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Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

INSIDERS SECRETS TO PLAYING TEXAS HOLDEM POKER ONLINE

2004 AllRightsReserved. TheodoreCage2004Canada
AllrightsreservedunderInternationalCopyrightConventions. PublishedinCanadabyCardSharkBooks.Unlessotherwisenoted, allmaterialscontainedinthisdocumentarecopyrightedandmaynot beusedexceptasprovidedunderthesetermsandconditions.This documentisforpersonaluseonlyandisnottoberedistributed,sold orcopiedwithouttheauthorsexplicitpermission.

Edition 4.0

August 2004 An Official CardShark Publication

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

AN INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE POKER THINKING AND INSIDERS SECRETS

IdiscoveredthesecretrecipetoKFCChicken15yearsagoandI havebeenhookedonInsidersSecretseversince. ave you ever been to a party or a bar where youve met someone for the first time who told you an insiders secret to their business or work? Maybe Im just a good listener but this happens to me all the time. We all know these insider kinds of details about our own little world. For example, if we worked at Cadbury, the Cadbury Secret would be one of the first things we would learn about on the job (even if it wasnt officially part of the training program). There are other kinds of insider knowledge how something is really made at the plant we work at, how certain products are marketed, where an idea really came from, or how you can make a product yourself for onetenth the

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

price. Dont you wish you could talk to an insider at the plant where the car you are considering buying is made? Or someone who really knowsthescooponthemortgageindustrywhenitstimetogetre financed? How about talking to the guy who programmed the VLT machine you play everyday at lunch? Would that help you winmore? Everybody we have talked to about Texas Holdem has said that whattheyreallywantismorethanjustabookthattellsthemthe rules to the game. They want something new. Something fresh that will give them an edge over the other players. Something exciting. So we talked to the insiders. How doesthesystemwork?Howare the cards shuffled (whats the randomizing algorithm)? Has anyone done any studies on what cards really pay the best? What tables play the best? Are there systems that work online better than others? What do the insiders know about cards to play? Can wereallymakemoneyatthisgame? Fromthisfeedbackwedevelopthisbookconcept.Thenwehunted down the facts. In the end, this has been a lot of fun and quite profitable. We love the game of Texas Holdem but now we have the tools to win more games. As usual, if you have the insider stuff, you are better armed to succeed. Pretty much one of those simplerulestoliveyourlifebyifyouaskme. I believe that winning in life, love, business and sports and yes, poker,isallaboutthreedynamicsIliketocalltheCSIs. Contingency(chanceorluck) Selfawareness(knowyourstrengthsandweaknesses)

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

Intelligence(orstreetsmarts)

We have divided this book into these three key areas for a very good reason. When you play online poker for real money for the first time you will find it difficult just to survive. Your stack (your personal chips) will disappear like an umbrella in a typhoon. If you have what it takes to stick it out through this initiation (and the expendable cash to last), you will next discover that what you are lacking is real technical knowledge. You will soon realize that you need to play this game more with field intelligence than instinct.Thatis,ifyouwanttowinconsistently. Finally, as you progress into larger pot games, the real test will be your ability to be mentally tough, disciplined and aggressive. Our last section on selfawareness discusses the philosophy of great pokerplayers. Therearedozensofbooksavailabletodayonpoker.Ivereadmost ofthem.Theytendtofocusononeormoreofthefollowingareas: Analysisofoddsandstrategy Historyandactualplayexamples Techniquesontellsorhowtoreadtheotherplayers Mentalpreparationforthegameitself Noteventhebestbookscoveralloftheseareasorattempttobring these different practices together in some meaningful way. This is our goal with Insiders Secrets To Playing Texas Holdem Online; to link strategy and intelligence and mental preparation in a way that will ramp you up to be successful at the best game in the worldintheshortestpossibletime. Whatsnewaboutthisbook?First,unlikemostofthebooksonthe market,thisvolumeisNOTbasedonfiftyyearsofwritingaround

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

the traditional bricks and mortar game of Poker. Our focus is specifictothenewonlineversionsofTexasHoldemPoker,played by over 20,000,000 people worldwide over the Net every single day. Anyone who has played online poker knows this is quite a differentanimalindeed. Secondly, we present the Cage Food Chain Theory, a new system of play based on the results of three major research programs carried out by computer simulations on Texas Holdem Poker. If you follow the system religiously, you will find your winnings increasing gradually at first, and then substantially. All the research shows that aggressive play is the key to winning monster pots; aggression at the right time and based on a solid body of knowledge. We will show you the process and outline the steps to being a true card shark. But you must follow the rules. When we run labs on the Cage Food Chain Theory we find that players get caught up in the game and bend the rules of the system, letting their emotions rule their play. Or they go by gut feeling on a decisive hand instead of considering pot odds and card odds. The online casinos love that kind of play it makes them millions every month. It wont however put any extra money in your bank account.Youvegottostopplayingbygutfeel. Of the three dynamics, we start with the intel section and contingency data first; this is where the rubber hits the road for most players and we wanted to get you started with an exciting newsystemofplayingthatwillgiveyouafirsthandadvantage. Whats Intel? typical military speak for field intelligence or relevant knowledge. What you need to know, now. In the covert world of spies and agents, having the right nugget of information available when required can save your life or someone elses. In Poker,itmeansmakingthewinwhenotherswouldntandadding a few points to your odds. This is different from lifetime

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

experience which you can only gain from playing the game thousandsoftimes. Field intel helps you parachute in to a situation and be competent andsavvyinabighurry. The Theo Cage Food Chain Theory of Poker condenses dozens of schools of thought on Poker into an easy to digest program that you can begin using immediately. The goal of this technique is to get you out of the fish category and in to the shark category beforeyougeteatenalive.Pardonthefoodpunsbutthespeedand aggressiveness of real money online poker can spin your head around.Youwillneedtobearmedandready. In many areas of this book we deal with the latest in research on contingency, another word for odds. Why not just call it luck? Because contingency is a far broader and more elegant term. Luck is not a thing you can buy or create and you certainly cannot attractitorcaptureit(orchaseitaway).Whatweashumansseeas luckisreallyjustchancecircumstanceplayingoutbeforeus. The best way to visualize contingency is to imagine a fork in the road. Which then leads to another fork. And still another. Each requires a decision and each decision can lead to very different conclusions. Thats what contingency is all about. Sometimes we choose the path without knowing where it will take us and other timeswedontgettochooseatall. InPoker,wecanusemathtobetterunderstandtheoddsofcertain combinations occurring in your game. Really understanding the odds in Poker is one of the keys to success; not only because it helps you to better understand the possibilities but because it teaches us the expected monetary value of our hand as well. Whats the good in knowing that the chance of pulling another

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

Queen is 1:7 if we dont know how to translate that information intoapracticalbettingdecision? Recent computer simulations of Texas Holdem have taught us quite a bit about real game odds and strategy. What theyve also shown us is that it takes several lifetimes to average out the odds between matched players. So you need a powerful advantage to win against others with similar skills and preparation. That advantageisbetterselfawareness. Assumethatyouandanotherplayerareperfectlymatchedincard skills. You play each other every week. But one of you has had lifetime wins of several times the other based on pulling better cards. How long do you have to keep playing before the winnings evenout?About250,000yearsaccordingtocomputerresearch. So how does a better player gain advantage if they dont have a few thousand lifetimes at their disposal? By being significantly better than the other players. You need huge advantage to be a consistent winner. You need to know the other players and you need to gain this advantage as quickly as possible. You need to understand betting odds better. You need to know yourself. And youneedtobeveryaggressivewhenthetimeisright. Thats the essence of a shark. Skilled. Aggressive. Knows the environment.Knowstheprey.Undaunted. Havefunandbestofluckatthetables. TheoCage June2004

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 2 WHYISONLINEPOKERSODIFFERENT?................................... 9 GETTINGSTARTED......................................................................... 14 THECAGEFOODCHAINTHEORY!............................................ 15 ODDS,PERMUTATIONSANDROI............................................. 37 THERULESOFTEXASHOLDEM ............................................... 77 WINNINGBEFORETHEFIRSTCARDSDEALT..................... 83 THEIMPORTANCEOFTABLEPOSITION ............................ 103 PLAYERPROFILING ...................................................................... 108 PLAYINGLIMITTOURNAMENTS ............................................ 155 HOWTOPICKANONLINECASINO........................................ 168 POCKETCARDWINNINGODDS.............................................. 180 HOWTOTHINKLIKEASHARK................................................ 182 TEXASHOLDEMDICTIONARY ................................................ 190

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

WHY IS ONLINE TEXAS HOLDEM POKER SO DIFFERENT?

Texas Holdem Poker has become the fastest grow ing game on the Internet. Play it a few times and youwillunderstandwhy.Itsaddictive.Fast.Enter taining. Colorful. And there you are, playing live with people from all over the globe, a great virtual casino experience and real money is being won by people just likeyouandme.Whatsnottolike? Well,yousay,Iwouldliketowinmoreoften... Like the people who play slots or video poker terminals (VLT), most people just play poker online for fun. Dont get me wrong.

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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They would love to win; they just arent prepared to do the homework necessary to get really good at the game and win consistently.Whohastimeforthat? TheProsdo,thatswho! And the Pros like Online poker. Unlike VLTs, the odds are not stacked so much in favour of the house and players can actually makeconsistentprofitsiftheyunderstandthegamewellenough. I have an uncle who is famous in our family. He has an unusual career. He has made a great living playing professional poker for over 40 years. (He was known in the trade as a rounder for detailsseethedictionaryattheendofthisbook.)Andhehasmade more than just a decent living he has several homes and a yacht he moors in Florida. Hes an interesting character and he has taught me a lot. Much of this book is based on his advice and teaching. My uncle says there are two major differences between casual playersandprofessionals. OneProfessionalsalwaysknowexactlywhomtheyareplaying with. Dont be deceived. When you play poker you are not playing againstthecardsyouareplayingagainsttheotherplayers.Great poker players never forget this. The goal of our book is to teach you how to better understand the guy or gal sitting across from you at the virtual poker table. A better understanding of the dynamics between humans at the table alone will dramatically improveyourchancesofwinning. TwoProsunderstandtheodds.

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This book will teach you how to calculate odds using actual game examples and give you shortcuts that will help you to increase yourchancesofwinningeverytimeyouplay. Oddsdonttellyouhowtoplay,theytellyouhowtobet. First you need to understand why reading about the conventional brick and mortar game of Texas Holdem (the kind you play in a realcasino)certainlywonthurtbutitwilldefinitelynotprepare youfortheuniqueexperienceofplayingthegameonline. WHY IS ONLINE POKER SO DIFFERENT? Online poker adds several interesting wrinkles to the game of TexasHoldem.Somuchischangedinfact,thatthereareawhole newsetofgamestrategies.Theoddsofwinningtheonlineversion ofthisgamearenowstackedevenmoreinthefavourofthebetter educated players. This is one of the secrets to real success at the virtualtable. 1.YOUCANWATCH. If you walk into a bricks and mortar casino tomorrow and decide you would like to just watch a game of Texas Holdem to better understand how its played, security will soon hustle you out of the building. Poker is not a spectator sport at casinos. If you want to learn the game you need to play. And playing when youre a rookie (or as the pros call it a fish) can be a very expensive learningexperience. On the other hand, online, you can watch a real game as long as you want, for no cost and for no risk. Watching a table can teach you a lot about the players and their betting style and the game in

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general. Watching players for free is one of the great advantages ofonlinepoker. TakingnotesisanothergreatstrategyinOnlinePoker. There is nothing wrong or unethical about keeping notes on other players. Some Online Poker rooms even provide a feature that allows you to take notes online while you play. This feature facilitates the building of a database around the playing styles of consistent players. Our advice is to record what kinds of hands they play, how quickly they react, and to record detail on betting andraisingbehaviour. In the heat of the game, you may not always have time to go through all of the details. But one day, a regular player will join your table with a healthy stack of chips and you will appreciate knowing everything you can ahead of time about their playing style. 2.YOUKNOWEXACTLYWHATSINTHEPOT? At a regular card game, you need to do some rough guessing at pot totals. (The other players rarely encourage you to go digging through the pot to come up with a tally). Online, the total is calculated for you to the penny. This makes calculations about how much to bet very accurate. Why is this important? You will learnlaterthatoneofthekeystowinningisasystemusedbypros for decades called Pot Betting. The more accurate your knowledge of the pot, the better able you are to know exactly how much you should be betting on a given hand. Online Poker is a Pot Betting dream come true. Sharpen up your math skills a bit, and you are ontheroadtomakingmoney.

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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3.YOUHAVEMORETABLEANDBETTINGCHOICES! Haveyoueverwalkedintoarealcasinolookingforaseatatacard game? You may be lucky to find a few dozen. Which one is the best for your playing style? You wont know until you sit down and play a number of hands. And if you dont like your company atthattable?Youmovetoanothertableandtryagain. There are thousands of online casinos with dozens or hundreds of tables at each one fro you to choose from. You can pick from a widerange of betting options and from an infinite variety of different player combinations combinations you will have observed before putting down your hardeared money. And you can do this in a matter of minutes right from your computer screen. Never have there been so many options for the poker player willing to learn. Remember, you are not just playing against the odds, you are playing against other players and in a mathematical sense, the table as a whole. This is the real key to winning. Look for a table with the greatest number of weaker players and you willhaveanautomaticadvantage.

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FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO JUST WANT TO GET STARTED NOW!

f you are anything like me, you just want to get to the good stuff. So lets jump right into the game and the Food Chain system.

Sure, there are rules to learn and techniques tounderstandand all kinds of interesting tips on betting and odds. This book is fullofstrategyandbackground. But I just want to jump into the game itself as a starting point. Howcanyoubeawinner?OK!Letsstartwithanexampleofhow this system works. Then you can learn about the details more at yourleisure.

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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TheCageFoodChainTheoryofOnlineTexasHoldemPoker!

Fish,astheyarecalledinTexasHoldem,areprey. Fish are the losers and the beginners and the sloppy players who get eaten everyday by the bigger fish. In nature they are called prey. Thank goodness for the fish. They sustain theentirepokerfoodchain.Withoutfish,there would be no monster pots or big paychecks and the game would notbenearlyasinterestingnorasprofitable. Dont get me wrong. Everyone is a fish in the beginning and there is no way around this essential truth. Everyone gets burned and eaten repeatedly when they start to play poker. Everyone losesoneventhebestnutshands. This book is about how to get out of the fish category as quicklyaspossibleandstarttakingmoneyhome. Anoteabouttheresearchthatbacksthisbook. The book you are reading, unlike most of the poker books available on the market today, is not based on anecdotal examples and table stories told by the old pros, a few lucky winners or

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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guys who have spent decades learning the ropes; the majority of them playing the old fashioned bricks and mortar version of the game. I am a Computer Programmer with an intense love for Poker (and other games) where there is a strong component of skill involved. InsiderSecrets2004isallaboutthescienceofPoker. CardShark, our research team, has gone through millions of lines of code, data results and analysis on billions of played hands of Poker. A good percentage of this research was sourced from the same online casinos you and I play at everyday. The rest came from reputable sources such as CarnegieMelon University where grad students have been running computerized Texas Holdem simulations for years. Our theories are based on solid mathematics, proven odds calculations and the results of some veryinterestingcomputerstudies. At least three major research studies over the past three years have generated over 5 billion virtual hands of Texas Holdem poker. You would have to play poker every day for several million years to experience that many hands. (I know youre trying to live a healthier lifestyle but Im not betting on anyones chances to make itthatfar!) Most of the strategy in this book is based on this new exciting research PLUS some good oldfashioned table sense based on over20yearsofreadinggreatcardplayers. Youmaybesurprisedbywhatthisnewresearchshows.IknowI was.

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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The better the information you have about what is really happening with the cards and the table, the faster you will get out of the fish category and into the winning zone. We open up the big black online poker box and show you the insides. What could bemorefun? Heres the question we hear every day. How much money can you make? Again, based on recent surveys, a good player can make $40,000 to $50,000 per year playing medium $3$10 stake games. A real expert, a SHARK, can make $100,000 or more per year andhundredsdo. Letsstartwiththeresultsofarecentcomputeranalysis. Imagine what we could learn about this game if we created a virtual 10player Texas Holdem table, programmed the players in different ways and then just let them play for a few thousand years. With some of the test runs we would use very aggressive player behaviours just to see how that type of combination of players effectswinningandlosing.Inotherexampleswewoulduseavery tight and conservative group of players to see how that affects the game over a period of time. Billions of hands were then played and analyzed again and again over several months. More than manylifetimesofplay. Here is the simplest form of the results of this research based on yourchancesofwinningwiththefirsttwoholecards.

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Player Type If you are a beginner, you are fish. If you are more interested in playing than winning, you arefish.Ifyoudontdoyourhomeworkandcompletely understand how the odds affect your chances then yes Virginia, youareafish. But even good players can become fish during play. Tournament play is a good example where the game can change radically depending on the number of players left in the game. If you start to panic or get shortstacked, you may unintentionally revert to fish tactics. As a beginner you will tend to act like a fish you maystayinthepotlongerthanyourhandwouldjustify.Youmay raise when your cards are not that strong. Fish are typified by a playing characteristic called loose. Looseness implies a disregard for card odds and a general lack of knowledge about the other players. Combine this looseness with aggressive behaviour and you have one of the most interesting creatures at a Poker table a maniac. To survive and make money, fish need to play a very tight game. As knowledge and table smarts improve, they can increase their aggressiveness,boldwithfreshwinnings. The best guide to beginner card play is to use the Fish Rule as stated in the Player Type Chart. Based on the latest computer

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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research, fish should only stay in the hand if they have one of thetop24pocketcardsdealt. Why? Because if they have one of these hands, regardless of the type of talent at the table, they will have an excellent chance of winning. They will also begin to understand the discipline of a tighter playing style, which is based on knowing the odds and readingthetable. Betting tactics should not be an issue here and neither should the readingoftellsorevenplayerposition(whichwewilldiscussin detaillater). Here are the top 24 pocket hands in any Texas Holdem game (outofapossible169). Lets start off with the top of the hit parade. (The s refers to cards inthesamesuit.) ThebigTop4AA,KK,QQ,JJareridiculouslyprofitableatany table. Always raise and reraise with these cards. They dont come alongoften,sotakeadvantage.Notraisingonthesecardsisasign offoolishness.Beingaggressivehereisanobrainer. The top 16 ranked starting 2 card Holdem hands (or pocket cards) are fundamental to winning play. They make up only 7% of all hands dealt, so its unlikely that you will get rich by

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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limiting yourplaytojustthesecardcombinations.Butyouneed toknowwhattheyrepresentwhentheydocomealong. If you compare this chart to older books on Poker you may notice an obvious variation. The latest research has shown that the overall power of AKs is slightly greater than that of KQs especiallyingameswherefewplayersareleftaftertheriver. In fact, with six players after the river, AK places 10th, while in a game with 6 players, it places 5th. This revelation was first discovered in the R&D being done using the latest computerized pokersimulationsinthelate90s. JJisanotherexampleofholecardsthatvarygreatlydependingon the type of game they are played in. They have been highlighted onthechartforthefollowingreason At a large table of6ormoreplayers,JJisranked4thinpower.Ina situationwheretherearefewerplayers,thepowerofthispairgoes downto9th. GamerankwithonlyTWOplayersaftertheriver(Top10)

GamerankwithSIXplayersaftertheriver(Top10)

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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ThekeydecisionanyHoldemplayermakesiswhetherornotto playthestarting2cardhandtheyaredealtwith.Andiftheydo play,howdotheyplaysmartthroughthehand.

I you are a FISH, never bet on anything but the top ranked24pocketcards.
InsiderSecret WewouldalsosuggestthatyouALWAYSraiseontheTop10. Raise on the Top 16 unless you think the raise is not likely to driveoutotherplayersinaveryloosegame. Under very tight table conditions, only the Top 5 should be raised beforetheflop. However,ouradvicewouldbeifyoufindyourselfataverytight table, you should probably get up and go find better playing conditionselsewhere.

AK is a good example of hole cards that only do really well in a shorthanded game so you need to raise and drive out other players right away. If you cant, you will have lost most of the powerandadvantageofthesecards.

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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TT on the other hand drops dramatically in power with fewer playerssoraisingtopushoutweakerhandsisapoorstrategy. Barracuda The next level up from the Fish category is Barracuda. Youre not the biggest and meanest fish in the sea, but you have experience and youve survived. Andyouremakingmoneywhenyouplay. The Barracuda Player can safely play the Top 40 pocket cards as listednext.

You are now in the land of the mediumsuited connectors KQs, QJs, JTs, T9s which do very well in smallstake games as well as thebiggishoffsuitacesAQ,AJ. BarracudaTip: Pick your 10player table carefully. Look for players who seem to be having fun, and where at least half ofthemstayintoseetheflop.Pickingtherighttable

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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is a major determinant of how well your hands will hold up in thelongrun. When other players know what youre holding, you suffer tremendous disadvantage. Just playing good cards is not enough asaBarracuda.RaisingAAandKKisclearlynotenough. You need a carefully planned but hard to read raising strategy as well. At the Barracuda stage you begin to experiment with more aggressive play. As you will read later, timing your aggressive strategy is the key. Being aggressive with a large number of players at the table, unless they are all very conservative, will not work most of the time. And no matter how aggressive you are, if youaresurroundedbysharks,youwillbechum. As a Fish you were focused on the top 1016 pocket cards dealt. Youneedtoexpandthisnowintwoways. One, you need to be more aggressive before the flop on a wider rangeofcards. Two, you need to mix up your betting strategy. As you will see later, the best player type is tightaggressive. This characterization is based more on how the other players see you and less on your own strategy. In poker, perception is everything. You need to be seen by your opponent as someone whos style is slightly hard to read and occasionally unpredictable. Then when you do raise aggressively, your opponents will take you seriously andsurrenderthepot. Be aware that in online Poker, because players come and go constantly, its more difficult to build a reputation at the table. Its likeperformingonthestage;youneedtoexaggerateyourmovesa bit more than you would on a onetoone basis. Because its easier

Insiders Secrets To Texas Holdem Poker Online by Theo Cage

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to be aggressive online, your aggression needs to be clear that meanspushingupthebetsmorethanyouwouldatarealtable. Slow play can have its advantages here too. It tends to catch the attention of other weaker players anxious to donate to the pot. Evenifyouknowexactlyhowmuchyouplantoraise,slowdown. Let the counter click off. This is a great attentiongetting device. If after stalling, you fold, you communicate indecision. On the other hand, if you raise heavy, youve made the move quite clear and youvegottheotherplayersthinking. Mentaltoughnessisoneofthekeystosuccessasyoumoveupthe poker food chain. Being mentally tough means ignoring the other playersconcernsabouthowfastyouplay. Mr.SlowPlay One of the toughest tournaments Ive played in had one player who constantly ran up to the last few seconds of their available time on every turn. At first it looked like they were distracted, or playinganothergameonlineatthesametime.Virtuallyeverytime it came to their turn, they would stall until the count down. Soon, other players began chatting about the slow play. Namecalling began. One player suggested taking aggressive action against this player as a group, simply because of the shared aggravation. Which is exactly what happened. At one point, one player bet aggressivelyagainstMr.SlowPlayandwentallinandlost. Who won the tournament? Mr. Slow Play. What a great strategy. Herattledalmostalloftheotherplayerswithhisslowdetermined pace. He went right down to the last few seconds on the clock dozens of times. The more the other players complained, the more hehesitated.

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Because he was slow on every play, it was very tough to read his actual playing style. He was consistent. He also got a lot of attention. When he won, no one missed it. He managed to control the table in a way. Table control is clearly a goal of the consistent winner. The Shark Player will have 80 hands in their play list (see chart following) knowing that they are good hands if the flop is good flop, that your opponents will generally discount the likelihood youll be holding them, and that they will have the will to fold on asmanyroundsasittakeswhentheflopdoesntgointheirfavor. As a gambler, with these cards, the real magic is getting the right flopcards. Based on using the Shark play list you would on average, participateinabout1/3rdofallpotsatyourtable. The actual number will fall in the range of 25% to 33% depending ontheraisingbyotherplayers.

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Again, if your goal is to win, please stay away from very tight tables because no matter how well you play, only the house wins wheneveryoneisgood. Authors Sklansky and Malmuth (S&M) have authored one of the most popular poker book to date called Holdem for Advanced Players.Ourprefloprecommendationsdifferinmanyways. S&M has always advised raising with your strongest hands and limping (calling) with your weakest. But this a major mistake in tighter games, since your strongest hands are worth much more than the blinds, while your weakest hands are worth much less thantheblinds.Foldingisthewisestchoice. Also, S&M advises not raising with hands like KT after several loose limpers. The newest research however indicates you should usuallyraisesinceyourhandislikelytobebestandwillwinmore than your fair share of pots (though usually not much money). S&Ms argument is that fish will call correctly with gutshots (drawing one card to a straight) and pairs on the flop if you raise preflop, and you will suck more players into the pot. Raising will not greatly reduce your chance of your winning the pot, so if you will win more than your fair share of pots, you should generally raise. Stats from a number of online casinos have revealed another S&M myth that you should raise with baby pairs like 33 even if you know the blinds will call. The odds are that you will flop a thrip more then 1 in 9 times but you will win the pot less than 1 in 9 times. Since you will win the pot less than your fair share, you shouldnotraise.

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PLAYING THE PROGRAM STEP-BY-STEP Lets start with an example hand. If therearetermshereyoudont understand, you can check the Dictionary in the back or the IntroductionToTheGamechapter. Ready? The three basics you need to understand before you bet one cent onanyTexasHoldemgame. 1)Checkouttheotherplayers!Aretheygoodorlousy?Checkout the section called Watch Who You Play With and then make

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notes on the strength of each player. I have supplied a system you canusetodeterminetheirabilitytoplay. 2) Decide on the right spot at thetable.Veryimportant.Probably one of the most important decisions you will make in the game. YouwillfindalotoftipsinthechapteronTablePosition. 3) Make sure you have enough chips. Stack size does matter in this game. You will find tips on how to decide on how much to playwiththislaterinthebook. OK!Youreseated.Youhavereadthetableandtheotherplayers. Youhaveenoughchipstowin.Nowwhat? Fromthispointon,justfollowoursystem. InthisexampleyouaredealtaKingandanine.

Yourfirstquestionwillbehowgoodismyhand? Well,welltellyou.ReferfirstofalltotheOpeningOddsChartat theendofthisbook. Look up K9 from the chart (which you will keep by your side whenyouplay.) Theoddsofwinningwiththesetwocardsis14%.

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Now look at the pot. What is the total now? This is easy because thecomputerkeepstrackofthisforyoutothepenny. Letssaythepottotalis$80. 14% of $80 is $11.20. (This is our Pot Odds calculation. This tells youhowmuchyoushouldbetbasedonwhatyouhave.) So you match the bet of $10 and you are in. (Ten dollars is less thanyour$11.20limit.Youunderpaidtostayinthegame. Now the others keep betting. It gets back to you again and the pot isnow$120. Whats14%of$120?Around$17. Youve already bet $10. That leaves $7. (Your first bet on that roundplus$7) Youneedanother$10tostayin. Accordingtomyrulesthen,youshouldfold. Now the $3 difference is not much. You might decide to go to the $20 if necessary. But dont go any further. The odds are against you and you are overpaying for the cards you have yet to see. Now you are playing scientifically and based on wellunderstood odds. This is how the pros play. They watch the other players. Theywatchtheothercards.Andtheyknowthemath. ThesecrettowinningTexasHoldem?Beattheoddsby knowingtheodds. InsiderTip

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You need to beat the other players by knowing the odds better than they do. Now lets learn more about the secrets of online poker. Letsgetbacktoourtwopocketcards.

HerestheFLOP.

Now youre pretty excited. You just ended up with a pair of Kings. Is a pair of Kings good enough to win? Are you ready to betthefarm?DoyouhavetheNuts? 50% of Texas Holdem pots are won with a pair of 9s orbetter. InsiderTip So that sounds good. Except there is a partial straight on the table. Atthispoint,aftertheFLOP,thereareTHREEthingstoconsider.

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Whatdotheotherplayershave(Tells)? Whataremyoddsofgettingawinninghand? Whatwillitcostmetoseethenextcard? Backtothefirstpoint. What do the other players have? Short of those xray glasses they usedtoadvertiseinthecomicswhenyouwereakid,howwillyou know? This is the art of the tells evaluating the other players cards. First,lookattheoddsfortheotherplayers. In our game, there is a 2 card straight on the table. Another player needs to have a 56 or 69 or 9T in any suit and they are close to a straight. (Later on we will show you exactly how to figure out the exactodds.)

It is very likely that someone at the table is 1 or 2 cards from a straight.Andtheystillhavetwomorecardstofillthatstraight. Clearly, you need threeofakind to stay in the game. Another King. Asfarasyouknow,thereare2otherKingsinthedeck(younever countwhatyouthinksomeoneelsehasintheirdowncards).

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Theoddsaresimpletocalculate. There are 17 cards dealt (based on 3 down and 7 players with 2 cardseach). Youneed2outof17cards=11.7%odds. The betting starts and you can see the pot is $180 when it gets to you. Howmuchcanyoubet? 11.7%of$180=$20. If you know that you need another King to win, the most you shouldbettoseethenextcard(basedonwhatyouknow)is$20. You have one other very valuable bit of information at this point. You can see how others are betting. This should give you a good sense, combined with your reading of the table before you started, ofwhatkindofhandstheyhave. LetsseethenextcardtheTURNcardasixofhearts.

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WHAT WOULD YOU DO AT THIS POINT IF YOU KNEW THAT ONE OF THE OTHER PLAYERS ALREADY HAD A STRAIGHT? Youwouldfold.Right?Wellneverbetonthecome. A cardinal rule in poker if theyve got you beat and youknowit,foldnow. InsiderTip Yes, you may get a card to improve your hand but so can they, so unlessyoucanseethenextcardforfree,dontwasteyourmoney. The question is, how do you know what the other player has? Are you making the determination based on how they are betting? Maybetheyrebluffing. Youknowyoucantbeatastraightwithathrip(threeofakind). Ontheotherhand,besidethePAIRofKINGS,youhavefourcards inastraight6,7,8,9. Why you should not play anything below AT off suit? Why its besttohaveA5sandbeloworATsandaboveoversomethingin themiddlelikeA8s?

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Any Ace unsuited hand below AT can be big trouble in any kind ofgame. Some people might even consider AT and AJ difficult hands too butforthegamesyouaregoingtobeplayingintheyareadequate startinghands. ThereasonA8,A7,A5allsuckisbecauseyoureallycanthitmuch towin.TakeA8forexample.

Yourkickerisntthatgreat,the8,andyouhavenochanceof hittinganystraightsorflushes.Theonlywayyoucanwinreally istohopethattheyhaveaweakerAcethenyoudoandyoucatch one. Playingpokerislikeinvestinginthestockmarket. Youwanttoputyourmoneyintogreatstockthathasachanceto deliveragoodreturn.A8isntthatkindofstock. NowtoanswerthequestionofATsandaboveandA5sandbelow versusA9sA8sA7sA6s. The first oneswork because you can also make a straight with them. I would take A5s over A8s because the A and the 5 can worktogethertomakeastraight,unliketheA8s.

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When you play weak Aces though like A5s, you have to be extra cautiousifyoucatchanAceontheflop. You wont be sure if your kicker is good or not so youll have to give the next step some thought. Playing these only in later positions can help you make better decisions because people will checkmostlikelyiftheydonthavetheAorthathandbeat. WhydohandslikeAA,KK,QQ,AK,AQworkbestatsmaller tables? Imagineascenariowhereeveryoneisinthehand,andyoulook downandseetwogorgeousredAces?

Yourpulsestartstorace.Thenyoulookuptoseethateveryone hasalreadycalled.Atthispointyouhavetoknowthatyour chancesofwinningareslim. Powerhandslikethisrarelywinwhentherearethatmanypeople callingpreflop.Why? Howdoyouimprovethishand? Inbigallinpotstwopairrarelywinsagainstflushesandstraights. Sowhatdoyoudo? Theresonlyonetacticleft.Youcouldcheckraiseontheflop insteadofbettingrightnow.Theideawouldbetotrytoforce

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someoftheotherplayerstoleave.Limitingthefieldwould increaseyourchancestowin. WhyarehandslikeKTs,QJsJTs,89s,79s,and46sbetterwhen youhaveafulltableofplayersin? Youcanalmostnevergetintotroublewiththesekindsofpocket cards.Ifyouhitsomething,itslikelytobequitestrong.Ifyou dontgetthecardsyouwant,itseasyatthispointtofold. TrythatwithapairofAces!Withthosekindsofcardsyouare marriedtothepotusuallytothebitterend.AhandlikeJTsand 89sareidealforplayingagainstbigallinpots.Ouradviceisto alwaysraisetobuildthepot. Thereasonthesefavourbigpotsisbecausetheyarealways drawingtoflushesandstraights. Makeyourhand...andyouwillbehardtobeat.

SUMMARY FOR THE BEGINNER Readthetable. Playverytight,especiallyinthebeginning. Startwithenoughchips. Betbasedonwhatthepotoddsare(neveroverbetthepot)

Watchtheoddsforupcomingcards.

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EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW (AND MAYBE DIDNT) ABOUT ODDS, PERMUTATIONS AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT

WHATARECARDODDS? Ifyouhaventalreadynoticed,probabilityisahugefactorinTexas Holdem.Forexample,thereare2,598,960possiblehandsina52 carddeckbutonly4RoyalFlushes.Iftheaverageseriouspoker playerisdealt100,000handsintheirlifetime,theywillneverhold

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(onthefirstfivecards)morethan4percentofallthepossible hands.Andlikelyalotless. Figuringoutstraightcardcombinationsforthepurposeofthistext are called Card Odds (you will be introduced to other kinds of odds later). Card Odds can reveal some quite interesting infor mation. For example, how many pat straight flushes will you see in your lifetime?Todeterminethatnumber,theexpectednumberofhands that could be dealt during your lifetime is estimated by the followingcalculation: 10completepokerhands/hr.x5hrs./gamex50games/yr. x40yrs./pokerlife=l00,000handsofpokerperlifetime. This is a pretty aggressive estimate, as most people will never come close to this number of complete hands in Texas Holdem. Based on this level of play, the number of pat (on the first five cards) poker hands that you should get during your lifetime is calculatedfromthecardoddsandtabulatedasfollows: CardsDealt Nopair Onepair Twopair Threeofakind Straight Flush Fullhouse Fourofakind Straight flush Royal straight flush NumberofPatHands 50,000 40,00 5,000 2,000 400 200 170 25 1.4 0.15

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Sostatistically,youshouldseeapatstraightflushonyourfirst fivecardsonceortwiceduringyourlifetime.Mostaveragepoker playerswillneverseeevenone. Cardplayersoftentalkabouthavingaluckystreakorarun. Mathematically,streaksdontexist.Butsupposeyoudidhavean amazingrunofcardsoneevening.Whatwouldtheoddsbeof havingfiveconsecutivestraightflushesinarow?

Royal Flush Other Straight Flush Four of a kind Full House Flush Straight Three of a kind Two Pairs One Pair Nothing Total

4 36 624 3,744 5,108 10,200 54,912 123,552 1,098,240 1,302,540 2,598,960

.0000015391 .0000138517 .0002400960 .0014405762 .0019654015 .0039246468 .0211284514 .0475390156 .4225690276 .5011773940 1.0000000000

In every 1.7x1024 deals . . . or once in every 700,000,000,000,000,000,000 years. Youd have to read those cards in the dark though, because our sun will be long gone by that time. Playersusecardoddstomakeplayingdecisions.Adecisionmade without taking into account card odds makes poker a guessing game.Thechancesoffinishingaflushorastraight,theprobability of getting an over card (face card), the percentage of times youre going to flop a card to match your pocket pair are all extremely importantfactorsinTexasHoldem.

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Knowledgeofthesestatisticsiskeytowinning. Herearesomeotherbasicprobabilitiesthatyoushouldknow about: Youneedonemorehearttomakeyourflushontheturn orriver35% Probabilityofhittinganopenendedstraightdraw(i.e.4 straightcards,needoneoneitherendtohitonturnor river)31.5% Probabilityofbeingdealtsuitedcards:23.5% Probabilityofhittingathreeorfourofakindattheflop whenyouholdapocketpair:11.8% Probabilityyouwillmakeapairattheflop,holdingtwo unpairedcardsinthehole:32.4% ProbabilityofbeingdealtAA:.45% Probabilityofnooneholdingaspecificcard,bynumberof players,assumingyoudonothavethatcard,bynumber oftotalplayers. 284.5% 370.9% 459% 548.6% 639.7% 732.1% 825.6% 920.1% 1015.6% Probabilitysomeoneelsedoesnothaveanace,assuming youdohaveanace,bytotalnumberofplayers:

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288.2% 377.5% 467.6% 558.6% 650.4% 743% 836.4% 930.5% 1025.3% HOWARETHEODDSCALCULATED? Lets look at the example of having 4 outs (four cards you need to make your hand). Say youre holding 6c 7d and the flop comes 9s 10h Kc.Inthiscaseyouneedan8tomakethestraight.Sincethere arefour8sinthedeck,youhave4outs. YOURPOCKET

THEFLOP

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ODDSWITHONECARDTOCOME Calculatingtheoddswithonecardtocomeisrelatively straightforward. When youre looking to make the inside straight, you have four outs. There are a total of 46 unknown cards (52 minus the 2 cards inyourhandminusthe3cardsfortheflopandthe1turncard).42 of the cards dont make your hand and four do. 42:4 or 10.5:1 = about 9%. I prefer to use the percentage as it helps when calculatingPotOdds(tocomelater). ODDSWITHTWOTOCOME To calculate the appropriate odds with two cards to come, you must first determine the total number of twocard combinations possibleaftertheflop. The easiest way to calculate this is by multiplying the number of cards available for the turn (47) by the number of cards available for the river (46) and dividing that number by 2 (because a card cantmatchitself).47*46/2=1081. A certain number of these 1081 twocard combinations will have eights in them. To determine odds properly, you need to calculate twomorefigures.

EIGHTS ON BOTH THE TURN AND THE RIVER

One of the four eights can appear on the turn. And if one does, there will be three left for the river. If you multiply 4 by 3 and divide by 2 (because a card cant match itself) you see that there aresixuniquepairingof8s.

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EIGHTSONTHETURNORRIVER Ifaneightcomesontheturn,thereare46unseencardsremaining. But youre no longer interested in the three remaining eights, so you can subtract those. This leaves 43 unseen cards that will make a unique pair with one of the eights. Multiply 4 (the number of 8s inthedeck)by43(thenumberofunseencards)toarriveat172. FINISHTHECALCULATION 172 plus 6 comes to 178 the total number of twocard combination that have at least one eight in them and as many as twoeights. Out of 1081 possible twocard combinations on the turn and river, 178 of those combinations help us make our hand. Subtract 178 from 1081 to find the number of combinations that dont make the straight(1081178=903). The odds against making a straight by the river are: 903:178, or 20%. WhatAboutTheCardsTheOtherPlayersAreHolding? Everwonderwhyweneverfactortheopponentscardsorthe burncardswhenfiguringouthowmanycardsareleft? The reason is that we only consider unseen cards. If you saw what the burn cards were, or an opponent showed you his hand, you would know that those cards are not going to be drawn and could use that. We typically do not know what they have, so we donteventhinkaboutitwhentalkingaboutodds.

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For instance, take a standard deck of 52 cards, remove 2 Aces and burn25ofthem.Ifyoudrewthenextcard,whatarethechancesof it being an Ace? It would be 2/50 (2 Aces left out of 50 unseen cards). It would NOT be 2/25 just because you burned half the deck. Okay, do the same thing again, but this time you get to look at the burn cards. Lets say that of all the cards you burned, none wereanace.Nowyouroddsare2/25becausetherearestill2Aces andnowonly25unseencards. You will find that you can easily remember a few of the most commonsituationsforoutssuchasthefourflushorstraightdraw but there has to be an easier way than memorizing the figures for everynumberofouts.Thegoodnewsisthatthereisawaytogeta good estimation of the odds without the heavy math and you can alsousehandyoddscharts. WHATHANDSWILLWINTHEPOT? The following are the most valuable starting hands in Texas Holdem. This chart assumes a medium to loose $510 Texas Holdem game. The results are based on a computer simulation of 5,000,000 played hands. The percentage shown indicates how manytimesintypicalgamethatthesehandswinthepot.
2Pair Pair Threeofakind Straight Flush Fullhouse Bust(nothing) Fourofakind Straightflush Royalflush 31% 27% 12% 9% 9% 9% 2% 1% <1% <1%

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This is interesting data but heres the kicker look at the power oftwopairsandsinglepairhands.Itsnotonlyhigherthanthe WHATAREMYCHANCESOFWINNING? Whataremychancesofwinningahandwithagivensetofpocket cards?Whataretheoddsoffillingastraight?

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Howmuchyoucanexpecttoprofitfromthesestartinghands? Thestartinghandaveragewinforeachtimeplayedbasedon mediumtolooseTexasHoldemPokergameswitha$5/$10limit. AA $34.19 KK $24.13 QQ $17.36 JJ $12.08 AKsuited $11.63 AKoffsuit $8.65 AQsuited $8.32 1010 $7.72 AJsuited $5.69 AQoffsuit $5.47 POCKETCARDODDS
Hole Cards Odds
Any Pair Suited Cards A-K Suited Connecting Cards A-A or K-K A-anything Any two cards J's or Higher 16 : 1 3:1 82 : 1 24 : 1 110 : 1 5.3 : 1 10:1

After the Flop Pair J's or Higher No Pair improving to a Pair 55 : 1 2.7 : 1

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Pair improving to 3 of a Kind Flop being 3 of a Kind The River (5th Street) A-K hitting an A or K by the River Q-Q vs A-K (A or K hitting) Hitting 5th card to complete a Flush Completing an Open Ended Straight Three of a Kind improving to Full House Pocket Pair improving to 3 of a Kind after the Flop Hitting a Backdoor Flush More Interesting Texas Hold'em Odds 5 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole. 4 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole. 3 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole. 2 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole.

8:1 391 : 1

1:6 : 1 1.5 : 1 1.6 : 1 2.9 : 1 2.7 : 1 12 : 1 33 : 1

1.7 : 1

2.1 : 1 2.9 : 1 4.3 : 1

WHATAREPOTODDS? Pot odds are the odds you get when analyzing the current size of the pot vs. your next call or bet. Pot Odds help you make importantcall,raiseorfolddecisions. Example 1: There is $200 in the pot and a final $10 bet coming at you. You are looking to fill in your 4card flush. Based on needing

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one of four suits, the shortcut math is 1:4 chances or 25%. Winning consistently is about beating Pot Odds and not over betting.IfyourCardOddsare25%(youhavefourheartsandneed another to win) and you only need to bet 5% of the present pot ($10 as a percentage of the $200) to see the last card, you are in great shape. Based on Pot Odds for this hand you could go as high as 25% of the pot based on your odds to pull a heart on the river.

Example 2: You are in a $5/$10 Holdem game with JackTen pocketcardsandoneopponentleftontheturn.

You have an outside straight draw with a board of 259Q, and only the river card left to make your straight. Any 8 or any King will finish this straight for you, so you have 8 outs (four 8s and 4 Ks left in the deck) and 46 unseen cards left. 8/46 gives you a 6:1 chance or a 17% chance of getting the win. Your opponent bets $10. 6/1=17%PotOdds

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If you take a $10 bet you could win $100. Your bet is then 10% of thefinalpot.The10%betissmallerthanthe17%odds,soyouare ingoodshapefromaninvestmentpointofview. Whenever your call or bet (in this case 10% of the pot) is smaller than your odds of getting the winning hand (17%) you are buying the next card at a discount. The key is looking at the odds of a winninghand,notbuildingapartofawinninghand. Toomanybeginnersjustplaygoodcardsandjusttossbadones or if they have the prospect of straight or a flush they will just drawanddrawwithlittleconsiderationtoanythingelse. Unless you have the NUTS (nuts = the very best possible hand) every time there is a certain degree of risk when you put your moneyinthepot. In the heat of the battle you may not always have time to get out your calculator and do the number crunching .You can look at Pot Odds in a much simpler way just ask yourself if there is enough moneyinthepottojustifytherisk? If there is a big pot unless you just know you are beat, or it simply costs too much too call (which means your pot odds may not be so great after its all said and done) try to get some action. Evenifyouknewyouwerealongshotwouldyoubet$25or$50 on a chance to win $500 or $1000 or more? While you may be a long shot its not a bad bet if there is a reasonable chance you couldwin. On the flip side, and this is important, you may have a decent handanditmayevenbethewinner,(useyouropponentortells knowledge)butifitsgoingtocostyou$250tocallandyoustand

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toonlywinafewhundredthenyourpotoddsarenotsogreatand isprobablynotworththerisk. Potoddsratiosareausefultooltoseehowoftenyouneedtowin thehandtobreakeven. Ifthereis$100inthepotandittakes$10tocall,youmustwinthis hand 1 out of 11 times in order to break even. The thinking goes alongthelinesof:Ifyouplay11times,itllcostyou$110,butwhen youwin,youget$110($100+your$10call). The usefulness of card odds and pot odds becomes very apparent when you start comparing the two. As we know now, in a flush draw, your card odds for making your flush are 1.9 to 1 or 35%. Lets say youre in a hand with a nut flush draw and its $5 to you on the flop to call. Do you call? Your answer should be: What are mypotodds? If there is $15 in the pot plus a $5 bet from an opponent, then you are getting 20:5 or 4:1 pot odds 25%. This means that in order to break even, you must win 1 out of every 5 times. However, with your flush draw, your odds of winning are 1 out of every 3 times! You should quickly realize that not only are you breaking even, butyouremakinganiceprofitonthistoo.Letscalculatetheprofit margin on this by theoretically playing this hand 100 times from theflop,whenisthencheckedtotheriver. TotalCosttoPlay=100hands*$5tocall=$500 PotValue=$15+$5bet+$5call=$25 OddstoWin=1.9:1or35%(Fromtheflop) TotalHandsWon=100*OddstoWin(35%)=35wins NetProfit=NetCosttoPlay+(TotalTimesWon*PotValue)

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=$500+(35*$30) =$500+$1,050 =$550Profit As you can see, you have a great reason to play this flush draw, becauseyoullbemakingmoneyinthelongrunaccordingtoyour cardoddsandpotodds.Themostfundamentalpointtotakefrom thisis: IfyourPotOdds>CardOdds,thenyouaremakingaprofit. So,eventhoughyoumaybefacedwithagutshotstraightdrawat times, which is a terrible draw at 5 to1handodds,itcanbeworth it to call if you are getting pot odds greater than 5 to 1. Other times, if you have an excellent draw such as the flush draw, but someone has just raised a large amount so your pot odds are 1:1 for instance, then you obviously should not continue trying to draw to a flush, as you will lose money in the long run. In this situation, a fold or semibluff is your only solution, unless you know there will be callers behind you that improve your pot odds tobetterthanbreakeven. Your ability to memorize or calculate your card odds and figure out your pot odds will lead you to make many of the right decisions in the future. Just be sure to rememberthatfundamental principle of playing drawing hands when your pot odds are greaterthanyourcardodds. Another good rule to follow a lot of players want to somehow factor in money they wagered on previous rounds. With the last example, you probably had already invested a significant portion

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of that $200 pot. Lets say $50. Does that mean you should play or foldbecauseofthatmoneyyoualreadyhaveinthere?$50/$200? Thatsabigno. Thats not your money anymore! Its in a pool of money to be given to the winner. You have no stake in that pot. The only stake you might have istotallymentalandhasnobearingonhard statistics. Thenextstepistousebetoddsandimpliedodds.Thatstougher, because it involves predicting reactions of other players. With bet odds, you try to factor in how many people are going to call a raise. With implied odds, youre thinking about reactions for the restofthegame.Oneexampleonimpliedodds... Sayitsanother$5/$10Holdemgameandyouhaveafourflushon theflop. Yourneighbourbets,andeveryoneelsefolds.Thepotis$50atthis point. First you figure out your chance of hitting yourflushonthe turn,anditcomesouttoabout19%(about1in5).Youhavetocall this $5 bet vs. a $50 pot, so thats a 10x payout. 1/5 is higher than 1/10, so bet odds are okay, but you must consider that this guys going to bet into you on the turn and river also. Thats the $5 plus twomore$10bets. So now your facing $25 more till the end of the hand. So you have to consider your chances of hitting that flush on the turn or river, whichmakesitabout35%(betterthan1in3now),butyouhaveto invest $25 for a finishing pot of $100. $100/$25 is 1 in 4. Thats prettyclose. Buttheresmore!

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If you dont make it on the turn, itll change your outs and odds! Youll have a 19.6% chance of hitting the flush (little worse than 1 in5),buta$20investmentforafinishingpotof$100!$100/$20is1 in 5. So the chances could take a nasty turn if you didnt hit it! Whats makes it more complicated is that if you did hit it on the turn,youcouldraisehimback,andgetanextra$20ormaybeeven $40inthepot. Once youve mastered simple outs and pot odds, bet and implied odds are just a longer extension of these equations. If you think about these things while you play, they will eventually become secondnaturetoyou. MoreOddsExamples:Apocketpair You start with a pair of Jacks in the pocket. Not too shabby. The flophowever,doesntcontainanotherJack. YOURPOCKET

THEFLOP

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Lesson 1: Whats my chance of getting a Jack on the turn? Youneedtojustfigureoutthenumberofoutsanddivideitbythe number of cards in the deck. There are 2 more Jacks. Theres 47 more cards since youve seen five already. The answer is 2/47, or .0426,closeto4.3%. Lesson 2: No luck on the turn, how about the river card? Still 2 Jacks left, but one less card in the deck bringing the grand total to 46. Whats 2/46? Thats .0434, which is also close to 4.3%. Yourchancesdidntchangemuch. Lesson3:ForgetjustgettingjustoneJack!Iwantthemboth!What aremychances? Since were trying to figure out the chances of getting one on the turn AND the river, and not getting one on EITHER the turn or river, we dont have to reverse our thinking. Just multiply the probability of each event happening. Chances of getting that first Jack on the turn was .0426, remember? The chance of getting a second Jack on the river would be 1/46, because therell only be oneJackleftinthedeck.Thatsabout.0217,or2.2%. Togettheanswer,multiplythem..0426X.0217isabout.0009! Thatsaroundonetenthofapercent.Iwouldntbankonthat one. Lesson4:Hey,whatweremychancesofgettingapairofJacks anyway? To figure that out, think of it as getting dealt one card, then another. What are your chances of the second card matching the first one? There will be 3 cards left like the one you have. Theres 51 cards left in the deck. 3/51 is .059 or 5.9%. What the chance that

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itll be Jacks? Well, there are 13 different cards. So, .059/13 is about .0045,alittlelessthanhalfapercent. Lesson 5: What were my chances of getting a Jack on the flop? Nowyoudohavetothinkinreverseasinthepreviousexample. Figure out the chances of NOT getting a Jack on each successive cardflip.Firstcardyouhavea48/50chance(48nonJackcardsleft, 50 cards left in the deck), second card is 47/49, third card is 46/48. Those come out to .96, .959, and .958. Multiply them and get .882, or an 88.2% chance of NOT getting any Jacks on the flop. Invert it to figure out what your chances really are and you get .118 or 11.8%.ThiswillbeyourchancetogetoneortwoJacks. Example#2Thestraightdraw THEPOCKET

You start with a Jack of Spades and a Ten of Spades. You get a rainbow flop with a Queen of Spades, a Three of Diamonds, and a NineofClubs.Youvegotastraightdraw. THEFLOP

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Lesson 1: What are my chances of hitting it on the next card? Same as before, but with different outs. A King or an Eight will complete your hand. There is presumably four of each left in the deck. Youve got 8 outs. The chance of getting one of them on the turn is 8 over 47, because theres 47 cards left in the deck. That comesouttoabout.170,oraround17%. Lesson 2: I didnt get it on the turn! What are my chances now? There are still 8 cards left in the deck thatll help you, but 46 cards leftinthedeck.Thats8over46.Itchangesto.174.Itsimprovedto awhopping17.4%! Lesson3:Ishouldofthoughtaboutmytotalchancesfirst,Imsuch an idiot. What are my chances of getting that card on the turn OR theriver? Once again well have to calculate the chances of a King or Eight NOT appearing, so we can do it like the last problem (in this case, {39/47} X {38/46}). Or, since weve already figured out our chances in the previous two lessons, we can just invert the probabilities and multiply them. You had a .170 chance on the turn, and a .174 ontheriver.Byinverting,Imeansubtractingthemfromone.Now wevegot.830and.826!Multiplyandget.686!Thatsourchanceof NOT hitting our card at all. So invert it again and get .314, or 31.4%. Example#3Toptwopair THEPOCKET

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THEFLOP

YougetdealtaKingofDiamondsandaNineofHearts.Theflopis looking pretty good for you with a King of Spades, a Nine of Clubs,andaFourofClubs.Toptwopair! Lesson 1: What are my chances of getting a full house on the turn? To get a full house, you need another King or Nine to pop up. Thereistwoofeachleftinthedeck.Soyouvegot4outs.Afterthe floptheresalways47cardsunaccountedfor.4/47isaround.085or an8.5%chanceofyougettingtheFullHouse. Lesson 2: What are my chances of getting a full house on the river? If it didnt happen on the turn, your chances usually dont change all too much, but lets check. Youve still got 4 outs and now 46

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unseen cards left. 4/46 is about .087 or around an 8.7% chance of hittingitontheriver.A.2%difference. Lesson 3: How about the chances of getting the boat on the turn ORtheriver? Like the previous examples, to figure your chance of something happening on multiple events, you need to calculate the chance of it NOT happening first. On the turn it wont happen 43/47 times. Ontheriveritwonthappen42/46times.43/47is.915,and42/46is .913. Multiply them and get .835, or 83.5% chance of it not happening.Invertthatandyougeta16.5%ofgettingatleastafull housebytheshowdown. Lesson4:WhatdoyoumeanbyatleastaFullHouse? Since we figured the chances to NOT get dealt a full house, the chances are built in if the turn andriveraretwoKings,twoNines, oraKingandaNine.IfyouaredealttwocardsbothofeitherKing or Nine, itll be fourofakind and not a King and Nine 33% of the time. Think of it as being dealt one card then the other. What are the chances of the first card matching the second? Whether its a King or Nine, there will be only one unaccounted for, but two of theother.Thats1/3,or33%. Lesson5:Thenwhataremychancesofgettingfourofakind? This one requires a little more thought. It doesnt matter which cardwerehopingfor.Weneedtofirstgetafullhouseontheturn. According to lesson #1, the chance of that happening is .085. The chance of getting the same card we got on the turn is 1/46. Theres onlyoneout,andtheusual46unseencards.1/46isaround.022,or 2.2%. Multiply the two probabilities (.022 X .085) and get .002 or

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onefifth of a percent. It will be Kings half of the time and Nines theotherhalf Is this making any sense? If you really want to be a master of calculating odds, you need to see these calculations in action, over and over. Like anything else, practice makes perfect. In online games especially with very few if any tells (shown cards), statistical knowledge becomes the main factor when choosing whethertobet,call,orfold. Ifyoudohaveahandthatyouknowcantloseyouhavethenut. Betlikecrazy. While there is a lot more to Texas Holdem poker than this this should open your eyes to more things about the game of poker thanjustthecardsandtheirstatistics. Yes You DO need to know your general chances of pulling what types of hands but if you learn to study your opponents, they will tell you their hands and youll be able to beat them without evenknowingyours. RETURNONINVESTMENT(ROI) When the stakes required to play a game of Texas Holdem increase, there is not a proportional increase in the average winnings or money flow because most players, especially at the startofplay,playtighterathigherstakes. Hereshowthatworks. Higherstakescauseplayerstobemorecautious.Potsdonotgrow proportionately as the stakes and blinds increase. Your return on investmentwillthereforedecreaseastheminimumblindgoesup.

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Max Bet $ 2 Max $ 4 Max $ 6 Max $ 10 Max $ 20 Max $ 50 Max $ 60 Max $ 100 Max $ 200 Max

Pot Size 28 - 37 25 - 35 20 - 22 10 - 28 6-7 12 7.6 6.11 5.5

Most major online casinos release data on hands played (for a price) on a regular basis. A recent study (June 2004) from one of thelargestonlinecasinos,basedonseveralmillionactualhandsof Pokerplayed,revealedthatthereturnoninvestmentvariesquitea bitbasedonthemaximumbet. In the $2 games, the value of the winning pot varied from 28 to 37 timestheBigBlind(BB)themostyouwouldhavetoinvesttosee the flop (short of raises). The average pots were in the $60 range. With the right cards, you could expect a return of 3000% on a winninghand. As you can see in the chart above, this ratio falls as the Blinds go up. In the $200 game, with pots averaging $6001200, the ratio averages 5.5:1. Sure, greater overall winnings but much greater riskbasedontheinvestmentyouhavetomaketoseetheflop. Also notice the volatility or variance of this ratio. On the high stakes tables, play is very tight and often passive, so the ratio remainsverynarrowpotsarepredictably56timestheBigBlind. At the smaller stakes tables, there is considerably more volatility, indicative of a lot of looser players and more aggressive playing styles.

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The$1/$2tablesaretheloosestwithpotsrangingfrom2837times theBigBlind. AreLowStakeTablesFaster? Not necessarily. Texas Holdem is the king of fast play. Several $1000 plus pots were played in less than a minute and ranged as longas6minutesthesamerangeforthesmallstaketables.Over all, the average length of an online Poker game today is just over oneminuteor5060handsperhour. In higher stakes games, one thing is quite clear. There are a higher percentage of tighter and aggressive players at these tables thanat thesmallstakegames.Thatmeanstherearemoresharksatthebig tables and a much better chance that you will be one of the fish. The smart thing to do here is to say away from these kinds of tables. Given the fact that the return on investment is lower at the high stake games, that the average level of play is much more aggressive and that a much larger stake is required, there is very little opportunity to be a consistent winner on tables with $50 and upblinds. Alloftherecentresearchpointsto$5/$10Limittables asidealcombinationofriskandreward. InsiderTip FACT!Whentheaverageloosegamblerloses,heorshekeepson playinginanattempttorecovertheloss.Thisisirrationaland unplannedplayandcanbeveryexpensive.

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Ontheotherhand,whenmostinnategamblerswin,theyforgetall about their losses and conclude incorrectly that they have finally learned how to win or that their luck has finally changed. They express what is an irrational optimism at this point a totally unfoundedandundeservedoptimismthatkeepstheminthegame untiltheyrevertbacktoalosingstreak. Sharks exploit this irrational playing style in gamblers to generate acontinuousincome. OUTSODDSCHART
Holding Hand

Outs 21 20 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8

Drawing To

2 to come 98 % 98 %

1 to come 83% 77% 48% 44% 39% 35% 31% 28% 24% 421%

open straight flush draw

straight, flush, straight flush

85% 96% 92%

gutshot straight flush draw

straight, flush, straight flush

82% 71% 54%

four flush open straight

flush straight

54% 46%

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draw 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 pocket pair 3 of a kind 3 of a kind 4 of a kind gutshot straight straight 39% 32% 26% 20% 14% 9% 4% 18% 15% 12$ 9% 7% 4% 2%

POCKETCARDODDS
HoleCardsDealt SuitedStarters ConnectedStarters SuitedConnected Starters PairedStarters AADealt KKDealt QQDealt JJDealt TTDealt 99Dealt 88Dealt 77Dealt Dealt 680,351 454,220 114,304 13,010 13,182 13,122 13,069 12,886 13,092 13,046 13,111 Percent 23.56% 15.73% 3.96% 0.45% 0.46% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% Expected Percent 679,596 453,064 113,266 23.53% 15.69% 3.92%

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66Dealt 55Dealt 44Dealt 33Dealt 22Dealt AllPairedStarters AKSuitedStarters AKOffsuitStarters AllAKStarters

13,130 13,173 13,015 13,075 13,076 169,987 8,717 26,051 34,768

0.45% 0.46% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 5.89% 0.30% 0.90% 1.20%

169,899 8,713 26,138 34,851

5.88% 0.30% 0.90% 1.21%

THERULEOFFOURTWO The rule of fourtwo is an easier way to figure the odds for any situationwhereyouknowyourouts.Itisnotcompletelyaccurate but it will give you a quick ballpark figure of your chances for makingahand. Hereishowitworks. With two cards to come after the flop you multiply your number ofoutsbyfour.Withonecardtocomeaftertheturn,youmultiply yournumberofoutsbytwo. Thiswillgiveyouaquickfiguretoworkwith. If you have a fourcard flush after the flop you have nine outs. Withtwocardstocome,youmultiplytheninebyfourandyouget 36percentchanceofmakingtheflush.

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The chart shows the true odds at 35 percent. With one card to come you multiply nine by two and get 18 percent. The chart shows that the true figure is 19.6. It is not completely accurate but itisprettyclose,anditisaneasycalculationtodoinyourhead Howtocalculatehandodds(thelongerway): Once you know how to correctly count the number of outs you have on a hand, you can use that to calculate what percent of the time you will hit your hand by the river. Probability can be calculated easily for a single event, like the flipping of the river card from the turn. This would simply be: Total Outs / Remaining Cards. For two cards however, like from the flop to the river, its a bitmorecomplicated.Thisiscalculatedbyfiguringtheprobability of your cards not hitting twice in a row. This can be calculated as shownbelow: FloptoRiver%=1[((47Outs)/47)*((46Outs)/46)] TurntoRiver%=(47Outs)/46 Thenumber47representstheremainingcardsleftinthedeckafter the flop (52 total cards, minus 2 in our hand and 3 on the flop = 47 remaining cards). Even though there might not technically be 47 cards remaining, we do calculations assuming we are the only players in the game. To illustrate, here is a two overcard draw, which has 3 outs for each overcard, giving a total of 6 outs for a toppairdraw: TwoOvercardDraw=1[(476)/47*(466)/46] =1[(41/47)*(40/46)] =1[0.87*0.87] =10.76 =0.24 =24%ChancetoDrawOvercardsfromFloptoRiver

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However, most of the time we want to see this in hand odds, which will be explained after you read about pot odds. To change apercenttoodds,theformulais: Odds=(1/Percentage)1 Thus,tochangethe24%drawintoanoddwecanuse,wedothe following: Odds=(1/24%TwoOvercardDraw)1 =(1/0.24)1 =4.171 =3.17orapprox3.2 ANALYZINGPROBABILITIESINDEPTH You may want to skip this section and go back to it later. Some ofthisisprettydeep.Butimportant! Getting a handle on the probability of being dealt various poker handsisoneofthemostimportantandvaluableskillsaplayercan have. We present a number of different ways to do these calculations, from a rough guesstimate system called the 24 Rule totheactualcombinationmath. The first odds calculation that must be made is to determine the totalnumberofpossiblepokerhandsinadeck. As weve shown, a poker hand consists of 5 cards drawn from a deck of 52 cards. Therefore, the number of combinations is COMBIN(52,5)=2,598,960. If you use Microsoft Excel, you can duplicate these calculations using the COMBIN factor. COMBIN returns the number of

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combinations for a given number of items. To find the COMBIN factorinExcelgotoINSERT...FUNCTION...MATH&TRIG. For each of the aboveNumber of Combinations we divide by this number to get the probability of being dealt any particular hand. For the calculations, we will first split out the No Pair hands which include Royal Straight Flushes, Straight Flushes, Flushes, Straights, and Nothings. Then, we will look at all combinations thathaveatleast1pair. The cards in a hand without any pairs will have 5 different denominations selected randomly from the 13 available (2, 3, 4...Ace). Also, each of the 5 denominations will select 1 suit from the four available suits. Thus the total number of nopair hands willequal: COMBIN(13, 5) * (COMBIN(4, 1))^5 = 1287 * 1024 = 1,317,888. AStraightFlushismadeupof5consecutivecardsinthesamesuit and may have a high card of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, or Aceforatotalof10differentranks.Eachofthesemaybeinanyof 4 suits. Thus there are 40 possible Straight Flushes. An Ace high Straight Flush is a Royal Flush. Since there are only 4 different suits there are only 4 possible Royal Straight Flushes. When we subtract the 4 Royal Straight Flushes from the total of 40 Straight Flushes we are left with 36 other Straight Flushes that are King highorless. A Flush consists of any 5 of the 13 cards from a particular suit. There are 4 possible suits. The number of possible Flushes is: COMBIN(13, 5) * 4 = 5,148. However, this includes the 40 possible

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Straight Flushes. When we subtract these out, we are left with: 5,14840=5,108possibleordinaryflushes. A straightconsists of 5 cards with consecutive denominations and may have a high card of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, or Ace foratotalof10differentranks.Eachofthese5cardsmaybeinany of the 4 suits. Thus there are 10 * 4^5 = 10,240 different possible straights. However, this total includes the 40 possible Straight Flushes.Thuswesubtract40,whichleavesuswith10,200possible ordinarystraights. Finally,wecometothenothinghandswhicharebasicallyallthe left over garbage. This is simply the total number of No Pair hands minus all the good stuff. This gives us: 1,317,888 4 36 5,10810,200=1,302,540nothinghands. Howabouttheoddsofgetting1pairorbetter? A hand with just 1 pair has 4 different denominations selected randomly from the 13 available denominations. 3 of these denominations will select 1 card randomly from the 4 available suits.The4thdenominationwillselect2cardsfromtheavailable4 suits. Finally, the pair can be any one of the four available denominations. Thus the calculation is: COMBIN(13, 4) * (COMBIN(4, 1))^3 * COMBIN( 4, 2) * 4 = 1,098,240 possible hands thathavejustonepair. Thecalculationforahandwithtwopairsissimilar.Wewillhave3 random denominations taken from the 13 available. Two of these denominationswilluse2ofthefouravailablesuitswhilethethird denomination selects 1 of the four available suits. The singleton card may be any one of the three denominations. Thus, the calculation becomes: COMBIN(13, 3) * (COMBIN(4, 2))^2 * COMBIN(4,1)*3=123,552possiblehandswith2pairs.

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Three of a kind is calculated in a similar manner. There will be 3 different denominations from the 13 possible denominations. One denomination will select 3 of the 4 available suits while the other two denominations select 1 card from each of the 4 possible suits. Finally, the three of a kind can be in any of the three denominations. The calculation becomes: COMBIN(13, 3) * COMBIN(4,3)*(COMBIN(4,1))^2*3=54,912possiblehandswith 3ofakind. The next calculation will be for a Full House. A Full House only uses 2 of the 13 denominations. One of these will select 3 cards from the 4 available while the other selects 2 cards from the 4 available. Finally the denomination that has 3 cards can be either one of the 2 denominations that we are using. This gives us: COMBIN(13, 2) * COMBIN(4, 3) * COMBIN(4 , 2) * 2 = 3,744 possibleFullHouses. The final calculation is for 4 of a kind. Again, we will select 2 denominations from the 13 available. One of these will select 4 cards from the 4 available (Obviously the only way to do this is to take all four cards.) while the other denomination takes 1 of the available 4 cards. The denomination that has 4 of a kind can be eitheroneofthe2availabledenominations. Thus, the calculation becomes: COMBIN(13, 2) * COMBIN( 4, 4) * COMBIN(4,1)*2=624differentwaysofbeingdealt4ofakind. PokerOddsFromTheTurn Many players who really understand Holdem odds still tend to forget that the turn can change their odds dramatically. Its true thatforaflushdraw,thecardoddsare1.9to1fromthefloptothe river. However, this is a theoretical situation where it assumes

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there is no additional betting on the turn. Typically this is not goingtobethecasesoyouwillneedtorecalculateyourcardodds andpotodds. Wewillusetheflushcalculationexampleagainandrunthroughit 100 times assuming there was $20 in the pot on the flop with two $5 bets. On the turn, this leaves $30 in the pot, plus a $10 bet from youropponenttocall. CosttoPlay=100hands*$10tocallonturn=$1,000 PotValue=$30+$10bet+$10call OddstoWin=4.1:1or19%(Fromtheturn) TotalHandsWon=100*OddstoWin(19%)=19wins NetProfit=NetCosttoPlay+(TotalTimesWon*PotValue) =$1,000+(19*$50) =$1,000+$900 =$100Profit Now,youcanseethatwhatwasaveryprofitabledrawontheflop suddenly turned into a not so great draw on the turn. This is because by not hitting your flush by the turn, it lowered your chances of making a flush by the river. The odds thus increased to 4.1 to 1 instead of 1.9 to 1. So even though the pot odds remained the same at 4:1, because the card oddswentdown,thisflushdraw hasnowbecomeunprofitable. Realizing the dynamic changes in your odds is extremely important so that you dont go making incorrect draws based on odds from the flop. Just remember that your odds essentially doublefromthefloptotheturn,soadjustyourplayaccordingly.

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Each entry in the following table is the result of 1,000,000 simulated hands of Texas Holdem played to the showdown and represents the percentage of pots won (including partial pots in the case of splits) by the indicated hand against the indicated numberofopponentsholdingrandomhands. The study shows a very clear correlation between your odds of success against the number of players. Notice the JJ, TT, 99 anomaly where the power of these cards increase dramatically over perceived better pocket cards depending on how many playersareleft.ThehandsindicatedinBOLDcanhaveimpressive resultsbutrequireaggressiveraisingtoforceoutweakerplayers. Opponents: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hand 85.3 73.4 63.9 55.9 49.2 43.6 38.8 34.7 31.1 AA 82.4 68.9 58.2 49.8 43.0 37.5 32.9 29.2 26.1 KK 79.9 64.9 53.5 44.7 37.9 32.5 28.3 24.9 22.2 QQ 67.0 50.7 41.4 35.4 31.1 27.7 25.0 22.7 20.7 Aks 66.1 49.4 39.9 33.7 29.4 26.0 23.3 21.1 19.3 AQs JJ 77.5 61.2 49.2 40.3 33.6 28.5 24.6 21.6 19.3 63.4 47.1 38.2 32.5 28.3 25.1 22.5 20.4 18.6 KQs 65.4 48.2 38.5 32.2 27.8 24.5 22.0 19.9 18.1 AJs 62.6 45.9 36.8 31.1 26.9 23.8 21.3 19.3 17.6 KJs 64.7 47.1 37.2 31.0 26.7 23.5 21.0 18.9 17.3 ATs 65.4 48.2 38.6 32.4 27.9 24.4 21.6 19.2 17.2 AK TT 75.1 57.7 45.2 36.4 30.0 25.3 21.8 19.2 17.2 60.3 44.1 35.6 30.1 26.1 23.0 20.7 18.7 17.1 QJs 61.9 44.9 35.7 29.9 25.8 22.8 20.4 18.5 16.9 KTs 59.5 43.1 34.6 29.1 25.2 22.3 19.9 18.1 16.6 QTs 57.5 41.9 33.8 28.5 24.7 21.9 19.7 17.9 16.5 JTs 99 72.1 53.5 41.1 32.6 26.6 22.4 19.4 17.2 15.6

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AQ A9s KQ T9s A8s K9s J9s A5s Q9s 88 AJ A7s A4s A6s A3s KJ QJ 77 T8s K8s AT A2s 98s K7s Q8s J8s KT JT 66 QT K6s 87s K5s 97s T7s

64.5 46.8 36.9 30.4 25.9 22.5 19.7 17.5 15.5 63.0 44.8 34.6 28.4 24.2 21.1 18.8 16.9 15.4 61.4 44.4 35.2 29.3 25.1 21.8 19.1 16.9 15.1 54.3 38.9 31.0 26.0 22.5 19.8 17.8 16.2 14.9 62.1 43.7 33.6 27.4 23.3 20.3 18.0 16.2 14.8 60.0 42.4 32.9 27.2 23.2 20.3 18.1 16.3 14.8 55.8 39.6 31.3 26.1 22.4 19.7 17.6 15.9 14.6 59.9 41.4 31.8 26.0 22.2 19.6 17.5 15.9 14.5 57.9 40.7 31.9 26.4 22.5 19.7 17.6 15.9 14.5 69.1 49.9 37.5 29.4 24.0 20.3 17.7 15.8 14.4 63.6 45.6 35.4 28.9 24.4 21.0 18.3 16.1 14.3 61.1 42.6 32.6 26.5 22.5 19.6 17.4 15.7 14.3 58.9 40.4 30.9 25.3 21.6 19.0 17.0 15.5 14.2 60.0 41.3 31.4 25.6 21.7 19.0 16.9 15.3 14.0 58.0 39.4 30.0 24.6 21.0 18.5 16.6 15.1 13.9 60.6 43.1 33.6 27.6 23.5 20.2 17.7 15.6 13.9 58.2 41.4 32.6 26.9 22.9 19.8 17.3 15.3 13.7 66.2 46.4 34.4 26.8 21.9 18.6 16.4 14.8 13.7 52.6 36.9 29.0 24.0 20.6 18.1 16.2 14.8 13.6 58.5 40.2 30.8 25.1 21.3 18.6 16.5 14.8 13.5 62.9 44.4 34.1 27.6 23.1 19.8 17.2 15.1 13.4 57.0 38.5 29.2 23.9 20.4 18.0 16.1 14.6 13.4 51.1 36.0 28.5 23.6 20.2 17.8 15.9 14.5 13.4 57.8 39.4 30.1 24.5 20.8 18.1 16.0 14.5 13.2 56.2 38.6 29.7 24.4 20.7 18.0 16.0 14.4 13.2 54.2 37.5 29.1 24.0 20.5 17.9 15.9 14.4 13.2 59.9 42.0 32.5 26.5 22.3 19.2 16.7 14.7 13.1 55.4 39.0 30.7 25.3 21.5 18.6 16.3 14.5 13.1 63.3 43.2 31.5 24.5 20.1 17.3 15.4 14.0 13.1 57.4 40.2 31.3 25.7 21.6 18.6 16.3 14.4 12.9 56.8 38.4 29.1 23.7 20.1 17.5 15.6 14.0 12.8 48.2 33.9 26.6 22.0 18.9 16.7 15.0 13.7 12.7 55.8 37.4 28.2 23.0 19.5 17.0 15.2 13.7 12.5 49.5 34.2 26.8 22.1 18.9 16.6 14.9 13.6 12.5 51.0 34.9 27.0 22.2 19.0 16.6 14.8 13.5 12.4

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K4s 76s 55 K3s Q7s 44 J7s 33 22 K2s 86s 65s Q6s 54s Q5s 96s 75s Q4s T9 A9 T6s Q3s J6s 64s Q2s 85s K9 J9 J5s 53s Q9 A8 J4s J3s 74s

54.7 36.4 27.4 22.3 19.0 16.6 14.8 13.4 12.3 45.7 32.0 25.1 20.8 18.0 15.9 14.4 13.2 12.3 60.3 40.1 28.8 22.4 18.5 16.0 14.4 13.2 12.3 53.8 35.5 26.7 21.7 18.4 16.2 14.5 13.1 12.1 54.5 36.7 27.9 22.7 19.2 16.7 14.8 13.3 12.1 57.0 36.8 26.3 20.6 17.3 15.2 13.9 12.9 12.1 52.4 35.4 27.1 22.2 18.9 16.4 14.6 13.2 12.0 53.7 33.5 23.9 19.0 16.2 14.6 13.5 12.6 12.0 50.3 30.7 22.0 17.8 15.5 14.2 13.3 12.5 12.0 52.9 34.6 26.0 21.2 18.1 15.9 14.3 13.0 11.9 46.5 32.0 25.0 20.6 17.6 15.6 14.1 12.9 11.9 43.2 30.2 23.7 19.7 17.0 15.2 13.8 12.7 11.9 53.8 35.8 27.1 21.9 18.5 16.1 14.3 12.9 11.7 41.1 28.8 22.6 18.9 16.5 14.8 13.5 12.5 11.7 52.9 34.9 26.3 21.4 18.1 15.8 14.1 12.7 11.6 47.7 32.3 24.9 20.4 17.4 15.3 13.7 12.4 11.4 43.8 30.1 23.4 19.4 16.7 14.8 13.4 12.3 11.4 51.7 33.9 25.5 20.7 17.6 15.4 13.7 12.4 11.3 51.7 35.7 27.7 22.5 18.9 16.2 14.1 12.6 11.3 60.9 41.8 31.2 24.7 20.3 17.1 14.7 12.8 11.2 49.2 32.8 25.1 20.5 17.4 15.2 13.6 12.3 11.2 50.7 33.0 24.7 20.1 17.0 14.9 13.3 12.1 11.1 50.8 33.6 25.4 20.6 17.4 15.2 13.5 12.1 11.1 41.4 28.5 22.1 18.4 15.9 14.2 12.9 11.9 11.1 49.9 32.2 24.0 19.5 16.6 14.6 13.1 11.9 10.9 44.8 30.2 23.2 19.1 16.3 14.3 12.9 11.8 10.9 58.0 39.5 29.6 23.6 19.5 16.5 14.1 12.3 10.8 53.4 36.5 27.9 22.5 18.7 15.9 13.8 12.1 10.8 50.0 32.8 24.7 20.0 17.0 14.7 13.1 11.8 10.8 39.3 27.1 21.1 17.5 15.2 13.7 12.5 11.6 10.8 55.5 37.6 28.5 22.9 19.0 16.1 13.8 12.1 10.7 60.1 40.8 30.1 23.7 19.4 16.2 13.9 12.0 10.6 49.0 31.8 24.0 19.4 16.4 14.3 12.8 11.5 10.6 47.9 30.9 23.2 18.8 16.0 14.0 12.5 11.3 10.4 41.8 28.2 21.7 17.9 15.3 13.5 12.2 11.2 10.4

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95s 43s J2s T5s A7 A5 T4s 63s T8 98 A4 T3s 84s 52s T2s A6 42s A3 J8 K8 94s 87 73s Q8 93s 32s A2 92s 62s K7 83s 97 82s 76 K6

45.9 30.4 23.2 18.8 16.0 13.9 12.4 11.3 10.3 38.0 26.2 20.3 16.9 14.7 13.1 12.0 11.1 10.3 47.1 30.1 22.6 18.3 15.6 13.7 12.2 11.1 10.2 47.2 30.8 23.3 18.9 16.0 13.9 12.4 11.2 10.2 59.1 39.4 28.9 22.6 18.4 15.4 13.2 11.4 10.1 57.7 38.2 27.9 22.0 18.0 15.2 13.1 11.5 10.1 46.4 30.1 22.7 18.4 15.6 13.6 12.1 11.0 10.0 39.4 26.5 20.4 16.8 14.5 12.9 11.7 10.8 10.0 50.0 33.6 25.4 20.4 16.9 14.4 12.5 11.0 9.9 48.4 32.9 25.1 20.1 16.6 14.2 12.3 10.9 9.9 56.4 36.9 26.9 21.1 17.3 14.7 12.6 11.0 9.8 45.5 29.3 22.0 17.8 15.1 13.2 11.8 10.7 9.8 42.7 28.1 21.4 17.4 14.8 13.0 11.7 10.6 9.8 37.5 25.3 19.5 16.1 14.0 12.5 11.4 10.6 9.8 44.7 28.5 21.4 17.4 14.8 13.0 11.6 10.5 9.7 57.8 38.0 27.6 21.5 17.5 14.7 12.6 10.9 9.6 36.3 24.6 18.8 15.7 13.7 12.3 11.2 10.4 9.6 55.6 35.9 26.1 20.4 16.7 14.2 12.2 10.7 9.5 51.7 34.2 25.6 20.4 16.8 14.1 12.2 10.7 9.5 56.3 37.2 27.3 21.4 17.4 14.6 12.5 10.8 9.4 43.8 28.4 21.3 17.3 14.6 12.7 11.3 10.3 9.4 45.5 30.6 23.2 18.5 15.4 13.1 11.5 10.3 9.3 40.0 26.3 20.0 16.4 14.0 12.3 11.1 10.1 9.3 53.8 35.4 26.2 20.6 16.9 14.1 12.1 10.5 9.2 43.2 27.8 20.8 16.8 14.3 12.5 11.1 10.1 9.2 35.1 23.6 18.0 14.9 13.0 11.7 10.7 9.9 9.2 54.6 35.0 25.2 19.6 16.1 13.6 11.7 10.2 9.1 42.3 27.0 20.2 16.4 13.9 12.2 10.9 9.9 9.1 37.5 24.8 18.8 15.4 13.3 11.8 10.7 9.8 9.1 55.4 36.1 26.3 20.5 16.7 13.9 11.8 10.2 9.0 40.8 26.3 19.8 16.0 13.6 11.9 10.7 9.7 8.9 46.7 30.9 23.1 18.4 15.1 12.8 11.1 9.8 8.8 40.3 25.8 19.4 15.7 13.3 11.7 10.5 9.6 8.8 42.7 28.5 21.5 17.1 14.2 12.2 10.8 9.6 8.8 54.3 35.0 25.3 19.7 16.0 13.3 11.3 9.8 8.6

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T7 72s 65 K5 86 54 J7 K4 Q7 75 K3 96 K2 Q6 64 Q5 T6 85 53 Q4 J6 Q3 Q2 74 43 J5 95 J4 63 T5 J3 J2 T4 52 84

48.2 31.4 23.4 18.4 15.1 12.8 11.0 38.1 24.5 18.4 15.0 12.8 11.2 10.1 40.1 26.7 20.0 15.9 13.3 11.5 10.2 53.3 34.0 24.5 19.0 15.4 12.9 11.0 43.6 28.6 21.3 16.9 13.9 11.8 10.4 37.9 25.2 18.8 15.0 12.6 11.0 9.8 49.9 32.1 23.5 18.3 14.9 12.4 10.6 52.1 32.8 23.4 18.1 14.7 12.3 10.5 51.9 33.2 24.0 18.6 15.1 12.5 10.6 40.8 26.5 19.7 15.5 12.8 11.0 9.7 51.2 31.9 22.7 17.6 14.2 11.9 10.2 44.9 28.8 21.2 16.6 13.5 11.4 9.8 50.2 30.9 21.8 16.9 13.7 11.5 9.8 51.1 32.3 23.2 17.9 14.4 12.0 10.1 38.0 24.7 18.2 14.4 12.0 10.3 9.2 50.2 31.3 22.3 17.3 13.9 11.6 9.8 46.3 29.2 21.2 16.5 13.4 11.2 9.5 41.7 26.5 19.4 15.2 12.4 10.5 9.1 35.8 23.3 17.1 13.6 11.4 9.9 8.8 49.0 30.2 21.4 16.4 13.3 11.0 9.4 47.9 29.8 21.4 16.5 13.2 11.0 9.3 47.9 29.2 20.7 15.9 12.8 10.7 9.1 47.0 28.4 19.9 15.3 12.3 10.3 8.8 38.6 24.5 17.9 13.9 11.4 9.7 8.5 34.4 22.3 16.3 12.8 10.7 9.3 8.3 47.1 29.1 20.7 15.9 12.8 10.6 8.9 42.9 26.7 19.2 14.8 12.0 10.0 8.5 46.1 28.1 19.9 15.3 12.3 10.2 8.6 35.9 22.7 16.4 12.8 10.6 9.1 8.0 44.2 27.1 19.3 14.8 11.9 9.9 8.4 45.0 27.1 19.1 14.6 11.7 9.8 8.3 44.0 26.2 18.4 14.1 11.3 9.4 8.0 43.4 26.4 18.7 14.3 11.5 9.5 8.1 33.9 21.3 15.3 12.0 10.0 8.6 7.6 39.6 24.4 17.5 13.4 10.8 9.0 7.8

9.7 9.2 9.2 9.5 9.2 8.9 9.2 9.1 9.2 8.7 8.9 8.7 8.6 8.8 8.3 8.5 8.3 8.1 8.0 8.1 8.0 7.9 7.7 7.6 7.5 7.7 7.4 7.5 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.0 7.0 6.8 6.8

8.6 8.5 8.5 8.3 8.3 8.2 8.1 8.0 8.0 7.9 7.8 7.8 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.4 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.4 6.3 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.1

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T3 42 T2 73 94 32 93 62 92 83 82 72

42.4 25.5 18.0 13.7 11.0 32.5 20.5 14.7 11.5 9.5 41.5 24.7 17.3 13.2 10.6 36.6 22.4 16.0 12.3 9.9 40.7 24.6 17.3 13.2 10.5 31.2 19.5 13.9 10.8 8.9 39.9 23.9 16.7 12.7 10.1 34.0 20.7 14.6 11.2 9.1 38.9 22.9 16.0 12.1 9.6 37.5 22.4 15.7 11.9 9.5 36.8 21.7 15.1 11.4 9.1 34.6 20.4 14.2 10.7 8.6

9.1 8.3 8.8 8.4 8.7 7.7 8.3 7.8 8.0 7.9 7.5 7.2

7.8 7.3 7.5 7.2 7.3 6.8 7.1 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.4 6.1

6.8 6.6 6.6 6.4 6.4 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.4

6.0 6.0 5.8 5.7 5.6 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.2 5.1 4.9 4.8

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE RULES OF TEXAS HOLDEM

SoyourenewtoTexasHoldempoker?Notaproblem. Texas Hold em poker is by far the best game for a beginner to learn. Instead of other poker games like Omaha High or 7 card stud which entail a great many more possibilities for calculating odds and perhaps even trying to count cards, Holdem can be learned in a few minutesbyanyone,andyoucanbeplayingfairly well with a few hours practice. In order to learn the game, however,youmustplayandyoumustplayfairlyoften. AllOnlinePokerCasinostodayofferawidevarietyofplaymoney tables for beginners to practice their skills until theyre ready to moveuptothefunatrealmoneytables.

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ATexasHoldempokergamegoesasfollows:

1. The betting structure can vary, but most games start with two players placing out a predetermined amount of money so there is an initial amount to play for. This is called posting the blinds. These playersarethetwototheleftofthedealer. 2.Thedealershufflesupacompletedeckof52playingcards. 3. Each player is dealt two cards face down. These are called your holeorpocketcards. 4. Then there is a round of betting starting with the guy to the left ofthetwowhopostedtheblinds.Thisroundisusuallyreferredto bythetermpreflop. 5. The amount betted depends on the table stakes, which are postedbeforeyoujointhetable. 6.Muchlikemostgamesofpoker,playerscancheck,raise,orfold. 7. After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card. This is done to prevent cheating.

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8. The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table. These cards are called the flop. These are communal cards that anyonecanuseincombinationwiththeirtwopocketcardstoform apokerhand. 9. There is another round of betting starting with the player to the leftofthedealer. 10. After the betting concludes, the dealer burns another card and flips one more onto the table. This is called the turn card. Players canusethissixthcardnowtoformafivecardpokerhand. 11. The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting.Inmanytypesofgames,thisiswherethebetsizedoubles. 12. Finally, the dealer burns a card and places a final card face up onthetable.Thisiscalledtheriver.Playerscannowuseanyofthe five cards on the table or the two cards in their pocket to form a fivecardpokerhand. 13. There is one final round of betting starting with the player to theleftofthedealer. 14. After that, all of the players remaining in the game begin to revealtheirhands.Thisbeginswiththeplayertotheleftofthelast playertocall.Itscalledtheshowdown.

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15.Theplayerwiththebesthandwins! LEARNINGHOWTOPLAY Its difficult to learn to play Texas Hold em in the traditional setting of a casinos poker room without losing to experienced gamblers. Thankfully, you can practice all you want for free with onlinepokerrooms. The only way to learn the game is to play. And pay attention. Check out Online Casinos to get a feel for the action. Play all you want for free, and start playing for real money when you feel ready. They have both low limits (betting) for newer players as well as high stakes tables. Since we mention betting, lets look at thebasics. THEBASICSOFBETTING? Abetisadeclarationthateither a)IhavethebesthandandIllwagermoneyonit or b)Youhaveapoorhand,andyouwillfoldifyouare forcedtowageronit. Typically,playersaresupposedtobetwhentheyhaveagoodhand. Playerswhodonthavegoodhandsaresupposedtofold. Of course, if this was the case, we all might as well wager on flipped coins. Most players play contrary to this idea, attempting to be clever or deceptive. Dont fall into this trap when you are justlearningtoplay.

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Keep it simple. Dont be clever. Bet when you think you will win and fold when you cant. But there are going to be situations whereyoushouldbetevenifyourcardsarentthebest. Here are some situations you should start looking at to improve yourgame. BLINDSTEALING TexasHoldemisuniquebecausethetwoblindsareinwhether theywanttoornot. Asaresultofbeingforcedtobet,theyarealsolesscommittedthan a player who really believes they can win but since they have to bet,theywouldbefoolsnottostayinthegame. Now imagine you are the dealer, and only you and the two blinds are still in. In this situation, if you raise against them, your raise is calledblindstealing.Why?Yourraiseisforcingtheblindsintoa situationwheretheymayfold. Remember,theyareonlyinthehandbecausetheyhavetobe. Itseasytopushplayersinthissituationoutofthegame.Itslikely that if you didnt raise and just called, the blinds would probably check. You can make money this way, especially if the blinds are looser players. Its also a way to get the hand over so you can go ontothenextgame. THESTEALRAISE Thechoicespotinabettingroundisthecatbirdseat.Youarethe last in sequence to bet so you get to see what the other players are up to. If all the other players have checked to you, and you bet

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(regardless of your hand), you can often force the other players to fold.Takingthepotinthissituationiscalledstealraising. Obviously, if you try this every time, the better players will be ontoyouandseethroughyourtactic.Itsagreatideatostealraise whenyouhaveagooddrawinghandsuchasaflushdraw. THECHECKRAISE Most Texas Holdem tables will permit raising after you have checked. Check raising is a technique to build the pot. If you have a winning hand and you bet right away, you may chase away players who could add to the pot. So lets say you check. Another player sees an advantage, assumes you are uncertain about your hand and raises. Now you can raise their bet again. Itsunlikelyat this point that they will fold having committed to the round by raisingthebet. THEOPENER This is a very traditional bluffing move. The firstpersonfollowing the blinds in the round raises aggressively, making all other players call both the blind and the raise. The only reason a player would do this so early in the game is to limit the number of players. Usually you will see a number of players fold. The ones left though will have great hands or will refuse to be intimidated bythistactic.Somepeoplecallthismovebettingforinformation. Thisonlyworkswithsmallgroupsofplayers.

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HOW TO WIN MONEY IN TEXAS HOLDEM BEFORE THE FIRST CARD IS EVEN DEALT
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Poker is a game of constant decisions. They range from the critical to the mundane and they occur at a dizzying pace; often dozens of times per minute. Online card play is especially fierce and the pressure can be intense. Do I raise? Do I stay? Do I call? Do I fold? Even when a loss attributed to a wrong decision is small, it eventually adds up. Making the best decisions based on the information you haveathandisthekeytobeatingyouropponents.

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A great example of a critical decision in Texas Holdem that happens on almost every hand is the problem associated with defending a small blind. Suppose that while playing online in a Texas Holdem game, with $1 and $2 blinds, a player always defends their small blind stays in even with a garbage hand because theyve already invested the $2. Based on the random distribution of cards, youre typically dealt such a throwaway handaboutonethirdofthetime. At 50 60 hands per hour a typical pace in online card rooms the average player is dealt the small blind six times every 60 minutes. If they always call, they wind up calling twice each hour when they should be folding. Thats $6 per hour minimum. If you play ten hours per week, at the end of the year youve given away overthreethousanddollars.Ouch. Thats only one example of the kind of big picture thinking that canmakethedifferencebetweenbeingawinneroraloseroverthe longhaul. All the latest research (from the online casinos themselves) show quite clearly that over 50% of your winnings at the online poker table will be determined BEFORE YOU ARE DEALT A SINGLECARD(somewouldsuggestitsevenhigherthan50%). HerearetheTenkeynoncardbaseddecisionsyoumustmakein Texas Holdem poker to be successful. Few of these have anything to do with the bricks and mortars version of the game. After the summary, we will go into more detail. But even if you never read the followup, if you adopt these simple basics your winnings will increasedramatically.

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1.SELECTACASINO.Rulenumberone.Beamemberofnoless thansixonlinecasinossoyoucanrotateandmovearoundfrom casinotocasinoduringplay.Selectonlywellknowncasinoswith excellentreputationsforpayingquicklyandmaintainingindustry acceptedrandomizingalgorithms(moreonthislater). 2.SELECTABETTINGLIMIT.Butonlyifits$1/2,$2/4or$5/10 blinds.Thissectionwilldiscusstheresearch,themath,andthe studiesonhumannaturethatproveconclusivelythathighstake limittablesarenottheplacetomakemoney.Theyarehoweveran excellentplacetoloselargeamountsofcashinabighurry.The returnoninvestment(ROI)isbestatmediumlimittables. 3.SELECTYOURSTAKE.Nodecisionhereifyoursmart.You musthave50to100timestheBigBlind.Anylessandyourchances ofmakingmoneynosedive.Morewillonlyimproveyourtable credandhelptointimidateweakerplayers.

4.SELECTATABLE.Spendatleast15minuteswatchingtheplay ateachtable.Reviewyournotesifrecognizedplayersarepresent. Checkoutatleastthreetablesbeforeyoustart.Thenselectthe loosesttable.TowinatTexasHoldemPokeryoumustplaytight inloosegamesandplayinloosegamesonly.Ifallthetablesare tight,run.GobacktoStep1. 5.SELECTAPOSITIONATTHETABLE.Watchforthetightest playeratthetable.Pickaspottothatplayersleft.Wehave dedicatedanentirechapterlaterontotablepositionstrategy. 6.TAKENOTESONPLAYERS.Recordplayingstyles.Dothey raisebeforetheflop?Dotheyfoldbeforetheflop?Whatsthesize oftheirstake?Dotheyreactquicklyorslowlywhentheirturn

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comesup?Whatkindofcardsdidtheyplayon?Everyoneshould takeplayernotesatcasinoslikePartyPokerwheretheyofferthe feature.Dontknowhowtotakenotes?Justrightclickonthe avatar(picture)ofthetargetplayerandclickPlayerNotes.That featureisthereforaverygoodreasonuseit. 7.TURNOFFCHAT.Itsdistractingandrarelyvaluable.Ifyou wanttochat,useMSNbutneverwhileyoureplayingfor money. 8.TURNOFFTVs,MUSIC,OTHERDISTRACTIONS.Nowis notthetimetocatchthescoreonyourfavoritegameorconsumea bucketofchicken.Ifanyonesgoingtobedistracted,itshouldbe youropponents.Letthemmisscues,watchtheirstackdisappear andwonderwhathappened. 9.PLAYTIGHT.FollowtheFoodChainTheory.Learntherules. Understandtheodds.Betlikeashark,notafish. 10.PLAYFORONEHOURthentakeabreak,regardlessof whetheryourewinningorlosing.Thiswillkeepyousharper thantheotherplayerswhoarehangingonforthatonelastwin. Andthereyouare.Tenstepsthatwillmakeyouthousands,maybe a lot more over time. Interested in understanding the machinery behindthesebasicrules?Readon. NeverStartShortStacked! One of the keys to winning Poker is having enough chips. You needtobeabletoweatherastreakofbadcardsandbetherewhen thecardsfinallyturninyourfavour.

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So what would we suggest for a minimum buy in? If you are playinga$2$4game,startwithatleast$400to$800(roughly100 times the big bet). The degree of variation accounts for your style of play. A super aggressive player should bring more to the table thanatighterplayer. Bigger stacks tend to get bigger respect as well. Especially from new players. So keeping a decent amount of chips in front of you not only improves your chances of winning, it provides an intimidation factor. However, you should always have enough chips available in your bank to jump into a different game. If you keep your whole bankroll in front of you, you cant buyin to secondgamewithoutcashingoutofthefirst. TheAwesomePowerofShortPlayingSessions OnebigdifferencebetweentheInternetandlivebricksandmortar play is that players are constantly moving in and out of games. TheaccessibilityoftheInternetallowsplayerstojustsitdownand play a few hands, a few minutes, or maybe just an hour. In a live game, you generally are playing with the same opponents for at least a few hours and maybe even up tosevenoreighthours.This rarelyoccursontheInternet.Howdoesthisaffectstrategy? Your opponents will not have a very long time to evaluate your play. This means that you should play more straightforward and lessdeceptivelythanyouwouldinalivegame.Oneofthebenefits ofplayingdeceptivelyortryingabluffistheadvertisingvalueyou receive on future hands when your opponents think you are a loose wild player. A loose table image can help you earn more chips later when you hold strong hands that your opponents call because they think you might be bluffing. On the Internet, you

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maynotbesittingwiththesameopponentslongenoughtobenefit fromthisimage. Against regular opponents, you still need to mix up your play on theInternet,butoverall,youshouldmixituplessthanyouwould in a live game. Against new opponents, the best strategy is to simply play a straightforward tight game without worrying too muchabouthowyourtableimagemightaffectfuturehands. SomeUsefulOnlineBluffingTips OntheInternet,youaredealingwithnamesandavatars,notfaces. Some of the most powerful cues used in poker are no longer available to us. This psychological part of poker makes for a differenttypeofgameontheInternet.Forexample,thereseemsto be more bluffing on the Internet compared to live games. Players feel far more anonymous on the Net and are therefore prone to wilder,lesscautiousmoves. Anotherreasonwhyplayersmaytendtobluffmoreonlinethanin acasinoistheeaseinwhichyoucanbluff.Onlineyoujusthaveto click your mouse. In a live game, you have to physically move your chips and stare down your opponents at the table. Chips are popular in casinos because they remove us emotionally from the concept of real money. Studies have shown that players are more reckless with chips than with real cash. Online, we are even more removed from the idea that this is real money (they are virtual chips)sotheaveragebluffsarelargerandmorecommon. Overall,ifyoulookatthedata,playerstendtobe moredeceptiveonlinethaninalivegame. InsiderTip

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Thisimpactsonlinestrategiesintwoways.First,youcantassume your opponents are bluffing all the time, but you will need to call and raise a little more often against those opponents who are tryingtowineverypot. On the other hand, you should probably bluff a little less often since your opponents will tend to call you a little more. They also realizethatplayersonlinebluffalot,sotheywilltendtocallmore evenwithweakhands.Theywillalsofinditeasiertojustclickthe mouse to call compared to physically moving their chips in a live game. Remember!EarlyDecisionsMatterMost EarlychoicesinTexasHoldemusuallymeanmorethanlaterones becauseoftheirimpactonsubsequentdecisions.Wheneveryou makeanincorrectmoveupfront,youruntheriskofrendering eachsubsequentdecisionincorrectaswell.Thatswhyyourchoice ofstartinghandsisusuallymuchmorecriticalthanhowyouplay onfuturebettingrounds.

Preflop:Thepersonwiththebesttwoholecardsismost likelytowinatshowdown. Aftertheflop:Theplayercurrentlyholdingthebestfive cardhandismostlikelytowinatshowdown. Aftertheturncardisdealt:Theplayercurrentlyholding thebestfivecardhandismostlikelytowinatshowdown. After the river card is dealt: The player currently holding thebestfivecardhandhaswonatshowdown.

What have we learned from this? The value of your present cards is always much greater than the expected value. If your opponent has you beat now and you know it, calling heavily for a card to

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come is not tight play. Evaluating the hands of your opponents will only help your game if it helps you to avoid unreasonable risk. WorkingTheLobby Dont rush through the lobby of your favorite online casino. Spending some time there can be as important as the time you spend playing the game itself. Take a walk around the room. Checkoutthegamesandthelimitsbeingplayed.Theonlinelobby offers a wealth of valuable information that is only a click away: infoonthenumberofplayersseeingtheflop,theaveragepotsize, number of hands played per hour, names of the players in each game, who is on the waiting list, and how many games of a particularlimitareinplay. This information is essential to choosing the right game and limit. Some folks prefer wild games. Some prefer more passive ones. Some like full games; some like shorthanded. Players who are nearlyequallycompetentinallgamescanchoosebetweenadozen ormoregamesatthelimitoftheirchoice. Game and table selection is a critical part of casino poker. Fundamentally, it is even more important online. At first glance it might seem that table selection is less important online because it is extremely easy to move from one game to another. This is not the case. The tools are available for players to be constantly aware of where the good games are. Constant vigilance is a price of winningonline. When signing up for games, never choose the any game at this limit option. This takes away your ability to manipulate your position on each signup list. For instance, if youve signed up for any $15/30 Holdem game, and your name comes to the top of the

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list in a game filled with players you dont want to play with, if you pass this game, you are removed from all the $15/30 lists automatically. Likewise, if you rise to the top of the list on a game that doesnt look good now, but has potential because of others behind you on the waiting list, you may want to unjoin that list and then rejoin again at the bottom perhaps when your name, nowsixth,risestothetop,thegamewillbegood.Ifyouvesigned up forany game, that option is not available to you. You simply willbeputatthebottomofeverysinglelistyouareon! Atthemostpopularonlinecardrooms,youhavegreateroptions and a lot of information to use in choosing. Dont restrict yourself. Keep several cardrooms on your computer to choose from. Look for the games that fit with your style. When your game style evolves and improves, cruise the lobby for a better fishing hole. Keepconstantlyvigilant.Fieldintelligenceisthekeytowinning. LookForDistractedPlayers Manyplayersassumethatstrategyforonlineandlivegamesisthe same. After all, you still receive two down cards, five community cards, and play against nine opponents. However, there are several characteristics unique to Internet play that requires subtle adjustments including playing shorter sessions, adjusting your playing environment, and avoiding distractions at home. Lets discuss these unique characteristics in a little more detail and the impacttheymayhaveonyourstrategy. Youd be surprised how many players play two poker tables at one time, read email, watch television, or even talk on the telephone while playing online poker. Those delays we all experience waiting for someone to take their turn is often caused

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by something other than a complex odds calculation. Based on all ofthesedistractions,someofyouropponentsmaynotbeawareof all the action that is taking place. This is yet another reason to use less deception in your game, since some of your opponents will not even see some of your plays so that you can gain some future valueoutofthem. Since players move in and out of games a lot, cant see your face, and are distracted by many other things, they tend to notice less that you are playing a tight game. In a live game, if you sit there a couple of hours without playing a hand, dont expect a lot of action when you decide to bet or raise. On the Internet, you can playastraightforwardtightgameforalongtimeandstillgetgood action when you bet since opponents either do not notice or have nothadenoughtimetorealizethatyouaresuchatightplayer. On the other hand, if you dont play many hands in a live game, your chances for pulling off a successful bluff are high, while on the Internet I doubt this gives you much of an advantage. A bluff on the Internet is usually only profitable by the merits of the play oftheparticularhand,notbytableimage. So remember, table image is not as important online as in a live game. Play a more straightforward game with fewer bluffs and protect your hands against those opponents who try to win every potbybluffingtoomuch. LookAroundForAwhile Once you have a solid low limit game plan, this becomes extremelyimportantforbecomingaprofitableonlineplayer.What good is being a good player if you only play against other good players? Everyone will shuffle his or her money back and

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forth and the house will rake it all. Fortunately there are many easy games online. Find games with players playing 50%+handspreflop,mostsiteskeepstatisticsofthisontheirtable lists. Many sites also have notekeeping systems; you can flag a playerasafish.Everytimeyouseeplayersmakingpoordecisions, mark them. If you spend enough time on a given site youll notice many players have been marked as poor. Join the games with these players. Look out for players with large (800$+) bankrolls playing very low limit games (12$). These are usually tight aggressiveplayers. MonitorTheirStackSizes Keep a very close eye on the exact size of the short stacks of the other players. Paradise Poker has a very poor rule where a bet of any size below a full bet does not constitute a raise. For instance, playing $10/20, on the turn you check with the intention to check raise. A player bets allin for $19, and another calls. Your plan is screwed. All you can do is call. On the other hand, if you know that player has $21, you will be able to check raise. In bricks and mortar casino poker, you very often cant tell how many chips a playerhasleft.Onlineyouknowwithin$1. Another thing to consider is be careful about completing bets. If twopeoplecheck,thensomebodybets$19allin,youbetterhave a supermonster to make it $20. Those first two players cant checkraisethe$19,buttheycancheckraiseyouwhenyoumake it $20. Likewise, a player behind you can raise it to $40 if you makeit$20,butcanonlyraiseitto$20ifyoujustcall. While everyone has his or her favorite sites, its best to spread yourselfaround.Havingsixdifferentonlinepokeraccountsmakes it easy to find soft games at any given time. Dont miss out on profitable games because you have confined yourself to one site.

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There are plenty of soft games online, you just have to do a little searching! StayExtraCoolWhenPlayingTournaments Because of the nature of tournaments and the escalating betting limits, your bankroll is the key to your ability to win. If you become shortstacked, try to stay calm and play as tight as possible. Only bet on highranking pairs (the Fish 40), and only continueplayingthehandiftheflophasimprovedyourhand. Example:YouaredealtQ,Qasyourholecards.

TheflopcomeswithA,K,3.

IfsomeonebetsIwouldfoldthehandimmediately. Why? Because you have not built on your pair and the betting is goingtogetexpensive. Some players make it a habit of playing loose during the first coupleofroundshopingthattheycancatchuplater.Thereisno

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logic for this kind of play in a tournament and can reduce your stackandpushyouintopanicmode.Anexamplewouldbetogo allin on a hand like J9 suited. Even if you see that you will likelybeshortoncomingblinds,thisisabadmove.Wait. PlayLikeARock As long as you have chips in front of you, you have a chance of winning. Wait, wait and wait longer if need be, but never panic. Youhavetime.Inlimitgames,patienceissupremelyimportant. Youmaygoanhourortwobeforeyougetaplayablehand.Thisis normal. This will set up two things for you. Credibility and more playing time. Why do you want credibility? One word, bluffing. The more you fold or take pots with an extremely strong hand the better you lay the groundwork for a bluffing situation. You will become known as a rock (Arockisanextremelytightplayer).The tighter the player, the harder it is to win against that player. In pokerperceptioniseverything.Bepatient,ItWillPayOff! TurnDownTheMusicButTurnUpYourSound Researchers now that we learn faster and engage our brains better whenweusemoreofoursenses.Theonlinecasinossupplyplenty of color but make sure you take advantage of the sound as well. Turn up the sound effects. Sure, it may get annoying sometimes listeningtoallthoseclinks,shufflesandchipsoundsbuttheyhelp us tune into the game and out of those things going on around us. Youaremuchlesspronetomakemistakeswhenyoucanhearand seewhatpeoplearedoing,asopposedtojustseeingit. Click between game tabs to refresh your tablelistings.Thistrickis useful mainly for tournaments, which are notoriously quick to fill up. Many times, youll seeWtng for 5 players as the table status,

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but when you click on the game, it will have already started. This isduetothetablestatusnotupdatingquickly,whichyoucanforce byclickingbetweentabs.Ofnotehowever,isthatPartyPokerhas recently upped the refresh rate of the tables substantially, so this isntamajorissuelikeitusedtobe. HowToGetHandHistories Your opponent didnt show dont show their cards? Heres a great PartyPokertrick.Clickonthehandnumberatthetoprightofthe screen and request the hand history for that game via email. Depending on how busy Party Poker is at the moment, you shouldgetanemailwiththehistoryinamatterofminutes. Scroll to the bottom of the history and you can instantly find out what the other player was holding. You can do this in conjunction with player notes to get a good idea of what a player is willing to play with on a river. Showdown information is always the most critical, as you can analyze their decision making process from the groundup. GetCaughtBluffingOnceInAWhile Onceinawhilethisisnotabadidea.Itisawaytovaryyourplay and not be too predictable. You win pots that you dont deserve whenyourbluffworks.Youloseafewchipswhenitdoesntwork but it will get you calls from weaker hands down the line when youhaveastronghandandneedtheaction. BluffWithCautionInLowLimitGames One should be extremely careful in efforts to bluff playing low limit onlinepoker.Youwillfindmanyplayerswillcallyoujusttokeep you honest even if their hand doesnt warrant a call. For the most

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part, you should forget about it until you are already a very successful low limit online player. When you do bluff it should be done with careful attention to pot/implied odds:I estimate I have a 1 in 10 chance of winning this bluff, do I get better than 101 return? Since these estimations can be even harder to make onlinesincetherearefewtellstogoby,itsadifficultplay. NeverLetThemSeeYouSweat I think this is a significant tip becausewhenyouloseabigpot,its easy to let your emotions show even online. Dont let the cards defeatyou.Andneverboosttheconfidenceoftheotherplayersby lettingitgettoyou. If you want to keepyourpsychologicaledge;ithelpstotakeaway theirs. Never givethemareasontobeabletofeedoffofyou,even ifyouarelosing(bythewayeveryonelosesandhasbadbeats.No one can win 100% of the time; never give them the edge, even if youarefuming.) GetUpAndStretch Takinga small break will help you to focus. While you are on break dont think about the game. it will only hurt your session as timegoeson. StayAwayFromAlcohol Do we need to even say this? Nothing can alter your thinking morethanalcohol.Youneedtobeawareandfocusedatalltimes.I have no idea how many online players are drinking or doing something else while they are playing but I can tell you that focus iseverything.Thereisalotgoingoninagameofonlinepokerand itshappeningatwarpspeed.Youreallyneedtostayclear.

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KeepAccuratePlayerRecords If you dont keep records of your Texas Holdem Poker playing, start now. Make a form in MS Word or MS Excel that you are comfortable with. Develop something you can use to track and updatenoteswhileyouplayonline.Ifyouhavethesoftware,even better, set up adatabasethatyoucansearchonandcreatereports. If none of this works for you, at least get a foldflat notebook that you can use while you play. Accurate play records will tell you a lotaboutyourself,yourstrategyandyouropponents. Everyone falls into a losing streak, its normal. What you want to avoidishavingthisnegativelyaffectyourplayandattitude.Youll be asking yourself am I playing too tight? Should I change my strategy?AmIplayingtooloose?WillIeverwinagain? Lookoveryourplayrecords.Youllfindtheanswersthere.Agood set of records is the best thing I know for a poker players peace of mindandagoodnightssleep. Your play records should include the date of each session, start andstoptimes,hoursplayed,winsorlosses,runningtotalsandan hourlywinrate.Youllalsowanttohavetotalsintermsofbigbets. If you play in Holdem games of various limits then big bets per hour is a better indicator of how you are doing than dollars per hour. Your play records should have notes about your play, your opponents, tells youve noticed and other information that might be useful. At the very least, your play records should be good readinglater. Texas Holdem Poker is enjoyable. Winning is great. Keeping play records is unexciting at best, but the information in good play records is essential if you want to win. Without play records you

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wont know if changes in your strategy have had a positive or a negativeeffect.Youwontknowifyouregettingbetterorworseor why. In fact, if you dont keep records, you dont even know if yourewinningorlosinginthegameandyoucertainlydontknow howmuch. LearnHowToKnowWhenYoureDone This is really just a general poker tip, but it still nabs even the poker pros at times. If you find that you are being outplayed, outclassed or just unlucky at the table, its ok to leave. Dont think about getting your money back or getting revenge on the bastard that rivered you for the 3rd time now. If you are losing money at your table, you do NOT have good table image no matter what youmightthink.Notonlyareyounotinagoodmood,whichputs youontilt(admititornot),butotherplayerswillbemorelikelyto make plays against you. This makes your game harder in more ways than you want. With so many tables at Party Poker, just get upandgo,itsthateasy. If the game gets shorthanded (6 or less players) and you are not familiar with shorthanded play, get out. This is an easy way to losealotofcashifyoudontknowwhatyouaredoing.Iseethis happen all the time, when a table breaks up and players are stuck with two tight players and three fish who dont realize they are about to getruneatenalive.Dontbechumwhenallit takesisasingleclicktosaferwaters. When you feel yourself slipping and playing too loose or having troublefocusingonthegame,gatheryourchipsandgohome. It should not matter if you are up or down, leave the table. If you are up, why risk your winnings? If you are down, why risk more

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of your bankroll? There is not a good reason. Get some sleep. Playingwhenyoucannotfocusisarecipeforlosing. DontLetTheRakeBeatYou Why do online casinos make so much money? Because they make a profit from every single poker pot that is played often millions ofpotspermonth.Themoregamesyouplay,themorethecasinos make. Their profit from each pot is called the rake. The rake is a percentage or a flat fee that the casino charges you to play. No matterhowgoodapokerplayeryouare,thehousehasanedgeon you.Therakeisbuiltinsothatthehousetakesmoneyfromyouin small, unnoticed amounts. There are a few guidelines you can go bytominimizethis. Some poker rooms will only rake the pot once it has reached a certain amount, so you want to play opposite the style of the table inthesecases. Iftherakeisasetpercentage(usually4%to10%),thetacticsforan aggressiveplayerwontbeassuccessfulasiftheratewasaflatfee. Everyfailedattemptatblindstealing,forexample,isgoingtobe raked,andallbluffingisnow4%10%lessworthit. You have to be a better player to overcome that percentage, and once you get to that point, you shouldnt be too preoccupied with therake.Ifyouareabeginner,playtighterthanusual. Mostonlinecasinoschargeapercentageofthewinningpot. Example: The winning pot is $125. The casino or the house takes aminimumof$1and5%ofthebalance.

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Total rake is $7 or 5.6%. That leaves 94.4% for the winners. Compare that to 60% on most lottery games. The less the rake is the more money you can win and the better your return on your investment. The size of the pot and the betting limit can have a huge effect on yourchancesofwinning. Lets apply the same rules to a game where the maximum bet is only2$. Example: The winning pot is $22. The reason for the lower pot is thelowbettinglimit.Nowletsapplythesameraketothepot. Minimum of $1 and 5% or $2.10. This doesnt sound like a lot but its actually 9.5%. The amount left to the winners in this game is now90.5%. It may not seem like much, but the house can now pull from the table an entire pot every 10 games. Thats a pot you cant win so youroddsofwinningaremuchlower. The opposite of this effect is to play a very high maximum game for example a $50 maximum bet. This could create a $1000 pot or more. Sure, the percentage will now be even lower, but can you affordtoplaythesehighstakes? A rule of thumb is to have 100 times the maximum bet with you whenyoustartthegame.A$50maximumbetwouldmeanhaving $5000withyouwhenyoustart.Amaximumbetof$5wouldallow youtoplayfor$500.Quiteadifference. For most players, a $12 maximum bet is too low. The rake just becomestoohighasapercentageofeachpot.

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The ideal game range is the $510 maximum bet range. This range will give you the best odds at winning and will not requirethatyoumortgageyourhousetogetintoagame. What happens if I start playing a $510 maximum bet game with only$100? The problem is you may need several hands before you get the right cards to win. With too small a bank, you may run out of money before you get a betting hand. Years of experience have shownthatthe100xruleworks.Havingmorecertainlywonthurt. The50xisaminimumrequirementtoplaytowin. PlayingTexasHoldemMoneyGamesForFree Betting in Texas Holdem is dictated by the big and small blinds. When it becomes your turn to place the blind (the initial bet) you can pass. This means you can see two cards without any cost unlessyouaredowncardfromthedealer. The only problem is you cant come back into the game until the deal passes you again. That mean in a game with 10 players you havetositoutthreehandsperturn. Inagamewithsixplayers,youwouldonlybeabletoplayforfree inthreeoutofthesixgames. Itmaynotsoundlikemuchfunbutyoucanplayforfreeand itstotallylegalandwithintherules.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF TABLE POSITION IN TEXAS HOLDEM

Positionisthemostoverlookedaspectofgameslike TexasHoldembybeginners.Andthatsahugeshame. Itcoststheseplayersalotofpots. InsiderTip Your position at the table is based simply on your position in relation to the dealer. The dealer is at the most advantageous position,ashe/shegetstoseehowalltheotherplayersatthetable reactbeforemakingtheirowndecision. The chances of your hand being a winner increase as more and morepeoplefoldtheirhand.

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YesifyouhavesayKQsandaregoingupagainst1otherplayer, your chances are not bad but if youre going up against 8 or 9 others who feel they too have a hand worth betting your KQs is notnearlysostrong. Now if you are in an early position (meaning you are among the firstwhohastobet)thenyouhavenoideahowmanyplayerswill beplayingthishandwhenitstimetobetorfoldyourholecards. On the other hand if you are in a late position (meaning you are among the last to call) you not only have the knowledge of who and how many players are in on this hand but if anyone has made aggressive bets. If you are in a late position and hold an OK handsayasmallpairoraKJifeveryonebeforeyouhasfolded youvegotastronghandbutifeveryonebeforeyouhascalledor raisedyouknowyouvegotaweakhand. As you see this has little to do with your hand but more the circumstancesinwhichitisplayed. The person to the left of thedealerisnotonlythesmallblind(SB), butmustactfirstaftertheflop. The person to the left of the small blind is the big blind (BB). This person is already obligated to the game and is in another early position. The person to the left of the big blind acts first before board cards are dealt. This is often referred to as being under the gun. The clockwise motion of play allows those who act later (in late position) to be at an advantage. As a result, those in late position can play weaker hands or gambling hands with less fear of financialobligationorloss.

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The blind positions . . . and the player under the gun needstobeveryselectivewiththeirhands.Theydont have the privilege of watching other players betting/raising before they must decide if they want to stay in themselves. InsiderTip For example, lets say youre under the gun (first to act). You have JackTen, unsuited. The player to bet after you raises, and everyonebutyoufolds.Nowyoureinajam.

Chancesaregoodthatthisplayerhasabetterhandthanyou,with at least an ace or a pocket pair. Unfortunately, youve already bet, becauseyouhadnoideaornowaytotellwhatotherplayersatthe tablehadinthepocket. You will always . . . throughout the game, be acting before this player. This positional advantage will continuethroughoutthishand. InsiderTip On the other hand, being in the dealers position not only gives you the benefits of observing how the other players are betting, butitalsogivesyoutheabilitytoadjustthesizeofthepot.

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Afterallotherplayershavebet,araisebytheplayerinthedealers position could potentially double the size of the pot (assuming no one folds). Since the players have already committed to one bet, itseasiertocommittoasecond(orathirdorfourth!). Ifyouwatchedapokertableoveraspaceofmany days,youwouldbegintonoticethatthewinninghand tendstomovearoundthetableinaclockwiseposition. Longtermstudieshaveshownthatovertime,thewintendsto moveinthatdirection. InsiderTip Why? Because your knowledge of the hand increases your chanceofwinning. The blinds and player under the gun have the least knowledge. As the play moves around the table, each player gains more knowledge about what the other players are doing. Are they in? Are they hesitating? Are they raising? Are they folding? The last player to bet has the maximum knowledge and therefore the best positiontheyareinwhatissometimescalledthecatbirdseat. Knowinghowmoneymovesaroundatablecangiveyouasense oftheimportanceofpositionatthetable. Oneofthelittleunderstoodbenefitsoflastpositionat thetableisthatyougetalotoffreecardsaswell. InsiderTip When you get a free card, youre taking a free ride. If nobody bets during a round, you get that opportunity at zero cost. Thats what a free card is. Fine. A governing concept of free cards is that you

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getlotsmoreofthemwhenyourelasttoactthanwhenyourefirst to act. Even better, when youre last to act, you get control over whether or not you take a free card. You can accept the opportunity, or you can bet and deny the same opportunity to youropponents. Befriend players to your left; declare war on players to your right.

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PLAYER PROFILING OR WATCHING WHO YOU PLAY WITH!

eres some advice that will improve your game as much as itll have a positive impact on your wallet or purse. If you watched the movie, The Beautiful Mind, youll be familiar with the Mathematician John Nash and his discovery of Game Theory. Game Theory is a fascinating concept that turns game relationships, opponents and players, into mathematical functions that can be crunched and computed. Playing styles can be analysed and defined. In fact, the best Texas Holdem computer simulations focus on playing styles more than just odds to study how the values of cards change depending on the betting style of the other players. Playing style has a much larger influence on the outcome of the game than most of us realized until the last few years.

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Basedagainonthesecomputerstudies,fourbasictypesofplaying styleshavebeenidentified: Loose-passive Loosepassive:Oftenreferredtoascallingstations,theseplayers tend to call any bet as long as they have even the remotest chance of winning the pot. Interestingly, loosepassive players often will not raise when they have a good hand (thats the passive side of their unique personality). By the same token, theyll also not fold when they have a garbage hand. They tend to stay in the majority ofhandsunlesspushedhardtocall. Looseaggressive: Looseaggressive players will make often and inappropriate raises. They will not always have the best hand when they raise, and will even raise with garbage hands. Loose players tend to bet irrationally first they raise, then they stay, then they raise and then they fold. That uncertainty is a dead giveaway. Due to their inconsistent and irrational play, loose aggressives are often called maniacs. Playing against maniacs can be profitable, but they can also be expensive to play against, duetothenumberofwildraisesyoullhavetocall. Net Looser Loose Aggressive Low - Moderate Wins

Tight-Passive Moderate Wins

Tight-Aggressive Maximum Wins

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Tightpassive: These players are known as rocks. Tightpassive players play fewer hands than most and play them very cautiously. This is the preferred style of fish play when starting out according to the Cage Food Chain Theory of play. When a tightpassive player does raise though watch out, its more than likely that they have the nuts. Playing tightpassive will keep youfromlosingmoney,butitwontmakeyouricheither. Tightaggressive: Tightaggressive players also play few of the handsdealttothem,butwillbemuchmorevariedinthewaythey play. If a tightaggressive player raises, youll never know if they have a good hand or if theyre bluffing. And thats exactly the point. Tightaggressive players are selectively aggressive. They will bet very cautiously on good hands to try and trap players withlesserhandsintobettinglaterandbuildingthepot.Theywill raise to create an expectation in other players that they have a great hand in order to push weaker players out of the hand. And this is very important, as you understand how reducing the numberofplayersinthehandcandramaticallyincreasethepower of your hand. Tightaggressive is the standard that you should aspireto. To practice your ability to read player types, find a midsized game. This size of game allows you more of a choice of who to sit by. Watch everyone play. Get a feel for whos playing tight, whos aggressive, and who sucks. Note who checkraised, bluffed or semibluffed. Count the number of times each player bets on the preflop or folds. These are key indicators to player type. If you can label each of the players in this way, you will have advanced yourabilitytowinbyleapsandbounds. The first thing you need to decide as you observe is whether these players are clearly better than you. Always avoid games where you see a lot of early pre and post flop raises, and avoid games

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where it looks like one or two strong players are cleaning up on everyone else at the table. Very aggressive players will take over a table and cause a lot of grief. Steer clear of these tables if you consider yourself a fish or a barracuda. Even as a shark, usually one or two aggressive players at a table is enough eliminate easy wins. Increasing the overall tightness of a table only benefits the house, which will make more money from the rake than you will evermakefromthepot. TheMathematicsofAggression

How effective is aggressive play in online Texas Holdem? Now, noguessinghere.Iwantthefacts. A very detailed study carried out by CarnegieMelon University showed the precise value of aggressive play. For the sake of this exercise, they had their computersimulated player come out playing aggressively on every hand, regardless of pocket pair quality, against a varied field of opponents. There were two very

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distinct scenarios (and only two) where this was a winning strategy. One against a loose table, very aggressive play was a winning strategy. In the case of our experiment, betting preflop on every single hand added up to moderate winnings. In a real online game, betting like a maniac on every hand may diminish the power of this strategy because other players will pick up on your strategy but we suspect, not by much in online play. Again, the secretisfindingtherighttable.Imaginethejoyofsittingdownata large table full of new players and yours is the biggest stack. Like shooting fish in a barrel as they say. This is the kind of table you aresearchingfor. Two against three or less players, this aggressive approach was also a net moneymaker. As soon as you go to four players or better, the technique started to haemorrhage serious money. All of our research shows that bluffing at full or near full tables is a waste of money, and this study supports that. At the end of this chapter we have included a complete chart on the pocket hands that successfully take the pot based on number of players at the table.Youwillseequiteclearlythatstronghandsdoubleinpower and relatively weak cards can become big winners. Narrow the fieldandyoucanpumpupthepowerofyourcards. An excellent indicator of playing style is that the bankrolls of tight players tend to go down in small amounts incrementally, and periodically go up in mid and large amounts. Watching stacks can give you valuable informationaboutplayerstyle. InsiderTip

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LoosePlayersHaveBiggerSwings. Money tends to move clockwise around the table because its easier to read players to the right. When that really loose player is about to take a negative swing, you want to be at a positional advantageoverhimorher. Even more, you want a maniac on your right. Maniacs eliminate players with okay and drawing hands. Twenty yearold high school students are more readable, and you profit from being able toactdirectlyafterthem Heres a question then would you prefertositdowncardfrom agreatplayerorapoorplayer? Sitting in late position (next in sequence) from a poor player does not give you much of an advantage. You really need to know as much as possible about the best players, the ones most likely to takeyourmoney. Alooseplayer,someonewhoplaysonlyforfunanddoesntreally understand the game, is like an old car. He or she will wander all over the road,theirsteeringiswobblyandtheycantbedepended ontoplayaccordingtotheircards.Watchforandappreciateloose players. They are great contributors. They tend to bet more than theywinandbuildpotsfortherestofus. While different players prefer different styles of play, the general consensus is that the ideal table is loosepassive . That means lots of callers and few raises, especially before the flop. You will also want to play at tables where most, if not all of the players are worse than you. You will make most of your profit from other playersmistakes.

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Tight players on your left will more likely call a bet than reraise even though they might have a decent hand. You can more easily scare them into thinking youve got the nuts and buy more free cards despite the fact that theyve got a positional advantage on you. Research shows that lots of preflop raisingreducesyourpotential profit. It also becomes more expensive to see the flop overall, which negatively affects your bankroll all those times when the flopdoesnthityou. It is always better to have six players calling one bet than three players calling two bets. Even though the pot size in both cases is the same, in the first situation you will make a profit of 5:1, whereas in the raising situation you will only make a profit of 2:1. Simply put, the more players there are putting money into the pot, the more profit there will be when youwin. InsiderTip Atightergame,wherefewerplayersarecallingbeforetheflopand staying until the showdown, can also reduce your overall profit. But some players prefer a tightpassive table, since tightpassive opponents are rather predictable. A tightpassive table gives a player the opportunity to steal more pots, since you can often makeotherplayersfoldwithawelltimedraise. FishingForLoosePlayers If you sit at a table of ten and at least half of the players are better than you, you will lose. If one ortwooftheplayersarebetterthan you,youhaveafairchanceoftakingsomemoneyhomebutthisis

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still not an ideal situation. Your profit is going to be determined morebythecompositionofthetablethanthetypesofcardsyou are dealt. You cant control the cards you can pick your table andmoveifitgetsugly. Howdoyouknow? Aswehavebeenpreaching,thegreatadvantageofonlinepokeris that it allows you to observe the table before you play. Once you have chosen what appears to be a fairly loose table, you begin to carefully observe. The best recommendation I can give you is, if you want to be a winner, spend at least 15 minutes. Many would suggest spending at least 30 minutes before beginning play. This may seems like a lot of time to invest but once you begin to play, you will have a clear idea of who you need to beat and who youneedtomilktowin. TheCageTableRatingSystem Heresasimpleratingsystemweusetoevaluatehowwinnablea tableis. Weassigneachplayeranumberfrom110. Ten (10) is the loosest player a beginner, someone who bets wildlyandshowpoorcardsattheshowdown. One (1) is for the tightest player. Someone who plays and wins consistently, cant be bluffed, has accumulated substantial winnings,makesreasonabledecisions,doesntplayeveryhand. Assigneachplayeratthetableanumberfrom110.

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Ifyouarenotsurefromobservationwhattheirscoreis,scorethem higherthanyouwouldguess.Theyareprobablybetterplayers. On apiece of paper or in your head, mark the table with these numbers. When you get a chance to, always play down card from the two bestplayersonthetable.Thisisawinningposition. Nowaddupthenumbersanddividebythetotalplayers. 1+3+7+4+5+1+1+10+9=4.5 If the average of the table is 6 or better, dont play. There are too many good players for you to be a consistent winner. Even an average of 5 can reduce your chances. What you are looking for is a table where most of the players are looser than you. The lower thenumberthebetter. TheCasinoGivethSometimes Players who never fold on the first two cards even when it costs them, are loose. A higher percentage means a much looser game. Mostonlinepokerrooms,suchasUltimateBet,listthepercentage of players who are seeing the flop. Players who fold often on the firsttwocardstendtobetighterplayers. All online poker rooms also list the average pot size. You do not necessarily want to play at the table with the highest average pot size,sincethismayindicatealotofraisesgoingintothepot. For loosepassive games, choose a table with a relatively high floppercentageandareasonablyaveragepotsize.

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Another factor to consider is the number of players at the table. Most online tables are tenhanded, which means youll have to play relatively tight. You should take position into account and call before the flop with premium cards or good drawing hands. More players means more competition, so youll have to show downbetterhands. At a sixhanded table, you can play considerably looser than you can at a tenhanded table. The side effect of this is that youll experience more variance (the swings in your bankroll will be greater). Some players prefer shorthanded tables because you get to see the flop moreoften,andthushavemorechancesatwinning thepot. Aggressioninpokerhasfarmorepoweratashort handedtable. InsiderTip It will take some experience to learn what type of table is best for you. While you cant go wrong with a loosepassive table full of mediocre players, you may find that a looseaggressive or tight passive table suits you best. If you find yourself at a table where youarestrugglingtomakeaprofit,donthesitatetoleaveandjoin anothertable. RaisesinLooseGames All new poker players will generally start out in loose, low limit games. While most experienced players prefer the sort of loose passiveplaypresentatalowlimittable,othersmayhavedifficulty playing against opponents who repeatedly suck out and win

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with garbage hands and bad plays. A common complaint among low limit players is that opponents will not always fold to appropriate raises, and occasionally, mediocre low limit players will make incorrect raises. Knowing when to raise, and how to interpret an opponents raise is covered below. The following information assumes that you have made an appropriate table selection,andarenotplayingatatablethatisoverlyaggressiveor tight. Ifyouvegotagreatstartinghand,especiallyahigh pair(JJorhigher),donthesitatetoraiseandreraise beforetheflop. InsiderTip

One of the most common complaints among lowlimit players is that opponents often suck out with inferior hands against a solid hand such as AA. The best way to win with these hands is to play themfastandaggressively. Raisebeforetheflop,andkeeponbettingaftertheflop.Unlessthe game is ridiculously loose (and your opponents are ridiculously bad), almost all of your opponents will fold to your aggressive betting. You wont always win with AA or KK, but if you play themaggressively,themajorityofthetimeyouwill.

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Again, the research shows that aggressive play will drive down the number of players in the hand and increase your odds of winning. Since many low limit players will play incorrectly and call bets andraiseswithjustaboutanyhalfdecenthand,youneedtomake sure that you are raising when you think you have the best hand. Ifyoudohavewhatyoubelieveisthebesthandatthatpoint,then you need to raise to get other players out of the pot, who may draw out on you with a garbage hand. If you are repeatedly winning and showing down the best hands, then other players willstarttorespectyourraisesandgetoutofyourway. If youve flopped a decent hand (top pair with good kicker, two pair, etc.) and are betting on it, dont be scared off if someone raisesittotwobets. Although you could very well be beaten, experience shows that bad players will sometimes raise with any decent pair, a draw or even overcards. Call the bet, and be prepared to call to the river unless the board looks scary or the action gets too intense. If you fold every time you get raised with a decent hand, then youll lose out on some pots that you would have won, had you shown the handdown. Utilizepotoddstodeterminewhetherthepayoffisbig enoughtojustifyputtinginmorebets.Thenobserve opponentplaytoseeiftheraiseisvalid. InsiderTip Ontheotherhand,ifanopponentreraisesittothreebets,bevery concerned. Generally, a mediocre low limit player will notreraise unless they have a great hand. Take time to study the board to

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determinewhatyouropponentmighthave.Youmightbetempted tofollowtheaboveadviceandcallhimtotheriver,hopingthathe is bluffing. But time and time again, they will turn up a superior hand. Dont reraise unless you have the nuts, and if you dont havetheabsolutenuts,bepreparedtocalltotheriver. PlayingTighter IfeveryoneattheTexasHoldemPokertableplaysloosethenno onecanwin. The players will trade pots back and forth while the casino slowly rakes all their money. The better Holdem players will lose less, butinthelongrun,noonecanwin. Noonecanwinifeveryoneplaystight.Onlythehousewins. InsiderTip The tight players will trade smaller pots back and forth while the casino rakes all their money. The better Holdem players will lose less,butnoonecanwin. If everyone at the Texas Holdem Poker table plays the same, no onecanwin.LearningHoldemonlybysimplyplayingHoldemis players folly. If you learn to play Texas Holdem poker like everyoneelseplays,youcannothavealongrunedge. TowinatTexasHoldemPokeryoumustplaytightinloose gamesandplayinloosegamesonly. There is no other way. You have no edge in a tight Holdem game and you only have an edge in a loose game if you play tight. It

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might be possible to play loose and win in the long run if all the other players are complete idiots, but nature does not provide enoughcompleteidiotswhoplayHoldempoker. As players come and go duringaHoldempokersessionthegame will sometimes get tighter. Youll see more players folding on the first round. The pots will be smaller. If your Holdem game gets tootight,findabettergameordontplayatall. You want to be the only tight player in a loose Holdem poker game, but often there are one or more other tight players at the table. Sometimes loose players tighten up their play for whatever reason, but thats usually temporary. Youll have to take all of this into consideration when evaluating a Holdem poker game. Theres no exact way to measure it, but you can develop a feel for it. TheLawOfBigNumbers Most of us are impressed with big numbers like the size of Bill Gates fortune. But what about small numbers that give you a hugeadvantage? Lets say that you improve your odds of winning by 5%? So instead of winning 10 in every 100 pots (on average) you could increasethatto15.Doesntsoundlikemuchdoesit? Ten in 100 pots for 10 players really means you are getting back the money you bet less the house rake. Start with $100. Play 100 hands of Poker. The rake is $1 per pot. Thats$100thehousetakes from all the winnings leaving you $90 at the end of the night. The playedallnightandlost$10.Writethatofftoentertainment.

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With15potsthatlittle5%advantagemeansalot. Youarenowup,justbasedonaverageplay,$115forthenight. Smallnumbersmakehugedifferences.Playthreetimesaweekfor ayearandyouareup$18,000basedonyour5%advantage. NeverSequenceBet A sequence bet is a bet based on the idea that Well, Ive put in so much money on this lousy hand, I might as well see it through. Never change future strategy based on a past hands. So you got lucky and drew on an inside straight? You should have folded. Notonlywillthatlucknotreturn,itwillmakeyoualooserplayer. Wewilltendtousetheexperiencetomodifyfutureplay. Show the avatars (people in chairs), but dont stereotype them. This is probably the most debatable tip Im guessing, because if youve turned them off, you probably really dont like the avatars tobeginwith.Andifyoudolikeavatars,well,theyreprobablyon already. I just want to get my two cents in about this Party Poker tip by saying that even though avatars are computer graphics, its again human nature to easily identify faces. That means we can moreeasilyassociateapersonalitytoaface,soitmakesiteasierto remember how someone is playing when we can attach a face to a playingstyle. That being said, Im sure there is some negative influence of these faces as well, because we probably tend to associate a certain avatar with a playing style. For instance, Ill admit that I used to mentally associate one of the avatar pictures with bluffing. I think this was caused by a long string of coincidences, when different players using that avatar would constantly bluff, so I just starting

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linking that specific avatar with bluffing. Dont let this happen to you. Ifyouarea2ora3howdoyougettobea7oran8? PlayingPokerSolitaire Human psychology is very interesting. Research has shown that the average gambler tends to underestimate the cards of their opponents and overvalue their own. One of the best ways to understandthistendencyistoplaySolitairePoker. Playout610handsofTexasHoldem,evaluateyourcardoddsfor the flop, and then look at the other down cards. You will be surprisedatthenumberofopportunitiestowinyouwillseeinthe competitionshands. Be hard on your hand. Sure you could draw a card that will help youbutsocanalloftheotherremainingplayers. One of the best exercises in an actual game is to try and guess the other players two down cards based on their playing style and betting. The better you become at this, the better your game will become.Intheend,isntthisreallythepointofthegame? ReadingYourOpponents Online Poker eliminates visual and verbal clues tells) from the game. You cant see the faces of the other players (their real faces, in any case). This limits your ability to read the other players. The rules in online poker compensate for this by giving us a wealth of informationinotherways. Howtheotherplayersreacttothebets?

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Howquicklydotheyrespond? Whatstheirbettingstyle? Howoftendotheyraiseandwhen? Aretheyconsistentstay,raise,raise? Orraise,stay,raise,fold?

WaitaFullTableRotationBeforePostingtheBB Online Tells The inturn buttons lead to the most obvious tell unique to online poker. If the blinking light representing a player acts immediately, its likely this person has clicked the box of an inturn action. It is usually easy to determine when a player has a nobrainer hand. The immediate check is often incredibly revealing. If you are first to act, and for some reason take a moment before checking, and your three opponents immediately check behind you like rifle fire, this is a tell as big as Texas. They haventgotathing. Anothercommonsituation...thefirstplayertakesamoment,and then finally checks. You have the bet/raise in turn button checked, so your bet appears, but instantly the player next to you raises. Uhoh, he had the bet/raise button checked too, and didnt care what you or the first player did. That tells a lot more than a justnormalraisewouldanawfullotmore. Besides the speed of action resulting from using the buttons, other online tells can be discerned from how slow a player commonly acts on their hand. Players who are consistently superslow (rude human speed bumps) are likely not paying attention to the game, either because they are playing two games and are not competent at it, or because they are doing other work at home. Either way, if all of a sudden this person plays a hand crisply and promptly and aggressively... well, they just woke up because theyve got something.

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The Stall is a common tell among average or slightly below averageplayers.WhenthelastcardinHoldemorOmahamakesa coordinated board (making a nut hand like a flush), the mediocre player pauses as if thinking, and then finally bets. This pause almost always means powerhouse or at least that the bettor thinkshehasakillerhand.Somewouldcallitreversepsychology, butmoreoftenthannot,itstrue. PREFLOPSTRATEGY Before you start betting like a madman when you get two eights in the pocket, you need to carefully considerallfactorsinvolved insolidpreflopstrategy. The factors to consider are the number of players, how aggressive/passive the players at the table are, your bankroll,your position,andhowmuchriskyouarewillingtoentail. THERIGHTNUMBEROFPLAYERS With 10 people in the game, its much more likely that someone else has a strong hand in the pocket than in a shorthanded game. Also, youll need to be more cautious in larger games, as the chances of someones preflop hand fitting the flop will be much better.Morecompetitionmeansstiffercompetition. HOWAGGRESSIVEARETHEOTHERPLAYERS Assuming youve been playing with a few people for several hands, and you noticed some jackass is raising every hand pre flop, youll want to play tighter. Let the guy win the blinds (big deal) and nail him to the wall when you have a solid hand in the pocketpreflop

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YourBankroll If you have $2 left, youll want to play extremely carefully and select one hand to bet on, hoping to get as many players involved as possible for a larger pot. Youll want to be allin before the flop isdealt.Ontheflipside,ifyouhave$1000ata$1/$2table,youcan take the highrisk, highpayout bets. If you are worried about losing your money, you should stop playing poker, switch tables ortakeabreak.Secondreasontobuymorethanisnecessary,isfor intimidation factor. Opinions may differ, but faced off against a big stack, my feelings are that a good amount of players (but not all)showabitmorerespect(read:fear)andwillplayaccordingly which is to your benefit. Now, dont read this as buying in for $1,000 in a $1/2 game, because then people will think you are just nuts,but$400.Nowweretalking. BuyinMoreThanNecessaryAtThePokerTable Ifyouvebeendoingyourhomework,youllknowthatyoushould always sit in with at minimum 50 times the big blind at any poker table.Intherealitiesofonlinepoker,thisshouldbemorealongthe lines of at least 100 times the BB. You should think about doing this too. Why? First, dont ever be in the position of holding the nuts and not having enough money to raise the pot. Ive seen this happen too many times, where a guy will have flopped a full house in a $3/6 game, but only have $12 in his bankroll. He could have made a killing if it werent for the fact he was playing with a smallstack.

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CHEATING, BLUFFING AND SEMI-BLUFFING

Trusteverybody,butcutthecards.FinleyPeterDunne No, we are not going to teach you how to cheat. Our topic is spotting cheaters. And of course, our focus will largely be on onlinecheating. Online poker rooms are probably the safest place to play at right now. Did your mother ever tell you to never trust a stranger? Well,playingonlinelimitsthenumberofsneakypeopleyoucould potentially be dealing with. The dealer is a program. Programs dont cheat. You dont have to worry about any sort of illegal card handling.Therearenocardsonline. Somepeopleworryabouthackers.

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Itsbeenmany,manyyearssincethelastmajorinstanceofhacking affected anyone wagering money in an online Hold em game. Since then weve had breakthroughs like the SSLv3/TLSv1 encryption algorithms and multilayered random number sequencers. Not only do we have these very technical advances, butalltheonesyouwouldexpectinarealcasino. Themostcommonformofonlinecheatingisplayercollusion. Thats when two or more players reveal to each other what cards theyhold.Thisformismoredifficulttopulloffinalivegame,but playing online gives players the chance to have a fellow player on thephonewiththem,orsittingnexttothematanothercomputer. Fortunately most of these players are the ones who have no idea how to use that advantage. These two must coordinate well together, which takes practice. Online poker rooms not only look fortelltalesignsofcollusion,butchecktoseeiftwoplayersalways play at the same table together. They would have to usehit and run tactics when using this form of cheating. Colluding players would have to hit up a highlimit table, then flee to another online pokerroomwiththeirwinningsandneverlookback. It is barely worth it to try collusion. But just in case, here are some thingstolookfor 1.Ateamofplayerswhotrytosteamrollotherplayersoutofthe game. This means reraising each other to make noncolluding playerscallmultiplebetsatonce. 2. Players who never play fast preflop. Thats the time to talk about what they hold. Watch whoever is under the gun and be mindfulofreactiontime.

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3.Agroupofplayerswhohikeupbetsbyreraisingwithsomeone in between them. This gets the maximum amount of bets out of a thirdparty.Thealarmshouldreallygooffifoneofthosereraising players has a poor hand, or if one of them folds with one bet to go despiteamassivepot.Theresatimetobluffandatimetofoldand most people have an idea when that is, so be on the lookout for players who exercise horrible judgement like that. Identify that personasapotentialgoldmineforyourselforapotentialcheater. Once again, its VERY rare for someone to even attempt these sort of things. Still, never accuse anyone of cheating. Either contact the pokerroomsadministratorsorjustgetupandleave BLUFFING Youcanfoolsomeofthepeopleallthetime,andallofthepeoplesomeof thetime,butyoucannotfoolallofthepeopleallthetime. AbrahamLincoln AKeyElementInPokerIsDeception. Bluffing is the quintessential trick in poker. Of course, the reasoning for a bluff is to deceive the other players into thinking you have a better hand when you actually do not. For a bluff to work, you need the other players to think you actually have that betterhand. Many beginning poker players love this idea of bluffing and often misuse it. The value of the bluff increases under certain general circumstances that often have a lot to do with information you assume about the other players. This vagueness makes it difficult to give definitive reasons or places to bluff. Some less generalized times to bluff and some advice are given below. The bottom of the

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page gives some more ideas and perspectives on deception in poker. Sometypicalreasonstobluff... A.Whentherearentmanyotherplayersinapot. Simply put, its easier to trick a couple people than a crowd. With fewer hands out there, chances are better that no one has made a reasonable hand. This is fairly common though, so many players wont believe you. Some will stay in the hand just tokeep youhonest,sosometimesthisneedstobeapersistentbluffovera period of two or three betting rounds. That can be costly if they dont fall for it. You need to know the players before you use this typeofbluff. B.Whenyoureupagainstfairlytightplayers. Thosethattendtofoldeasilyarethebiggesttargetsofabluff. Bets will be put out just as a form of information gathering on this playershand.Ifyoubluffearly(preflop,flop)againstaverytight player and they dont buckle, you should think twice about trying it again on a future round. They have something. Your job is to determine whether they have a made or drawing hand. Once again,youneedtoknowtheplayers. C.Ontheriver. Especially if apparent drawing hands missed. Thats when players react to rule #1 the moment you know you cant win, throw in your cards. It is often a good idea to bluff with a weak hand, like acehigh or lowest pair with these kinds of bluffs, because some

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players will stay in just because of pot odds. If you do that, it is actuallysemibluffing. D.Youreinlatepositionandeveryoneelsechecked. This one youll have to gauge for yourself. It will most likely force some players out, but not all. This is a pretty common bluff once again, and many players will stay in just because of bet odds, and/ortoonceagainkeepyouhonest.Thisisanotherexampleof a bluff that needs to be more persistent over a couple betting rounds. E.Youbetpreflopandmissed. Thats because they dont know you missed! This can be dangerous,andyoureallyhavetoevaluatetoboardbeforeyouget into this one. Sometimes its good to bluff when AK misses, sometimeswhen99misses.Youhavetoreallyfeelthisoneout. F.Youhavegivenotherplayersthefear. Its about how other players perceive you. If you just won a hand through good play, the players who say nice hand are the ones who now respect you. They will more likely fold to your bluff if you play it right. The trick is to play the hand exactly the same way you played the other winning hand. Give it the here we go againact. G.Whentheflopisntsogreat. Some players will fold automatically if all they have is an over card. With a rainbow flop of 2, 6, 9, not many players will have much.Thisisanotherexampleofabluffthatcangohorriblyawry.

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I wouldnt be too persistent in this case, unless only more low cardspopup.Onceagain,knowyourplayers. H.Prefloponthebutton,andeveryoneelsehasfolded. This is usually best used with tight players to your left. Its good becauseitcanchangefromablufftoadeceptivelygoodhandwith luckandtherightflop. I.Whenthereisapairontheboard. This is especially useful when the pair is 88 or lower. Chances are that these cards might have been folded or are still in the deck. This is one situation where you want to evaluate the hand very carefullyiftheydocallthough.Thisisagreatsituationtoreadthe tells of the players who are NOT involved in the game. Its much easier to give away the fact that you HAD a card than if you HAVEit. Keepinmindthattheseareprettycommonreasonstobluff.Many players know these reasons. Most of the time it just wont work. The main thing is always to know your players and to not do it so oftenthatitneverworks. SEMIBLUFFING Semibluffingisasortofbluffwhereyouhaveapoorhandora drawinghandthatcanpossiblyimprove. Against players with nothing it functions alotlikeabluff.Against players with something it functions as a form of aggression. It is a powerful tool, as it can lead to a deceptively powerful hand if the

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cards come to you. It can also be a source of great loss if overused ormisused. Semibluffing in Texas Holdem is used best in bluffing situations. Its usefulness comes from the fact that players who recognize a bluff wont necessarily recognize when you make your draw. It is moreuseful(andpreferable)againstalotofplayers,asopposedto outright bluffing, since the odds tend to be better. Other than that, youllwanttousesemibluffinginlateposition,usuallyontheflop orturn,againstmediocreflops,andagainstpoorplayers. Lets look at two examples of semibluffing from a perspective of oddsandfromaperspectiveofbluffing: 1.YouhaveaJackofHearts,andaTenofHearts. THEPOCKET

The preflop betting round concludes with six players investing twobetseach.TheflopisAceofHearts,QueenofSpades,Sevenof Hearts. Youareinamiddleposition,anddecidetosemibluff.Why? Youve got draws, thats why! Any Heart or King will give you a hand. Whenever you have multiple draws like that, start thinking of what would be ideal. If a Heart pops up you have to worry

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about a higher flush draw, so you probably want the King of Hearts, as he is the most likely to be in someones hand. A Queen of Hearts would be dangerous for you, since youd be looking at a royalflushdrawvs.apotentiallymadefullhouse. IdeallyyouwantanonHeartKingandthestraight.Thatwouldbe thenuts. Forsimplicityssakeletssaythatinyourevaluation,eitheraflush orstraightwillgiveyouawinninghand. Youhavetwelveouts(dontcounttheKingofHeartstwice).Thats a little better than a 25% chance of hitting a winning card on the turn. Even reraising or checkraising would be a good idea in this position based purely on odds. Even if you miss on the turn, it wouldbeinyourinterests(basedonplayersreactions)tocontinue tobetitrightout. 2.Youhaveapairofsixesinthepocket. THEPOCKET

Preflop eliminates all but you and another player who was in earlypositionbeforeyou. YougetarainbowflopofFour,Five,Ten.

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Semibluff! In this case you have to think of it more as a bluff. If this only player played a hand in early position, they probably have some overcards in this case. You want the pot right then and there. Most players will bluff back at you in this case with just an Ace in thepocket.Sticktoyourresolve.Bluff. Your chances of getting that six are pretty slim, and not worth theodds. You only have to worry about your opponent having overpairs andmatchingtheTen.Soyoureallyhavetoevaluatetheplayer,as opposedtothemathinthiscase. TryToBeOnTheAggressive. Youneedinformationaboutyouropponentshand.Bettingisareal good way to get information. Also, a casual semibluffing check raisecanbeallyouneedtoscareanotherplayerifyouthinktheyll bluffatthepot.

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How To Tell If You Have A Texas Holdem Nut Hand

ant to have a Texas Holdem hand that no one can beat? With a little practice, you can learn to read the table and determine the hole cards necessary to make the nut hand. Most of the time no one actually has the nuts, but when someone raises, take time to study the table carefully. Do they have what it takes? It pays to know the difference between a probablewinnerandtheabsolutenuts.

A nut set is three of a kind with a pair in the hole equal to the highest card on the board and no possibility of a straight or a flush. The smallest possible nut set on the river is a set of queens (seeexample)

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Thissetofqueensisthenuts.Thereisnopossibilityofahigher set,astraightoraflush.

In this hand, one or more players could have 10,9 in the hole and this top set of queens could then be sandwiched between nut straights.Even7,5intheholewouldmakeastraight.

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Thenutholecardsarekinganythingofspades.Anytwospades intheholewouldbeatthissetofaces.

Threeofakind with a pair on the board is trips not a set. Trips cannot be the nuts. Kings, fives or threes in the hole would beat thesetripjacks. TexasHoldemPokerNutHandsFourOfAKind

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You have the nut four of a kind if you have at least one of the four cards in the hole and there is no higher pair on the board andnopossibilityofastraightflush. Youhavethenutsifthefourofakindisontheboardandyou havethenutkickerinthehole.IfthefourofakindisKingsorless, thenutkickerisanace.Ifthefourofakindisaces,thenutkicker isaKing.Attheshowdownyouwillsplitthepotwithanyother playerswhoalsohavethenutkicker. If the four of a kind and the nut kicker are on the board, you will split the pot with all the players who are in the hand at the showdown.

This is a nut hand. There is no higher pair on the board and no possibility of a straight flush. Hope like mad you get some action frompocketaces,pocketdeucesoraheartflush.

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The four eights are on the board, but the ace kicker in the hole makes this hand the nuts. If any other players have an ace in the hole,thepotwillbesplit.

Fourthreesandthetopkickerareontheboard.Alltheplayers whoareinthehandattheshowdownwillsplitthepot.

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Thesequadfivescouldlosetoahigherfourofakind.Thenuthole cardsarepocketsevens

Thejacktenofspadesintheholewouldmakearoyalflush. Threeofakindwithapairontheboardistripsnotaset.Trips cannotbethenuts.Kings,fivesorthreesintheholewouldbeat thesetripjacks. TexasHoldemPokerNutHandsFlushes

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The nut flush is an ace high flush with the highest possible flush card in the hole, no pair orbetteronthe boardandnopossibilityofastraightflush. InsiderTip Sometimes, there is a flush on the board and it might be the best hand,buttherecannotbeanutflushontheboard. In Texas Holdem Poker there can be only one nut flush. If the winninghandisaflush,itwinstheentirepot. TexasHoldemPokerNutHandsFullHouses You have the nut full house in Texas Holdem Poker when there is onlyonepairontheboardthatishigher than the other upcards and equal to your high hole card and the next highest upcard is equal to your other hole card and there is nopossibilityofastraightflush. InsiderTip You have the nut full house in Texas Holdem Poker when there are two pairs on the board that are higher than the fifth upcard and each pair is equal to one of your hole cards and there is no possibilityofastraightflush. There cannot be a nut full house on the board. If theres a full houseontheboard,thenuthandisfourofakind. Youcannothaveanutfullhousewithapocketpair. InsiderTip

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ThePreFlopWinningOddsSystem These charts are based on 400,000,000 Texas Holdem Poker handsdealtto10players. Thisismyfavouritetable.Itsitsbymymouseduringeveryonline gameIplay.Andhereswhy.

HOWTOBETPREFLOP ExampleYouaredealttwoqueens.Timecomestomatchorraise abet.Thechanceofwinningthehandis22%(seechart).Thepotis $50. Based on a 22% chance of winning, your pot odds would indicate a safe bet of $10 at the preflop (22% x $50). Then somebody goes crazy and starts betting. Do you know what kind

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of a player they are? Do they have a pair of 9s? Over 50% of the potsarewonbyapairof9sorbetter.

Tight players never deviate from these rules unless they are playingwithaveryweaktable. When you start out, if you follow these guidelines youwilllose less while you are learning and you will start to win more consistently. Anotherexample

Youaredealtapairofacesinthepocket. The odds of winning with 2 aces is 31% the best odds in the game. Preflop you have a massive advantage. The only choice at thispointwhatshouldthemaximumbetbe. Estimatethetotalofthepotattheendofthebettingroundandbet nomorethan31%.

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If you estimate the pot to be $150 the maximum bet you should takeis31%of$150=$31. Question If the bet to stay in is much lower, should you raise? Forexampleifthebettoyouis$20doyouraise? Therearetwoconsiderationshere.Withanaveragehand,youmay want to see players leave the game and improve your odds of winning.Raisingtothemaximumcouldhavethateffect. On the other hand, having the nuts means you want to build the pot at the early stages. Anything can still happenyoudonthave a lock on the win remember. You only have a 31% chance of winning. Our advice win as much as you can when you have the right cards.Inthisexample,raisethebetto$30ifyouhavealotofweak playersandseewhostaysin.Betslightlyless$15$20ifthetable isstronger.

ExampleYoudrawa2anda7. This is the worst pocket hand you can be dealt based on the odds ofwinning.Itshouldbeclearwhy. You have no higher cards to build on. You have no flush potentialandnochanceofdevelopingastraight.

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Youhavea4%chanceofwinningthepot(seethechartsattheend ofthisbook).Shouldyoustayin? Only if the cost to stay in the game and see the flop is less than 4%ofthetotalprefloppot. Estimate the pot at $100 that would mean a maximum bet of $4. Basedonagamewheretheblindis$5/$10youwouldneedatleast a10%chanceofwinning.Getoutfast. What if you fold and see a 2 and a 7 in the flop two pairs? This canhappenandyoumaybebeatingyourselfupoverit.Butifyou let a bad example of odds modify your play and betting, over the long haul you will be suckered in by long shots and your style of playwillsuffer.Theoddsaretheodds. As you can see from these examples, a simple rule is the larger the pot, the better the cards you would need at the preflop to stayinthegame. REASONSNOTTOBLUFF Bluffingshouldprobablynotbeanautomaticreaction.Manytimes it takes a feel for a table to make you want to bluff. When doing it keep in mind that everyone else is also looking for an opportunity to bluff. Maybe you spot them bluffing in a common situation or they spot you. It only works when you get away with it, so you mustuseitsparingly. Herearesometimeswhenyououtrightshouldnotbluff. A.Whenplayersexpectyouto.

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Dont be the fish. Revealing your playing style can be bluffing in telltale situations against players who know them. Thats a common moneymaker for the other players. Always consider this rulebeforeattemptingabluff. B.Whenyouvebeencaughtbluffingrecently. Youve been labelled as a poor bluffer already. Ride it out. Let them forget that hand. Start rebuilding a reputation as a straight player so you can eventually try a bluff again later (and hopefully notscrewitupagain) C.Againstadangerousflop.

If the flop has an Ace, chances are that someone has a pair of aces. Aces tend to make it beyond preflop. Also, players tend to continuetoplaytheirAces.DontbluffagainstAces.

You also wouldnt want to bluff against a flop like K,Q,9. Chances aresomeonehassomethingtheyllstickwith. D.Againstlotsofplayers.

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Chancesarethatsomeonehassomethingthattheyllstickwith.By bluffing in this situation, you just become an agent of that player. Fromanoddsperspective,thisisneverworthit. E.Againstbadplayers. As much as they love to bluff, they love to catch someone in a bluff. Theyre much more likely tokeep you honest because they dont realize what a moneyloser that is. Its much more profitable toplaystraightupinthesegames.Bluffingisonlyeffectivefroma fearperspectiveinthiscase. F.Youjustlostabighand. Not only might you be on a bad run, but other players will expect you to be on a bad run, and will more readily call you. G.Youareinablindposition. You really have to evaluate the flop, but generally other players willthinkyouhaveapoorhandandexpectyoutobluff. UsingOddsDuringaBluff Itsalwaysgoodtolookatpokerfromamathematical perspective,andthatevenappliestobluffing. You can determine finite amounts and percentages that can tell you if it is a financially feasibly good time to bluff. This is particularly usefulwhenthereareonlyoneortwoplayersandthe potisratherlarge.

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Itsgoodtodothesecalculationswithpotentialstraightsorflushes that appeared on the river, that you were going for but you didnt make.

Its nice with a flop that starts with Heart, Heart, Spade, and ends withSpade,Spade.YouhadtwoHearts.OrafloplikeFive,Seven, Eight, and ends with Ten, Jack. You had a Six. Its also good because they might have been on the same draw, which leads them to believe (also from on odds perspective) that you were not onthatdraw. Letssaythatoneoftheabovecasesoccurredina$5/$10gameand on the river there is $140 in the pot. Your only opponent checks to you. Ifyoucheck,youknowyouvelost. Soyoubluff.Thereasoningisthatifyouinvestanother$10,youre getting 14 to 1 odds. As a percent thats around 7%. If they fold more than 7% of the time, you make money in the long poker gameoflife.Ifnot,itsalosingventure. You still have to evaluate the player, but from a purely mathematical standpoint, you get the picture. You can also evaluateitbyreasoningthattheymissedtheirdrawmorethan7% ofthetimeandwillfold.

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If two players were involved in the pot, it cuts the odds in half. Withthree,itbecomes1/3rdof7%,etc.Youcanseewhyyouwant tobluffagainstfewerplayers. This can be unreliable though, as some players will stay in purely based on pot odds. So when bluffing you cannot ever use just odds.Getafeelforyouropponents,andactaccordingly. HOWTOKNOWWHENTHEYREBLUFFING? This isnt about reading tells. This is about the situations where bluffing is plausible, and when other players will do it. You can generally look at the reasons YOU should bluff and apply them to other players. Of course, you also have to know the player, and evaluateitfromthere,butherearesomeideas. A.Theyarebettingaggressivelydespiteapoorflop.

Iftheybetpreflopfromapoorposition,andtheflopissomething like 4, 5, 5, they are probably just trying to keep momentum going and bluff their way out of this hand. They probably have genuinely zero drawing chances with overcards or maybe an overpair, but a reraise could have them rethink that strategy. It mightalsogiveyouabettingroundortwototryandmakeYOUR hand. B.PotOddsareintheirfavor.

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If everyone folds on the turn with a big pot, like when an obvious draw was missed, expect a bluff. Its almost certain that anyone will bluff against a big pot. With the pot odds the way they are, youprobablywanttostayinthosehandsalso. C.Itsbetweenyouandthem. The most common time to bluff is when you CAN pull it off. Its very easy to trick just one person. Use yourskillsatevaluatingthe previous rounds and the board to determine what they might have. D.Theflopdoesnthaveanydraws. Sometimes someone will bet in this case to eliminate the ability to acquire a draw, sometimes because they have a good hand. You reallyhavetoknowtheplayerinthiscase. E.TheybetontheFlop,checkedontheturn. Iftherewasadraw,anditdidnthit,theyareprobablyjustbuying afreecard.Betbackagainstthemandtaketheinitiative. F.Betontheflop,betontheturn,checkedontheriver. Same as before, but they bought another turn. Might as well bet backatthem. G.Theybetandtellyoutosaveyourmoney. If they really wanted you to save your money, they wouldnt have bet. Sometimes players say that just to create the opposite image, solookout.Fewarethatcraftythough,sotellyouroppositionthat hesbluffingandreraise.

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HOWTOATTACKAWEAKPLAYER Themostsuccessfulplayersarenotalwaysthetightest ...andyoucantwinanythingwhenyoufold. InsiderTip Pros add to their hourly win rate by finding times to play hands that are small losers in the hands of lesser players. They do this both by playing those hands especially well and by playing them when a bad player is already in. Thats why knowing your table issoimportant. The secret to beating online poker can be where you get a lot of tight passive players sitting on their hands while a successful player(ortwoorthree)eatsanawfulplayer(ortwo)alive. Most people play backwards. They play loose and see a lot of flops in the early rounds, then absurdly tighten up later. Unless you are one of those rare players who simply cant play without a big stack, dont fritter away your chips in the early rounds on marginal junk. Those chips can be very useful once the important roundsbegin. Sitting around waiting for good cards to play against the tight players is fairly pointless. There is zero point to playing in a game withdecentplayers. The only reason to be in this game is to play with the fish. BADHANDSTHATLOOKGOOD

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This hand makes me think of the data a major Casino put out about the actual results of all Holdem hands for the first six milliongamesplayedontheirsite. The hands that lost the most money were not the worst hands possible.Thebiggestmoneyloser(notcoincidentally)is32s.Itlost more than 32s or 72s. Then also, A2s lost more than 32s. Most players overvalue garbage cards. Its the kiss of death. InsiderTip

Hands that should do better than other hands (32s should do better than 32o) end up doing markedly worse because people playthemandthinktheyhavesomething. 23isthesinglemostcostlyHoldemholdinginthehandsof90% of the players . . . and it holds that distinction by far. 234 is a big improvement, adding the 7 helps, and adding a suit does too, but

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anyone who thinks this is agood hand is surely going to lose a lotofmoneywithit. Again,thisscenarioisaboutthebestpossibleforthehand(besides a free ride in the blind of course), but the hand is still highly speculative and will be a money loser for nongood players. Contrast this to A347 and even a nongood player will have a profitablehandonthebutton. The pursuit of available information, even if it takes a bit of work, is largely what separates winning (and breakeven) players from losingplayers. Certainly most players lose, but the combination of the winning players and the smallish losers is in the ballpark of half the players. Bigtime losers is a smaller percentage especially amongplayerswhoplaymorethanfivesessionsintheirlife.Also, the whole concept of bigtime losers is fallacious because while plentyofplayerslose100%ofwhattheydepositthat100%isoften $100.

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LIMIT TEXAS HOLDEM TOURNAMENT GUIDE

uch of the popularity of Texas Holdem recently is based on televised Texas Holdem Tournaments. If youve followed the Cage Food Chain Theory of regular game play, you will be happy to know that Tournament play progresses in a very familiar fashion from fish to barracuda to shark as thebettinglimitsincrease. In the beginning, the rule is to play very conservatively. Play very tight Fish level rules. Some players become very reckless in the beginning of tournaments, feeling they need to build their stack. This is completely wrong. A very conservative style will keep you alivelonger. PlayingLimitTournaments First off, all advice on tournament play here should be taken with a grain of salt. I dont claim to be some tournament guru, because

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if I were, Id probably be somewhere making much more money. However, I do seem to be placing in the money in half of the singletable tournaments I play, so maybe theres something to be saidforthat. The next chapter is for you if youve already played a few tournaments and want to figure out why you are ending up short stacked into the mid levels (35) and then end up getting ran over by the loose betters who seem to hold nothing. If youre a maniac and find yourself loosing more often than not, you may find this sectionusefultoo. Remember players are eliminated when they run out of chips. Thats the key survival technique at this stage. Make it to the six playerlevelbyholdingontothechipsyouhave. At midpoint in the game, once the table is reduced to six players, revert to a Barracuda strategy. Follow the preflop strategy carefully. Once you are down to three players, Shark strategy is the rule of the day. Aggressive play is an absolute requirement to win in tournaments. Themostimportantthingtounderstandabouttourneyplayonline is that it is fast. Im not talking about the speed at which players play, but Im referring to the blinds structure. You only have 10 hands before the blinds go up a level. The limit levels look like this: Level1:15/30 Level2:30/60 Level3:50/100

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Level4:100/200 Level5:200/400 Level6:300/600 Level7:400/800 Level8:500/1000 Level9:600/1200

What this means is that when the deal has gone around the table four times, youre already betting a significant percentage of your starting bankroll (800 chips to start). Lets say you played ultra tight to level 4, that is like playing a $1/2 game with $7, not really fun!Butcriticaltosuccessfulplayintournaments. LevelOnetoTwo There are a lot of theories floating around regarding a play strategy for the early rounds. Some experts claim the secret is to play loose and hope for a monster pot at some point to shore up your stack. (You wont find the word hope in our Poker dictionaryattheendofthisbooksoIcantreallyhelpyouthere.) All the latest research we have looked at supports playing super tight,stayingundertheradarandsavingallthemoneyyoucanfor the later levels when it really matters. The idea behind the first strategy of seeing as many flops as possible, is based on the sad truth that tournaments go by very quickly. Weve all seen the guy who manages to win chips early on with garbage hands based on the fact that the rest of the players are playing very tightly. He obviouslyendsupinamuchbetterpositionintothelaterlevels.

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In the long run, this person willlose,butintheshortrun,itcanbe frustrating to see such loose play rewarded. Dont let these short termgainsaffectyourstyleofplay.Staytight.Keeptoyourplan. The Cage Food Chain School of strategy says play tight in the early rounds. With 7 or 8 callers in a pot, many of whom are novice players and will draw on you, its very difficult to win pots in the early rounds with mediocre hands. The top pocket cards are what you need to win. Facing a straight or flush draw, you can almost be sure someone is going tochaseafteryou.Bets togetpeopleoutandcarefulchecksontheriverwillpayoff. Note: Bluffing at this stage in the game is nearly impossible. Dontwasteyourtime. The most important thing you should be doing in the first two rounds is taking notes on your opponents. Note what hands people preflop raise with, what hands they play, do they reraise flush/straight draws, anything that will help you out later. If you do this often enough, youll find that youll naturally form your own player profiles and realize how you should play this individual. If theyre tight, then they can be bluffed. If theyre a bluffer or liar, youll want to call down questionable bets or reraise them if you have anything. Common sense stuff, but most people just hunker down and play their hand. Dont do this! Pay close attention to everyones betting habits when youre not in a hand. Be intense aboutyourpoker,dontwatchTVonyouroffhands. LevelThreeandFour The big change once the game hits level 3/4 is that bluffing now becomes an option. As the stakes become higher, youll find your

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opponents less willing to draw on you unless they truly are weak players. This is a doubleedged sword as aggressive players will become much more dangerous into these rounds. This is why player observation is absolutely key. Against a tight table, with a major threat on board (possible straight, flush, trips), betting out under the gun or near last position are very possible options. Betting out earlyusuallysignifiessomekindofstrengthwhentightplayersdo it, so if you have a tight table image (established in the early rounds),mostplayerswillrespectthatandfold. Remember looking at the pros and cons of bluffing online? In a tournament game, your big advantage is a captive table. (Sure, players are leaving but at least new players arent coming in.) There is an opportunity here to train the other players and set themup.

For instance, if the board shows Q/Q/6 and you come out betting, mostpeoplewillfigureyouforafourofakind. Tight players wont want to draw in this situationandfold.Ifthey call,youshouldfigurethemforafourofakind,pocketpairandof course,thepossibilityofQueens. A raise should easily make you realize know they have it (or are outplayingyou),whichinanycaseshouldbeaneasyfold.

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The turn is very difficult to play after someone has called your bluff. You will have to assess it on a casebycase situation. Another tough decision. If you feel the other person is drawing or has a weaker kicker on his four, then you will want to bet and hope he folds. If it took him a medium amount of time to call your flop, hes probably got a four of a kind, because hes trying to make a decisiononifyouhaveaqueenornot. If it took him a long time, you can expect him to have pocket pair (again, has to think about if you have queens or not) or he has Queens and he wants to suck you in. If you do end up betting the turn and dont get reraised, you pretty much have to check down the river as you can no longer get him out by then obviously. Whileonthesubjectoftrips,Ihavetosaythatitsbettertobluffon smaller trip threats. For example: 2/2/J vs J/J/2. Someone is far more likely to be holding a Jack as opposed to a 2, simply because averagestrong players will rarely hold a 2 except for A2s, K2s, Q2s. In the SB or BB, this is a goodbluffasotherswillbemoreapt to believe you are holding a 2. If you bluffed on the button, most peoplewillputyouontheJackfortheverysamereasoningabove. So in short, bluffs high trips in late position. Bluff the turn if needed, but almost never the river because by then theyll usually call. Now that bluffing has somewhat been covered, realize that other players will also try to make moves (be aggressive) in these levels. Youll tend to see midpairs betting out, or flush draws bet out even. This makes it a perfect time to trap people yourself if you hold a strong hand. Top pairs will usually be reluctant to slow

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play in these levels, as they dont want anyone drawing on them. So if the board doesnt have any kind of possible straight/flush threat that can develop, you may just check/call the flop then checkraise the turn. Itll help your image if you win, as others wont be able to bet all over you later in the game, which is important. In late position, if the board is nonthreatening, you may even check it down to give others a free card and hope someone pairs on theturn.Beingcheckraisedontheturnafterchecksontheflop is a really scary scenario for most players. Ideas of two pair and trips usually develop in this situation, as many people automatically dont even begin to think of someone checking over pairontheflop. When you are shortstacked and make a play, players are more apt to call you down on your slow play. They will view your playasadesperationmoveandarefarlesslikelytobelieveyou. The rest of the general strategy for these levels is to just play tight, makeafewmoveswhenyoucan,butotherwisehunkerdownand takecover. LevelFourandUp Nowcomesthefunpart! Now that the limit is 200/400 (blinds 100/200), you need to change gears very fast. Half, if not more of the table should be gone now andmorewillfollowquickly.Inashorthandedgame,semistrong hands become strong and strong hands become monsters. A9s for example, a playable hand with 10 people becomes very playable with 4 people. K9o, weak in a 10person game, is very playable with 4 people. The same rules of poker in regard to position still

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applythough!Theearlieryouplay,thestrongeryourhandsneeds tobe.Thelateryouplay,thelessstrongitneedstobe,asyoudont needtoworryaboutitbeingraised. However,youshouldbetheonedoingtheraising! At this point in the game, you do NOT want to go to showdown with your opponent and should be happy with winning the pot. Blind stealing becomes critical at this point, because each set of SB and BB is worth so much. Strong hands need to be raised and weak hands need to be folded quickly. You need to be able to switch quickly between aggressive and nonaggressive betting. Be the aggressor. Bet the flop when it comes down if you raised pre flop. Remember, its not about what you have, but what your opponentdoesnthave! You hold AQ and the flop comes KT7. Youre in last position, but the BB, who bet preflop, comes out and immediately bets out 400 on the flop. Do you call? Its a very tough decision because you have to try to figure out what he has. If hes got Kings, youre all but dead as you have a gutshot or overpair Ace draw. Even if he has nothing, is this maniac going to bet 400 on the turn and then another 400 on the river? Are you willing to pay 1200 to see this down? You dont want to be in this position! You want to be the one puttingOTHERStothisdecision! In the above scenario, you may have held A9o and raised the caller. When the flop came, you bet out your high card ace scary as it is. Guess what? He ends up folding and you won with the weaker hand. That is why taking the charge is vital at the later

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levels, because it turns info a mind game instead of a card game. Allhehastodoisthinkyouarestrongeristhatheistooweakand youvealreadywon.Itdoesntmatterwhatyouhold. Youllfindinthelowerbuyintourniesthatthesolid,tightplayers make it to the later levels, but most of them will hesitate and fold their way into oblivion to the crazy better. You need to out aggressivethemaniacsatthispointinthetournament.Sure,when youreaggressiveandincharge,atsomepointsomeonewillmake a move against you, whether it be a raise, checkraise, trap or theyre stealing back against you. Dont be overly aggressive and raiselikeamaniaconeverythingthatcomesyourway.Youcannot simplyraiseyourwayoutofeverysituation. Just remember that while tight players can make moves against you, as long as you can make more moves against them, you will win. And when you are the aggressor, you WILL make more moves against tight players. Thats because you always have more infothanyouropponent.Whentheyraiseintoyou,youknowthey have something. When you bet into them, they arent sure what youhave. Eventually, even they will trap themselves when you DO have somethingandtheybetaweakerkickerorpairintoyoursandyou cancomerightbackatthem. I know someone out there is saying: Yeah, this is great andall,but what about when the tight player is on to you and just reraises everything you have? I can almost guarantee you that it does not happen at the lower levels. Once it has become a mental game, poor/average players are no longer thinking very logically, but with emotions. They will be scared and in most cases do not have the courage to stand up and challenge you with blanks in their guns. If they do indeed just go on tilt and hit bet/raise for every

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hand they have, you just need grit it and play right back at them. Reraise strong hands preflop, call with weak hands. Reraise pairsaggressively,callwithA/Khigh,foldlowhighcards. Make more money when you win. Lose less money whenyoulose. InsiderTip You need to be able to take off like a rocket and stop on a dime in terms of your betting. Be the aggressor. Bet the flopwhenitcomes down if you raised preflop. Remember, its not about what you have,butwhatyouropponentdoesnthave! Imaginethis:YouholdAQandtheflopcomesKT7.

Youre in last position, but the BB, who bet preflop, comes out and immediatelybetsout400ontheflop. Doyoucall? Its a very tough decision because you have to try to figure out what he has. If hes got Kings, youre all but dead as you have a gutshot or overpair Ace draw. Even if he has nothing, is this

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maniac going to bet 400 on the turn and then another 400 on the river?Areyouwillingtopay1200toseethisdown? You dont want to be in this position! You want to be the one putting OTHERS to this decision! In the above scenario, you may have held A9o and raised the caller. When the flop came, you bet out your high card ace scary as it is. Guess what? He ends up foldingandyouwonwiththeweakerhand.Thatiswhytakingthe chargeisvitalatthelaterlevels,becauseitturnsinfoamindgame insteadofacardgame.Allhehastodoisthinkyouarestrongeris thatheistooweakandyouvealreadywon.Itdoesntmatterwhat you hold. Youllfindinthelowerbuyintourniesthatthesolid,tightplayers make it to the later levels, but most of them will hesitate and fold their way into oblivion to the crazy better. To give you an idea of what your goals should be in the tournament, you should analyze thefollowing: Janehasbeenatightplayerforthefirsthalfanhour.Shehastaken a few pots and folded most of her hands. Now the that limits are up, the three other players have noticed Jane raise preflop nearly half the hands shes in. Knowing shes a tight player, a few hesitantly call her raises. It doesnt slow her down. Most of the timeheropponentsfoldandJaneendsuptakingdownmostofthe pots. Finally, Fred, another tight player, gets his pair of aces, and when Jane preflop raises, Fred reraises her immediately. Jane folds and Fred takes the pot. The next hand, Jane comes out and aggressively preflop raises. Fred, not believing any of it, comes backandreraises.Janereraiseshimrightback.Fredhesitatesand thenfoldshishand. ThemoralofthestorythereisthatyouwanttobeJane.

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Sure, when youre aggressive and in charge, at some point someone will make a move against you, whether it be a raise, checkraise, or theyre stealing back against you. Dont be overly aggressive and raise like a maniac on everything that comes your way.Youcannotsimplyraiseyourwayoutofeverysituation.Just rememberthatwhiletightplayerscanmakemovesagainstyou,as long as you can make more moves against them, you will win. And when you are the aggressor, you WILL make more moves against tight players. Thats because you always have more info than your opponent. When they raise into you, you know they have something. When you bet into them, they arent sure what you have. Eventually, even they will trap themselves when you DO have something and they bet a weaker kicker or pair into yoursandyoucancomerightbackatthem. I know someone out there is saying: Yeah, this is great andall,but what about when the tight player is on to you and just reraises everything you have? I can almost guarantee you that it does not happen at the lower levels. Once it has become a mental game, poor/average players are no longer thinking very logically, but with emotions. They will be scared and in most cases do not have the courage to stand up and duke it with you on garbage. If they doindeedjustgoontiltandhitbet/raiseforeveryhandtheyhave, you just need to take a deep breath and play right back at them. Reraise strong hands preflop, call with weak hands. Reraise pairsaggressively,callwithA/Khigh,foldlowhighcards. Make more money when you win. Lose less money when you lose.

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PokerHandNumberofCombinationsProbability

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HOW TO PICK AN ONLINE CASINO AND A BREIF HISTORY OF ONLINE POKER

Online gambling is increasing at a staggering rate worldwide. Total revenues for online gambling worldwide in 2003 were an estimated$5Billionover4.3%ofallworldwideecommerce. The worlds first virtual online casino, Internet Casinos, Inc. commenced operation on August 18, 1995 with 18 different casino games and is now publicly traded on NASDAQ. Most of these onlinegamblingcompaniesarelocatedoutsideoftheU.S.toavoid government prosecution. ICI operates out of the Turks and Cayucos Islands and WagerNet is based in Belize. Site users can either send cash through one of the companies offering secure payment systems for the Internet or open an offshore account, a requirement for Americans to use ICIs site. A number of foreign governments have entered the business of online casinos holding their sites out to people worldwide. For instance, the government of Liechtenstein is operating an online international lottery in six different languages, including Chinese. According to Rolling Good

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Times Online gambling magazine, there are over 1300 gambling relatedsitesonthenetandmoreareupandrunningeveryday. The economics of the industry are amazing. While it may cost up to $300 million to build a new bricks and mortar resort casino, most virtual casinos can be developed for between $12 million andwillemployonly1020peopleasopposedtothousandsfora traditionalcasino.Theindustryaveragesaboutatwentyfive(25%) profitmargin,versusthetypicalU.S.casino,whichrangesbetween eight percent (8%) to sixteen (16%) of each dollar wagered. Interactive Gaming & Communications International handled $48 million dollars in its first year of operations and has made a staggeringprofiteversince. In sum, an estimated twenty million people are currently on line with a projected 160 million online by the year 2020. The major onlinecasinosregisterover7,000,000visitspermonth. According to surveys conducted by the US government, the majority of gamblers, 83%, play online, however, only a third of that group plays for real money. In other words, the major attraction for online players are casinos that offer free games. In all, 28% of those who gamble do so online for real money. Accordingtoarecentstudy73%percentofthosewhoplayforreal moneybothonlineandofflinelostmoneyinthepastmonth,while 80% of landbasedonly players lost money. Online gamblers, however, lose more money per game. Those who gamble for real money both online and offline lost in the past month more than double what those who gamble exclusively off line lost. Further, therearemorethanfourtimesmorehighrollers(percentagewise) among the online players than there are among landbasedonly players.

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If youre wondering how safe your money is at an online casino, there are a number of things to consider. Over the past few years there have been a number of cases of winners at online poker casinos being denied payment. Remember, as online gambling is not allowed in the U.S., you have no legal recourse to recover funds. Our advice is to stay with wellestablished online casinos with an extensive track record and a reputation for paying out winners. We list ten of the largest, best known in this section. All have excellent track records, use wellestablished software to deliver the gaming experience and offer a wide range of tables to selectfrom. You will be tempted sometimes by very generous offers of large player bonuses from online casinos youve never heard of. Think about it if you started a new casino in a very crowded market, how would you get the attention of potential new players? Our suggestionistoavoidthesecasinos.Whatgoodwoulditdotowin $10,000 and then find you can never claim the money? There are numerous systems being promoted that suggest you can use these bonuses to multiply your winnings even play for free. Thats nonsense. Bonuses, if they are based on the number of hands, will be returned to the house through the rake. Pick your casino based on play quality and the volume of table options. Thatstherealkeytowinning. Ioftengetquestionsabouthowfaircertaincasinosare.Oneauthor has written a book claiming that there are dealing errors in one large casino that give players in the know a decided advantage. This writer does not understand the technology behind the card dealing process at reputable online casinos. Electronic games of all types use random number generator (RNG) software algorithm to determine card outcome, the RNG algorithm is called into play

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hundreds of times per second. The RNG has approximately 16,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible outcomes and, depending of course on the type of game, there will be billions and billions of outcomesthatmapintoanysetofcards.Thisensuresthatallgame outcomes are completely random. There are no hiccups in the process you can use to beat the virtual dealer. The science of random number generation is well established and impossible to beat. Here are a number of factors you can use to choose the best online pokerroom. SecurityandPrivacy You want as much reassurance that your credit info is safe, your identity and contact info wont be sold and that game conditions are as safe and as fair as possible(e.g. that the software isnt vulnerable to manipulation; players arent colluding because a system of checks is in place; etc.). Secure servers are a necessity. Sites should elaborate on the encryption system that they use. All goodsitesshouldaddresstheaboveissuestoyoursatisfaction.Do they discuss issues like their cardshuffling algorithm? Also, what kind of RNG(random number generator) do they use? The best ones increase the level of unpredictability in the cards being played. What other safeguards do they have in place to prevent gamerigging, collusion, hacker intrusions, etc.? You should alwaysreadasitesprivacypolicy,includingthesmallprint. Action How many players log on to the games? Can you get action in the poker game of your choice anytime, day or night? Do they have diverse offerings with enough players to keep tables full? The larger the pool, the more action youll see in both game play and

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cash winnings. We visit the sites at different times to see what the overall action is like as well as the variety of players in all games offered. Gameplay If your money and personal info are secure but the ease of game play and visuals suck, then chances are youre not going to come back. We look at the variety of poker games offered and keep a close eye on how well a site creates a good poker environ ment.Howeasyisittoplay?Conversewithotherplayers(ormute them, if you wish)? Are the graphics and sounds fun? Interesting? Can I play even if my system doesnt support the absolutely latest graphics, etc.?Is all the information needed to play easytoaccess and clearly stated? Some sites definitely have more appealing gameplaythanothers. Connectivity How often does the game crash due to server issues at the online poker rooms end? How bad are the delays in transfer of info? What about disconnections? Are they repeated? Anything that disrupts game play on a regular basis is going to be an annoyance andamajorproblem(attheworstifthestakesarehighandyoure on a streak). We realize problems can occur at the players end (with their computer and their particular ISP) but theres no denying some sites are more reliable and offer less downtime andothersuchirritationsthanothers. Cashouts How much money have players won at their poker games? How easy is it to cash out your winnings?Do they credit your credit card? What charges are applied? How long does it take to receive

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winnings? You shouldnt have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to cash out what youve won and whether extra charges, delays, etc. are worth it. Or have the patience of a saint. And we like features such as email confirmations of the withdrawal transactionsverifyingrequest,dates,andamounts. FreePlay Testing out poker game play, environment, percentage, etc. helps to familiarize yourself with what to do in the event of server crashes, how well youve understood the written rules of play at the particular online poker room, and the mixed quality of other playersyoumayencounter. This is an important feature of any good poker site playing first for free although we recognize that people play very differentlywhentheyvegotrealmoneyontheline. Some sites make it easier than others to identify how to get in on the free play action without submitting heaps of personal informationinadvance. OtherFeatures Some sites will let you choose a character image which becomes identified with you. Others will track your game play statistics for you. Some provide no charges for certain kinds of cashouts.Some track the top players. Some allow you to betatest new games or poker tournaments in development. Others offer good poker resources in terms of celebrity columns, advice, links, etc. We like both access to quality information thats useful to us in playing pokeraswellasconvenience.

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Online casinos offer players bonus incentives to come play at their casinos. These are know as casino bonuses, casino promotion, free chip offers, and although there are several other terms used to describethefreemoneygiventoplayersbythecasinosthebottom line is that its free money. Outlined below are a few descriptions ofthedifferenttypesofbonusesofferedbyonlinecasinos. NoDepositCasinoBonuses This type of bonus is offered to players just for trying and downloading and trying the casinos software out. In general this typeofcasinobonusisintherangeof$10and$22. OnlineCasinoMatchBonuses Withacasinomatchbonusthecasinogivesplayersadditionalcash to play at the casino upon making a first deposit. If a player deposits$50ina100%matchbonussituationtheplayerwouldget anadditional$50toplaywithatthecasino. AlternativeBankingBonuses Since online gambling transactions made by players may encounter some rejections by credit card companies many casinos have resorted to alternative payment solutions. These include NETeller, FirePay, PrePaidATM and others. Some casinos offer players additional bonuses on top of their existing no deposit bonuses and match bonuses for deposits made through these alternativebankingmethods. PokiBotPoker There are no money games at this site, only free Texas Holdem Poker. Theres no download, just sign in and play. Youll play

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Holdem poker with artificially intelligent programs robots that learn. The robots are tough players. Your icon will be a fish. You oweittoyourselftospendsometimeplayingthesebots.Itsavery interestinggameofTexasHoldemPoker.Youcanlearnalotfrom abot. The websites listed here invite players to try their poker games absolutely free. If you want to play poker online for money, you shouldbesureitislegaltodosofromyourlocation. Takeadvantageofthefreepokeratthesesitesandpractice, practice,practice! TheBettingRulesforPotLimitTexasHoldem Minimum eligible raise: The raise amount must be at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round. As an example, if the first player to act bets $100 then the second player mustraiseaminimumof$100(totalbetof$200). Maximum eligible raise: The size of the pot: The size of the pot is defined as the total of the active Pot (which can be either the main pot or the side pot depending on whether anyone has gone all in) plus all bets on the table plus the amount the active player mustfirstcallbeforeraising. Asanexample,iftheactivepotis$200andthefirstplayertoactin theroundbets$150andthenextplayercalls$150,thethirdplayer hasamaximumeligibletotalbetof$800.The$800totalismadeup ofthe$150calland$650raise. The $650 max raise portion is equal to the pot of $200 + first players$150+secondplayers$150+hisowncallof$150.

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PotLimit and NoLimit Games will be raked according to the chartbelow: WHICHCASINODOYOUTRUST? You cant go wrong if you select a poker site that has been in businessforseveralyears,usesestablishedandaccreditedgaming software interfaces and has a record of paying big winners in a timely manner. We are not affiliated with any casino or group of casinosbutbeingobjectivecanbedifficult.Therearethousandsof casinoswithmewonesopeningeveryday.Greatplayerinterfaces arearealattractionforplayersbutintheend,ifthecasinodoesnt offer a multitude of tables and traffic and doesnt pay off bets quickly,whatsthepoint? Here is a list of casinos that have been in business for several yearsandarerecognizedwidelyasbeingfairandprofessional. PartyPoker PartyPokerisnowtheworldslargestonlinepokerroom.Wehave seenover40,000playersonlineplayingrecentlyandthenumberis growing every day. The daily average of real money players is around 10,000. Party is presented by the same people that brought you CardPlayer Cruises, including Mike Sexton. They have a big multitabletournamenteveryyearcalledthePartyPokerMillion. The rake at this site is stock standard 5 per cent capped at $3 for medium limit games. For lower limit games, a max of $1 for $1/$2 games and 50 cents for $0.5/$1 games is taken out of the pot. On high limit games Party Poker offers good value with significantly lessthan5percenttakenoutofeachpot.Onefeaturemissingthat we would like to see is the % preflop. The site does present the

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average pot for the last 20 hands. The CustomerServiceatthissite isfirstclassandveryprofessional. ParadisePoker Billed accurately as the Worlds Premier Online Card room, Paradise offers the standard variety of games, including several tournaments.Thesitefeatureslotsofactioneverydayoftheweek. Paradise has an excellent game interface with little extras that make things interesting. If you are concerned about security andcredibility,Paradise posts cardshuffling reviews by Price waterhouse Coopers (the worlds largest professional services firm)ontheirsite. UltimateBet UltimateBetfeaturesupto7500playersplayingduringpeaktimes, about 4000 structured games. Percentage preflops can be found above45%onregularoccasions,whichleadstogoodaveragepots. The games at Ultimate Bet can be quite profitable to the skilled player, particularly in games with $2/$5 and $1/$3 limits. Ultimate Bet has the backing of a number of big players including: Phil Hellmuth,AnnieDuke,andRussHamilton. PlanetPoker Planet Poker is one of the oldest online poker establishments (1998) and is endorsed by Mike Caro, a leading poker authority.PlanetPokerisamediumtolargepokersiteintermsof traffic (he site can have up to 500 people online at peak times). ThereisnevertroublegettingagameinyourlimitinHoldem.The rakeis5%cappedat$3,buttheactualraketakenforvariouslimits and pots sizes varies due to rounding but is quite fair. Recent

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software upgrades have made Planet Poker software much faster, morereliableandmorepleasanttotheeyethanitusetobe. JackpotPalaceCasino Jackpot Palace Casino uses software designed by Boss Media, the leading Internet casino software developer and provider. Boss Media started in spring 1997, since then the company has grown considerably, and by the end of 2003, the Group had just over 120 employees. The companys head office is in Vxj, in southern Sweden. InterCasinoPoker InterCasino has been operating since 1996 and has been voted Best Online Casino 2001 and 2002 by Top20 Casinos and Best Casino 2003. by Gambling Online Magazine. InterCasino has some of the highest limits on the net. Players can play real moneygamesfor$100/$200 in any of the currencies. For the smaller limit players $1/$2 games arethesmallestthatcustomerscanplay. Rakepercentagesaretoughtodiscernabout25centsonevery$5 until the pot reaches $60, which is not particularly attractive. The sitegenerallyhasfrombetween100to500playersplayingandthis number is likely to grow as the site becomes better known. Game play is excellent and the graphics are topnotch. This site is one of the few sites that has voice options. Note: probably the fastest gamesonthenet. OmniCasino One of the best casinos on the net. Licensed since November, 1997 in Curacao and audited by Pricewaterhouse. Gambling Online

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magazine voted OmniCasino as Top Casino 2003 Honorable Mention andBestRewardsandQuickestPayoutsthreeyearsinarowfrom 200123. They also won Casino Player MagazinesBest Payout / ECash Program by readers themselves. One of the best features of OmniCasinoistheirCOMPProgramundeniablythebestCOMP Program in the business. It was votedBest Rewards Program for 2003bythereadersofGamblingOnlineMagazine. PokerRoom Poker Room.com is one of the few sites that doesnt requireyouto download their software. They use JAVA technology so you can getplayingrightaway.Thesoftwarerunsverysmoothlyalthough JAVA style software does not have the gloss of its downloadable counterpart.ExtrafeaturesthatPokerRoomofferincludeexpected value statistics, whereby you can type in a starting hand and the software calculates the historical expected value of that hand over 6 million real time playing hands. The top 50 all time winners are givenatthewebsitesoyoucanavoidgettinginagamewiththese players. Percentage preflop games of above 40% are easy to find. The site can have upwards 100 to 800 real money players online. Tendstohavemanyloosegames. EmpirePoker Another feature that is missing from this site is the % preflop. However, the site does present the average pot for the last 20 hands, which is useful. Typically the games are first class here, with juicy average pots for all limits. For example it is common to see average pots for $3/$6 games over $40 and for $5/10 games over$70.TheCustomerServiceatthissiteisfirstclassandvery

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POCKETCARDWINNINGODDS

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How To Think Like A Winning Poker Player

ocrates once said that the unexamined life is not worth living. So lets give some thought and examination to how we as card players process information and respond to decisionmaking pressures. These are important areas to consider asweworktoimproveourpokersuccessandbemoresuccessful inlifegenerally. There is a science around the study of body language and human communicationcalledNeuroLingusiticProgramming(NLP).NLP is both an interesting and valuable area of study to understand. WhatNLPhasshownisthatifwecanmirroranotherpersonwho has achieved success in a certain area, we can dramatically speed up our ability to learn the same skills. In a nutshell, if we act exactlylikeasuccessfulpokerplayer,move,sit,walk,talk,learnto adopt the same thinking styles we can leap ahead in learning. A pro may have spent 20 years learning the secrets of the game but

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by mirroring their behavior and thought, we can learn to become aproinamuchshorterperiodoftime. NowyoureprobablyprettyskepticalofthiswholeapproachandI dont blame you. Youve been taught in school that you need to study for years and slowly work your way towards expertise to gain what we would call expert knowledge. But if you saw the examples of this process at work, as I have over the years, you would have a whole new understanding of how to propel your abilitiestoanamazingnewlevelinamatterofdays. For the sake of this chapter, I am going to keep this simple. There are dozens of books written on NLP and we are not going to be able to cover all of that ground here. Lets just take a quick look at how great poker players think and try to understand how to be morelikethem. Pros step into the poker game with confidence. They have such a wealth of playing experience that they can make tough betting decisions in a very timely manner. That means that they give the odds proper consideration, keep appraised of the other players, and make their play. This is the persona you need to adopt when youplay. Tobeasharkyouneedtoactthepart. Sit up straight like a professional. Clean the area around your computer desk and stay organized. Prepare. Have any note taking materialhandy.Planyourgameplayonatightschedule.Startata precise time; review the casinos and tables for a predetermined period of time before you play. Be observant. Start play when you are certain you have the right table in your sites. Watch the other players carefully and make notes. Never be sloppy about your playingtime.

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Remember, you are a shark, play at the pace of a shark. You scull through the water, your eyes alert. You make thoughtful and purposeful moves. You appraise your environment. Occasionally, when the time is right and your prey is unprepared, you strike aggressively and purposefully. You raise and reraise. You push outweakerplayers.Yougainrespectfromallofthosearoundyou. Your opponents know only one thing about you that you have a significant stack in front of you and you seem to know everyones cardsbeforetheyareshown. You are never rattled even by a string of bad beats. They mean nothing in the big picture to you. You play to win over the long haul. Small bad breaks have no consequence for you. If you become tired or youre just not happy with the table, you leave. And then after exactly one hour, you finish playing regardless of your status and take a break. You then carefully polish your notes regarding how you played and what you have learned and recordyourwinsandlosses.Thatsoneofyoursecretweapons. You must keep detailed financial records. A business cannot be successful without detailed financials and neither can you. You must know exactly how much you have won or loss every time you play. Be precise. If you won $102.50, then make that your answer if anyone asks. Or maybe you lost $45.75. Get in the habit ofbeingexacting.Thatsthekeytotightplay. I started playing weekly Poker games with a group of friends about 10 years ago. I always enjoyed poker but never had the opportunity to play more than a few times a year. I enjoyed the group we played with, the food was good and it was great entertainment for the price. When I lost I always justified the moneyaspartoftheentertainmentcost.

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I was a typical weekend poker player. I had a few drinks, never really studied the rules in too much detail and was never too worriedaboutthelosses.Whatwas$50or$100amongfriends? Of course I never knew exactly how well I did although I had a sensethatIwaslosingmorethanmostoftheotherplayers.Iwrote thisofftothesuperiorplayingabilityofafewoftheotherguys. Then I read an article one day about gamblers. The study showed that weekend players always remembered and talked about their winningsbutrarelyfocusedordiscussedwhentheylost. Ialwayshadasensethatwastrue.Butwhy? Its called selective reasoning. Your brain is focusing on a few positive experiences, which reinforces continued playing. And blanks out on the negatives. Not a very reasonable approach to reallearning. Thats why they say that people who keep track, stay on the track. People who track their expenses in detail typically spend less moneyandsavemore. People who track their winnings and losses on the stock market in detail on a daily basis make more intelligent decisions and end theirtradingdaysandmonthswithbiggerwins. Peoplewhotrackcaloriesandfatwhileonadietlosemoreweight. Themoredetailedthetracking,thegreaterthesuccessofthediet. How successful do you want to be at cards? If you want to make moneythenstarttrackingyourefforts,yourwins,yourlosses.

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Pros knowexactlyhowmuchtheywonatagiventableandthey knowexactlyhowmuchtheylost. Asignofapro?HowmuchdidyouwinonWednesdaynight,you ask?$128.Notoverahundred.Oraboutahundred.Theyknowto the penny. Same if they lose. They will tell you they were up $545 butfinishedupthenightdown$62. YouneedtosoundlikeaProtobeapro. WhatdoesaProlooklike,soundlike,talklike,playlike? A Pro plays the game with intention. They focus. They dont play Poker online while watching TV or eating or having a conversation. A Pro talks about the game with clarity. Knows exactly what you won or lost or says nothing at all. Lack of clarity is a very bad habit for success in anything. Sloppy language means a sloppy approach. Its not cool to be sloppy about technique or practice in anyfieldofendeavour. AProtakesnotesduringplayandspendstimefollowingthegame to evaluate mistakes, to understand the game better, the review whattheyhavelearned.Takeclearandconciseanduseablenotes. A Pro studies the game, knows all the odds and the rules. They practice using Poker software simulations. They play the game with intention. And the review their play following the game by keeping detailed notes on wins, losses, and the things theyve learned. Whats the secret to being a great golfer? Study, practice, play, evaluate.

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Whats the secret to being a great musician? Study, practice, and play.Evaluate. Whats the secret to being a successful day trader? Study, practice, playthemarket,evaluate. Seeapatternhere? Whydoesthisprocesswork? I met a Sales person years ago that was one of the best in the business.Ispentthedaywithhertoseehowsheworked. First, she spent half an hour preparing to meet the customer. Most sales people no, all the sale people I had ever known just grabbed their sales kit and charged in. Then she practiced her presentation on one of her staff. Most people thought she was a littleunbalanced.Practiceyourpresentationbeforehand? Thenshewentinandmetwiththecustomer. Finally, when we got back in the car, instead of driving off to lunch, she thought about the meeting and made notes regarding whatshecouldhavedonebetter. She was coaching herself. Think about it. She was doing what you wouldhireacoachtodo. Why do most people need executive coaches, mentors, managers and trainers? Because it increases their productivity. Its a proven technique.Wehavehundredsofyearsofdataonthissubject. SoCoachYourself.

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Ifyouwanttodosomethingwell,thenbeyourowncoach. Do you see the value of this kind of thinking? It puts you in the zone. Poker is a game of mental toughness. There are a hundred factors that can come into play to rattle you, make you mad, take away your confidence, push you to tilt. Pros dont tilt. They are above the concerns of each hand. Focusing on how you want to play the game for a few minutes before each game can help to improve your game significantly. Athletes use this process every day to visualize their event, their performance and the end result. They are not wishing their way to a great performance, they are simply preparing their body and their mind to perform at peak efficiencyinexactlythewaytheyhaveseenthebestresults. Beforeagamecloseyoureyesforafewminutesandrelax.Breathe deeply and slowly three times. Visualize your stack and the table. See yourself acting calmly, intentionally. See the cards in front of you. See yourself dealt a nut hand. Stay calm. Breathe deep again. Play at the same pace you would if the cards were garbage. Keep anevenpaceofplay. A great example of the opposite of positive visualization is the kind of thinking we often see in players at bricks and mortar gambling casinos. I spoke to one manager in a casino who said most players said the same thing about their plans for playing. I brought $100 to lose, and thats when Ill quit. He said he rarely heard,Ivebrought$100dollarsandImgoingtowin. You are casino fodder before you ever get started with that losing approach. If you surrender to the card gods even before youstarttoplay,yourplayingstylewillbeaffectedandyouwill havetheoutcomeyoupreparedyourbrainfor.Tolose.

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Prepare yourself to win. Visualize your success at the table. This means more than just winning because sometimes the cards wont cooperate. Thats not important though because you are seeing the big picture. Youre improving everyday. Your game is getting better by the hour and you are winning more often. You are definitelyfeelingmoreconfidentatthetableaswell. And you thought playing online Texas Holdem poker was fun before?ToquoteAlJolsenYouaintseennothinyet.

TheoCage2004 Bestofluckatthevirtualpokertables. TheoCageisawriterandentrepreneurwholivesinCanadawith hiswifeandtwodaughters.

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TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER DICTIONARY

3BetThefirstreraise(putting3betsin). AbsoluteNutsThebestpossiblehand,basedontheboardcards. Sometimessimplycalledthenuts. Actiontheamountofmoneywageredbyaplayerduringaplaying session.Inpoker,theplacingofmoneyintothepot. Activeonewhoisstillinthepot. AllBlue(orAllPink)Aflush. AllInTopushallofyourremainingchipsintothepot. Anchortheplayersittinginthelastpositionatapokertablebeforethe dealer.Thisisthepersonwhomakesthefinaldecision,therebyanchoring thegame. Anteatermusuallyusedinpokertorefertothefirstmoneywageredon ahand,ortheminimumamountthateachplayerisrequiredtoputinto thepotbeforeanewhandcanbegin. AmericanAirlinesApairofAces. AnglingTakingactionortalkingwhenitisnotyourturninorderto misleadyouropponent.Someconsiderthistobecheating,othersconsider thesetacticstobeapartofthegame. AnimalNicknameforaplayerthatislooseaggressive.Animalsare involvedintoomanyhandsandwillalmostalwaysbetandraisewhen giventheopportunity,oftenwithgarbagehands.Alsoknownasa maniac.

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BabyAlowrankedcard(usually2through5). BackIntoTomakeahandthatisdifferentthanthehandyouwere originallytryingfor. BackdoorAnunfinishedhandthatrequireshelpfromboththeturnand riverinordertowin.Alsoknownasarunnerrunnerhand. BackdoorFlushes:Evenworsethenthegutshotisthebackdoorflush. Thisiswhenyouneedtwoperfectcardsofthesamesuittocomplete yourhand. BadBeatTohaveahandthatistheclearmathematicalfavouriteloseto aheavyunderdog(especiallyifthathandshouldnothavebeeninvolved inthepot). Bankrollthetotalamountofmoneyaplayerhasforagamingsession. BBAnabbreviationforBigBlind. BellyBusterAdrawtofillaninsidestraight,akaagutshot. Betawagerorgamble BettingLimitstheminimumandmaximumthatcanbewageredonone bet. BigBlindThepositiontwototheleftofthebutton,whoisforcedtopay afullsmallbetpriortotheholecardsbeingdealtinHoldem. BigChickInTexasHoldem,anAceandaQueen(suitedorunsuited)as yourholecards. BigSlickAnopenerofAKsuited

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BlindBetabetthatcertainpokerplayersarerequiredtomakeasaresult oftheirbettingposition. Bluffinpoker,playersbluffwhenraisingaweakhandinthehopeof drivingoutplayerswithastrongerhand. Bumptoraise BurnCardanycardplacedinthediscardrackwithoutbeingentered intoplay.Afterthedeckisshuffledandcut,onecardisburned. B&MBrickandMortar;areallifecasino(asopposedtoanonline casino). BigSlickInTexasHoldem,anAceandaKing(suitedorunsuited)as yourholecards. BlankAcardthatappearsuseless.Alsoknownasarag. BoardThecommunitycards. BoatFullhouse. BonusWhoringBelongingtoseveralonlinepokersitesandalways takingadvantageofeachdepositbonusoffered.See www.BonusWhores.comforupdatedinfo. BountyArewardgiveninatournamenttosomeonewhomeetscertain criteria.SomeexamplesofthesecriteriafromZootournamentsare: knockingacertainpersonoutofthetournament,winningwithacertain hand,andfinishingthetournamentisacertainposition. BRAnabbreviationforbankroll. BroadwayAnacehighstraight.

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BubbleFinishingatournamentinthespotnearestthemoney.Example: Ina60persontournament,ifthetop8spotspay,finishing9thwouldbe finishingonthebubble. BulletsApairofAces. BumpItToraise. BustOutToloseyourbuyin. ButtonThediskthatrepresentsthedealerinagivenhand. BuyInTheamountofmoneythatisnecessarytoplayaparticulargame, ortheamountofmoneythatyoutoplayagame. BuytheButtonBettingorraisinginordertomakeanyplayersbetween youandthebuttonfold.Ifsuccessful,youarenowlasttoactonany subsequentroundsofbetting. BuythePotTobluffbetorraiseinordertowinthepot. Chipstokensusedatgamingtablesinlieuofcash. ChopToreturntheblindstotheplayerswhopostedthemandmoveon tothenexthandifnobodycallstheblind. ChoppingtheBlindsWhen2playersagreetotakebacktheirblindbets ifthereisnoactionaheadofthem.Notethatonceyouagreetochopthe blindswithyourneighbour,youareexpectedtoalwayschoptheblinds withthem. Chumbaitthatisusedtoattracthungrysharksandsendthemintoa feedingfrenzy.Dontbechum. Coldaplayeronalosingstreak.

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ColdCallTocallmorethanonebetatatime.Notethatthisisnotthe sameascallingabet,thencallingasubsequentraisesinceyouarecalling 2singlebets. CompleteHandapokerhandthatisdefinedbyallfivecards.Thatisa straight,flush,straightflush,orafullhouse. Cutthedealerdividesthedeckofcardsintotwopartsandtheninverts themaftertheyhavebeenshuffled. ColorDownExchangingchipsforthoseofalowerdenomination. ColorUpExchangingchipsforthoseofahigherdenomination. ComeHandAdrawinghand.Example:Anopenendedstraightisa comehand. CompletetheBetWhenthesmallblindchoosestocallbyputtinginthe chipsnecessary ConnectorsConsecutivesuitedorunsuitedcardsthatassistinmakinga straight.. CounterfeitWhenyourhandlosesvaluebecauseaboardcard duplicatesitoraboardcardgivesothersasimilarhand.Example:You holdA4andtheboardisA74.Youhave2pair,whichisnowaheadof AK.Theturnisa7.Yourhandhasjustbeencounterfeited,sinceyour2 pairisnolongerasvaluableasitwaspriortotheturn. CowboysApairofKings. Cripple(anopponentTowinacriticalhandinatournament,leaving youropponentveryshortstacked.

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CrippletheDeckYourhandcontainsmostorallofthebeneficialcards thatcouldbeusedinconjunctionwiththeboard. CryingCallTocallwithnocardstocome,whileexpectingtolose. CutoffThepersontotherightofthebutton. DarkTakingaction,suchascheckingorbetting,withoutseeingyour holecards.Thisisalsousedwhenthepersonwhoisfirsttoacttakes actionpriortothenextboardcardbeingrevealed. DeadMoneyMoneythathasbeenputinthepotbypeoplewhoareno longerincontentiontowinthepot. Dealeracasinoemployeewhodealsthevariousgames. DropBoxonagamingtable,theboxthatservesasarepositoryforcash, markers,andchips. DominatedHandAhandthatcontains3orfeweroutsagainstanother hand.Example:AKdominatesAQ,sinceAQneedsoneoftheremaining3 QueensinthedeckinordertobeatAK.Ibelievethistermiscreditedto AbdulJalib. DoubleUpInnolimit,winningaheadsuppotwhenyouhavegoneall in(thus,doublingyourchiptotal). DucksApairofTwos. DumpTofoldahand. Edgethecasinosadvantageovertheplayerinanygame.Alsoknownas houseedge. EMPAnabbreviationforEarlyMiddlePosition.

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EPAnabbreviationforEarlyPosition. EPcoldCalledUTGsraise. FaceCardstheking,queenorjackofeachsuite. FamilyPotApotinwhichmanyplayersareinvolvedinthehand. FastUsedtodescribeplayingahandaggressively FishApoorpokerplayer,relativetotheircompetition. FlashToshowoneormoreofyourcards,usuallywhenitisnot required. FlatCallTocalloneormorebetswithoutraising,whenyouarequite surethatyouhavethebesthand.Seealsosmoothcall. FloorShortenedformofFloorPerson;acasinoemployeewhohelpsto seatplayersandmakesrulesdecisionswhenadisputearises. Flushahandconsistingoffivecardsofonesuit. Foldwhenaplayerdeclinesabetanddropsoutofthehand. FourOfAKindfourcardsofthesamerank.Alsoknownasquads. FullHouseahandconsistingofathreeofakindandapair ForcedBetAmandatorybet. FPSFancyPlaySyndrome.Playingtrickywhenyouprobablyshould haveplayedstraightforward.[personalnote:Ithinkthisshouldalso standforF#ckingPoorStrategy]

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FreeCardPlayBettingorraisinginlatepositionontheflopinthehopes thattheotherplayerswillchecktoyouontheturn,giveyoutheoptionof seeingtherivercardforfree. FreeRideAroundinwhichnoonebets. FreeRollHavingalockonhalfthepot,butalsohavingachancetowin thewholepot.Example:PlayerXholdsKsQc,andplayerYholdsKdQd andtheflopcomesKc7d4d.Bothplayersaretiedforthehighhand,but PlayerYisfreerollingbecausehecouldwintheentirepotifadiamond comes. FreezeOuttournamentthatonlyendswhenonepersonhaswonallof thetournamentchips. GrannyMaenicknameforhavingQs5sasyourholecards.Thisis creditedtolongtime2+2forumposterGrannyMae. Gutshots:Agutshotisastraightdrawwhereonlyonecardmakesyour hand. GutshotStraightAstraightthatrequiresaninsidecardtocomplete. AlsoknownasaBellyBuster. HandHistoryRecordsofgamesplayedatonlinesitesthatshowallof HitWhentheflopcardsarehelpfultoyourhand. HLAnabbreviationforHighlimit. HoldUpWhenahandthatisleadingmanagestowinthepotat showdown. HoleYouruniquecardsthatarehiddenfromeveryoneelse.Alsoknown aspocket.

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HooksApairofJacks. ImageTheperceptionthatotherpeoplehaveofyourplayingstyle. InsideStraightAstraightthatrequiresaninsidecardtocomplete,as opposedtoanopenendedstraight.Alsoknownasabellybusteror gutshot. JamLotsofaction,especiallyraising. KickerAcardusedasatiebreakerwhen2handarenearlyidentical.For example,if2handscontainapairofTens,thehandthathasthehighest cardinadditiontothepairofTenswouldwin.Thiscardiscalledthe kicker.Thus,apairofTenswithanAcekickerbeatsapairofTenswitha Queenkicker. Kill(orKillGame)Ahandthatisplayedfordoublestakesbasedonthe previoushandmeetingcertaincriteria. KillButtonAbuttonthatisplacedinfrontoftheplayerwhois responsibleforakillgame. KnuckleTocheck(asinknockingonthetable). KojakHavingaKingandaJackasyourholecards. LAGAnabbreviationforLooseAggressive. LayDownTofoldahand. LimpInToentertheroundbycallingabet,ratherthanraising. LongOddsAlowprobabilityofacertainthinghappening. MaverickstartinghandofQJ.

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ManiacNicknameforaplayerthatislooseaggressive.Maniacsare involvedintoomanyhandsandwillalmostalwaysbetandraisewhen giventheopportunity,oftenwithgarbagehands.Alsoknownasan animal. MarryTobecometooattachedtoahand,usuallyseeingashowdown whenitwasclearthatyoushouldhavefoldedearlier. MLAnabbreviationforMiddlelimit. MonsterAsuperiorhandthatisunlikelytolose. NLAnabbreviationforNolimit. NutThebestpossibletypeofhand,suchasnutflushornutstraight; thisisnotnecessarilytheabsolutenuts. NutsThebestpossiblehand,basedontheboardcards.Sometimescalled theabsolutenuts. OffsuitCardsthatarenotofthesamesuit. OpenRaiseRaisingasthefirstoneinthepotpreflop(ratherthansimply callingthebet). OptionThechoicegiventotheplayerinthebigblind,allowingthemto callorraise. OrbitOnecompleterotationaroundthetable. OutkickedTolosetoanotherhandwithabetterkickerthanyours. OutrunTobeatahandthatyouwerelosingtoonanearlierstreet. OutsCardsremaininginthedeckthatwillhelpyourhandwinapot.

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OvercallCallingabetafteratleastoneotherpersonhasalreadycalled. OvercardApocketcardthatishigherthanthehighestboardcard. OverpairApocketpairthatishigherthanthehighestboardcard. PaintAnothertermforafacecard. Passtonotbet,tofold. PayOffTocallariverbetwhentheprioractionleadsyoutobelievethat youarebeat,butthepotisbigenoughtomakethecallreasonable. PeelOneOffDecidingtoseetheturnorriverwhentheoddsdontquite justifyacall. PFAnabbreviationforpreflop. PocketYouruniquecardsthatarehiddenfromeveryoneelse.Also knownashole. PocketRocketsAnothertermfor2acesasyourholecards. PopTobetorraise. PostTopaytheblind(s)whennotinthebigblindposition,oftendone whenfirstsittingatatableorwhenyousatoutandmissedyourturnto paytheblinds. PosterSomeonewhopostedduringthecurrenthand. Pottheamountofmoneythataccumulatesinthemiddleofthetableas eachplayerantes,bets,andraises.Thepotgoestothewinnerofthehand. PrestoHoldingapairof5sasyourholecardsinTexasHoldem.

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Puckbutton. Push(ahand)Toplayahandaggressively. PutTosuspectthatsomeonehasacertainhand. QuadsFourofakind. RagAcardthatappearsuseless.Alsoknownasablank. RaggedAboardcontainingcardsthatdontappearhelpful. RailbirdGameobservers.Railbirdsshouldnotcommentongameplay. RainbowAboardthatcontainsalldifferentsuits,makingitimpossible foraflushonthenextcard. Raiseaplayerraisesbymatchingthepreviousbetandthenbetting more,toincreasethestakeforremainingplayers. Rakethemoneythatthecasinochargesforeachhandofpoker.Itis usuallyapercentage(510%)orflatfeethatistakenfromthepotafter eachroundofbetting. RainbowThreeoffourcardsofdifferentsuits Ranktheworthofasetofcards. RingGameAgamethatisplayedforactualstakes,asopposedtoa tournamentgame.Alsoknownasalivegame. RiveredLosingahandontheriver,whileyouwereaheadandtheclear favoriteontheturn.Canalsobeusedtodescribeahandbeingmade usingtherivercard.

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RockAtightplayerwhoisnormallyonlyinvolvedinhandsinwhich he/sheistheheavyfavoritetowin.Arockwillgenerallyonlybetorraise withtopnotchhands. RockGardenAgamecomprisedofmanyrocks. RocketsAnothertermfor2acesasyourholecards. ROIAnabbreviationforReturnonInvestment. RounderAprofessionalpokerplayer. RoundersAmoviereleasedin1998thatportraysMattDamonand EdwardNortonaspokerplayers. RoyalFlushanacehighstraightflush;thebestpossiblehand. RunnerRunnerAcomehandthatrequireshelpfromboththeturnand riverinordertowin.Alsoknownasabackdoorhand. RunningBadLosingforaperiodoftime. SandbagAnothertermforslowplaying. SBAnabbreviationforsmallblind. ScareCardAboardcardthatcaneasilyturnawinninghandintoa losinghand.TheclassicscarecardexampleiswhenyouholdKKand boardflopsanAce. ScoopWinninganentirepot,usually(butnotnecessarily)byhavinga handthatisboththehighandlowhandinasplitgame. ScootingGivingsomeoneasmallamountofchipswhenyouwinapot. Alsocalledhorsing.

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SellaHandPlayingaverystronghandweaklyinordertodisguiseyour strengthandkeepotherplayersfromfolding.Alsoknownasslow playing. SemiBluffAtermcoinedbyDavidSklansky.Tobetorraisewithmore cardstocomewhenyoubelieveyourhandiscurrentlybeaten,buthasa fairchanceofimprovingintothebesthand. SessionAperiodoftimespentplayinginapokergame,normally measuredinhours. SetThreeofakindwhenyouholdapairinyourhandandathirdshows ontheboard. ShortStackArelativelysmallamountofchips(ascomparedtotheother playersatthetable).Alsousedtoidentifytheplayerwho SidePotTheextrapotthatiscreatedwhensomeonegoesallin.The personwhowentallinisonlyeligibleforthemainpot,nottheside pot(s). Singletonacardthatistheonlyoneofitsrank. SlowDownTostopplayingahandasaggressivelyasitwasplayedon earlierstreets. SlowPlayPlayingaverystronghandweaklyinordertodisguiseyour strengthandkeepotherplayersfromfolding.Alsoknownas sandbagging. SmallBetInalimitgame,thesmallerofthetwobetsinthebetting structure.Therefore,ina10/20game,each$10betisconsideredasmall bet.

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SmallBlindThepositiononetotheleftofthebutton,whoisforcedto payafraction(usually1/2or2/3)ofasmallbetpriortotheholecards beingdealtinHoldem. SmoothCallTocalloneormorebetswithoutraising,whenyouare quitesurethatyouhavethebesthand.Seealsoflatcall. SNGAnabbreviationforaSitandGotournament,asopposedtoa scheduledtournament. SpikeForthenextboardcardtobeaspecificrankthatyouneedtohelp yourhand. SplashTossingyourchipsintothepot,ratherthanplacingthemonthe tableinfrontofyourcards.Splashingthepotisfrownedupon. SpreadForacasinoorpokerroomtoofferacertainpokergame. StackTheamountofmoneyyoucurrentlyhaveatthetable. Stealtowinthepotbybluffing. StealtheBlindsPreflopopenbettingfromthecutofforbuttoninthe hopesthateveryonefollowingyouwillfold. SteamingPlayingrecklessly,usuallyasaresultofabadbeat(realor perceived).Alsoknownastiltortilting. Straightinpoker,ahandconsistingoffivecardsofconsecutiveranks. StraightFlushahandconsistingoffivecardsofconsecutiveranksofthe samesuit. StraddleAnoptionalraisebythepersontotheimmediateleftofthebig blind,declaredbeforethecardsaredealt.Alsoknownasalivestraddle, becausethatsamepersonthenhastheoptiontoreraise.

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StringBetAraisethatisnotdoneinonesinglemotion(thisisnot allowedinanycasino,tomyknowledge).Thepurposeofstringbettingis tocallabet,quicklygaugeyouropponentsreactions,thendecidethat youdliketoraiseinstead StuckLosing,ofteninregardstoacertainamountofchips. SuckOutTowinahandwithahandthatwasaheavyunderdog.This impliesthatthewinnershouldnothavebeeninthehand,andwasvery luckytowinthepot. SweatObservingallorpartofasessionthatoneplayerisinvolvedin, withtheirconsent. TAAnabbreviationforTightAggressive. TableCoachThetableknowitallwholikestotelleveryonehowheor sheshouldbeplayingtheircards. TapOutLosingallofyourmoney. TellsAtellinpokeriswhenyoupickuponthebehaviourofanother playerthatgivesyouastrongsenseofthestrengthorweaknessoftheir hand. ThreeBetThefirstreraise(putting3betsin). ThreeOfAKindthreecardsofthesamerank. ThripsThreeofakind. ThrowingaPartyWhenseverallooseoramateurplayersaremaking significantmonetarycontributionstothepot. TiltPlayingrecklessly,usuallyasaresultofabadbeat(realor perceived).Alsoknownassteaming.

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TrapWhenoneplayeriscaughtbetween2(ormore)bettors/raisers, andisunlikelytowinthepot. TwoPairahandconsistingoftwosetsofpairsandasingleton. UndertheGunThefirstplayertoactinagivenroundofbetting. UnderdogAhandthatisunlikelytowinthepot. UnderpairApocketpairthatislowerthanthelowestboardcard. ValueBetAbetinwhichyouwishforyouropponent(s)tocall.This couldbebecauseyouhavethebestorhandorbecauseyouhaveenough outsinordermakethisbetprofitableinthelongrun. WalkingSticksApairofsevens. WheelA5highstraight,alsoknownasabicycle. WiredPairHoldingapairinthehole. Whaleahighroller. WPTAnabbreviationfortheWorldPokerTour.