Online Poker Tips

Most good poker players know that stack size selection is a very important part of the game, whether you’re playing in a live casino or online at Titan Poker (more) or Bet365 Poker (more). In many games even the pros won’t have much of an edge against several players on the table. Almost all of your equity will come from a few select players at a table, and having enough chips to cover them, while not get “into trouble” against the good players tends to be an optimal strategy.

When you are seated at a tournament however you all start with the same number of chips, then the game will determine stack sizes from there. It is easy to find yourself playing a stack size that is not beneficial to your particular table. Most players write this off as a part of the luck involved with poker, some even avoid tournaments because of this “locked in luck” that is in addition to the luck you face beyond catching cards and having them hold up. This article will attempt to show options on to wield a stack with its full force.

What is an optimal stack in MTT? Well there are a few different ranges that play particularly well. They limit the number of mistakes you will make while often maximizing the number of mistakes your opponents will make against you. If you are in a tournament that is not likely to break your table for a long time then you should access “deep stackedness” in relative terms to your table instead of the field.

Usually variance increasing isn’t about getting a 3x average stack or more. It tends to be about avoiding stack sizes that play particularly bad. Fortunately there is a doubling phenomenon that occurs with stack sizes in relation to the number of bets that tend to play the best against certain types of players. Your strategy is to put the last bet in with fold equity when you are weak, and let them put the last bet in with what appears to be fold equity when you are very strong. Frequently this will involve moderately short stacked play, and thus controlling your stack is key to maximizing equity.

For instance if the blinds are 1000-2000 with a 250 antee 8 handed it costs 5000 chips per round

If you had a stack between 10k and 30k you really wouldn’t want to open a pot for less than a shove, still doing so has the potential to win the pot without a showdown. I call this a 1 bet stack when opening a pot, but the upper range of this would have the potential to re-raise a small opening raise and still win the pot without showdown making it fall into the next category under some circumstances.

A two bet stack will depend on what size opening bets your opponents are making. It is called a 2 bet stack because you still have fold equity when someone with more chips enters the pot with a raise. In the example above a 2 bet stack will tend to fall into the ranges between 25k and 60k chips. But these estimates will not only change from table to table, but it will also change depending on the opponent you are up against.

A 3 bet stack will have fold equity when you open raise, they re-raise, and then you push. By varying bet size you can adjust weather or not you have a 3 bet stack, or a deep stack. With smaller stack sizes you don’t have this option, but in the upper levels of 3 bet play, you will usually be making the first raise, their raise will usually be proportional. If you open pots with a small ball raise another round of betting will likely occur, and it will make it that much more difficult for you to be correct to shove (and correspondingly for them to be correct to call a re-shove 3 bet all-in by you).

A 4 bet stack or more is really just deep stacked poker. By the time you get to 4 or more bets position gains substantial value.

1 Bet stacks always play well. If the table is aggressive enough you are likely to double easily, if they are tight then stealing is hugely profitable.

2 Bet stacks are very difficult. Many players, even profitable end up in this stack range and feel helpless. Since opening and folding to a raise tends to be wrong you have to turn the tables to find profitable plays. Many players who open light will have the ability to fold to a re-raise all-in. Mixing this with a Big blind that has the ability to fold to your re-shove, and you have a great spot to re-steal from late position with a very wide range of hands. I recommend in marginal versions of this scenario choose a hand that doesn’t contain an ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. The problem with these hands is that so frequently you get called by hands that either dominate a weak ace, or by pairs that effectively dominate cards below a 6. I also don’t like making these re-steals with baby pairs: 22, 33,and 44. Medium to large kings tend to be particularly good hands for this play because when you get called you are less likely to be in the above situation that with just about any other hand. 2 Bet stacks also include “Stop-And-Go” options where you call a raise from the Big blind, then push most flops. I prefer playing stop and go strategies to re-steals when there are more flops i would consider slow playing on to trap my opponent for a double up. This play tends to only apply to out of position calls with a stack in this range.

Three bet and larger stacks are powerful because they are so flexible. A 3-Bet stack plays well on its own, and can be used with increased variance without risk of going bust. A 3-bet stack’s biggest enemy is a 2 bet stack that knows when to re-steal. If you have one of these on your left i suggest having some what tight standards for opening a pot. 3-bet stacks also include options such as taking flops in position and re-stealing without shoving.

When there is already a deep stack on the table:

Going for a deep stack with another deep stack on the table is not a beginner play. The situations you will end up in with a deep stack vs. deep stack will likely be the toughest tournament decisions you will have to make. If you are good at these decisions (or at least better than your other deep opponents) then having this stack is a huge advantage. However, if you are a player that tends to avoid another deep stack player because you are afraid of giving up that many chips in a marginal situation then you should decrease your variance from a medium stack while there are deep stacks on your table.

You should also avoid increasing variance to get a deep stack if the other deep stacks are sitting on your left, or are more skilled than you are. Even if the bad player doesn’t understand position, it tends to not be worth increasing your variance to play deep against an opponent who you will be out of position against on 80% or more of hands.

PokerStars is, without a question, the most popular real-money online poker room in the world.  Their growth has been fueled by a combination of savvy marketing, stable software and excellent customer service.  In addition to those core factors, the willingness of PokerStars to provide players with high-value promotions has helped to breed a very loyal player base.

While the value of the PokerStars VIP program is well-known, there’s another significant value at PokerStars that doesn’t get nearly as much ink.  It’s the first deposit bonus offered by Stars, and it may be the case that people have been playing on Stars for so long that they’ve forgotten such a bonus even exists.

For players who are new to poker or haven’t given PokerStars a try, we’ll break down the value offered by the PokerStars first deposit bonus.  Doing so will involve a bit of lingo, but don’t worry –  it’s all quite simple to grasp regardless.

The Basics
The PokerStars first deposit bonus is available to players making their first-real money deposit on PokerStars.  You do not need to use a PokerStars marketing code to qualify for the bonus, but you will need to use the bonus code Stars600 when making your first deposit.  PokerStars will award you a bonus equal to 100% of the amount you deposit, with a maximum bonus of $600.

The Details / Value
Let’s work with the maximum bonus amount for an illustration.  You deposit $600 and PokerStars places $600 in your bonus account.  As you play real money poker, you will see money move from your bonus account to your player account where it can be used to play poker or be cashed out.  PokerStars gives you $10 of your bonus at a time for every 17 VPPs you earn.  VPPs are awarded at the rate of 5.5 for every dollar you pay in rake, meaning you need to earn 170 VPPs to release $10 of your bonus and need to pay $31 in rake to earn the 170 VPPs.  That’s a rebate rate of 33% –  one of the top rates in online poker.

If you have witnessed the online poker phenomenon yet felt it wasn’t right for you, there is no need to feel as though you should have to miss out. There are plenty of poker sites to choose from and they cater for all manner of players. You don’t need to feel as though you are a poker expert to have fun and success online, in fact, starting afresh can sometimes be a blessing. There are a great number of poker sites to choose from and Merge Poker can give you the rundown in what you need to know to make sure you have a great time when playing online poker.

Learn the rules of poker

If you are playing online poker for the first time, knowing the rules of the game is a great place to start. A number of the Merge Poker sites take the time to run through the many different poker games and show you how to play them. If you don’t know your Omaha Hi Lo from your 7 Card Stud, don’t despair because help is most definitely at hand. You will quickly learn that the word hand is pretty important when it comes to playing poker but it is the helping hand you receive to pick up skills that will impress you most.

It is also important to not just be bowled over by flashy graphics and interesting animation on a website. Yes, the presentation should count for something when looking for a great website but there has to be a lot more to it than that. A great looking website with terrible game play will be of no use to a serious online poker player and this is where Merge Poker will not let you down. The variety of Merge Poker sites has a varying reliance on graphics to wow players but there is always a focus on the game play element.

Poker bonuses are always a boost

Another major factor for players when looking for the right poker site to join has to be the welcome bonuses and the poker bonus codes. You will find that your pot can often disappear quickly when you are honing your skills so having as much money as possible is always going to be of benefit to an online poker player. This is where a regular visitor at the Merge poker site will find all the poker referral codes and welcome bonuses they could ever need. You will hopefully soon learn the importance of managing your bankroll but until you develop these skills, boost your chances of winning by picking up a poker bonus or two.

There is no doubt that online poker is an exciting way to play and it should be open for everyone. If you are new to the world of poker and it seems as though it is all too much for you, visit the Merge Poker site and find out everything you need to know. Developing good habits is an important part of poker success and visiting this site can help you get a heads up on what online poker is all about.

Rumors continue to swirl regarding the prospect of regulated online poker coming to the US.  While it’s not entirely clear what a regulated market would look like, many believe that any regulation will almost certainly exclude international companies for at least some period of time, giving US casinos –  who are likely to have a major influence on any legislation –  some time to secure their position in the market.

Where would that leave Party Poker?  After Poker’s Black Friday in April 2011, Party’s decision to exit the US market after the passing of the UIGEA suddenly seemed like a much better idea than it had for the five years or so since the bill passed in to law.  While PokerStars and FTP were scrambling to find new domain names, Party Poker saw a small bump in traffic and breathed a sigh of relief at not being one of the rooms in the crosshairs of the DOJ.  In addition to exiting the US market in a timely fashion, Party reached a monetary settlement with the DOJ several years ago.  Those two facts would seem to point to a path for Party to return to the US market after regulation hits.

So, is Party Poker for US Players a sure thing?  Far from it.  Party Poker may be square with the government, but there’s no way that a major US casino would just let them barge back into the market.  That would be too much competition; Party has great software, an experienced poker team and still enjoys solid name recognition in the US market despite being shut out for several years.

A more likely scenario is that Party Poker reaches some partnership agreement with a major US casino whereby Party would provide the software and services –  and possibly some element of their bran –  while the casino would do the heavy lifting on the branding and promotion.  That’s probably the fastest way for anyone in the US to take a seat at Party Poker anytime soon.

High Pulse Poker was opened on the 15th of November. It has been operating real money games for a month already. One month is not a very long period but this month was full of hard work for HPP team. Many problems were solved and many errors were fixed.

When the room was opened for real money games the software of the room was not ready enough. Though High Pulse had a beta test, several errors and bugs had occurred after the launch. We could see and feel it during playing at the room. These bugs were not serious and support staff made all their best to fix them. Moreover HPP had implemented a new server to make the game more comfortable. Now we can enjoy playing at High Pulse Poker without lags. Ring games are stable and crash free now.

Due to a very large amount of e-mails and work they decided to increase their staff with 400% in November. Now all players receive quality and quick help. Website of the room was also modified. Now it is more informative.

Though High Pulse Poker is a new poker room it offers several interesting promotions with good rewards. €10 000 X MAS Freeroll will be very soon and you will hardly be able to take part. But do not worry. HPP announced another new and very attractive promotion: The Pro Contract. It is a great tournament with more than €20 000 in prizes. Top 3 winners will get WPT Vienna Main Event seats and Pro Contract. Other winners will receive cash prizes. You should definitely try to participate. *Download High Pulse Poker* and try to become a Pro player.

High Pulse Poker is famous because it runs a lot of freerolls. But the real reason to play at HPP is a huge variety of overlay tournaments. Buy-ins vary from 1 euro up to 100. Every player will find a tournament that suits his bankroll. If you have small bankroll you can take part in the “Big Little Tournaments” (very small buy-in and good prize pool). Serious players can participate in daily €5 000 GTD or in weekly €12 000 GTD with €33 buy-in.

As you can see High Pulse Poker is developing and it has real chances to become one of the most attractive poker rooms in the internet. More and more players come to High Pulse to benefit from awesome promotions. Do not miss a chance.