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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A satellite poker tournament is a low buy-in poker tournament that awards the winner(s) an entry to a higher buy-in poker tournament.
A satellite tournament may consist of one poker table or many.

So we can say that a a Satellite Poker Tournament is a multi-tiered approach to winning major poker tournaments.

For example, in Odds Poker you can have 100 players might enter a $2 Satellite, with the total prize pool of $200.

Based on this prize pool, winners will be paid out with Satellite coupons to a higher buy-in poker tournament.

These coupons could be $10, $50 or even one $200 coupon, which would in turn be used to enter a higher level of Online Poker Satellites, one step closer to the poker grand final.

So as you can see there isn’t much secrets in what satellites poker tournaments are, what you must retain is that normally this is could be your ticket to big poker prizes, with little investment….

Cheers and happy poker online!

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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…

1. 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.

2. 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″.

3. 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”.

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Updated with fresh content daily on topics like MTT, Sit & Go and cash game tactics from some of the brightest minds in the game, it’s the perfect way to build the basis of a winning poker strategy.

Read more about the new Raise Your Game at PKR….

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