Pokeroom.co.uk – Key Hands in Poker
pokeroom – Key hands can take a long time to come around in poker, and you may not realise just how important your actions are in a pot until the hand is over. There was recently a hand which I was part of, that could have changed my fortunes entirely in the tournament, I just didn’t know it until afterwards. As the action came round the table, one of the players put in a strong raise, making it 1,000 to go.
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I was sitting with (10,10) and short stacked, and was considering taking a chance with it, when the player to my right suddenly reraised to 3,000. This was the last thing I wanted to see of course, and by this point I felt sure there was an overpair there somewhere. After some deliberation I folded. The person on my left then thought for a long time before folding what was shown after to be (K,K).
The original raiser moved all in and was called for a few more chips, turning over (A,Q). The caller showed (7,7) and eventually the sevens stood up. And needless to say, the 10 would have appeared on the flop giving me the pot, had I played the hand. If only the previous two players had not been as aggressive as they were, I could have seen a flop and then won a nice pot. If one, or neither of the first two hands had raised, I would have shoved all in, been probably called by (K,K), and inflicted a bad beat when the ten fell on the flop. That isn’t how I like to win hands, but I certainly would have taken a double up of any kind.
This goes to show that you should always be prepared for the unexpected, and sooner or later some big hands will be dealt, and how you play your own cards, can change everything.
fulltiltpoker.com – Verbal Declarations in Poker
fulltitlpokercom – Most of the time in poker, players will not talk all that often in a serious game, although there are instances where verbal declarations are important. In terms of declaring your actions during a hand, three words of ‘fold’ ‘raise’ and ‘call’ will usually suffice, and failure to use these words can result in your actions being misinterpreted. I recently saw this happen in a tournament where a player had the nut flush on the river, and another player with a queen flush raised into him an amount of 600.
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The player with the nut flush then proceeded to put two 1,000 value chips into the pot, but did not announce ‘raise’ and for this reason, the action was deemed to be a call.
Other points on verbal communication include, the general rule, that players should not reveal information about their hands while that hand is in progress.
If for instance you fold (7,2) and the flop then comes down (7,7,7) for instance, you would have to sit quietly until after the hand has finished. If you were to exclaim ‘oh my god, I had a 7 too!’ you immediately give extra information to one or other of the players in the pot, about the hand they might be facing, i.e not four of a kind, and that is unfair. Other than that, always respect the words of any floorman involved in a decision, try to behave with respect for your opponent whether you win or lose, and always announce a raise clearly before you put chips into the pot.
Fulltiltpoker.com Promos
First of all, I should mention that fulltiltpoker.com offer a very reasonable first deposit bonus of 100% up to an amount of $600. Sundays are a big day for promotional tournaments at fulltiltpoker.com, with over $1 million being offered in gauranteed tournaments, which gives players a fantastic chance at winning big money.
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Also on offer for loyal players, is a $2,000 tournament, the seat to which, can be won simply by earning at least one player point per day for a month. I particularly like this promotion because it is aimed at giving something back to the players who do not have big bankrolls, but are dedicated to playing their poker at Full Tilt. The ‘Iron Man Challenge’ which is running at Full Tilt offers players who earn enough player points the chance to qualify their way to a final heads up game against one of the www.fulltiltpoker.com team pros. Big cash prizes are available to anyone who can defeat them.
Also running is ‘happy hour’ where player points are awarded at two or three times the rate depending on the time, and refer a friend cash bonuses for each player you refer, can be earnt at Full Tilt too.
Leaderboards for MTT and SnG tournaments are also running, with cash prizes being paid to the most skilled of players at Full Tilt poker.
Along with this, is the ‘Winners Choice’ promotion, offering a $12k prize package to a WPT or EPT event of the players choosing. Cash prizes for busting pros out of tournaments, big prize pool tournaments, and many other ongoing promotions, make www.fulltiltpoker.com and exciting place to be playing your poker.
Pokerroom.co.uk Promos
Upon making your first deposit at Pokeroom, you will immediately be credited with 3 tickets to a satellite tournament.
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This gives you three opportunities to qualify for a $2,500 guaranteed tournament which runs regularly at this poker room. Along with this, is a 100% cash match bonus up to an amount of $1,000. These promotional offers should ensure that new players get off to a good start whilst playing their poker at www.pokeroom.co.uk Refer a friend bonuses are also in operation here, with $50 being paid to you for each friend you refer.
Other promotions include, the ‘cannonball’ tournaments, which involve turbo levels of blinds to start the action off, then slower levels as the players get deeper into the tournament. I like this idea, because it gives payers the chance to get through the less exciting early phase quickly, but not be rushed into rash decsions as the blinds escalate.
There are also many large gauranteed tournaments scheduled each month here, along with satellites to the Aussie Millions, and some exciting bounty tournaments to give you something a little different in terms of tournament play.
Satellites are already running for their ‘Poker Island’ promotion for 2009, which gives players the chance to plot their path to becoming a member of the elite poker island players, thus giving them serious V.I.P status.
Overall, there are some good promotions to keep players at the tables this winter.
Ladbroke Poker Whats new
The most obvious new changes to ladbrokepoker, are the options to play with customized avatars wth 3D graphics. This gives the game a far more realistic and enjoyable feel to it in my opinion, and although it doesn’t make a difference to your wins or losses whilst playing, it makes playing poker online far more interesting and enjoyable. There are far too many sites in my opinion, which offer the same limited choice in avatars, and very similar, boring graphics.
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In terms of other new things, throughout October, Ladbrokes are giving 30% rakeback to their players, which offers players a great way to keep that bankroll looking healthy.
Other new features include upgrades to the hand history feature making it easier to keep track of your progress throughout a tournament.
Table designs have also been updated and look good, especially so in the 3D format. ladbrokepoker.com have also made improvements to the play at the tables, with better clarity in terms of time left to act, winning hands, and the ability to see the cards you folded. Multi tabling has never been easier too, with the option given to resize table screens to suit your preferences. It has been made easier to view your own hand statistics too, and Overall there are lots of new improvements at www.ladbrokepoker.com which show an ongoing desire to compete with the best poker rooms around. Details of all the recent improvements can be found on the Ladbrokes homepage.
Pokerstars.com Promotions
poker stars - With the upcoming WSOP main event final table just around the corner, www.pokerstars.com has added some promotional tournaments to it’s schedule giving players the chance to win themselves some extra cash.
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There will be freerolls with big prize pools, along with other tournaments which present the chance to play against one of the 6 pokerstars.com players taking part in the final table on November the 9th.
The ‘Battle of the Planets’ promotion will be continuing also with great cash prizes on offer for those who can top the leaderboards. Another great offer for Pokerstars players is the ‘Turbo Takedown’. This allows players to use their player points to buy in to a monthly tournament with an outstanding million dollar prize pool.
Other current promotions include a chance at playing against tennis star turned poker pro, Boris Becker, heads up in the Bahamas, along with numerous satellites and chances to earn yourself a seat in a major live tournament. There are the usual excellent guaranteed tournaments scheduled too, with prize pools that could really yield a life changing win.
As always I feel that Pokerstars have a great array of promotions on offer which appeal to players of all levels and bankrolls. This is indicated in their options for buying straight into, or plotting a path through satellites, to major tournaments on their site with excellent prize pools.
partypoker.co – The Different Games of Poker:
partypoker.co.uk – Since it’s beginnings, the game of poker has branched off into several diverse varieties. Many years ago, the most prominent game was Five Card Draw, before Seven Card Stud became the most popular game.
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Five Card Draw is a fairly simple version of poker where each player is dealt five cards and has a chance to replace any number of these cards on one occasion, in order to form their poker hand. There are betting rounds before and after the ‘draw’ too. Seven Card Stud involves each player having seven cards by the end of the hand, but these cards are dealt one at a time, with the first two and last card being face down, and the rest face up. There are more rounds of betting in this game, and the exposed cards give the opportunity to represent hands more easily.
These days, Texas Holdem has become the most favoured game. Each player is dealt two cards in Holdem, with board cards being turned face up which all players can look at and use to make a hand. This gives even more scope for representing hands, and added dangers of a card turning over which helps you, but could help your opponents hand more. Omaha, with a hi/lo split version, is also available on most online sites today and is alike to Holdem, but with four starting hole cards, of which two, can be used to make your hand.
All the above games use the same hand ranking system and so are definately forms of poker. There are other games such as Triple Draw and Razz where the object is to make the lowest numerical hand possible, although I wouldn’t personally consider these games to be variants of poker.
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pokeroom.com – Ace,King:
www.pokeroom.com – This is of course one of the most desirable hands to start with and is very powerful in Holdem.
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It is famously loved by Phil Hellmuth amongst others, and can only be a big preflop underdog to (A,A) or (K,K). Although the chances of your opponent holding these big pairs is diminished due to you holding one of each of that variety of card, you should not discount this danger. Especially on full tables, when there is serious action before the flop, it is always possible for your opponent to be sitting on a monster.
I am as happy as the next player to look down at (A,K) and I obviously prefer it when it is suited, but the key to playing it I feel, is preflop. Personally I believe it is important to be raising the pot sizeably preflop, because you want someone to perhaps get tempted with A,Q, or even (A,J) suited if they are that type of player. What you do not want, is someone calling with two live cards such as suited connectors or (Q,J), and a decent raise preflop will usually weed these sort of hands out. The danger to (A,K) if you are called, will usually be a pair which has called, often (J,J) or lower. The reason I do not include (Q,Q) in this, is that most players I play with would reraise you preflop as opposed to flat calling.
If you hit an ace or king on the flop and there is no obvious danger from a straight or flush, then I would raise very strongly on the flop. I would also do this if there is any card above a ten on the board. The reason being, that if your opponent has called with a medium pair which is likely, any overcard is probably going to trouble them enough to fold. If you are reraised all in at this point you have a big decision. The main danger being that your opponent has called with an underpair and flopped a set, although if an Ace and Queen come on the flop, be wary of the two pair.
Overall I think that aggression with (A,K) is always important, even if you miss the flop, but be prepared to throw it away the moment you are reraised if you have not hit the flop.
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