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There's no secret why Party Poker is one of the biggest and longest-standing poker rooms in the industry today. Enormous game selections, tournaments that only Party Poker can provide, this room is a favorite for many players starting out. Not only that, they've just released their amazing new table!
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Following up closely on their exciting new 100% up to $500 player bonus, Party Poker has introduced their new Poker table for their players.
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Keeping Close Track of Your Poker Winnings

 

 Keeping Close Track of Your Poker Winnings

HONESTY!!!!!

No one truly cares about your bank role.  Really! I promise, unless you are buying people things they don't care.  So, if you are losing money DO NOT casually stop keeping records to forget about the loses.  You are only lying to yourself.  This functions as a great pick me up as a poker player, as far as seeing progression in your game and bank account.  A great way to help out with managing your roll is to keep records of your play.  Keep accurate up-to-date records and you can use these for personal analysis.  Accurate records not only help you keep track of how you’re doing, they also allow you to analyze your game and keep you honest with yourself. We all like to believe that we’re winning players, but everyday that may not be the exact case.
Here are a few key situations to keep track of every time you play:

• Overall bankroll (to pretty much keep you honest and not jump into higher stakes games)
• Time span at which you sat in on a game
• What was the buy in to the table, and how big a table
• How much you made (Maybe think of looking at this poker stat from an hourly point of view)

Keeping records of these Poker situations will really help putting your game into true perspective. I tend to have a minor temper issue ( easy example, road rage) so maybe tracking your attitude or manor might not be a bad idea, which in the end may lead to having more control of yourself.  How you feel when you play and what frame of mind you’re in are truly important to the final outcome of your "money making" experience. 
Keep track of things like when you get tired and how long into a session you are when you start to get tired. When you are not playing to par, note that and note also the mistakes you made, so you can go back and try to correct them the next time out. Whether you admit it or not, poker is a game of emotion; one bad swing can break you, so as a serious money maker it is very important to realize your emotions, and try to leave the truly emotional feelings off the table.

Keep these records on a daily basis
go back through them each month to analyze your play. Be honest with yourself about what you see (remember, you are the only one involved, the only one you are lying to is YOURSELF). You’re looking for patterns:  I lost again when I played for an hour too long or I won more than normal when I played a shorter session, or I was tired than and lost this much, keep track.
If you notice a pattern and see that you’re losing at one particular game or limit, ask yourself: “What am I doing wrong here?” The truth hurts sometimes, but honesty will prevail, don’t let your ego get in the way of becoming a winning poker player. If your records show that you’re not doing well, it’s time to eat your pride move down to a lower limit, and re-evaluate your game and start it over once again, but without losing confidence.

Having exposure to these records right in front of you allows you to be honest about yourself as a poker player. Your notes are not going to lie unless you make them, so be patient and honest and go get your hands on that cash.

Good luck Let me know your thoughts on this, do you take notes, how are your practices working out?

Hold'Em Situations That Will Help You Become a Winning Player

 

 

 Hold'Em Situations That Will Help You Become a Winning Player

Trapping Hands
These are my favorite forms of chip raking opportunities on the felt. The definition of a trapping hand is simple;  you hold a really strong hand and another person has a weaker hand that may show strength for him to continue playing with. An example of a trapping hand would be if you flop a set/trips, especially with a small pair, and another person has a big pocket pair. You can brutally clean him out at this point. Any player less than extremely experienced will fall in love with a big pair type of hand and almost always you can really empty his piggy bank.
There are a variety of trapping hands out there. For instance, flopping a straight and your opponent may also flop, but hits a set.  Trapping hands are hands that come in great when your maybe having a slow day, not seeing many cards to play, stay patient and there is your reward. There are mayne situations that could be considered a trap, I find the easiest to explain and make someone really understand is flopping the set.  This is a hand where the entire time you are aware that you are way ahead, especially if you flop top set. Again as said in previous posts, stay humble, dont fall in love with any hand, you could think you are running a trap hand, and you yourself are falling right into the hands of a trap, so be aware, think before you act!

Betting in Late Position - You won't make a bunch of money betting in late position when everyone checks to you but its worth mentioning because you could pick up the scraps (blinds) and grind a couple hundred dollars that way, even without having hands to play.


Drawing Hands - Drawing hands are tricky in no limit. When you flop four of one suite in limit holdem, it is an easy decision to keep calling till the river. In no limit that isn't always going to be the case since if you miss your draw on the turn card, often the next bet will be too large to make it profitable to keep calling. I've found that if I'm in early position with a flush draw or straight draw it is often better to come out betting, almost  a feeler bet, but enough to make them think,  instead of checking and calling. First, if you check and call you give away your hand as well as show weakness, also you leave yourself open to being over bet or just bet out of the pot. Second, you may even win the pot by tossing chips into the middle as a feeler. The risk of betting is that you are going to get raised an amount you can't call. My advice for drawing hands is to learn the odds and then compare them to the size of the pot.  Also, get a feel for your opponents, do they tend to form a continuation bet or do they check performing a trap.


Big pair over big pair (AK included) - I mentioned above about how most of the time you won't make that much with your big pairs. The usual routine is that you raise preflop, get a caller or two and then bet the flop and everyone lets go of the hand. Sometimes you'll get a freshy who doesn't believe you and calls you down but those folks do not usually last that long. A good percentage of the time I take down smaller pots with my AA, KK or AK. The rest of the time I come away with the win, I end up against someone who has a smaller pair. AA and KK can be hands that sadly lead to a way for you to lose your stack because it is very easy to fall in love with the best starting hands because they are the best. If you're dealt AA or KK on the dealer button, You have a better chance of making more money with it since people assume that you're playing  position instead of the cards in your hand. This is why if you are on the button with a big hand and everyone folds to you, don't slow play it and limp in, raise it since people won't believe you. Sometimes I'll even make a raise much larger then I normally do on the button if everyone folds to me. For example, if I normally raised to 15-20 dollars preflop, I'll raise it to $35 or $50. Then people really think I'm trying to steal the blinds. Every now and then you'll have a guy who tries to raise over the top of you  thinking you're bluffing and it will end to your benefit. Those are the dream moments.

Small Pots - Most of the pots in no limit, and the ones you'll win, are going to be small. Everyone will be winning little pots for a while and then ACTION, someone will get nailed and lose their stack. That's how it goes. The small pots can add up after a while though.  Stay patient and persistent, and success will follow.

 Bluffing -  It's almost impossible to bet someone out of a pot in limit poker since it just costs them one more big bet. In no limit this situation has much more potential for earning, especially coupled with a good read of a hand and position. Learning when to bluff is an advanced skill that you will pick up as you learn the true feel of the game, thousands of hands and situations, seeing and understanding why things happen, and again analyzing your opponent. We will go into the bluff in later posts, but keep in mind a decent player is hard to get off his medium hand, and a novice is simply called a calling station, they are almost impossible to bluff, just keep that in mind and pick your spots.  Don't become to obvious, or your bluff will be voided and you will lose!

The Streets Of Texas Hold'em Poker

 

The Different Streets In a Poker Hand

The Flop
After seeing the flop, Don't feel obligated to remain in the hand. A common mistake made by beginners, especially online is to decide, "I'm already in this hand, so I might as well play it out." NOooooooooo.
With up to seven players at a table, two pair or better will generally be the winning hand. If you don't have the high pair after the flop (say the flop comes out and is Q-9-5, the high pair would be two Queens), and you're not in good position for a straight or a flush, you should probably get out of the hand.
However, remember that as the number of players depletes, so does the potential of that strong hand being out there...  So, if you're at a table with just two other players, it could pay off to be the aggressor and bet at the pot, hoping to take it down.
If you're first to bet after the flop, don't feel like betting is the only solution, CHECK. This can work to your advantage in two ways. First, if your hand is on the weak side, you may get the luxury of getting to see one more card without having to put more of your stack into the pot. Second, if your hand is strong, you could convince an opponent or two that it's weaker than it really is.  Of course times change and technique does too, so this is an important situation to know when to switch gears because someone could read your strength through your portrayal of weakness.
 



Fourth Street and Fifth Street
Also know as The Turn and The River, respectively, the fourth and fifth community (cards face up) cards give you two more chances to either get out of the pot before you lose money, or increase your winnings.
At this point, it's likely there will only be much less of an opponent count in the pot with you. The best advice here is to be smart. After fourth street, don't stay in the pot hoping for a straight or flush, unless you can do so on a check (think odds, and how many outs you have, although it may be an easy fold patience may take you in a different direction). Although there will be times when you would have drawn the straight or flush, they will be outweighed by the times you wouldn't.
The bottom line is this: Don't allow yourself to get sucked in too far with a weak hand, throwing all your chips in on a hope and a prayer.
That said, there is a point where the investment you've already made virtually tells you that you hang in there. It's most reasonable to measure this in terms of percentage of your chips. For example, if you've already committed 40% of your chips to the pot, another 5% isn't that much. This is a gray area, so once again the best advice is to be smart, but think cautiously.

The Basics to No Limit Hold"em

No Limit Texas Hold'Em

One of the most popular forms of poker today is Texas Hold'em. In This great game called Texas Hold'em each player receives two hole-cards and five subsequent cards are dealt face-up in the middle of the table, these cards are simply known as the "flop", "turn", and the "river". The object of the game is to make the best five-card poker hand possible using your two hole-cards and the five community cards.
To indicate which person is the dealer from round to round, a disc or other such marker, called the button, is placed in front of them. To start the action, the person to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind", a forced bet usually half of the minimum bet. The next person to the left posts the "big blind", a forced bet equal to the minimum bet. These two bets are called "blinds" because they are posted before the two players look at their cards.

Players are then dealt the two pocket cards, face down, and the person on the left of the player who posted the big blind will begin the first round of betting. In the first round, a player can call, raise or you could also fold . In order to call, the player must place a bet that is equal to the previous bet. After the first player, each subsequent player is given the option to call the current bet, to raise up the bet, or to fold. Players who fold are out of that round until the hand ends and the next deal is out.


After the first round of betting is finished, the dealer takes the top card and sets it aside (called "the burn card"), and then lays the three community cards face up on the table. This is called the flop. At this point all other betting rounds now start with the first player to the left of the dealer. Players now have the option to check (the term used to pass on betting without folding), or to put out a bet. After the betting is opened by a player, players can no longer check when it is their turn to act, but can instead call or raise the action occurring at that point. The round concludes when all bets have been called, or in a limit game, when the maximum number of bets possible (the "cap", usually 1 bet and 3 raises) has been reached.
After betting is finished another card is burned and the fourth card, called the "turn card" or "4th Street," is added to the community cards. Players bet again just as they did on the flop betting round. In a fixed limit game, the bet is now double the previous bet and remains double for the final betting round as well. After the third betting round, another card is burned and the fifth and final card, known as the "river" or "5th Street," is dealt. There is one last round of betting, after which the remaining players turn up their pocket cards. The highest five card poker hand that can be made using any combination of the available seven cards (a player’s two hole cards and the five community cards) wins the pot. If there is a tie, then every player who is tied divides the pot evenly between them.
After the hand is finished, the Button moves clockwise to the next player, who becomes the dealer and play begins again after a new deal, and the blinds are right.
Heres the Basics, look for future posts on strategy and the best online sites to dive into, with the best chance to get your share of the Millions being made online in the poker rooms