll tournaments.

Once you have entered a freeroll understand the prizes offered and adjust your play accordingly.  One of the major sites offers a multi table tournament freeroll that attracts several thousands players but only pays the top nine finishers.  If you play this tournament you cannot play a normal style of poker.  In a tournament with this structure you need to accumulate many chips very quickly.  You need to take chances and play a much more aggressive style of poker.

There is only in my opinion one potential negative aspect to free rolls. You must not allow them to alter your play when you play for real money with a different structure.  Always keep aware of your objectives. These free roll tournaments can cause you to develop a playing strategy that is flawed when used in a more normal setting. Do not allow yourself to become a reckless and sloppy player.

Hey Guys,

Been a busy week but how are you all? I am starting to feel a little beter and on the recovery path from my cold but was definately not a fun one and I am major tierd as a result of it (as usual:) )

Anyway I have been a bit ill for poker recently but still managed to play some online games in, I am having loads of fun on the new WasSPoker platform, it always busy and still free to play. It is also canadian/American friendly so I get to meet plenty of good players to test my skills against. So far I am up after an initial deposit of $400 I have $630 in my account. Will maybe think about taking some out soon. They actually do have some ace little games on there too I may check out when I have more time.

your article today is about one of the most fundamental player based tactics in poker, the bluff. It is also the last in the “poker Players Series” *cry* Never Fear! I am working on more articles as we speak so you will be getting new content still next week.

Enjoy and I hope you don’t get the cold going around!

———-

There are several different kinds of bluffs one can make in the game of poker. Each present excellent opportunities, but only if they are made correctly.

The most common bluff is called the semi-bluff.  A semi-bluff is made in an attempt to disguise your hand and is usually made when you have a large draw but no made hand.  The idea of a semi-bluff is to make your opponents think you have a pair or some other hand of value.  In reality you usually have a flush or straight draw when you make this bet.  When you make your draw this bluff disguises the true power of your hand.

A second type of bluff is a reverse bluff, also often called slow playing a hand.  In this instance you are trying to make your hand appear weaker than it really is.  You make this bluff by checking when it is your turn to act rather than betting.  You can also make this bluff by taking your time and appear to agonize of a decision to call a bet.  This type of bluff is a great strategy of you are at a table with many aggressive players who will fuel the action.  If you arte playing with a group of passive players it is often the wrong strategy to use.

Bluffing based on the board is another form of the bluff.  In these instances the cards you hold are irrelevant. You are using your powers of observation to deduce what cards your opponents hold and acting accordingly.  For instance, suppose you have observed that two of your opponents play only high cards. You are in a hand with one or both of these players.  The game is Texas Hold’em; you hold a king of spades and a ten of clubs.  The flop is dealt two of diamonds, five of clubs, nine of hearts.  You have absolutely nothing but your observation of opponents leads you to believe they likely have nothing as well.  In this case you are making a bluff based only on the texture of the board which obviously does not help players that play only high cards.

The final bluff I will discuss is the scare card bluff.  This bluff is made on the final betting round when a card is dealt that can make a big hand like a straight or flush.  You make this bluff of course on someone who showed strength early in a hand.  When you make this bet you are trying to convince a player that holds a set that you just made a flush or straight to beat him.  This bluff needs to be made with a large bet, quite often by putting all of your chips in the pot while holding a losing hand if called.  It is the ultimate bluff a player can make a bluff that has the highest risk and highest reward.

Hey Guys,

How is everything this week? I have a touch of the tired bug, mainly a side effect of my cold . I think there must be a bit of something going round at the moment

Still managed to get an article finished up for you all however, this one is about a darker side to the game than we usually consider, cheating, most specifically cheating at online poker.

As much as we would all love to think everyone plays fair we must face the world is simply not like that, while the majority play well there are a minority spoiling the fun (as with everything). I have seen many varities of online poker cheat in my time (from both rooms and other players) and i’m not going to “discuss” them all so you know how to do them. I’m jsut oging to talk about the behaviour in general and hand out a little advice.

———-

I do not believe online poker cheating is a very big concern. I regard all of the major sites to be operated honestly and 100% above board. The concern about cheating in my opinion is more about player collusion and not any direct action by the site itself. Understand the poker sites themselves make large sums of money from the rake at table games.  They do not have stake in who wins a given hand. If they were to ever get caught cheating the ensuing bad press that would occur would wreck their site.  They do in fact police their sites as best they can. As we will discuss below there are forms of cheating that are hard to detect.  If you feel you have been subjected to cheaters you can and should report them to the site you are playing.

Player collusion is of course a concern every player must be cognizant of.  When two or more players at a table know each others cards they have a great advantage. This advantage manifests itself in two ways. First by knowing what cards have been burned you have a keener awareness of what your chances of making a hand are. You also have more information as to what hand an opponent has. Secondly if you are playing at a table with confederates you can use position to maximize your profit.  For example suppose you know a player you are colluding with holds the nuts and cannot be beat.  If you are in position between your confederate and another player in the hand you can raise bets in an effort to extract as much money from the unsuspecting player as possible.

The key thing you need to know is how to spot collusion at your table.  You should try to take note of who you play with, try not to play at tables that seem to have the same players playing as previous sessions.  Watch also for the same players seemingly playing to each showdown together.  Another thing to keep keen awareness of is obvious improper play.  If you see a player call and raise bets all the way to the river without either good hand or a draw to a good hand you need to move to another table.  Players playing in this manner have ulterior motives that likely involve collusion, which is a form of cheating. You should use the buddy list function offered by most poker sites to identify these players and avoid them.

Hey Guys!

How are you all doing? It’s a slightly mroe relaxed week at work this week, a few people on holiday so not as many demands flying around but I am sure that will change when they get back and have stuff to catch up on

Our tournament went well on Sunday, around 25 players there and it lasted around 14 hours (including the BBQ) and it even snowed halfway through.

Most of the palyers there were decent guys and I think I would definitely attend again. The venue was OK, a little cold but I don’t think they could have predicted the crazy weather conditions so I will let them off there. If they have a larger venue necxt time I have offered to place details on the blog, people will get to hear about it a little more too that way.

Got another part of the Poker Player Series articles for you as well.

This one looks at one of the most frequently asked questions in the online poker world, “How do I Play As An Aggressive Player?”

———-

Simply put you become an aggressive player by becoming aggressive.  This is much easier for people who are aggressive by nature.  If this is the case it is easy to be an aggressive poker player, you simply allow your true nature to surface while you play.

Becoming aggressive is much more difficult for the person who by nature is more passive.  Aggression is key to winning at poker; you should attempt to cultivate this style if you want to win in the long run.

I suggest that if you wish to change your style to start playing games with very low stakes but not with play money.  Use these games to practice your style, always looking for a reason to bet.  The aggressive player does not need a good hand to place a bet. Surely he will place a bet with a strong holding, but he also bets when other opportunities present themselves.  Aggression is a good trait only when it is accompanied by common sense, you must control your aggression without stifling it.

Before you play at a table I suggest you watch the play for awhile.  Aggressive play works best and is practiced best when sitting with passive players.  Look for opportunities to push these players around with your aggressive style of play.

The aggressive player always follows up his raises with continuation bets.  If you raise a pot pre flop you need to follow up with a bet after the flop no matter what your cards are.  You have made a statement that your cards are strong with your raise.  That statement needs to be affirmed with a strong continuation bet after the flop.

To play aggressively you need to understand that there will be times you will put your money into the pot with the inferior hand. The money you lose in these instances will be offset by the money you gain when forcing players to submit to your aggression and release their hand.  If you win five $20 pots in a row by making other players fold you can afford to bet that $100 in a situation where you are facing 4 to 1 odds against yourself.  You are free rolling because you are playing with money you have already won. When you lose you will be back to even money, when you win however you will earn much more than a passive style of play could ever hope to win.

Hey Everyone,

How are you doing? Just letting you know I will be attending a poker tournament this Sunday, I believe it’s in/near Newark but i’m not driving so I can’t remember

I know we will be having a busy day, nearly 14 hours put aside for it and I think there are 18 confirmed players, will defiantly be a lot of fun. I will report up on the occasion next week sometime and let you know what the quality of the venue, players and other things are like.

Anyone else got plans this weekend?

Good luck with the national

Hey Guys,

How are you all today?

I am busy at work this week, lots of stuff flying in and out the office and it’s all hitting me

Anyway I did have time to finish off the latest article in our “Poker Players” series, it’s about famous poker players and should be some handy trivia for the next time your down the pub or in a poker room. It’s not one of the articles that is going to particularly boost your strategy but it’s still interesting to know

I have been spending a lot of time on WassPoker this week, if you have not already checked it out I recommend you give it a try they have a lot of freerolls on over the next month as well as it being a busy poker room. Had some good beats and wins already but I may write a little more about them soon

Hope you enjoy the article, as always comments are welcome!

———-

Doyle Brunson is perhaps the most famous, and probably most loved, poker player of all time. Nicknamed “Texas Dolly” Doyle Brunson has won ten events in his lifetime at the World Series of Poker, the game’s premier event. He has won the main event (No Limit Texas Hold’em) of the World Series twice.
He won both main events while holding 10-2 as his starting hand. This hand is now known throughout the poker establishment as “Doyle Brunson”, making him the only poker player to have a specific hand named after him. His booked titled Super System is looked upon by many as the bible of poker strategy.

Phil Hellmuth is commonly referred to as the “poker brat”. His antics at the table are very similar to those of John McEnroe on the tennis court. He draws much attention to himself when he complains about a bad beat or berates a player for making a play he thought was unwise.
Phil creates controversy and is a person who is either liked or disliked but rarely ignored. Behavior aside you can also make the case that Phil Hellmuth is the greatest No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament player to play the game. He has won a record eleven World Series of Poker events. He is a specialized tournament player; he is certainly not regarded as a great cash game player. In tournaments however his record is second to none over many years. Any discussion of the greatest players of poker must have his name near or at the top.

Chris Moneymaker is a famous player for a variety of reasons. First consider his name, if you were to create a fictitious story about his exploits in poker you could not come up with a better character name than in real life. His fame comes from what he meant to the game of poker. Chris won only one World Series of Poker event, the Main Event of 2003. The storyline behind his victory is what fueled the massive popularity boom of poker in this decade.
He won entry into the Main Event through a low dollar amount satellite on an online poker site. In the main event he knocked out famous players like Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey. Then while playing heads up for the Championship he made perhaps the most famous bluff in the history of poker on Sammy Farha. He proceeded to win this head up duel and claim the championship with a full house. His tournament win showed players throughout the country they too could hit it big without having to invest large sums of money to play. This was the fuel for the massive engine that drove poker to heights it now enjoys today.

Welcome back guys,

Here as promised with the start of a new article series all about poker players themselves.

The series will look at a lot of different aspects of people who play the game instead of the game itself, knowing your opponant is the key to victory in any game and by reading through this series of five article you will definitely have a much better understanding of how people behave at the tables as well as how to conduct yourself for the best results.

The first article in the series looks at an increasingly important question considering the recent increase in quality female players into the more professional regions of our favorite game. Do Men and Women Play Differently?

———-

In general I do believe there is a difference between male and female poker players.  I believe however the difference is more pronounced at lower levels of play.  If you are a truly good poker player your gender is not much of a factor.  The skills that are required at a poker table are not gender specific; both genders have the same ability to play well. Poker is a mental and personality type game.  A man’s built in advantages of physical size and strength do not offer any advantages at the poker table as they do other form of sport.

The main difference if how the other player react to a woman sitting at the table.  This is especially true if the woman sitting down is young and attractive.  A truly good male player would not let this affect his play.  In reality though this does not often happen.  When an attractive woman plays at a table many changes instantly occur.  Male players generally become much more aggressive when in a hand against other males.  You often will have a situation where several players attempt to become the “alpha dog” at the table.  You will notice more bluffing; the pots will certainly be much larger.  More often than not however the play against the female will not be as aggressive. Rightly or wrongly most male players will instantly regard the female as lesser competition and act accordingly.

What does all of this mean to you the poker player?  It means you need to adjust your play accordingly.  If you are a man sitting at a table in the situation above you need to change gears and play a tight aggressive brand of poker.  You need to be patient and wait for the right hand.  Remember when you make a good hand there is a good chance opponents will be thinking with something other than their brains.

The other thing you need to do is consider all players equally.  Whether it is an elderly man or a young attractive female you need to regard them equal.  Over the course of a poker session you have very limited chance to rake a huge pot.  If one of these chances happens in a heads up showdown with a female you cannot allow chivalry to alter your sense of proper play.  Trust me when the tables are reversed she will not afford any kindness your way.

Hey Everyone!

Hope you had a nice Easter, I just got back to work today (even though I know a bunch of you have today off :() but I did enjoy my Easter break. Some friends came over and we played a few games and chilled out, nice to have a few days of downtime to be honest.

I did pretty well out of the poker I have to say this item around we played two mini tournaments and I came first in the first one and third in the second out of 8 players then 5 players.

My best hand of the night way a straight flush (Q High) which was enough to knock two people out at once who went in against me with it. My funniest lose of the night was me going all in with two pair because I was sure my mate was bluffing and he had……two pair, better than mine. Damn.

New article will be coming tomorrow, I am just putting some details into it now tbh so look out for that one.

Hey Guys,

Here is the first update after the “big break” as I am naming it. It is carrying on the “Poker Basics” series and looking at the basic rules and differences of five and seven card stud poker.

Stud is an excellent version of poker and one of the best for playing with friends, it is also rising in popularity in the online poker scene when Texas Hold’em is loosing ground to various forms of poker as people get more experimental and broad minded with their games. The game is much more fun in some respects as people can’t just “fold” out of every single hand until they get pocket aces.

Any comments or questions are appreciated, for more advice why not visit a poker forum where friendly members are sure to help you out.

——-

Five and Seven Card Stud poker are great games that have been played for many years. The movie “The Cincinnati Kid” starring Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson was based on a high stakes Five Card Stud game. While neither game achieves the level of popularity as Texas Hold’em they are both popular and challenging in their own right.

Five Card Stud poker begins with each player putting an ante into the pot. Unlike Texas Hold’em you cannot play a hand of stud poker without placing some money into the pot. All the players are then dealt one card face down and one card face up. There are no community cards in stud poker; each player has their own cards. At this point here is a round of betting. The first person to act in each betting round is the person with the highest visible hand. If two hands are the same the first person to be dealt the hands starts the betting. Like any other poker game the order of betting moves clockwise until everyone has had their chance to bet. In stud poker you must bet a predetermine amount set by the table stakes. You can also raise a bet by this predetermined amount. In most cases a cap of four bets is allowed in any one round. If the stakes are $1 in a particular round of betting the betting will stop when it reaches $4 for the round. This rule prevents players with large amounts of money from steamrolling players with lesser available funds.

The game continues with the dealer dealing three more face up cards to each of the players. After each face up card is dealt another betting round occurs. Each time the board is examined to determine the highest visible hand. Unlike Texas Hold’em the same player does not start the betting during each round. After the last round of betting any players remaining in the hand show their hold card and the highest hand takes the pot. Five Card Stud is a bluffer’s game, quite often players win without a very good hand.

Seven Card Stud differs from five card stud only in how the cards are dealt; the other rules are the same. In this game you start with two face down cards and one face up card. A round of betting then occurs. As the game progresses the players are dealt a fourth, fifth and sixth card face up. A round of betting takes place after each card is dealt. Finally a seventh card is dealt face down, leaving each player with three face down cards and four face up cards. The final round of betting then occurs and if more than one player remain they show their cards, highest hand wins.

Well guys, what can I say?

Just a big SORRY.

The site has been down for a good week and a half and while it totally wasn’t my fault it means no-one could read or click anything here. Hopefully the problem is no completely sorted and we won’t be seeing anymore white screens of nothing.

I will be posting a content update in a second and we then continue to post them once a week along with regular post and news more often which is what was supposed to happen from the start.

One again i’m really sorry everyone, pleae give this blog another chance

-Frank Woodford

Hey Everyone,

How are you all? It was nice to see England warm up this weekend for, ooh, two days? before the ice returned. Hope you all had a nice weekend, I had plenty of fun we had a mini house party and we watched the Simpson’s Film on Blu-Ra, I completely forgot how funny it is

Anyway the reason i’m posting today is to ask everyone out there if they have any tips for sleeping better. I am currently strugglisng big time getting to sleep every night and its starting to effect almost every aspect of life, i’m just so tired! I don’t want to rely on sleeping pills to much as I have to get up early and drive and taking drugs to sleep is dangerous in those circumstances.

I’m open to a lot of ideas so post some comments and i’ll try them out. The good thing about nto sleeping much is that i’m catching up on my online poker Although I am making bad decisions because i’m tired.

*sigh*

Not won a table for weeks

Hello People,

Got the next part of my poker basics series today, it looks at Omaha Poker and gives a brief introduction to this variation.

Just a post and go today i’m afraid because I am really busy at work, remember if you would like to learn to play poker in more detail drop me an email or visit this learn to play poker tutorial page.

—–

Omaha poker is has many similarities but one key difference when compared to the much more popular game of Texas Hold’em. The mechanics of the game are similar in many ways. You are dealt cards preflop with a round of betting. There is then a “flop” that consists of three community cards followed by a round of betting. Next a fourth community card, called the “turn”, is dealt followed by another round of betting. Finally the fifth and final community card, called the ‘river”, is dealt. If more than one player remains after this round of betting their cards are shown and the best poker hand wins.

Omaha poker present two big changes when compared to Texas Hold’em. First you are dealt four face down cards instead of just two. The other key requirement is that you must use exactly two cards from your hand and three cards from the board. In Texas Hold’em you can use any of the seven cards available to you. If the five community cards form a flush then you have a flush. In Omaha poker you must use exactly three cards from the board and two from your hand. If you are dealt four of a kind face down to start a hand this is not good. You in reality only have a pair, a pair that has no chance of improving since you also hold the other two cards of that rank which will never be dealt.

Omaha is a dynamic game in which drawing hands sometimes are preferable to flopped pairs or even sets. You do not have to declare which cards you are playing until the hand is over. It is a game of redraws. With four cards in your starting hand the average winning hand is much higher in Omaha than Texas Hold’em. Quite often two players will both make a straight after the flop. If you do not have a redraw to a higher hand like a higher straight, flush or full house your hand is vulnerable. This is a concept that many inexperienced players do not understand. The often place themselves in a position where they can either split the pot or if their opponent hits his redraw they can lose it entirely. To play Omaha successfully you need to retrain your strategy ideas. It is often wise to throw away a big hand rather than allow your opponent to ‘freeroll” you for the entire pot.

Hello Everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend. I am completely tired out from a busy weekend at Newcastle Casino playing poker!

It was an eventful weekend and I was happy to have some great wins and loses, especially at the sit and go tables. Didn’t do so well in the major tournaments, had a few bad hands and the players were of an excellent caliber. The atmosphere really was amazing and the casino was really nice too (if not stingy with drinks!). I enjoyed the food too and as always the Wass community was great. It was a pretty awesome site to see everyone wearing their WassOnline hoodies during the event and the owners had produced these as well as custom poker chips and trophies.

I took a few pictures but honestly forgot all about it so I will be posting some up here which the other guys took. I am sure the site will put their own pictures of the live poker events and I will try and set up a nice gallery once I have the pics.

It was definitely a fun night, I recommend anyone who enjoys a good poker game and a goodparty.

-Frank

Hello Everyone,

First informative post in the new version of my blog, i’m still seething at Wordpress for deleting my old one but I’ll get over it eventually.

This is the first part of a new series that looks at how to play the 3 basic variations of poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Stud. Obviously most people are familiar with Texas Hold’em but for all the newer players out there and the people arguing about rules should still read this one and hopefully enjoy it

If you would like anything clarifying just include a comment and I will do my best to get back to you ASAP, I’ll be trying to do updates on Wednesdays from now on but it’s always really easy to muck up and forget when your busy with everything else. Hope you guys have some good games this week and cya all soon.

-Frank

———-

Texas Hold’em can be played with up to ten players. At the start of the game one of the players is designated as the dealer. The dealer is given a button to show the other players who the dealer is. When each subsequent hand is dealt the dealer button always moves to the player on the previous dealer’s left. The two players to the left of the dealer are the small and big blind respectively. Before any cards are dealt the big blind is required to make a blind bet of a predetermined amount that varies from table to table. The small blind is required to make a bet that is half the amount of the big blind.

Texas Hold’em is player in two forms; limit and no-limit. Since no-limit is by far the most popular form I will describe that game.

To start a hand the dealer deals two cards face down to each player, starting with the small blind. After all the cards are dealt a round of betting occurs. Players must act in the correct order. The player seated to the left of the big blind is first to act. Play in this game always works clockwise. Playing your hand out of turn is frowned upon and can lead to penalties. When it is your turn to act you have a decision to make. If nobody has placed a bet before your turn to act you can either bet or fold. If you like your hand and want to play you must place a bet. The bet must be at least the amount of the big blind, but can be larger. In fact if you wish you can bet the entire sum of money you have at the table. If you do not like your hand you can simply throw your cards into the discard pile and you are finished for the rest of the hand.

If however someone has already placed a bet in front of you the options are different. You can still fold a bad hand by throwing the cards in the discard pile. If you wish to play on you now have two options. You can match the bet placed by the previous player by announcing “call” and placing an equal amount of money in the betting area. You can also announce “raise”. When you announce “raise” you can put any amount of money you wish in the betting area. This amount must however be at least double the initial bet, unless you are putting all of your money into the pot. When you do this all other players, including the initial bettor, must match your bet or allow you to take the pot.

After this round of betting three cards are dealt face up in the center of the board. These are community cards that all players share. This is commonly referred to as “the flop”. At this point another betting round occurs with the player to the left of the dealer initiating action. When this round ends a fourth community card is dealt, this is called “the turn”. Another betting round then occurs. Finally the fifth and final community card is dealt, also referred to as “the river”. This is when the final betting round takes place. At this point any players left show their cards and the best hand is declared the winner and is given the pot.

Hello Everyone!

I have had to move my blog to this new address because Wordpress suspended mine for no good reason! I had been posting for a good 6 months and had a wealth of information which I am now going to have to slowly build back up

Sorry to all my regular readers.

I don’t know why they banned me and no-one in their support will help, especially since they only help at American times. Completely unfair.

But at least I can have more fun with plugins and themes now and lets face it, hosting don’t cost that much. I will begin adding content again soon so I hope you all find it useful, remmeber you are welcome to leave comments requesting new topics or guides. For new people this blog is dedicated to helping poker players learn about the game without all the bogus affiliate marketing that usually goes on on this type of blog, check all my links you will never find an affiliate code.

Have fun, my first new article will go up soon after I have finished modding design.

-Frank