Royal Flush Poker

www.pkr.com poker players have a slightly different online playing experience to most, as there is a lot of emphasis on the visual aspect and engaging with other players.

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Rather than simply having avatar pictures in the seat of each player, pkr.com give players the chance to create a 3D person to take up their position at the tables. Poker Pro players will find options for changing, the voice, build, facial features, and clothing of their character, as will as learning chip tricks to show off at the tables. You could argue that such character development at the poker tables is not essential, and whilst this is true, it does offer something a little different to make pkr.com stand out from other poker rooms. If you happen to be a player whose only serious goal is to make money, this wouldn’t interfere with that goal at all, but for players who play recreationally to enjoy the experience of playing online poker, it can enrich the experience greatly.

www.pkr.com poker players have built an interactive community of players who meet and play at the tables each day, providing the poker room with a platform to ensure that they stand out from other sites. It would be easy to talk at great length about the 3D experience on offer, but it is important to remember that many of the other important aspects of online play such as tournament schedules, bonuses, promotions, and transaction security are all of an excellent standard too. With all these positive points at www.pkr.com there is no reason why they shouldn’t continue to grow and prosper, as they are a great poker room at which to play your poker.

There are lots of poker pro strategies you can use at Sky Poker. Slow playing is an issue that has appeared in recent years and involves players who are close friends choosing not to get into big confrontations with each other unless they have to.

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I think this is a difficult problem because every player has a right to play their cards as they wish in poker. You have to say though that it verges on players engaging in teamwork against the other players at the table, and that could be interpreted as collusion.

Not making large bluffs against a close friend is seen by some as being a good friend, especially when there is a lot of money on the table, but on a personal note, I do not agree with this type of play. I have a close friend who comes along to our live event some weeks, and whilst I know there are not vast amounts of money at stake, my principals are that I will play as well as I can at all times and try to win all his chips.

When it comes to poker, I feel that every player should be ruthless on the table. My friend took my out of the tournament once with (A,10) by rivering a ten against my (A,J). I bought him a beer later though and would never get annoyed about this.

It seems honourable and respectful to other players at the table if we treat even our friends as the enemy on the table, and both parties should accept this as just poker.

Usually when playing poker online at Party Poker, it will be much more than simply the texture of the board cards that defines whether you make a bet and how much, because different situations can call for very different actions sometimes. You may have heard people say that you play the person more than you do the cards, and this is the basis for one such situation. You might bluff against a tight player in a given scenario, but if you replaced that person with a wild reckless player, you might not feel so keen.

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The other well known situational aspect of the game is position at the table. We all know that being late to act is advantageous in poker, and also provides opporunity to make bets based solely on the perceived weakness your position has allowed you to observe. We all know that often, if one or two opposing players check the flop, there is a strong chance that they have missed. This then gives our chance to pick up the pot with a bet only made possible by that particular situation.

Another situation that might affect your willingness to make certain calls or raises, is the size of your chip stack. I see some players tighten up when they get low on chips to try and hang on for as long as possible, but personally, I feel it best to open up and start firing at pots.

As long as they are thought through correctly, bets made due to your situation rather than cards, can have a positive effect on your game.

This week I made an unremarkable start to my plans for a run at the CelebPoker  ‘Battle of the Planets’ leaderboard.

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I was ready to press on and put together another block of 20 if needs be, but then Wednesday nights Poker event entirely took the wind out of my sails. From this point, I do not really have time to complete this challenge before it closes, so I shall have to postpone it until next week.

This week has given me a most painful exit from a tournament, having played so well and decimated the table, until we got to the final table that is. Two very unfortunate hands sandwiched one which I misplayed, to form the basis for my collapse. I went from chip leader with 9 players left, to going out in 7th place, and the final hand was one of those particularly nasty, seemingly safe until the runner runner hits, ones.
With this, I have felt a little too bruised to engage in my usual daily schedule full of poker, and in truth I am still picking through the smouldering wreckage of Wednesday night in my head.

I must forgive my beloved poker pro game for the ways in which it wronged me earlier in the week though, and press on with some online play. I am very close to picking up my bonus cash on PKR, but I have 2 weeks to do that so there is no hurry. Nevertheless I shall get involved in some cash Omaha online today, and maybe play a small stakes live cash game this evening. The following week should involve me refocussing my attention on the leaderboard challenge after coming so close on two ocassions, and of course awaiting this Wednesday and the opportunity for redemption it brings.

This hand at 32RedPoker.com was the final one in a string of hands which caused the collapse of my chiplead, and tournament.

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Letting such a dominant position slip away from you in a tournament is hurtful enough, but this was a particularly painful way to be eliminated. I found myself in the big blind with 15,000 of my previous 30,000 chips left, and looked down at (A,K). My opponent had 15,300 chips and had been the same player who I had clashed with in two pots shortly beforehand.

My opponent raised, making it 4,000 to go, and I decided I should move all in. This would give me the best chance of forcing him off a middle to low pair, but I might still get a call if he was holding a hand such as (A,Q) or (A,J) due to my loose image. He swiftly called, giving my the chance I needed to get my chips back to 30,000 and leave the nightmare of the previous few hands behind me. My opponent turned over (9,9) which was surprising, but I was delighted to see the first card on the flop was a King. This immediately made me feel relaxed as a meaningless looking (8) and (10) followed to make up the flop. The turn card was a (6) and you can imagine my horror as the (7h) hit on the river, completing his Straight.

I would probably play the hand the same way if I had the chance again, as I knew his range of calling hands included hands I had dominated as well as coin flips, and I wouldn’t think he would have raised as heavily as he did preflop if he had (A,A) or (K,K). I had played to my best standards all night, and this was the final and most painful hand, to unravel all that hard work. Poker can be ruthless though, and I at least had an exciting and memorable game.

This hand at PacificPoker.co.uk involved myself picking up (Ad,8d) in fairly late position. The players in the blinds were fairly shortstacked, and I decided to make a loose raise to try and pick up the pot.

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Both blinds called however, and the flop came down (10c,Qs,4h) Both players checked, and so I decided to make a small bet in the hope that they would perceive this to mean I wanted a call. My feeling was that they had both missed, but the big blind player decided to call. Then, an (As) came off on the turn. Now I was certain I was in front and began to feel my opponent had a hand containing a Queen. We had already built a reasonable sized pot and what I should have done was bet out strongly to try and take the pot down there and then. What I did was bet small to try and lure my opponent into putting more chips into the pot.

There is a lesson here to be learnt, and I should have known better than to raise small and risk losing a nice pot. Another (4) came off on the river and I bet quite strongly. My poker opponent quickly called showing (J,4) for a set. You might say that it was rather loose play for him to call preflop and throughout the hand, but I had to recognise that I was making it cheap enough for him to do so. I should have closed the hand down and been happy with what was already in the pot, but I got greedy and took the risk to try and get an extra 2,000 into the pot.

This was the second big hand which went astray for me on the final table, but I managed to steady the ship at 15,000 chips soon after. I can say though that I was entirely at fault in this hand, and so I cannot have any real complaints.

This hand was one of the first of a few at Bet Fair Poker which went badly wrong on the final table. I started the hand with a chiplead of 30,000 and my opponent had around 9,000.

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From the big blind I already had 1,600 invested and so I wasn’t overly happy to see my opponent who is usually a very solid player raise it to 3,200 preflop. I was holding (Ac,Jc) and figured that it was probably just about enough to get me into trouble, but I had to call. The flop came down a very interesting (Ah,Qc,10c). I knew the chips were going in one way or another and was putting my opponent on a hand like (A,Q) or (A,K). I checked on the off chance he might be holding an underpair and would check back, but he moved the rest of his chips in and I couldn’t convince myself to get away.
I had the nut Flush draw, top pair, and an inside Straight draw and so I called. He turned over his (A,K) and with no club or King to save me, I wondered if there was any way I could have simply folded the hand in the first place. In all honesty though, I think in that position I would do the same again. When the flop came down, I pretty much picked up every draw and connected enough to leave me strong, but still behind in the hand.
Preflop I couldn’t fold (Ac,Jc) when I already had 1,600 invested even if I did feel I was going in behind, so I cannot feel too bad. In poker there will always be times when you are dragged into a pot that almost plays itself out, and you just have to go with your best option at the time I feel.

When looking at this aspect of the game at Ladbrokes Poker, I do not mean literally telling your opponent what they wish to hear of course, rather, dropping false hints through your own play in order to help them make the wrong choice.

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Often you will find that players make raises for the purpose of gaining information about the hand they are up against, this gives you the chance to throw your opponent off the right track. If for instance you have a strong hand which you are certain is in front, you can sit there thinking for some time before calling. This shows uncertainty and weakness when in fact your hand is strong. You should not look to hint at the opposite of the truth in this way every time of course, or players catch on to what you are doing.

As well as telling your poker opponent what they want to hear when in fact the opposite is true, you can in fact play in such a way as to achieve the opposite effect. On certain flops, players will look to put out a bet just to get a feel for whether you have connected, and with the hope that they might win the pot uncontested. Regardless of what cards you have, you can choose to put out a reraise sometimes, hinting falsely that you have connected, and telling them what they do not wish to hear.

As with any tactical play you make, remember not to do it too often. Keep mixing your play up so that your opponent remains off balance, and unsure of where your hand is during any given moment.

PacificPoker.co.uk – I make no secret of the fact that I do not carefully stick to what the poker books tell me I should, and whilst they certainly provide a useful insight into the game, there are some aspects of poker you have to learn the hard way.

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I would never say that I frown upon players who play this type of careful poker on a constant basis, indeed, those who carefully do what the maths dictates they should, will likely turn a good profit playing the game. Regardless of this, I do think there is a great deal of benefit to be had from playing the occasional weaker drawing hand. Personally of course, I am not unpredictable to the point of making wild bets on a constant basis, I simply like to nurture the illusion of recklessness.

I might for instance, call a raise preflop with (8,9) off suit, just so that I can hopefully show it. I also openly say how much I like suited connectors, and for good reason. I am anywhere near as happy playing suited connectors as I make out, but I know if that poker players have that in their mind, they can never look at any flop and feel truly confident that I have missed. Crucially, when you get players thinking that you are capable of anything, almost every flop begins to look dangerous to them, despite the fact that you have only played about three weak hands. The foundations to reading anyones hand lie in their betting, or reaction to your preflop raise. If you create the illusion that you are capable of calling a preflop raise with any two connected cards, you will always keep your poker opponents guessing.

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www.poker.ladbrokes.com – This is a hand which took place between me and another notoriously aggressive player at my recent live game. Having seen my opponent pick up pots with large continuation bets on the flop several times, I decided to flat call his strong preflop raise from late position with (K,K). I knew the other players would almost certainly get out of the way as soon as it was clear they would be in a three way pot with myself and this player were they to call.

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The flop came down (3,5,9) and my opponent immediately fired out a bet of 2,500. With a chip stack of about 15,000 and only slightly more than him, I felt I had a great chance to almost double up, if I played the hand correctly. There were no obvious dangers in particular, aside from the fact that he could have raised preflop with almost anything, but I decided to flat call hoping for another raise on the turn. The turn card brought an (8) and my opponent immediately announced he was all in. I was concerned about the straight obviously, but knowing this player well, I felt he could very easily have no hand at all if he felt I would put mine down to an all in bet.

I had hinted to this fact by flat calling on the flop and preflop, and I knew he had no idea I was as strong as (K,K). I called, to discover that he had (A,8) for second pair, and took down a big pot. I think this illustrates that when you are up against a player who loves to get involved and make aggressive moves, you have to adjust the way you play strong hands accordingly. poker.ladbrokes.com

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