Posts Tagged ‘Poker tips’

Poker Tips: Reading online poker tells

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Poker tells are the habitual actions of another player that somehow gives you a good clue of what they plan or what cards they are holding. Playing online is sort of a different game since you cannot see your opponents. The poker tells we list down here are most applicable to online poker games.

Speed of game play

Poker rooms set a certain tie for online poker players to make their move. It is one good way to gauge the kind of opponents you have with how fast or slow they take to act. A fast bet usually shows some weakness while slow action displays a bit of strength since the player calculates the risks before making a move. You might also want to take note of their cards when shown and see what hands they bet on slowly and which ones they fast bet.

Use of auto plays and check boxes

If you are used to online poker play, you are familiar with check boxes that will let you “call any”, ”fold”, or “raise any”. You will be able to tell if the other players use these boxes since they act a second or faster when it is his turn to act. This too can tell you a lot. If the opponent automatically raised, then he must have checked raise any and you might be dealing with a strong hand. A check might tell you that he has a weak hand and wants to wait and see. Taking action even before seeing the moves of the other players is a good tell of how a player behaves on the online poker table.

Chat box

How an online poker player makes use of the chat box gives you a good idea of how he handles his cards. If a chatty poker player suddenly goes quiet, it might be a hint that he is holding some monster cards. Too much show of confidence on the chat box may indicate that the player is bluffing. You will also notice a change of behavior on the chat box if someone is bluffing or tilting.

Poker Strategy: Playing Small Pocket Pairs

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

When you get cards ranging between 2-2 to 6-6, then you have a small pocket pair. Anything beyond these cards can be considered a medium pair or a high pair. These low paired cards are quite strong in a deceptive way but may bring your chips to the drain if you are a poker newbie who overvalues  them.

Pre-flop small pocket pairs give you a good advantage but after the flop, things may get a bit trick when your hand does not improve.

Here is how you handle a small pocket pair:

The strength of these cards will be to get a good set upon the flop. You get a set when you get another card of the same number to make a three of a kind. Now this set gives you a strong hand and a good chance to make you some money.

The best move you can do with this hand is try to get a set. If not, then fold. If you do not get a third card on the flop then this cards are hardly profitable.

The odds of getting a set when the dealer gives you the flop are not really that good. There is 1 chance to make a set in every 8 flops. This translates to the reality that we should not keep our hopes too high with a small pocket pair. The implied odds though or the chance of playing the cards worth while is good enough.

 

How to play Pocket Queens

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Pocket Queens GirlGetting a pair of queens is one of the best hands pre-flop in No Limit Texas Hold’em. There are problems though when you go on a pre-flop raising collision with other players, as you might be banging heads with pairs of aces or kings. After the flop, you have to be ready to fold in case you meet an overcard to your good pair. Do not be married to the queens.

There is a very low probability that your pocket queens will be facing aces or kings. You need to feel the game though when the pre-flop betting goes very heavy. Check the behavior of your opponents if they are likely having aces or kings.

You need to consider your position when playing these cards. Let say you have a loose raiser to your right, then you have a green light for a re-raise. See if after the flop there will be an Ace and there will be a raise or more people getting into the pot, you might consider folding.

You need to probe as the players make their move so you can decide if you will play or fold.

(more…)