For some reason, in poker it’s all about sea food.  If you’re bad, you’re a fish. If you’re good, you’re a shark. Sharks are not fish but mammals, as we all know very well thank you. So when you dive into the big fish pond for the first time, realize that you’ll tend to be a snack to start with. The only way of evolving from shrimp to mammal is by improving your game. If you make a real effort to learn poker. you can start moving up the poker food chain. This is both a lot of fun and potentially profitable. So what does a regular flatfish has to do to join the big “poker school” (pun intended) and move into deep-sea fishing?

The key to success is threefold:
•    Playing.
•    Reading books.
•    Watching instructional poker videos.

You can only get this far by reading about it. Even if you know all species in the poker ocean, you’re still just a puny fish if you haven’t done a whole lot of swimming around in the fish tank. On the other hand, you could swim around for eons without ever understanding why your teeth don’t start growing. By reading books (and online poker forums as well), you’ll get a much better understanding for the inner workings of the marine biology that you’re dependent on.
Experienced authors can change your perspectives on things in a deep-going way. By reading you can expand your depth of thought about poker.Then, of course, watching professional deep ones play online poker and commenting on their moves, now that’s a very good school to swim in.

Instructional poker videos are actually one of the few things on the internet that poker players are willing to pay for.
A last word of advice: If you know some successful players, don’t miss any opportunity to make in-depth Interviews with them. Soon you’ll be the one eating snacks!

If you are looking to improve your Texas Hold’em game & Poker Strategy an online poker calculator is a great tool to improve your game. Sit n Goes are short poker tournaments usually single table with 10 or less players. Most online professional players play multiple sit n goes at once, often 5-10 at the same time. How can they do this and still pay attention to each table making the correct decision?

Well first off, professional players spend time studying Sit n Go strategy. They learn poker strategy from online poker schools and books but also use poker calculators or other tools to do analysis while they play. While studying away from the tables will make you a better player, using a math based poker calculator when you are first learning poker will make you a better Sit n Go player. Depending on how many chips you have at each point in a Sit n Go there is often a definite right and wrong play. Unlike cash game poker where you often have a lot more money in front of you compared to the blinds, in Sit n Gos you are usually “short stacked” or low on chips throughout the whole tournament. When playing with short stacks, poker decisions have a lot more to do with math then instinct or reads. For example, if you have 500 chips left and the blinds are already 50/100 you can’t just sit back and survive hoping to hit a good hand. Instead the best strategy is to use frequent blind steals. But how do you decide when and where to make these steals? By studying poker math professionals learn how to avoid getting blinded off in a poker tournament. There are some situations where no matter what your hand is you should push all-in in an attempt to improve your chip stack. The less chips you have in comparison to the blinds the more you want to be shoving all in to steal them.

Because you have such a short time to make decisions professional players don’t do math problems while they are at the tables. Instead, they teach themselves the correct strategy for each stack size. Some players also sharpen their poker skills by playing free poker online and be better prepared. Since these calculations are impossible to do in 30 seconds, players use poker calculators while they are learning sit n go poker. After you have a lot of Sit n Go experience you will eventually memorize the correct mathematical play, but until then you’ll need a tool to help you make correct decisions. You should consider a poker calculator today to help you play better and to play more tournaments at once.

Fast 10 points and how to be a better Poker Player online. 10 Tips for Online poker, how to Play to Win.

1. Watch Your Pocket: Online players should always be in the administration of money and not to jeopardize what they have. You need to provide your bank in the various meetings and when you lose a call from the day of rest.
2. Sensible Betting: Online poker is very interesting. However, if you does not make sense to bet it will cost enormous liquidity. A good tip is to bet that you are always very cautious and avoid pumping money plans.
3. Game with the strategies: Strategically, you play in reducing the local board. With specific strategies you will be able to constantly. Therefore, it is always advisable to plan and use them for maximum results from The Game.
4. End If On Top: If you win, leave and do not try to play in this session. Any thoughts that you, like “I am a woman who has the good fortune” or “Today is my day” is totally absurd. All courses are geared for the casino and your profits can quit at any time.
5. Specializes in special categories: Suppose you have little problems, and then you need the mix of games. However, you need a specialization in a certain format, if your bets are higher. The addition of knowledge about the game helps you to realize that the bet you more chances to win.
6. Search by Subject: Suppose you as a poker better than most, then you should have a little time to examine the nuances of The Game. You can use books, online articles, Web pages, and always try to learn from our mistakes. Try to become a champion in your game and prevent a for all occupations.
7. Consider the value: Most casino players have a misconception that prices offers better ways to value in a game. It can not do that. However, exploiting the potential of the prices as well as your chances of winning.
8. Be on your game: Online casinos open 24 / 7, and that you become a full access to the meetings longer. This can be tired and exhausted, so that you begin by wrong decisions. Then you should avoid the longer play session.
9. Go For Free Money: Online poker sites offer Barbonus for opening new accounts with them. So, you should not miss this opportunity.
10. Using simulations: There are many simulations for the PC can be played without threat of cash. Outside of that, she is also on the strategies for your business in real time. These 10 tips to online poker you can guarantee the money. But it helps to avoid errors that most of us lose money in these games. Then follow, fun, and enjoy online poker.

Most hands don’t make it to the river, they are usually taken down pre flop or on the flop. However if you have gotten this far in the hand and have to make a river decision you want to make sure you do so wisely. There are a number of factors you want to keep in mind when deciding how to play the river. One of the most important considerations is that you should plan on playing the river much more timidly because if the other player(s) have felt there hand is strong enough to still be involved in the hand on the last street, then you can safely say they have a fairly strong hand. If you have a pair of aces but you did not improve you hand and a potential flush hit on the river and you are facing a lot of aggression on the river then you have an important decision to make if you want to continue with the hand.

The majority of the time the river is often worth checking and calling on the river if you have a good but not great hand. Aggression should progressively become more timid with every street. In other words, you want to be most aggressive on the flop, then progressively tone down your aggression on the turn and be very cautious on the river.
Playing in position helps your river play immensely. As mentioned above often times the river is just checked and you will see a showdown, however if villain decides to bet the river, if you have position on them you get to act last, so you get additional information on the hand. You need to decide about whether you have the best of it and if you should call the river bet or perhaps even raise for value, or if you should just fold the hand.

If you have followed the tips in this article then you should always have at least a medium strength hand if you get to the river. The majority of the time you should be calling a river bet if you have better then a medium strength hand just make sure that you don’t call river bets too lightly. The river is the worst street to be bluffing so if you don’t think you have the best of it then don’t call. Always be aware of scary cards on the river that may have improved villains hand.

If it’s a multi way pot and there are several callers on the river and you don’t have a very strong hand then your odds of having the best hand go down considerably.

The turn is a great place to get control of the pot or decide to get out of the hand. With continuation betting becoming second nature for so many online players, the turn card is where you usually find out who is serious about continuing with their hand.

If you feel like you had the best hand on the flop then you should continue with a bet on the turn to build the pot. If you suspect that your opponent has a drawing hand such as a flush draw then you really want them to pay for it to see another card.

Ideally you want them to just fold their hand on the turn, but if they are chasing their flush or straight make sure you make them pay for it by betting at least 2/3 of the pot. On the turn the only have 4:1 odds of making the flush on the river so they would be paying more then they should be to chase the flush, so in the long run you will make money.
If you have a medium strength hand you should probably continue to bet on the turn. However, if you are re raised on the turn you have an important decision to make.  For example, let’s say you are holding A-K of clubs and the flop comes Ks, 7d, 8d. You are under the gun with 1 other opponent involved in the pot which is the button. You have top pair and top kicker so can assume you probably have the best of it on the flop and make a continuation bet and get called. The turn card shows a Jd.
What should you do in this spot? You still have top pair top kicker but any potential flush draw has hit and there is also the possibility for a straight. Don’t give up on your hand just yet. I think you should make a turn bet but if you face a re-raise on the turn then you have to consider folding because your TPTK is not looking so good anymore. The button could likely be playing pre flop with a hand like 9-10 suited or made some better flush draw.

What you have to try and identify is how loose and aggressive the other player is. How likely would they be to make a move in this spot with air? Do they always have a made hand in this spot. If they only re-raise with the best of it on the turn, then it’s an easy fold, but always take your time to think about it. If villain is trying to bluff the hand, they will more then likely do it on the turn instead of leaving it to the river, because on the river there is so much money in the pot that you are committed to calling most river bets, so always be aware of opponents trying to make a move on the turn.
If you bet out on the turn and the other player calls your bet, it will often just go check and check on the river and you will see a showdown. Make sure that you have showdown value when making a turn bet otherwise it was pointless staying involved in the pot.

So far in this article it has only been suggested that you bet on the turn if you think you had the best of it on the flop and the turn card is not scary. If I have a very strong hand on the flop such as flopping a set, then a check/raise on the turn is a possibility to build a bigger pot, however doing this will depend on what range of hands you put your opponent on. If you think they have a weak hand, it may be worthwhile just check/calling the turn bet, and trying to induce a bluff on the river because your opponent may suspect weakness. Never get too predictable with your turn play and always change it up to be deceptive.

There are two things you want to be looking for when looking to continue on the flop. If you have followed the tips of good pre flop play, then you are only getting involved in flops with a much narrower range of hands so you are hitting many flops with the best of it. A great benefit of having a tight image at the table is that often times even when you don’t hit on the flop you can make a continuation bet on the flop and take it down because the other player(s) suspect you have the best hand. You want to use this strategy sparingly, but you definitely want to make use of it because you will not always be flopping monster hands.

Deciding whether or not to make a continuation bet has a lot to do with the board texture, identifying the other players range of hands, and the playing style of the other players involved in the pot. If they are calling stations and will call your bet chasing gut shot straight draws or even with A high and you have not hit the board, then continuation betting makes no sense because you will not get them off their hands and you don’t have a made hand.
Although continuation betting should make up a big part of your flop play, its not always the ideal play if you think you have the best of it and you want to extract more money from your opponents.
For example, let’s say for example you are playing an Ax hand with a high kicker. If the A hits on the flop and you are in early position then it would be a good idea to check raise in this spot. Betting the flop will just get the other player to fold their hand because the A will scare them, but if you let them think that you are weak and check they may consider continuation betting themselves, and you can then re-raise them. They may not be continuation betting with air they could possibly have a draw type hand so you want to make them pay for it to see the turn card.
Another good spot to vary up your play with a check raise is with strong draw hands. If you flop the nut flush and open ended straight draw on the flop, then a check raise in early position would be a good move to build the pot because you have so many outs to improve your hand with. Even if you don’t hit on the turn you can bet the turn and usually take it down.

One of the best ways to improving your game is to make adjustments to your pre flop play. You want to be folding a lot pre flop. In other words you don’t want to be involved in as many hands. The main benefit of tightening up your pre flop play is that you won’t be involved in as many tricky spots. If you really like to play poker this can be really difficult because you want to always be involved in the action, but you need discipline with your pre flop play if you want to consistently have winning sessions.

What starting hands you should open with has a lot to do with your position. You should only be opening with a raise in early position with very strong hands because you don’t have position. Another important factor is how many other players are at the table. How you play early position is very different if you are playing at a full ring 9-player table as opposed to a 6-max ring game. On a full ring table if you open with a raise UTG, you potentially have 8 other players who could call or even re-raise you. Where’s opening with a raise at a 6-max table, you have much fewer players to worry about.

In addition to having good table selection where you want to find tables where there are weak players, the other single most important factor for a winning poker player is to play well pre flop. The problem most beginners make is they get involved in too many pots with mediocre hands because they raise with a wide range of hands. Most players will not play well before the flop so you want to exploit this. They will want to see a flop with any 2 cards so you want to try and exploit this weakness by trying to get them heads up when you have position on them. This pre flop strategy is pretty easy to explain but psychologically it can take a lot of discipline if you want to master it.

Most poker books will have a chapter that discusses pre flop play and what are good starting hands. As a general rule of thumb, in early position you want to open with a raise with 10-10+, A-10+ and possibly a few other hand ranges. Your starting hand range is also dependant on your opponents. If they are calling stations and involved in many pots, you want to try and narrow your starting hand range to exploit their weakness, as already mentioned above. Medium pocket pairs and suited connectors can also be good hands to open with in early position, but there usually better cards to play in multi-way pots in late position.

The Poker Rigged blog is now up and running. After some initial problems with the hosting, mainly DNS problem and my Proxy couldn’t reach the network at all my new blog is now installed and running. Anyway, now it’s all about the Poker . Won a $6 Sit & Go tournament yestoday (10 seats), won $30 so it’s a all in for that $30 on this blog (blog+domain+design work). Hope you like it!

One of the greatest debates that has stemmed from the online poker era is of course whether or not winning at poker requires skill or just lots of luck. Many people feel online poker rooms are actually rigged to set up hands that encourage large pots so that they can take a larger rake, meaning that neither skill nor luck comes into play. However for this article we will put this thought process aside, as I have personally never seen any evidence of it and I have been playing online poker for nearly ten years and at close to twenty game operators.

Now that we got that out of the way, what exactly does it take to win at poker; skill or luck? Well I can personally say I have been in the midst of this heated debate at several online poker rooms, and no matter how much I try to convince people, they just do not believe my point of view. If you run out of luck, the only thing you can rely on is rakeback. All winners and losers for example will receive 30 % Absolute rakeback paid to their poker account at the end of each month. So, I have written this article in hopes of reaching out to these people and explaining that luck truly has little to do with being a good poker player, and a whole lot to do with being a skillful poker player.

Believe it or not there is actually a lot to know in order to be a good poker player. Call what you want, theory, science, genius, it doesn't really matter, but being a good poker player requires it. While anyone can play a game of poker and win some money, or enter a poker tournament and win a million dollars, unless they know that strategies involved with being a good poker player they relying on old lady luck to bring them their winnings. Of course knowing these strategies does not mean you will always come out on top, or even always win money, it does mean that in the long run you will be able to make playing poker a profitable endeavour.

Unlike most sports (yes, poker is now considered a sport by many), the skills required to be a professional poker player do have to be supernatural, they can in fact be learned by anybody willing to put the leg work in and actually learn and practice them. So what exactly are these skills and strategies I speak of? There have actually been many, and I mean many, books and DVD series created to try and teach people these theories. That being said it would impossible to give you that much information in such a brief article, however I will gladly give you a very useful pointer so that you will no longer have to depend wholly on luck to win money at poker.

The largest, most important, and hardest to master skill of being a good poker player is patience. If learned and used patience can your absolute best friend at the poker table, if ignored patience will be your worst enemy at the poker table. What exactly does that mean? Well, a lot of people who play poker today have learned how to play from watching poker on TV. Here we see hand after hand of massive pots being played one right after the other. In reality, there are likely ten to fifteen poker hands played in between the ones we see where everyone folded to the person in the big blind position of to the person who raised the pot. We do not see these because they are quite boring and would make for terrible television. The result however, is viewers watching and thinking they are seeing every hand.

In reality, a good and skilled poker player folds 80-90% of their hands even before seeing the flop. They do this knowing that they could luck out and make a hand with the cards from the flop, turn, and river, but also knowing that for the most part if they play the hand they will lose money on it. Instead, skilled poker players usually will only play pocket pairs, ace-king, ace-queen, or an ace that is with another card from its suit giving them the opportunity to make an ace high flush.

There are of course exceptions to every rule, and this one is no different. When you are down only two or three players at a table then you can expand the amount of starting hands you are willing to play. The same is true if you are in positioned in one of the blinds locations and can simply check your way into seeing the flop, or continue into the hand by upping your small blind to the amount of the big blind. But for the most part, a skilled poker player will stick to playing these hands, and if they do waiver, you can rest assured they have a very good reason to be doing so.