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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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?

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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.

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!

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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.

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.

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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.

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?”

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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.

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