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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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.

Hello and welcome to the NoPayPOKER.com blog on PokerWeblogs.

If you've never heard of NoPayPOKER beore why not go and have a look. If free online poker is your thing then you'll like it we promise!

In brief at NoPay you can play poker 100% free - No deposits, no rakes and best of all no risk -

No risk - How?

Advertising finances the game cash pots. As a  player you just get to win it not risk it.

The site has it's own currency called FreeD - Get enough and you can cash in for real money.

You get FreeD by playing poker (of course!) and can also get more by taking advertising offers and doing things like blog posts and social bookmarking for us.

NoPay members - if you post on this blog it will count as a FreeD earner as long as you post correctly. See http://www.nopaypoker.com/content/promotions/howtoblog.aspx for the blog promotion info.

That's all for this first post. We'll add tips and hints from members as we go along and build a fun poker blog here on Pokerweblogs Nick, NoPayPOKER Marketing