Consistently at Online Poker

Sense discovering online poker, I make enough money that I quit my job and play online poker full time. I make on average $45, a month playing 4 hours a !eek. I have read many books on poker and put together this fool proof system to !inning online poker. In general, online poker needs to be attacked the same !ay as poker in a brick and mortar casino.In order to play !ell and !in, one al!ays has to adjust to the players and the circumstances."here are differences bet!een the average online player compared to the average brick and mortar player,but those differences are small enough that some logical adjustments should do the trick. In that respect, this section on online poker is specifically aimed at the differences and uniqueness that online poker presents. What Is Poker? #oker is by far the most popular card game played in $merica today %if not the !orld&, in terms of both the amount of money that changes hands every year, as !ell as in the number of players involved. "hough there are hundreds of variations of #oker being played today, they can mostly be placed into three main classes'

(lop )ames %*ike +old ,em and -maha& in !hich each player receives their o!n hole cards and 5 e.posed community cards %flop& that are available to all players. "he hole cards are hidden from the other players until the sho!do!n %completion of the hand&. Stud %like / and 5 0ard Stud& #oker, in !hich some cards in each player,s hand are e.posed to all the players as the betting progresses, and all the active players, cards being e.posed at the sho!do!n. 0losed games, like dra! poker !here you see no cards e.cept your o!n until the sho!do!n.

"he most popular form of poker played today is a %(lop )ame& called "e.as +old,em. (or this reason it !ill be the form of #oker that #okerSchool -nline initially focuses on. In all the variations of poker, t!o factors remain constant' 1. "he value or rank of each poker hand. 2. $t the sho!do!n %!hen the round of play ends& the hand cannot consist of more than five cards, even though more cards are used in many poker variations. 3ention poker to someone and you,re likely to hear of one of these three

poker stereotypes'

4ild 4ild 4est' !here 3ississippi 5iverboat gamblers !ith striped shirts and thin moustaches have a derringer hidden up their sleeve, or 6odge 0ity residents like 6oc +olliday or 4ild 7ill +ickok sitting around a smoky table in a saloon. "he Sting' from the famous movie, comes the image of 0hicago mobsters sitting in a cigar filled room, a bottle of cheap scotch on the table, and a husky football player standing ready at the peep8hole. "he 9itchen "able' :ncle ;ohn and $unt 7essie are sitting around their kitchen table playing !ith their many visiting relatives, !ith a penny ante. Someho! all their nieces and nephe!s come a!ay !ith penny8 stuffed pockets.

Since the late 1<= ,s, poker has undergone a revolution to!ard respectability. "oday,s poker is clean, brightly lit, and decidedly middle class. *ike bo!ling and billiards beforehand, poker has moved from its seedier roots into daylight and acceptance by the masses. >o matter !here you live, it,s likely that you are only a fe! hours a!ay from a public card room, or just blocks from a friendly game. #oker is all around you. #oker has achieved its outstanding popularity for the follo!ing reasons' 1. It can be played by rich and poor alike. "he stakes may vary from no limit to penny ante, just as long as the minimum and ma.imum betting limits are agreed upon before the game begins. 2. It is easy to learn. ?. It may be played in a great many different !ays. 4. $ny number of players from t!o to eleven at one table may play, although t!o to ten make the best game %0ash )ames, Side $ction& but in the "ournaments you can see as many as 1, players starting out at 1 tables, !hich ends up !ith one !inner. 3any of these larger tournaments are played over more than one day. 5. It is strictly a gambling card game, !hether it is +old,em, #oker penny8ante style or Seven80ard Stud table stakes. "he gambling can be replaced !ith other incentives to play !ell. 4ithout the gambling or incentive factors it !ould be one of $merica,s least played games. #okerSchool is sho!ing the industry ho! to replace the @gambling element@ during the learning phase. A. Bach player, on his o!n, battles all the others. "here is no partnership play. /. It combines both chance and skill and is the only game in !hich a player can !in only one hand all evening and still come out a !inner, or !in any more than the average number of hands and still lose to

the game,s action. @If there is any more engrossing card game for a group of reasonable, congenial friends of fairly equal playing ability than #oker, I have yet to learn about it.@ 8;ohn Scarne Cuoted in part according to the (amous 0ard $uthority ;ohn Scarne from his book @Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling@. The Science of Poker $ great many players believe that #oker is primarily a game of chance and that most consistent !inners at #oker are simply lucky. $ctually, #oker contains a greater skill element than any other card game, including 0ontract 7ridge, #inochle and )in 5ummy. 6espite the fact that #oker has so many variations and that the proper !inning strategy differs slightly in each one, the better player !ill nearly al!ays !in money and the poorer player nearly al!ays lose money in a lone #oker session. I believe that there is more science and skill in #oker than in 7ridge for the reasons that follo!' 3y observations of #oker games over the past 4 years have convinced me that if a #oker e.pert played three average players for 52 sessions, each lasting si. hours, the e.pert player !ould emerge the !inner 51 times. "he odds against any such result at 0ontract 7ridge under similar conditions are high. 0ontract 7ridge is a partnership game and as in all such games, one partner is usually more skilled than the other. "heir combined ability is therefore less than that of the better player. In #oker, !ith each player on his o!n, a skilled player is not handicapped by a less able partner. "hat is, his skill potential is not reduced. 0ontract 7ridge is basically a game of strategy plus partnership signals %bidding&. #oker is a game of strategy, deception, mathematics and psychology, !ith a considerable amount of courage thro!n in. ;udgment of one,s opponent,s psychological traits or habits plays little part in 7ridge strategy, !hereas a top #oker player must be a master of #oker psychology in order to simultaneously analyDe the playing traits of as many as seven opponents. 6eception is used much more in #oker than 7ridge and kno!ledge of the game,s mathematics is much more important in #oker than in 7ridge. $lso, money management is important in #oker and not in 7ridge. In most forms of #oker, the game is pure chance only until the player looks at the cards dealt him. (rom then on, unlike in 7ridge and most other card games, chance plays a lesser role because the players need not play bad hands out to a finish. "he player can thro! a bad hand in and take a small loss, or perhaps none, or he can continue to play a bad hand and sometimes !in by bluffing. In Stud and its variants, this decision can be made by the

player each time another card is dealt until the sho!do!n. "he skilled #oker player !ill play fe!er bad hands than the unskilled player and thus increase his !inning chances in a !ay that an equally skilled 7ridge player cannot do. The Origins of Poker "here seem to be differences of opinion on the origin of #oker. 3oreover, there seems to be no clear or direct early ancestor of the game. It is more likely that #oker derived its present day form from elements of many different games. "he consensus is that because of it,s basic principal, its birth is a very old one. ;onathan +. )reen makes one of the earliest !ritten references to #oker in 1=?4. In his !riting, )reen mentions rules to !hat he called the @cheating game,@ !hich !as then being played on 3ississippi riverboats. +e soon realiDed that his !as the first such reference to the game, and since it !as not mentioned in the current $merican +oyle, he chose to call the game #oker. "he game he described !as played !ith 2 cards, using only the aces, kings, queens, jacks and tens. "!o to four people could play, and each !as dealt five cards. 7y the time )reen !rote about it, poker had become the number one cheating game on the 3ississippi boats, receiving even more action than "hree80ard 3onte. 3ost people taken by "hree80ard 3onte thought the 2 8 card poker seemed more a legitimate game, and they came back time and time again. It !ould certainly appear, then, that #oker !as developed by the cardsharps. "he origin of the !ord #oker is also !ell debated. 3ost of the dictionaries and game historians say that it comes from an eighteenth8century (rench game, poque. +o!ever, there are other references to pochspiel, !hich is a )erman game. In pochspiel, there is an element of bluffing, !here players !ould indicate !hether they !anted to pass or open by rapping on the table and saying, @Ich #ocheE@ Some say it may even have derived come the +indu !ord, pukka. Fet another possible e.planation for the !ord poker, is that it came from a version of an under!orld slang !ord, @poke,@ a term used by pickpockets. 0ardsharps !ho used the 2 8card cheating game to relieve a sucker from his poke may have used that !ord among themselves, adding an r to make it @poker.@ "he thought !as that if the sharps used the !ord @poker@ in front of their victims, those !ise to the under!orld slang !ould not surmise the change. "here are those !ho also believe that @poke@ probably came from @hocus8 pocus@, a term !idely used by magicians. "he game of #oker later evolved to

include ?2 cards, and eventually the modern day deck of 52, not counting the t!o ;okers. "he game of #oker has evolved through the years, through many backroom games to the present day casinos around the !orld. Its history is rich !ith famous places and characters. (or e.ample, during the 4ild 4est period of :nited States history, a saloon !ith a #oker table could be found in just about every to!n from coast to coast. "oday, #oker is carefully regulated by gambling la!s, and saloons have given !ay to casinos and cardrooms, but #oker is played more than any other card game in the !orld. It has gro!n into a sporting event, !ith competitions and tournaments all around the !orld. "ournaments take place almost every !eek of the year some!here in the !orld. If you compare the priDes of major sporting events around the !orld, you !ill find that the monetary outcome of any given event in #oker !ould %pardon the pun& stack up. #oker today is one of the fastest gro!ing, but hardly recogniDed sporting events. "he pinnacle of the poker !orld, "he 4orld Series of #oker, attracts players from all over the !orld every year to compete for money and titles as the !orld,s top #oker players. #oker !ill al!ays be around and !ill continue to gro! and flourish like so many other past times. "here !ill al!ays be a game to play, money to be !on, and cro!ns to be !orn. How to play No Limit Texas Hold'em "he follo!ing page !ill provide the rules and the structure of the game. "here !ill be graphics and te.t to !alk you through terminology and step by step play of a round of "e.as +old,em. -nce you have developed a feel for the game, the subsequent rounds !ill be much easier. The Dealer 4hen the table is full, there !ill be < or 1 players. 4hen playing online, these seats are randomly selected by the computer. $ person %or computer !hen online& does the physical dealing of the cards and is not one of the players. -n the table is a small round disc called the button. "his button is placed in front of the person !ho is the theoretical @dealer@ to indicate !here the dealing should begin. "he button !ill say ,6, on it. See picture above. $fter every hand, the button moves clock!ise as if each player at the table !ere getting a turn to deal. "he dealer,s button is al!ays placed in seat 1 at the start of a gameGtournament for the first hand. "he small blind !ill be in seat 1 and the

big blind !ill be in seat 2. >o! the game begins. The Blinds $l!ays moving clock!ise, the player to the immediate left of the dealer is called the small blind. "his player places 1G2 of the structured bet in front of him or her. "o the small blind,s left is the big blind. "his player places one full structured bet in front of him or her. In our e.ample of >o *imit "e.as +old,em, the small blind !ill post $5. "hat is 1G2 of the structured bet. "he big blind !ill post $1 . "hat $1 !ill constitute one full bet. "he small and big blinds are compulsory bets. "hese t!o players are in actuality betting their first bet @in the blind.@ "he motive for forcing these players to bet in the blind is to create action. 0reating action gets money in the pot. "his !ay no one can play for free %!ithout folding& during the first round of betting. 4hen the ne.t ne! hand is played the small blind then moves around to the player !ho !as the big blind in the last hand, and the big blind moves to the player to his left. "his movement of the small and big blinds continues throughout the game. Pocket or Hole ards >o *imit "e.as +old,em uses all 52 cards in the deck. "he dealer begins the deal !ith the small blind. "here !ill be 2 unique cards called #ocket or +ole cards dealt face do!n to each player. "he hole or pocket cards are e.clusive to each player. Bach player !ill vie! these cards and no other player !ill see the other players 2 cards. !o"nd One Betting $fter the pocket or hole cards are dealt, the first round of betting begins. "here are several actions a player !ho is involved in the hand can take. "he player may 0$** the bet by matching the amount of the first bet %the amount of the big blind.& In the e.ample, that !ould be $1 . "he player may 5$ISB the bet by matching the amount of the first bet and adding an equal amount to it thereby making it 2 bets, or bet his entire stack in no limit hold,em. +e may 5$ISB the bet any amount in bet!een the original bet and all the chips he has. (inally, the player may (-*6. 4hen a player folds, the action taken is one of passing and the player !ill not enter the hand by placing any money in the pot. "his player !ill place his cards face do!n in front of him and the dealer !ill take them and place them in the discard pile. 4hen online, the player

!ill click on the fold button and his cards !ill automatically go into the discards. "he first person to start the betting in the first round of "e.as +old,em is the player to the left of the big blind. $s stated before, the big blind has already made one complete bet. "he first round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot or folded. "he small blind must add the other half of the structured blind in order to call the big blind bet or must call !hat raises have been made to stay in the hand. "he small blind has the option to raise during this time. -ther!ise, the small blind must fold. "he big blind !ill have to call any raises made and has the option at this time to make a raise. In our e.ample, seat ? and 4 fold. Seat 5 calls $1 . Seat A folds. Seat / raises $25. Seat =,<, and 1 fold. "he small blind folds. "he big blind calls the raise of $25 and uses his option to re8raise $25. Seat 5 calls the $5 in raises and seat / calls the $25 raise. 6uring the first round of betting, the big blind !ill have the -#"I-> to raise. $s the action moves around the table and comes back to the big blind, the dealer !ill ask if they !ould like to e.ercise their option to raise. If they do, they may raise. If they do not, they !ill just check. In a !ay, they are raising themselves. "his -#"I-> only happens during the first round. "he betting !ill continue until everyone in the pot has bet the same amount. "hat means that !henever there is a raise all the players still in the pot must call it, raise it or fold their hand. (or e.ample, if seat 5 raises then all the players behind him that !ant to stay in the pot !ill have to call the ne! amount or fold or re8raise. The #lop "he first round of betting is no! complete. "he dealer !ill burn the top card and place it in the discard pile. 4hen playing online, the computer !ill place three cards in the middle of the table. In live play, the dealer !ill do it. $fter every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot or folded. "hese ? cards are kno!n as the flop. "hese are the first ? of 5 community cards %cards accessible to all players to use !ith their hole cards& to be dealt face up in the middle of the table. "hese ? cards may be used by all the players in the game by combining them !ith the t!o unique cards held in their o!n hand to form the best possible hand.

"he second round of betting begins !ith the player to the left of the dealer %the person !ith button.& "his player may 0+B09, !hich is deferring the first action to the ne.t player or choose to bet. "his player may bet the minimum amount of the big blind %$1 & or he may choose to bet his entire stack or any amount in bet!een. "he second round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot or folded. In the e.ample, the big blind bets $25. Seat 5 calls $25 and raises $/5. Seat / calls $1 and re8raises $1 . "he big blind calls $1/5. -nce the betting is complete, each player !ill have placed $2 in the pot. See picture above. The T"rn "he second round of betting is no! complete. "he dealer !ill no! place a 4th card in the middle of the table ne.t to the flop. "his card is kno!n as the turn or 4th street. "his round of betting !ill begin again !ith the player to the left of the dealer. If this player decides to bet, he may bet the minimum of the big blind %$1 & or he may choose to bet his entire stack or any amount in bet!een. ;ust as !ith the flop, the turn card may be used by all the players in the game by combining them !ith the t!o unique cards held in their o!n hand, to make the best hand out of 5 cards only. "he third round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted. "hey !ill all have either, checked, placed the same amount in the pot, or folded. In the e.ample, the big blind checks. Seat 5 checks and seat / bets $2 . "he big blind and seat 5 call the $2 . -nce the betting is complete, each player !ill have placed $2 in the pot. See picture above. The !i$er "he third round of betting is no! complete. "he dealer !ill no! place a 5th card in the middle of the table ne.t to the flop and turn card. "his card is kno!n as the river or 5th street. "his round of betting !ill begin again !ith the player to the left of the dealer. If this player decides to bet, he may bet the minimum of the big blind %$1 & or he may choose to bet his entire stack or any amount in bet!een. ;ust as !ith the flop and the turn, the river card may be used by all the players in the game by combining them !ith the t!o unique cards held in their o!n hand.

$ player may use 5 of the / cards to make the best hand possible. It may be the 2 unique cards in his or her hand combined !ith ? from the board %table !here community cards are located& or 1 unique card combined !ith 4 from the board or the 5 cards on the board. "his is called playing the board. "he fourth round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted. "hey !ill all have either, checked, placed the same amount in the pot, or folded. In the e.ample, the big blind checks. Seat 5 checks. Seat / bets 2 . "he big blind raises $? by moving the remainder of his check stack in. "his is called moving all8in. Seat 5 folds and seat / calls $? . $ll the remaining players %big blind and seat /& have placed $5 in the pot. See picture above. ompletion of Hand "he first person left in the hand to reveal his or her cards !ill be the one that made the last bet during the 4th round of the hand. If no bet !as made and all the players checked, then, in order from the left of the dealer to the last player !ill sho! his or her hand. 4hen a player has a better hand, it must be revealed in order to !in. If the player elects to thro! the cards a!ay because of it being of less value than any other revealed hand, he or she may muck the cards. "o muck is to place the cards !here they !ill be discarded. 4hen a player is sure that he or she is beaten, he or she may or may not elect to sho! his or her hand. "his is because it gives information about !hat hand he or she held. "he dealer !ill identify !ho has the best hand and the pot !ill be given to this player. 7ecause the hand !ent to a sho!do!n, the !inning player has the right to request to see the losing hand even if the losing player mucks his hand. In the e.ample, the big blind reveals his hole cards to be the $ce and 9ing of 6iamonds giving him the nut straight %sometimes called ,broad!ay,&. Seat / turns over a pair of tens giving him a set of tens. "he dealer shoves the pot to the big blind because he !on. See picture above. Interesting to note that !hen a player holds a pair in his hand and makes three of a kind, it is called a set. 4hen a player holds one card and t!o of the same are on the board, the player has trips. Seat / had the option to muck his cards as he had a losing hand %prevent others from seeing his cards&. %nd of Hand and on to the Next

$ll cards are returned to the dealer. "he cards are shuffled andGor scrambled in preparation for the ne.t hand. "he dealer button is moved one position clock!ise, indicating the ne! dealers position. "he blinds are also moved one position clock!ise and the blind bets are posted and a ne! hand begins.

Poker Odds and Pro&a&ilities "he relative values of #oker hands !ere not just conjured up by some rule maker or arbitrarily assigned by the first #oker players. "hey !ere discovered through the use of permutation and combination formulas. "he e.act number of possible five8card #oker hands in a 528card deck is 2,5<=,<A . "hese hands !ere divided into group %ranks& of ' no pair, pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush. "he ranks !ere then arranged in relative value according to the frequency of their occurrence. "he hands !hich can be e.pected to appear most often have the lo!er rankH those !hich appear least often the highest rank. $ good poker player must have a fair idea of #oker odds and probabilities. 4ithout such kno!ledge, he has no good !ay of deciding on his course of action in the various situations !hich arise. "hat is, he has no !ay of making a mathematical analysis on !hich to base a decision. "he tables that follo! provide the information that !ill help a poker player make an analysis. "hese same tables can also be used to prove the relative value of #oker hands and to settle disputes that arise regarding the chances of dra!ing certain valuable hands in (ive80ard 6ra! #oker or in the first five cards dealt in any other form of #oker. It !ould be simple if all one had to do to become a !inning player !as to memoriDe the follo!ing #oker tables. 9no!ing the e.act strength of your hand or the e.act chances of bettering your hand on the dra! !ill not al!ays help you. "hats because the playing habits of your opponents !ill often thro! a monkey !rench into your best8laid mathematical plans. B.ample' $ big raise from a habitually tight player means quite a different thing from the same big raise from a drunk !ho has already been caught trying to steal %bluff& the last half8doDen pots. $lthough #oker is a game of skill, the judgments and decisions to be made by even the average #oker player involve a general kno!ledge of the game,s probabilities. "he chances of being dealt any certain pat hand are the same, regardless of the number of players in the game. "he same hold true in dra!ing cards to try to improve a hand. "here are 2,5<=,<A different possible poker hands in

a 528card deck. "he follo!ing table lists the name of each different possible hand in order of their rank. It also lists the possible number of !ays each can be made and the chances of being dealt such a hand in the first five cards dealt. $n e.ample !ould be the original five cards dealt in (ive80ard 6ra! #oker before you dra!. Rank of Hands 5oyal (lush Straight (lush (our of a 9ind (ull +ouse (lush Straight "hree of a 9ind "!o #airs -ne #air >o #air +and "-"$* Number of Possible Ways Chance of Being Dealt in Hand can be Made Original 5 Cards 4 ?A A24 ?,/44 5,1 = 1 ,2 54,<12 12?,552 1, <=,24 1,? 2,5 4 2,5<=,<A 1 in A4<,/4 . 1 in /2,1<?.?? 1 in 4,1A5. 1 in A<4.1A 1 in 5 =.= 1 in 254.= 1 in 4/.?2 1 in 21. ? 1 in 2.?A 1 in 1.<<

In the chance column above, fractional figures have been carried out to only t!o decimal places, since further e.tension !ould mean little. "he probability of being dealt a pair or better in the first five cards dealt is almost evenIto be e.act, .4<<888 and the probability of being dealt a no pair hand is practically the same I .5 1. So it,s almost a ? to 1 chance, !hen playing against t!o opponents, that one of them !ill hold a pair or better in the first five dealt cards. "he probabilities vary slightly depending upon !hat you hold. "he 1,? 2,54 possible five8card no8pair hands are divided as follo!s' #-SSI7*B #-9B5 +$>6S -( *BSS J$*:B "+$> ->B #$I5 ce Counting High $ce hgh 9ing high Cueen high !ing Counting High" ce #o$ 9ing high Cueen high ;ack high Number of Possible No% Pair Hands 5 2,=A ??5,5= 21?,1=

;ack high "en high >ine high Bight high Seven high

"en high >ine high Bight high Seven high Si. high "-"$*

12/,5 / ,?= ?4,A= 14,2= 4, = 1,? 2,54

"he lo!est8ranking regular five8card #oker hand is comprised of /,5,4,?,2 in mi.ed suits. "he above table is particularly helpful to players !ho play high8 lo! variants of #oker. In the short run each additional active player in the game increases the odds against you on any particular hand. In the long run, since all players have to put an equal sum into the pot, thus increasing the siDe of the pot in direct ratio to the increased odds, it doesn,t make much difference as far as odds are concerned if you are bucking one or seven players. In +igh8*o! #oker, !here aces count both high and lo!, the perfect lo! hand is A,4,?,2, and ace. "o simplify matters, the figures in the follo!ing t!o tables have been rounded out !hen necessary to the nearest 1G2 or !hole number. >ote that your chances of making four of a kind are three times as great !hen dra!ing a pair minus a kicker than !hen holding a kicker. Odds gainst &m'ro(ing the Hand in Dra$ Poker When Dra$ing )hree Cards to One Pair -dds -dds -dds kind -dds against any improvement against making t!o pairs against making three of a against making a full house 2.5 to 1 5 to 1 = to 1

</ to 1 ?5< to -dds against making four of a kind 1 -66S $)$I>S" I3#5-JI>) "+B +$>6 I> 65$4 #-9B5 4+B> 65$4I>) "4- 0$56S "- $ #$I5 $>6 $ 9I09B5 -dds -dds -dds kind -dds against any improvement against making t!o pairs against making three of a against making a full house ? to 1 5 to 1 12 to 1

11< to 1 1, = to -dds against making four of a kind 1 In fact, you have a better chance of improving your hand !hen dra!ing three cards to a pair than !hen dra!ing t!o cards to a pair plus a kicker.

"he tables above give ample proof of that. +o!ever, good #oker playing demands that a player occasionally hold a kicker !ith a pair so as to keep your opponents in doubt as to your playing habits. The odds against making a full house by drawing one card to two pairs are about 11 to 1. -66S $)$I>S" 0+$>0BS -( I3#5-JI>) "+B +$>6 I> 65$4 #-9B5 4+B> 65$4I>) "4- 0$56S "- "+5BB -( $ 9I>6 -dds against any improvement -dds against making a full house -dds against making four of a kind =.5 to 1 15.5 to 1 22.5 to 1

0+$>0BS -( I3#5-JI>) "+B +$>6 I> 65$4 #-9B5 4+B> 65$4I>) ->B 0$56 "- "+5BB -( $ 9I>6 #*:S $ 9I09B5 -dds against any improvement -dds against making a full house -dds against making four of a kind 11 to 1 15 to 1 4A to 1

"hese t!o tables above sho! that the best chance for improvement !ith three of a kind is to dra! t!o cards and not hold a kicker. +olding a kicker increases the odds against the player for any improvement. 0+$>0BS -( -66S $)$I>S" (I**I>) I> $ (-:580$56 S"5$I)+" I> 65$4 #-9B5 -dds against making a straight open at one end -dds against making a straight open in the middle -dds against making a straight open at both ends 11 to 1 11 to 1 5 to 1

-66S $)$I>S" (I**I>) I> $ (-:580$56 (*:S+ I> 65$4 #-9B5 "he odds against making a flush by dra!ing one card of the same suit are about 4.5 to 1. If you insist on dra!ing to a three8card flush, the odds against your catching t!o cards of the same suit are appro.imately 2? to 1. -66S $)$I>S" 3$9I>) $ S"5$I)+" (*:S+ I> 65$4 #-9B5 4hen dra!ing one card to a four8card straight flush, !hich may be open in the middle, at one end, or both ends. -dds against making a straight flush open at one end 4A to

-dds against making a straight flush open in the middle -dds against making a straight flush open at both ends

1 4A to 1 22 to 1

"he odds against making a royal flush are the same as a straight flush in similar conditions. 0+$>0BS -( +-*6I>) J$5I-:S #-9B5 +$>6S I> "+B (I5S" (IJB 0$56S 6B$*" 4+B> "+B ;-9B5 IS 4I*6 3$9I>) $ 5?80$56 #$09 Rank of Hands (ive of a 9ind 5oyal (lush Straight (lush (our of a 9ind (ull +ouse (lush Straight "hree of a 9ind "!o #airs -ne #air >o8#air +and "-"$* Number of Possible Ways Hand can be Made 1? 24 21A ?,12 A,552 /,/A= 2 ,5?2 1?/,2= 12?,552 1,2A=, == 1,? 2,54 2,=A<,A=5 Chance of Being Dealt in Original 5 Cards 1 in 22 ,/45. 1 in 11<,5/ .2 1 in 1?,2=5.5 1 in <1<./ 1 in 4?/.< 1 in ?A<.? 1 in 1?<./ 1 in 2 .< 1 in 2?.2 1 in 2.2A 1 in 2.2

$ very unusual mathematical situation arises in ;oker 4ild regarding the relative value of three of a kind and t!o pairs. $s you see above, the chances of dra!ing three of a kind are one in 2 .< and the chances of dra!ing to! pairs are one in 2?.2. Since there is a better chance of dra!ing three of a kind than t!o pairs the latter should be of a higher rank and beat three of a kind. "his peculiar situation is caused by the fact that there are =2,?A= possible five8card #oker hands that contain a pair plus the joker. 4hen a player holds one of these =2,?A= hands he values his hand at three of a kind, making the joker count the same denomination as the pair he is holding. 7ut if !e should permit the t!o pairs to rank as a higher hand than three of a kind,

!e !ould accomplish nothingH the playing holding one of the =2,?A= possible #oker hands containing a pair plus the joker !ould use the joker or form another pair !ith the highest8ranking odd card and !ould value his hand at to! pairs. "his !ould bring the total number of t!o pairs in a pack of 5? cards to 2 5,<2 and the possible number of three of a kinds to 54,<12. :nder these conditions, considering the relative value of both hands, three of a kind must remain of higher value than t!o pairs. "here are t!o solutions to this. I give them here in case there are a fe! players !ho may !ant to play a completely sound mathematical game. If the follo!ing t!o rules are used they !ill mathematically permit three of a kind to retain its higher value in relation to t!o pairs. I did not incorporate either rule in my la!s of ;oker 4ild in Scarne on Cards because I have learned that you cannot change playing habits that easily. 1. If a player has a hand containing a pair plus the joker, the joker cannot be considered !ild, and therefore carries no value !hateverH and the joker must be considered an odd cardH or, 2. If a player has paired aces, kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines, or eights plus the joker, he is permitted to rank his hand as three of a kind. If he has a pair ranking lo!er than eights plus the joker, he cannot value his hand at more than t!o pairs.

Legality It is clear that the United States government will go after any entity that tries to start an online casino or poker room if the entity is located in United States territory. However it is not clear what the legal status is on players playing online games in the United States on computer servers in foreign countries. This is the case with all the popular online poker sites. Some government officials have stated that there is nothing they can do about it because there are simply too many players and they cannot arrest a million people (or more) for gambling in their own homes (this includes sports betting and other casino games as well). However whether or not the government will take any action on players does not say anything about the actual legality of online poker. !s of yet there is no definitive answer whether or not online poker is legal. It is possible that in the future the legality will be defined more clearly and it is useful to keep up"to"date when any news breaks. !lthough this section is about online poker in no way am I claiming it as a legal activity nor am I suggesting that anyone go out and play online poker. That is up to the individual to make the decision for themselves. Ranking of Hands #ictured belo! are the hands of poker, listed in order from highest to lo!est. Royal *lush

"he five highest cards, the 1 through the $ce, all five of the same suit. $ royal flush is actually an ace8high straight flush. "he suit doesn,t matter in poker. "!o people !ith royal flushes !ould tie. +traight *lush $ny five cards of the same suit in consecutive numerical order. -ur e.ample sho!s a five8high straight flush. *our of a !ind (our cards of the same denomination. -ur e.ample sho!s four jacks !ith a deuce kicker. *ull House $ny three cards of the same denomination, plus any pair of a different denomination. "ies are broken first by the three of a kind, then the pair. -ur e.ample sho!s sevens full of threes. *lush $ny five non8consecutive cards of the same suit. -ur e.ample sho!s a queen8high diamond flush. +traight $ny five consecutive cards of mi.ed suits. $ce can be high or lo!. -ur e.ample sho!s a si.8to8ten straight. )hree of a !ind "hree cards of the same denomination.-ur e.ample displays three of a kind, fours. )$o Pair $ny t!o cards of the same denomination, plus any other t!o cards of the same denomination. If both hands have the same high pair, the second pair !ins. If both pairs tie, the high card !ins. -ur e.ample sho!s t!o pair, eights and fives. Pair $ny t!o cards of the same denomination. -ur e.ample displays a pair of nines. In a tie, the high card !ins. High Card If no other hand is achieved, the highest card held !ins. In our e.ample, the king of hearts is the high card. Top Rated Pre Flop Hands
Le$el '( The top starting hands Ace-Ace King-King Ace-King suited Queen-Queen

 Jack-Jack Le$el )( *ery strong starting hands Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack, Ace-10 all suited Ace-King King-Queen suited 10-10 Ace-10, King-Jack, Queen-Jack, Jack-10 all suited Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack 9-9 King-Queen King-10, Queen-10 suited Le$el +( Playa&le in most positions in a looser game 8-8 Jack-9 10-9 both suited 7-7 9-8,8-7 both suited Ace with any other suited card King-Jack, Queen-Jack, Jack-10 Le$el ,( Decent hands &est played sparingly and in a late position in a loose game if yo"r playing 'personality' will allow it Any low air !e"g" airs below 7# $onnected suited cards, ie 8-7,%-&,&-' Ace-10, King-10, Queen-10 King-9, Jack-8 suited (ands not on the list are or )or the *ost art, should be )olded and only layed where you ha+e an ad+antage o+er the other layers" ,or e-a* le. /ou are in the late osition with no callers on the blinds or against known weak layers"

Starting Hand Selections

Reasons to Play Poker on the Internet There are many reasons for playing poker on the internet. #. $ou do not live close to a poker room %egal poker rooms are now all over !merica but many people still live far from a poker room. &nline poker is a nice solution for the people that do not have a chance to play poker on a regular basis in brick and mortar card rooms. '. (ven if there is a poker room in your vicinity you do not have to commute. )any players do live closer to a poker room but find that it usually takes a bit of a commute to get there. (ven if you live fairly close to the casino it may still take half an hour or more to get to the poker room and even then you may have to wait a bit before getting into a game. &n the internet there is no need to commute and the wait for a seat is typically much shorter than in a brick and

mortar casino. !lso for those that are physically challenged and find it difficult to commute or go to a casino playing poker online is an ideal solution. They will be able to play comfortably at home whereas they may not be comfortable in a casino environment. *. There is no second hand smoke ! few years ago the state of +alifornia banned smoking in certain establishments. +asinos and poker rooms were affected by the new law and now there is no smoking in +alifornia poker rooms. Several other poker rooms across the country have also made this ad,ustment to non"smoking poker rooms such as the -ellagio in %as .egas and /o0woods in +onnecticut. This is all great for the player. However even if the poker room itself is a non"smoking room many of the non"+alifornian casinos still allow smoking in other parts of their casinos. The smoke can often creep around in the air and find their way to the poker room. Since players are sitting down for long periods of time they may be susceptible to the harmful effects of second hand smoking. (ven worse are the poker rooms that do allow smoking. /or those who are worried about second hand smoke playing poker online is a healthy alternative. 1. The rake may be lower online )any of the online poker rooms offer a lower rate per hand than brick and mortar casinos. They may still collect a higher rake per hour because typically they deal more hands per hour in an online poker room. This is a benefit to players as they get to keep a bigger portion of the pots that they win. The only situation where it may not be a benefit to players is in a situation like heads" up poker where the rake is usually negotiable between the players and the poker room management but would not be online. 2. There is no tipping online Tipping is a somewhat controversial topic. In brick and mortar casinos a ma,or part of the dealers3 income comes from tips. However tips do eat up on potential profits from the winning players and it increases the losses for the losing players. &nline poker re4uires no tipping you cannot tip even if you wanted to. This means the winning players will make more money and the losing players can play longer or at least play more hands. 5. $ou can play any time of day &nline poker rooms are '1 hours a day operations. If there are players there are games. &nce an online poker room reaches a certain critical mass they will likely have games at all times of day at all limits. 6ot every site has this feature as they are not all that successful but there are a few sites that have achieved this critical mass. This means players can play any time of day they feel like. This is great for many people including morning people people who work at night and can only play during the day and people who are nightowls that play in the wee hours of the morning 7. $ou can play for a very short time if you prefer If you make the effort to go to the local poker room you probably feel you should stay there for a while. 6obody likes to drive half an hour ,ust to play a couple of minutes and then drive another

half an hour to get home. This is different with online poker. $ou could play one round which may take as little as one minute you could play for five minutes and decide to leave. This is a great option for all players although it does make for a relatively high turnover of players at the online game compared to the brick and mortar game. 8. There are easier ways to analy9e your own play online )ost of the online poker sites have an option where you can see your hand histories. This makes for analy9ing your own play much easier than in a brick and mortar casino where the only way to track your own play is to actually write every single hand down this is simply not practical for most people not to mention the tremendous effort it would take. :ecently several people have developed software to help players analy9e their game. It may be worthwhile to find out about these software programs to see if they can help you analy9e your own game. ;. There are easy ways to analy9e the play of other players )any sites have a function where you can write notes on each player and these notes are accessible the ne0t time you are at the same table as those players. This is a nice feature that is uni4ue to online poker. There are also software programs that allow for the analysis of other players3 games. These software programs can only look at the hands that your opponents played when you were in the game with them and not every game that they have played but this could still be useful. #<. )ore hands are dealt per hour online =hen players are paying attention more hands are usually dealt per hour online compared to brick and mortar games. There is no need to wait for the dealer to shuffle take in the mucked cards collect the chips make change take the rake or time get a rack fill call for empty seats settle player disputes and all sorts of other issues. /or the player who plays with a positive e0pectancy more hands per hour means a higher e0pected profit. ##. Shorthanded games are easy to find online It is difficult to find a shorthanded game in a brick and mortar casino and when it e0ists it may not last for long. &ften these games will break up as most players do not usually prefer to play short or they fill up to a full table when other players come in. )any online poker rooms have specific tables specially designed for those that like to play short they may have heads"up tables and>or tables where a ma0imum of si0 players can be seated. Shorthanded games mean even more hands per hour as fewer players have to make decisions. This could mean even greater profitability for the skilled shorthanded player compared to a full game. #'. ?layers can play at more than one table simultaneously &ne of the great advantages of playing online is the ability to play more than one game at the same time. In a full game often there is some dead time as you watch the other players play out their hands. If you do not know the players this is a useful time to gather information about how they play and use it in the future. However if you are well versed in their abilities and styles it can be boring ,ust sitting at the table. In a brick and mortar casino many people will take this time to chit chat with other players near them get to know each other discuss current events or eat a meal.

/or some players their primary reason to play poker is for the social aspects so they rather en,oy this time to talk with friends while playing the game but online is a different story. )any players know each other online and can hold interesting conversations but it is different from a brick and mortar casino. &nce you get done with all that stuff sometimes it can get boring especially if you are dealt ,unk hand after ,unk hand and are constantly folding. This is why people like to play more than one table to deal with the boredom. Instead of getting distracted by non"poker issues they choose to play two or more games and keep all of their attention on poker. There are the obvious advantages but also some not so obvious disadvantages. ?laying multiple tables simultaneously is further discussed later in this chapter. Getting Paid and Bonus Hunting Since it is your own money at stake it is your duty to make sure the poker site that you play at is trustworthy. $ou want to be able to e0pect to get your withdrawal check when you ask for it. =ith the huge increase in the popularity of poker in the last few years and especially the huge increase in the popularity of online poker many entrepreneurs have and will try to capitali9e on this relatively new market. It is possible some of these new sites may actually go under in which case it would be almost impossible for players to get their money out. How would you go about trying to get a few thousand dollars from an entity in one of the +arribean Islands whom you don3t even know the actual owners@ That is one of the dangers of online poker and it can be scary and very frustrating when the unthinkable happen. ?oker players should take a lesson from their sports bettor brethern. The offshore sports betting industry has been around a bit longer than the online poker industry. The sports bettors have seen several very big sports books go under due to mismanagement insufficient capital and outright fraud. !ll sportsbooks need clients in order to make money in the effort to find and retain players new sportsbooks need to give players an incentive to give them a try. They establish themselves and entice players to ,oin by offering deposit bonuses. This can often lead to a business that seems to be built like a pon9i scheme. !n e0ample would be an offer of a '2A cash bonus on a deposit but with some restrictions such as a five times rollover and a one month minimum period before making a withdrawal. ! five times rollover in sports means that the player must bet their balance five times over before they are eligible to take a withdrawal. &n the surface this makes sense from the sportsbook point of view because it is guaranteeing that they get some minimum action from the player. &n the player3s side he is thrilled to get '2A of his deposit as a bonus for ,ust signing up and depositing. Their rationale is that since they are going to play anyway why not get a bonus as an e0tra kick. !s the sportsbook signs up more players they start to get a reputation through the sports gambling forums and word of mouth. =ith deposits from new players the sportsbooks have a steady

stream of incoming cash flow which means they will have plenty of funds to pay anyone that re4uests a withdrawal. This leads to even more confidence by players especially those that take a withdrawal because they will now feel more confident about leaving the rest of their money in that book since they already got paid once. It is logical to think if someone paid you once that they are likely to pay you again in the future. However if the book does not do a good ,ob managing the lines they may start to lose to the sharp bettors. If the new deposits start to dry up concurrently then it could lead to the collapse of the pon9i scheme. 6ow the book no longer has funds to pay everybody and sooner or later the customers will suffer. $et players still think it is ok to give new sportsbooks a shot because they believe in the Bgreater foolC theory. They believe they will be deft enough to get in and get out before the impending doom happens. This is a dangerous game which re4uires a lot of attention and calculation which most people cannot afford to take the time to do. &f course poker rooms operate differently than sportsbooks in that sportsbooks are playing against the customers directly whereas poker rooms are not. -ut these issues are still useful to keep in mind. &ther than the vague legality issues this is the biggest danger in the offshore sports betting industry and all the e0perienced sports bettors have an understanding of these issues by now since most of them were affected by past collapses. The greed of the bonus hunting leads to the players losing their own deposits. This is a lesson to be learned for the upcoming years as more and more outfits try to take advantage of the online poker boom. &f course there are still many reputable offshore sportsbooks and many of the new poker sites may also be financially fit and well managed. However from a player3s point of view it is often difficult to identify which site one can trust with one3s funds and which sites one cannot trust. :esearching as much as possible is always recommended but research alone may not always help. &ften the sports sites will be backed with confidence from other people that you may think you trust. However it may be that those people are in on the scheme along with the book or are paid by the book to promote them without doing the due diligence themselves. ?lanet ?oker is a positive e0ample of an online poker room that has the faces of two prominent and trustworthy people in the poker industry )ike +aro and :oy +ooke. Similarly Ultimate -et with ?hil Hellmuth and !nnie Duke gives the players a sense of financial comfort. However there has been at least one online poker room that went bust even though it was promoted by one of the most famous names in poker. -e more weary of new startups unless you have a good reason to be comfortable. /or e0ample several high 4uality sportsbooks that have been in business for many years and have impeccable reputations have recently created their own online poker rooms. These poker rooms will be safer than other brand new startups who are not attached to any other known entity. If you are comfortable with the financial status of the online sportsbook and they are providing online poker as part of their business then that is may be a safer place for your money than a startup online poker site with no link to an entity you trust.

In order to reduce the hurt if one of these poker sites collapses financially you need to be preparing ahead of time. $ou should constantly withdraw funds as your funds increase. Eeep in mind a ma0imum dollar amount that you would be comfortable keeping at the site and if your balance ever goes past that number consider making a withdrawal re4uest. Free Ga es Online are not !ery useful as a learning tool &nline poker rooms and other internet sites will often offer games with fake or Fplay3 money. These games are completely free no risk no reward. It may be tempting as a new player to think of these games as a nice practice field. Unfortunately they would not serve that purpose well at all. =hen playing in these games it is human nature to play differently when it is free compared to when there is real money at stake. ?layers will not be afraid to call any bets they will have no fear of calling raises and they are happy to bluff often. This is not what poker is about at all. The players in a free game do not have anything to lose and most people will play accordingly. ?oker is only poker when there is something at stake where losing means losing something that has value to the player. ?laying in the free games to get an idea of the mechanics of the game is useful but not as practice for the real money play. It may actually do more harm than good as you may get the wrong impression of how other players actually play when there is something real at stake. Pitfalls of playing online There are more pitfalls to playing online. There are many possible distractions you could have playing online poker that you would not have in a brick and mortar poker room. These distractions include surfing online writing or reading emails watching T. or even reading a book (hey if you are playing online poker right now as you read this ST&?. (ither play the game or read the book don3t do bothG). If you know the other players well and are confident you know how they play you may not lose much by focusing your attention elsewhere. However even if you do know the players well they may be playing a bit differently in this particular session than they normally do. )aybe one of them is slightly on tilt having lost a few bad beats in a row. This may mean they are playing more aggressively on hands that they may normally not play at all. If you know the players well it is still economically beneficial to pay as much attention as possible to the game. These distractions are all"internal functions. It is your own discipline or lack thereof that will determine if you allow distractions to cause you to lose your focus. It is not something that anyone can tell anyone else to do. It is all up to each player individually. )any brick and mortar poker rooms will allow players to read maga9ines or newspapers while sitting at the table. It may seem like one is ,ust as likely to get distracted when playing poker online as playing poker in a brick and mortar casino if you are allowed to read at the table in both places. There is a big difference between the two however in that when a ma,or occurrence happens in a brick and mortar casino you will often hear the players talking about it. (ven if you are reading you can hear the commotion and you will lift your head up to see what is going on. The online poker rooms do not have this system. The noise level will be the same whether or not there is a ma,or bad beat or any other interesting issue going on.

"d!antages and #isad!antages of playing ultiple ga es si ultaneously Some players like to play more than one game at a time. &n one hand playing multiple games simultaneously may be good in that it forces players to focus completely on poker. &n the other hand one game can be a distraction to the player over the other game. If you are involved in a hand in one game you will not have the chance to e0amine the play of the hand in the other game and that may mean you could miss some important details about how the other players play. In playing multiple games online you need to weigh the benefit of getting e0pectation from two games at once versus the negative of possibly losing some e0pectation from each individual game. The advantages of playing multiple games simultaneously are obvious for winning players. !lthough you may reduce your win rate at each table your overall win rate could increase. If your win rate at each of these tables is at least half of your normal amount at only one table then you are actually making more money playing two tables simultaneously. If you are playing at three tables at the same time then your win rate at each table would have to be at least #>* of the win rate at one table. This seems like a good deal to most players and it is a good deal for those that can keep their win rate above those levels. Spend the same amount of time playing poker and make more money who wouldn3t want that@ However for losing players they will ,ust lose their money at a faster rate. !nother way to view multiple tables is to play at a lower limit at each table whereby the total e0pectation may be the same as playing at ,ust one table with higher limits. The reason this may be useful is that a player may be able to get the same e0pectation out of multiple lower limit tables but gain the advantage of reducing variance. In other words they get the same reward for less risk through diversification. In full games good players will not be involved in as many hands as the average player. This means you will not often find yourself involved in two hands at the same time and so you can devote most of your concentration on the table where you are involved in a hand. /or some players it would seem that they would not lose that much edge playing two full games. Since their win rate would have to slip to less than half of the win rate at one table it would benefit them to play two full games at once. The poker rooms prefer this because it means they can collect more rake. The poker rooms will have several players playing two games at once and that may mean spreading one or two or even more tables than they would if players could only play one game at a time. This is a big advantage that online poker rooms have over their brick and mortar counterparts. ?laying two tables may alleviate the boredom and actually steer you away from doing other things that are harmful to your concentration such as checking out internet sites listening to the radio or writing a book (that3s a ,oke folks). So playing multiple tables may actually cause you to concentrate more on each individual table than you would if you were only playing one table at a time and fooling

around on the side. The bottom line though is that if you are a winning player and do not lose too much edge from your normal win rate playing more than one table is a nice boost to your profitability and>or a nice reduction of risk.. However there are disadvantages also. It is harder to concentrate on each table and you may miss some ,uicy pieces of information. =hen playing poker online the players flit in and out of the table at an incredibly fast rate compared to brick and mortar casinos. It is all too easy to miss the fact that the table composition has changed drastically and instead of a loose table now the table is made up of a few more tight players or vice versa. This may lead you to act inappropriately with some hands. ?laying two or more shorthanded tables makes it even tougher. $ou need to concentrate more on shorthanded games since it is even more important to have a good handle on how each player plays. !lso if a bad loose player leaves the table and is replaced by a solid tight player that changes the characteristic and the composition of the whole table since one player in a shorthanded game makes up a much higher percentage of the table than one player does in a full game. It is too easy to be caught in the situation where a solid player has replaced a loose aggressive poor player and you do not notice it until after you have acted. In shorthanded games you will be involved in hands more often than at a full table this means if you are playing two shorthanded games at the same time you will have a higher chance of being in a situation where you are involved in hands at both tables simultaneously. This is not nearly as much of a concern in the full table games as in the shorthanded games. !nother problem is playing one shorthanded game and one full game simultaneously. $ou may find yourself to be too aggressive in the full game and not aggressive enough in the shorthanded game. ?laying multiple games online will seem like playing a video game at times. /or many younger players who grew up in the video game age this will enhance the e0perience of the game and make it more fun although not necessarily more profitable for everyone. These players do not have a problem with the fast changing screens or the action as they are used to it from their e0perience in video games. /or older players who are not used to video games it may be tougher for them to ad,ust. &verall the advantages of playing two full games will outweigh that of playing one full game for most winning players. !s for losing players unfortunately playing multiple games will only allow them to lose their money at a faster rate. If you have a good handle on some of the players at each table already it would add a lot to your advantage. However in shorthanded games it is prudent to stick to one game at a time because you will need more concentration and you will be more likely to be involved in hands at both tables. $ta%k $i&e and Pot $i&e Online In online poker you can easily see how big the pot is and how many bets the other players have left in their stack whereas in a brick and mortar poker room sometimes this is difficult to do. ?eople

often have both of their hands and arms on the table as well as water bottles and all sorts of other foreign ob,ects. The player may not be actively trying to hide their stack si9e but it may ,ust be circumstantial that you did not reali9e how many chips he actually had. This can sometimes affect how you play the hand. /or e0ample if you knew your opponent had been losing and was down to ,ust a couple of bets left you may feel that he will play looser and more aggressive ,ust to get all"in and get the pain over with. This happens fairly fre4uently and these situations are very easy to identify online but a bit more difficult to notice in the brick and mortar casinos. If you do not notice he is close to going all"in you may miss the fact that he may be playing more aggressively than normal. !lso a player could have a large denomination chip along with the other chips. So it may look like he is short stacked when in fact he is not. !nother situation where seeing the stack si9e is helpful is when you e0pect a player is going to go all"in and you want to use him by manipulating his bet for your own purposes. /or e0ample you are first to act in a three player pot. $ou have a hand you think is strong but is vulnerable to draws. $ou would be happy to have a player going all"in to your right. If you are first to act you can check hoping the second player also checks. =hen the short"stacked player bets and goes all"in you can raise and make it more e0pensive for the second player to draw out. If the short"stacked player acts first and bets out while going all"in you can now raise even if you are not sure if you have the all"in player beat since the portion of your raise will be in the side pot. In an online poker room you will have no problem seeing that the player has gone all"in while in a brick and mortar casino you may not reali9e it until after you have acted. Seeing the pot si9e in e0act dollar amounts is helpful in case you were not counting the pot si9e as this book recommends but do not use it as a crutch if you also play in real casinos as well. This is because the counting of the pot as the bets go into it is e0tremely useful to your play in a full brick and mortar game. $ou can make better and faster decisions if you do not have to stop and take time to count the pot. =hile playing poker online you can allow the software to add up the pot si9e for you and make decisions from that information. However if you are going to be playing poker both online and in a brick and mortar casino your mind will get la9y and stop the good habit of counting the pot as each hand is played. So you may not find yourself at a disadvantage while playing poker online but then see that you are at a disadvantage when playing in a real casino. &ne benefit of seeing the pot si9e online is when you are playing multiple games simultaneously. It will be difficult to count the bets going into the pot when you have to concentrate on two different games so having the ability to see the e0act pot si9e at any time becomes very useful. Players play ore aggressi!ely online /rom my e0perience it seems that the average player plays a bit differently than the average player in a brick and mortar casino. The main differences areH

#. ?layers will raise more often '. ?layers will bluff more often *. ?layers will semi"bluff more often 1. ?layers will bet for value more often 2. ?layers will call more often In general it seems that the average player online plays much more aggressively and e0pects othern players to play much more aggressively as well. =hy is this@ =hat is it about online play that makes the average player play differently@ Here are some possible reasonsH #. There are more younger players online It is a fact that younger people are more apt to use the internet than older people. It is also probably true that younger people on average are more aggressive and take more chances in life as well as in poker. Since you are likely to see a higher percentage of younger people (and by younger people I mean those in their '<s or *<s) playing poker online rather than in brick and mortar casinos thus you are likely to see a lower percentage of older people playing poker online. That could e0plain why online games are more aggressive in general. '. !mbiguity can lead to increased aggression and suspicion. =hen players do not see each other face to face it makes it easier for them to play aggressively against each other. It also makes it easier to be more suspicious of other players. In a brick and mortar casino you can see all the players and for some reason that face to face interaction makes some players less apt to bluff. )aybe they feel bluffing is like stealing and is not socially acceptable. !mbiguity also leads to suspicion. If players do not know or see their opponent players may become more suspicious that their opponent is doing something underhanded which may mean bluffing. Thus players are more apt to call in an online game. *. The money feels less real when it is online. In a brick and mortar casino players have to buy their chips with cash. They hand the cashier or the dealer cash in e0change for casino chips. There is a belief that it is easier for players to take more chances with chips than they would with actual cash as it feels less like real money. (0tending this thought further it is also easier for players to take more chances with cyber"cash than chips or cash. However way the player funded their online account the cash in their accounts will feel a bit less tangible. -ecause of this players are willing to take more chances when playing poker online. This leads to more aggressive play. Flu%tuations 'ill (e a lot higher than in a (ri%k and ortar poker roo &nline poker players will see much higher profit and loss fluctuations than they would if they played in a brick and mortar poker room. Here are some reasons whyH #. The average online poker player plays more aggressively than the average brick and mortar poker player as discussed in the previous section. '. There are also more shorthanded games online than in brick and mortar poker rooms. 6aturally shorthanded games have a higher fluctuation than full table games because all the players are involved in more hands. *. )ore hands are dealt in the same time period online. There are more hands played per hour online so the results will look much more e0treme. /or the purposes of evaluating fluctuations you want to compare full table games between online and brick and mortar. The correct way to compare the results is to measure them in terms of the number of hands played. It does not make much sense to use an hourly rate because online

players may get twice as many hands as brick and mortar players. That means you can fit roughly two hours of e4uivalent brick and mortar play into one hour of online play. If you want to compare a shorthanded online game to a full table brick and mortar game then you have to ad,ust for two new factors. The first is that shorthanded online games get dealt even more hands per hour than full online games. The second is that players naturally play more aggressively and loosely in shorthanded games. -oth factors will increase the fluctuations of all players. =hen the e0treme fluctuations are on the upside meaning that player are winning no one complains. The sky is sunny everyone is having a good time life is as it should be. It is when the e0treme fluctuations are on the downside that players start to complain wondering why they have such bad luck cursing the computer and then wondering if there is a conspiracy against them. They start to wonder maybe the other players are colluding maybe someone has hacked into the software and the opponent can see all the cards or the future board maybe the site is rigged to make the poor players win and the good players lose maybe maybe maybe. In times like these it is important to be strong and not give into the urge to put all the blame on everything and everyone else. It could be that you were playing poorly that day or you ,ust had a string of bad luck or a combination of the two. These fluctuations will happen in poker and they will happen with greater e0tremes in online poker. It is at this point that some players enter the internet poker forums claiming they were cheated at certain sites. The phrase to remember in your head for times like these is BIf the suckers don3t win once in a while they would never come back.C So go take a break from poker for a few minutes hours or days as long as you need. Iet your head cleared and come back when you are ready to play without anger or any negative emotions. Just because the computer is there does not mean you have to play every day. #e%eption is less useful in online poker In online poker rooms where many people play the turnover rate at each table will be pretty high in fact this may include you as well. This does not happen in brick and mortar casinos since it is tougher to get into another game and players are there physically with not much else to do e0cept play poker. This difference in the turnover rate means players should use deception less when playing online. In brick and mortar poker sometimes it is useful to use a bit of deception with starting hands in order to throw off some of the observant players players you may encounter on a daily basis. In most games even brick and mortar games players will not be that observant but in tough games it may be worthwhile to use this strategy occasionally. This strategy translates even less to online poker and should be used even less fre4uently. =hen the turnover rate is so high as it usually is online it means your opponents will not be as observant. Since they are less observant on average this means that deception has less value. "uto ati% Buttons and Online Tells The automatic buttons can be useful as you may not want to wait until the action gets to you to tell

the computer what you want to do. If an automatic button is clicked on your action of folding checking calling betting or raising will appear to be instantaneous after the player in front of you acts. This can be a nice feature if you are playing in more than one game. ! good time in particular to use it is if you have a starting hand that you know you will fold no matter what the action is in front of you. Thus clicking on the +heck>/old button will tell the site to fold your hand once the action gets to you. This may allow you to concentrate more on another game and the computer screen will not flitter back and forth between the two games when it is your turn to act. In this instance there is no advantage or disadvantage in the play of the hand since you have decided to fold regardless of the action by the other players. The automatic buttons online can sometimes be used to your advantage but be aware that other players may be watching for clues about your hand based on how you 4uickly you bet. Sometimes players can determine how strong another player3s hand is by how fast they act. ?layers with strong hands will often have the B:aiseC button clicked on where they are telling the site to raise no matter what happens. Sharp players can pick up on this so when they see someone raising immediately when it is their turn to act sharp players may consider it as an indication that the raiser indeed has a strong hand. This would be an online tell. (ach player is an individual and will have his own patterns. -e on the lookout for these patterns as it may become useful in a pot down the line. Te%hnology is a 'onderful thing) (ut you still ha!e to 'at%h your (a%k I was sitting alone in a #<>'< table at one of the online poker rooms that did not have much high limit action. 6ormally the highest limit game was only 2>#< at this site and it was rare for a #<>'< game to get started. However since this poker room was attached to an online sportsbook there was always the chance that someone would show up using his funds from the sportsbook account. Usually these players were not e0perienced playing poker and were ,ust checking out the poker room to gamble. I had the table up on the computer while watching an 6+!! +ollege basketball tournament game and did not think about it as I watched game. !s luck would have it a player sat down at the table and I was alerted by a beeping noise on the computer. I went to the computer and started playing heads"up with the player. Unfortunately for me I actually knew the player from previous games. I knew he was a solid player and not one of the possible pushovers that I was hoping for. !fter a few hands it was 4uite clear that neither of us had much of an advantage over the other and it was probably not worth playing any more since the rake is relatively high in heads"up games. In this heads"up game the button had to put up the small blind while the other player put up the big blind. He was the first to 4uit and after his hand on the button he sat out of the game. Then an interesting thing happened. He 4uickly sat back in. I had e0pected he would post the big blind this time and I would get the button and post the small blind. -ut instead the button moved back to his seat and he posted the small blind instead. Since I had the B!uto -lindC button clicked on the computer posted my big blind automatically. -oy was I madG I had put up the big blind two hands in a row against the same opponent and I did

not have the button on either hand. I was about to leave the table when I thought maybe I could try the same thing and get the button in consecutive hands. I played the ne0t hand with the button and the small blind and in the hand after that I sat out and came back in. To my delight it workedG The button came right back to me and the site prompted me to post the small blind. !pparently the other player did not reali9e what had happened because I kept up the same routine and took the button for at least '< straight hands. /inally he sat out and it became clear to him what was going on. =hat was shocking to me was that this sharp player did not reali9e it earlier. )aybe he was also playing another game and did not reali9e what was going on. I was laughing my head off at the situation since I was getting the advantage over him on every hand. !fter thinking about it for a night my conscience got the better of me and I felt a little ashamed of my actions. I decided I would try to make it up to him if I ever saw him again. The ne0t day I saw the same player at another online poker site. He had the same screen name and it was obvious it was the same player. I told him who I was and offered to give him the chunk of my winnings in that session. He was clearly upset and he refused my offer. He threatened to go to the site and notify them about my transgressions. !fter that there was nothing more I could do as he was declining me the chance to make it up to him. &h well. The moral of this story is that you should always be alert and know the rules and the 4uirks of each individual site. $ou need to make sure you are aware of everything so you are not taken advantage of like this poor fellow was. *sing +,Color #e%ks If there is an option to use a 1"color deck in the online site you are playing on I recommend that you do so. These decks have different colors for each suit typically blue for diamonds and green for clubs. If you are playing more than one game at once it may help avoid confusion in seeing a flush that may not actually be there. It will also help in seeing possible flush draws on the board. The different colors make recogni9ing the cards ,ust a bit easier. #ifferent results at different sites !s mentioned in a previous section fluctuations in online poker can be higher than in brick and mortar casinos. If you play at a few different online sites this may cause some interesting results. It could look like you are killing the players at one site but are getting killed by the players at another site. $ou may start to think that generally players at one site are much better than players at another site. !lthough it is likely there is some difference in skill among the population of players at different sites the difference in general skill is probably not very large. /or the most part the fallback opinion should be that the difference in profits and loss is a result of randomness and luck good luck at one site bad luck at another. Due to the large fluctuations at online poker this can easily happen. If you ask those that bet sports you will find a similar situation. Some sports bettors seem to make money hand over fist at one online sportsbook but cannot beat another online sportsbook. They are constantly trying to transfer money out of one account and into the other. &ften they will think that the book they are losing to is e0tremely sharp and maybe they should not bet there anymore but typically the true reasons are fluctuation and luck.

=ith that said there still may be some logical reasons for these differences in winnings other than plain luck here3s a list of these possible reasons. #. The site you are winning at has worse players in general and the one you are losing at has better players. !s I mentioned before I do not think the difference in skill level is large but it can still e0ist. '. $ou are playing in shorthanded games at one site and in full games at another. $our game fits one better than the other. *. $ou are being cheated at the site you are losing on. 1. There is a software glitch or 4uirk at the site that you are losing on and someone else has figured it out =e can control reasons K# and K'. It should not take too much effort and concentration to determine if either of these issues is the case. If you are indeed a good player you should be able to identify the weaknesses of other players and your opinion of the 4uality of the players at the different sites should be valid. If you notice that you are playing in shorthanded games at one site and in full games at another then you may want to think about whether your game is more suited for one than the other. )aybe the aggressiveness and the fast play of the shorthanded games do not fit your style. )aybe the patience that is needed at a full table is something that you lack. These issues we can control and make ad,ustments for. It is reasons K* and K1 that we would have problems with and have little control over and that is discussed in the ne0t section. Cheating) Collusion and $oft'are glit%hes It would be nice if there was a world where everyone is honest and all games are on the up and up. Unfortunately where there is money there are people trying to scam it. This is something that everyone should be aware of. +heating I would not be concerned with outright cheating online either by players or by the site operators. In a brick and mortar casino this may be a concern. )aybe a dealer is in cahoots with some of the players. )aybe a player has marked some of the cards in the deck. &f course these issues are not concerns in the online atmosphere. +ollusion +ollusion is something that many of us worry about. =e worry about other players seeing their friend3s cards and using that information to take advantage of us. This may take the form of two players playing side by side e0changing the information on their hands through the telephone or through an instant messenger. The best way to be protected from collusion is by playing at a fair online site. &nline sites have access to the hand histories of every player. If there is a good management team they can review the hand histories of players when there are complaints. This means they can catch those that collude if the play is obvious given the hands that are shown. -ut it is probably not possible to catch everyone so we all need to watch out for this possibility. Software glitches Is it possible that a site has a software glitch where some smart computer programmer can

re"engineer their system to the point where he may have some inside information@ )aybe these smart programmers can know with some precision what the /lop will bring. )aybe they have a way around the software to be able to figure out some of their opponents3 hole cards. These are scary thoughts and although they may not be probable it would not be outside the realm of possibilities. There is no proof that a person or a group is doing this but that does not mean it is not being done. &f course this is a conspiracy theorists3 dream or nightmare depending on how they are looking at it. The truth is that there are many players making money steadily in online poker playing the cards the odds and the opponents. This fact alone should comfort most e0cept the most ardent conspiracy theorists. +oincidentally these conspiracy theorists usually are not good poker players. I leave it up to the individual reader to determine if this is an issue they think is important for themselves. Disconnections ?layers can get disconnected from their internet connection sometimes. It can happen because of a real disconnection or it could happen when a player tries to take advantage of the system. )ost sites have an all"in rule where the disconnected player is considered all"in even when they still have chips on the table. ?layers who try to take advantage of the system will purposely disconnect their internet connction in the hopes that they get to see a free showdown. They do not want to invest any more money into the pot so they do not want to call any bets or raises. However they still think there is a chance they can win so they purposely disconnect themselves so the system can put them all"in and they still have a chance to win the main pot. &ftentimes you can tell when a player is messing around or not. /or e0ample if the board is E";"!"T"7 with no flush possibility on the Turn and a player who got disconnected on the Turn shows 1* on the :iver it would be obvious that the disconnection was a genuine one. However if the board shows E";"!"T"L and the disconnected players3 hand is J; then maybe he tried to take advantage of the system because he did not want to have to call on the Turn with an inside straight draw. ?layers who try this are a real pain to all the other players. 6ot only is it a form of cheating but it also really slows down the game as the system will wait the re4uisite time for the player to act and he is not even there anymore. +ompared to brick and mortar poker rooms Internet poker opens up some new forms of cheating but it also reduces some other possible ways of cheating that can e0ist in brick and mortar poker rooms. I believe that cheating in the modern day poker rooms is 4uite rare but I would not completely discount it as an impossible feat. The forms of cheating that may be possible in a brick and mortar poker room but would not be possible online include marking cards crooked dealers in cahoots with other players switching cards holding out cards front loading (seeing other players3 cards as the dealer deals them) and sneaking a peek at another player3s cards. (veryone likes to talk about the possibilities of getting cheated online but it seems no one discusses the other forms of cheating that are completely eliminated when playing poker online. Taking -otes Online )any poker sites have a method where you can keep notes on your opponents. This is a very useful tool that every player should take advantage of. Taking notes in live play is useful too but

it is not as necessary because the mind has an easier time with forming opinions about players when there is facial recognition. If you have not played with a particular opponent for several months in a brick and mortar casino you still stand a good chance of remembering roughly how the player plays. This is more difficult to pick up while playing poker online because there is no facial recognition. It is harder to associate a name with the 4ualities of the person than it is to associate a face with the 4ualities of the person. So using the notes tool that is provided by many poker sites should help. Here are some of the types of notes that you should be taking on your opponentsH How loose or tight do they play pre"/lop@ How loose or tight do they play after the /lop@ How aggressive or passive are they@ =ill they bet when it seems like their edge is small or will they check@ Do they check raise often@ Do they semi"bluff raise often or do their raises need to be given a lot of respect to@ Do they often cold call raises in shorthanded games@ Do they three bet from the small blind situation when a late position player open raises or do they ,ust call@ How often do they defend their blinds with hands that do not warrant it@ The answers to these 4uestions are useful to know. If you have taken notes on a player the ne0t time you encounter the player at the table you would immediately be able to take a look at your previous notes and have a better idea of how he plays. Starting Hands &y Position Some starting hands are so strong they can be played in any position. Fou don,t get these hands very often, but !hen you do, you are generally a favorite from the get8go to !in that pot. Playa&le Hands in %arly Position "he follo!ing table sho!s that !e recommend playing any pair of /,s or higher in early position, as !ell as the t!elve suited and si. unsuited card combinations. #airs

/,s through $ces $ces !ith a king, queen, jack, or 1 9ing !ith a queen, jack, or 1 Cueen !ith a jack or 1 ;ack !ith a 1 or < 1 !ith a <

Suited

:nsuited

$ces !ith a king, queen, jack, or 1 9ing !ith a queen or jack

Playa&le Hands in -iddle Position 4hen you are the fifth, si.th or seventh player to act, then you are in middle position and can safely play smaller pairs like A,s and 5,s. Fou can also add ten additional suited hands and four more unsuited combinations to your playable repertoire if the pot has not been raised. 0ards added to the early position,s playable hands are italiciDed' #airs

5,s and A,s through $ces $ces !ith a king, queen, jack, 1 , <, =, /, or A 9ing !ith a queen, jack, 1 , or < Cueen !ith a jack, 1 , <, or = ;ack !ith a 1 , <, or = 1 !ith a <, or = $ces !ith a king, queen, jack, or 1 9ing !ith a queen, jack, or 1 Cueen !ith a jack or 1 ;ack !ith a 1

Suited

:nsuited

Playa&le Hands in late Position In late position you have the advantage of acting last or ne.t8to8last. $s a result, you can add a variety of hands to your arsenal. 3ost are bargain basement specialsH ho!ever, they should be played only if the pot has not been raised. 3oreover, you should be disciplined enough to release them if the flop brings anything less than an abundant harvest of friendly cards. 0ards added to the middle position,s playable hands are italiciDed' #airs

2,s , ?,s and 4,s through $ces $ces !ith a king, queen, jack, 1 , <, =, /, A, 5, 4,?,or 2 9ing !ith a queen, jack, 1 , <, = ,/, A, 5, 4, ?, or 2

Suited

Cueen !ith a jack, 1 , <, = ;ack !ith a 1 , <, =, or / 1 !ith a <, =, or / < !ith a / or A = !ith a / or A / !ith a A or 5 A !ith a 5 5 !ith a 4 $ces !ith a king, queen, jack, or 1 9ing !ith a queen, jack, 1 , or < Cueen !ith a jack, 1 , or < ;ack !ith a 1 , < or = 1 !ith a < or = < !ith a = or / = !ith a /

:nsuited

If you are ne! to the game, have been playing indiscriminately, or have an any8t!o8cards8can8!in philosophy, you may believe these recommendations are too tight. "hey,re not. In fact, they are some!hat loose. $ hand like 92 !hile playable in late position is a pretty sorry e.cuse for a +old,em hand. If you flop a king and there,s any appreciable action, it,s fairly apparent that someone else has a king !ith a bigger kicker than yours. If you flop a 2, you,ve guaranteed yourself the lo!est pair on board. Bven if you are incredibly lucky and flop a flush, there,s no assurance that it is the best flush. #robably the very best flop you could hope for is something like $22, !hich gives you three deuces !ith a strong kicker. Fou also have three cards to a flush, and !hile the odds against catching t!o more hearts are long indeed, it is an additional !ay to !in. #layers call this a backdoor dra!. 3ore importantly, an ace on the board guarantees a call or t!o from any opponents holding an ace in their hand. Still, 92 and a lot of the other playable hands in late position are vulnerable from any number of directions, and it takes some degree o skill to navigate your !ay through the murky !aters of a +old,em pot in a rickety canoe like this one.

General Te.as Hold/e

Tips

Hold ,em Danger on the *lo' 4hen you,re check8raised on the flop, be prepared to surrender often unless your hand has promise. It,s tempting to bet aggressively !hen checked into and you hold a fairly !eak hand. 7etting is okay, because you might !in the pot no!, or you might !in the pot against other opponents !ith similarly !eak hands, even if they call. 7ut a check8raise can mean trouble. It,s tempting to call, because the price is cheap considering the amount of money already in the pot. 7ut figure it,s going to cost a lot more money to chase your opponent to the sho!do!n. :nless you,re against a tricky and sophisticated opponent !ho often check8raises as a bluff, pass. Fou,ll save money. Hold ,em +tarting Hand Rankings In order to determine the rankings of hold ,em starting hands %from best to !orst&H you must consider the number of opponents. $ pair of eights !ill do better against fe!er opponents, but speculative hands, such as ;0 1 0, do better against many opponents. -.'loiting No%#imit Weakness Suppose you,re playing heads8up, no8limit freeDe8out. If you,re playing perfectly, e.pect to !in more consistently against an opponent !ho plays too tight than against an opponent !ho plays too loose. Hold ,em +uits 3any players underestimate the value of same8suit starting cards in hold ,em. 4hile it,s true that flushes !ill only comprise a small portion of the hands you finish !ith, they comprise a large portion of the hands you !in !ith. +ere are t!o po!erful rules for measuring the po!er of suited cards' %1& "he larger the ranks, the less important it is that your starting hand is suited, because high ranks often !in in other !aysH %2& "he fe!er the number of opponents, the less important it is that your starting hand is suited, because it doesn,t usually require great strength to beat a fe! opponents. +mall Pairs from -arly Position in Hold,em 3y computer simulations and other analysis suggest that most hold ,em players !ill not make a profit !ith pairs of deuces, threes, and fours for their lifetimes. "here is an argument that these hands are !orth playing in very loose games, but I,m not sure. Fou need to be very selective. 4hen you have one of these small8pair hands in an early position, it,s tough to anticipate ho! many players !ill come into the pot if you just8call the big

blind. 4ill you be raisedK "here,s lots to think about. I believe it,s often -9 to call after many players have called already, but it,s more risky to gamble from an early position in anticipation of a lot of callers. $nd you often need many callers to justify the odds of playing a small pair and hoping to make at least three of a kind. 5emember, in addition to not kno!ing !hat your opponents !ill do, you,ll be in an inferior position 88 having to act first 88 on all future betting rounds. Fou have to think about !hat,s !rong !ith a pair of deuces. -ne bad thing is that occasionally you can catch a third deuce !hile someone !ith a pair of, say, si.es catches a third si.. -bviously, you,d rather have these hands reversed. $nd if a big pair hits the board and t!o pair beats t!o pair, it,s not going to be your t!o pair that !ins. $lso, these small pair often end up having absolutely no valueE "hat happens !hen t!o bigger pair hit the board. If the board contains t!o kings and t!o fives, then an opponent !ith t!o si.es has kings and si.es, !hile you 88 holding a pair of deuces 88 have a !orthless hand and must play !hat,s on the board. $ll things considered, I advise most hold ,em players to usually fold small pairs in early positions. )he )errible )ruth about Deuces in Hold ,em Bven if you play all the !ay to a sho!do!n in hold ,em, if you start !ith a pair of deuces, the odds against you catching at least one more deuce among the five board cards is 4.2 to 1. Fou,ll only succeed 1< percent of the time. 4hen you consider that you,re unlikely to !in !ithout seeing a third deuce, that you might lose 88 often at some e.pense 88 even !hen you do see one, and that it !ill probably cost you considerably more money to get to that last river card, you can understand !hy a pair of deuces is usually unprofitable to play in hold ,em More Bad Ne$s for Hold,em +mall Pairs in -arly +eats $s you may kno!, I teach that it,s usually !rong to call the big blind early !ith small pairs, such as 282, ?8?, and 484. 3any things !ork against these hold ,em hands, such as %1& you can make three of a kind and lose to a larger three8of8a8kind, %2& if you get lucky enough that your pair might matter, a bigger pair %or bigger t!o8pair !hen there,s a major pair on board and your second pair isn,t large enough& might beat you, and %?& t!o bigger pairs might sho! up on the board, leaving you !ith essentially no hand at all. 7ut if this argument 88 and the simulation of millions of hands !hich I,ve done by computer 88 doesn,t convince you, here,s some more bad ne!s' Fou usually can afford to call a single raise after you call the blind !ith a small pair, but not a double raise. So, if you call, and there,s a raise, and then

there,s a re8raise, you should usually fold. 7ut in folding, you,re surrendering a first bet !ithout any shot at the pot !hatsoever. 4hen I talk to people !ho are trying to analyDe !hether these small pairs are profitable in an early position, they seldom mention the fact that you might have to thro! the hand a!ay !ithout seeing the flop. So, even if you can argue that the small pair is a close decision !ithout the forced8to8fold factor, it is not a close decision !hen that factor is correctly considered. -nce again' Seldom play small pairs from an early position, unless you,re in a very loose game !ith very timid opponents !ho don,t raise aggressively $>6 you can outplay those opponents on later betting rounds. If you never play these small pairs at all from early seats, you !on,t be sacrificing much. &n Hold,em" &t,s /sually Better Not )o Raise *rom the Big Blind 4hen many opponents just call my big blind, I,ll seldom raise unless I have a po!erful hand. Intermediate strength is seldom enough to justify my option to raise from the big blind position. "hat,s because I,ll need to act early on all future rounds of betting, giving all or most of my opponents a positional advantage. :nless I have real strength, I !ill usually accept a free look at the flop. Fou should, too. Be$are Of Bunched ces in Hold,em

I call this the @bunching factor.@ It has nothing to do !ith poor dealing, though. If you,re playing 1 8handed hold ,em and the first seven players have folded before the flop, there,s a better8than8usual chance that the fe! remaining players hold aces. 4hyK It,s because !hen opponents fold, it,s more likely that they folded something other than aces. "his means that statistically there are more aces left that could appear in the fe! remaining hands. 4hile this isn,t an over!helming statistical factor, it is significant enough that you should be more selective about the hands you raise the blinds !ith from the button %dealer position& !hen everyone else has folded than you !ould be if the deal began three8handedE "his @bunching factor@ applies to other games, too 88 especially dra! poker. +eldom Re%raise s the Big Blind in Hold,em

(irst, you need to kno! that I frequently re8raise as the big blind !hen an aggressive, blind8stealing8type opponent raises in the small blind after everyone else folds. I don,t need a very strong hand to justify that re8raise, because even if I,m beat by a mediocre hand, the re8raise gives me psychological leverage to add to my positional advantage. 5emember, I,ll get to act last on all betting rounds. 7ut in all other circumstances, !hile you

should vary your play, and you can certainly sometimes justify re8raising !hen you,re in the big blind position, usually you,ll make more money by !aiting to see the flop. $mong the many reasons for this, these important ones come to mind' 1. If the small blind isn,t involved in the pot, you !ill have the disadvantage of acting first on all future betting rounds. 2. 4ith all but aces and, perhaps, kings, the strength of your hand is not usually defined until after you see the flop. Fou really don,t kno! if it is strong or !eak. :nlike stud games !here your strength often changes slo!ly, one card at a time, the three8card flop strongly defines your hand in hold ,em. $lthough your cards may be strong enough for you to believe that you have a likelihood of having the best hand, that edge is usually not enough to justify a re8raise and risk facing yet another raise from a rare hand that might truly dominate you. "his is especially true because of your poor position. ?. 4hy announce that you have a fairly strong hand if you don,t have toK "he very tiny edge of pushing a hand you think might be slightly better than your opponents, hands is often over!helmed by the fact that you are giving a!ay information unnecessarily. -f course, this sho! of strength can sometimes !ork in your favor %and you 0$> use it deceptively !ith !eak hands&, but it is more likely to !ork against you by chasing a!ay !eak callers and the long8range profit they might supply on future betting rounds. If you just call, opponents !ill think you might have anything, from very !eak hands to moderately strong ones or better. Fou keep your options open on future betting rounds, and you can fold more easily, having invested less, if the flop disappoints you. (or these reasons and others, I recommend usually not re8raising in the big blind !ith moderately strong hands, e.cept !hen isolated !ith only the small blind. Ho$ 0ood is !ing%1ack Offsuit in Hold,em2 It depends on the type of game. 3uch of the modern literature ridicules the play of king8jack offsuit and similar hands that might be dominated. "he truth is that in very conservative games, these hands are unprofitable from early positions and !hen calling an early position raise. Still, king8jack ranks high on the list of hands you might be dealt at random and even average players in loose games frequently make money !ith it overall. I kno! that statement is shocking to most advocates of tight entrance requirements, but it,s the truth.

4hy is king8jack a !inner, !hen many books say that it !ill usually be dominated by ace8king, king8queen, ace8jackK It,s because real8life players are out there indiscriminately playing hands like king8/, jack85, and !ho kno!s !hat else. "he net effect is that king8jack often dominates more than it is dominated, and under command of a skillful player it definitely earns a profit. I,m not taking rakes into consideration by making this claim. 7ut it,s definitely true that, in a seat8rental game, king8jack offsuit at a loose table has a long8range profit e.pectation in many situations, even though players are traditionally ridiculed for playing it. I do agree that ine.perienced players are safer not playing the hand, because they,re likely to end up not kno!ing !hat to do after the flop. 7eyond that, I believe the value of king8jack in loose games is !idely underestimated. )he Difference Bet$een ces and !ings in Hold,em

In hold ,em, you hear a lot of talk about aces and kings being the ultimate hands. "hat,s true, but don,t be too quick to put them in the same category, as many players do. $ pair of aces before the flop logically belongs in a category all to itself. +ere,s ho! often each hand !ins against nine opponents holding random hands !hen everyone stays to the river... $8$ L ?1M %21 percentage points higher than a fair share& 989 L 2AM %1A percentage points higher than a fair share& !hat really makes the difference is that, !hen you consider actual betting strategy, $8$ is much more likely to gain e.tra bets and to stay out of trouble. (or this reason, in the hands of a professional, $8$ can be almost t!ice as profitable as 989 overall in a full8handed game. "hat,s something to keep in mind Hold,em3 Chasing a *lush $ith a Pair On Board 4hen you begin !ith t!o suited cards and flop t!o more 88 meaning you need to catch one more of that suit on the 4th %turn& or 5th %river& cards, it,s often correct to continue to pursue the pot. So, if you start !ith 9h8;h in a fi.ed8limit game and the flop is /8$84, you probably should call %and sometimes even bet, partially for deceptive purposes&. 7ut if there,s a pair on that flop, such as 1 81 8/, you should often fold. 4hyK It,s because the flush attempt is usually only marginally profitably %on average& !ithout the pair present. "he increased chances of you making a flush only to have it beat by a full house !hen a pair is present often makes the pursuit unprofitable. "hat,s !hy, if you think the pursuit of the flush !ould only sho! a small

profit !ithout the pair, you should almost al!ays fold !ith the pair present. 5are e.ceptions might involve times !hen you can use the presence of the pair to bluff or to posture Re!ie' of Online Poker $ites and Poker Infor ational $ites &nline poker is a new industry and that means changes occur very 4uickly. There are new online poker sites all the time and informational sites. Instead of listing these sites in this book I will have a page on Holdem-rain.com with information on online poker sites and poker informational sites. If one is going to play poker or look up informational sites online one will have to go online anyway so make a pitstop at Holdem-rain.com to check out current reviews.