Online Poker can be tricky. This article will help remove some of the guesswork.
This blog is for information and education only. It is meant to improve your online poker game in its legal and non-gambling applications.
Todays Online Poker Article
When playing poker, keep your attention at the table
By Johnny Kampis
If you?re playing poker the patient and correct way, folding most of your hands, you?ll be left with a lot of downtime where you?re not involved in the action. That doesn?t mean you should just rest on your laurels, or turn your attention to the baseball game on the television.
To become a better poker player, you should pay attention at all times when at the table, learning your opponents? tendencies. Who is aggressive? Who is timid? Who raises with only strong cards? Who bluffs a lot? All of these questions can be answered if you just pay attention.
Over the years, I?ve developed a couple of mental exercises to help me focus on the action while playing Texas hold?em. These exercises can also increase your decision making and problem solving abilities at the poker table.
The first one is to guess what each of your opponents is holding based on how he plays the hand. Say the flop comes J-10-2 with two spades. There is a bet, a call and a raise. What sorts of hands could these players have? Perhaps the better has something like J-K for top pair and the caller has a straight or flush draw and the raiser has two pair or a set. The more you study your opponents, the better you will be able to guess their holdings, and that ability will only help you in the long run.
During a recent friendly game, one player bet out on a board of A-A-10-2 and Steve called. A third player raised, the initial bettor called and Steve re-raised. Before Steve turned his cards over on the river, I called out ?Ace-Ten,? and that?s precisely what he had. How was I able to guess this? Steve had a monster hand and didn?t want to chase out the other players on the turn so he just called the initial bet, but after there was a raise behind him he could go ahead and re-raise and get more money in the pot. If Steve held three aces, without a full house, he most likely would have raised on the turn initially to try and eliminate any flush and straight draws. You can only learn these kinds of tendencies by paying attention.
A second exercise I like to employ while playing hold?em is to think up a hand and visualize how I would play it. Let?s pretend the flop is 8-J-3. Now, I may have folded a 5-2 or some other junk hand, but I?m going to now pretend I have a 9-10 in my hand and the action is to me. Do I bet, check, raise or fold? Or I could pretend I have flopped a set of threes. Now what do I do? This exercise allows you to continually think about how you would play certain hands, which will only help you when you actually hold those cards.
Source: http://www.wisehandpoker.com/articles/index.php?article=be-attentive.html
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Todays Online Poker Article
When playing poker, keep your attention at the table
By Johnny Kampis
If you?re playing poker the patient and correct way, folding most of your hands, you?ll be left with a lot of downtime where you?re not involved in the action. That doesn?t mean you should just rest on your laurels, or turn your attention to the baseball game on the television.
To become a better poker player, you should pay attention at all times when at the table, learning your opponents? tendencies. Who is aggressive? Who is timid? Who raises with only strong cards? Who bluffs a lot? All of these questions can be answered if you just pay attention.
Over the years, I?ve developed a couple of mental exercises to help me focus on the action while playing Texas hold?em. These exercises can also increase your decision making and problem solving abilities at the poker table.
The first one is to guess what each of your opponents is holding based on how he plays the hand. Say the flop comes J-10-2 with two spades. There is a bet, a call and a raise. What sorts of hands could these players have? Perhaps the better has something like J-K for top pair and the caller has a straight or flush draw and the raiser has two pair or a set. The more you study your opponents, the better you will be able to guess their holdings, and that ability will only help you in the long run.
During a recent friendly game, one player bet out on a board of A-A-10-2 and Steve called. A third player raised, the initial bettor called and Steve re-raised. Before Steve turned his cards over on the river, I called out ?Ace-Ten,? and that?s precisely what he had. How was I able to guess this? Steve had a monster hand and didn?t want to chase out the other players on the turn so he just called the initial bet, but after there was a raise behind him he could go ahead and re-raise and get more money in the pot. If Steve held three aces, without a full house, he most likely would have raised on the turn initially to try and eliminate any flush and straight draws. You can only learn these kinds of tendencies by paying attention.
A second exercise I like to employ while playing hold?em is to think up a hand and visualize how I would play it. Let?s pretend the flop is 8-J-3. Now, I may have folded a 5-2 or some other junk hand, but I?m going to now pretend I have a 9-10 in my hand and the action is to me. Do I bet, check, raise or fold? Or I could pretend I have flopped a set of threes. Now what do I do? This exercise allows you to continually think about how you would play certain hands, which will only help you when you actually hold those cards.
Source: http://www.wisehandpoker.com/articles/index.php?article=be-attentive.html
Latest Online Poker News:
Poker Room Review: Texas Station, North Las Vegas, NV
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:58:00 -0700
Texas Station is part of the Station casino chain. These used to be limited to the large and boxy casinos in the Las Vegas area that included Boulder Station, Sunset Station, Palace Station, and Fiesta. But in the last few years...
BETonSports Defense Arguments Dismissed in Federal Case
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:18:00 -0700
Several defense arguments brought forth within motions to dismiss by numerous BETonSports defendants in the federal US case against the online firm's principals were dismissed on Friday in St. Louis by Mary Ann Medler, the US magistrate...
Poker News Bytes: July 18, 2008
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:00:00 -0700
Officials closed down a central Indiana business where patrons are alleged to have played poker for money, contrary to that state's law. Authorities targeted the Hold 'Em House, in Tipton, 30 miles north of Indianapolis, stating that...
McDermott Introduces Bill to Raise $40B via Online-Gambling Taxation
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:34:00 -0700
Congressman James McDermott (D-WA) has taken a second stab at creating a federal revenue/tax-generating mechanism for online gambling with the introduction of his 'Investing in our Human Resources Act of 2008.' Formally designated as HR 6061...
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Labels: no-limit hold em | free poker
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