I remember the first time I heard the terms flop, turn and river, I wasn’t sure if my dad was referring to an ambitious white-water rafting trip or a suicidal bungee jump off a bridge into icy water. However I soon learned that my own blissful ignorance was was sorely misplaced. These terms I was hearing over and over again were often spurting forth from expressionless faces around a half-arc table. What happened in double-quick time was the fact that my curiosity was piqued by a deck of 52 cards and a chip stack that I was itching to win. That’s the beauty of poker – the multi-faceted elements that constitute the game.
Getting into a game of Hold’em takes guts and lots of foresight. Like chess, Texas Hold’em is a game of strategy. In spite of the skill and tactics required, most of the time you’re at the mercy of ‘Lady Luck.’ She’s your guardian angel when the fall of the cards is going your way and her personality does a 180’ turn when you’re on a pitiful losing streak. The good news is that fortunes change and so do bankrolls. If you’ve got a good head on your shoulders then you’ll be well chuffed to learn that careful money management and folding more and more will save you from immeasurable heartache and even financial ruin. These lessons are sadly learned too late for many players – the poker greenhorns as I like to call them.
Making sure you get in with the best chance
One of the first things you’ll hear about poker is the inimitable ‘poker bluff.’ This refers to the manner in which you hold yourself while playing a game. It’s about facial expression, body language and indeed your whole constitution. Your playing habits, your calls, folds and punting behavior are all carefully scrutinized by other players at the table. Nothing goes unnoticed. Indeed one of my favorite poker quotes is this one by Paul Newman: “If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” This is one of the most invaluable lessons to learn in poker.
Fans of Poker are always on the prowl for good tournaments to enter. The challenging aspect is that of finding them and participating requires some homework. A decent enough Poker player can get away with bluffing through a series of weak winning hands. If the thrill of the game excites you, then getting involved in a tournament may be just what the doctor ordered.
While playing poker, ones bankroll quickly erodes away. But it’s up to you to maintain staying power at the poker tables – whether online or at brick and mortar casinos. The longer your bankroll lasts, the more time you spend in the thick of it and more you learn about this great game of strategy, luck and deception.
Arguably one of the most important aspects to successful Poker playing is knowing who you’re going up against. To this end, it’s important to know what strategies to employ. Ring games and Tournaments necessitate different approaches. For ring games the bankroll is all important, but for tournaments a player’s bankroll is always much smaller and it’s a case of acclimating to the circumstances.
In spite of all the emphasis on skill and strategy, one factor that is extremely important is luck. Without the cards falling in your favor, the other elements won’t count for much.
Survival is paramount in tournaments. If you go all-in and lose, you will be eliminated from the contest. Tournaments require tremendous resolve, determination and staying power. But the end result can be a dream-come true.
Video poker marries the inimitable slot machine and standard 5-card poker play in a riveting, fast-paced online poker thrill-a-minute.
There’s something particularly enamoring about the category of poker games known as video poker. I got to admit that this poker variant has quickly become my personal favourite owing to its rapid pace, ease-of-play and healthy payouts. I’ve always loved sitting in on a table game of poker at a live event – there’s nothing quite like the thrill of being in the thick of it. But lately I’ve found myself being drawn into online poker gaming – particularly video poker.
Online video poker marries slot machine gaming and traditional 5-card poker into one exciting game. And there are a great many reasons why I enjoy this poker game. Firstly there’s no need to get up and out – it’s a play at home game. And there is so much variety to choose from, it’s simply amazing. If you thought casino slots games had an impressive variety to boot – then you ain’t seen nothing yet, because video poker is a juggernaught in this department too.
Games include:
• Aces and Faces – In this game paydays are higher for any 4 of a kind of Aces, Js, Qs, and Ks
• Deuces Wild – In this game, any deuce or two is as a wild card
• Joker Poker – This game uses a 53-card deck with 1 Joker and the Joker is a wild card
• Deuces and Joker – This game is a combo of both Deuces Wild and the Joker Poker, with deuces and Jokers acting as wild card
• Double Joker – This knockout game uses 2 jokers as wild cards
• Jacks or Better – Payouts are higher here and the minimum winning hand is a pair of jacks
• Tens or Better – Like Jack or Better, this game requires a pair of tens at minimum to win the hand
And this is how this gaming variant works. The video poker machine deals you a five-card hand. So far, so good right? Note that all the cards are dealt face-down. The popper comes when all the cards are turned face up. Now it’s question and answer time. Which cards do you hold and which cards do you fold? After you’ve discarded the card that will serve you no purpose, you draw more cards. This is my favourite part – it’s like a lucky packet of winning gifts. The goal is to complete a winning hand. Hand strength is determined by combinations of cards held according to the payout table. This is why I can’t get enough of this game – the computers work it all out for you. You just bet, select cards to hold, deal again and wait for the cash to come rolling in. Happy video poker gaming folks!
This past weekend I played a little $2/4 Omaha High at a local Las Vegas casino. I sat down to the right of two guys who are both poker dealers. One of the two was in from out of state specifically to deal at the World Series of Poker which starts later this week. I was my usual friendly-talkative self and it didn’t take long to find out that the player 2 seats to my left, we’ll call him “Steve”, was stuck in the game for at least one full rack and maybe even two. The game was short handed and we ended up picking up a player who was waiting for a seat at the $2/4 holdem table to open up. He knew the very basics of Omaha, but other than that had no real idea how to play.
When you add all that up, you have the perfect recipe to send a player who is already losing in to a tailspin that should involve spewing chips all over the table. And, if things go right, a large portion of them should be able to land in my stack!
To make sure that “Steve” won as few pots as possible, I loosened up considerably on my starting hand selection. I saw more than 90% of the flops. My whole goal was to be in any hand that “Steve” was going to be in. Having one more hand to beat every time would make it that much harder for “Steve” to win pots. I was willing to pay the $2 to see the flop in on the chance that I would hit a big hand or big draw that would keep me interested. Otherwise, I’d fold to any bet on the flop.
The strategy worked in so much that we were able to get “Steve” to pull another buy-in out of his wallet and was well on his way to losing it all when I finally had to head home. This was one time where I really wish I could have stayed longer to see the final result. I’m not sure if “Steve” would have dug further in to his wallet, or if we had tapped him at that point.
Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to capitalize on “Steve’s” shower of chips. I won a few small-ish pots off him, but the big money was split between the rookie and another player. They spent most of their time stacking “Steve’s” chips in their own piles.
When you see a player who is dangling precariously on the edge of tilt, do not be afraid to apply a small amount of pressure to his backside in order to get him to dive in head first!
Tags: Strategy,
tilt
Playing poker online has several advantages over playing live in a casino. You can play a much wider variety of cash limits, you can get in to a game with virtually no waiting at all 24 hours a day, you can play from the comfort of your couch and, for better or worse, you can be a totally different person when you play online.
A friend of mine recently told me about a hand he played online. On the river my buddy has the nuts and makes a bet. His opponent pushed all-in. Rather than just pushing the call button and collecting the chips, he clicked the “time” button and waited the full amount of time allowed prior to hitting call. To me, this is the worst form of slow rolling I have ever heard of. I’ve known this guy for more than 15 years and I can guarantee that if this same hand were to take place in a live casino, he would never think to pull this stunt.
This made me think of my own time spent playing poker online. Have I said things in a chat box that I wouldn’t have said had I been face to face with my opponents? Do I play differently online than I do in a live cash game? While I may never have taken it to the level of slow rolling with the nuts, I would have to say that I have definitely played and acted differently online.
When I play in live cash games, I play a fairly tight game. That’s partly due to the stakes involved. In a live cash game, most casinos have a $100 minimum. Depending on the maximum, you may need to bring $300 – $500 to the table in order not to be short stacked. With that much on the line, I’m not likely to be playing 6/3 suited after a 4x raise hoping to catch a lucky flop. However, put me on a $25 max buy-in online table with $0.10/$0.25 blinds and I may very well make that call.
As for etiquette, I believe that needs to be held up both in live games and when playing online. Treat others as you’d like to be treated and it will all come back to you in the end. Or so they say.
So how about you? Are you a regular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to playing live or online?
Tags: etiquette