Lucky Streak Poker

www.pokerstars.com – In my younger days, I could happily sit and play poker all day long, and never tire of it, and although my interest has never faded as such, I do find my mind tires quicker than it used to. Perhaps it is the fact that I am having to think more carefully about my play these days, but it seems easier for tiredness to affect my play.

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I do personally find that changing the game I am playing will help to stimulate my interest and provide a break from Holdem, and I feel that learning such new games is very helpful to developing poker skills too. If you are a player who sits online playing tournament after tournament, and find results aren’t going your way, I would suggest not playing quite such a packed out schedule. Although some players are certainly better than others at maintaining constant concentration, it can be quite draining and have an effect on our decision making for most of us.

Singular tournaments which go on for a long time are not so much of a problem I find, as the constantly approaching, money paying places, will always spur me on to play better. If you enjoy playing tournaments more than cash games in general, as I do, it can sometimes be difficult to make yourself sit at a cash table. It is worth trying though, as this can help keep you motivated too, as you always have a numerical display of your success in money, right in front of you. the fact that you can stand up and leave the table when th cards start running badly for you is also a refreshing change sometimes.

www.fulltiltpoker.com – In poker, it is not often that you make a hand strong enough to not have to worry what card hits on the river, and so there is almost always good reason to raise in order to protect your hand. I’m sure we have all heard the stories of players who had a good hand, and all of a sudden their opponent hits their dream card on the river and shoves all in.

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The reality of this situation is not that the person with the good hand was unlucky, they simply didn’t recognise the potential dangers and raise to protect their hand well enough. If we take an example of flopping a two pair with (Q,K) on a board of (Q,K,J), less experienced player might be tempted to check and hope someone else raises. If the raise never happens, and several players see a turn of an Ace, Ten or Jack, you could have just got yourself into a lot of trouble.

Although it is not ideal to pick up small pots with big hands, the fact is, that you will be far more happy doing that than letting players see two more cards and getting outdrawn. It is obvious enough that the way in which you raise to protect a strong yet vulnerable hand, is decided mostly by the texture of flop, but you are always better off playing it safe I feel.

Some hands are less vulnerable than others, depending on the flop, but remember that if you raise, and you do get a caller against your strong hand, you end up building a big pot, and if the opponent folds you have picked up a smaller pot. But either way, this is a win/win situation.

www.vcpoker.com – With christmas approaching, I have only been involved in one live game this week, although technically that did branch out into a secondary Omaha game, in which I again did better than the Holdem tournament. As far as the Holdem game went, it started off well, as I gradually built my stack from 6,000 up to 9,000.

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But after a few draws that missed, and some opponents making all in shoves after I had opened with a raise preflop, I had slipped back to 5,500. One of the players at the table had shown pocket threes on two occasions, after shoving all in preflop and forcing everyone to fold, and after looking down at (7,7) and raising to 1,500, I had a feeling what would happen. The reason I raised so much was because the blinds were reasonably sized, and I wanted to pick them up uncontested. This wasn’t to be however, as the player who had pushed with pocket threes twice already, came over the top and shoved again. I really felt I had no choice but to make a stand, and despite the fact that it was unlikely he had threes again, I felt I was racing at worst, and so I called. He showed (J,Q), and told me he felt I was trying to steal the pot which was why he moved all in, and I guess in a sense, he wasn’t too far from the truth. The flop came down (8,9,10) to make my elimination quick and painless, and we started up our side game of Omaha.

Seven players started, and I held a nice chiplead for quite a while, but I was playing to loose I feel, and eventually one big pot went the other way, and I was out in 3rd place soon after. Not the most productive week I must say, but I should be fresh enough to play well in the live game on Wednesday, after not having played for a few days now.

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www.pkr.com – Since this events humble beginnings, it has gradually grown in many ways, with the number of participants following suit. In keeping with this, the number of tournaments played at each series, has grown, encompassing more games, and more varied buy in amounts.

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Currently running, are seniors tournaments also, which are specifically for the older players at the event, along with ladies tournaments too. The games offered range from Holdem, Omaha, Stud, Razz and Triple Draw, to combinations of these games such as the S.H.O.E and H.O.R.S.E events. I think it is healthy to have this vast array of games and tournament types available, as it gives players who are the finest in the world at their own disciplines, a chance to shine.

The popularity of Holdem is fairly reflected in the number of Holdem tournaments on the schedule, but there is a chance of a bracelet at the WSOP for any player, regardless of which type of poker game is their favoured one. The players with dreams larger than their bank balances needn’t worry either, because there are tournaments running at the World Series with affordable buy ins. Invariably, these tournaments attract the less skilled, rather than the professional players, and there are high turnout levels too, but this is a good thing, I feel as it offers anybody the chance of a life changing win.

www.pokerroom.com – Limits in poker serve an important purpose, and can change the texture of a game entirely. It is not only the ‘Limit’ ‘Pot Limit’ and ‘No Limit’ versions of poker that we should consider when thinking about limits. Wherever you choose to play poker, be it online, or in a live game,we should always set limits on the amount of money we are happy to spend. We might be the best poker player around, and we might even expect to win a tournament, but it is very important to never risk more than you can afford to lose.

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In terms of the three varieties of poker game I mentioned earlier, ‘No Limit’ is certainly the most popular at present. The reason for this is partly the fact that players can force each other out of pots preflop, and also the fact that it gives much more flexibility throughout the hand. Pot limit offers a similar amount of freedom, but generally you need to put in a raise earlier in the hand if you wish to build the pot. Thirdly there is limit poker, which is not really my specialty, but it does seem to restrict the game somewhat. That said, I would imagine it takes a different approach and a certain amount of skill to extract the most profit from the game.
Limits are found in many forms in poker, as there are limits as to what we can achieve with the cards running against us, limits to how much we can improve our stack in any given hand, as well as all the others mentioned above.

www.pkr.com is certainly my favourite poker room at the moment, and the one on which I play most of my poker. The reasons for this are many, but the key reason that attracted me to the site, was the truly amazing visuals you get while playing the game. As a player you can design your character down to the smallest detail, changing the appearance whenever you feel like it thereafter.

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At the tables you have a list of phrases and movements you can say or do to express yourself, and everything visual at PKR is head and shoulders above anything else in my opinion. There is a great tournament schedule at pkr poker too with all the variety of tournaments you would hope for. Help and support is of a good standard too with live chat being available. First time deposit bonuses stand at 100% of the first deposit, provided you clear the appropriate amount of points in the time frame given. Having said that, I do not play for big stakes, but I play quite regularly, and I cleared the required points with a month to spare.
One downside to pkr.com is that they only offer Holdem and Omaha, but in my opinion, everything else about the site is great.

There is an online store in which your points can be spent, and as you attain higher V.I.P statuses, you get offered more as a player. Promotional offers are updated regularly as well, so there is always something on offer for players no matter what their level of play. Overall I think PKR is an exceptional poker room, although they would do well to introduce another game or two to what is already on offer.

www.pokerroom.com - The poker textbooks will often tell you that you should be wary about playing hands such as suited connectors, or that you should always raise preflop to protect your hand when you have (A,A). Personally, I like to experiment with playing hands different ways, and here are examples of playing the two I have just mentioned.

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Seated just before the small blind, I picked up (7,8) suited, and decided to put in a small raise. Sometimes you will find you pick up the blinds uncontested, but on this occasion I was called by the big blind. The flop of (7,J,7) was fortunate of course, but when I raised my opponent on this flop, he had no doubt his (A,J) was good, and so called, and lost.

The point I make, is that if you come into a pot raising with middle suited connectors, and you hit your hand well, your opponent will always struggle to work out what you have. This means you are much more likely to get paid off when you hit the hand well. Another example is to flat call preflop with Aces (only with 1 or 2 players to act behind you). You cannot of course try this with multiple players yet to act, because the danger of ending up in a four or five handed pot is too great, but if the blinds are reasonable, you will often find someone raising behind you to try and steal the pot. If you end up in a three way pot, this is no disaster either.

The most important point here to consider, is that of table image. Given these two examples, my opponents now know that I am capable of raising preflop with (7,8), and that I am capable of flat calling preflop with (A,A). Thus making it very difficult to read my hand strength preflop. I have put real uncertainty in my opponents minds over what I might be raising with preflop, and have done so at hardly any extra risk, or cost to my chipstack.

fulltiltpoker.com have been around for quite some time now, and in that time, have amassed the strongest team of poker professionals around in my opinion.

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On their site, and in keeping with this fact, there are prizes of cash and merchandise to players who can eliminate these players from designated bounty tournaments.

In terms of their initial deposit bonus, this stands at a healthy 100% addition to the amount you choose to deposit. This is a good way to help the players get started, and in comparitive terms is what many sites offer at the moment. Also on offer at the moment is the opportunity to play your way to a 12k prize package in an EPT or WPT tournament of your choice. The chance to compete on the biggest stage is an amazing opportunity, and being able to pick out your favoured event is very convenient too. Great value guaranteed tournaments are also in operation at www.fulltiltpoker.com on an almost constant basis, with some big prize pools being scheduled.

You will also find a Happy Hour promotion going on at the moment, which simply means you accumulate player points at a greatly increased rate during this time and whilst you are seated at a special happy hour table. The player points system at fulltiltpoker.com is already one of the best around, and the opportunity to earn points much faster for a limited time, is one not to miss.

Alongside this, you can also earn yourself extra cash each month with a $100 being paid for each player you refer to Full Tilt. All in all, there are some very good promotional offers going on at Full Tilt.

I feel that as far as first time deposit bonuses go, Pokerstars is very reasonable in this department, offering 100% on top of your initial deposit. Pokerstars has recently had a change of lobby design which now looks better I feel, and they continue to offer a great number of tournaments on their schedule. Tournaments and cash games can be found here with buy ins of varying levels, and in many different games.

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One of the best aspects of www.pokerstars.com in my opinion, is the sheer choice that is offered in what type of game you want to play. They have Holdem, Omaha, Stud, 2-7, Razz, Five Card draw, and H.O.R.S.E events to keep their players interested, and with good player traffic, it certainly seems to work.

There is a good points system in place at pokerstars.com, which allows accumulated points to be exchanged for tournament buy ins or merchandise in their online store, as well as improving the players V.I.P status onsite. Support options here are also of an excellent standard, and there are obvious reasons why Pokerstars have such a great team of pros supporting them.

I personally feel that of all the sites who do not have interactive 3D avatars, Poker stars has the visuals which are most pleasing on the eye, and there is a great deal to like about this site. It ranks as one of my favourites, and there are many new promotions and ideas coming along from the team there each month, to help Pokerstars continue to be one of the leading sites online.

pkr.com – For me, this is a danger which is often overlooked by less experienced players, as when they are shortstacked and looking for a hand to move all in with, or even call an all in by a short stack, they feel a hand like (A,5) is enough.

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I have to admit that twice recently, I have fallen into this trap myself having been very shortstacked, but I feel I was left with little choice on the matter due to the blinds approaching fast. The usual problem you find with this type of hand is that you so very often get called by a bigger Ace and are in terrible shape going into the flop.

Considering there is such an obvious danger of this happening, I would in fact prefer to be all in with a small stack holding a hand such as (6,7) suited, than (A,7) off, provided there are five or more players still at the table. Of course the chances are, that you will go into the hand slightly behind, but there is a very high chance that you will have two live cards as well as flush options and straight options.

If there is one key principal in terms of doubling up with a small stack, it has to be that if the blinds are forcing you to play a hand, whatever you do, do not go into the flop dominated by your opponents hand. If you have two live cards, you will always stand a chance of doubling through.

Having said all this, I should point out that, despite the same dangers being there when you are down to two or three players, it’s more often worth the risk in that situation. With only one or two other hands out there, you are pretty unlucky if you get dealt something like (A,7) and come up against a bigger Ace. Also when you are shorthanded, the blinds are hitting you quicker, forcing you to act, and your opponents will call with a much wider range of hands.

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