Poker

[BANGKOK RED]

No not the misses, I mean the card game.

So I am trying to milk what I can out of the free sign up thingamy's.

I am not that experienced at the game and even have to remind myself of what hand beats what although I do have a noodle or too and so I pick things up pretty quickly.

So to take advantage of the free casino sign-ups I have realised that the best strategy is not to lose, as opposed to trying to win. It might sound obvious but I am guessing that more than a few Tefer's know what I mean, after all if you STILL have a tenner in your pocket that came free then you are a tenner up.

Since I have developed such a strategy I have started doing much better and ended 50% up (albeit play money for practice) in a couple of hours tonight.

I only raise the stakes aggressively when I have strong hands such as runs, flushes, 3 of a kind or a pair of pictures. Anything less and I might just look to meet the opponents to see what happens and even consider folding if they are betting very aggressively themselves.

What I am trying to get at is, do any of you teffers have any tips. Bearing in mind that I am just trying to do the casino bagging thing.

Thanking you kindly.

From me, BR.

[Samdy Gray]

That plan will work ok if you're just bagging and playing on the starter tables, but if you get a bit more into it then people will soon pick up that you only play when you've got a strong hand. I personally like to throw in the odd bluff.

[BANGKOK RED]

That plan will work ok if you're just bagging and playing on the starter tables,

Which is exactly what I am learning to play poker for.

[BANGKOK RED]

or at least for now anyway.

[Batch]

My advice is You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,  Know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money, when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin', when the dealin's done.

[suttonred]

I normally start slow, and only play good hands early doors, I'll bluff more with fewer players left. The oldest advice is  either raise or fold, particularly late on in tournaments. Also find what you are best at. I'm good at tournament play, but crap on cash games. Hence after several years i play tourneys only.

[DerbyRed]

Best way to play is to learn how the other players at the table play, and play a strategy accordingly.  Only go up against an aggresive player when you have a top hand, otherwise get out of the way - but against tight passive players put in some big bets and unless they have a monster hand you can pick up a lot of easy pots with a mid-sized bet.

Like Samdy says - nice to mix it up a little bit as well, like limping in pre-flop when you're got pocket aces / kings / queens etc rather than raising it up - this will disguise your hand when you then bet on the later streets.

And very important - know when to fold.  Sometimes even when you think you may have the best hand - if someone puts in a huge bet that will commit too much of your bankroll then let it go, unless you're sure you have the nuts.

I'd recommend reading a few books as well - one I found really useful was Texas Hold 'Em: Play Online and Win by Paul Mandelson - bit basic in places but sets out some decent strategies.

Also have a look around pokertips.org - very good site for learning which poker sites are good to play on, what bonuses they give, as well as giving you a few more poker strategies.

Hope that helps!!  And good luck (unless you ever come up against me on a table somewhere!!).

[Chubbs]

7-2 offsuit is an amazing hand and should be played as often as possible. thats all you need to know.
I would really suggest buying a few books, you can learn a lot from them.

[Samdy Gray]

7-2 offsuit is an amazing hand and should be played as often as possible. thats all you need to know.

Haha, you bastard.

[Chubbs]

Best way to play is to learn how the other players at the table play, and play a strategy accordingly.  Only go up against an aggresive player when you have a top hand, otherwise get out of the way - but against tight passive players put in some big bets and unless they have a monster hand you can pick up a lot of easy pots with a mid-sized bet.

Like Samdy says - nice to mix it up a little bit as well, like limping in pre-flop when you're got pocket aces / kings / queens etc rather than raising it up - this will disguise your hand when you then bet on the later streets.

And very important - know when to fold.  Sometimes even when you think you may have the best hand - if someone puts in a huge bet that will commit too much of your bankroll then let it go, unless you're sure you have the nuts.

I'd recommend reading a few books as well - one I found really useful was Texas Hold 'Em: Play Online and Win by Paul Mandelson - bit basic in places but sets out some decent strategies.

Also have a look around pokertips.org - very good site for learning which poker sites are good to play on, what bonuses they give, as well as giving you a few more poker strategies.

Hope that helps!!  And good luck (unless you ever come up against me on a table somewhere!!).

yep pretty much sums it up,

one thing i would say is the point about limping in with premium hands. You shuold only start doing things like this when you are confortable to do so...the limping with AA is the simple part its what you do after it is what you really need to perfect.

I'd leave this part out of your game untill you have established the basics of the game.

[jonny72]

Paying to see the flop with a weak hand is more often than not suicide but you'll realise that yourself pretty quickly.

You need to change your game dependent on the number of players. A K8 unsuited is pretty weak with 10 players at the table but a lot stronger when there is only a few. Same with tournaments, often good to sit back and only get involved when you've got two high cards then pick off a few people making stupid bets - you'll play less hands but win a lot more.

Having said that I'm pretty shit at poker. I always get bored and start making stupid bets.

[PocketScience]

Playing tight but aggressively when you do get good hands is the best way to start off. The only real way to get any good is just to keep playing and keep reading as much as you can find, there is a ton of information for all stake levels on the 2+2 forums which is a good place to start. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/

If it's tournaments you are playing I really recommend the Harrington On Holdem Series of Books aswell.

Also, it's worth signing up to a new site through a rakeback site such as http://www.raketherake.com/. You can get up to 40% rakeback on some poker sites which basically means whatever you pay in rake/tournament fees, 40% gets returned to you at the end of the month. (There's a list of all the sign up bonuses on there aswell)

Good luck! 

[BANGKOK RED]

Right.

There are clearly a number of cunts in these poker rooms. Some simply raise the stakes every time without fail, regardless of what hand they have and do so immediately when there turn comes up. They must just tick the option to raise even without knowing what hand they have.

They seem to have no strategy whatsoever and it fucks up the game because everybody else reacts by raising and so you end up with stupid pots on weak hands.

Is it the same as with real money rooms or are people more careful there?

[jonny72]

You tend to see that a lot in tournaments, especially those you can buy back in to. I've seen people doing it on low stakes real money tables as well, trying to bully money out of you by out bidding even though they have jack shit. I doubt you'll see it much on higher stakes as they'd just get crucified.

Just keep playing your game and don't let their strategy affect you, you'll be cleaning them out pretty quickly as long as you don't lose your nerve when the stakes get high and you've got a decent hand.

[Ben Wah Balls]

Playing tight but aggressively when you do get good hands is the best way to start off. The only real way to get any good is just to keep playing and keep reading as much as you can find, there is a ton of information for all stake levels on the 2+2 forums which is a good place to start. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/

If it's tournaments you are playing I really recommend the Harrington On Holdem Series of Books aswell.

Also, it's worth signing up to a new site through a rakeback site such as http://www.raketherake.com/. You can get up to 40% rakeback on some poker sites which basically means whatever you pay in rake/tournament fees, 40% gets returned to you at the end of the month. (There's a list of all the sign up bonuses on there aswell)

Good luck! 

Agree with all of this. It was 2+2 and harrington on hold'em that turned me into a winning player. Harrington on hold'em is very good for learning the basics - it teaches you a pretty tight strategy but that's the safest way to play if you're not that experienced. It will also help with low stakes cash too. Obviously it is about hold'em - not sure if that's what you're playing or not?

I actually use raketherake for rakeback too and they're very good.

Poker has got tougher over the years though and if you have no experience of real money it won't be that easy to make a profit even with bonuses. It takes a lot of play and reading forums or watching videos on sites like cardrunners or deucescracked before you'll make much money.

Right.

There are clearly a number of cunts in these poker rooms. Some simply raise the stakes every time without fail, regardless of what hand they have and do so immediately when there turn comes up. They must just tick the option to raise even without knowing what hand they have.

They seem to have no strategy whatsoever and it fucks up the game because everybody else reacts by raising and so you end up with stupid pots on weak hands.

Is it the same as with real money rooms or are people more careful there?

As for this, I'd say play money is roughly similar to the very lowest stakes of real money 1c/2c or 2c/5c for No Limit. The higher the stakes the better the players are in general but this isn't really a good thing - I'd much rather play only terrible players as they're the easiest to beat.

I wouldn't recommend limping hands like AA, KK, QQ, AK - as long as you're raising most of the hands you play and not limping a lot, it won't be obvious you have a very strong hand anyway, so it's more profitable to raise every time and build a big pot preflop when you'll be called by hands you are way ahead of.