PokerRoom is Back!

Now that they are back in the game, there are some interesting changes that have taken place over at PokerRoom.com. Players can take advantage of the hot deposit bonus system, allowing players to earn up to a one hundred percent deposit bonus for deposits that are made into the online casino of $100, $500 or $1,000 and clear through the deposit bonus as player points are earned after taking part in poker games and gaining experience.

New to PokerRoom.com is the loyalty program, allowing players that have made real money deposits into the online casino and players taking part in poker cash games to accumulate points to become part of elite players clubs. Players that have made a deposit into the online poker account can become a member of the green room after one point is accumulated. Players that have earned 1,500 player points and have earned a minimum of 1,500 player points every thirty days are eligible to become members of the Silver VIP room, gaining entry into special tournaments and player privileges. To obtain entry to the Gold room the player must earn 6,000 points every 30 days which will guarantee the player special access to points, tournaments and gold status and have the option to convert the player points into currency that can be used on PokerRoom.com.

After two years offline, PokerRoom.com is back with some great changes that are going to translate into a huge community of players taking part in the online games and tournaments.

Picking up tells on your online opponents is much more difficult than in a live setting.

The first thing to realize is there are different ways for online poker players to bluff. However, you can learn about these tactics rather quickly. One thing you will want to pay attention to is how long your opponent takes to check. If a player thinks for a bit and then checks, it may mean they are acting like they are thinking so you will wonder if they have a good hand. However, if they did have a good hand they more than likely would have checked quickly followed by a raise. Now, if your opponent takes a quite awhile to bet, then this may mean they really do have a good hand. The reason they will think so long before betting is because they are trying to make you think they have a weak hand and almost didn’t bet.

You will also want to have an understanding of how some of the buttons work with regards to online poker. For example, there is the check/fold button a player can choose and it will check or fold their hand automatically. If you find that a player checks instantaneously then it indicates they had this button selected which means they would have folded automatically if you had bet. If you notice a player doing this then you can assume they have a weak hand.

You will also be able to learn the way an online poker player plays much like you would be able to in a land based poker room. You still want to pay attention to the player’s patterns. Also, many of the online poker rooms will allow you to keep notes on the other players and this can be a very useful tool in which you can use to mark down certain things you notice about how another player plays. This will help you to remember and keep track of the different players. These notes will be kept and you can pull them up again if you find yourself playing against that same player later on down the road. Online poker can be just as exciting as land based poker and it can be just as profitable. It is important for you to pay attention and learn about the online poker environment as quickly as possible and this includes learning all the online poker tells.

Fewer Professional Players

The larger card rooms in Vegas, AC, and LA will have one thing in common, they are hangouts for the true professionals of the area.  The reason is that they know that the biggest majority of players are going to these places due to the name or the popularity of the room.  As such, the games are usually riddled with pro players at most of the levels and sometimes even low limits.

Binions is a great small poker room in Las Vegas with a storied history.

When you go to a smaller card room, you do not get that many true professionals in the rooms on any average day.  It is true that the smaller rooms will have a lot of regulars, but the regulars are not professionals by any stretch of the imagination.  Sometimes that means the games are a bit tighter, but if you are an inexperienced player or one that can take advantage of tight players well, that may help your game.

Better Comps and Promotions

Many of the smaller rooms have some type of gimmick to try and drive in more players.  For those that will be playing enough to actually take advantage of these comps, playing at a smaller casino may net you better comps or special prizes faster than frequenting you larger establishments like the Bellagio, etc.

Better Service

As a whole, you will usually get better service at the smaller casinos than you will at the larger ones due to the fact that they want to keep you there and keep you coming back.  The more often you play, the more money the casino makes.  For smaller casinos, and especially small poker rooms, they need all the customers they can keep.

Shorter Waits for Games

This benefit can also be a downside depending on your game and the day.  The fact that smaller rooms do not attract as many players will usually either a short wait or that seats are frequently open in the games.  The downside can come when the games stay consistently short or the game is a bad one consistently.  For the true recreational player, not having to wait for a seat is a great advantage.  You can go to the casino and maximize the amount of time at the table.

We are not saying that you should not check out the larger casinos.  Far from it.  Everyone should check out Bellagio, the Wynn, Borgata, Commerce, and all the other big casinos out there.  However, if the bottom line is not your only concern, or you want some consistently softer competition, smaller casinos such as Golden Nugget, Binions, Harrah, Hollywood Park, and other may be right up your alley.  Good luck to you at the tables.

Various attempts at having the legislation repealed has gone through the senate and Senator Barney Frank has worked tirelessly to show the US government that there is a sizeable tax revenue to be generated from accepting that the American people like engaging in this pastime and using the tax revenues as a positive income stream for the country rather than taking this restrictive measure to ban such gaming activity UIGEA represents.

Unfortunately Barney Franks attempt to have the legislation appears to have stalled and with only a couple of days before the bills implementation, only a miracle will save the US Poker market now. Other sports such as greyhound racing, horse racing and various Keno games will also be acutely affected. Attempts were made to differentiate poker as a skill game, but whilst some small judgements were made in online poker’s favour there was no large precedent case that would have a knock-on effect to the UIGEA bill. It was too little too late.

The Aftermath of UIGEA for Poker

After June 1st it will not be illegal for you to play online poker so you can still play poker tournaments online and shoot for the big prizes! The problem is getting the money in and more importantly the money out of the US poker rooms.

When you cash out, the online poker room approves the cash-out and either the bank or a third party payment processor conducts the transfer between the bank account used by the poker room and your own bank account. If you think of the payment processor as a bridge, the UIGEA bill will destroy all of the bridges! Harsh penalties will be in place for the payment processors if they defy this bill so come June 1st, en masse, they will stop processing the transactions.

When UIGEA was signed in 2006, many poker rooms immediately left the US poker market for fear of prosecution, but some remained and did very well. It may be the players this time that withdraw their money to see how things work out before putting their money back into poker. I have read some articles that suggest player to player transfers may be the only way to get money in and out of the site which could cause massive problems given the nature of such transfers, and the inevitable disputes that would occur and, of course, cheating players.

It is predicted that for US players size and frequency of cash-outs may become limited and there may be a fee introduced for these transactions. The speed and efficiency of transactions is sure to be negatively effected whilst poker rooms like Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker search for ways of complying with UIGEA and providing good customer service.

A Silver Lining?

Some of Europe’s leading poker rooms are expecting a surge in business. Cashing in and out from bwin.com is particularly smooth and this will be exceptionally difficult to achieve for even the well-meaning poker rooms in the US poker market. Online gaming is more accepted in Europe so these poker rooms look likely to achieve a surge in business. The UIGEA bill may be particularly painful for US poker players but there could be a seismic shift in the balance of power between online poker rooms favouring bwin.com as their already good levels of customer service will be ever rarer in the market. European poker could be in line for a real boost in popularity after June 1st.

Peace of mind is available at bwin.com at a time when this is very much under threat elsewhere, so maybe getting an account there is a good idea given current circumstances in online poker.

By Malcolm Clarke

Once we have mastered pre-flop play, we must turn out attentions to making better and therefore more profitable decisions further into the hand i.e. post flop. If you are going read a poker book on the subject, I would suggest purchasing Harrington on Cash Games which is renowned as a brilliant poker book that even some of the young nosebleed stakes players said was extremely useful to them whilst they learned how to play poker at those levels.

Continuation Betting

You should bet between half and the full pot as a continuation bet when checked to in late position most of the time. You need to vary bets and checks but I would recommend 80% – 20% in favour of betting when you hold a decent hand (top pair or better). Many online poker players realised a while ago that players would fire one barrel on the flop and check to give a free card on the turn. They could then value bet them from the hand on the river. Beware of this strategy and do not be afraid to fire a second barrel on the turn. My own play suggests that the two barrel C-Bet is becoming more of a standard play in online poker these days. The disbelief of the first continuation bet works out well for you when you have a good hand and your value bets get called on the river by disbelieving opponents.

Pot Control

There is nothing wrong with checking a street to control the size of the pot. Most players expect you to bet and if you do not they will bet. So in late position when facing a check I have no problem with checking behind in a marginal situation. Just do not do it too often please! Remember every time you check your opponent can improve too and in a position where they would have folded giving them a free card could give them a concealed monster. Opponents can have any two when they are betting so make them define their hand whenever possible by giving them a price to play.

The Dreaded River

On the river you will face two scenarios. You will either be checked to and have a decision to make on whether you make a value bet or check immediately or you will face a bet and have to decide whether to fold, call or raise.

Exactly what you do depends on what you know about your opponent, previous hands played against them and your own hand strength. Place your opponent on a range of possible hands and compare your own hand against that range. Is it behind or ahead of it? Only raise if you a hand with good showdown value, most players do not like folding after making a river bet. Checking should be made when you suspect your opponent is trapping and you should have prior hands where this happened to back up this judgement call.

There are a million things we could write about in upcoming poker articles where we will deeply analyse post flop play further. For now visit bwin.com and get practising, playing actual hands is the best way to learn.

By Malcolm Clarke

There are things you must be aware of in order to do well in these types of tournament. Having a solid grasp of poker strategy will help you gain big stacks during the initial period of the tournament where the chips really do fly around.

During the Re-Buy Period

The action is fast and furious during the re-buy period. As players can buy back in there is less risk with pushing a marginal hand. Your range for making pre-flop raises should either be widened or tightened depending on your own plans for the tournament. If you are one of the crazy re-buying players then you can widen your range of starting hands and go for the double up that will earn you a large stack.

With many opponents playing loose at this point there are plenty chips to be won. With a starting stack of $1,500 players can aim to increase that to $8,000 or more if they are lucky enough to get good hands. Raises by your opponents should mean less and you will see large pots in relation to the smaller blinds more often as the aggression is the either win or re-buy.

That said, many players have won re-buy tournaments having never had to re-buy playing tight in this stage of the tournament and picking off other players bad moves. You should play these tournaments, however, with a willingness to re-buy at least once or twice to take into account the ferocity of play in the early stages.

After the Re-buy Period

Immediately after the re-buy period ends you should see an immediate relaxing of intensity in the way the poker tournament is played. Players now have the added pressure of potentially being eliminated so they must be more careful before risking their stack. You need to make that adjustment also in that the raising range will instantly become more in line with the normal expectations in relation to the blinds like you would see in a freezeout poker tournament.

There will be some less experienced poker tournament players that have gotten on a roll during the re-buy period and will still be pounding the pot and be raising aggressively. It is probably best to avoid these players without a very strong hand. Their range is probably quite wide and they are using a poker strategy that as soon as the rebuy period ended was a mistake. This makes them attractive as a weak player but also dangerous because they are creating big pots.

The key re-buy poker tournament concept to bear in mind is that once re-buys end it becomes a freezeout tournament played in freezeout conditions. Some players will have huge stacks that you might not see in a freezeout but they will normally go quiet for a few levels sitting on their lead. These entertaining tournaments can have big prize pools because of the frenzied re-buying that takes place early on in the tournament.

This makes re-buy poker tournaments fun to play in and potentially lucrative!

By Malcolm Clarke

Whilst the following poker tips are very general, they form a framework that you can follow in order to get to a high level of poker skill as quickly as is realistically possible for you.

1. Devour the Basics

Can you recite the hand rankings from Royal Flush right down to Ace High in the correct order? Do you know what a string bet is and how to avoid it? What does min-raise mean and what does three betting mean? All of these things and much more should reel off your tongue like it is second nature to you. Having a solid grounding of strategy is imperative to your future poker success. I found arranging a poker quiz with my friends interesting. Perhaps more interesting was that none of us got 100% right despite us all doing very well. It is always worth brushing up on the basics.

Visit the bwin poker school where there are lots of guides to both basic and more complicated poker strategy.

2. Download a Poker Room and Play Freerolls

Before you grab your paypal account or Visa card take a moment to carefully select your poker room. I use bwin.com which I feel is secure, looks good and they enjoy good player traffic and plenty of variety in terms of cash game tables and poker tournaments. Pass by their freeroll tables and get used to the software and how the game works at your site. Mis-clicks can be very costly and unfortunately you have no-one to blame but yourself if this occurs. The time spent familiarising yourself with the poker software is time well spent.

3. Read Poker Books, Poker Forums & Poker Blogs

Poker research is important, but be aware of the date of publication for books as poker strategy develops over time and some books may be out of touch with how poker is played today. Poker forums are a good source of strategy, but again learn who is worth listening to and who the loud people are with nothing to back up their noise! Poker blogs are a good way of learning how a player thinks and there are thousands of them out there. Many professionals run good blogs but like books and forums there are good and bad incarnations of these blogs. Providing you have a critical eye you should benefit from the vast wealth of knowledge available online in these mediums.

4. Start Small & Take Notes

Using conservative bankroll management you can begin to play some hands at this point with hopefully a good understanding over what is happening at the poker tables. Take notes of mistakes you make and possibly consult a coach if you are unable to plug the leak yourself. Note particular spots where you struggle in detail. For example, holding AJ in early position when an Ace comes on the flop and you face a raise from someone in late position. Lots of poker situations are difficult but having confidence in your own knowledge and, more importantly, a reason for every decision is something that coaching can help with. You can also post better questions in the forums once you get more experience.

5. Keep Gaining Experience and Stay Positive

You may find that winning at poker comes very easily to you, but stay humble and stay positive and keep doing what you are doing. If you lose you should work out why you are losing. You might not be Phil Ivey but with dedication, experience and a bit of humility most players can eventually find a level where they can succeed. This may be in a tournament, a cash game or SNG format, so try each type of poker and see what suits you best.

Above all, enjoy learning this great game and enjoy the challenge online poker offers everyone.

By Malcolm Clarke

Imagine this scenario. You are playing in a poker tournament with a large first prize. You battle for four hours and build a competitive stack. After playing very solidly you make a move against a good player and they call you with 60/40 odds. Their hand holds up and as they had a slightly smaller stack than yours they are now amongst the chip leaders whilst you are short stacked and looking doomed. Can you feel the deflation of your hope and your belief that this was your big moment? I can and it is tempting to simply give up if this happens.

Unfortunately as a result of this moment of pain many players do give up and throw their chance of success away. In most tournaments such a crippling loss may mean you will not achieve what you had hoped this time, but you should take solace in that you made the right decision (do not forget to review the hand to make sure you DID make the right decision) and move on with your head held high. There is always another poker tournament to try and win!

Do not dream of regaling your bad beat story at the bar. I have seen many players lose a massive pot then look over to the bar to see who is there that they could talk to when they bust out in a moments time. It is like they have mentally left the table and are waiting for their body to catch up. They almost want to lose their remaining chips believing that the tournament is over for them. All of these things are wrong. The saying “a chip and a chair” means you are still alive and you could double or even triple up. Yes it is unlikely but if you play hard and wait for good hands (if possible) you have a reasonable chance of getting some more chips.

1982 winner Jack Straus is credited with using the phrase “a chip and a chair”. The story (which varies depending on who you ask) is that he pushed his chips into the middle and lost the hand early in the main event. Finding a chip under his napkin as he stood to leave the organisers let him continue playing as he had pushed his chips into the middle rather than declared “All-in”. He made a remarkable comeback from holding only a single chip and eventually won the tournament. This shows you are never out of contention until you have lost your last chip, so always play hard and never give up.

None of the top professional poker players give up and they have plenty of money to simply walk away if things are getting tough. But staying strong and focused helped them reach that level and you should be copying such behaviour. Never give up and play your best poker until your last chip is gone.

By Malcolm Clarke

When a big hand versus big hand confrontation occurs a lot of the time the money goes into the middle and it is a case of best hand wins. Both players may know the other has a strong hand but in texas hold ‘em you need to be willing to bet on your good hands and often they will be the best. There is always a chance your opponent could be bluffing or overplaying a weaker hand so your chances to win are always a couple of notches higher than the mathematical odds suggest i.e. if you push all-in your opponent could fold as well as hold a losing hand. They could even fold the best hand!

A poker school cannot teach you specific situations where you should raise and specific situations where you should fold. They give you the basics, like a hiker would use a map, but you decide when, where and how you walk in texas holdem.

Nearly every poker article I stress the importance of watching your opponents. This fills in the blanks when a decision is required. I played a hand against my good friend Rob and it played out like this. I had AK and after raising three times the big blind Rob called. The flop was a rainbow Q-X-X. We both checked the flop and the turn was a Jack, giving me a straight draw. He checked to me and I checked again. Rob likes to bet when he thinks he can get me to fold or when he has something, so his check was suspicious to me. The river was a blank, I had missed my draw, I could have bet the draw on the turn but my stack was dwindling and I was into shove territory and I believed I might be beaten. After I checked again Rob bet around three quarters of the pot. I instantly folded. If Rob has something on the river, he bets to get paid off. He showed me a pair of queens. I was right, he had been slowplaying.

Do you see how my information on how Rob plays helped me during that hand? Without that information I might have shoved on the turn and lost to the hidden pair of queens. That would not have been a bad play but precise knowledge of his style and awareness of how he perceives my own play saved me. I had a feeling I was beaten when he checked because he is still learning deception and tends to be a weak is strong, strong is weak type of player. In this hand I lost the pot but I kept some of my stack and was able to fight on. I do not remember who won this match, which means I probably lost!

Watch your opponents carefully. Learn not only what they do right but what they do wrong and get an idea in your head over what a bet means, what a check means and what a raise means. If you are right you immediately have a massive advantage over them. Another general concept to finish with in this article is if you think you are beat in texas holdem, it is better to fold than continue in the hand getting confused by the incomplete information you always have during a poker hand.

By Malcolm Clarke

Cash game poker players in both texas hold ‘em and Pot Limit Omaha can go 100,000 hands and despite being winning players they can suffer losses due to consistently having their hands beaten by their opponents hitting their hands despite being behind in a hand. Can the law of attraction change these results? It would be wrong to assume that just because you watch one DVD and begin to think more positively about poker and life this will prevent bad beats. A 20% chance in a poker hand will come about one in five times that situation is played out over time. No universal law however powerful in metaphysical terms can alter the pure mathematics of poker. This could be an argument to say that the law is ineffective from a poker perspective.

When thinking about using the Law of Attraction in poker it is about refining your approach, your belief and your visualisation. Preventing negativity and maintaining belief keeps you making good decisions which should lead you to success in poker.

The five steps of implementing the Law of Attraction is as follows,

1. Know what you Want

It is recommended that you write down everything you want. You must be realistic, however, do not ask for AA in every hand! Things like you will hit the flop; you will trap an aggressive player. Think positively about all parts of poker and you will attract these good moments towards you.

2. Think Big, Not Small

Having goals is important and we have discussed this in previous articles. Randomly playing poker with no goals is just playing hands over and over and this can become boring very quickly. If you goal is to win a poker tournament then visualise this happening. This sets your mind towards what you want to achieve, giving you direction and purpose.

3. Lose the Negativity

In part two of this feature we are going to look at why it is so easy to get negative when you play poker. You must lose all of your fear and concern and focus on making good decisions. Expect to make good decisions and study to ensure you have the ability, knowledge and poise to make these good decisions. Expect the good things you want to achieve from steps one and two and attract them to you.

4. Visualise the Outcome

To keep motivation high you must set time aside to visualise what it would be like to achieve all of your goals in Poker. Imagine giving the interview and feel the satisfaction of having a big cash prize. Really feel and imagine that feeling. The universe will then attract this to you. Phil Hellmuth used the law of attraction and achieved all of his goals within six months early in his poker career. Following this technique can be very powerful if you keep on believing. A positive person works towards their goals and you can achieve what you want through hard work and belief.

5. Act on Intuition

At some point you must trust the law of attraction to work for you and alter your poker life the way you desire. You are positive, focused and ready to achieve and you believe you can do it. Focus on all opponents carefully and then let your intuition guide you to the best results. Opponents will notice your confidence and the fact you are playing like a winner. I believe this is what sets apart the much discussed Maven poker system in that they focus on playing each hand correctly with a belief the winning will happen if they keep doing things right. They have many good testimonials to this effect. Positive thinking can change your life because it puts you in a position to harness opportunity.

Be sure to read part 2 of this feature where we discuss negativity and why it should be avoided and why you should fight to maintain a positive attitude towards poker by using the law of attraction to help you achieve great things.

By Malcolm Clarke