Posted by admin @ 5:00 PM, Tuesday Jun 24th, 2008
Category: Poker
There are a great many poker players on sites like www.poker.com these days who instinctively remain as stony faced and motionless as possible when they are involved in a big pot.
This is mainly for the purpose of not letting their opponent read something from their expressions or posture. One pro player, Phil Laak, A.K.A "Unabomber" is even well known for tightening his hooded top up around his head so nothing of his face is visible whatsoever.
I am sure this is effective at www.poker.com but perhaps it is more constructive to see your demeanour not as a chance for your opponent to gain a correct read on you, but as a chance for you to project a false one to them.
When attempting to give off subtle signals such as these it is important not to go too far. If you are very obviously trying to say somthing with your betting patterns or body language, your opponent may pick up on this and get a better picture of how strong or not strong your hand is causing your plan to backfire.
So keep it very careful, if they don’t pick up on the signal because it is too subtle, you have lost nothing in trying. Different people will find different things work well for them, but personally I like to leave careful hints to paint a different picture to how strong my hand really is.
If you place your chips in the pot with confidence, your opponent may assume you are attempting to disguise weakness and be more inclined to call, so try doing this when you are strong perhaps, see if you get the result you wanted.
It is important I feel, to be aware of these social aspects when playing live poker as opposed to online poker at sites such as poker.com. Play around with a few things and see if you can throw your opponents reads off line, you might find the results surprising.
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Posted by admin @ 5:00 PM, Wednesday Jun 18th, 2008
Category: Poker
www.poker.com brings us this great 5 card poker strategy.
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Considering 5 card draw is a poker game which is largely luck orientated, it might be difficult to imagine that any real strategy might have an outcome on games of this type. There are certain cards you can choose to draw or hold in situations which will make or break your hand in 5 card, and any situation in which you have a choice to make in poker, gives you a chance to make the right one.
When I talk about these key moments of decision I’m referring to instances of perhaps being dealt a weak pair and an Ace, do you hold the pair and the Ace in the hope of making a strong two pair? or do you just keep the pair in order to maximise your chances of making 3 of a kind? These are usually a matter of personal preference and every player seems to develop their own way of playing in a circumstance like this. Personally I keep hold of the small pair to maximise my 3 of a kind possibilities, especially when two pair is less likely to be able to win the hand even if I make it, and I may get lucky and make two pair whilst playing for the set anyway.
What about the situation of making four cards to a flush, with a pair of kings or something similar? With one draw to make, do you keep the kings and play safe, or go all out for the flush? Bear in mind most players will notice you only swap one and immediately think "he has a two pair or he’s close to a straight or flush" because realistically they are the only things you could be holding when you draw one card. All these things should be given due consideration, and although I stand by the statement that 5 card poker draw is predominantly a game of luck, as you can see there are certainly elements of strategy to the game and choices to be made, and that’s without even looking into the realms of bluffing, once you make your hand.
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