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The Best Ways to Learn Poker

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4:43 pm 4:43 pm

Who would eventually become a better poker player in the long run? A beginner who carefully follows the styles of amateur poker player or someone who made himself familiar with established techniques but simply studies and plays on his own? Does the former play more carefully, learn more, enjoy more and eventually win more poker games than the latter?

Even most poker professionals regularly look at unimaginative poker players accross the felt. You don’t have to take unnecessary risks to actually learn the many creative likelihoods of poker and develop your own style of playing. However, you would have to try novel ways of doing things even if it goes against the rules of the Poker Beginner’s Bible. You would also have to constantly improve regardless of occasional failures.

Sticking with established poker playing styles can be safer compare with being imaginative in doing your plays. However, engaging yourself creatively in playing poker can be a demanding activity that’s why some players simply play poker by rote.

Poker has been recognized as a sport in several countries. Like chess, it is the kind of sport which is closer to art than to athletics. The game is regularly shown on major TV channels and access to poker material on the net is almost limitless. Nevertheless, most so called poker players respond more to poker marketing campaigns than to the game’s essence. They keep poker as popular entertainment and profession from becoming an unprofitable esoteric art and most of them don’t know it.

Most beginners to the wonderful world of poker follow the same path as that of a school of fish which are comfortably eaten by sharks when they pass by. These newcomers rarely, if ever, depart from an established set of rules which cause them to fail. This is the reason why 99% of poker players never accomplish anything and just blame their fortune on luck and pure absence of Skills.

How one learns an established pattern and sticks with it his entire life is worth noting. It is interesting because the people who made those models never really considered other persons’ unique talents, styles and needs. By strictly following an established practice, you will get little or no pleasure from a game where you may lose a lot of money in a very short time. Many of the beginners never learn when to drop out and their actions become automatic and they stay in the game far too long, which will ultimately cause their demise.

Many great poker players have one thing in common: they are constantly improving themselves. They are always curious as to what kinds of plays would make their chances of winning grow. Most of poker-related mass media encourage people not to develop this attitude but to become blindly hooked with a specific list of do’s and don’ts. As a result an alarming spirit of apathy is cultivated amongst many new poker players. A novice poker player should develop an attitude of creativity and curiousness. He should never be afraid to try new things and deviate from the established norms.

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Finding The Best Online Poker Games

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11:28 am 11:28 am

Playing poker at any time of the day from anywhere in the world is easier than ever. Whenever you get the urge you can sit down and play poker online. There is always a game going somewhere. The question is, “is there a good game going?” If you’re just sitting at the first table that becomes available, you’re probably costing yourself money.

The United States Constitution says that all men are created equal. I don’t know if that is true, but I can tell that the same is definitely NOT true of all poker games. There are good games and there are bad games, and playing only in the very good ones can have a huge impact on your bottom line. So how do we find these hidden gold mines?

One way is to look at table averages. This may mean finding games with a high number of people seeing the flop, very few preflop raises, or generally loose, passive play. Its easy to see table data if you play online and use any type of tracking software. Live games can be more difficult to gauge, but a close eye for an orbit or two should give you the information that you need. These loose passive games can be hard to find at times and can be nearly impossible to find at some limits. If you find yourself in this situation it may mean that you have to have a more specific approach to find the best games to play in. This is where your buddy / fishy lists and notes come into play.

When simple table averages fail to turn up outstanding tables for you to sit at, its may be time to head over to your buddy list. Finding and isolating one or two very weak players at a table can earn you an easy living. If you’re lucky enough to get position on these players you should probably stay at the table until they leave or go bust. The important thing to remember is to keep track of what kind of “fishy” your dealing with. Against a calling station you will play differently than if you had a weak tight player. Just having a weak player on your buddy list may not be enough. Keeping good notes on these weak players should save you some time in figuring out information that you should already know.

If you are not practicing any type of table selection, do not have a buddy/fishy list, and are not keeping notes on your opponents, you will probably find that your win rate will significantly improve once you start implementing these simple yet effective techniques.

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Approaching the Game of Poker for Profit

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4:18 pm 4:18 pm

In trying to decide how to approach poker, consider the pluses and minuses of certain games as opposed to others. Limit Holdem used to be the single most popular game on the net. There are still many low and medium limit games being played as well as games as big as $100/$200 games. The game remains one of the most easily accessible and probably remains one of the most prospective in terms of profits, and is likely to remain so for some time to come, especially since not many players rise to the levels of $20/$40.

Being as popular as it is, it is everyone’s choice and so maintains its profitability and will be the go-to game for a long time.

There are tons of books written for the sole education of the limit hold’em player of any level. It is one of the most read about and studied forms of the game and if the student is diligent, he can learn a lot just by reading. With all this literature available, it is not difficult to learn how to make the right decisions in many situations.

Of course, the ease of learning the game promotes many skilled players at the table, both online and off. This fact cuts into its profitability, especially for the average player. The run-of-the mill player cannot expect to make a net profit.

For you, who are determined to not be just an average player, you must do some soul searching to discover the game that best suits you. You know that poker is a game of chance of course, but it is also a game of skill, creativity and resourcefulness. It requires a tolerance for risk and a high degree of self control. You must find in your soul searching as accurately as you possibly can your tolerance for risk-taking and how you behave when you encounter it. Can you control yourself or do you run amok with impetuosity and careless behavior? Do you take uncalculated stabs at chance or do you carefully calculate the risk and either stop yourself or go ahead and enjoy the thrill if the odds are in your favor?

There are special tests to help you determine how risk-prone you are. If you cannot help yourself, slot machines will probably be your best choice. If you would rather avoid risk, it is best to gravitate towards limit games in the exact proportion to your aversion towards risks.

If you are an individual who must have everything under your control as often as possible, decide whether you are a human calculator who remembers every card played and every combination of cards in a three or four hour long marathon games, or the psychologist who made your best moves by reading your opponents’ body language and facial expressions. The latter player should be in a no-limit or MTT poker game, not limit hold’em.

Interestingly, it is also the latter type of player who has the best shot at developing as a player. High-limit games are rare. High risks are also not likely to lead very far. No-limit and tournaments offer both accessible and complex poker challenges, providing the best environment for aspiring beginners.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Carbon Rakeback as well as Absolute Rakeback.

Managing Anger in Online Poker

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3:29 pm 3:29 pm

One of the advantages of online poker is that you don’t have to contain your emotions. There is no one to react to your hysterics or to read your nervous ticks. You don’t have to hide or be ashamed to express your feelings. You can swear, pray to God, laugh like a madman or cry like a girl, and there are plenty of things you can break or try to break without having to pay a fine (that is, if you are playing online at your own place).

The only thing you want to leave alone is the computer. People and pets sharing the apartment with you will have probably learned by now that they better stay away from the serious poker player. Anyone who hasn’t learned yet is fair game.

While it is clearly an advantage, it may turn on you and effect your mental health. It is widely believed that containing your emotions is not good for a person or as a player. The belief is that the more you depress the expression of emotion, the greater the likelihood that the pent up frustration will effect your decision making and possibly lead to a decline in your mental health.

Recalling their negative feelings of “flashes of anger”, “blind rage” or even going “totally berserk” many players admit guilt. They like to point to the Japanese experience where rubber dolls are given – representing management- and employees use these to alleviate their feelings of frustration.

One needs to remember, however, that Japan is a culture radically different from ours, and hence very possibly with psychological make up that is radically incompatible with ours. Moreover, despite the rubber dolls and the liberal views in relation to porn and simulated violence, Japan still has some of the most appalling suicide statistics in the world, especially in its middle class marketing sector.

So, when viewed through this lens, the soundness relieving our pent up frustration on inanimate objects can be called into question. Indeed, many trials lean to the conclusion that the violent expression of frustration is not a stress reliever, but the exact opposite.

It seems not unlikely that any rational person realizes that the actual cause of frustration remains untouchable and this may only exacerbate the frustration while the mechanical pounding of a rubber bag only encourages rage, rather than lift stress. Moreover, when the person expects to feel better after the procedure instituted by his superiors but the relief does not come, the person is likely to be even more frustrated.

When this is applied to the poker player, it means that while the player who is experiencing complicated and intense irritation and anger is now distracted from the game itself, likely to a greater degree than if they had chosen to suffer in quiet. Our sense of purpose is disrupted by fear and creativity is negatively impacted by great joy. Indeed, any disproportionate emotion (not to be confused with deep concentration) is intellectually debilitating especially in relation to the activity involved.

Containing anger created during a game, as opposed to those life frustrations such as lack of appreciation or a rocky love life, should be looked upon generally as a positive. Treat it as way to make a player better, teaching poise and general discipline. Controlling the anger may take some practice at first but with time it should become easier and result in improvement to your health and career. If it is not working, take a break, quit that one disastrous game, or in the extreme, even stop playing on line poker for a time.

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No-Limit Tournaments and Cash Games – The Growth in Popularity

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1:44 pm 1:44 pm

No limit tournament poker is far more popular than cash-games in general and limit-games in particular. As many as 75% of the players online, at any given time, may be engaged in tournament holdem of some variety. Having played enough tournaments, it is easier to make the shift into the no-limit world. No-limit is the most popular of all cash games.

Tournaments, due the media hype, are where the inexperienced novices go to play and where they are taken advantage of by the more knowing players. Free-roll tournament poker is readily available at every venue day or night making them easy to find for the cautious rookie. They can then make an attempt at a few hands with no ante and even luck into a win or two. This can be a most addictive beginning to poker mania.

Cash games are far more stressful than the sit-and-go games often found at tournaments. In sit-and-go, the player forks over a fixed amount of deposit and then plays the ensuing hands for chips only, making for a relaxed game among friends. One can easily find access to a tournament game as they are well advertised and may even lure in some players seeking a certain amount of celebrity status.

However, it is important to distinguish frequent and quick SnG tournaments and the rarer MTT where each game may take a stressfully long time. During an MTT, a player cannot leave without loosing everything he has invested; which means the necessity to endure long hours of difficult play. Such games take determination and endurance; otherwise, it is easy to lapse into despair, unwilling to leave, yet unable to concentrate and play well. Matters are complicated by high dispersion, though the final three players at the table have a lot going for them.

Also, you can’t expect to walk into a poker club and find an MTT going on. Even in online poker rooms, you may find yourself only able to play very late at night, depending on your country of play. The literature available on tournaments and no-limit games tends to be scarce and dwells on the psychological and subjective aspects of the game rather than any precise techniques and strategies.

The transition between cash and MTT is not particularly difficult. No-limit and cash games do have a lot of similarities, but there are more drawbacks to the MTT. No-limit cash games are thought to be the most prospective of all online games by the majority of players. Among all the cash games no-limit is by far the most available and can be found at all places and at all times with no lack of gung-ho players. You can be sure that not all of those eager beavers are experts. Because the game is not well documented in literature, the talented players have an excellent opportunity to practice some psychological manipulations. Those less talented need to be aware of this and proceed with caution.

The literature on cash games appears to grow in quantity, but even when it is of good quality, it is imprecise, lacks concrete universal guidelines, heavily dependent on the specific assortment of individual human potential at any given table. There is no way to “master” no-limit cash games without playing a lot and taking care to study your opponents meticulously every time, accumulating a wealth of memory (if not of cash) from which to draw creatively (i.e. without much certainty of success) in unpredictable future games.

No limit games offer the fiercest dispersion for even good players. Experts have been known to lose five or six buy-ins in one round of play. This is not a cheap game or one for the faint of heart..

The author is a full time online poker player and makes the majority of his income from his online play and rakeback at Minted Poker. To sign up for a Rakeback account of your own visit Rakeback Solution.

Live Poker v Online Poker

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12:21 pm 12:21 pm

Since the dawn of the online poker age there has always been the question of which is better, online poker or live games in a casino or card room? The answer is the same as most poker questions…. It depends. While the two generally have the same rules and structure, you are dealing with two very different games.

If its speed and sheer volume of hands that you’re after than online poker is the hands down winner. Dealing, shuffling, counting chips, and collecting cards is all done automatically by the poker room software. A lot of time is also saved by knowing how much money is in the pot at all times and how much money is in each players stack. When you also factor in the clock that is put on each player when it is their turn, you start to get double and even triple the amount of hands per hour when compared to a live game. Another thing to consider is the fact that you can play several tables at a time online. If you are good enough to play six to eight tables at once you may well get 600 or more hands in every hour. Under some conditions you may well end up playing more than 20 times the number of live hands that would be dealt in a similar amount of time. As a skilled player, the more hands you play the more money you make right? The answer again is “it depends”.

Live poker also has some advantages. While you will only play twenty to thirty five hands per hour, you should be able to make a lot more per hand on average. The competition in live games is extremely weak when compared to similar limits in online poker. It has been my experience that the 20/40 limit holdem game at the local casino is much softer than online games as small as 1/2. This means that you should be able to play live games at much higher stakes without being “out of your league” skill wise. In fact some players at these levels in a casino often are unaware of poker information as basic as hand rankings. I’ve seen players who are unaware that their two pair is going to loose to a flush even after the cards are all turned over. Players this weak might as well have ATM embroidered on their baseball caps. For a skilled poker player we would imagine that higher staked and weak opponents lead to more money right? Perhaps…

Aside from actual win rate, each form of poker has its own advantages. Live poker is a much more social game. If you’re a social person and want to get out and interact with people and have some fun, you may enjoy live poker more. The internet however allows you to play poker in your underwear (or whatever). You can play at any time and don’t even have to leave the house. This convenience appeals to a lot of people. When you decide whether online poker or going to the casino is right for you, you need to keep in mind why you play poker. If you play for entertainment or a social experience, than live action is the way to go. If you are strictly business, than with rakeback, online poker bonuses, multitabling, and the huge volume of hands, you will probably do better with online poker.

Since both forms of poker have their advantages I guess that we can conclude that its a draw. Online is better for some players where as live games suit others. It all depends on what you want to get out of your time at the tables.

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Improving Your Poker

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6:41 pm 6:41 pm

If you wish to improve your game, ditch the arrogance and ego involvement, and don’t depend on the constant repetition of a few rules you learned to get you safely by. The basic step to improvement is to recognize the need for it. Introspection is at the core of every good player as much as technique, luck or insight into their opponents’ minds. Perfectionism is not the answer. The answer lies in the ability to be self-critical and correctly and precisely define your strengths and weaknesses.

There are also talented players out there who do not project arrogance and do not play by a few rules they learned either from the literature or at the table. Their roadblock to improvement is to rest on their laurels and never grow. No inspiration here, these lazy players rely on rare strokes of brilliance to win a couple of hands..

A good player never neglects his weaknesses. Usually nobody is good at every aspect of any complex activity, but to rely on one or two superior skills is dangerous and is more likely to be your ruin in the long run. Once opponents have singled out what you do best, and that it is about the only thing you do, they will maneuver around your good hand. And if they are good players, they will consistently execute the maneuver even if it means giving up a they own good hand, so to speak, to land you one on the nose form the direction you hope it will never come. Because their skills are better rounded than yours, they can afford it, feeling confident enough with both their right and their left.

There are no successful one-armed boxers. There are no successful poker players with just one or two moves. A good player is at work to constantly sharpen all his poker skills. At the same time he recognizes his weak points and works at overcoming them, no matter difficult that may be.

The first step to enlightenment is to understand that the game isn’t worth playing if you don’t play to win. Secondly, improvement is based on acquiring the discipline to form a habit of undertaking tasks you would rather not do. This is not a mechanical exercise, you must understand why it is you are doing it, otherwise you will give up. Following a routine without knowing why and relying on only one or two skills in the hope that the stuff you don’t like will just go away, is not realistic and not playing an engaging game of poker.

The thing to do is to imagine as well as you can what it would be like to be a fully competent player, imagine the rush of inspiration which leads to success and hard-won triumph, and decide for yourself whether the possibility pleases you or not. If you can’t imagine the triumph and glowing detail of the struggle than be frank with yourself and admit that you have no real idea how to succeed in the field. But if imagining this makes you passionate, start working hard and you will definitely see results, and the effort to work at things you don’t like (perhaps you are an introvert technician who might benefit from better communication skills and face-reading abilities, etc) is guaranteed to be rewarding.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Rakeback at Betfair Poker and Rakeback at Red Star Poker.