For our example we will look at an example from the World Series of Poker:

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 just call and then wait for someone to move all-in after him, but that would make him do some thinking…

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.

Concluding 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 online poker 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 online poker tables to get it nailed.

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

A set can be really strong, for example, you have 6-6 and the flop comes A-10-6. 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)?”. Those players in previous hands always play any hand that drops on their computer screens. They may have A-6 or A-7, but also 8-7 or even 8-5. Or any two Hearts. They don’t 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 power is just history and if you keep with it your chip stack is likely to be history too!

This article is by NoPayPOKER, the perfect online poker site for beginners to learn to play online poker without risking money. For experienced poker players the attraction is practice, the ability to fine tune their game and test out new techniques in a totally no risk zone while grinding away to accumulate free online poker cash.

Maybe there is a scenario when this is ok- an example would be if there’s not a lot of cash floating about in the pot, or there is no chance of making a profit by making the gamble. This doesn’t move me away from my bad feelings towards checking it down just to go up in the cash however. I guess my feelings come because this type of play stops the chance to win the pot. In addition this can allow the opposition to catch you, when they would have clearly thrown in. It’s a great deal safer and stronger to play to gamble instead of check if you have the cards. This way you won’t loose any more than you have to.

Next is the importance of online free poker tournament bankroll management.

It is very easy to stack-off all your roll by not following a few bankroll management skills. I have found that Chris “Jesus” Ferguson’s techniques work quite well. In this technique, you can only buy into multi table poker tournaments for no more than 2% or your total bankroll and Sit and Go poker games for 5% of your total.

At NoPayPOKER we recommend for money competitions you mustn’t put in more than three percent of your entire amount though, Ferguson believes five percent is considered ok. So it comes down to your stance to risk at this stage, it’s a good idea to find your risk tolerance at the online poker sites.

A major part of online poker achievement comes down to decent skill, and knowledge of managing your bankroll. An obvious example of how to use this technique is to move down the scales of stakes when you hit a bad losing run. Most players understand this theory but find it very hard to put into practice, as they want to try and recoup the money they have just lost as quickly as possible. However dropping down in stakes is even further significant than having a decent roll methodology mindset.

Poker, mainly Texas hold ‘em, has been pushed on the public almost too much. Everyone thinks they’re going to be the next great champion. Now sometimes I’ve seen players get frustrated because the person they’re losing to just started learning how to even play the game.

But for me, it’s not even so much that anymore. I feel a lot of the challenge has just been taken out of the game. There are a lot of people nowadays who just don’t know, or don’t care, what they’re doing. People flop bottom pair, middle pair, top pair with BAD kicker, gutshot straight draws, open ended straight draws, flush draw with two cards in their hand, or even flush draws with one card in their hand. Sometimes, they don’t even flop anything. And, they have no excuse why they may even call a bet to go any further, but they do.

What grinds me is this new breed of player has no business playing for any kind of bet, but does, why? Because they either believe they know what they’re doing or believe their lucky charm will carry them through.

As stated before these players all have ambitions and harbour dreams of becoming the next big thing. These guys seek and chase the feel of hitting their cards for victory. Alternatively if there dreams stop short of being the next poker ace, they think of the new riches they’re destined for.

I do place a lot of blame on free online poker sites. People watch/play these sites so much and see bad hands get rewarded so often. That’s where most bad play comes from.

But in the only defence of free online poker, I do understand why you see so many bad plays get rewarded. Online sites make their money by keeping games constantly going. They need the players to move on to another table as soon as possible.

So what happens? Most end up seeing that miracle gutshot hit. Or the one outer hit. Or even worse; the runner, runner (nothing funner) hit. I just wish I could find a site that wouldn’t allow that to happen so, so much. But I never know if my desire will return. Even if I could find a site like that, there’s always the “other” problem. The vast number of players out there who really have no business gambling like that with real money involved. But who am I, or you, or anyone, to judge what might make other people happy?

Solid and Tight early on.
This means that early in a tournament you only play premium hands. Position is very important. Pairs from 22 thru 99 I only call and then only up to only 3 times the Big Blind. A larger raise and I fold them.

Larger pairs like 1010, JJ, QQ, KK, and AA of course call for a raise on a short table.

Get ready to call an all in whichever of those cards are shown- cards such as Queen/Jack, Queen/King, King/Jack & & Ace/10I play similar with tiny pairs & fold to raises higher than three times the big hand.

Now the hands that can get you into trouble.
AJ, AQ, and AK….you got to know when to fold them!! They are great hands when down to 3 or maybe 4 players left, but early on they are dead to any pair.

Learn to lay them down in the early part of a free poker tourney. One of the things I also do until the last 3 and in the money is show my winners. The table see’s Those KK and trip 7’s and so on. And I haven’t bluffed on a single hand…Yet. That comes when only 3 left. No more show and tell.

By doing this you will get the opportunity to have some great robberies. Your opponents have only ever seen your victories and therefore have no reason to start doubting you now.

By only playing premium hands in the early stages you allow the “Bingo” players to play themselves out. Chances are by playing Solid and Tight you will have the opportunity to take one or two out yourselves.

The whole idea in any tournament is to win, however making the money in SNG’s much easier. In most cases top 3 pay with 3rd usually paying back at least your buy-in. So making the money is critical to successful SNG play.

Another factor in play is a pet peeve of mine. I cannot count the times I have seen a table fold to a dead seat. There is nothing like seeing a deadhead getting free chips. The key factor here is PAY ATTENTION. You have to be in the game and not on vacation.

Add with this there are always the common sense fundamentals when playing for money. I’m one of the old school and being in my fifties I have seen the game evolve in many forms over many decades. To quote one of mu idols “No limit holdem can be taught in half an hour but can take over a lifetime to master”.

Remember, all players new to the game or more experienced who have lost there way; go practice on the small stake or free online poker tables. There are some very good set ups and by gaining experience or finding that winning way again, your doing it with peace of mind that you haven’t lost a wallet full of cash.

This obviously sends all but one player to an early grave. My recommendations are to stay safe until the final table, which I like to play more aggressively. I fold folded a lot of good hands early in the game and never regretted it because whatever happened I was still in the game.

The best free roll final position I made was forth with one hundred and fifty competing- in all honesty I was ecstatic with this, especially being a novice. From this I started to believe the chances of getting a pay out would not be as hard as first imagined especially when so many people go all in.

A good tip I continually use is the step up method. The highest I have won in a single hand is seventy five dollars- FreeD in the same hand and I managed to get my 1st sr8 flush smashing a very sure ace high flush which had the player go all in.

Mathematics I have found to be incredibly important. Knowing the chances of a flush by the river from two suited cards or the chances of winning from a certain pocket pair. Wising up on your odds will help greatly.

I have found the community at my free online poker site incredibly friendly and I always enjoy each game, whether I win or lose.

I know that I will continue to play free poker online for a long time to come and I look forward to perfecting my game as time goes on.

Moving all in on the river or pre-flop is only the right move when it’s really your only option, for example, Short stacked. In poker you need to think to yourself what would I do if I was in the same situation I am putting them in? When do call an all in pre-flop or on the river?

Hopefully your answer was when you think you have a better hand. If your all in on the river or pre-flop then your most likely going to get called with hands no worse then AQ pre-flop and at least top pair with a high kicker on the river.

Think before you act:
Why gamble your normal wager if you place a player on a flush draw and they haven’t hit on the river? Gamble on something he could potentially call on even after missing.

Rather than go all in with the top boys I would suggest if you’re that way inclined, to gamble just over the pot with your made hands.

The more you blag the higher chances you will get called- the majority of opponents will blag with over bets rather than all ins.

By letting your opponents see one or two of your poorer hands works leaps and bounds too. If fore say you managed to get your opponents to lay down with a middle of 6’s even though this was the top cards in the game- it will illustrate to everyone you are willing to gamble with less than flawless cards.

Hopefully my tips will help you get the best out of your hands when you are playing free online poker…. good luck and I really hope to see you at the poker tables very soon!!

So, having realised I was too drunk, I decided to take the walk to deposit my money safely until I was sober enough to look after it properly. This sort of problem wouldn’t be an issue nowadays as Vegas is much more commercial, but in those days there were many people who you wouldn’t want to meet on a dark street with that sort of money in your pocket.

I didn’t think much of it until I hit the street. I then realized how dark it was, and with the street all torn up, there were no cars and virtually no people, either. Furthermore, there was a light mist falling. I was tired and thought, “Oh, what the hell. It’s only across the street – less than a block away.” So, I started my short walk.

This was the point that I was wishing I was playing free poker online rather than being out in the streets like a crazy man!

Just as I approached the corner, two big, tough-looking guys came around the corner. Both were carrying beer bottles and appeared to be very drunk and looking for trouble. As soon as they saw me, I knew what was coming. I was sure that they were on the prowl for a handout or, with no one else around, maybe something worse.

As I kept walking, they approached me as if they were going to block what was left of the sidewalk.

When they got within a few feet of me, one of the guys asked, “Hey, you got a couple of dollars?”

Now, I guess if I were an honest person, I would have said, “Well, yes. As a matter a fact, I just won a big poker tournament and have about $1,000 in my pocket. Will $2 be enough?” But instead, I stopped and said in a very loud and forceful voice, “Hey, don’t – - – - with me! I just lost $25 in there!” They both looked at me and parted like pussycats as I walked right past them.

A few steps later, I turned and loudly shouted another expletive at them. It was a great spur-of-the-moment bluff. Oh, I could have said, “I don’t have any money,” or given a dozen other excuses, but I don’t think that any of them would have worked quite as well as what I did. The bottom line was that these fellows wanted no part of a guy who could be that angry about losing 25 bucks.

It had to be the best bluff of my life, because I am here today retelling the story. If that bluff hadn’t worked, well I’d be lucky to be even playing free poker let alone big money!

I spent many years trying to perfect my game and working out the percentages of the hands and outs, etc. I would say that it benefited me, but not as greatly as I would have liked. What I did not factor in, was the style of play by others. Playing the player is a strategy that should not be overlooked.

Many players will play nearly any cards dealt to them. Bluff out the table to take in the pot. Other times just plain get lucky and “donk”. After all it is poker and any 2 cards can typically win a hand.

The question some may ask is how do you play a player. The simplistic answer is to observe and study how possible opponent’s play before you attempt playing a player. Make note of their playing techniques and take in as much about them as possible, such as how often they raise, how much they bet, etc. This may take you some time, but it is well worth taking as much in as you can before you attempt to take them on.

Does it always work to your advantage? The answer is no. It is poker and a game of chance after all. Regardless of how good you are at poker, you are never going to win every single game you play. However, by taking on this strategy of watching your opponents before you play them, you are much more likely to win more hands than you otherwise would have. You may not win every hand or every time, but you will win more than just playing your cards.

Good luck with these tips and I hope to see you at the free online poker tables soon!