Poker Pros Understand Fold Equity
A level of online poker aggression that rarely gets discussed
but yet is quite prevalent and a large part of Texas Holdem poker games is fold equity. Fold equity is an advantage that the poker pro creates for himself by betting and raising
rather than just calling
with the intent of making his opponents fold their hands.

Poker Professional Reality
With the huge increase of people playing poker online and in casinos
the thought of becoming a poker professional always enters peoples minds. As appealing as becoming a poker professional might be to you
it is not easy to become a poker pro.

Poker Pros Play Live and Online
Poker played at online poker sites is the way that many professional poker players are playing poker today but it is not the only way. Professional poker players still choose to play at regular land based casinos for their poker action. Some players even do both. Is the game played the same online as it is in local cardrooms?

In any endeavor
long-term success or failure is based on the existence of a competitive advantage over your opponents. If you enjoy such an advantage
you can weather the turbulence of temporary setbacks — what statisticians refer to as variance
or noise
from an expected result.

If you’re playing at a disadvantage
however
the cards can’t save you. In the long run
you’re going to be a losing poker player. You’ll constantly have to reload your account
and you might end up blaming the poker sites
online cheating
bad beats
your parents
and basically anyone or anything except yourself. Here’s the top six reasons why you LOSE at poker – to become a winning poker player
don’t make these mistakes!

Play weaker cards than your opponents in order to get in the “action” as quickly as possible. Here’s a crowd favorite. If you’re playing poker in order to get some action
you need a more adventurous life! Or at the very least
you need to discount the possibility that you’ll ever be a winning poker player. The object of poker is NOT to see as many flops as possible
but to extract as much value from the cards and situations that do happen to come your way. Often
that means patience. Sometimes
a great deal of patience. If you’re looking for some action
maybe you
need to take up one of the other games offered in the casino?
Pay no attention to position – the same cards can be played from any position for any amount of money. If you think that button is just a plastic disk marking passage to the blinds
you’re costing yourself money. An AK in first position isn’t worth half what an AK in late position is
where you have the option of playing aggressively or calling and seeing what develops. Poker is a game of information
and every round of betting provides additional information as to your opponent’s likely hand. At the very least
it provides a great deal of information as to the hand your opponent is trying to represent
and you can judge for yourself how likely he really holds the hand indicated by his betting. But in any event
it’s always an advantage to see what your opponent will do before acting – you can save a bet if you think you’re behind or earn additional bets if you’re confident that you’re in the lead. You MUST tighten your standards out of position and loosen them in position.
Play passively
calling along with your hand to see what develops. You never know what kind of unlikely draw might get there
and you want your opponent to “show you” what he has. The object of poker again is to maximize return on your good hands and minimize losses on your bad hands. You can’t afford to play sheriff on every hand just because you think there’s a chance
however remote
that another player is bluffing. Mostly
players are NOT bluffing when they show a great deal of interest in a hand. You need a very good read on your opponent to discount the hand he’s representing if he’s playing consistent
aggressive poker from beginning to end. If your opponent’s actions tell a consistent story that he has a big hand
it’s usually wise to believe him unless you’ve seen similar bluffs in the past. And even if you suspect larceny
merely calling is still usually a bad move. It’s much better
to challenge your opponent early in the hand
when the betting is still cheap
then call along through four separate rounds of increasingly-expensive betting. Put your opponent to the test early
and you’ll put more pressure on your opponents at a lower cost than passively calling along to see their hand.
Focus on your own cards
and ignore what your opponent’s past betting patterns
current bets and the table situation in general indicate as to his likely holdings. This is a favorite of the multi-table crowd. It’s true that by playing conservative
lock-down poker
you can often best players at the lowest levels without taking the time to size up your opposition or watch the other hands at the table. You might be able to get by simply playing your own hand
and judging how likely you are to be ahead by gauging your own hand strength relative to the board. But at higher stakes
you need to have some kind of read on your opponents: are they tight or loose? do they tend to overbet the pot with a big hand or merely a draw? how often do they bluff? do they respect your play? If you’re not paying attention to the hands being played at the table (where you’re not involved)
you’ll have no idea of the other players’
betting patterns. You’ll be left playing your own cards
and left guessing what your opponents might be up to. That’s fine for ABC poker against incompetents
but as your opponents’ skill increases
so too will their powers of observation. If you allow them superior information (by not paying attention to the other players’ – and your own – betting patterns) your tunnel vision will cost you dearly.
Pay no attention to bet sizing and maximizing returns on winning hands and minimizing losses on your losers
based on the play of the hand. Professional players spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how they could have “gotten that extra bet” out of a fellow
and analyzing if they could have “bet a smaller amount [on a bluff] and gotten the same information.” They do so because they know that most your winnings at the table will come from maximizing winning hands and minimizing losses on losing poker hands. You will NOT make most of your money from absurd and audacious bluffs
regardless of the table conditions (loose tables will call anyway
and tight competent opponents will look you up at the worst times). You make most of your money on your value betting (and by saving money with tough folds). Just acknowledging that the secret to winning poker play is NOT bluffing will put you on the fast track to being a consistent
winning player.
Pay no attention to game selection. Here’s an obscure one
and in real-life it’s difficult to actually execute. In real-life cash or tournament play
it can often be difficult to choose the ideal table to maximize your winnings. Online poker sites
however
give you the statistics on flops seen. All else being equal
you want to go to a loose table
where lots of players are paying to see the flop. This can make for some initially wild action
but the tight
aggressive player can capitalize on this to get paid off on his top hands. You can also patiently wait to pick your spots. Most of your profit at the poker table will come from one or two loose
weak players
and you want to be seated at the table that allows you to exploit such players. As Jesus showed
it only takes a few fish to feed an army.
This article extracted from Poker Tips that Pay: Expert Strategy Guide for Winning No Limit Texas Hold em (author Jonathan Gelling
Play to Pay Publishing).

Love poker
but want to earn some money from the game? Visit PokerTipsThatPay.com and preview a sample chapter from Poker Tips that Pay: Expert Strategy Guide for Winning No Limit Texas Hold em
by poker author Jonathan Gelling.

by Jonathan Gelling

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The WSOP Announces $1
000
000 Texas Hold em Freeroll
The World Series of Poker has announced that it will be holding a live $1
000
000 Texas Hold em Freeroll Tournament. The event will take place during the Annual WSOP
which will be held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino in Las Vegas
Nevada. This year marks the 41st time the Annual WSOP will be held. read more

Team Titan and Sorel Mizzi on a Roll
Sorel Mizzi
who made his name as a monster online poker player and signed with Team Titan at Titan Poker one month ago
has been burning up the poker tables in Europe. Mizzi finished in the money twice recently. read more

In online poker
there is no doubt that the Texas hold-em poker is still considered the most popular. But it probably would not hold that spot for long
as Omaha hold-em is steadily gaining ground in the poker popularity contest. You’ll find many respectable poker rooms and other live dealer casinos offering the Omaha Poker version.Omaha hold-em
or simply Omaha
is the game of choice of a lot of poker players because it is perceived that the mathematical probabilities that poker nerds look forward to computing are more obvious there. Also
because these probabilities are more apparent
Omaha is said to be more of a game of wits than a game of chance.Another characteristic that makes Omaha distinct from the other kinds of poker games is that in Omaha
it is not always the player with the highest hand who wins the pot. The object of Omaha is to come up with both the highest and the lowest hand. The two players who got the highest and the lowest hand respectively get to split the pot. In some cases
two or more players tie in having the highest and lowest hand
and so they split the pot amongst themselves. Of course it is entirely possible for just the player with the highest hand to get the whole pot to him/herself.There are
however
restrictions as to how a hand of cards can be considered a low hand. First
the highest card in the hand should have a value not bigger than eight. Second
the five cards making up the hand should all be unpaired.In addition
in Omaha
a player makes up his/her hand
be it the highest or the lowest
using exactly two of his/her four hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards.Here is how Omaha is played
step by step:1. The dealer deals out the four hole cards to each player one at a time. Once all the players have their cards
an initial round of betting is made. The person to the left of the dealer makes the small blind and the one to his/her left makes the big blind. The other players can then check the big blind
raise it
or fold.2. After this first betting round is done
the dealer draws out the first three community cards
also called the flop. Another betting round happens
with players raising
checking or folding. Afterwards
the dealer draws the fourth community card
called the turn
which is then followed by another betting round with the subsequent raising
checking or folding. The same happens with the fifth community card
also known as the river.3. The showdown happens among the players who have not folded after the river is placed down. Again
the players use exactly two of the hole cards and exactly three of the community cards. The players with the highest and the lowest hand win the pot and split it among themselves. If there are no hands that qualified for the lowest hand
then the player who got the highest hand gets to have the pot entirely to him/herself.

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Online Poker Weekend: ‘sistabossen’
‘METZMAGNY’ Capture Majors (source: pokernews.com)
Another Sunday night full of online poker action saw ‘sistabossen’ and ‘METZMAGNY’ capture the night’s biggest prizes at Full Tilt and PokerStars
respectively. Overall
attendance in the biggest online events ticked upward… (source: pokernews.com) – RSS feeds and Feed widget on Feedzilla.com

Poker Hall of Fame Adds Two Players (source: about.com)
This year
the Poker Hall of Fame inducted two new members to it’s exclusive club: Harry Orenstein
who invented the hole cam that’s made poker on TV exciting
and Dewey… (source: about.com) – RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com

Many people sit around and play stud poker in their homes and in casinos. However
if you are mainly an at home player you may not be playing by the rules that you will see at an online poker room or in a casino. This could be very bad
if you start playing and make a big mistake that can hurt your pocketbook. The best way to ensure you are ready to play is by learning the rules of stud poker. All casinos offline and online use the same basic rules of play. This article will give you the basics for playing 7-card stud poker
even though there are other varieties such as 5-card stud poker.The way in which the game of 7 card Stud Poker is played is that each player begins by putting the ante in the center of the table. This is normally a predetermined amount of money set by the casino or online poker room. Once everyone has anted the dealer begins with the player on his or her left and deals two cards down and one card face up to each player. The player that has the lowest card face up begins the betting
known as the bring in. The betting goes around the table in clockwise fashion until every player has made their bet with each player either calling
raising the bet
or folding. After this round of betting
the dealer deals the fourth card to every player that is still in the game
meaning they have not folded. Now
the player with the best hand showing begins the betting. Then the betting goes around the table again with players once again calling
raising
or folding. The next card or fifth card is dealt to each player face up with another round of betting as before. Then the sixth card is dealt face up with a round of betting. The last card or seventh card is dealt by the dealer to each player that has not folded face down. The players after this have another round of betting and then show their hand
known as the showdown. The winner is the one with the best 5-card hand. Each card that is dealt is also referred as street such as Fourth Street instead of the fourth card and so on until reaching Seventh Street or the seventh card. Of course
this is just the basic game play
in order to play poker well
you must learn all about the rankings and what hands beat which hands. You may think that you have a great hand just because you have 2 pair
however
if another player has 3 of a kind or a full house
you will loose. The better you are at learning the rankings and the way in which to play the various types of poker games
the more likely you are to bring in some winnings.

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WSOP-C Hammond
Final Table: Steve Billirakis Caps Wire-to-Wire Run (source: pokernews.com)
In an impressive display
Steve ‘MrSmokey1′ Billirakis took the chip lead on Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at the Horseshoe Hammond and never let go
going wire to wire to take down the $208
885 first prize… (source: pokernews.com) – RSS feeds and Feed widget on Feedzilla.com

PokerStars ‘Million Dollar Men’ Promo Offers Players Chance to Share the Wealth (source: pokernews.com)
With the 117-day hiatus in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event almost over and action at the final table about to begin
PokerStars continues to offer its players a chance to share in the excitement in a very real… (source: pokernews.com) – RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com

Bluff Europe Poker Academy returns
The Bluff Europe Poker Academy has announced its return for the second year running. The first event will be held next month and will feature a host of poker pros including Nik Persaud
Neil Channing
and Stuart Rutter
who will be on hand to share their profound wisdom and advice to aspiring poker players. read more