When you play Texas Holdem you’re going to run into many hands where you have a straight draw or a flush draw and you’re going to need to decide whether or not you want to chase after the draw. When it comes down to chasing draws in Holdem you simply need to make sure you do the proper math. You need to find out the probability of hitting your draw and you also need to figure out whether or not you’re getting the right pot odds to stay in the hand.
* Figuring out the probability of hitting a flush or straight is really simple. You simply need to figure out how many cards are left in the deck that will make your draw hit and divide that number by the amount of cards that you haven’t seen. For instance, if you’re holding two clubs in your hand and two clubs come on the flop then you need to do the following. You simply need to divide 9 into 47 to figure out the probability of hitting your flush.
* Once you have calculated the probability of hitting your draw on PokerStars.it you need to calculate the pot odds you’re getting. You only need to figure out the pot odds if somebody makes a bet. If you’re sitting with a four card flush draw after the flop and your opponent bets $20 into a $50 pot then you should fold unless you think you’re opponent has nothing. If your opponent were to have bet $20 into a $200 pot though then you should always make the call and try chasing after your flush draw.
* You’re going to have more flush and straight draws in Holdem then you can probably imagine. There is no way that you can possibly chase after every draw you have because it just wouldn’t be feasible. You need to make sure you’re getting the right odds to chase the draw, but you also need to use your gut feeling sometimes. Just because you’re getting the right odds to make a call doesn’t make it the right call. If your gut is telling you to fold your hand then you should go with your gut very single time. The second you start second guessing yourself is the second that you need to stop playing poker.
* You should only chase flush draws when you have a four card flush draw on the flop. If you don’t have at least a four card flush draw then you’re better off just folding your hand. When you’re chasing after a straight draw you should only chase if you have an open ended straight draw such as J-10-9-8. If you have an inside straight draw such as a 9-8-7-5 you should just fold your hand.
There is definitely money to be made by chasing after your draws in ater you get the full tilt poker download, but at the same time there is a time and a place for chasing hands. You need to be selective about the hands you chase. If you have a low flush draw then you could potentially lose the hand to a higher flush draw so you might not even want to chase after your flush draws unless you’re drawing for the nuts or close to the nuts.
Razz poker isn’t that popular of a poker game, but it has continued to grow thanks to online poker rooms offering the game to their players. The best online poker rooms to play razz poker are PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker as they always have a range of cash games and tournaments running for razz poker players. If you know how to play seven card stud then you’ll already have a head start since the rules to the game are almost identical. The only difference between seven card stud and razz poker is that the goal in razz is to have the lowest hand, rather then the highest hand.
If you’ve never played razz poker before it’s a good idea to read through the rules so you know what’s going on at the table while you’re playing. A good way to learn the game is by playing for play money initially as it’ll allow you to learn from your mistakes without costing you anything. To start each hand in razz every player is dealt three cards with one of them being dealt face-up. You should generally fold all of your starting hands where you don’t have three cards under 8. Once in awhile you can try stealing the pot when you have a low face-up card, but other then that you really need to be patient in razz.
Even when you’re dealt three good cards to start the hand it doesn’t mean that you’re going to end up with a good hand. A lot of razz poker is based on the luck of the cards you’re dealt and therefore a lot of the game is based on your ability to steal the pot from your opponents. As long as your face-up cards are the lowest on the table then you’re going to have a great chance at being able to take the pokerstar pot whether you have a good hand or not.
One thing I’ve noticed after playing razz poker for awhile now is that you should really be careful about slow playing your hand unless you have the nuts. When you think you’re winning the hand or you think you can take the pot down you should always make sure you make a bet. Razz poker can also be a really loose game with lots of back and forth betting. If you end up sitting on a loose table then the best thing to do is play tight. You should be able to pick up a couple big hands where you can win some money and if you have a tight table image it will also allow you to make a few bluffs every now and then.
One last quick tip that I want to leave you with is to be careful with pairs in your Poker Star hand. You can win the hand with a pair in your hand, but it doesn’t happen very often so generally you should just fold these types of hands. Razz poker can be a very fun game to play, but if you aren’t careful it can also hurt your bankroll. The action is generally fast paced and there is a lot of money to be won if you can master this poker game. The traffic for razz poker throughout the online poker rooms is growing on a daily basis and you should always be able to find a game.
Poker is a game that is dominated by men, but that doesn’t mean that women don’t enjoy playing poker. More and more women have started to play poker whether it is in the casino or online. A lot of women have found that playing online is better because they can remain anonymous while they’re playing. Over the years there have been many professional women poker players, but since we can’t talk about them all we’ll only look at some of the best women poker players.
Jennifer Harman
* Jennifer Harman is one of the most popular poker players in the world. She is always making television appearances on many of the poker shows plus she’s a great player. Harman has won two WSOP bracelets in her career and has won over $2 million from tournaments alone. When Jennifer isn’t competing in the world’s biggest poker events she will typically be playing poker at Full Tilt Poker or in Las Vegas at the high limit cash games.
Annie Duke
* Annie Duke is well known for being on the Celebrity Apprentice which for those of you that don’t know is a reality show where contestants fight for a job with Donald Trump. Annie Duke is also an ambassador for UBPoker.com along with Hellmuth. Duke has earned millions from playing poker over her career and she has also done a great job securing her future through sponsorships and book deals. Howard Lederer who is a famous poker player as well is Annie Duke’s brother. Lederer is actually the reason why Annie started playing poker in the first place.
Vanessa Rousso
* Vanessa Rousso has been playing poker professionally for about five years now and has made many appearances at the top of the leaderboard in some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world. Rousso has played poker on several television shows and she is also a very active player on PokerStars. Rousso has been playing lots of poker still and has been having some great finishes over the past few months.
Annette Obrestad
* Annette Obrestad has been playing poker since she was just a teenager. She played throughout some of the online poker rooms and built her bankroll by winning freeroll tournaments. She turned nothing into millions because she is now one of the best young poker players in the world. Obrestad is very good at playing in large multi-table tournaments and doesn’t play in many cash games. Annette is the youngest poker player in the world to win a WSOPE event which is a massive accomplishment. There is no doubt that in a few more years Annette will be the number one women poker player to ever play the game.
If you’re a woman and you’re looking to play online poker then you should definitely give it a try. You can even start playing for free by entering into freeroll tournaments. A freeroll tournament doesn’t cost money and it gives you the chance to win money if you place near the top. Thousands of women play online poker everyday and there are more joining on a daily basis as well, so why not give it a shot to find out if you like it?
Bounty poker tournaments started growing in popularity when the big online poker rooms started offering them in their poker rooms. Since then bounty poker tournaments have been appearing in many of the major live poker events around the world and it seems like this tournament is going to be around for awhile. If you’ve never played in a bounty poker tournament we’re going to quickly describe how to play them below.
What is a Bounty Tournament?
A bounty pkr poker tournament is the same as any regular poker tournaments except for one small difference. In this type of poker tournament part of your buy-in will go towards the prize pool and the rest of your buy-in will go towards your bounty. Every single player will have the same bounty and the goal is to knock out players. If you knock a player out of the tournament you’ll automatically win their bounty and it will be credited to your account immediately after knocking the player out.
Bounty Tournament Strategy
* Since you earn money for knocking out other players in the tournament you need to be willing to make the big play when it comes time. A lot of players don’t like risking their chips before the flop, but in this type of tournament a lot of the hands will be all-in preflop. Many of the players that compete in bounty poker tournaments like to gamble and that’s why they play this style of tournament.
* You want to try and make sure that you get an early start in these tournaments so that you have more chips then the other players on your table. The reason this is important in a bounty poker tournament is simple. If you were to be in an all-in hand with another player and they have 100 more chips then you, you won’t be able to knock them out of the tournament if you win the hand. You might gain some chips, but you won’t receive the bounty since you didn’t knock the player out of the tournament.
* Since there is still a large prize pool to be won in most cases for the players that download pkr and finish at the top of the tournament you want to begin to play carefully near the bubble. In the early stages of the tournament you should try to win some bounties, but as you near the bubble you should start playing for the prize pool rather then the bounties. Most players will still be chasing bounties so it’ll allow you to move up the leaderboard at a quick pace even if you aren’t playing many hands.
* One other thing that is also really important in bounty poker tournaments is keeping your emotions in check. I have lost many of these tournaments on some of the worst bad beats possible, but that is the risk you take by gambling in these types of tournaments. You’ll win a large percentage of the time when you have the best hand, but at the same time be prepared to take some bad beats.
One of the most important things that you need to do as a poker player is manage your poker bankroll. If you’re unable to manage your bankroll properly you’re going to run out of money a lot quicker then you made the money. The number one reason why online poker players don’t last is because they don’t manage their bankroll at all and end up busting their stacks completely. Below are some simple bankroll management tips that every single poker player should follow.
* The first tip that you need to follow when managing your poker bankroll is to setup an Absolute poker rakeback account and play within your limits. Often poker players will simply play out of their comfort zone and this causes them to go broke. You should only try increasing the limits that you play once you have played a sufficient amount of hands at your current level. There are several online poker tools that track your stats so it isn’t hard to find out how well you’re performing at your current stakes.
* One thing that plenty of poker players overlook is that poker is a game that needs to be played seriously at all times. The second you stop focusing on playing poker you should take a break from the game. Although you’re only playing with chips at the poker table it’s still real money and you can’t just throw it away because of emotions or anything like that.
* Playing poker with rakeback is very fun, but as you begin playing more and more you might end up losing that fun factor. If you’re losing interest in the game you need to take an extended break before you end up wasting your bankroll. You also need to always make sure that you don’t place poker as the number one thing in your life. Poker can become addicting, but from experience I can tell you that not many gambling addicts succeed at playing poker. You should play short sessions with breaks every hour plus you should make sure you get out to places like the gym.
* Whether you’re a cash game player or a tournament player you’ll always want to switch up what you play every once in awhile. Playing in tournaments can be boring after playing them everyday for months and you might want to try out some cash games. The problem with this is that cash games are completely different then tournaments and if you’re not prepared to make changes to your game it can cost you a lot of money. Typically I set aside some profits for playing cash games when I don’t feel like playing tournaments and if I lose the amount I set aside then I go back to grinding tournaments.
* One of the main reasons why people go broke is because they can’t control their emotions at the poker table. If you’re on tilt you need to have the power to walk away from the poker tables and refocus yourself. If you sit at the table when you’re on tilt it generally only results in you losing more chips then you had already lost before going on tilt. The players that know when to walk away from the poker table are the ones that last more then a couple months.