The Art of Folding the Cards

While many players spend hour perfecting their bluffing skills and learning to look for tells in other players, the art of folding is often overlooked. Believe it or not, it is possible to fold every hand and end up in the top 50% in any given online poker tournament! Human nature makes many of us believe that the other players at the table are bluffing and that your Ace/King draw is enough to win you the big pot but the art of folding is based on smart, conservative play. Folding with cards you don't have full confidence in will help minimize your losses, which funny enough, increase your profits made on your strong hands. Developing a consistent strategy is crucial in winning at online poker. Whether it be Texas Holdem, Seven Card Stud or any other form of poker it is always best to condition yourself to play only the hands you have a strong chance of winning and decreasing your chance of losses with weaker hands. If you have established a solid bluffing skill and are able to quickly spot the tells of other players, the art of folding is the third tool in making you a better player. Establishing yourself as a player who will fold on first site of a weak hand can be beneficial in later play when you decide it is time to use your well rehearsed bluffing skills. Players will think twice before continuing to raise the pot when they know of your high fold rate. The longer the game goes the less likely they are to challenge you when you are aggressively raising, which translates into more wins coming your way by simly mastering the art of folding! Another benefit to the art of folding is it gives you more opportunity to study the behavior of the other players at the table. You can make notes on who is a "maniac", who uses the bluff too often and who is playing the same strategy as yours. Knowing the behavior patterns of the others at your table will help you determine how far you can take your strong plays and when it is best to execute your bluff. This is the art of folding and how it improves your overall chances at a successful round of online poker. As with any part of your strategy, use the fold smartly and play smart to win big!

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General Poker Tips And Strategy

The biggest mistake for beginner players is playing too many hands and playing too passively. It is important to wait for decent hands and throw away the junk hands. The big pairs such as AA, KK and QQ are by far the most profitable starting hands in poker. It's very important to play them in a way that maximizes your profit because these hands have a very high positive expectation and are rare. Just like other situations in poker where you have the best of it, you want to build up the pot quickly. In most situations, when you have a big hand you want to build up the pot by taking the lead with betting and raising. However, there are some situations where you may want your opponent to be the aggressor and do the betting for you. You do this when your opponent is super aggressive and they bet and raise frequently with poor holdings. You should play it a bit different if you have a large stack nearing 100bb or more. This is because if you get it all-in on the river with a big stack, you will almost always be beaten by a two-pair hand or better. As the stack and pots get bigger, the better the hand you need to see a showdown. Often even strong hands like two-pairs and sets are no good when a lot of money goes in the pot on later streets. So if someone re-raises you on the turn or river with scary community cards, you may want to think about folding your high pair. When you play a hand in poker it is important to plan the hand in advance. Why are you playing that hand and how are you going to play it? Too many players just play the hand because they like the look of it. They have succumbed to the "calling reflex" which is the idea that people have a tendency to want to call, even often without thinking about it beforehand. People don't come down to the local casino or play online to just sit there and fold all day. Small pairs and suited connected cards can be very profitable in no-limit hold 'em. Hitting sets and making flushes and straights have the potential to win big pots. They are often quite deceptive, especially straights like double gut shots, which are very hard to see and put people on sometimes.

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Starting Hand Selection in Texas Hold'em Poker

One of the first and most important things to learn when playing Texas Hold'em is which starting hands are worth staying in with -- and which you should fold. Deciding whether or not those two down cards you're first dealt are playable is the most important decision in every hand, because while you have to be in it to win it, you also can't lose money you haven't bet. Since the two hole or pocket cards are the only thing that will make your hand better or worse than any other players, it's important that they are good strong cards. And play only the cards in the 10 best list and always fold the hands in the worst hands list. Doing this alone will improve your results. But to really succeed as a good Hold'em player, you need to vary your starting hand selection standards depending on your poker position. Read more about understanding poker position if it's a new concept to you. It's important because you need to tighten up your standards in early position (such as the blinds) and can loosen up your standards in late postion (such as sitting on the button).

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How to Win at Video Poker

Learn how to maximize your odds of winning -- and how much you win -- at Jacks-or-better video poker. The most important thing in video poker is learning which of your original five cards to keep or hold and which to discard. You should have a basic knowledge of what beats what and how to play five-card draw before getting into the nitty-gritty of strategy. By far, the most common question and situation I encounter is: What should you do when you are dealt a low pair (10s or lower)? While sometimes it may look tempting to draw to a straight or just try your luck with 5 entirely new cards, the answer is almost always to keep the low pair. The general exception to this rule is when you have 4 cards to a flush, straight flush, or a royal straight flush. In these cases you always want to draw to the flush or straight flush because your odds of getting at least the flush are very good and the payout is so much higher. If you can remember this one single strategy, you will be in better shape than many players. For more precise and even better odds, below is a table telling you exactly which cards to keep and which to throw away depending on your starting 5 cards. To read the table, start at the top and match your hand to the highest one on the list and follow the number listed there. In other words, while you may have both a pair and four cards to a flush, such as having the Ace of hearts and the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack of spades (AAKQJ) you will discard the Ace or hearts and try to hit the royal straight flush, since "four-card royal straight flush" is higher on the chart than "High pair."

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How to Read Poker Tells

One skills most good poker players have is the ability to read their opponents at the table. That is why you hear so much about “poker tells.” A “tell” is any physical reaction, kind of behavior, or habit that gives (or tells) the other players information about your hand. If you learn the most common tells, you can not only watch your own behavior to make sure your body language isn’t telling all your secrets, but also watch for the habits and tics in the poker players you’re at the table with. If you can accurately read your opponent’s tells, you’ll make the right decisions against them more often and win more money. Anyone has their own unique tics and tells, and it’s great to watch individuals and pick up on their unique tells. Luckily, there are also a few involuntary and common tells that you can watch for even the first time you sit down with someone. As a general rule, remember that when a player acts strong, he’s probably weak, and when a player acts weak, he's probably got a really strong hand. Poker Tells that Say "I Have a Good Hand!" Acting Uninterested in a Hand While Still in It This is usually a sign of a strong hand. The player is pretending that he’s not excited about his cards – but he is. Shaking Hands During a hand, if you notice a player’s hands are shaking as she places her bet, she probably has gotten a really, really good hand. Perhaps the nuts. Rapid Breathing Some players can control the shakes, but it's harder to control the automatic heart-racing that comes when you see pocket aces or hit the flop really hard. If you can see a player's chest visibly rising and falling, they have an excellent hand Sighing and Shrugging If a player makes a show of sighing or shrugging, and says things like “Oh, I guess I’ll call,” or even “Why am I calling?” he probably is overacting and is trying to hide a big hand. Glancing at Chips After Looking at Hole Cards When a player looks down and sees strong hole or pocket cards, she may glance over at her chips to see just how much she can bet. Poker Tells that Say "I Have a Weak Hand!" Staring Down Other Players If an opponent is staring you down, he’s trying to represent strength. Usually though, he has a weak hand – he might have something, but it’s something that can be beaten or drawn out on. Holding Breath Often, inexperienced players will hold their breath if they are bluffing. Poker Tells that Say "I Have a Drawing Hand." Checking Hole Cards After a Flop If the flop shows the possibility of giving someone a flush or straight draw, watch for people re-checking their hole cards. They’re checking to see if they have a piece of it – whether that black Ace was a spade or a club. The player doesn’t have the flush or straight at that point, because if they did, they wouldn’t have to check, but she is seeing if she has a draw to it. Taking a Long Time Before Calling a Bet If a player looks into the pot and seems to be doing some calculating in his head, he probably is. He’s most likely figuring out the pot odds to see if it’s worth it to try and catch the cards he needs to complete his drawing hand.

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The Best Heads Up Poker Strategy Exposed!

It would be quite hard to win a poker tournament if you don't have a good heads up poker strategy in place. Once you learn the secrets of good heads up poker strategy, then your chances of becoming one of the best poker players out there is likely to increase. What is one of the key things that a poker player has to remember throughout the game? That is to keep in mind that the hand you started with can change over the course of the game. In fact, it can change so much that even if you started with a bad hand, once you play your strategies well, you can end up with one of the best hands if not the best out of them all. Basically, you would be able to play more starting hands during heads up play when compared to playing at a full table. The strength of the hand you started with also increases by a huge percent because of the limited number of dealt cards. Another bonus is the fact that the chances of your opponent having a really strong hand decreases thus giving you more chances of winning. The number of people playing Texas Holdem heads up has actually increased in the recent years. The popularity of the game is largely attributed to the fact that it is both a fast and aggressive game and people feed off this adrenaline rush. It is also logical that many people have developed their own heads up poker strategy to get ahead of the competition. Lucky for newbies to the game, this heads up poker strategy or strategies are also being generously shared by the more seasoned players. Among the more popular strategies that many players use is referred to as Blind Stealing which is said to be the best for those who are at the beginner's level. Basically, the beginner is taught to loosen up because unlike the typical round table games, heads up would require the player to be quick and should be able to steal the most number of blinds. Furthermore, the more time you take when it comes to thinking about your next action, the lower your chances are of reaching the top. There are some significant changes that one has to make to his or her strategies as well as a lot more calls than one would ever do in a conventional round table game. Another crucial thing that one must remember during a heads up game is to judge your opponent wisely. This is considered to be an ace heads up poker strategy and judging your opponent is probably even more significant during a heads up game in comparison to a conventional round table game. There are times wherein you would find yourself with a hand that's not so great but if you are able to judge both body language and strategy of your opponent, you still have a great chance of winning. Though this is often over looked by many players, it is still among the most vital heads up poker strategy.

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Basic Poker Strategy For Beginners

Poker isn't just a game of chance and luck. While it's absolutely true these things do come into play, there's a level of skill involved in becoming a good poker player. With this in mind, it doesn't matter whether the game is Black Jack, Texas Hold 'Em or 7-Card Stud, some simple poker strategy can go along way toward helping a player become a winner. It won't guarantee a win every time, but it can up the odds in a player's favor. There are some basic poker strategy tips that extend to just about any game being played. From 5-Card Stud to High-Lo and beyond, these things combine to make a good poker player: Focus: Perhaps the number one poker strategy employed by a good player is the use of focus and discipline. Good players are patient and they wait for the right hands and restrain themselves from making foolish moves. Discipline and focus can be a hard poker strategy to employ, but it can pay off in the long run. Watching, waiting: The next big poker strategy good players use is to do nothing more than employ the powers of observation. They pay attention to what's going on, watch the behaviors of their opponents and gain a feel for the game and the table. This can be harder in online poker, but this poker strategy extends to that arena, as well. Understanding: The most basic poker strategy of all, and one of the most vital, is understanding the game being played. Players that use this poker strategy will begin to intuitively understand that odds involved in making particular moves. This poker strategy goes beyond know the cards in a good hand, it extends to the ins and outs of each game being played. Improvisation: Another good poker strategy to employ is making sure your actions are not consistent. When other players are watching, this particular poker strategy can make it very difficult for them to read you. In turn, this poker strategy can pay off with wins when the cards might say otherwise. Money matters: This is the poker strategy tip that can make the most difference in the long run. Don't bet it all on one pot and don't bring to the table more than you can afford to lose. Players that follow this poker strategy tend to be able to play it close to the vest because they aren't as concerned about individual hands as those who bring their milk money to the table. It takes a while to master basic poker strategy, but doing so can help increase wins and decrease losses. While no poker strategy in the world can guarantee a win every time, the idea is to increase the odds in your favor.

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