May 19, 2012

Don’t let rivals wind you up

Roberto Romanello is a former World Poker Tour (WPT) and European Poker Tour (EPT) champion, with lifetime career earnings of $2,400,000. Romanello is one of the games great readers of people and his mouth is used as a weapon to great effect.

Romanello’s WPT title came in 2011 at WPT Slovakia, and during that run towards the title, it was the Czech pro Marek Blasko who held the chip lead for a very long time. Blasko is a huge man and you could tell that he would be prepared to fight his corner and enter into a one to one machismo battle if needed. Romanello also saw this and needled Blasko incessantly until eventually the giant Czech player took the bait, and it resulted in him being eliminated from the competition. Fans of betfairpoker.com can learn lessons from this.

There are a lot of players like Romanello in the game of poker and it is what makes it such a fascinating pastime. If you want to learn how to play poker you are going to have to learn to deal with these types of players and avoid their bear traps. The best way to do this is to remove all of their power and it is quite simple to do. Imagine a player keeps telling you that your decisions are poor. Just keep affirming his words with a great big smile on your face. After a while your opponent will realise you are not taking the bait and he will try to offer it to someone else.

The Chatterbox

Did you know that during any given second, we consciously process only sixteen of the eleven million bits of information that our senses pass onto our brains? This means that our sub-conscious is brimming with information that we are not even aware of or are we?

How is it that you remember the lyrics of a song, word for word, despite not hearing it for ten years?

Human beings have much more knowledge than we are aware of and in poker we can take advantage of this. So poker players ditch your hearts, diamonds and clubs because it is spades we need as we dig into the sub-conscious mind. Fans of Online Poker at betfair should remember this.

If you are going to take advantage of the sub-conscious mind then be aware of its existence, clear your mind so you are more receptive to it and then finally when your body tells you what to do…act on it.

But how does your body tell you what to do?

Do you often find yourself having conversations with yourself in your mind? Don’t worry you are not ready for the funny farm just yet! Everyone has them and we like to call ours our Chatterbox. Your Chatterbox likes to talk and to tell you what to do, but you fight with him and make your own decisions. This is known as going against your better judgment. http://poker.betfair.com/en/

Chatterboxes draw their information from the non-verbal clues and behaviours that they notice during the game. It is these pieces of vital information that often slip into the sub-conscious. So if you want to improve your poker game then become friendly with your Chatterbox. Be aware he is there so that you can listen to him when he has something important to tell you! But most importantly act on his advice!

Poker tips – Don’t Let The Actions Of Others Sway You

Players act with differing speeds when it comes to the action at the poker table. Players like Sam Trickett and Alex Wice play extremely fast, Mike “Timex” McDonald is famed for taking exactly the same time between motions and then there are some players who take an eternity to make a decision.

We are sure you will find your own pace but it is important to take a moment to pause in between actions and consider your options. Sam Trickett and Alex Wice may move like lightning but they are experienced and have been playing poker for a long time – plus they are very good at it!

When pausing to take your time in between actions a new dynamic will present itself and one you will have to manage well if you are going to be a successful poker player. When you take your time other players at the table become impatient and they will let you know it. Some players will yawn, pull a frowny face or more directly just tell you to hurry the hell up.

Everyone will be staring at you, waiting for you to make your move and you will start to feel a little nervous and edgy. It is this nervousness and edginess that you need to battle. If you let it get to you then you will not pause for thought and your action will be hurried and less optimal as a result. Obviously if you are on a poker website  then you don’t feel that direct pressure. However, it is good to practise with poker promotions online before stepping into the real world casino, where your opponents will be watching your every move.

So when taking your time try to get into the zone. Shut out everyone around you and just focus on the most important thing – your action.

Another rule in poker – always have a System

Poker is a game of situations, and for every situation there will be a correct way to act.  You learn these correct ways to act through a variety of different forums. Some of these forums include playing experience, talking poker with other poker players, reading books and getting coaching.

These situations occur repeatedly in Texas holdem poker and it is because of the repetitive nature of the events that it makes sense to create your own system for playing the game. Have you ever heard the term playing on autopilot? Players who operate in this manner do so because they have a system.

The system has been created and refined for so long that it becomes second nature to them, unlike a beginner who has only just began playing their poker download and therefore have to think about their every move that little but more. Having a system that allows people to play on autopilot also frees up brain capacity. Freeing up brain capacity when playing poker is vital because it allows you to think about the more complicated problems (especially when multi-tabling online) for example.

The last reason having a poker system is very important is for continuous improvement. If you have a system then you have rules and part of your system should be reviewing your game. Having a specific set of rules allows you to dissect them during review. Rules that are losing you money can be changed and new ones created. When you introduce new rules, because you have specifically done this, you can then measure the success or failure of these rules and this is known as continuous improvement.

Lastly right your system down on a piece of paper. Transferring the rules and processes from your mind and onto paper will really help you improve your game by getting to know your system more intimately.

Hyper-Aggression in Poker

There are many different ways to approach the game of poker and one of the reasons why it offers such an alluring pull. The world that surrounds poker is often a violent place where aggression rules. Throughout time, our world leaders managed to get to their respective lofts of power by going about their business in an aggressive manner.

In poker strategy  there is an aggressive approach, but there is also a hyper-aggressive approach. We are not talking about simply betting your hand strong when you have the nuts. Instead we are talking about continually raising and re-raising in order to exert your dominance over an opponent. Hyper-aggressive opponents come in two different forms.

There are those that do it without any rhyme or reason and have no strategic thought whatsoever. These types of players are often found at the lower level of the game where their bankroll fluctuates wilder than a Ghostbusters sensor in Salem’s Lot.

The second type of hyper-aggressive player is the smart hyper-aggressive player. These players understand that by acting in the way that they do, they are forcing you to either play their game or get run over, giving them the best poker bonus  – extra and unlikely winnings. Nobody likes getting run over and the human psyche will force you to try and play their game and guess what happens…yes you get run over!

By forcing you to play the hyper-aggressive game your opponent is forcing you to come outside of your comfort zone and this is how you will make mistakes. People earn money through the mistakes of others and this is why the hyper-aggress

The Fifty50 Sit and Go’s

There is yet another new game to play on the online block and it goes by the name of Fifty50 Sit and Go. These types of games start with ten players and the format and level structure are similar to a standard single table sit and go. Once you get to the remaining five players, the game stops. Instead of the usual practice of dividing the prize money evenly to each player there is a novel little twist. The prize money is divided into two portions. The first portion is divided between the five players on an even keel, but the second portion is divided based on the chip counts. So the player finishing with the largest chip count, after the sixth person is eliminated, will receive a higher percentage of the prize fund on multi table poker tournaments.

The decision to give more chips to the player with the biggest chip count now adds a new dimension to the strategy of the game. Not only is your goal to finish in the top half of the table but you also want to accrue more chips. The best strategy to adopt with this new genre is to play tight early on when the blinds are relatively low, but always being on the lookout to double up whenever possible. If you can double-up, you have a fantastic opportunity to finish in 3rd place in online poker where you will win 20% of the chips, doubling your buy-in. So although the strategy is tight early on, you really then need to be widening up your ranges because if you need to gain 3,000 chips you need to play in plenty of pots.

Folding

The act of folding, during a poker game, is as important as folding during the art of Origami. You simply cannot under-estimate the importance of being able to lay your hand down. Poker is a game based on a lot of different nuances but the most important is patience. Folding represents the light bulb moment for so many of pokers more successful players. Fans of Betfair poker should remember this.

To pronounce that folding is such an important part of the game may seem strange, particularly when most poker purists will tell you that being aggressive is the most important component of a winning player. These poker purists would be right because aggression is one of the most important aspects of a winning poker playing style, but balance is important. Aggression is seen as key to a more successful framework when compared to passivity. On the face of it the phrase to fold may seem passive but it all depends on what context the term is used. If you continually fold top pair top kicker to an overly loose-aggressive opponent then this can be described as passive, however, if you are laying down your hand because you do not have the correct odds for your draw then your act is not seen as passive but instead the right decision based on mathematical probability. This is especially true in online poker.

Mathematical probability in poker is an important point when talking about folding. Quite simply, you are going to be dealt more mediocre and poor hands than you are going to be dealt good hands. Understanding this logic presents you with the wisdom that you will have to get used to either playing mediocre and poor hands or folding a lot.

Donk Lead or Check Raise?

You are playing a six max cash game on the best poker website and are seated in the blinds. There is a raise from a fish seated on the button and you look down and see pocket fives. You make the call and you are heads up to the flop, which you nail! The flop is T53r and the fish checks to you. Do you bet now or wait until later? Your first instinct will be to check to the raiser but could you bet for value instead? Isn’t it viable that your opponent could be holding AT, KT, QT, JT, T9, T8, 66, 77, 88, 99, JJ, QQ, KK, AA or even the less likely 33? That is a lot of hand combinations that you could get to call a value bet. So donk leading becomes a good option?

Wait.

If the pre flop raiser is going to call with all of those hands isn’t it safe to assume that the player will also bet with those hands as well? Surely he would because his hand is vulnerable to the turn and river cards. Fans of Betfair poker live should remember this. With many of the hands we have just described the player would want to win the dead money in the pot. If we believe the player is likely to bet, do we believe they will also call a small check raise? If we think they will, then the best decision would be to check-raise and not donk lead.

Just two examples to get you thinking about post flop decisions.

Keeping things simple is the key

There are a lot of people in the world who try to make a living in the game of poker. They become addicted to the idea. They see players making a living out of it and can’t understand why they keep losing. They know all the moves, read all the books and watch all of the training sites so what the hell is going wrong? All top quality poker players know the secret and we are going to share it with you right here and right now. Keep it simple! Those learning how to play poker should remember this.

“Is that it?” I hear you cry! “Are you serious?” As a certain Mr. McEnroe used to cry.

Yes, we are. Great poker players win money over the long run because they make the best decisions over the long run. They do this by making their decisions very simple. ABC poker should not be sneered at and instead it should be hugged, cuddled and loved. There are a myriad of ways to keep things simple and here are just a few.

Don’t open up with weak hands. If you open up with weak hands do not expect to win a lot of money. Good players win more money than their opponents because they end up at showdown with hands that dominate their opponents. Fans of paypal poker need to bear this in mind.

Make your decisions easy for yourself. Imagine you open up with pocket tens in a six-max cash game and you get three-bet from a player holding position on you. If you four-bet you are worried that he will shove giving you a tough decision. If you call you are going to hate a load of flops, flops that will give you tough decision. Tough decisions are contrary to simple poker. The simple approach is to fold.

Simple as that!

Offline practice can boost your online poker skills

Poker is a game that combines skill with luck. Although we can do nothing about the latter, there are various ways to make sure you are fully prepared each time you sit down to play the game online.

One of the best investments you can make with regards to poker is to buy a pack of cards. This is the only training material you will need to work on your game. Fans of Betfair poker should give it a try.

There is absolutely no substitute for experience in poker, although this can sometimes be costly, especially if you are novice. Therefore owning a pack of cards is second best and what it does do is it allows you to experiment as much as you like.

One you purchase your cards the best thing to do is to deal out different starting hands such as pocket pairs and suited connectors. You can then follow each round of betting and think carefully about how you would play your hand if you were in a live situation. You will hopefully pick up on the mistakes you make without it hurting your bankroll, and also see what works well. Anyone who has made a poker download should try it.

Playing with a pack of cards is also a good way of practising your pot odds before you play online. This is an important calculation that some novices struggle to master in the early stages, therefore the more you attempt this, the better.

The amount of hard work you put into your game will certainly help you improve as a player. There is no guarantee of getting the results you would like, but what it does do is make sure you are fully prepared when you sit down to play.