Poker Kiwi

www.pokerheaven.com – As some who have read my previous articles may know by now, after rejoining the world of the live MTT tournaments, I was welcomed back with closed arms somewhat. The past 6 weeks have seen my (A,J) undone by (A,7) whilst I was all in, similarly with (K,K) against (A,Q) and also (7,7) against (A,2). These were all crucial pots for all my chips, and I haven’t even mentioned the lady who flopped four threes with (A,3) against my (Q,Q) and forced me into an excellent fold on the river.

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This week was however, different. After making some good plays, and having two crucial pots go my way, I continued to cut through the field of players until I was chipleader with 25,500. I was aggressive and confident, and more importantly, picking up chips. Alas though it couldn’t last forever, and when faced with a preflop all in for 8,000 from the button with myself in the big blind, I had to call. My (J,J) was dominated by his (Q,Q) and from there my empire began to crumble.

Players saw a chink in my armour, and with the blinds spiraling ever higher, I reacted exactly how I shouldn’t have done…. Like a snail that had just had it’s antenna hit with a spade. I retreated into my shell, played tight and soaked up the retribution from the players I had been bullying not half an hour earlier.

Needless to say, I got worn down and ended up walking into a set of fives when I had made top pair on the flop and pushed all in. Sixth place was certainly an improvement on my previous weeks, and to some degree I am happy. But I can’t help but think I should have played it a little differently. But then there is always next time. Roll on next Wednesday.

One of the first things I should mention about blue square poker, is that they have some very innovative promotions and bonuses, and seem eager to build themselves up into a stronger force within the industry of online poker. One such promotion that caught my attention was a freeroll offered, with a prize of a sponsorship package.

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This is a fantastic offer and one that should really make serious players take notice as it is many players dream to be sponsored and playing the major events on the calendar each year. A tournament league is also in operation at Blue Square, giving players the chance to prove themselves amongst the greatest of online players by rising to the top of the pile.

Support at this site is of an excellent standard I feel, with help being available at any time of the day or night, through email, live chat, and phone lines for customers at wwwbluesquarepoker.com.

New players onsite will find that they automatically gain access to a welcoming $1,000 freeroll, as well as a 100% cash match on first deposits up to an amount of $500. This bonus is released to players in increments based on the amount points earned, but is still a fair offer I feel.

bluesquarepoker.co.uk offer two different types of Stud Game, along with Omaha hi/lo, and Holdem too. The lobby is quite easy to navigate, and the graphics are ok too, but there is a little room for improvement here I feel.

Overall Blue Square is a decent site to play poker on in my opinion, and I am not alone in feeling this, their good traffic flows onsite are a testament to this being the case.

There are several promising things that immediately strike me about Coral Poker, I like the way that the company has sought to offer a good variety of games, with 5 Card Draw, Omaha, Holdem, and Stud games available. As well as this, coral pocker offer the option to play an instant version of their games, or to download the software from the site in it’s entirety.

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www.coralpocker.com as a company, are a large betting company with many different branches of their operations, and as such, aspects such as transaction security, and customer support are of the highest quality. Support is available in multi languages twenty four hours a day seven days a week. This is certainly another of Coral Pokers strong points I feel. Loyalty bonuses, and good first time deposit offers also help Coral to be the high quality poker room that it is, but on a personal level, I feel the graphics and avatars are dated, and they should look to upgrade this soon.

Overall however, I am a fan of coralpocker.com and the effort they have put into creating their poker room and making it of a very good standard. There are numerous gauranteed tournaments, freerolls and other tournaments on the schedules at Coral, and I feel that if they continue to provide an excellent service, their following should grow.

I have no doubt that their top standard customer support, game variety, and other qualities will aid them in this regard, and their only real flaw that I can see, is one shared by many sites. The fact that technology is available to create a far more enjoyable interactive experience for players, but very few sites offer this type of game.

Most of the times I would say that playing almost every hand is a foolish endeavour and will only cost you money in the long run. In some circumstances though, it can be worth seeing a flop if a tournament has just begun and the blinds are very small. The reason for this is that for such a small price, it is worth seeing a flop in case you hit the flop very well indeed.

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Of course it is rare to flop a full house or a straight with a hand like (6,8) but it does happen. As long as you can comfortably fold a half hit hand when you have to, it is worth seeing the flop as long as the pot is unraised. If you choose to do this, you must of course be aware that there will likely be lots of players in the pot and this means the relative strength of a hand diminishes. You may miss the flop most of the time, or catch middle or bottom pair, and these should be easy folds if an opponent raises.

When you do flop a monster though, you are likely to recoup all those small amounts in blinds many times over, not just because of the strength of your hand, but because of the numerous players in the pot. If you think about it, there is far more chance someone caught enough of the flop to be lured in. You must of course be vigilant to the dangers of a bigger hand being out there, but with good judgement this can certainly be a profitable play.

Just ensure that if you do this, you start to tighten up once the blinds go up. Because although you can see a lot of flops when the big blind is very small, you cannot afford to do so once it gets expensive to call. Also try and limp in less often in early position, because there is a higher chance that someone behind you will raise the pot after you have flat called.