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.

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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

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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.

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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.