We have seen them on TV. We have seen the grim focus of the sprinter preparing for a race; we have seen Barry Bonds step up to the plate just knowing that the ball is going out of the park. We have seen their winning expression, the look that just screams that they are going to win and nothing is going to stand in their way. They embody the winner mentality.
Their attitude is actually quite simple. They will succeed. And they know it.
It is a similar attitude a poker player should adept, especially when playing tournament poker. It is this mentality that the best players have. When the tournament starts and the first cards are dealt, at that very moment they know that they are going to win. All their focus and energy is on one thing and one thing only - winning.
Often it is impossible. The cards are against you, or you lose that critical coin flip, or bluff in the wrong spot. Afterwards, the disappointment sets in. And it is just natural that you get disappointed since you were so sure of winning.
But that is not a bad thing! It is out of this disappointment that the motivation to play even better, to excel to the next level, is born.
Poker is a game played by utilising those Read More »
Suited connectors are hands that often win big pots. As the name implies, a suited connector is a suited and connected hand, for example; JT, T9 and 65 of the same suit. These hands are often easy to play, because they are easy to fold the times we miss the flop.
So, when should we play suited connectors?
The answer is - almost always! When playing a full ring game, sometimes it is best just to call in early positions, but when first in from mid-to-late position, it is a raising hand. When playing shorthanded, we should always raise suited connectors first in. This is to balance our raising hand distribution; it gives good deception value and allows us to steal the pot on the flop, even if we miss it completely.
If someone has raised before us, in most cases it is correct to call the raise, especially if we have position on the raiser. A good rule of thumb is that it is correct to call up to 10% of our stack preflop, since it is about that often we will hit two pair or better. Preflop, our cards are not worth much. It is after the flop that things can become interesting.
Our goal is to flop two pair, three of a kind or a strong draw. Suited connectors are especially Read More »
Part of the charm of poker is the delicate and tough decisions we face when playing. We have a feeling that our top pair with a bad kicker is the best hand, but we are not sure. We think that our opponent might be bluffing, but how do we know? This insecurity gnawing at us when playing adds to the depth of the game and puts us on the edge of our seats when playing online poker.
A good rule of thumb is, when we are unsure, to either raise or fold. Let us assume that we called a preflop raise from a tight player with JTs after a caller in-between. The flop comes T73 rainbow. The early position raiser bets out, the player between us folds. What should we do?
First of all, we need to realize that our holding is very marginal. Sure, we have top pair, but our kicker is bad and we are facing a tight player. It is not exactly a hand to write home about (unless we have our mom on MSN and want some good parental advice).
In this situation, our options are to raise or fold. There is nothing wrong in folding. A bit on the tight side, sure, but if we put the tight player on a good hand there is no reason to continue playing. We can, however, test the tight player by raising. If the opponent re-raises we just Read More »
Since we, unfortunately, are not born perfect, flawless and all-knowing, we are bound to make a lot of mistakes each and every time we try something new. We go through a learning curve where we identify the errors we commit and try to correct these to the best of our abilities.
This is also true for online poker. In this article, I will point out four common and costly beginner errors.
1) Playing too many starting hands
This is probably the most common, and one of the most costly, mistakes a new poker player makes. Most new players are so eager to just play that they fail to realize the value of sound starting hand selection. There are certain hands that should rarely be played and there are loads of hands that should never be played. Good starting hand selection is the foundation of solid play.
2) Betting too small
Another common mistake is betting too small. It is not at all uncommon to see people making tiny bets, even in large pots. This is almost always wrong. When you bet too little, people will not fold the times you bluff, and will have good odds to o Read More »
Adjusting The Pot Size to the strength of your hand.
Sometimes, we just feel this irresistible urge to play a big pot. Unless we are drunk or tilted, this urge is usually when we flop a great hand. On other occasions, we like to play medium-sized pots, and this is usually when we have a good but not great hand. Sometimes, we want to play a small pot and get to showdown cheap, this is when we have a mediocre but probably-best holding.
This is why it is so important to try to adjust the pot size to match the strength of your hand. Let us assume that we raised 99 from late position and got called by both blinds. The flop is a dream for us - J93. This is one of those situations where our highest wish is to just get the money in the middle - and this is why it is so important to start building the pot right away!
If the blinds check to us, we should bet - about 2/3 to 3/4 of the pot is a good bet. Sometimes our opponents will have missed the flop completely and fold, but if they have hit a piece of it they will call - or even raise! - And the pot gets nicely bloated already on the flop, increasing our chances of stacking the opponent. By betting, we give ourselves the chance to win Read More »
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Joined: 2008-06-21
