Archive for the ‘Play Online Poker’ Category
What are the first three shared cards called in Texas hold 'em? What's a straddle? If I say you have a gutshot, do you know what cards you're holding?
If these terms are unfamiliar to you, take a moment to skim through the glossary at the end of this book. We need to be speaking the same language, so we understand what a particular word means when talking about Texas hold 'em. This is already known as the jargon, or the "lingo," used among players who know the game well. When we agree on definitions and terms in advance, the communication is faster and easier.
Mnemonics
A mnemonic is a trick to help you remember something easily. When you pick two cards at random from a deck of fifty-two cards, there are 1,326 different two-card hands that can be created. Since that's a lot to remember, let's disregard suits (AV9^ is the same as A49*). Now you have just 169 possible hands. It gets easier from there, because many of these hands have nicknames, which are the mnemonics in poker.
If you've played poker before, you know that you have to pay careful attention to what's going on in the game. Anything you can do to make this task easier on yourself helps you concentrate on the more important things, like watching the other players play their hands.
Get into the habit of not looking at your hand until it is your turn to act. When the play passes to you, decide how you want to play the hand. If you muck it, then it's over until the next hand. If you decide to play, memorize the hand, place it in front of you with a chip on it to protect it, and then don't look at it again until the hand is over.
Why shouldn't you look at your hand again? Tells will be covered in a later chapter, but you should know now that there are a few tells associated with how you look at your hand and how your opponents react to the flop.
When the flop is all of one suit, you will often see another player immediately double-check his hole cards. This reaction usually means that he has exactly one card of that suit and he's checking to see which one of his hole cards it is. So you know that he does not yet have the flush. Don't do your opponents any favors by providing them with similar knowledge about your hand.
Online Vegas Casino Games Play OnlineTags: casino, game, poker
At a ten-handed table, I usually think of the seats as divided into five pairs.
Number of chairs to the left of the dealer button
1 & 2 The blinds
3&4 The under-the-gun positions (first two players to act after the blinds)
5&6 Early position
7 & 8 Middle position
9 & 10 Late position and the button
DECIDING TO PLAY
If you're a new Hold 'Em player, or just new to the table and haven't yet been able to identify the game conditions, the best approach is to just play tight.
There are three things you should take into consideration when deciding whether to play a hand.
1. Your position
2. How many players have already called
3. Whether the pot has been raised
Depending on these three things, tight play means different things. It doesn't mean wait until you get pocket Aces. Tight play means that you should only get involved when the situation suggests that the hand you've been dealt has an edge over the hands the other players have been dealt.
When you're in early position, you should generally play fewer hands because of the lack of information you have about others' hands and the risk of a weak hand being raised by a better one. In late position, you have more information about others' hands and can often play weaker hands if no one has raised. Actually, in late position you can usually play weaker hands even if someone has raised.
How the number of players affects your hands depends both on how many of them have called and the position they've called from. If others have called from an early position, you generally need a stronger hand. That's because most players who open from an early position will have a strong hand themselves. However, if many players (generally five or more) have called, then you can play many weaker hands because you're getting fairly good odds on your money.
If the pot has been raised, you should generally play few hands. This is especially true if the raiser came in from an early position.
In the tables, I list some minimum hand requirements to open the pot or to call an opener under various situations. Don't memorize these tables. The cut-off hands I suggest are just that— suggestions. In most cases you should be playing either tighter or looser than the tables suggest—depending on how well the others at the table play. The better your opposition plays, the fewer hands you should play. The worse your opposition plays, the more hands you should play. Use these tables as guidelines, not as a set of rules about playable hands.
In cases where your opponents all play badly after the flop, then you can usually loosen up even on these minimum requirements, but in many games the minimums given in these tables are probably too loose. You should play tighter than the tables suggest. In Chapter 12, where I talk about a theory of starting hand values, I give some other hand groupings based on game characteristics that give hands value. My best suggestion is to take the tables in this chapter and adjust them for play in the game in which you typically play based on the hand groups I give in Chapter 12. Do your own table of starting hands based on game characteristics and on how well you play relative to the other players. The simplest decisions are when no one else has called yet, meaning the only thing you need to take into consideration is your position.
No Deposit Online Casinos Play BlackjackOnline Casino Take a Spin!
Tags: casino, dealer button, game conditions, gun positions