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free online poker training March 31, 2011

Posted by nickwake in Free Poker Tips.
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In Texas Hold’em real money and free poker games intermediate connectors such as 8,7 and 7,5 are played as they are the best hands with which you can hit a Straight with. With an 8,7 for example, you can make 4 Straights (3 of them nuts), and with 7,5 you can look for 3 Straights (2 of them nuts).

In this free online poker training tips article we’ll look at ways to play these hands.

Intermediate connectors aren’t played as strongly whenever they Pair. For example, should you have 8-7 and the Flop comes K-7-2, you will be justifiably concerned with the King and you may fold.

Also, it is likely you can flop Two-Pair. With 8-7 and a Flop of 8-7-A, you can get a person with A-K in trouble.

If both of you continue until the end, and your opponent’s hand doesn’t improve, he will slow it down trying to show it down. If the hand does improve it will be obvious as when he bets and you can just pay him off. He can pair his kicker or not, and whether he does, you still have a good showdown hand.

The best play (for you) the opponent can make is to call all-in or move all-in on the Flop (in a tournament). However, this is only the case if the difference in chips between you and the all-in’er is large. If you’ve got close to the same number of chips, your 8,7 may not be strong enough as your opponent may be willing to only call you with something like A,8 or, worse, 7,7.

Or he could call you with A-K and suckout when he pairs his Ace, his kicker, or when, say, a 10 hits the Turn, and another Ten hits the river then his Two-Pair is better. If one stack is small and the other large, and you’ve got the small stack then you’ve a good hand someone holding an A-K might be willing to call. If you have the large stack, your all-in opponent could be anxious for a call with his A-x (without Two-Pair) until they know you’ve got him steamrollered.

Usually you stay in the hand Two-Pair until you hit a Full House. With that hand, play it as if you would play a made 5-card hand - value betting, pretending to bluff, slow-playing (pick your option). However, should the Board comes 8-7-5, you may be willing to play it more slowly because if the Board comes 4, 6 or Nine, your Two-Pair may be almost unplayable.

During the Flop, bet substantially to push a Straight draw out. If your opponent calls, it may signify a Straight draw. In case your opponent moves all-in or pushes you all-in, then call - or not call.

You are still the favorite over a Straight draw. You can also hit a Full House later. But in addition you can decide not to call since your opponent might have a made Straight. In an 8-7-5 board, the possibility of a Flopped Straight is quite low because players do not play 9-6 or 6-4 that much.

But you ought to be careful in a Board of 8-7-J or 8-7-4, as their connectors are consecutive numbers, i.e. 10-9 and 6-5, and players, especially experienced ones, play these more regularly.

However, even if the Board comes something such as 8-7-4-5-Q, so long as you are sure, or even half-sure, that the opponent does not have the 6, bet a small bet on the river. If your opponent has 9-8 or Q-x, you might be paid off.

Should your opponent had the 6, you may be pushed, but you can fold without losing much. The thing is that, you should maintain your aggression most of the time as part of your image, and you can do this by value-betting. If your opponent didn’t have the Six, he may believe that you had the Six, and he may fold, too.

And lastly, here’s an addendum to our earlier example. Should you have 8-7 and the Flop comes K-7-2, you may fold. However, you can also call a bet - you hope that your opponent had A-K - and if an 8 comes and you bet big, how will your opponent know you had another Eight in the hole? So long as you feel your opponent doesn’t have K-8 or K-7 (not likely) both of you can get it all-in on the Turn - and you’ll emerge almost a winner.

This is a fairly complicated subject and if you’re not quite getting it then go play poker online for free to learn it the only real way possible which is to do it for real but learn to play poker free so that any mistakes you make don’t set you back anything apart from time.


Free Poker Games Guide To Recovering From Bad Beats December 13, 2010

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Bad beats as you will know if you play any form of poker be it free poker games or high stakes card room are the very deepest embodiment of “bad luck” known to poker humankind!

Physically, if an opposing player has only a tiny chance of getting the cards needed at the river in order to get a big pot and gets one of those cards it generally means you can’t recover the big chip stack you’ve given this unworthy adversary! That was a bad beat! This sort of bad beat can even see you knocked out of a tournament. You may not be able to recover your physical seat in the poker table (unless it’s a rebuy tournament, and you rebuy).

For example, lets say the opposing player has A-J and you’ve got A-K, and the table is A-3-7-10. You’ve got the top Pair and top kicker. Your opponent has top Pair with the second best kicker that he thinks it’s the best, and he moves all-in. At that point, moving all-in will cost you 90 percent of your stack.

So you call, hoping that he does not have an A-10 or the like, and he flashes A-J. Brilliant, the best of news! He has to catch a Six and you figure that there is only a 6.82% chance of that, it is literally the only way for him to win. A 6 comes.

Bam! Bad Beat!
You’re left with one-tenth of what you have prior to the hand started. Or you might even be the one bumped out.

Mentally how do you come back from a nightmare of this level? It is easy. Think, would you want your opponent to call with A-J in this situation if you had A-K? If that is a “yes” then you have nothing to complain about.

You played your hand in the proper way you can (you might have even read him with, like, an A-5 or A-4, and you’re close to your read) So you’d like him to call. He did. All your circumlocutory plays like acting weak, betting small for him to pounce, etc., are effective.

He did what you want to happen. Should he call you know you will be 93-7 favorite. Would you prefer to be on the 93 side or 7 side? Ask yourself that question. You have not made a bad play after all. Your opponent made it.

You may be knocked out of the tournament after that hand, should you have lesser chips. But you need to be thankful that there is someone prepared to put his chips in on even just a 90-10 proposition in which he has the 10. 90% of the time he does it, he will be knocked out. Your loss will fall only on the 10% side.

So you can redeem yourself by saying that you made a smart play, after all. In other words, that you play better poker than the one who messed you up. This point made, later on you can exploit many players who may be willing to make bad plays but who didn’t realize that these plays are in fact bad.

Sometimes to feel the ease of victory in which you are a 90-10 favorite, you have to be ready to take the 10% hit sometimes.

But if you have not been knocked out you can try to save yourself. Don’t waste your mental energy from fretting and cracking your head on how that card emerged. The card fell and nothing can change that, it’s in the past now. Now apply your mental focus and continue to play right next time, perhaps a calculated all-in will bring you right back up.

And when you’re on the end of a stream of bad beats go play free poker and get your confidence back before returning to the cash tables.


Free How To Play Poker For Beginners Lesson On Split Pot Tactics December 6, 2010

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This free poker online article looks at the tricky area of split pots.

A split pot is a pot where two (or more) players have identical five-card hands at the showdown. For instance, the board cards are 8-9-10-Q-2 and 2 players have a Jack which means both have a Queen-high straight, as a result they split.

It can also happen if both of them use the board cards as their five-card hand; for example with a board of A-K-Q-J-10; one player has 9-9 and the other has Q-J.

Who wins? Both win. Both players have a Broadway Straight and use the board cards as their hand and so the pot is split.

Most players think that they should use at least one card from their hand to complete their hand. In the above example, the player with 9-9 might think that his straight is King-high, when actually it is Ace-high.

Assuming no flush possibilities, the other player might move all-in. That might scare the first player completely into folding. Don’t. You both have nuts hands.

Some Straights on the Board are a little bit more suspicious. Like 4-5-6-7-8. Someone bets substantially and now it’s up to you whether you call or not, or even raise. Just keep in mind that a Nine can finish you or your opponent.

In this case, you want to represent the Nine. When? If the Board is 6-7-5-4-8, in the order in which they fell? What if it is 4-5-7-6-8? 8-7-5-6-4 or 4-5-8-7-6? On which Board do you think your opponent will be most inclined to represent the Nine so you can fold without remorse? It’s important to be as analytic as possible here.

If a board is say 9-9-8-8-8, what then? It’s a Full House. Both players already have the Full House. You have Q-10 for example, and you follow until the river. Then suddenly your opponent bets big and puts you all-in. Will you call?

It is possible that your opponent is bluffing with, say, J-10; you still both have the same hand. Your opponent might have the last 8, but if he really did, then he should have folded, because you bet the Flop and the Turn.

Then, with unmistakable confidence, (easy in free poker online maybe) you overtly declare, “I play the Board, I call.” If you did, then you?re the 1997 World Series of Poker runner-up, Kevin McBride, who lost to J-9. The winner? Scotty Nguyen (baby, baby, baby). You have Eights full, baby. Scotty had Nines full (9-9-9-8-8).

With the Broadway Straight (with no flush) it is appropriate to call the all-in, and it is a sign of a smart player to do so. (Don?t call yourself smart if you held the 9-9 and you folded.)

But with the above Full House on the board just determine all possible hands that can beat you: a lone Nine or the last Eight. Surely if you have many more chips, just stack them and wait for some more hands.

But read the board well, don’t be psyched out by the chatter of the other player. During the interview after the heads-up match, McBride admitted that he called because of what Scotty said to him after Scotty pushed him all-in: “If you call it’ll be over baby”.

In some boards, such as A-K-2-2-7, if you have an Ace and your opponent bets substantially on the river, you can well put him on the Ace (but not A-K or A-2) and call him, even though you know you can’t win. You just split the pot.

If he bets heavily, forcing you to make the hard decision, you might as well fold. Why hope for a tie when you can win later?

No doubt about it this is a tricky area of poker! If it seems hard then my best suggestion to you is to go and practice lots and play poker online free then when you play for money all that free poker games experience will allow you to play with a greater degree of confidence.


Free Poker Games Guide To How To Simplify And Win Free Poker Games December 2, 2010

Posted by nickwake in free online poker.
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In this free poker games guide you’ll learn about applying the KISS concept in poker. Traditionally KISS means “Keep It Simple Stupid” meaning don’t overcomplicate things as that is when stupid errors occur but in poker I say there can be 2 more specific interpretations.

The first alternative, one that is very relevant for free poker games players, is Keep It Simple against Stupid Players, ok we add the “against” but it works! Next there is the importance of Keeping It Simple and Straightforward against good players.

On free poker online sites such as NoPayPOKER you’ll come up against both types though maybe a few more of the less clever ones than you’ll find at say a $500 buy in table in Vegas!

With A-10, for example, would you dare to go up against a strong player in a flop A-8-3? No problem if it’s a free poker game but what if it’s a really big game with a lot of money on the table?

You can just call-call-call, or bet and hope he does not play strongly. Why? Because if he’s a strong player, you can put him on A-K, or an Ace with a stronger kicker. If he moves all-in, you know what to do. Scamper, and wait until you have the A-K, or maybe a Set.

Here you are set to thinking. Has he really got A-K? Or just J-J with which he is willing to take to showdown but is not so willing to call a large raise with? Or maybe it is 8-7, since he reckons my bet on the Flop is simply a continuation bet so he will call?

The biggets problem is that 5 or 6 weak or dumb players, you might have to ask these questions for each one of them! Has he really got ?-? (for Player one). Has he really got ?-? (for Player two) ? Or just ?-? (for Player 3)?and so on, until your mind is now drained, and you are finally knocked out with someone holding an A-8.

Let us look at another situation now, with a Board of 5-6-J-Q-8.
You have K-Q. A strong player probably has A-Q or K-K, or J-10, or something special, like 7-4 (usually suited). You might as well fold your K-Q at the end, or just call a small bet at the river. But at least you can put your strong opponent into a hand or into a few hands.

But with 5 or 6 poorer players you must be careful. They might hold the hands above, but since they are weaker players, there are going to be more add-ons such as 8-5, J-5, Q-8, even Q-5, and they all add to the chances of your nice K-Q being beaten.

In a situation like this why not call a small bet on the river (since with many callers you will get good pot odds for the call). Then if one of them goes all-in, it’s a strong signal. Fold your K-Q. What hand might they be moving all-in with? With a strong player you may have an idea. But with a weak player, you don’t.

Why go to war if you don’t know what you are trying to beat?

A strong player is willing to play more stronger hands than weaker ones. He is willing to play A-K more often than A-8 in his life, although frequency of play is no clue to how he plays specific hands. He remains unpredictable. But you will expect him to fold A-8 more often than A-K.

But weak players don’t know what hands they are playing. They will play J-5 as readily as A-K. So, when playing with them, because you can’t put them into a hand because they don’t even know theirs, just show them a good enough hand. A Two-Pair or higher, more desirably. In the A-10 example above, you’ll be happy with 3-3. In the second, I wish you have the 7-4 or the 10-9 before you act rashly.

And, unless you are just messing about in a free poker online don’t attempt any fancy manoeuvres like all-in bluffs.

In the 5-6-J-Q-8 Board, don’t move all-in with A-K. Even with just two weak opponents, they will just readily call you with K-Q as much as with 6-4, J-9, or even 3-3. They don’t know the difference between them.

If they have something, they will be willing to take it along to death. So make your something stronger than their something, and take it to their death instead. No bluffs. No calling of suspected bluffs.

So remember to KISS! Keep it Simple or Straightforward against good players and Keep it Simple against Stupid Players!

And what better place to play poker online for free than at http://www.NoPayPOKER.com where you don’t have the fear of losing money like you do at on money sites or live tables yet you can still win real cash.

Plus the NoPayPOKER blog contains a huge pro written free poker games training series, with lessons from basic how to play poker for beginners courses to masters level. Complete the intermediate level course at least and you will find yourself in the top 10% of online poker players worldwide.


Free Online Poker Easy And Fast Poker Odds Formula October 24, 2010

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Many players, especially us free online poker players shy away from the “technical” side of the game, the working out of odds and such. After all it involves the dreaded “M” word (math).

Sad to say it is a fact that to ensure success in poker this is a key area of the game that you need to master, especially if you have any aspirations to play live money games.

The big problem for non math wizards is that it is genuinely hard to do it in alive game in your head.

By way of example:

You have 8-7 and the Flop is 5-6-A. You want to figure the probability on hitting your Straight later.

Should you use a rigorous mathematical solution, you are going to put together this horror:

The cards which will help you are the Four and the Nine. There are upto 8 such cards left in the deck. The probability of your hitting them later is P (1-P)Q, where P is the probability of hitting your hand on the Turn, and Q is the probability you will hit on the river. It is P (1-P)Q because (1-P)Q is the probability that you will hit on the river if you don’t complete your hand on the Turn.

Now here’s the values for P and Q.

- P = 8 cards still on the deck to help you divided by 52-5 = 47 remaining cards = 8/47.
- Q = 8 cards still on the deck to help you, because you didn’t complete on the Turn divided by 52-6 (because there are six cards already out, your hole cards and the Board) = 8/46.

The complete answer is 8/47 (1 - 8/47)(8/46) = .170 (.829)(.174) = .170 .144 = .314 = 31%. You’ve got a 31% chance of hitting your Straight later.

Ouch, that’s fun and beyond the majority of us! However, in a table you usually do not have a calculator (and even if you do you still need to know what to input into it ;) .

And many poker players just know the outs, but not so much of basic probability theory. How is this? An out by the way is any unseen card that, if drawn, will help your hand win chances.

Here then is a much more basic, easy way to work out odds

We will try an approximation formula:

- You divide 8 by 50, because 47 is near 50, and get 16.

- Double it again so you get .32.

- It’s a reliable estimate.

- After all, poker players, in games, do not need exact solutions; they need only a hint as to where they’re standing.

- In this case “about 32%” is a good enough answer.

So, in the Flop, here is the approximation:

- Get the amount of your outs, then multiply it by 4, then affix a percent sign.

- That’s a reliable approximation percentage of your hitting the hand.

- In the Turn, if you still have outs, multiply it by 2, then affix a percent sign.

- Preflop, when you choose to push all-in, you typically do not need to do that because you will rely mainly on pure hand strength.

To practice your odds calculations there can be no better way than to play poker online free on http://www.NoPayPOKER.com, at least here you can get it wrong and not lose money as a result! Yes, you can always use odds calculators and many are available for online poker but if you want to play live you need to learn to do it the hard way, so get learning if you have any ambition to move beyond free online poker and win serious cash!


Free Online Poker Secrets Of Using Poker Table Position October 19, 2010

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Position is your seat at the poker table, real life or poker online “virtual” relative to your opponents. Be it free poker games or a money game your position indicates when you will act in a poker hand. In normal game of 9-12 players, in any given hand round of betting, it works like this:

(1) Early position comprises the first 3 or 4 players to act.

(2) Middle position is comprised of the following player after early position to the player before late position.

(3) Late position is the last 3 or 4 players to move. Preflop, the dealer, the small blind, and the big blind are last to act, in that order.

Postflop, the small blind and the big blind are first to play, and the dealer is last to play.

How does position matter?

There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to be had depending on where you are. Late position is favoured by most players. Simply this is because in late position you have a better view of what the other players might have in their hands.

In late position, the actions of the earlier position players may well have revealed certain hints about their situation to you. But the early position guys have no way of knowing anything about you as you have not done anything yet.

That is why most players (especially good players) do not like giving up their button (dealer button) unless they’ve got absolute trash. They call a little raise with any decent hand like 9-7 or A-5 (but not extraordinarily big raises, of course).

In early position, in a nine-handed game, suppose you have got Q-J, a marginal hand, under the gun (the first person to play preflop).

Will you raise? There are still eight players after you to act, and you will have a higher chance that they will have better hands than you. (A-x will have you beat). So fold.

In middle position, you can call one raise, or you can raise; you’re indifferent.

With the button, you raise if no one has acted before you (you can steal the blinds this way). Or call if someone raised small (since you have position).

With the blinds, you call (because it is discounted) but you have to be careful with postflop play since you are out of position postflop. Or you can also reraise a raise if you feel the raiser was weak (raising with junk is prevalent in good players in late position who want to steal the blinds habitually).

Position also matters a lot when playing with players who have a fixed style.

- It is good to act before a rock in order to bluff him easier.

- It is preferable to act after a loose-aggressive chip sprinkler so that you can raise him if you hit the Flop hard or if you have A-A, then expect a rereaise and you’ll be able to move all-in.

- Against a calling station, it doesn’t matter where you sit - just bet when you have a hand and then expect a call.

As for the really good players, your ideal position should be outside the poker table. Don’t get involved in games with them. If you can’t avoid it, then play in an unpredictable fashion, and take advantage of the times you are acting after him.

This isn’t so much about table position now, it’s more to do with your entire poker strategy approach so I won’t go into depth on it here. Don’t play above your skill level except when deliberately practising with money you have set aside to lose or better still on free poker online tables such as the NoPayPOKER ones.

Have a look at the free poker games know-how series from D M Vadnais for far more depth on the areas such as choosing your battles and climbing skill levels. If you are a novice get started with the how to play poker for beginners 101 course and if ready to move on check out Building a Bankroll which aims to propel to to advanced intermediate level (where you will start to win serious cash should you wish)


How To Play Poker For Beginners Lesson On How To Beat Crazy Maniac Snow Shovers October 13, 2010

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What on earth is a snow shover in poker, yet more jargon? A snow shover is a player who moves all in all the time. Snow shovers can be found inhabiting all levels of poker games from free poker games to Monaco, in the free games they can ruin games, in cash games they can be responsible for messive wins and losses on both sides and so are considered to be unpredictable loose canons.

On free poker games they can ruin it for us players who are trying to play an intelligent game as they know there is no risk of real loss so they move all in with hands as bad as 2-7 and now and again by cause of remote probability they win (and claim that as proof of poker being only luck)

In free poker games of all types they are annoying. However, when you come across them in short-handed cash Sit and Go tournaments they can be a serious danger to your stack. When the blinds are high (the average stack is just ten big blinds) they move all-in every hand and the others fold. If this tactic succeeds in consecutive turns then they can achieve a big chip advantage.

The problem in such short handed games is that they are difficult to combat.

1) First, every time they move all-in, because they do it so frequently, you do not know what they are holding.
2) Sometimes it can be 7-2, sometimes 5-5, sometimes, even A-A.
3) When you decide to call them, it’s one of those. And ‘one of these’ usually means, ‘I don’t know.’

In five-person Sit and Gos, handling maniacal snow-shovers is simple.

1) When they shove all-in every hand, there are three others, one of whom might have a solid hand (or excellent hand) to call with.
2) The Maniac shover is going to be eliminated if this happens. (If I have a perfect calling hand I will be one to do it.)
3) Or the Maniac shover, with some stroke of extraordinary luck, may knock out one of the other players.

The other players will find it difficult handling the Maniac shover who now has a pyramid of chips to throw bricks with, and I can now afford to play conservatively.

1) I will delay until I have A-A, K-K (or even just A-K or A-Q) so I can double up through the Maniac shover.
2) Or I will delay until the Maniac shover is knocked out by the other players, or before the Maniac shover knocks out the other players, then we will be heads up with the Maniac shover.

What I’ve been saying is, play super-tight and aggressive poker. As most of the play is going to be preflop, don’t play with connectors or weak Aces.

1) Forget small pairs which can be underdogs up against the K-10 or Q-9 the Maniac shover may launch onto you.
2) Wait for a hand where you are at least a 70% favorite preflop (tight), then when you get it, put your chips in the center (aggressive).

When you’re down to the last two (you and the Maniac shover, which usually occurs when you play tight and there is an Maniac shover in play), the Maniac shover usually is leading in chips.

1) Heads-up, your weak Aces (A-8 below) and even K-x will be effective. Your K-x can be just as powerful as A-x once the Maniac shover decides to call you with Q-x.
2) You cannot afford to wait for the big hands because here, the blinds are overeating you now.
3) Shove even with 5-4 or with 10-7. If you get called and you’re the underdog, you’ve still got two live cards.

Against an Maniac shover heads up, play like an Maniac shover, but fold obviously poor hands.

1) When you fold those weak hands, typically you’ve got a better hand range than the other guy, so you have the better possibility of winning even though you start with the smaller stack.

2) You cannot and won’t beat them constantly but if you follow these suggestions and play tight aggressive poker you are going to beat them most of the time and in poker most of the time is good enough make you good money.

Keep in mind that learning to play good poker is not an overnight job, it will take you a while to rise above the all in mob. The good news is that so many players do the maniac all in things so once you learn to play poker good you can take a lot of money from them. The job how then is to be patient and practice hard, make lots of use of free poker game sites, they will save you money and also expose you to a lot of snow shovers.

For free poker games courses from how to play poker for beginners right upto advanced WSOP skill levels and to play poker online free see join http://www.nopaypoker.com It’s US legal, free to join and you get a starter bankroll to kick off your free poker games career!


Learn To Play Poker Free Guide To Poker Card, Pocket And Hand Name Nicknames September 24, 2010

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In our free online poker how to play poker for beginners guide you will learn to interpret many of the bizarre words and phrases used in poker to name the various cards hand combos. At the end you won’t be totally confused when playing poker and words such as Middle Age, Jackass and Trey (to name but a few) are being quoted!!

To start of we’ll check out popular nicknames for individual cards. Then the ranked order of ‘pocket cards’ (what you get dealt at the start of a poker game).

Here we’ll define pocket pairs and the better meaning playable) unpaired starting hands. Finally you’ll learn some of more popular and famous hands.

The thirteen cards used for poker have a number of different nicknames. A letter or number symbol is also often used to identify the cards.

- Ace - Bullet, Rocket (A)
- King - Cowboy, Monarch (K)
- Queen - Lady, Dame, Dyke (Q)
- Jack - Knave, Hook, Fishhook, (J)
- 10 - Dime (T)
- 9 - Niner (9)
- 8 - Snowman, Fat Lady, Ocho (8)
- 7 - Hockey Stick (7)
- 6 - Boot (6)
- 5 - Spot (5)|Jesse James
- 4 - Sailboat, Sharp Top, Four spot (4)
- 3 - Trey, Crab (3)
- 2 - Deuce, Duck (2)

At the beginning of any poker game you get dealt 2 cards, these are called the pocket cards or pockets, they’re the ones only you get to see.

If you get 2 cards of the same type, e.g., 2 Queens, then you have what are known as a Pocket Pair, this happens about 6-7% of the time (or once every 16 deals)

In order of relative strength or potential they are:

- AA - Pocket Rockets, Rockets, Bullets, or American Airlines
- KK - Cowboys, King Kong, Gorillas, Kangaroos, Monarchs, or Krispy Kreme
- QQ - Ladies, Hookers, or Siegfried & Roy
- JJ - Fishhooks, Hooks, Jokers, or Jay Birds
- TT - Dimes or Tension
- 99 - Gretzky, Popeye’s, or Phil Hellmuth
- 88 - Snowmen, Fat Ladies, Dog Balls, or Race Tracks
- 77 - HockeySticks, SunsetStrip, or Mullets
- 66 - Route 66, Kicks, or Cherries
- 55 - Presto, Speed Limit, or Nickels
- 44 - Magnum, Sail Boats, or Middle Age
- 33 - Crabs or Treys
- 22 - Ducks, Pocket Swans, or Deuces.

While pocket pairs are great to have they just don’t happen often enough to be your only playable hand option.

Unpaired pockets are what you will get 15 out of 16 or 93% of the time so you will be playing with them more often than not, not all unpaired combinations are worth playing, these ones though, in order of potential, are considered playable.

- AK - Big Slick or Walking back to Houston
- AQ - Little Slick, Big Chick, or Doyle Brunson
- AJ - Blackjack, Ajax, or Jackass
- AT - Bookend or Johnny Moss
- A5 - High Five
- A4 - Topped Four
- A3 - Ashtray or Baskin and Robbins
- A2 - Hunting Season or Acey-Deucy
- KQ - Marriage (if suited) or Mixed Marriage (if not suited)
- KJ - Kojak, King John, or Tucson Monster
- KT - Kate or Katie
- QJ - Maverick or Oedipus
- QT - Quentin Tarantino
- JT - Days of Old
- T9 - Paint Plus Connector
- 98 - Oldsmobile
- 87 - RPM
- 76 - Union Oil
- 65 - Medicare
- 54 - Jesse James or Colt.

There are loads of names for larger hand combinations and finishing hands, here are a few of the better known ones.

- KKK - Alabama Night Riders or Three Wise Men
- TTT - Thirty Miles of Bad Road
- 222 - Huey, Dewey and Louie.
- AA88Q - Dead Man’s Hand
- AKQJT - Broadway
- A5432 - Wheel
- 3 of a Kind - Set (if you have a pocket pair matched by a ‘community card’)
- 3 of a kind - Trips (if one is in your pocket and two are ‘board cards’)
- Full House - Boat or All The In-Laws
- 4 of a Kind - Quads or Quad Set.

I hope this was a fun and useful article, if you are at the stage of learning the card names then I suggest when you play you play free online poker where you can learn without fear of loss.

For even more learn how to play poker free online poker guides and to actually play online free poker go check out the http://www.NoPayPOKER.com free online poker blog and site. There you can not only learn how to play poker for free you can play poker online free with no risk of losing money yet win real cash.


How To Play Poker Online Help With How To Play A Poker Hand September 24, 2010

Posted by nickwake in how to play poker for beginners, play poker online for free.
Tags: , , , ,
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In part two of the learn how to play poker online free online poker lesson series we will step on from part 1 where we outlined the bare bones of the game.

Where part 1 simply outlined how the game works, in this part you’ll learn exactly what you do action by action in a real hand and at the end will be able to go play.

We join the action once the blind bets have been posted by the Small Blind (SB) and Big Blind (BB) Now the cards get into action. If “Blinds” means nothing to you hop on back to part 1 for an explanation.

Moving clockwise around the table from the Dealer (DB), each player receives two cards dealt face down, one card at a time. These are your Pocket Cards, also known simply as pockets and alternatively hole cards.

Now it is time for the betting to begin, that is after all, I imagine why you want to play poker! Isn’t that why you’ve entered the multi-table freeroll tournament in the first place? The whole betting and winning with it’s associated moves of dare and deception is the main reason you’ve joined that online poker site be it free online poker or massive stakes isn’t it?

Of course it is, the game of poker is all about winning money! Nothing more, nothing less (with the possible exception of social interaction in the chat lobby or the table’s chat box).

At this point in the hand (holding 2 pocket cards), each player is betting on what hand they feel their pocket cards could lead to.

The betting begins with the player to the immediate left of the Big Blind (BB).

This player sits in what’s known as the Under The Gun position, UTG for short. He’s given the UTG label primarily because the Small Blind and Big Blind players were forced to put up bets prior to receiving any cards.

Thus, both the SB and BB are already participating in the hand; albeit not voluntarily, at least not yet; they’ll have to wait until the betting comes around to them.

And, for this round of betting, each player has three choices:

1) To fold. You do this if you think you have rubbish cards, also called “rags” cards. By folding in this first round you won’t lose anything but nor can you play the rest of the hand.

2) To raise. You raise if you think you’ve got good cards.

3) Or you can call to match the Big Blind bet. You may do this if you think your cards have at least a bit of potential.

A 4th option you may have heard about, checking, often available in subsequent betting rounds, isn’t a choice at this stage.

When the betting reaches the person who posted the Small Blind (SB), if they want to fold then they’ll lose the chips they were forced to put into the pot prior to the cards being dealt. Or, as SB you can Call the BB by putting in the difference between the SB and BB amounts. Or as SB you can choose to Call whatever Raise has been made, make a new Raise or Re-raise the bet amounts to a new level, I advise you watch and learn this process at the start and as SB keep it simple and just Call the BB unless you have awful cards in which case fold them.

Then, the Big Blind (BB) player gets to act. If there has been no raise then the BB can Check (do nothing and let the play pass by), or Call, Raise or Re-raise.

About Raises
As this is a No Limit Texas Hold Em tournament, the amount of any one raise is only limited by the number of chips the player who is doing the raising is in possession of. If his stack of chips is 1,500, he’s allowed to raise by any amount up to and including the 1,500 (all of his chips).

If the player uses all the chips then this is the infamous All In bet. Any time a player raises with all their chips it is called Moving All-in.

And, of paramount importance, especially since you are at the how to play poker online level of the game, make sure that YOUR use of an All-In bet is very low.

Please try not to become yet another free online poker ‘chip-flinger’ (someone who tosses chips around without regard to the quality of their cards).

Once the opening round of betting is completed it’s time to see ‘The Flop’. Things will now start to get really interesting!

The Flop is the set of three cards that are dealt face up in the middle of the table by the Dealer.

1) Each player may use these community cards’ to build their hand. Make sure to read and print a guide to what card hands beat what so that you have a feel for what you are trying to build!

2) Again, as here-to-fore mentioned, the middle of the table where these cards are dealt is typically referred to as ‘The Board’.

3) With ‘The Flop’ exposed, it’s time for the next round of betting. And, the betting that will occur is based on the 5 cards currently available to each player, i.e., 2 Pocket cards and 3 Board’ cards.

The betting starts with the player to the immediate left of the Dealer Button, regardless of whether the Dealer is still active in the hand or not.

The player to the left of the Dealer Button will keep the initial betting action for the rest of the hand. Later, you’ll come to learn that this is the worst position to be in at the table.

Apart from that, the betting process is the same as it was in ‘pre-flop’ betting. However, keep in mind, all of the players who were dealt ‘Pocket’ cards may not be currently playing the hand as they could have folded during the opening round of betting.

So, whichever remaining player is ‘to the immediate left’ of the Dealer Button (DB), it is that person who will be the first player to act; through the hand providing he doesn’t fold.

He is able to check or bet.

A) If he checks, he’s simply passing the options of checking or betting to the player who sits to his left.

B) If he doesn’t check, and decides to bet, then those who follow will have 3 choices:

1) They can fold

2) They can call

3) Or they can raise. But, since a bet was made, those who follow do not have the option of ‘checking’.

Once the round of betting has finished, it’s time for another card to be dealt face up on The Board.

This fourth card is called The Turn card, or 4th Street, and, again, the card can be employed by all of the remaining players (those players who have not folded). It’s another ‘community card’.

Thus, each remaining player now has access to 6 cards, 4 Board cards, and 2 Pocket cards. Now there are 4 cards on The Board, one additional card to come.

It’s now time for the fifth and final community card to be dealt: The River, or 5th Street.

And, given that all the cards have finally been dealt, each player remaining in the hand can see what their best five card hand is. Therefore, it’s now time for the final round of betting. And, once the betting ends, the hand is over.

It’s time to see who wins.

Each player that has remained in the hand shows their cards, beginning with the last person to initiate a bet. At a cash or free online poker site the software will handle the process of showing the cards.

The winner is determined via use of the universal poker hand rankings. You’ll find that in subsequent chapter; entitled ‘What Beats What’.

If a player wins a pot because every other player has folded, he can decide whether or not to show his cards or not.

Most people don’t, and it’s almost always advised by me never to show your cards. If you’re not required to do so; keep ‘em guessing!

Yet, when you reach an ‘advanced level’ of play, you’ll get a whole different perspective from me. You see, there are occasions when ‘deceitful strategies’ are going to be added to your acquired set of playing skills. And, a part of the ‘deceitful strategies’ will have you showing your cards. Not now though.

Summing up How To Play Poker For Beginners Free Online Poker Rules Part 2

In part 1 you learned the bare bones of poker, the structure and ideas of the game. Now that you’ve read part 2 you should now understand the actual mechanics of a hand of poker. In part 3 we are going to move on to more poker words and terminology, all those crazy card and hand nicknames are going to be unveiled! But so long as you’ve understood the first 2 parts now you can go and start to play poker. It’s a very good idea though to firstly read and print off a sheet on what card hands beat what! Then you’ll get a feel for how to build your hand in the game stages and be able to think about whether to fold, call, raise or check.

At this point I strongly urge you not to try and play on sites where real money is involved, you can expect to lose all or nearly all of it 99% certain!

Show patience (incidentally that is a key poker skill you will need to master) and start out on one of the excellent free poker sites you will find online. Later when you’re more skilled there’s lots of time to win a lot of money and the time spent playing free online poker will pave the way for this.

Nick is from top free poker online site NoPayPOKER.com. NoPayPOKER.com uses a virtual currency, FreeD which makes the poker games totally risk free, this makes NoPay the ideal place to how to play poker online. More experienced players also like it as it’s a great place to try new ideas and stategies out, plus the fact that the FreeD can be swapped for real Dollars is a nice touch too!


How To Play Poker Online Basic Poker Hand Play Process Guide September 12, 2010

Posted by nickwake in Free Poker Tips.
Tags: , , , ,
comments closed

In part two of the NoPayPOKER.com learn how to play poker for beginners free poker lesson series we will step on from part 1 where we outlined the bare bones of the game.

Where part 1 simply outlined how the game works, in this part you’ll learn exactly what you do action by action in a real hand and at the end will be able to go play.

To begin, the action starts as the blind bets are laid by the Small and Big Blinds (SB and BB). Now it’s time for cards! If this means nothing to you go back to How To Play Poker For Beginners part 1.

From the Dealer Button (DB) going clockwise rounf the table each player gets 2 cards, face down, handed out one at a time (so the DB goes round the table twice). These are your Pocket Cards, also known simply as pockets and alternatively hole cards.

Now the betting begins; and, after all, isn’t that why you decided to take up the game of poker? Isn’t that why you’ve entered the multi-table freeroll tournament in the first place? Isn’t that betting and winning buzz thing the reason why you’ve joined a free poker site?

Of course that’s why you’re there, poker is all about winning money at the end of the day! Nothing more, nothing less (with the possible exception of social interaction in the chat lobby or the table’s chat box).

At this stage in the hand (holding 2 pocket cards), each player is betting on what hand they feel their pocket cards could lead to.

The betting begins with the player to the immediate left of the Big Blind (BB).

This player sits in what’s known as the Under The Gun position, UTG for short. This is because the Small and Big Blind position players were forced to lay down bets before they got any cards.

Thus, both the SB and BB are already taking part in the hand; albeit not voluntarily, at least not yet; they’ll have to wait until the betting comes around to them.

And, with this round of betting, each player has three choices:

1) To fold. Usually when they think that their pocket cards are garbage (or rags). By folding in this first round you won’t lose anything but nor can you play the rest of the hand.

2) To raise. Usually when they think that they hold really good pocket cards.

3) Or to call, (match) the Big Blind. You may do this if you think your cards have at least a bit of potential.

A 4th option you may have heard about, checking, often available in subsequent betting rounds, isn’t an option at this stage.

Once the betting comes round to the SB (Small Blind) if this player wants to fold then they lose their blind chips, if they have terrible pockets then this may well be the best thing to do. Or, this player can call the Big Blind (by simply putting up the difference between the Small Blind and the Big Blind). Or as SB you can choose to Call whatever Raise has been made, make a new Raise or Re-raise the bet amounts to a new level, I advise you watch and learn this process at the start and as SB keep it simple and just Call the BB unless you have awful cards in which case fold them.

Then, the Big Blind (BB) player gets to act. If there has been no raise then the BB can Check (do nothing and let the play pass by), or Call, Raise or Re-raise.

About Raises
In a No Limit Texas holdem tournament the amount a player can use to raise is limited only by the chips they hold (limit games as the name suggests have a limit) If his stack of chips is 1,500, he’s allowed to raise by any amount up to and including the 1,500 (all of his chips).

If the player uses all the chips then this is the infamous All In bet. Any time a player raises with all their chips it is called Moving All-in.

And, of paramount importance, especially since you’re at the how to play poker for beginners level of the game, make certain that YOUR use of an All-In bet is very low.

Please try not to become yet another free online poker ‘chip-flinger’ (someone who tosses chips around without regard to the quality of their cards).

When the opening round of betting is completed it’s time to see ‘The Flop’. Things will now start to get really interesting!

The Flop is the set of three cards that are dealt face up in the center of the table by the Dealer.

1) Each player may use these community cards’ to build their hand. Make sure to read and print a guide to what card hands beat what so that you have a feel for what you are trying to build!

2) Again, as here-to-fore mentioned, the middle of the table where these cards are dealt is typically referred to as ‘The Board’.

3) With ‘The Flop’ exposed, it’s time for the next round of betting. And, the betting that will occur is based on the 5 cards now available to each player, i.e., 2 Pocket cards and 3 Board’ cards.

The betting starts with the player to the immediate left of the Dealer Button, regardless of whether the Dealer is still active in the hand or not.

The player to the left of the Dealer Button will keep the initial betting action for the rest of the hand. Later, you’ll come to learn that this is the worst position to be in at the table.

Apart from that, the betting process is the same as it was in ‘pre-flop’ betting. However, bear in mind, all of the players who were dealt ‘Pocket’ cards may not be currently playing the hand as they could have folded during the opening round of betting.

So, whichever remaining player is ‘to the immediate left’ of the Dealer Button (DB), it is that person who will be the first player to act; through the hand providing he doesn’t fold.

He can check or bet.

A) If he checks, he’s simply passing the choices of checking or betting to the player who sits to his left.

B) If he doesn’t check, and decides to bet, then those that follow will have 3 choices:

1) They can fold

2) They can call

3) Or they can raise. But, since a bet was made, those that follow don’t have the option of ‘checking’.

When the round of betting has finished, it’s time for another card to be dealt face up on The Board.

This fourth card is called The Turn card, or 4th Street, and, again, the card may be used by all of the remaining players (those players that have not folded). It’s another ‘community card’.

Thus, each remaining player now has use of 6 cards, 4 Board cards, and 2 Pocket cards. There are 4 cards on The Board, one additional card to come.

It’s now time for the fifth and final community card to be dealt: The River, or 5th Street.

And, seeing as all the cards have finally been dealt, each player remaining in the hand can see what their best five card hand is. Therefore, it’s now time for the final round of betting. And, when the betting ends, the hand is over.

It’s time to see who wins.

Each player who has remained in the hand shows their cards, starting with the last person to initiate a bet. At a cash or free online poker site the software will handle the process of showing the cards.

The winner is decided via use of the universal poker hand rankings. You’ll find that in subsequent chapter; entitled ‘What Beats What’.

If a player wins a pot because every other player has folded, he can decide whether to show his cards or not.

Most people don’t, and it’s almost always advised by me never to show your cards. If you’re not required to do so; keep ‘em guessing!

Yet, when you reach an ‘advanced level’ of play, you’ll get a whole different perspective from me. You see, there are occasions when ‘deceitful strategies’ are going to be added to your acquired set of playing skills. And, a part of the ‘deceitful strategies’ will have you showing your cards. Not now though.

Summing up How To Play Poker For Beginners Free Online Poker Rules Part 2

In part 1 you learned the bare bones of poker, the structure and concepts of the game. Now that you’ve read part 2 you ought to now understand the actual mechanics of a hand of poker. In part 3 we are going to start working on more poker words and terminology, all those crazy card and hand nicknames will be unveiled! But so long as you’ve understood the first 2 parts you can now go and start to play poker. However I do advise you read up on what cards beat what first! Then you will have some sort of idea whether you should fold, call, raise or check!

At this stage I strongly urge you not to attempt to play on sites where real cash is involved, you are going to lose all or nearly all of it 99% certain!

Have patience (by the way that is a key poker skill you have to master) and start out on one of the excellent free poker sites you will find online. Later when you are more skilled there’s plenty of time to win thousands of dollars and the time spent playing free online poker will set you up for this.

Nick is Marketing Manager for leading free poker site NoPayPOKER. NoPayPOKER.com uses a virtual currency, FreeD which makes the poker games totally risk free, this makes NoPay the ideal place to how to play poker online. More experienced players also like it as it’s a great place to try new ideas and stategies out, plus the fact that the FreeD can be swapped for real Dollars is a nice touch too!