In No-Limit Texas Hold’em, table image is everything. It can mean the difference between a losing session and a winning one. There are a few rules you must learn before learning how to exploit your table image for maximum profit. The first rule is that if you plan on showing a loose table image, you must be playing players who will acknowledge it. You cannot go to a low limit table where players go all-in with anything and expect to make a profit by showing them how loose you are. The best way to beat a low limit game is by playing the cards. Table image becomes a factor when you are playing the player rather than the cards. The second rule about table image deals with giving too much money away on trash hands. If you plan on playing like a maniac, show this to your opponents. Be careful not to go overboard and start playing stupid as it is very easy to fall into this trap. As a maniac, your goal should be to showdown a few cheap pots with trash hands and to raise some pretty crappy hands pre-flop. A lot of times, you will raise trash and hit top pair. Don’t get carried away with this and let it go if it must be done. The third and most important rule is to always play tight on the flop. Even if you are acting like a maniac, do the raising pre-flop. Only call down for a good image and show a stupid hand if the pot is really cheap. The Three Table Images The three table images I will discuss have varying degrees. I will outline the basic concepts and requirements for each image. The goal we are trying to accomplish here is letting our opponents make mistakes based on how we are perceived. We are trying to get them to lay down top pair when we are bluffing with a tight table image. Likewise, we are trying to get them to call us when we have the stone cold nuts and are playing like a maniac. Maniac Tight Crazy (Unpredictable) You can learn to play any of these images and I advise you to master them all. On a daily basis, I might use all 3 table images if the table demands it. Table image should be chosen based on the current status of a table. Which Table Image To Choose Choose your table image based on whether the table is loose or tight. Tight Table- Tight Image Loose Table- Loose Image This may look weird considering most people say play tight on a loose table and loose on a tight table. That is right. But you have to remember, we are talking image here, not the way we play. It doesn’t matter WHAT image I choose, I always play tight on the flop no matter what. Even when I am playing the role of a maniac, I will very rarely call down without nuts or a premium hand. I will occasionally show down a bad hand on purpose if it is a cheap pot overall. The reason we want to show that we are tight on a tight table is because most of the time the players will give up top pair. You will be able to steal the blinds and bluff as much as you want so long as the tight players THINK you are tight. The reason we want to show that we are loose on a loose table is because we want our opponents to think we are stupid players as well. Sometimes, on a really loose table, all you need to do is sit there and you will still get action on pocket aces. If they are folding to your premium hands, then make a few stupid calls here and there and raise some trash hands pre-flop so they know you are there to play and not there to take their money. The crazy table image is best when playing against players that you know are capable of reading you. Opponents that pay extreme attention to your every move can only be countered with one table image, the unpredictable and crazy image. These types of players (crazy/unpredictable) are winners over the long run because you will never peg them on a set hand. They know when to give up flops and know when to bet you out of the pot.

RAZZ

I was watching episodes of the 2004 World Series Of Poker, I saw my first game of Razz poker, and was intrigued. As I had never played Razz poker, I decided to at least learn how, and figure out why some of the players were calling it things like the “hated game” and repeatedly saying, “I hate this game”. Here are a few of the things I learned. As far as learning how to play, if you have ever played 7 Card Stud you will quickly be able to play Razz poker competently. Razz poker is played like 7 Card Stud, but it is played for low instead of high. The best possible hand is a “Wheel”, A 2 3 4 5 and straights or flushes have no bearing on the winning hand. After the first three cards are dealt, the high card, unlike 7 Card Stud, is forced to place a “bring in” bet to start the action. From this point, everything is the same as 7 Card Stud. Learning how to play is easy; learning how to play well is difficult, to say the least. In my opinion, Razz poker requires the highest level of reading your opponents and recognizing betting patterns of all of the variations of poker. As an extension, Razz poker is the game where it is most important to not give away any information about the strength of your hand. Bluffing is a large part of the game, as many times the best low hand will be a Nine or Ten high, and it seems like there are a lot of times when you end up with three pair to destroy much hopes of winning, but if you have good low cards showing you may be able to bluff and win. This is why it is so aggravating. An example is when you start with 2 3 5, followed by 3 7 5. Any A 4 6 or 8 will almost surely give you the win and a 9, T or J may give you the best hand. But when you hit another 2 3 5 or 7, you have no chance to win unless all of your opponents have multiple pairs also or you are able to make a successful bluff. You will often play this hand to the end, just to have any chance to win destroyed by pairing your seventh card. Overall, Razz poker is a fun variation of poker to play on occasion, but due to the lack of available games, and the few that do run are usually dominated by veteran players, I recommend it for a change of pace, not a full time profession. It can be a fun night of entertainment if you host a home game.

Quick explanation of Omaha!

What you do is get four cards. Doesn’t matter much what they are because nobody really looks at them anyway. Next, they put three cards on the board. It doesn’t matter what they are because nobody really pays any attention to the flop either. Then one more card for the turn and another one for the river. Same betting scenario as before. Doesn’t really matter much what they are, except, for a few of the players that may have “cheated” and looked at their hole cards. These players may now fold if they have absolutely no outs. (Mostly bad sports.) Now, at the showdown, everybody turns over their cards and helps the dealer figure out who has the best hand. You MUST play two cards out of your hand so this usually takes a while and and the winning hand is usually found out after a little bit of searching by all of the players and a partially confused dealer. The dealer now pushes the pot to the wrong player and everybody yells at him and he smiles glibly and says, “Oh yeah,,,sorry” and then sends it in the right direction. Then, after all of that excitement dies down, everybody lets out a collective sigh of relief and gets ready to wind up and do it all over again. Fun game. Everyone here is a bonus Joke for today’s Blog! A man came home from a poker game late one night and found his hideous wife waiting for him with a rolling pin. “Where the hell have you been?” she asked. The man reply’s“You’ll have to pack all your things, dear “I’ve just lost you in a card game.” “How did you manage to do that?” asks the wife. “It wasn’t easy, honest. I had to fold with a royal flush.”

The Check Raise

The check raise can be an effective tool to control your opponents and force others to make mistakes. It can help neutralize your opponent’s advantage due to position. You can trap opponents with your strong hands. As well, you can protect your good but vulnerable hands in family pots. It is very important that you do not attempt to check raise passive opponents because your plan will backfire if you give them a free card if they do not bet. When we play hands out of position, our opponents have a very large advantage since they see what we do before they act. If we always check when we have a weak hand, observant opponents will pick up on this pattern and bluff us out of pots. By check raising, we keep our opponents on their toes, and they will value bet and bluff less frequently. In hands that involve multiple players, we can isolate players with a check raise and force those who act after us to pay multiple bets to continue in the hand. Look at the situation where there are three limpers and the button raises. We call the raise in the big blind with AJ offsuit, as do all the limpers. The flop comes J25 with two hearts and everyone checks to the pre-flop raiser. The pre-flop raiser bets as expected and we can now raise, thereby forcing the three players who act after us to pay two bets if they want to continue in the hand. If we had just bet out and any of the limpers called, they would be likely to call the extra bet if the button raises. Check raising is an effective tool in hands with only one opponent. By check raising, which is a sign of strength, we get extra bets into the pot with our very strong hands. Opponents who tend to bluff players that show weakness will begin to become more passive in pots that you are involved in, because they fear the check raise. While the check raise is an effective tool, it should be used relatively sparingly. If you constantly attempt to check raise your opponents, they will begin to take free cards after you check. This gives them the opportunity to outdraw you with weaker hands for free, which would be a huge mistake on your behalf. The real key is to only attempt the check raise when you feel an opponent will bet.

Distractions when you're playing

Why should you avoid distractions when you’re playing online poker? You can multi-task can’t you?The first paragraph of this article asks you a simple question, why should you avoid distractions when you’re in the midst of a game online? For the same reason you would avoid them if you were playing in a land based poker tournament, staying focused during play is essential if you are to avoid making mistakes. What exactly are distractions? These are going to differ from person to person, many players require absolute silence when they are playing, others have a web browser open or the TV on in the background. A few will have four or five attention grabbing things going on at once, the wife talking about her day, answering email, chatting on the internet and even finishing up some work. Any one of these distractions could potentially cost you your tournament, which means a wasted buy-in or a cash amount in a ring game. How can we avoid these things? It isn’t too difficult, try playing when the wife is out or watching her favorite TV show. Maybe leave the computer alone until your young child is safely tucked up in bed. Turn the TV down or off completely, you cannot watch two screens at once very easily! Finish your work first, then play. It seems a very straight forward thing to do, but you’d be surprised at how many non-focused players there are on the internet. If you are 100% focused on the game, you have an edge over these players. Recognising and taking advantage of non-focused players.So, how can we spot a non-focused player? Keep and eye on the chat, is someone talking about the football game? The next horse race? Or perhaps the bad beat they just took on another table? These could be players who are not focused on the task in hand.

Terms that describe playing styles

These are all terms that describe playing styles. Loose and tight generally refer to a player’s attitude toward his stack of chips. The loose player bets more often prior to the flop and will gamble more to try and make a hand. They tend to bluff a lot. A player that is ‘tight’ plays few hands that are carefully selected; they’ll fold easily. They tend to only play strong hands. Passive and aggressive refer to a player’s attitude toward other players. A ‘passive’ player tends to follow other player’s leads and not try to command the table while an ‘aggressive’ player tries to command the table and force others to chase him or fold. These attitudes combine to create four generalized playing styles: Loose-passive: These players don’t guard every penny, but they do tend to follow other players leads. These players will play most hands, but rarely initiate bets or raises. Loose-passive play is typified by casual ‘poker night’ games amongst friends. Loose-aggressive: These players are also free with their money, but they are in the game for the action and want to command the game. These players will raise often, even with weak cards. Loose-aggressive play is typified by the ‘play money’ internet poker rooms where no real money is at stake. Tight-passive: These players are careful with their money and follow other player’s leads. These players let others initiate betting, call when they have good cards and seldom raise. Tight-passive play is typified by regulars at public card rooms. Tight-aggressive: These players guard their money, but also love the competition and want to command the game. They may let other’s initiate betting, but when they raise it is very probable that they hold good cards. Tight-aggressive play is typified by professional poker players and those in tournaments. It is important to note that none of these play styles is absolute – anyone may ‘push his luck’ or bluff if they feel the time is right.

Personal Improvment !!

Yesterday we talked about Team Poker and I personally wasn’t a big fan of that type of format. But it made me take a look at my personal game and I think no matter what skill level you are at you always need to look at your own game and look for areas to improve.I always put a list of things together and at my next live event I will pay attention to each of these things and try to improve or correct. Now to be clear the list is always there once I fix something there something that replaces it on the list. There is that old saying “Texas Holdem takes a minute to learn but a life time to master” Below is my current list of things I need to work on at my next live event. Tells I need to eliminate. 9. Yelling “Yeehaw!” everytime I have a pocket pair 8. Everytime I bluff I say,”Call this if you don’t like money.” 7. Shaking the entire table when I have the nuts. 6. Sweating profusely when I know I’m beat. 5. Begging the other players not to call or raise. 4. Wearing mirror glasses that shows the table my hole cards. 3. Discussing my cards with the cocktail girl during the hand. 2. Having to constantly ask other players what hands are best. 1. Hyperventilating when I look at my hole cards and see Pocket Rockets!