Learn Play Poker

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.