Skating the Infosphere

How To Play Poker Online Help With How To Play A Poker Hand

In part two of the 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.

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 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 it is, the game of poker is all about winning money! With the possible exception of the social side anyway, the table and lobby conversations though if you are at all serious about money then this is a very minor reason.

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. 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. 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. 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 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, this player can call whatever raise has been made, or this player can initiate a raise; or even a re-raise, aa a beginner keep it simple and either just Call the BB or fold, watch and learn othrs to see the raise, new raise and reraise in action.

Next it is the turn of the BB (Big Blind). If no raise has taken place, he has the option of either checking (opting to do nothing; thus telling the Dealer to proceed), or, he has the option of calling a raise, or initiating a raise; or even a 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 say the chip stack is 1500 then the player can raise by any amount upto 1500.

Should he opt to make a 1,500 chip bet, it would be called an All-In bet. It’s always an all-in bet any time a player raises by the total amount of chips he currently holds.

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

Please do not become just one more 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 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 center of the table where these cards are dealt is commonly known 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 throughout 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 is the first player to act; throughout the hand providing he doesn’t fold.

He can 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 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 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 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 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 is now time for the fifth and final community card to be dealt: The River, or 5th Street.

And, seeing as all the cards have now been dealt, each player remaining in the hand can see what their finest 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 who 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 to show his cards or not.

Most people don’t, and it’s typically 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 times when ‘deceitful strategies’ will 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 ought to now understand the actual mechanics of a hand of poker. In part 3 we will start working on more poker words and terminology, 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 stage I strongly urge you not to attempt to play on sites where real money is involved, you are likely to lose all or nearly all of it 99% certain!

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

Nick is from top free poker online site NoPayPOKER.com. www.NoPayPOKER.com is USA legal and uses faux currency which makes it totally risk free and so is the perfect place to how to play poker for beginners as well as practice your game if you are more experienced or want a break from the stress of money sites!

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When you play both play free poker online and any size cash poker Three-bets mean good hands (or bluffs). Four-bets mean better hands (or bluffs). I dare you!

But luck gives you the best hands of all. Here is one example:

BLINDS 50k/100k, ante 10k

PREFLOP:

A has K-K, raises to 290k

A’s hand is great but he keeps his raise sensible. He certainly plays K-K shrewdly. Many other players would play A-A or K-K weakly preflop for trapping later. A however just plays his K K like a standard hand.

B has A-Q, raises to 650k
A to call 360k

B’s reraise is to try and find out if A has a decent hand or is just trying to steal. With suited connectors, A can call, but with K-K, A does better:

A reraises to 1.49m
B to call 840k

Now A plays K-K conventionally. He is enlarging the pot. It’s like saying “I Dare You!” Had his reraise be small (like only a reraise to 720k) it would not be “I Dare You”; it will be “I Want a Call” and B may call, but A has nothing to fear if B calls unless an Ace falls.

But he does not want a call. It is OK if B folds (which is just expected if B had no hand, but he wants B to put him on a bluff and push him.

B, meanwhile, is thinking something. Because A’s raises are from the cutoff, B may think that the second is a bluff (and good for A if he knows this is what B is thinking). So what does B do?

B moves all in
A to call 3.76m

Now B is the one daring A!

A could have thought any of these:

(1) Was B trying to bluff me out? (He can’t, if he is. In fact, I want him to do that.)

(2) Did B trap me with a four-bet with the A-A? or K-K? (There is a small possibility.)

(3) How much will I invest? I had 10.7 million at the start and I am going to invest 5.3 million. About half my stack. But I am going to try to knock him out, anyway.

(4) Did B have A-x? (Most probably. They do it all the time. However, I’m quite uneasy if it’s worth half my stack.)

But A didn’t, because he instantly called. Moreover, A could have thought instead, “My ploys were successful. I trapped him. Now he’s finished.”

A calls 3.76m (Pot about 12 million)

Three-bets and four-bets almost always signify A-A, K-K or with some brave players, A-K or Q-Q. B had A-Q, which is not so good for a call (A may have figured out that B held A-Q, so he reraised instead of trapped; if he just called, then an Ace may fall and he may not continue with his K-K) but even worse for staying in a hand with plenty of raises and reraises.

However, luck has the last word in this hand.

The board ended up Js-7h-3s-Ad-Qd, which clinched B’s win.

Summing up
I know this may seem like a lot to take in all at once, the fact is though that while poker is an easy game to learn it is hard to be very good at, hence the crazy stupid “chip flinging” you will come across on many poker sites.

Ironically the fact that so many players inhabit this dumb donk zone is great news for you.

That’s because once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the “all-in-all the time” maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free online poker sites that pays real cash such as that found at NoPayPOKER.com.

To make this work first, play free poker games to learn to play poker online free where you can learn while you lose but without losing real money, then once ready to can move up to low stakes and start to make some serious poker cash!

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Learn To Play Poker Online Free And Dominate The Table When You Get A Big Hand

In this free poker games guide we’re going to reconstruct a hand, specifically in this article the poker hand know as the big hand.

The point of poker hand reconstruction is to learn how to play poker better by understanding how the hand works.

This can then be related to the context of play. From here you can begin to determine the motives of the other players for their actions, based on the cards that fell, your betting patterns, their player types, their chip stacks, the pot size, and many other factors.

The result I hope is that you can play that type of hand better in the future and win more money!

For our first reconstruction, this is the Big Hand.

BLINDS 1,000/2,000 - (Pot 5,400)

PREFLOP:

A has Js-9s, calls 2,000

B has Ks-Kc, raises to 14,000

A calls 12,000 (Pot 33,400)

A just initially calls, hoping that there will also be many callers because he has suited connectors and wants to get sufficient pot odds.

B, though might interpret the call from early position as A-A or Q-Q, and because he has a large stack (the two are the largest on the table) he can afford to raise a bit more, because if the other player reraises and he thinks the other one has A-A, he can fold.

Also, K-K is a little bit unsafe if an Ace falls on the flop, so this may serve as a tester raise. A calls, because he has a big stack and can afford it.

FLOP: Kh-9d-Kd

A checks

B checks (Pot 33,400)

Suddenly B has Quad Kings! A checks, because he has only a Nine, and can proceed carefully if B bets. B, hoping to conceal his unbeatable hand, checks too.

Paired boards are commonly good bluffing situations. One example is, a 8-8-3 board is good for bluffing because on a, say, J-7-3 board, there are three cards which can pair one of them, and a bluff will be less effective.

But on the 8-8-3 board, bluffing has big benefits because there are only two cards which can conceivably help anyone, and also anyone there with a Three will be not as likely to call. (Only an Eight will do.)

However with a board with bigger cards like our Flop, B could have bet, but after that, A will be less likely to put him on a bluff (and more likely on a made hand) because he may have, say, K-10, and we play big cards more than small ones.

B doesn’t want A to back out of the pot. So B just checks.

Also, with two Diamonds B should check in the hope that A will put him on a flush draw so that if the flush doesn’t come, A will bet or raise to push B away, and B can gain extra chips.

TURN: Kh-9d-Kd-5h

A checks

B bets 20,000

A raises to 70,000

B calls 50,000 (Pot 173,400)

B still has invincible Quads, A still has Two-Pair. B could have now put A on the Nine or a draw, so B bets 20,000 so that A will call.

But since during the flop B may have represented a Diamond flush draw in A’s perspective, A raised to 70,000 so that B will move away.

B just calls, because there are two draws already, and B might want to represent one of them again so that A will attempt another bluff on the river.

RIVER: Kh-9d-Kd-5h-9h

A checks

B moves all-in 106,000 (Pot 279,300)

A folds

B still has Quads, but A is now in trouble because he has a bottom Full House. A King can kill him.

What A is hoping, though, is that B back-doored a Heart Flush and just check it along with him.

But B moves all-in. This is a very intriguing move by B. A solid player would value-bet this (sat, 40,000 on a pot of 173,400) and A can just call it.

It is OK to represent a Flush here, as the board is double-paired, which can destroy Flushes as the board is just one card off a Full House.

So what I am thinking is: B moved all-in because (1) he wanted A to think they may have the same hand or that his hand is weaker, like a Flush. B’s play on the Flop and the Turn was weak, so A might not have put B on a King but likely on the Flush draw we are talking about.

B wants a call. B now hopes that A backdoored a Flush too and also that he thinks his all-in is just a bluff, but A is in trouble due to the sudden strong play.

It was psychologically jarring.

Did B hide that King or not? A may think that better hands could come later, so he folds.

Also (2) B may not want a showdown; he did not want to show the two Kings; he wanted to trouble the minds of A and other opponents.

If they saw how he played K-K it will be added information. He wants to have them guessing.

You have to play more unpredictably so you can gain chips later than to gain chips now, but be unable to get some later. I believe this is a brilliant reason.

In summary of the Big Hand

I know this may seem like a lot to take in all at once, the fact is though that while poker is an easy game to learn it is hard to be very good at, hence the crazy stupid “chip flinging” you will come across on many poker sites.

Ironically the fact that so many players inhabit this dumb donk zone is great news for you. That’s because once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the “all-in-all the time” maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free poker on line that pays real cash such as that found at www.NoPayPOKER.com.

To make this work first, learn to play poker online free on free online poker tables where you can learn while you lose but without losing real money, then once ready to can move up to low stakes and start to get rich!

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With the immense popularity of free online poker and poker shows like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, poker, like basketball, has developed a jargon of its own. Terms in an poker dictionary today may be found in a poker dictionary published, say, twenty years ago, so the nature of poker may not have changed much.

Checks, bets, raises, calls, bluffs, and all-ins are still found and still exist with connotations like: to ‘bet’ is aggressive; to ‘raise’ more aggressive; to ‘call’ is never aggressive; to ‘check’ is still passive, unless you are plotting a raise after it. Bluffing, well that’s always aggressive. And then all in’s in no limit games are the most aggressive of all as far as many poker players are concerned.

But with the development and media frenzy many new terms have been coined to help the game commentators as much as anything! For instance, where a commentator would say ‘check-raise’ today I imagine a 1970 commentator to have said in the same situation ‘He raised after a check.’ ‘Check-call’ may be ‘calling after checking’. ‘Value bet’ may be ‘betting for value’ or ‘betting because A’s hand is good, and he wants B to call’. With this said I’m not implying these terms were not used before the poker explosion. It may be that they are not clear enough to a general audience before in a time when poker was accessible only to a few.

So, we’ll start with some of the most popular and important compound terms like check raise and check call. I shall assume, that, as above, that checks and calls are non-aggressive, and bets, raises, bluffs, and all-ins are aggressive.

#1 Check-raise: To check-raise is to check, then if the opponent bets, you raise. One example is, in a Board with 4-7-J and you have 6-5, if you are the first to act, you can check-raise. You can check because you can hit your Straight for free later if your opponent checks, and if your opponent bets, you can raise, so he will think you are on a bluff or on a made hand, so if you hit your Straight later your hand is disguised.

It’s also possible to check-raise if you think your opponent’s weak so that he’s not going to call if you bet, but you want your opponent to think you’re weak so that he can bluff, then you can raise him.

#2 Check-call: To check-call is to check, then if your opponent bets, then you call. Check-calling is standard for the above Board (4-7-J and you have 6-5),p provided you are priced to hit your Straight later. Check-call can also be good if you flopped a monster on the Flop and you want your opponent to represent it so you can trap him.

#3 Value bet: Value is the relative strength of your hand compared to what you think your opponent has. For example, you have A-10 in a Flop of J-10-6-5-2. You can consider your Pair of Tens to be not so strong, but if you put your opponent on 7-7 or weaker, then you can bet a small amount at the river (say, one-third or one-half the pot) so your opponent will pay you off if he, indeed has the 7-7, and if it turns out that he has the Jack, your loss is not so great. The point is you bet the largest amount you think your opponent will call.

#4 Check-raise-bluff: Now we move on to more complex compound terms. You usually check-raise if you have a strong hand or a drawing hand that you want to disguise. If you have none, but want to represent, do this. Check, then if he bets, put pressure on him.

#5 Value-bet-bluff: A value-bet is generally a fraction of a pot, typically 1/3 to 2/3. A bluff is usually greater than the pot (twice or more to be credible). If you bet 1/3 or 2/3 of the pot and you have nothing then strong players are likely to see the value-bet and fold. In such a case, your bluff works and with less danger than a standard bluff as a standard bluff may involve more than the pot or even an all-in, in contrast the value-bet-bluff involves only a bet that is value-bet sized.

#6 Three-bets and four-bets: A three-bet means this: Someone bets (or raises preflop), then someone reraises, then someone reraises again (possibly the first raiser). This action is the third, hence ‘three-bet’. If anyone moves over the top after this, then this action is the fourth, hence ‘four-bet.’ To reraise a raise requires a very strong hand, then to reraise this requires a far stronger hand, then to reraise this reraise requires a hand far more stronger. Unless one is representing. So we can make terms like ‘three-bet-bluff’ and ‘four-bet-bluff’, meaning ‘a bluff with a three-bet or a four-bet’.

#7 Bluff all-in: An all-in implies a strong hand. If you have nothing and this is what you do, then you ‘bluff all-in’. It is good to bluff all-in in a dangerous board (one off a Straight or a Flush, or a paired Board) but it is more dangerous, because your opponent may have the nuts and call you. In less dangerous boards, you can just bet and your opponent will fold if he has nothing – it has the same effect as the bluff all-in.

#8 Call all-in: Technically, call all-in is non-aggressive. To call is not aggressive; you just moved all in because you have a hand that you will be willing to move all-in if you acted first, and someone just set you up to it (or maybe you slow-played and your opponent became aggressive and pushed you all-in and you called).

#9 Check-raise-all-in: A very aggressive move. You check, another player bets, then you go all in. Many will not interpret it as a bluff, and will call only if they have a hand. Say, on a board with J-10-Q-7-6, even with A-Q it is difficult to call a check-raise-all-in. You must have, say, A-K or 9-8 to do it, or a Flush.

#10 Check-raise-bluff-all-in: The #9 when you have nothing. Say, in the above board, you have 5-5. You just represent a strong made hand.

You can make some more variants of these poker moves. Have fun doing them, but don’t overdo them. Value-bet bluffs will not be understood by weak players, and weak players will call check-raise-bluff-all-ins just as they will call regularly.

To read more articles like this and learn to play poker for free check out the NoPayPOKER.com blog which is full of free poker tips and lessons as well as offering a no risk free online poker site where you can put theory into practice.

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Most poker players from the beginning free online poker player on NoPayPOKER.com upward wants to improve his or her poker skills, be able to read the cards and odds better, bluff like a pro and so on. But many players don’t pay anywhere near enough attention to the types of games they are applying those skills to. This often overlooked factor can have a huge impact on success of failure.

For example, there’s an old story about a poker pro who was the sixth best player in the world but never made any money. That was because he chose to only play against the top five best players in the world. The moral of the story is that you make money when you possess a clear edge over your opponents.

Don’t be overconfident

Everyone wants to be the best and play the best. It’s a matter of pride. However, unless your name is Phil Ivey, you probably won’t have an advantage over every opponent in every game. It’s also important to recognize that even the top poker pros will sometimes step down a level and play lesser competition because it’s more profitable.

If you can’t beat players at lower level cash games, you shouldn’t try to play at higher level cash games. You’re going to go broke trying. Start out on free texas hold em games if you need to and work up from there.

This is the way of it online and offline. I remember one time, for instance when I came across a $1/2 no limit Texas Holdem game at a minor casino in a small Florida town. In 2 hours I just about doubled my money while not taking a single pot. The players there were very passive and loose and I was able to pressure them with large bets and got paid off for relatively strong hands. This is a great example of picking the right table!

I also remember one time when I played for five hours in a $1/2 no-limit hold’em game at a five-star hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. I barely broke even. The players were tight and aggressive and played back at me when I tried to put a move on them. I knew afterward that I picked the wrong table.

What kind of game to look for

The first thing to keep in mind is your bankroll. If you can’t afford to play $5/10 live or $.50/1 online, then you shouldn’t do it. You should move down to a more affordable level even free online poker if necessary.

The next thing you have to be honest with yourself about is your skill. Ask yourself if you have at least a decent chance of wining at this level. If no then you really should drop a level. If you’re new to poker start out on free texas holdem poker sites and work up. If you’re low on confidence and have had a run of bad beats maybe drop to free poker or right down to micro stakes just to get your confidence up again.

Once you’ve decided the level you can beat, you then need to be choosy about the particular table you want to sit at. Ideally, you want to play at a table where you see players making a lot of fundamental errors like playing too many hands or playing too passively. A loose and passive table is probably the most profitable table. A loose game will allow you to win big pots because players will call you down with weak hands, and a passive game affords you the opportunity to hit your draws cheaply and bully your opposition.

If you can’t find a really passive and loose table (that is quite rare sadly) get into the habit of observing regular games before you join. You should be able to get a good feel for if you’ll be able to do the business there. Remember the point is to win. It’s nice to be a good player but not a good player who gets beaten by better players because you couldn’t resist “a challenge” You’ll feel better to be a good winning player trust me! So start fresh now, get more selective with the games you play, if it’s all new to you start with free poker and work up from there.

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