This poker article is a review of free poker online games and is specifically looking at the quality of the games in terms of their usefulness as training aids for poker players wanting to play against real people for money online.

To make clear, what we are reviewing are poker game downloads you play against the computer by yourself as opposed to the kind of free poker game downloads you're able to play at most poker online websites that feature free training play games versus other new players or people testing strategy.

This evaluation looks at the best selling download poker game around, that is the Governor of poker games series and the links are to parts 1 and 2, suitable for both pc and mac downloads..

Truly free?
Each game is $6.99 however, you can try free before buying since they provide a poker games free download complete version test for pc and Mac, so there isn't anything to lose.

Now on to the details, what are these games like? Here is my summary of what you could call the sales pitch/description:

Governor of Poker 1
Governor of Poker, a poker game like you’ve never seen before. Discover if you've got what it takes to go up against the Pro players of the old west? Dare to join a tournament or a cash game and perhaps bet ‘all in’. Does it satisfy you to totally clean the table of players and win all their cash and even their property. Can you rise to the challenge and become the Governor of Poker and lord it over all Texas?

But once you're done with Governor of Poker 1 you won't have had enough! Lucky for you there is Governor of Poker 2 Premium with lots and lots of extra’s!

Governor of Poker 2
This sequel features many changes. Towns and become cities and many new people have arrived. It’s all good, but some things cannot be accepted just like that! Now there are loads more cities to conquer, more tournaments to play, interactive wallpaper, downloadable theme music and an extra Pro level of difficulty.

And then there is the biggest challenge of all. It's the most exciting adventure in the Wild West, fighting the ban on Poker!

In Governor of Poker 2 you will also find a poker training tutorial feature. Play all new tournaments up to 120 opponents in 19 cities and 27 poker locations. It also includes a bounty hunter game, where you win cash prizes when eliminating an opponent or play against a whole team of players!

Plus you can set up your own tournaments and, for real risk takers, get bank loans. You can choose to get to your next games by train, river casino boat or stage coach, naturally you can play poker while travelling.

Get yourself customized hats for style and also to unlock new game locations. Look for opponent tells based on emotions like nervous, on fire, steamy and tilted. And to regain your Governor status beat the 9 most notorious poker players in the west!

User reviews - Is Governor of poker any good?
The reviews we have found for Governor of poker 1 and 2 have been mixed. Seems Governor of poker games are love it or hate it - so get the free poker games downloads version first and try it and see what camp you're in!

What does seem key is that it is more a game than a real life training sim. If you want real poker against people simulation and training then this is not quite there. For that you need to play the free poker games downloads training games that you can find on most major sites, try NoPayPOKER.com for a beginning.

One area where the Governor of poker games can help even those who want real life simulation is with the processes of the different types of games and the terminology, so they are good for beginners as you can learn all about how poker works which can save you some blushes and maybe a few tart comments when you play against real people.

So you'll be fully familiar with position, the blinds, betting, raising, folding and so on and hopefully an idea on what hands to play and NOT to play. It is also possible to set a difficult skill level which some have said is much harder that most real life games so it may help you get ready to go up against some real sharks!

But if what you want is a fun poker game, one that is also suitable for kids to play then the Governor of poker series is one you should look at. Give the Governor of Poker games free download for pc or Mac a go today.

In Texas Holdem real money and free online poker intermediate connectors such as 8,7 and 7,5 are played as they are the best hands with which you can hit a Straight with. With an 8,7 for example, you can make 4 Straights (3 of them nuts), and with 7,5 you can look for 3 Straights (2 of them nuts). The difficulty is, as ever, how to play them to the best effect so in this free online poker coaching article that is what we will give you some pointers on.

Intermediate connectors aren\'t played as strongly whenever they Pair. For instance, when you have 8-7 and the Flop comes K-7-2, you can be justifiably concerned with the King and you may fold.

Also, it is likely that you can flop Two-Pair. With 8-7 and a Flop of 8-7-A, you can get a person with A-K in trouble.

If both of you continue until the end, and your opponent\'s hand doesn\'t improve, he will slow it down trying to show it down. If he improves, you will know if he bets, and you can just pay him off. He can pair his kicker or not, but either way you\'ve still got a decent showdown hand.

The best play (for you) the opponent can make is to call all-in or move all-in on the Flop (in a tournament). However, this is only the case if the difference in chips between you and the all-in\'er is large. If you\'ve got close to the same number of chips, your 8,7 may not be strong enough as your opponent may be willing to only call you with something like A,8 or, worse, 7,7.

Or he may call you with A-K and suckout when he pairs his Ace, his kicker, or when, say, a Ten hits the Turn, and another 10 hits the river then his Two-Pair is superior. If one stack is small and the other large, and you have the little stack then you\'ve a good hand someone holding an A-K might be prepared to call. If you have the large stack, your all-in opponent may be anxious for a call with his A-x (without Two-Pair) until he knows you have him steamrollered.

Usually you stay in the hand Two-Pair until you hit a Full House. With this hand, play it just like you would play a made five-card hand - value betting, pretending to bluff, slow-playing (pick your choice). However, should the Board comes 8-7-5, you might be willing to play it more slowly because if the Board comes 4, Six or Nine, your Two-Pair could be almost unplayable.

In the Flop, bet substantially to push a Straight draw out. Should your opponent calls, it might signify a Straight draw. Should your opponent moves all-in or pushes you all-in, then call - or not call.

You are still the favorite over a Straight draw. You can also hit a Full House later. But in addition you can decide not to call since your opponent might have a made Straight. In an 8,7,5 board, the probability of a Flopped Straight is fairly small as players don\'t play 9,6 or 6,4 very much.

However, you should be careful in a Board of 8-7-J or 8-7-4, as their connectors are consecutive numbers, i.e. 10-9 and 6-5, and players, especially experienced ones, play these more often.

However, even if the Board comes something like 8-7-4-5-Q, providing you are sure, or even half-sure, that your opponent doesn\'t have the 6, bet a small bet on the river. Should your opponent has 9-8 or Q-x, you might be paid off.

Should your opponent had the 6, you may be pushed, but you can fold without losing much. The thing is, you need to maintain your aggression most of the time as part of your image, and you can do this by value-betting. If your opponent didn\'t possess the Six, he may believe that you had the Six, and he may fold, too.

And finally, here\'s an addendum to our earlier example. Should you have 8-7 and the Flop comes K-7-2, you can fold. However, you can also call a bet - you hope that your opponent had A-K - and if an Eight comes and you bet big, how will your opponent know you had another 8 in the hole? So long as you feel your opponent does not have K-8 or K-7 (not likely) the two of you can get it all-in on the Turn - and you\'ll emerge almost a victor.

This can be a fairly complex subject and if you\'re not quite getting it then go play free poker to learn it the only real way you can which is to do it for real but learn to play poker free so that any mistakes you make don\'t set you back anything apart from time.

We are very exited to announce that free online poker NoPay resident pro D M Vadnais who is the master of the pen as well as the cards is putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) again to produce a new and exclusive poker lesson series for NoPayPOKER members.

Given the addition of the many relationships established between us here at free online poker NoPayPOKER and 'real money' online poker sites such as PartyPoker, Feltstars and Titan we have asked our Resident Professional, D. Michael Vadnais, to develop a series of Articles on 'How To' successfully play in the 'Real Money' games.

Many players start out on NoPay in order to learn how to play poker in safety, at no risk of loss. After gaining confidence and skill the next step is to play real cash poker on one of the many online poker money sites.

There are however some differences between online free poker and the cash game and this series is intended to guide free players though the change so that they can make the transition to cash poker as smoothly and profitably as possible.

The new series of Articles will be posted exclusively at NoPayPoker. There will be a total of seven (7) Articles, and a new Article will be available to NoPay members each month.

All of the Articles will be 'tutorials'; designed to make you a 'Real Money' winner at online poker money sites.

The first Article will be posted in April of 2011, and the last Article will be posted in October of 2011.

So, look for the individual Articles at the beginning of April, May, June, July, August, September, and October. And, if you've put NoPayPoker winnings into one or more of the Internet Gaming Sites, read -- learn -- and win big !!!!

The following list, and a brief content summary, identifies each of the 7 Articles:

Article 1: HOPE FOR THE VERY BEST; EXPECT THE WORST

• The 'rule of 80'; it's a world of age-grouped players
• Constant change; new players come and go
• Quality of play; stakes and levels often equate
• Farm animals; the pasture dwellers are everywhere

• Patience; 50% of your poker talent resides here
• Collusion; your eyes won't lie, and players do cheat
• RNG's; not all random number generators are equal
• Bots; they exist, they win, and they can be identified

• Your bankroll; the 'rule of 5', never more than 5 percent
• Your emotions; no highs, no lows, nothing but a constant
• Your cash; know your risk tolerance, it's not fake money
• Your mind set; positive for playing, negative for gardening

• Ace/paint; formidable, playable, and usually profitable
• Paint/paint; not early, sometimes middle, and often late
• Pocket pairs; set-mining, JJ problems, and the big three
• Suited ace; seeking the nut flush or the competitive straight

• Know the competition; stay focused, and compile notes
• Between 2 & 17 outs; identify your outs, identify the board's outs
• Pot odds/implied odds; fast-tracking arithmetic calculations
• Defense wins money; the current 'nuts' is worth defending

• Suited connectors; a family pot generates your interest
• Soft 3x and hard 3x; don't permit a read on your style
• Late position aggression; limpers can fill your wallet
• Slow-playing big hands; getting fed by the farm animals

• Finish the puzzle; the pieces are present, assemble them
• Always an 'A' game; earn the money, gifts are fairly rare
• Make the $ yours; maintain a bankroll, pocket the profits
• The B & M journey; if you're ready, brick & mortar is nearby

Free poker players looking to learn how to play poker like a pro should also read D M Vadnais's other superb lesson series, they in depth series are intended to take a player from abject beginner to advanced skill level and can be read now on the NoPayPOKER blog. See all the NoPayPOKER lessons at this table of lesson contents Learn How to Play Poker page

In this poker online freelearn how to play poker guide we are going to unravel lots of the code words and phrases used in poker to name the various cards hand combinations. By the end you won't be absolutely confused when trying to play poker and words such as Jay Birds, Big Slick and Kojak (to name just some) are being quoted!!

First lets look at individual card names. Then the ranked order of 'pocket cards' (what you get dealt at the start of a poker game).

Pocket card hands are divided into paired (cards that are the same such as Ace-Ace) and unpaired but still playable such as Ace-King. Finally you’ll learn some of more popular and famous hands.

Depending on where you play you may hear the 13 cards used in poker called several different names. They are also commonly referred to by a letter or their number.

- Ace - Bullet, Rocket
- King - Cowboy, Monarch
- Queen - Lady, Dame, Dyke (Q)
- Jack - Knave, Hook, Fishhook, (J)
- 10 - Dime
- 9 - Niner (9)
- 8 - Snowman, Fat Lady, Ocho
- 7 - Hockey Stick (7)
- 6 - Boot
- 5 - Spot (5)|Jesse James
- 4 - Sailboat, Sharp Top, Four spot (4)
- 3 - Trey, Crab (3)
- 2 - Deuce, Duck (2)

Now when you begin a poker game you get two cards called your pockets or pocket cards.

If you get 2 cards of the same type, e.g., 2 Queens, then you have what are known as a Pocket Pair, this happens about 6-7% of the time (or once every 16 deals)

In order of "power" they are:

- AA - Pocket Rockets, Rockets, Bullets, or American Airlines
- KK - Cowboys, King Kong, Gorillas, Kangaroos, Monarchs, or Krispy Kreme
- QQ - Ladies, Hookers, or Siegfried & Roy
- JJ - Fishhooks, Hooks, Jokers, or Jay Birds
- TT - Dimes or Tension
- 99 - Gretzky, Popeye's, or Phil Hellmuth
- 88 - Snowmen, Fat Ladies, Dog Balls, or Race Tracks
- 77 - HockeySticks, SunsetStrip, or Mullets
- 66 - Route 66, Kicks, or Cherries
- 55 - Presto, Speed Limit, or Nickels
- 44 - Magnum, Sail Boats, or Middle Age
- 33 - Crabs or Treys
- 22 - Ducks, Pocket Swans, or Deuces.

While pocket pairs are great to have they just don't happen often enough to be your only playable hand option.

The following unpaired pockets though, are ones you may play depending on the risk and cost in the game and what you're reading from other players, in order of potential, they are:

- AK - Big Slick or Walking back to Houston
- AQ - Little Slick, Big Chick, or Doyle Brunson
- AJ - Blackjack, Ajax, or Jackass
- AT - Bookend or Johnny Moss
- A5 - High Five
- A4 - Topped Four
- A3 - Ashtray or Baskin and Robbins
- A2 - Hunting Season or Acey-Deucy
- KQ - Marriage (if suited) or Mixed Marriage (if not suited)
- KJ - Kojak, King John, or Tucson Monster
- KT - Kate or Katie
- QJ - Maverick or Oedipus
- QT - Quentin Tarantino
- JT - Days of Old
- T9 - Paint Plus Connector
- 98 - Oldsmobile
- 87 - RPM
- 76 - Union Oil
- 65 - Medicare
- 54 - Jesse James or Colt.

There are many names for the bigger and final hand combos, here are a few of the ones you may hear more often.

- KKK - Alabama Night Riders or Three Wise Men
- TTT - Thirty Miles of Bad Road
- 222 - Huey, Dewey and Louie.
- AA88Q - Dead Man's Hand
- AKQJT - Broadway
- A5432 - Wheel
- 3 of a Kind - Set (if you possess a pocket pair matched by a 'community card')
- 3 of a kind - Trips (if one is in your pocket and two are 'community cards')
- Full House - Boat or All The In-Laws
- 4 of a Kind - Quads or Quad Set.

I hope this was a fun and useful article, if you are at the stage of learning the card names then I suggest when you play you play poker online free where you can learn without fear of loss.

For even more learn how to play poker poker online free guides and to actually play online free poker go check out the http://www.NoPayPOKER.com poker online free blog and site. At NoPay you'll find poker online free lessons covering beginner to expert levels, and you can play online free poker totally risk free for real cash prizes.

In the second part of my learn how to play poker online free poker online course we're moving on from the basic game structure outlined in part one.

In this lesson you will learn exactly how and hand of poker is played out and at the end will be able to start playing (if tentatively!)

To begin, the action starts as the blind bets are laid by the Small and Big Blinds (SB and BB). Now the cards get into action. If this means nothing to you go back to How To Play Poker For Beginners part 1.

From the Dealer Button (DB) going clockwise rounf the table each player gets 2 cards, face down, handed out one at a time (so the DB goes round the table twice). These are also called Pocket Cards or hole cards.

Now the betting begins; and, after all, isn't that why you decided to take up the game of poker? That is why I'm sure you now find yourself seated at a free poker online tournament table isn't it? The whole betting and winning with it's associated moves of dare and deception is the main reason you've joined that online poker site be it free poker online or massive stakes isn't it?

Of course that's why you're there, poker is all about winning money at the end of the day! Nothing more, nothing less (with the possible exception of social interaction in the chat lobby or the table's chat box).

At this stage in the hand (holding 2 pocket cards), each player is betting on what hand they feel their pocket cards may lead to.

The betting starts with the player to the immediate left of the Big Blind (BB).

This player is often referred to as the 'Under The Gun' (UTG) position at the table. This is because the Small and Big Blind position players were forced to lay down bets before they got any cards.

Thus, both the SB and BB are already participating in the hand; albeit not voluntarily, at least not yet; they'll have to wait until the betting comes around to them.

And, with this round of betting, each player has three choices:

1) To fold. Usually when they think that their pocket cards are garbage (or rags). You won't lose anything as you have no chips in play but you will now sit out the rest of the hand.

2) To raise. Usually when they think that they hold really good pocket cards.

3) Or to call, (match) the Big Blind. You may do this if you think your cards have at least a bit of potential.

A 4th option you may have heard of, checking, often available in subsequent betting rounds, isn't an option at this stage.

When the betting reaches the person who posted the Small Blind (SB), if they want to fold then they'll lose the chips they were forced to put into the pot prior to the cards being dealt. Or, as SB you can Call the BB by putting in the difference between the SB and BB amounts. Or as SB you can choose to Call whatever Raise has been made, make a new Raise or Re-raise the bet amounts to a new level, I advise you watch and learn this process at the start and as SB keep it simple and just Call the BB unless you have awful cards in which case fold them.

Then, the Big Blind (BB) player gets to act. If there has been no raise then the BB can Check (do nothing and let the play pass by), or Call, Raise or Re-raise.

About Raises
As this is a No Limit Texas Hold Em tournament, the amount of any one raise is only limited by the number of chips the player who is doing the raising is in possession of. If say the chip stack is 1500 then the player can raise by any amount upto 1500.

If the player uses all the chips then this is the infamous All In bet. Any time a player raises with all their chips it is called Moving All-in.

And, of paramount importance, especially since you're at the how to play poker online level of the game, make sure that YOUR use of an All-In bet is minimal.

Please do not become yet another free online poker 'chip-flinger' (someone who tosses chips around without regard to the quality of their cards).

When the opening round of betting is completed it's time to see 'The Flop'. Things will now start to get really interesting!

The Flop is the set of three cards that are dealt face up in the middle of the table by the Dealer.

1) Each player can use these community cards' to build their hand. Be sure you read up on what card hands beat what so you have an idea of what you can build!

2) Again, as here-to-fore mentioned, the center of the table where these cards are dealt is commonly known as 'The Board'.

3) With 'The Flop' exposed, it's time for another round of betting. And, the betting that will occur is based on the 5 cards currently available to each player, i.e., 2 Pocket cards and 3 Board' cards.

The betting commences with the player to the immediate left of the Dealer Button, regardless of whether the Dealer is still active in the hand or not.

The player to the left of the Dealer Button will keep the initial betting action throughout the hand. Later, you'll come to learn that this is the worst position to be in at the table.

Apart from that, the betting process is the same as it was in 'pre-flop' betting. However, keep in mind, all of the players who were dealt 'Pocket' cards may not be currently playing the hand as they could have folded during the opening round of betting.

So, whichever remaining player is 'to the immediate left' of the Dealer Button (DB), it is that person who will be the first player to act; throughout the hand providing he doesn't fold.

He is able to check or bet.

A) If he checks, he's simply passing the choices of checking or betting to the player who sits to his left.

B) If he doesn't check, and decides to bet, then those who follow will have 3 choices:

1) They can fold

2) They can call

3) Or they can raise. But, since a bet was made, those who follow do not have the option of 'checking'.

When the round of betting has finished, it's time for another card to be dealt face up on The Board.

This fourth card is called The Turn card, or 4th Street, and, again, the card can be employed by all of the remaining players (those players that have not folded). It's another 'community card'.

Thus, each remaining player now has access to 6 cards, 4 Board cards, and 2 Pocket cards. Now there are 4 cards on The Board, one additional card to come.

It is now time for the fifth and final community card to be dealt: The River, or 5th Street.

And, given that all the cards have now been dealt, each player remaining in the hand can see what their best five card hand is. Therefore, it's now time for the final round of betting. And, once the betting ends, the hand is over.

It's time to see who wins.

Each player that has remained in the hand shows their cards, beginning with the last person to initiate a bet. At a cash or free online poker site the software will handle the process of showing the cards.

The winner is decided via use of the universal poker hand rankings. You'll find that in subsequent chapter; entitled 'What Beats What'.

If a player wins a pot because every other player has folded, he can decide whether to show his cards or not.

The majority of people don't, and it's typically advised by me to never show your cards. If you're not required to do so; keep 'em guessing!

Yet, when you reach an 'advanced level' of play, you'll get an entirely different perspective from me. You see, there are times when 'deceitful strategies' are going to be added to your acquired set of playing skills. And, a part of the 'deceitful strategies' will have you showing your cards. Not now though.

Summing up How To Play Poker For Beginners Free Online Poker Rules Part 2

In part 1 you learned the bare bones of poker, the structure and concepts of the game. Now that you've read part 2 you ought to now understand the specific mechanics of a hand of poker. In part 3 we will move on to more poker words and terminology, those crazy card and hand nicknames will be unveiled! But as long as you've understood the first 2 parts now you can go and start to play poker. It's a very good idea though to firstly read and print off a sheet on what card hands beat what! Then you will have some sort of idea whether you should fold, call, raise or check!

At this stage I strongly urge you not to attempt to play on sites where real cash is involved, you cannot help but lose all or nearly all of it 99% certain!

Have patience (by the way that is a key poker skill you have to master) and begin out on one of the excellent free poker sites you will find online. Later when you are more skilled there's lots of time to win plenty of cash and the time spent playing free online poker will set you up for this.

Nick runs marketing for leading free poker online site NoPayPOKER.com. NoPayPOKER.com uses a faux currency called FreeD which means the poker is 100% risk free, this makes it the perfect place to how to play poker online, plus if you're more experienced it's a great place to practice, oh and the the fact that the FreeD can be cashed in for real Dollars is a nice touch too!

Typically, the sage advice for average poker players who play free poker tournaments and find themselves playing a pot against good players is for the average player not to play the pot at all. In cash games, in a table surrounded by good players, the "novice player" only has to leave and find an easier table. But in tournament poker, it is not so simple to avoid being trapped on a table with some good or even exceptionally talented poker players.

In this article you will learn why good players will generally easily beat the novice, and, if you are a novice or less advanced player what you can try to do to survive and even prosper if you find yourself circled by hungry sharks!

A good player can normally easily beat the novice as he knows the patterns novice player tend to follow, given the Board cards, the novice's actions and the position. Good players can also put them on a hand.

They will know if a novice player is holding a suited connector; a pocket pair, or even, in some extreme cases, a Set. The good player knows to play a Straight weak or even fold it when the Board pairs and the novice suddenly dumps down loads of his chips.

Let us make some systematic analysis about our novice player. For the purpose of this we will say that a player wins a pot when, he wins the hand in a showdown or he makes all his opponents fold. If we want our novice player to win a pot against a good player, what kinds of hands should he play, and how?

For example, if the novice aims to win the showdown. Then he has to play the good players through the preflop, turn and river. At each stage the good player will get more information from the novice player than the novice player can get from the good player.

If the good player has more information, then he knows immediately whether the novice player has a good hand or not. He can continue to showdown and probably win a big pot, if he keeps on value-betting our novice. Or he can lose a small pot, if he slows down and just checks. Or he is able to make the novice fold.

Suppose our novice now tries to make his opponents fold. (Let us assume the Board can help him only a little, and his hand, from the flop up to the river, will not be of showdown quality.) During the flop, turn, and the river, the good player will extract more inferences from the Board cards than the novice player will.

If our novice, who normally has the tendency to get excited, overrepresents a hand unnecessarily, then he will just be called by the good player (unless he plays really strongly, but he can't overdo this either).

From these, we gather that the pieces of information needed to make a decision is:

1. Your cards.

2. Your perception of your opponents' cards.

3. The Board cards.

4. Tells your opponent gives away.

5. Tells you reveal to your opponent.

6. Previous tendencies of each player.

7. Position.

Both the novice as well as the good player has (1) and (3), but the good player's judgment is usually more accurate with all these criteria. A good player, for instance, will believe that 8-7 (his cards) is not so nice-looking in a flop of 10-7-3 (the Board cards), but a novice player may. As for (4), (5), and which stems from (1), (2) and (3), the good player is usually more aware of these. And good players care more for (7) than novice ones.

So if our novice wants to play a pot against a good player, he cannot really rely fully on the information above, for he cannot interpret them well. So our novice should find a spot in which the good player also cannot rely on most of the information above, so that they will be on equal footing. When is it? Answer: Preflop. How to play? All-in.

Preflop, your perception of your opponent's cards is less accurate than after the flop falls. Also, because there are no Board cards yet, tells are less reliable. Finally, because a novice is less likely to have previous tendencies resulting from experience, the good player has little hold on . And preflop all-ins are dependent on hand strength mainly than position.

By moving all-in you may make your opponent fold (which is a win) or entice him to a showdown. Don't call yourself all-in, however, unless you have a premium hand. Once your opponent does this move, if he is a good opponent, he knows you are vulnerable.) When he does want a showdown, he is deprived of postflop information that may increase his chances of making an good decision. At this point, although the good player is still good, he has to play in terms of novice play.

The good hands the novice may have are still the traditional all-in hands: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, etc. A-K (or similar) is quite shaky, but if you can lull someone with 7-7 to play with you, you are still about 50-50 with him.Whereas if you take him to the Flop, he will have more possibilities to play his 7-7 better than you would play your A-K, and you will be defeated most of the time. Let us say your chance to win above is just 25% postflop; why don't you take the 50-50 instead?

Summing up

It takes some time to learn how to play poker online or offline at a level above the unthinking donk "chip flinging" seen on many free poker tables.Most players it seems can't or won't put the time in, they claim to play just for fun which misses out on the key fact that winning lots and beating all these "fun" players is a lot more fun!

Yes it is crazy that so many play with so little skill, but it is also very good news for you as a player who aims to learn to play well. That's because once you learn to play poker with above average skill and are able to combat the "all-in-all the time" donk maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated massacres anytime you like. This can mean really good easy money in low stakes money online games and in free online poker tournaments games that pay out real cash such as those found at http://www.NoPayPOKER.com.

To make this work first, play free poker tournaments to learn to play poker online free where you can learn while you lose but without losing real money, then once ready to can move up to low stakes and start to make some serious poker cash!

What do you do with a big hand preflop when you have a big stack, like K-K? And how might the other players react? Whether you play free poker games for pennies or high stakes in Monaco this is a critically important situatio and you need to know how to play it best.

Here is a great example from the WSOP:

BLINDS 40,000/80,000

A has As-10c moves all-in (Pot 1.296m)
B has K-K reraises to 5m (Pot 6.296m)

B has two options here. He can call and wait for an opponent to go all-in, though that would make him think...

Could it be A-A? Or Q-Q? If it was Q-Q there is a slight chance he might fold K-K, and regret it. But a big reraise can drive Q-Q or lower out, like what happened to another player:

C has Jd-Jc

(C’s comments on B’s hand were: “Why did you make it so much? ... You like your hand that much?�) If C calls, it’s for all of his chips.

C may think that B has A-K, but there are two all-ins in front of him, and one of them might be A-X (and with A-X he is still not safe) or a pair, but a suspiciously heavy raise to about 60 times the big blind is almost always a signal for A-A or K-K. So C could wait for a better opportunity than now.

C folds (Pot 2.39m)

C’s fold was brilliant, after the reraise, but it will still be brilliant even if B did not reraise. B might bet again on the Flop and C may not continue and just let go of the chips.

B’s reraise will work if he has A-A or K-K, but I doubt it if he will do the same with A-K or Q-Q, but it may have the same effect of making C fold. As for A, let us wish for his good health. B won the hand later.

In summary - Big Hand Preflop
I know this may seem like a lot to take in all at once, the fact is though that while poker is an easy game to learn it is hard to be very good at, hence the crazy stupid "chip flinging" you will come across on many poker sites.

Ironically the fact that so many players inhabit this dumb donk zone is great news for you. The reason why is that when you really learn how to play poker well you can turn mercenary and hunt them down in droves in low stakes real money games as well free poker games sites that pay out real money like NoPayPOKER and happily build your skills and bankroll!

As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and learn how to play poker on the free poker games tables to get it nailed.

In this free online poker tips guide you will learn how to recognize and play the poker hand known as the "Big Hand".

The point of poker hand reconstruction is to learn how to play poker better by understanding how the hand works.

This can then be related to the context of play. You can start to get meaningful insight the motives of your opponents based on the cards, betting patterns, player profile types, stack sizes, pot size and other relevant factors.

The result I hope is that you can play that type of hand better in the future and win more money!

For this poker hand analysis we will examine the "Big Hand"

BLINDS 1,000/2,000 - (Pot 5,400)

PREFLOP:

A has Js-9s, calls 2,000

B has Ks-Kc, raises to 14,000

A calls 12,000 (Pot 33,400)

A just initially calls, hoping that there will also be many callers because he has suited connectors and wants to get sufficient pot odds.

B, meanwhile, may interpret the call from early position as A-A or Q-Q, and because he has a big stack (the two are the biggest stacks in the table) he can afford to raise a little bit, because if the other player reraises and he thinks the other one has A-A, he can fold.

Also, K-K is a little bit unsafe if an Ace falls on the flop, so this may serve as a tester raise. A calls, because he has a big stack and can afford it.

FLOP: Kh-9d-Kd

A checks

B checks (Pot 33,400)

Suddenly B has Quad Kings! A checks, because he has only a Nine, and can proceed carefully if B bets. B, hoping to conceal his unbeatable hand, checks too.

Paired boards are commonly good bluffing situations. One example is, a 8-8-3 board is good for bluffing because on a, say, J-7-3 board, you will find three cards which can pair one of them, and a bluff will be less effective.

But on the 8-8-3 board, bluffing has big benefits since there are only two cards which will conceivably help anyone, and also anyone there with a Three will be not as likely to call. (Only an Eight will do.)

But with a board with bigger cards like our Flop, B might have bet, but after that, A will be less likely to put him on a bluff (and more likely on a made hand) because he may have, say, K-10, and we play big cards more than small ones.

B doesn’t want A to back out of the pot. So B just checks.

Also, with two Diamonds B should check in the hope that A will put him on a flush draw so that if the flush doesn’t come, A will bet or raise to push B away, and B can gain extra chips.

TURN: Kh-9d-Kd-5h

A checks

B bets 20,000

A raises to 70,000

B calls 50,000 (Pot 173,400)

B still has invincible Quads, A still has Two-Pair. B could have now put A on the Nine or a draw, so B bets 20,000 so that A will call.

But since during the flop B may have represented a Diamond flush draw in A’s perspective, A raised to 70,000 so that B will move away.

B just calls, since there are two draws already, and B might want to represent one of them again so that A will attempt another bluff on the river.

RIVER: Kh-9d-Kd-5h-9h

A checks

B moves all-in 106,000 (Pot 279,300)

A folds

B still has Quads, but A is now in trouble because he has a bottom Full House. A King can kill him.

What A is hoping, though, is that B back-doored a Heart Flush and just check it along with him.

But B moves all-in. This is a very intriguing move by B. A solid player would value-bet this (sat, 40,000 on a pot of 173,400) and A can just call it.

It is OK to represent a Flush here, since the board is double-paired, which can destroy Flushes since the board is just one card off a Full House.

So what I am thinking is: B moved all-in because (1) he wanted A to think they may have the same hand or that his hand is weaker, like a Flush. B’s play on the Flop and the Turn was weak, so A might not have put B on a King but likely on the Flush draw we are talking about.

B wants a call. B now hopes that A backdoored a Flush too and also that he thinks his all-in is just a bluff, but A is in trouble because of the sudden strong play.

It was psychologically jarring.

Did B hide that King or not? A might imagine that better hands could come later, so he folds.

Also (2) B may not want a showdown; he did not want to show the two Kings; he wanted to trouble the minds of A and other opponents.

If they saw how he played K-K it will be added information. He wants to have them guessing.

It is important to play more unpredictably in order to gain chips later than to gain chips now, but be unable to get some later. I believe this is a brilliant reason.

In summary of the Big Hand

It takes time to learn how to play poker online or offline at a level above the unthinking, uneducated "chip flinging" seen at many tables.

Yes it is mad that so many players play with so little skill, but it is also very good news for you as a player who is learning to play correctly. That's because once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the "all-in-all the time" maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free poker games that pays real cash such as that found at http://www.nopaypoker.com/

As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and learn to play poker online free on the free poker sites tables to get it nailed.

You can't be good at everything In the world of poker from the entry levels of penny play free poker or big stakes players become experts or specialists in their particular games.

It is the same as in any profession, field of study or in the workplace where people find their unique niche for the company that they work for and devote their efforts to becoming as good as they can in order to be promoted and earn more.

So how does this relate specifically to the world of poker games?

Simply this, some people are great cash game players, while others are great tournament players. There are some players who are very good at both cash games and poker tournaments but this is very rare.

Most players specialize because they are more successful at one than the other.

How do you determine whether cash games or tournaments are your speciality? Well, it's not always clear. You obviously need to try your hand at both, but here are a few suggestions that may help you to figure it out.

Should You Focus On Cash Games?
If you're a patient player who looks to play only in clear +EV situations, then you may prefer cash games. Full-ring games are all about waiting for premium starting hands and extracting the most value from them in the most favourable situation possible. Thus, cash games are good for players who don't deal with variance very well.

The biggest mistake a beginning cash game player can make is playing too many hands. You don't want to commit too many chips in marginal situations.

The opposite can seem to be true in the late to middle stages of a tournament.

Should You Focus On Poker Tournaments
It is correct to play tight in the early stages of a tournament, but once the blinds start to escalate you'll need to loosen up your starting requirements. Once you're low on chips, you'll need to look to move all-in to survive. You may also need to put yourself in situations that may –EV in certain occasions. If you're one of the big stacks, it's also correct to start playing looser to bully the other players. It's all about accumulating chips to either survive or thrive in tournaments. It's not for the faint of heart or those who can't deal with variance.

The biggest mistake a beginning tournament player can make is not pushing all-in enough when they get low on chips. Because the price of blinds increase as the tournament goes on, your chip stack can easily get whittled away.

Tight players can't win tournaments.

Poker Game Specialization Conclusion
If you like tight then it is best to focus on cash games. But if you like action then tournaments are going to be your thing. With that said, it is possible for tight styles to work in tournaments with a few adjustments, and a loose style can work in cash games can work under certain circumstances.

Ideally do your testing in free poker that way you can learn to play poker for free and find your style while not losing lots of money in the process!

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I found out that there is a tournament variant called All-in or Fold. The rules are this: There is only one blind (called big blind). Each player starts with just one chip; it doesn't matter how many, anyway, for these reasons: Your only options are: All-in, and Fold. They are increasingly popular in both cash and free online poker so have a go if you come across one but not before you read this quick guide!

If you're on the big blind you're automatically all in. You receive change, however, if, say, you have 5 chips and someone moves all-in with 2 chips and you call him (which is an all-in, too). He won't win 5 chips from you; instead you'll get change of 3 chips.

If you're on big blind you can simply ignore everything else that follows. (This only happens about 10% of the time though on a 10-player table. If you want to become hooked for some reason.) So it's very much a math poker game as well as a position game.

Why math game?
Because you are relying totally on preflop all-ins you must commit to memory the probability of your winning, or at least have a good feel for them. I can give some examples (You can generalize; the probability's pretty much the same in a similar situation; for instance the first example will be: Two Overcards vs. Small Pair, or the first example will apply too if it were, say, A-10 over 5-5) and approximate the probabilities:

A-K vs 8-8
55%-45% in favor of 8-8

A-K vs A-Q
75%-25% in favor of A-K

A-10 vs K-K
75%-25% in favor of K-K

A-K vs 7-6
65%-35% in favor of 7-6

A-10 vs K-Q; A-Q vs K-J
63%-37% in favor of A-10 and A-Q

A-A vs 8-8
80%-20% in favor of A-A

A-A vs A-K
93%-7% in favor of A-A

A-A vs K-Q
85%-15% in favor of A-A

But these do not imply that you should wait for A-A or K-K or A-K before you move all-in, of course. Do it with two face cards, a pair, or A-x. Just make sure the big blind doesn't reach you, for if that happens your decision's beyond your will.

All-In or Fold is also a game of position. Oftentimes players in these tournaments play hands similar to the above, and throw away the rest.

Consider these two examples:

(1) You are in late position with 4-4 and there are two all-ins in front of you. You might be facing three or four overcards, or an overpair. Fold.

After all, if you are in late position, there will be many hands before you reach the big blind.

(2) You have A-8 in early position. You are two hands away from being the big blind, so you move all-in, and players after you will interpret an early-position all-in as a sign of strength.

What you consider, then, is the strength of your hand and the surrounding action.

With one-on-one, which happens mostly, the above probabilities still apply. But with three or more, hand strength matters more. Big pairs are still big; medium pairs shrink in power (because you can't see the Flop yet; usually we see the Flop with a medium pair to hit a Set). A-x becomes weaker; A-K and A-Q weaken down a little bit. However, make sure you play a hand while you're still in control of your decision. When you get yourself blinded out, it's for your tournament life, mostly.

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It was in a six-man free poker games site (thankfully) Sit-and-Go where my belief in the omnipotence of the Set (a made hand formed from a pocket pair and a board card with the same rank; for example, you have 4-4 and the Flop comes 4-10-A) was intensely curtailed.

More so, it was a sharp free online poker lesson on maturity. I know now when a Sets power is diminished.

A Set is very powerful if, say, you have 5-5 and the flop comes A-10-5. In this situation, against A-x (excepting A-10), you are 99-1 favorite, and if another player happens to have A-K or A-Q, you will see all the problems he will face later when he goes all in or calls your all-in.

But at this Sit and Go, there were 6 six players (blinds 10-20, average stack 1500), I was first to go. I had 4c-4s. I raised to 50. The button called, as well as the blinds.

The flop came 4h-6h-7d. Small blind checked; before me, big blind bet 200.

I asked myself, "How could he make such a fat bet (pot-sized)?". These players in previous hands always play any old hand that drops onto their screens. They may have A-6 or A-7, but also 8-7 or even 8-5. Or any two Hearts. They never know when to fold or not. And you don't know when your made Two-Pair will be crushed.

So I figured that the power of my Set was gravely reduced, so I just called in the hope that the Board would pair during the Turn, but the main reason is because there are were dangerous cards that can fall.

A Three, a Five or an Eight will render my Set unplayable, unless everyone checks; a Heart will jeopardize my chances.

Usually, I am inclined to move all-in with a Set, but there might be a stray Five. They are willing to call all-ins, even with draws. Even with gutshot draws. They do it all day.

And I can't banish them out of a draw by power-play. What if all of them call?

The turn came 3d. There are two Flush draws on the Board and one to a Straight.

Small blind checks; the Big Blind moved all-in (he had 1400 chips, I had 1200).

On already a pot of 2200, although I am getting 2-to-1 on a call all-in (or possibly 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 if the two others call), I folded. The Button called; Small Blind folded.

They showed the hands I guessed they had: an Ad-5c, and Qh-Jh. Either way, I will be smothered if I called too; the chance of the Board pairing is just 25% (10 out of 40) and I would be getting only 3-to-1. Not only I escaped devastating math; I also escaped the onslaught of made hands and big draws.

The point is this, if a hand starts good but then goes sour it is no longer good and won't EVER get good by magic! Its goodness is just a memory, and if you pursue the beaten path your chips will soon turn into a memory as well.

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In ordinary poker tournaments in online poker be they cash or  free poker, usually the top 1/8 or 1/10 make it to the money, and even here only a fraction make more than twice the buy-in.

The great chunk of money goes to those close to the final table. In double or nothing tournaments, half the participants win twice the buy-in.

For example, if there are 100 players with a buy in of $10 the top 50 win $20, the bottom 50 get nothing.

In this free poker lesson discussion let us assume 100 participants in a double or nothing tournament.

At the start, when blinds are small, play unambitious, steady poker.

Do the mainstream moves. Go all in with A-A or K-K and hope you get called by a weaker hand. If you have a Pair, hope to flop a Set. Build your stack size by 50% or more.

You can also try "small-ball" poker. While the blinds are low, call with hands that have great pot odds when involved in multi-player pots, like with 8-7, A-5 suited.

If you hit hard on the Flop, say Straight or Flush, knock out someone or double up someone who has a Pair. If you don't hit, fold, and wait for the time you will hit.

This is how to play until you are just, say, five left before the money. Now, you are one of 55 players left. If you are 55th place, what would you do?

As 50th gets the same as 1st place (double the buy in) there's no point going all in unless the blinds are killing you.

Play patient and steady. What typically happens is that the players from 40th down get impatient and go all in because the blinds are eating them, too.

When they get impatient they'll kill themselves off fast, patience, in poker, always wins in the end!

If, say, there are 55 players left, you are in 48th place and are dealt A-A, would you move all-in or call an all-in?

In a normal poker tournament, if top 30 win money and you are 27th with 33 players left, you can move all-in with A-A because your callers will be A-K, A-Q or K-K and you are a significant favorite. You can move up from 27th to say, 15th to 20th, and you can win more money later.

But in double or nothing, ask yourself: What if you have 9000 chips and win $10 when you could win $10 with just 4500 chips? It will be unnecessary. 50th place is the same as any place above it.

What about calling an all-in with someone who has 3000 chips? Will you do it? It depends on what player we are, but I would not do it.

The bigger stacks can collaborate on knocking the smaller ones out. Stay out of the way.

If you are on top, say you have five times your starting stack or better, consider it your responsibility to knock the smaller stacks out if you have the opportunity.

Don't overdo it, however. In this instance, I would rather snooze away from the table and let the more adventurous big stacks eat the smaller ones.

If you have, say, just thrice your starting stack, don't call all-ins unless you have nuts or a strong hand close to nuts. I did this once in a Flop with A-5-8 and I have A-10. I have 3200 chips (about 1.5 times my starting stack) and someone moved all-in his 920 chips.

One player between us folded (If he called he may have A-x, and I don't know what x is, so if we get involved in a pot he might push me and I wouldn't be able to continue with my A-10) so I called. The player who moved all-in bluffed with 9-2.

If you are on top, you can just wait. If you are near the bottom, just have more patience and don't knock yourself out like the others who have less patience do. Because once you reach 50th place in our 100-person tournament, you will feel just like a champion.

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Regardless of whether you play entry level free online poker or high stakes Vegas A-A and K-K are the top two hands preflop that will get your heart thumping with excitement every (rare) time they appear. When you have AA or KK the chances of a lesser pair winning pre-river are only about 20% with unpaired hands being even lower. With your KK an A-x (Ace plus any card) the chances are only 25-30% and then usually only if they hit the Ace on the flop.

With A-A or K-K the voice we always hear is ‘raise, raise, raise’. Yes, raise heavily it tells you, after all the only hands who are willing to call us will be ones like AK and AQ, plus a heavy raise will scare off the suited connectors that might be able to crack us later if they hit straights or flushes. So raise, especially if you're in late position, then reraise and raises. The, you hope, when you reraise is that they will reraise too with a weaker hand (not that they know it) like AK or AQ, then you can set them to go all in or go all in yourself. Party time.

But there are times when there are more subtle plays than ‘raise, raise, raise’. An example is this: Suppose you have A-A in early position, and you raise. Everyone else folds. How many times have you been frustrated when you raise or move all-in with those big Pairs preflop only to bait no customers?

So in early position, if that’s what you intend to do – if you want to catch them spilling many of their chips into your stack preflop, then just call, then wish – wish! - that ones of them raises so you can reraise. If they fold, well you'll at least get a few more chips than if you went for it right away and scared them off. If they call, then already we're past preflop play...

But this “beyond preflop play� is very significant, in that there is a big difference between A-A or K-K. Usually you should be willing to move all-in preflop more often with K-K than A-A. Why?

Because if you have A-A and the flop comes, say, Q-7-3 or K-9-5, those willing to square off with you are those with, like, A-Q, K-Q or K-J. They are willing to feed their chips to you with these hands, and you can call their big bets or all-ins. Your A-A is still the best hand, while they think their large (big but not big enough) Pair is strong, and that hand’s already a significant underdog. A-A is good for trapping as well as for speeding. You can move all-in with it preflop, of course, but as above you can trap with it if you feel like it.

But if you have K-K, the flop might fall A-7-2, and…your K-K, no matter how golden, is now drawing almost dead. There are two Kings left, and anyone who might be there with you may bet large because he has an Ace. (Is he likely to bet with a single Seven?) So you have to fold your K-K, no matter how hard it is for you to get so good a hand and then banish it a few moments later. Or just call, call, call.

So, preflop, you may have to play K-K more strongly than you would play your A-A. It’s not as good as trapping as A-A. Ideally, if you move all-in with K-K, an A-X will call you, or a small pocket Pair and you’ll be an approximately 75-25 favorite. (You’re not likely to be called with K-X or Q-X because they’re not so strong enough for calling all-ins.) If you get called with A-X, they still have to catch the Ace. They're the ones taking the risk, and not you. If you play K-K slowly, and they ride their A-X with you on the Flop, and they caught the Ace, it's a thousandfold different from having to catch it. They have no risks to take.

There might be times where there is A-A versus K-K, but these times are rare. And if you're the one with the K-K, you might even fold it. Say two of you in a preflop hand are the chip leaders in a tournament, and you reraise his early-position raise, then all of a sudden he pushes you all-in! You might put him on A-A, and you fold, very, very smartly and sickly. Or he's a player whom you know who will not raise that LARGE an amount unless he has A-A. But these times are rare, remember.

So, excepting some special considerations that must be remembered with the K-K, playing A-A and K-K preflop is just almost identical.

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It's a common sight on free poker site and, oddly even in some higher stake poker tournaments to see players go all-in preflop when they could (should) call and hope to see the flop. Why do they do it?

Well in cash games they do it to steal of course. In free texas hold em sadly it's more just for the hell of it! However, if called, what positive factors does going all-in grant? Let us examine two hands to analyze why:

HAND #1

Blinds: 6k/12k

A has Q-Q raises to 36k

B has 10-10 calls 36k

C has K-K reraises to 140k

A reraises all-in (Pot 989k)

B folds

C calls 643k (Pot 1.632m)

Board ended Jc-Jd-6c-Qd-3d

A moved all-in because by three-betting, he could push one of B and C from the pot, and if C (the likely caller) calls, A hoped that it will be A-K or A-x, where he has still an edge. But it turns out, C had K-K, so A was the underdog. Yet A won the hand with a Full House (Queens over Jacks).

However, if A just called, what would happen then is that B would also call, so next it'll be a three-way pot.? On a FLOP of Jc-Jd-6c, C would have position over A, whose Queens are weakened as the Board is paired, so if one of B or C bluffs, A will have a hard time playing.

Plus if A decides to play on strong he may make B and C believe he is on a J and they may both fold. Or later on the hand, if A, who hit his Full House on the turn, suddenly played strongly, the remaining player/s may fold because their hands are not so strong enough. So A will win less than what he won when he moved all-in and won the hand.

So one reason for moving all-in preflop is: Your chip stack is so low that any decent hand you have will be sufficient for an all-in (on the above, Q-Q should be played cautiously with two more players and a reraise on the Flop), and it pays to win more chips than less if you are to get back in the tournament.

HAND #2 - Following on from hand action

A has 8s-8h moves all-in 387k

B has 7d-7c, calls 307k (Pot 819k)

Both could have played safely. However A decides to take a gamble with what we term a common all in hand. Common all-in hands include Pairs, A-x and any two face cards (preferably suited). So another reason is: If you don’t have A-A or K-K but a common all-in hand, you will be called also with a common all-in hand.

With Pairs vs. two overcards, it doesn't much matter what you have, because you’re both even-money. With Pairs vs. Pairs, you run the risk of being the big underdog, but you can also be a big favorite if you are lucky. With any other cards, you either have two live cards or at worst, say A-K vs A-Q, if you have the A-Q, you still have a 25% possibility.

How did the hand turn out?
It ended with 5s-9s-6h-2c-8d. So A hit a Set, B hit a Straight. B eliminated A. It doesn’t matter; we can also imagine a situation that B was the one who moved all-in and A called. B hit his Straight still. But if B just decided to see a Flop, what could happen? A can push B out by representing a Nine on the Flop and the Turn so that B will fold (unless B has the courage to move all-in).

Also, if B hit the river Straight, A will be reluctant to play the Set he has. B will win a reduced amount of chips than he would (similar to HAND #1). But this example gives us another good reason.

You go all in that your marginal hand can't be pushed away later by a more marginal hand, as a result your marginal hand becomes strong and uncontested.. Here's a clear example, lets say it's 7-7 vs A-10.

The board might finish 10-K-K-Q-5, with overcards there's a Straight chance, and on a paired board the 7-7 can pressure the A-10 at some point. Or it may be 10-K-Q-4-J and the one with the A-10 will be out of the pot before the river if the one with 7-7 plays aggressively.

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This article is about the endless argument over whether poker success is luck or skill, and, know what, I'm going to answer it once and for all! I have personally been a money and free texas holdem player for some 7 years, I have made some nice cash at times but I have also busted several bankrolls.As such think I can say I've got a pretty good understanding of the situation!

For starters lets define what skill is in the poker context. In my opinion a skilled player is one who can recognize betting patterns, understand flop odds, and percentages, and have a solid concept of strategy and theory. I have noticed however, not matter how well skilled one may be, you must account for variance, and sometimes aggressive, even poor play from others.

I believe in conclusion it is best to assume that poker is a combination of both skill and luck where the skill level of the player involved has a definite effect on the “luck� component of the equation in the medium and long term.

The assumption would be based on this conclusion that you have to be both pre flop aggressive, as well as post flop smart. Many times a player might find themselves in a position where they made the proper call, yet they find themselves behind due in part to an opponents luck hitting a one or two outer.

It is very difficult to try and overcome such a situation. This can, in part, be blamed on the speed of online poker hand as opposed to the live game. In the online poker game it is a lot faster and you have a lot less time to make decisions.

Many players believe there are more bad beats in online poker than in the live game. This is not unreasonable in a math sense due to the far greater number of hands seen and played. In addition there is a fatigue factor involved where players feel they are being pushed too hard, or perhaps have suffered a bad beat.

Subsequently decision making may become irrational, and typical hands that could be thrown away are now played, and even pushed pre flop out of anger in trying to win back lost funds.

Others, who are skilled can pick up on such trends and play them to their advantage, which often triggers greater loss, and in the eyes of the losing player, more bad beats which he feels was based on luck.

The successful (skilful) poker player knows how to manage each aspect of the game. In effect you become able to manage probability (luck) by application of skill and so apply the old phrase beloved of annoying sales managers/gurus everywhere, “make your own luck�. Basically meaning that your skill flattens out the “bad luck� to the extent that you will be up consistently in the medium and long run.

But how can you go about doing this? My advice is to start safe and low risk. Go to one of the better free texas holdem sites such as NoPayPOKER.com and practice lots and lots and lots!. You will find your confidence (and bankroll) growing and can then take a step up to some low stakes games, and from there...who knows

Bluffing in poker is when you don't have a great hand but you bet or raise to try and convince the other players you have a string hand and get them to fold even if they have better hands. An essential skill that you should start to practice whether you play free poker at www.NoPayPOKER.com or live room games.

Why you need to bluff?
Firstly it enables you to win with cards that are not so great.

Secondly, and I think more important, you bluff so you can win big pots when you do have the best hand.

So even bad failed bluffs can have a positive effect in that they may make other players call you when you actually have a strong hand.

But you must be careful here. Bluff too much and you set a pattern up and you will always get called and will lose much more often. if you never bluff, when you have good cards and raise the pot, your opponents fold and you win a small pot.

But if you can get it right and bluff with the right frequency, you will make your opponents unsure, and force bad decisions..

6 Ways To Be a Better Poker Bluffer
1) Be careful bluffing at limited tables. On this type of table you cannot raise too much as your opponents can call your bet easier than at a No-Limit Texas Holdem table.

2) You must "study" your opponents. If there are a lot of good players then logically your chances are lower, maybe you should look for another table.

This is true because strong players respect the bets of their opponents, and have the right discipline to fold their cards even with a medium hand.

The weak player, instead, doesn't understand that you are trying to bluff, or calls your bet just out of curiosity.

3) Try to build your reputation at the table. Make your opponents unsure of your moves at all times.

For example, you can start the tournament with a lot of bluffing, so your opponents will call you a lot and you can win big pots when you have the right cards.

Or you can start the tournament calling only with good cards (AK, AQ, high pairs). Later on you can bring in some bluffs with weaker hands as they will think by now that you must have good cards.

4) Your position is decisive and in general it is good to call when you are in the last positions, near the dealer, because you have more information about your opponents.

5) Practice! Start of on free online poker sites to get the improve your skills in an environment that won't punish you financially.

5) Learn to do the semi bluff. In the semi bluff you bet hoping they will fold but your cards might be good enough to win the pot if the turn and river are good. This happens, for example, when you have 4/5 flush, or 4/5 straight, or in rare cases when you have Ace-high.

Look at a semi bluff example:
You have 9 and 10 of hearts and the flop is Q-hearts , 4-clubs and 7-hearts.

In this case you haven't got the best hand. Your opponent has 4 and 3 (very bad card preflop), he has more chances to win.

So you can try to make a semi-bluff , because you have the 4 hearts cards.You bet, and your opponent starts to think about what to do.

He has only a pair, and a very low one. He thinks: "I have few chances to win.. only a pair of 4s. He is betting, probably he has the Q.. or 7.. Uhm, let's try with another hand", and the fold comes.

And also if your opponent calls, the turn or the river can be a hearts, so you maintain good chances to win.

The Semi-bluff is also useful to contain losses.
For example, the situation is the same above ( You: 9h-10h , Flop Qh-4c-7h ), and you decide to bet.

If your opponent is weak, he’ll probably fold. But if your opponent has the Q, if you don't bet a little, he will probably bet a higher amount of chips, to let you fold, and you become unsure of what to do.

Call with 4/5 flush, or fold? However, to see the next card, you have to put in the pot more chips than if you bet for first.

If you bet a small amount of chips, your opponent probably just call, and you "buy" another card with few chips.

How to defend against a possible bluff?
There aren't many choices. You can accept the challenge, or you can fold.v For this reason the bluff and semi-bluff are a very powerful weapon.

My last suggestion: if you decide to accept the challenge, restrict yourself to call is rarely the good decision. You should raise, to let your opponent think: "Uhm, it's better to stay relaxed, my opponent has good card".

Bluffing is a poker skill that needs practice. If you're not experienced start off on free poker sites such as NoPayPOKER.com where there is no risk of loss, you can still win some real money and have good fun to be had while you build skill and confidence. is the perfect place for Beginners to learn how to play poker without risking money. Experienced poker players can fine tune their game, test out new techniques or just grind away to accumulate all the free poker cash!

This strategy is based on cash and free poker freerolls for upto 1000 players. I will keep it short, since there are too many long and boring free poker strategies that keep coming with the same info in another context.

The first hour

In freerolls you will find the whole spectrum of the poker world, the good, the bad, the annoying donks who go all in all the time.

The all in on every hand donk players are the ones to watch out for early on. Never take a risk in the beginning of even a free poker tournament, because the players that don’t know the game or so will go all in with A 6 (not even suited) and it would be very sad if you have an As Ks and will be beaten by a A 6!

Just call when it's low should you have AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK (suited) KQ (suited) Note: You should never go all in with these cards in the pre-flop (bad beats are incredibly frustrating)

And very important; DO NOT BLUFF at this time.

Following the first hour

This is the time that almost all bad players are gone, apart from the lucky ones!

Here you can play more aggressive and try to steal the blinds (vital since the blinds increase and ante needs to be paid so what you can get by playing cards is too less to keep playing)

You can also introduce some new cards to you playable hands like:

• KQ
• 10 10
• KJ
• AA (all in when in late position and not a lot of people in the pot)
• AQ
• KK (just like AA)
• QQ
• QJ
• AK

When you're in the pot with a few players and they just check or make low bets/calls you can try to bluff.

Be sure that your stack is not less then the average stack, if it does go back to the "first hour strategy" and tighten up! (it is not a shame to pull back and change strategy a couple of times to create some confusion!)

Congratulations If everything went well you are now in the money, but you can't tell me you want to quit now and earn some crappy cents, that’s just waste of your time since the most freerolls will take up to 4-5 hours. So concentrate!

This is the part where the "n00bs" are gone so you play with some pokerfreaks so be cautious!

You'll be able to recognize the good players not at the number of chips they have but at their check, bet, call, raise and fold actions!

They will try to get to see the flop with as less chips as possible and fold most of the time (most common way to spot the good ones).

In order to be in the top 3 (other places won't pay that well) you need to be careful, but take some risks to! The hands you can play are the same as in the second part of the freeroll from the 77,88 and up.

When in late position attempt to steal the blinds, but not too often or you will be recognized as a bluffer!

Good luck with your freerolls! When beginning I suggest starting with true free online poker freeroll events and working up from there as you improve.
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This article brought to you by NoPayPOKER. The world's only FREE poker site where you win real cash on every game. NoPayPOKER is the perfect place for Beginners to learn how to play poker without risking money. Experienced poker players can fine tune their game, test out new techniques or just grind away to accumulate easy free poker cash!

I've been a poker player since I was a teenager, I've played for money in casinos and lots of fun money free poker at home. For the last few years though I've focused most on free poker sites. Initially this was easy and fun but as time has passed I found it getting harder and harder to win, after thinking long and hard I realised that I'd become stuck in a rut I now call the "Easy Play" trap.

The poker "Easy Play Trap" is when you think you have to play every hand to win. You post and play every hand praying the flop with give you a hand. The problem with it is that you lose more and even worse anyone with any skill learns how you play really easily which makes things even worse. The problem is most common I find on free poker sites where, due to the very low or even no risk nature of the poker games it is easy not to be bothered. No problem is it’s just for fun but a very bad habit if you have aspirations to play live or online poker for money later.

Then last year I started playing what I call "SMART". "SMART" players think of the odds of playing each hand based on your starting hand. The two cards in your hand give you an idea of what your chances of winning before the flop.

“SMART� poker means as follows:

Singles – A - K - Q – J

Married – AK – AQ – AJ – A10

Average – 10 10 – 9 9 – 8 8 – 7 7 – 6 6

Rare – AA – KK – QQ - JJ

Terrible – 2 7 – 2 8 – 2 9 – 2 10 – 3 8 – 3 9 – 3 10 -4 9 – 4 10 -5 10

Singles are best used cards in the same suite.

Playing singles with low off suites is high-risk because some times it is the kicker that means a win. Watch the flops and see how the cards are falling as if there are more small off suites hitting with a single you may want to try.

Married and Rare hands are your better possible starting hands prior to the flop and requires that you think first. Going all in with a Married or Rare hand before the flop is good but can also be a killer. Watch the other players for a time to get an idea of what they play before going up against them.

Average poker hands are good to begin with but the flop truly provides a picture of how you will play your hand. On an average a third will fall with the flop when holding a small pair. If not, and there is a small bet, try the turn but never the river as odds are against you.

Terrible are poker hands I try not to play because they normal are losing hands. True you might get lucky but if you do not have any money in the pot why waste the time and money on a chance. High blind and there is no raise, yes play, however low blind, forget it and wait for a better hand.

During a recent live game I was down to 80 in chips with the blinds at 10 – 20. I was not getting a hand and we were down to three players. Being “SMART� I came back and won the money.

Now the important bit, how to learn to play "SMART": If you are new to poker or are stuck in the trap, get yourself over to a free texas holdem poker site and practice loads. Be serious about your game and don't get distracted by all the Easy Play Trap people you'll come across. The, once you are confident and showing consistent bankroll growth you can move on and up.

It is important to have the ability sit down at any money or free poker table, online or live and analyze the other players. There's no doubt that patience is the key ingredient when it comes to analyzing players and the most important stage is when the game starts.

Why you might ask?
This provides you with you an opportunity to settle-back and take mental notes on the player's actions. This is helpful during the first half hour of a free poker game in particular as quite a lot of players like to go all in and hope they win the pot. I myself will only call these players with a high pair, or suited low connectors because I've played them before, and they will go all in with any two hand cards given.

What Must You Try to Read?

The notes I suggest you take during the first half-hour or if moved to a new table in any money or free online poker game are quite simple.

Determine which players are playing carefully and which ones are playing loose.

Those who are playing loose are going to bet on almost every hand and call just about anything.This is very common in free texas hold em games where low risk reduces good sense at times!

Those who are playing conservative will keep folding until they get the cards in hand they want or any pairs of AA's, KK's, QQ's, JJ's.

How do you spot a Bluffer?
This can be difficult if you have not been watching the game as can happen a lot with free poker or if you are playing multiple games online.

If you have been watching the game you should have more of a feeling as to who might be bluffing..

For example:

Say you have an ace and king of spades you'll be feeling good about your whole situation. Now you wait for the other player to check or bet, to your surprise the player bets 400 chips when the pot is at 120 chips.

So you call the player and on the flop lands Queen of spades, Jack of Spades, and ten of hearts. The other player goes all-in in order to make you think he/she has the winning hand. You know you've won it so you call the player's bluff and go on to win.

That is very obvious but if you are up against a more conservative player then they could try to buy you in by betting low not over the pot before the flop and after. These Players really know what they are doing and most likely will have a full house against your ace high straight. Here is where your experience comes into play...have you marked who is loose and who is conservative?

Here are some practical game and player reading tips

1) Players who take a very long time and procrastinate are trying to mislead you into believing they've got nothing and wait for you to make a bet worth calling. (Note: in free texas hold em the player could be taking too long because he/she is playing multiple games.) Filter these players out as this might be a habit for them.

2) Look out for players who anticipate until the last second and raise you all-in. They are trying to buy the pot with a decent pair hoping you do not have any aces in your hand!

3) Everyone knows a chip bully. Every table has one. The only way to knock a chip bully off his expensive chair is not to be distressed by his/her large chip stacks. Should you have it, go for it. Most probably, he/she is bluffing because, they want to pilfer the pot or blinds.

Every Player Develops Habits.

And from habits develop betting patterns - But What patterns might they form?

A bad habit (for them) you will witness only too often is that some players lose 80% of their chip stack. They get ticked-off because they've taken a serious loss but rather than cut their losses choose to carry on, often all-in until they lose the lot or earn back some chips (rare!). These players have given up and gone on "tilt". The best thing to do is to call them once the time is right. So have patience and you'll nail them 100%.

Some players are extremely difficult to read because they Know they are being read and are always switching their technique. They will repeat themselves at some point but these patterns are very hard to spot. These players will take up a lot of your time! When you can read players like these..well you are probably playing WSOP!

I hope this article will help you fine tune your skills and has given you some ideas you can use at the tables. No player is impossible to read but if you can't read players you will make the game impossible for yourself!

My advice if you have difficulty with analyzing other players or if this is all new to you is to get in lots of practice in low risk games. Try low or micro stakes games or some free online poker games to get a feel for it all before betting any meaningful money

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Many online poker players won't like to read this but here's a fact - Recording and effective analysis of your online poker play is one of the biggest secrets of success if you're serious about your poker play and want to make money in poker online or offline. Playing for fun only? Not so necessary. Want to get good extra money or even full time? Then it's critical.

Firstly, as long as you input it right the data don't lie. It's very human to emphasize the good points and memories and minimize or bury the bad. If you play a lot and don't keep records you will almost certainly create false impression. Poker is a card game yes but it is also a game that can be analyzed in depth. Don't worry if you're not a math genius, you don't need to do math but you need to record and look at some other things.

The key things to track are the time you start and end playing, the game type, stakes, cost of entry, your winnings, the amount of your stack at each level and the outcome of key hands. A spreadsheet program is a great way to record this data and, once you learn how use the data you can do all sorts of useful calculations to further refine your performance and see what works well and not.

For example - The time of day you play is often very important; this can tell you what times of day you play best. Track game types and stakes to see what ones you do best and worst at. This is critical at online poker sites where you're paying for every game you play!

The cost of entry and your winnings are the truest track of how much you are winning and losing. By tracking your chip stacks at each level, you can see at what level in a tournament you are obtaining your chips. It you are losing big amounts of chips early, it may well mean that you're being too aggressive early on. In later stages you see low chip growth, then maybe it's time to test being more aggressive at these stages.

The result of the last hand in a tournament is the most critical one to track. You do this to discover what kinds of hands are knocking you out of tournaments. If you see a trend in such hands you should look at those hands more closely. As an example, you may see that Ace - King is ending your tournaments far more often than it should when you're all in. If so then you can combat this by betting Ace - King and not going All In. If you lose you're still in the tournament.

As a first action have a look at the NoPayPoker.com poker forum. See especially the article sections. You'll also find many of the players there very helpful and willing to give a helping hand on how to build your record sheets and make use of the info you collect.

Spreadsheet's data, analysis? I hear you scream. I can't be bothered with that, I'll just play my poker freeform. Fine, up to you but realize that if you ever want to be real good then you need to keep and use records. Realize too that players who do this would like you to stay away from it…you're much easier to beat when you're playing blind after all!

Is Poker - Online Poker, Casino Poker Mostly Luck?

How much of poker is luck, articles we get an NoPayPOKER seem to think it's 95% luck.

We rather think it's not an absolute figure or even close to, much more dependent on player skill - Like top 10 WSOP Pros or top winners at leading free online poker sites will have a much lower belief and dependence  on luck that an all-in donkin fish loony

What do you think? Comments please!

I’d been playing 4/8 limit holdem poker cash games in casinos for about 2 years, without the benefit of D.M. Vadais fantastic teaching poker articles available at nopaypoker.com, and so I was down financially a few thousand dollars.

Finally one day, I thought my ship had come in! Believe it or not, in less than 90 minutes I received pocket Kings FOUR times and pocket Aces FIVE times -- the most phenomenal starting cards I'd ever received in my life in such a brief space of time, and ALL of them in KILL pots, where the limits were DOUBLED to 8/16.

Each hand was capped at $32 per player pre-flop, with me having the best hand preflop! KA-CHING!! I was thrilled and overjoyed, licking my chops as the pots piled high in the middle each time, singing "We're in the money...we're in the money!!" (Silently to myself of course, with only an ear-to-ear grin of a poker face, and a slight leap out of my seat each time I flopped a set to give me away!).

And then, believe it or not, I LOST EIGHT of those nine hands, even when I flopped a set, for a total loss of $625 in that hour and a half of getting the best cards of my life!!

I couldn't believe it! People were rivering straights, turning flushes, having 5/2 offsuit make 2 pair against my aces, and so on!! The only reason I didn't lose $1000 was that, ONE time only out of nine, my pocket aces were up against 1 person who flopped a set and 2 people who turned flushes, in a huge $300 kill pot, when a fourth heart on the board came out on the river, with no pairs on the board, and I had the ace of hearts for the nut flush!

Then my pocket starting cards all went to crap, except for finally getting suited face cars and I looked down at my tiny stack and said to myself, "That’s it!! That's it!! I've had it!! I am NEVER EVER EVER EVER going to play this stupid unjust random suckout game anywhere or anytime, besides NoPayPOKER, for cash money again! I'm going all-in with my last 16 bucks and this Queen/Jack of hearts, and calling it quits!!! That's it for this life -- I'll play poker at nopay in this life, and maybe I'll play in heaven someday -- but for now, put a fork in me Chef Ramsey, I'm done!!"

I dejectedly shoved in all my chips, was called by 7 other players who were already in for $12, and waited for the flop…

The flop came Ace/King/deuce of hearts, giving me the nut flush, the turn was a brick, and then, with my heart pounding in anticipation, the beautiful Ten of hearts came on the river, giving me my first Royal Flush, a huge pot, and a $250 bonus high-hand prize, all on "the last hand I was ever going to play" in a live cash game in this life!!

So now I still play at casinos 10% of the time, but I wisely play at nopaypoker.com 90% of the time, and to the casino's dismay I tell every poker player I meet at the at the casinos about nopaypoker.com and their fabulous benefits and instructional articles which have helped me make over $900 in casino tournament winnings lately!! Nopaypoker.com, even without high-hand and bad-beat bonuses, is THE place to play -- FAR better than casinos, and a lot more fun. You will never lose $625 of your own hard-earned money in less than 2 hours with fabulous starting cards, with dozens of dollars lost to rakes and dealer tips to boot, at http://www.nopaypoker.com

You just get to play lots of free online poker and enjoy it! So sign up, log in, and get playing, everyone!

Do you ever ask yourself if your poker play is better than average? Well you should! Here’s what I mean -

• When you’re playing at a poker table, do you have more than the average chip stack?
• Do you have more than the average of the people in the poker tourney?

If you don’t you need to have a plan, because playing below average will make you a net loser in the long run.

The exception would be that some people use a short-stack strategy at cash tables. This can be profitable depending on your strategy, but even those folks will tell you, their goal isn’t to remain small. They’re plan is usually to take a shot (somewhat risky) to double up at the first good opportunity. In poker, chips are power. If you're not specifically planning to play that way, when you sit down at a cash table, you shouldn't be buying in for less than the average. Hopefully you have enough $ to buy in for the most.

In poker tournaments, keeping an idea where you stand as far as average can be very helpful. Sometimes you may lose a big hand and feel the tilt coming on, but what if you looked it up and realized you still had an average stack, or even more than the average player still in the game? The beat might still hurt or you might still be sick that someone called your bluff, but you can get your head back in the game if you realize you still have a great chance to win this game! It can also help you through times when the cards are just not coming. Feel like you’ve been folding all day?

If you’re still close to average, relax, you’ll be fine, chill out and wait for a good hand, it’ll come eventually. But probably the most important is when you’re short. You’ve made some mistakes or someone else has gotten lucky and you’re falling behind. Knowing what the average chip stack is will tell you how hard you need to slam the gas pedal while trying to catch up. If you’re way behind, you’ll know it’s worth risking your tournament life to double up in the next few hands.

At some sites, there’s an option to click on to see what the average chip stack is. Sometimes in live games (especially home games) you won’t have that help, and this site doesn’t currently tell you (at least I haven’t found that option). So do you know how to figure it for yourself? Easy:

• If you’re online, pull up the lobby window for the tourney, it will have a couple numbers you’re going to need.
• Take the number of chips at the beginning of the tourney. (example 1000)
• Take the total number of people that started the tournament. (example 200)
• Multiply those two numbers, that’s the total number of chips in the game. (example 1000X 200=200,000)
• Divide the result by the number of people still in the tournament. (example 56 players left – so 200,000/56=3571)

So then you have a benchmark of where you stand relative to everyone else left in the game. If you were sitting somewhere from 3k to 5k in the example above, you’re doing just fine, keep playing at about the same speed, you’re in great shape to make a deep run.

“But,� you say, I’m WAY too lazy to do that! I’m concentrating on the game, I don’t want to pull out a calculator and do all that!�

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a quick ‘n dirty way to “math it out� without frying your brain? Well there is, sort of. There are certain points at the tourney where even someone with a math-phobia can figure out the average in about 2.18 seconds.

At halfway through the tourney (half the players who started are gone), the average chip stack will be double what you started with. So in the above example, average will be 2000 chips once you’re down to 100 players. That’s easy right? Well here is the list of spots that I find easy to remember. If you happen to be really good with numbers and bored, well, you could use the same principle to get silly with it and figure out more spots.

• ¾ players, average = 1.5X starting chips
• ½ players, average = 2X starting chips
• ¼ players, average = 4X starting chips
• 1/10 players, average = 10X starting chips

So will this concept make you better at poker? NO! But this WILL give you a measuring stick which can be very helpful in gauging your situation. The more you know about where you stand (or sit) at the table, the better decisions you’ll be able to make and that will make you a better poker player...(as long as you have some aptitude anyways), and over time, the more $ you’ll be able to win.

Ideal practice venue? Why NoPayPOKER.com of course Free Online Poker with no risk of real money loss plus the ability to win it, barking mad.