Online Poker Set Mining

In today’s poker world, especially online, playing a traditional tight-aggressive style will rarely be enough to win.
Pre-flop action is far more aggressive than it once was, and today’s winning poker player has to get creative to win big pots.

One way to wina big pot off an aggressive opponent is to “set mine“, or to play medium and small pocket pairs mode often then traditional poker strategy would dictate.

We’ve all been there. You’re dealt a pair of fives and someone makes a big raise in front of you.
You know that calling a big raise and chasing two outs is not exactly a mathematically sound play, and you find yourself mucking your small pair to wait for a more favorable situation.
The next thing you know your third five comes on the flop and you’ve missed a set and a potential big pot.

The concept of set mining is essentially deciding to stay in a hand with your pocket pair in the hopes that you do hit that set.
The initial pot odds may not be the best to call a big raise, but when you do hit your set (roughtly one cut of eight times you hold a pocket pair) the payoff is usually huge.
When to set mine still requires some thought and strategy, it’s not going to be your best play all the time.

The best time to set mine and risk some of your chips chasing two outs is when you have a big stack compared to most players in the game.
The more chips you have, the more you can afford to gamble, and when you call a big raise and hit your set your opponents will not see it coming… especially if they have an over pair or they’ve hit top pair with two big cards.

Some of you may play so tight that you fold smaller pairs in the early positions because you don’t want to have to deal any raise that another player may put in there after you.
Raising the action with your smaller pocket pair will often allow you to control the pre-flop action, and will even win you the odd uncontested pot.
If you limp in with your pocket pair and face late-position raise, you have to option of calling or three-betting if you think that the late-position raise is just a real-estate bluff.

The thing to keep in mind about set mining is that if you do miss hitting your set, your mentality should be that you’re going to be willing to get out of the hand… especially if any aces or kings come on the flop and an opponent bets into you.

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Play Heads-Up

Seize The Showdown

If you want to win poker tournaments you’ve got to be a skilled heads-up poker player.
It hurts more to make it all the way to heads-up and finish second, than it does to be the first player out of a tournament.
Remember, a second-place finish in a World Series of Poker event pays less and doesn’t come with the infamy of winning a WSOP bracelet.

With the advent of online poker rooms such as the OddsPoker Room, you can now practice your heads-up play whenever you want without grinding through an entire tournament and hoping luck occasionally finds you.
All poker rooms offer one-on-one heads-up tourneys or multi-table heads-up tourneys in which you can test your heads-up skills.

When you finally get down to just yourself and one other player in a poker tournament, it’s time to change gears.
Heads-up play should be played differently than how you would play a table with three or more players.
The worst thing you can do is continue playing the same way, especially if you were playing tight.
Tight play should be abandoned when you reach heads-up.

Winning while playing heads-up is all about one thing… Aggression!
If you’re not aggressive you’ll need luck to win, and you’ll likely end up getting repeatedly crushed by your opponents.
Scared money never lasts because once your opponent picks up on your tame play, they’ll run over you with big bets.
Since there’s just the two of you, most flops will be a dud for both players.
You need to be aggressive because the only way to win a pot it to have the best hand or cause your opponent to fold.
Don’t give your opponent free cards and free looks at the flop.
Be aggressive and make them pay to play.

One thing a lot of beginner poker players don’t realize is that the value of your starters changes considerably in a heads-up situation.
This about how valuable a hand like Q-8 whould be on a full table…
It isn’t really a hand you would want to play very often.
However, in heads-up play the general consensus is that you want to play any hand that has a vaule of Q-7 or higher.
Experts (and a computer) have worked out that hands valued Q-7 or higher will win more than 50% of the time during heads-up play.

This leads to two other important aspects of heads-up play:
Trapping, and reading your opponent.
By varying your play you can trap your opponent when you have the nuts and bleed a ton of chips out of him.
By occasionally betting and raising with nothing, this will make it harder to read your play when you actually have a hand.

While making your own bluffs and traps, carefully observe your opponent for betting patterns, tells and other gateways.

How often do they raise?
Do they only raise preflop with certain cards?
How often do they call your raise?
Do they call your raise with draws or with made hands?

Answering these questions will help you make the right decision when it’s your turn to act.

One last tip on heads-up play:
Don’t be afraid to occasionally chase flush and straight draws if it won’t cost you too much.
If you hit these draws heads-up they’ll often pay off big and make you more money then you will lose when occasionally chasing.

So remember these poker tips about heads-up when you play online poker!
I also would like to remember you that OddsPoker is offering 7 x $200 Daily Freerolls!!!

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What else does a poker player wants for Christmas???

With three exciting Xmas series, 29 playable tournaments at times to suit every player, PKR well and truly have Christmas covered this year!

The fantastic PKR poker room is action packed schedule has added Christmas prizes, variations of all kinds (including a whole series dedicated to Omaha) with tourneys running daily throughout the festive period.

Get your PKR account and join the biggest poker room online!!!

Ohh Ohh Ohh, Merry Christmas!!!

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Know the differences of a Loose and Tight Poker Player

A definition of loose or tight play in Texas Hold’em is like describing what a beautiful lady looks like.

Namely, the explanation is in the eye of the beholder.

A general rule would be:

A tight player starts the hand with a high pair or with A-K.

A loose player would start the hand with low cards or unsuited K-4.

The tight player raises when he feels he has the advantage.

The loose player may raise more often than he should.

He may call too often on the possibility of an inside straight or full house draws.

Typically he plays too many hands which depend on luck to win, rather than play according to what he currently holds.

Both types of players can hurt you, but the fight player is probably easier to play against.

You can usually identify the tight player from the flop and the betting.

The loose player is not easy to read as he may hold anything at anytime.

It is his unpredictable play which makes him more dangerous in many hands.

He may not flod when bet against, like the tight player would.

The loose player may play for the miracle draw and when he gets it, he puts a bad beat on you.

The tight player will only raise when he thinks he has a sure thing.

This gives you an advantage as you can get cut of the hand or at least nor re-raise.

Loose players have a small edge, when they raise, you don’t know if they have a hand or are just trying to win by betting.

Since their starting hand can be any two cards, an odd flop may fit their hand very well.

This makes playing a big pair against them a more risky proposition than it would be with any tight player.

Loose players are great pot builders, since they are likely to call bets more freely.

In the end we can summarize all this into Play Strong, not weak and above all PLAY SMART!.

And remember that one of the best, reliable places to play online poker is Odds Poker

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Playing aggressive isn’t just about throwing in big raises and making wild bets.
It means putting in those raises and bets with value when the situation is right.

What’s one attribute that most successful poker players possess?
Is it the ability to read people?
A knowledge of number?
A good grasp of the fundamentals of the game?
The best answer to that question is actually “aggression”.

If you want to be a winning poker player you must be aggressive.
A lot of bad poker players find it hard to be aggressive at the table, and their passive tendencies make them fish bait for the sharks.
Some people say you can’t teach a poker player to be aggressive because it’s a natural instinct.
However, if you sat down a fish with a pro and showed him how being aggressive helps him win, it would definitely help them see why it’s so important.

Before we get too far let’s explain the difference between playing aggressive and playing like a donk.
Playing aggressive isn’t just about throwing in big raises and making wild bets.
That’s plain stupid play, not aggressive play.
Being aggressive means putting in those raises and bets with value when the odds are in your favor, or you think you can bluff the pot, or you’ve picked up a tell from your opponent that you can exploit.
Playing like a donk is throwing in a huge bet with no reasoning to back that bet up.
This would include chasing improbable draws and trying to bluff at the wrong time.

Playing aggressive will give you an advantage over your opponent because it puts all the pressure on them.
They have to make all their decisions in reaction to your moves.
By putting this preasure on your opponent you open up more instances in which they might make a mistake and pay you off.

There are three things that playing aggressive will do to help your game…

Reduces the number of players – When you’re always betting and raising nobody can check or call a small bet to get a free or cheap card.
This should limit the number of players playing against you, unless you’re up against a bunch of donks.
The number of players you are up against makes a big difference no matter what cards you are holding.
You’ll hear some donks say that by betting and raising you’re keeping the pot from growing.
This is actually false, and it doesn’t matter how big the pot is if you allow players with crap cards to tag along to the river cheap, only for them to get lucky and beat you with a hand you could have made them fold by betting.
Increases the pot size – Playing aggressive really does keep the pot growing.
If you’re repeatedly betting and raising it will make it harder for other players to know when you’re playing a strong hand and when you’re bluffing with garbage.
Since you’re hard to read you will receive more calls when you bet big instead of having everyone fold, leaving you only the blinds.
Think of it like this: “Two players calling a bet of $100 creates a bigger pot than four players calling a bet of $25″.
You can win two ways – If you’re betting and raising you can win two different ways.
You can either win with the best hand or you can win by causing everyone else to fold.
If you’re not aggressive no one will ever fold to your bets and you’ll only win when you have the best hand.
That’s playing by luck instead of skill.
Remember the old adage – “luck fades, skills doesn’t”.