Poker Kiwi

coralpocker.com – As I have often pointed out before, I believe that aggressive play in poker, is a profitable way to play. This is of course dependant on showing restraint when situations call for it. But probing for weaknesses with bets, and putting pressure on players when you perceive them to be weak, can help your chipstack growth considerably.

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Despite all this, there are other factors to take into account with aggressive play. Persistent aggressive play is likely to get you into trouble eventually, as although stealing blinds and picking up pots can be done successfully quite often, sooner or later you will walk into a hand.

If an opposing player has been observing your play and finds they then catch a flop very well when you are in the pot, they may well check, and allow you to build the pot for them. This is bound to happen eventually with such play, but when you think about it, a player does not necessarily need to hit a flop well to strike back. With an accurate read and enough courage, a player can wait for their moment, then reraise an aggressive player, even if they have no hand to speak of themselves.

So the bottom line is that you should be aggressive when you feel the timing is right to be, and you can bring in quite a few extra chips in this way. You must however, be wary about pushing players around too much.

www.pkr.com – In terms of your thought processes whilst playing poker, you can never predict what card will be turned over next, which goes without saying. But that does not mean that you cannot be completely ready to make a great move when the action gets round to you. When it comes to making such plans in the heat of the moment, you have to be prepared for what an opponent is about to do.

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Quickly considering your response to possible scenarios before the action gets to you, can be key to a bluff working or failing. An example of this would be a hand in which I was involved a few weeks ago in a live tournament. Three of us went to the flop which came down (3,5,9) or something similar. I was in second position having not connected in any way with the flop. The first player checked, and (knowing the third player to act loved putting out tester bets to try and pick up pots) I immediately thought ‘If I check too, I know the last player to act will raise in order to pick up the pot’ so I checked, and right on cue, the raise came in. Player one folded, and I moved all in, causing my opponent to instantly fold his hand face up. So of course I had to show him his high card was leading, and needless to say, didn’t find myself being bluffed for a while after.

But the only reason that play worked so well, was because I already knew what my opponent was going to do, perhaps even before he did.

Always try and read the game and the hands you are involved in, and be ready to react to what you expect your opponents are likely to do.

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www.pkr.com - Whether it is your own behaviour, or that of your opponents, reactions to circumstances play an important role in what decisions end up being made. Sometimes this behaviour can be talking an opponent into or out of calling, intentionally, or giving away signs in your body language unintentionally. I think different types of player will pay more attention to these reactions than others, and you can even try and throw a false signal to players who you know, look for these reactions.

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It has been said that players will throw chips into a pot with more emphasis to convey strength when they are actually weak, and vice versa. But if you depended on this type of behavioural change to make your decisions, you would leave yourself open to someone being aware of this and doing the reverse of what you would expect.

There have been players in televised games before who have seemed arrogant and talked incessantly, and I do not like this type of behaviour myself, but it does work sometimes for pro players such as ‘Tony G’. The reason he is being abrasive in his goading and talking on a regular basis, is to induce his opponents to make a call that they wouldn’t normally make. I think this goes against the spirit of the game and I would not do this. If you are ever faced by a similar type of player, it is always best to remeber, the only reason they do it, is to force you into reacting with your emotions as opposed to your logic.

www.pkr.com – The game itself is something that can be difficult to learn for new players, but often the phrases used during play can be , often have nicknames to start with, and some of the following are commonly used.

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Pocket Aces can be known as ‘pocket rockets’ and ‘bullets’ amongst other things, with (K,K) sometimes referred to as ‘cowboys’. (Q,Q) is often called ‘ladies’ for obvious reasons, and (J,J) is known as ‘princes’ or ‘hooks’. (8,8) is often called ‘snowmen’ and (2,2) is called ‘ducks’ or ‘deuces’ to name but a few hand nicknames.

In our local tournament, (A,2) up to (A,10) is generally known as a ‘rag ace’ too, although I am sure you will find different nicknames for hands in different places.

In terms of new players, you will not have to learn all this language in order to play poker, you only really need to know how to let your opponents know your actions when you are raising, calling, or folding. Although all these names may sound strange, you should pick them up relatively quickly simply by being involved in games of poker.

It is not only the hand types that have nicknames of course, ‘calling the clock’ on a player means to give them a set amount of time to make their decision, and a ‘race’ is a general term used to denote a pocket pair against two overcards. All in all I advise playing the game and not worrying too much about the lingo involved, and if you do need to know what a phrase means, just ask your fellow players.

www.coralpocker.com – When examining this question, we should firstly make it clear that there are many different types of play which could be considered bluffing, and not all are as risky as the others. Take the ‘Semi Bluff’ for example, this involves a player trying to force another player out of the pot, whilst having a big draw which could hit the board and save you, if you happen to be called. If I find myself in this position, I always like to make a semi bluff at the pot, and feel it is a profitable play, albeit a slightly risky one.

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Making outright large bluffs with no safety net if you get called, are plays which should not be used often I feel. You can pick up relatively small pots several times doing this, but you only need to be called once to do serious damage to your chipstack. The most important thing of course, is to use your preliminary bets and those of your opponent, to form an opinion on when it is right to press the issue with a bluff of some sort, and when to back down.

Bets which are made to test the strength of your opponents are not really bluffs in my books, although in some sense you could say they qualify. You are effectively putting a small amount of chips on the line to hopefully push your opponent out of the pot, but if you don’t, their call or reraise will tell you a lot about the hand you are facing.

Some players will invariably choose to bluff more often than others, but in my opinion, the only bluffs you can use regularly, are semi bluffs and tester bets.

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Many of the promotions offered at Coral Poker are in the form of special tournaments running. This means that most of the players onsite who play tournaments of some form or other, will get to benefit from this.

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There are seats to be won in the 2009 Aussie Millions tournament here, which provides a stepping stone to something potentially spectacular for talented online players. Chris Moneymaker as an example, famously won his seat in the main event of the WSOP via an online satellite, then went on to win the tournament. A seat can also be won to the EPT in Prague, which presents another exciting prospect for those who wish to have their chance on a bigger stage.

As well as these tournaments, there is a regular ‘Guest List’ tournament. This is a $10,000 freeroll, but entrance is restricted to specific criteria being fulfilled. Making very big hands in cash games, winning three SnG’s in a row amongst other things, can gain you a seat. Also running are ‘Monkey Madness’ tournaments which offer large prizes for players who finish just inside the money, and decreasing prizes up to 1st place, which pays a good prize.

As you could imagine, this would indeed create a mad tournament the moment the bubble burst. These promotional tournaments are interesting prospects for those who enjoy tournament play (myself included), and with a promotional first time deposit bonus of 100%, you should be able to afford the seat too.

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bluesquarepoker.co.uk - Yesterday was an extremely happy day for me, the reason being that after 12 weeks or so of going along to my local three table MTT game, I am pleased to say that I have finally won it. For a while now I have been beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with my short handed play because I’d had 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places, but hadn’t broken into the top two yet. All that changed last night after a successful past week for me in general actually.

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Despite not being particularly high on the leaderboard for our local league, I started out playing well in the final big game. During the middle phase after I had moved tables, things began to change, but I soon decided if I was going to make the money I had to just get stuck in with some hands and gamble a little. Luckily this paid off and I eventually finished 4th place for £130.

The money wasn’t the main point though, most importantly, I’d really played a great game at the final table and felt very much on form coming into last nights game. Despite finding myself short stacked with seven players to go, I refused to allow myself to get so low that I wouldn’t have a chance of winning, and after picking up some blinds with (3,3) on two occasions, I soon doubled up with (K,K). I kept the momentum going to get to the final three, and was lucky enough to find another (K,K) when the small stack shoved preflop wth (A,Q).

It was all over the very next hand when I called an all in raise preflop with (Qd,Jd) against (Qs,10s). Needless to say I have got my confidence back now, and will go along to Saturday nights game with high hopes.

In terms of first time deposits, www.pokerheaven.com offers it’s players a 200% bonus which is amongst the best offers you will find on any poker room around. There is a very good loyalty points system in place too with merchandise available for purchase, as well as seats in specific tournaments onsite.

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The game variety onsite is more than enough for most players I feel, with Texas Holdem, Omaha, Seven Card Stud, and Five Card Draw all being on offer. There is even a news section on the homepage which keeps players up to date with all the latest news both at pokerheaven.com, and in the poker world as a whole.
There is a Sit n Go league ongoing here also, with large scale gauranteed tournaments for those with deeper pockets, or those with the skill to win a seat through satellites.

Refer a friend bonuses stand at 50 Euros for each friend at Poker heaven, which is quite a nice bonus for those who know fellow poker players wishing to find an online site.
In terms of help and support there are several options available, but the live chat option is in my opinion the best of these. Jackpot Sit n Go’s give the opporunity for the best players onsite to scoop themselves a very big payday, and for the most part, I struggle to find fault with Pokerheaven. In terms of graphics, the site looks good, and transaction security is excellent. Overall, I think this poker room has all the makings of a great place to play online poker.

www.pkr.com - There are some players who will quote this hand as being the hand that has lost them the most money, and the reason for this is that the hand is strong enough to make you not want to put it down preflop, but vulnerable enough to get you into big trouble.

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If the you raise the pot preflop, and the flop comes with an overcard, which is quite possible, it becomes difficult to know where you stand. I would of course advocate a tester bet to get a feel for the relative strength of your hand, but if you are flat called, you have a similar predicament on the turn. Generally speaking, a strong raise preflop with (J,J) should give you an idea of where you are. Personally, I raise big preflop, and if I am called, then I will bet out heavily on a flop with no overcards to my Jack. If there is an overcard, I will bet smaller, and if I am reraised, fold the hand. If someone pushes all in after my strong raise before the flop, then this creates a dilemma.

Factor in the type of player your opponent is, how many chips they have left, and trust your judgement. Generally though, I will fold if someone pushes all in over the top of my strong bet preflop. The reason is, most players would not move all in over the top with a weaker hand than (J,J), and at best you are probably racing against two overcards. If you are happy to gamble your remaining chips on a probable coin flip because you are short stacked, then fair enough, but for the most part, I like to get my chips in with at least 60% to win the pot, when at all possible.

The way poker is understood by the masses is something which has been changing in recent years, as the game spent much of it’s early days being frowned upon and considered immoral. The reasonings behind this were partly due to the notoriety the game developed as being a game for cheaters and gambling addicts. It was not just poker that fell into this category I might add, but gambling as a whole.

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In the earlier days of poker when it was played on the Mississippi riverboats, we can imagine that it may well have been rife with cheating, and this is documented as having been the case. Despite this, the game began to flourish in the past twenty years, at an unprecedented rate, and this for me, shows the beauty and allure of the game itself.

Even though films and people unfamiliar with the game portrayed it in a bad light, still it grew. With the game beginning to become more widely televised in the earlier part of this decade, it has broken free from it’s prison of prejudgment. With the average person who may have been curious about the game beforehand, seeing it played, enjoyed, and kept free of cheating in designated tournament venues, the surge in players was never likely to abate thereafter, I feel.

As we can see from the fact that poker has spread around the world like wildfire in the past few years, you can never keep such a great game down forever. In it’s beginnings, all the game really needed was fairness and guidance as opposed to ill sentiment in the eyes of the people. But no matter how dark a picture was painted of poker (justifiably or not), the simple, exquisite beauty of what the game is all about, could not be forever constrained.