This is the winner of the NoPayPOKER.com Free Poker Article Competition for December 2009, member cnofsued got $1000 FreeD

This approach is just as applicable to free poker games as it is to the money tables, practice it with the NoPayPOKER FreeD and chips and you’ll be doing it naturally when the time comes to play with real green on the felt.

To start then:

Before you even hit the tables, set yourself a couple of ground rules on spending money and time. You DO NOT want to spend an hour losing money over and over again.

I tend to set myself three conditions. Upon meeting one of them I quit the table and take a break from poker.

While it may seem like they will restrict your winnings, and cause you to make slow progress in the poker world, you limit your losses, and so stop yourself progressing backwards. A penny saved is a penny earned, and those pennies will build up over time if you restrict your losses and have PATIENCE!

In short these rules are to stop you from blowing a big win over a series of stupid calls. I almost always use the same three rules:

1. If I have lost half the money I bought in with, quit and come back later.

2. If I have doubled the money I have bought in with, and start losing it, quit and come back later. On a side note never risk losing a big hard earned stack by going all in. I made this rule and adhere strictly to it so that I never make a loss on what I have earned.

3. If you’re going nowhere (played for 20-30 mins in my case) and haven’t made significant gain or loss then quit and come back later, chances are your luck will be better.

After joining a table to win big it’s all about playing the people, not the cards. It’s no use going all in with a royal flush knowing you’re bound to win, and watching everyone at the table fold.

A rather general guideline (no more rules!) is that players tend to bet big when bluffing, and small when they have a great hand to try and squeeze as much cash out of everyone as possible.

However, this is not always true. First look at the players at the table, try to guess their playing styles, notice patterns in their behaviour and then apply this guideline to them. It works for me I would say around 80-90% if the time.

A good poker player will try and do this to you so always vary how you play after you hit the table! If you make yourself seem predictable and easy to read. E.g. start off by folding weak hands and only playing the good ones. When people see that you raise whenever you get a good hand, and fold on weak cards they will write you off as unable to bluff, and you can bluff your way through the next couple of weak hands, with most being too scared to call your bluff.

If the cards aren’t going your way, try making it obvious that you are a bluffer (without losing too much). Then as soon as a good hand does come along (it will eventually, it’s all just about PATIENCE) then you can bet big, people will probably call your bluff, and you can just rake in their cash.

If you’re a poker beginner start out playing on free poker sites and learn before you start risking real money. You’ll find that many free players don’t do rules very well and play silly but you will get a lot of experience in general game aspects on free poker sites so that you won’t waste too much money when you play for the real thing.

This is the Runner up in the NoPayPOKER.com Free Poker Article Competition for December 2009, member only1dani got $250 FreeD

Playing free online poker does not mean you cannot earn real dollars while doing it.

There are many forums and blogs online that will tell you the sites with the most and the best free poker freerolls. The work in finding them has already been done for you all you have to do is try them and get to the business of playing real money poker for free.

While searching for the lists of freerolls read several of the articles and/or forums, the reason for doing this is many will list the same free poker sites and this will help you in making a decision on which ones to try.  If you see the same sites listed over and over you can assume these are the ones you should try first but don’t limit yourself to just these, many smaller sites will offer more frequent freerolls to build their clientele.

There are so many free poker sites that offer them you should have no trouble finding several that you like…Naturally as you are here on NoPayPOKER I expect you’re going to give our free poker a go

Once you have made the decision as to what site you want to try first and have registered for your first game, play it tightly and watch the game carefully, besides trying to win you want to stay on the table so you can get a feel of the games and how the players play on that site. do this each time you try a new site.

There will be “donkeys” and “chip slingers” on every game you play but the trick is let them either win and settle down or to lose and go out, your object, especially in these first few games is to make it to the money, even if its just a very small amount.

You cannot cash out what you won in a freeroll on many sites, they have requirements that you must meet before you are allowed to cash out so read the requirements prior to playing so you know where you stand. You can however on almost every site use your freeroll winnings to buy into other tournaments and the winnings in those are yours to cash out.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t win at first, be patient and keep in mind that you are playing real genuine free online poker AND winning real money with no investment on your part except your time so why not try to actually earn money while you play the game you love.

This article was a runner up in the NoPayPOKER January poker article writing contest. Member ZeppelinV got $100 FreeD.

Single Table Tournaments, STT’s or SNG as they are called, can be serious Bankroll boosters with a little forethought prior to play. I currently play a lot of free Texas Holdem online poker as well as money site $5.00 and $10.00 SNG’s with a fair amount of success.

This is a simple version of how I play them and succeed:
Solid and Tight early on.

1. This means that early in a tournament (even if it is a free poker one) you only play premium hands.
2. Position is very important. Pairs from 22 thru 99 I only call and then only up to only 3 times the Big Blind. A larger raise and I fold them.
3. Larger pairs like 1010, JJ, QQ, KK, and AA of course call for a raise on a short table. Be prepared to call an all in with any of those.
4. Hands like QJ, QK, KJ, and A 10 I play like small pairs and fold to raises larger than 3 times the Big Blind.

Now the hands that can get you into trouble.

AJ, AQ, and AK….you’ve got to know when to fold them! They are great hands when down to 3 or maybe 4 players left, but early on they are dead to any pair.

Learn to lay them down in the early part of a tourney. One of the things I also do until I get to the last 3 and in the money is show my winners. The table see’s those KK and trip 7’s and so on. And I haven’t bluffed on a single hand…Yet. That comes when only 3 are left. Then no more show and tell.

This sets up some great steals. All they have seen is winners from you…they have no reason to believe you don’t have them now. But take care with this, use it too often and you’ll get caught. On some tables it may also be bad etiquette so take care.

Kill the Bingo Players

By only playing premium hands in the early stages you allow the “Bingo” players to play themselves out. Chances are by playing Solid and Tight you will have the opportunity to take one or two out yourselves.

Aim to Win

The whole idea in any tournament is to win of course. However, making the money places in SNG’s is much easier than in an MTT. In most cases top 3 pay with 3rd usually paying back at least your buy-in. So making the money places is critical to successful SNG play. So aim to win and as long as you play well you should at least place most of the time.

These are just a few common sense factors that I employ when playing for cash. I have played poker in many forms and fashions for a lot of years, but I do have to agree with Doyle Brunson..”No Limit Holdem can be learned in an hour but takes a lifetime to master.” You go Doyle. Hope some of this helps someone improve their game.

To this I’d add, when you start or if you’re already familiar with poker but struggling – go and practice on micro/low stakes or free poker site tournaments such as you’ll find at NoPayPOKER. There are some great ones out there and you can play loads with little or nothing at risk and in doing so really build your confidence and skills before starting to risk it bigger.

When you start playing poker even a free poker game or tournament can be confusing. All those poker words, they make no sense!

That’s where NoPayPOKER’s free poker game hands guide comes to the rescue.

The free poker games hands guide is split into 3 sections:

1. Important Poker Hand Related terms.
2. Starting Poker Hands.
3. Game play Poker Hands.
4. For a quick poker hands video fun guide see Free Poker Hand Guide on YouTube

This guide only covers poker Hand and Card words. We’ll cover things like all the betting, odds, bluffing and action terms in another guide.

If you know a poker Hand name that’s not on here let us know what it is and the definition and we’ll add it. If you can’t find what you’re looking for contact us and tell us the poker word you need to know about and we’ll try to help.

The type of free poker game played on NoPayPOKER is called Texas Hold ‘em. If you are totally new to poker here is a very brief game overview. For a more detailed game guide see our free poker game guide here.

• Poker games are played as a series of rounds or hands. Each round of gameplay involves 4 inner-rounds of betting before the winner is declared.
• Players compete to win chips that represent monetary value. This value varies depending on the value assigned to the game.
• At the end the winner, or winners depending on the game variation cash in their chips for their winnings.
• Winning and losing is determined by the strength of the cards a player has – his or her “Hand power” in relation to the other players

At the start of a poker game, free poker or otherwise, you’re given 2 cards to start.

• These 2 cards are your “Starting Hand” also called your “Hole cards”.
• Only YOU see these cards.
• After the starting hand cards have been given out there are 4 rounds of betting. The first round is based on just the 2 hole cards.
• Then 3 more rounds called the Flop, Turn and River where a total of 5 more cards are added to the poker table.
• Unlike the private Hole Cards these cards are public. They are called either Board Cards or Community cards.
• Your hole cards plus the Board cards are what make up your personal “Hand”.
• Your Hand plus your game play/acting skills plus maybe some luck determines your success of failure in the game.

So Starting Hands are the 2 secret Hole Cards you get at the start and Game Hands means your 2 hole cards plus the best 3 of the 5 community cards.

Important Poker Hand Related Terms

These terms will help you understand some of the terms that relate to poker hands.

Blank or Brick
A card that means nothing to anyone’s hand. For example, in a hold’em game if the board is: As Ks Jd 8h, if a 3c came on the river, the 3c is considered a blank. Also known as a Brick.

Board Cards or Community Cards
The cards dealt during the 3 rounds that go in the middle of the table and are shared by everyone.

Connected
When your hole (starting) cards are consecutive, (8,9, 4,5, etc). Suited and connected means consecutive cards of the same suit, (Qs Js 2d 3d).

Hole Card
A card which is dealt to the player face down so that no other player can see it. Also known as Down Card.

Kicker
Highest card that is unrelated to the hand held. E.g., QQJ89 = Jack kicker. Important in tie break situations where the highest kicker will in the hand. So with QQJ89 vs QQ985 the Jack kicker wins it. If the first kickers match then the next kickers down are used. Example QQJ89 vs QQJ65 = 8 vs 6 as the 2nd kicker so the hand with 8 wins.

Near Nuts
Almost the best hand possible with just one or more very unlikely hands that could beat it. For example, if you have AA, and the board is AKK93, you have the near nuts, because someone else may have 4-of-a-kind kings.

Nuts
The best possible hand that is a guaranteed winner. Also known as Lock, Nut Hand.
�
Paint
A face card or card of high value (Jack, Queen, King, Ace).
�
Pocket Pair
Having two hole cards of the same rank in your Starting Hand.

Rainbow
A board that is comprised entirely of different suits. For example, a flop of Ace of hearts, King of clubs, and 6 of diamonds could be described as AK6 rainbow.
�
Rank
The number or letter on the card. The highest rank is Ace, and the lowest rank is 2. However, the Ace can usually be used as a “1″ in a straight. The ranks are sometimes abbreviated as follows:

• A – Ace
• K – King
• Q – Queen
• J – Jack
• T – Ten
• 9 – Nine, 8 – Eight etc down to 2 – Two

Stone Cold Nuts
The best holding possible in a hand of poker that will win the entire pot (as opposed to possibly winning only half or some fraction). Such an example would be holding a suited ace and making a flush with it on an unpaired board in Hold’Em. This is in contrast to holding an ace high straight, which even though it may not possibly be beaten, could end up in a tie with another one.

Suit
Spades (s), hearts (h), diamonds (d), or clubs (c). Important for determining a flush, but has no other meaning in most poker games.

Suited
Starting hands with two cards of the same suit. Suited hands are better than unsuited hands because of flush possibilities. Sometimes denoted by an ‘s’; for example, T9s is pronounced “Ten-nine suited” and refers to a 10 (T) and an 9 of the same suit.

Suited Connector
Two starting hand (hole) cards of the same suit that are consecutive in rank. e.g. 9 and 8 of spades.

Wired Pair
A Pair in your starting hand.

Starting Hands

Ace Magnets
2 Kings (KK) Also called Cowboys.

Action Jackson
Ace-Jack (AJ) Also called Ajax or Blackjack.

Ajax
Ace-Jack (AJ). Also called Action Jackson or Blackjack.

American Airlines
2 Aces (AA). Also called Rockets, Bullets or Pocket Rockets.

Anna Kournakova
Ace King (AK). Looks pretty but never wins!

Axs
Poker abbreviation for Ace-X suited. An Ace and a low card of the same suit, normally 9 or less.

Ballerina
Two 2′s (2,2) Also known as Ducks, Deuces or Swans.

Baseball
A 3 and 9 (3,9)

Baskin Robbins
Ace-Three (A3)

Beer Hand
Generally a 2-7 offsuit, although 2-7 suited is often called a beer hand too. It’s the worst starting hand in hold em and justifies a beer! Also called Dead Mans Hand.

Blackjack
Ace-Jack (AJ). Also called Action Jackson or Ajax.

Big Chick
Ace and Queen (AQ).

Big Slick
Ace and a king (AK). Also known as Anna Kournakova

Bird on a Stick
7,2. Awful. Also known as Beer Hand.

Brothers
Pair of Jacks (JJ). Also known as Hooks.

Buckets
A pair of fours (4,4).

Bullets
A pair of Aces. Also known as Rockets, Pocket Rockets or American Airlines.

Candy Canes
Two 7s, (7,7). Also known as Hockey Sticks.

Canine
King-Nine (K9). Also known as Dog

Colt 45
4 and 5 of spades (4,5)

Cowboys
2 kings (KK), also known as Ace Magnets.

Crabs
Two 3 (3,3)

Dead Mans Hand (Starting Hand)
Starting hand – A 2 7 offsuit. Considered the worst hand in Texas Hold ‘Em. Also known as a Beer Hand. There is also another version of this hand name in the Game Play Hands section.

Deuces
A Pair of two’s, also known as Ballerina, Ducks or Swans.

Dog
King-Nine (K9). Also known as Canine.

Dolly Parton
9, 5 (for her movie of same name).

Ducks
A pair of two’s, also known as Deuces, Ballerina or Swans.

Flat Tire
Jack and Four suited or not. As in If you have a flat tire, it’s what you use the jack “four”. Also known as Full Employment.

Forking Idiot �
A Four-King (4K).

Full Employment�
Jack 4. Named full employment because if you play Jack 4 you’ll always have a day job. Also known as a Flat Tire.

Gay Waiter �
A Queen and Three.

German Virgins
Two nines (9,9). Nine in English is very similar to the German for No “Nein”. Two nines then are “Nein Nein” then which might be said by a reluctant young German lady! Poker eh! Also known as Wayne Gretzky.

Ghost Dog
A 4 and a 7.

Hammer
7 and 2. Also Beer Hand and Dead Mans Hand. “Dropping the hammer” refers to winning with this terrible starting hand (a very rare event!)

Hilton Sisters
Two queens, (Q,Q)  Also known as: Ladies and Siegfried and Roy

Hockey sticks
A pair of sevens, (7,7) Also known as Candy Canes.

Hooks
A Pair of Jacks (JJ), Also known as Brothers.

Jackson Five
A Jack and a Five (J,5)

Jacquese
A Jack and a Queen. (JQ)
�
Johnny Moss
Starting hand Ace-Ten. (AT) Named after the famous poker player.

Jordan
A 2-3. Named for Michael Jordan’s number.

Kamikaze
Two Kings. (KK) Also called Ace Magnets and Cowboys and as a name for a player who has lost it and started playing erratically.

King Crab
A King and 3. (K3)

Kojak
A King-Jack (KJ)
�
Ladies
Two queens (QQ). Also known as Hilton Sisters and Siegfried and Roy
�
Lady
Reference to a queen.
�
Little Slick
An ace-queen (AQ). Also known as Big Chick.

Mid-Life Crisis
Two 4′s (4,4)

Motown
Jack and five (J5)

Octopus
Two 8′s (8,8)
�
Oldsmobile�
Nine-eight (9,8).

Pocket Rockets �
2 Aces (AA) Also known as Rockets, Bullets and American Airlines.

Rockets
2 Aces, (AA) Also known as: American Airlines, Pocket Rockets and Bullets.

Newlyweds
A King-Queen, (KQ)

Roger
A Ten and a 4, (T4), referring to a “10-4″ response of “Roger” Also known as The Trucker.

Route 66�
Two six’s (6,6)

Sailboats
Two fours (4,4)

Siegfried and Roy
A pair of Queens starting hand. Also known as Ladies and Hilton Sisters.
�
Snowmen
Two eights (8,8)

Split
A 7 and a 10.
�
Stalingrad
A 4 and 2. Named after the defeat of the 6th German Army in the battle for Stalingrad in 1942. Because with 4 and 2 your chances to win the round are very poor.

Stilts
Two 7′s, (7,7). Also known as Walking Sticks or Sunset Strip.

Sunset Strip
Two 7′s, (7,7). Also known as Walking Sticks or Stilts.

Swans
Two 2s (2,2) Also known as ducks, deuces or ballerinas.

The Trucker
A Ten and a 4, (T4), Also known as Roger.

Transvestite
An Ace Four (A4). Called so as when you first turn over the cards it looks like two aces, but on closer inspection all is not what it seems.

Walking Sticks
Two 7′s, (7,7). Also known as Sticks or Sunset Strip.

Wayne Gretzky
Two nines (9, 9) Also known as German Virgin.

Woolworth’s
A 5 and 10.

Poker Game Play Hands

In any poker game, free poker or Monaco level stakes your game play Hand is simply it’s your group of five cards made up from your 2 Starting Hand private cards combined with the best 3 of the 5 board/community cards related to your hole cards.

The ranking order is as follows.

• Straight Flush
• Four of a Kind
• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• Three of a Kind
• Two Pair
• Pair
• High Card

Here are the most common poker hand names and meanings:

Ace High
No pairs and an Ace high card. Beats all other hands with no high cards.

Ace Rag�
An Ace with a weak “Kicker”

Aces Up
Two pairs where one pair are Aces.

Belly Buster
A hand with four of the five cards needed for a straight, but missing one in the middle. For example, 9-x-7-6-5. Also known as an inside straight draw or Gutshot.

Bicycle
The poker hand A2345. This is the lowest possible straight. Also known as Wheel.

Boat
A poker hand consisting of a three-of-a-kind and a pair. Also known as Full House or Full Boat.

Broadway
Broadway means a straight from ten to ace. The best possible straight (AKQJT)

Dead Mans Hand (Game Play hand)
Two pair of aces and eights. Legendary lawman and gambler Wild Bill Hickok was shot to death while holding this hand.

Flush
Poker hand consisting of 5 cards of the same suit.

Four of a Kind
Poker hand of four cards of the same rank and one other card. Also known as Quads

Full Boat
A poker hand consisting of a three-of-a-kind and a pair. Also known as Full House or just Boat.
�
Full House
A poker hand consisting of a three-of-a-kind and a pair. Also known as Full Boat or just Boat.

Golf Bag
A flush of clubs

Gutshot
A hand with four of the five cards needed for a straight, but missing one in the middle. Also known as an inside straight draw or Belly Buster.
�
High Card
To hold a poker hand that does not contain anything special. No paired cards, a straight, or a flush. Their poker hand is simply referred to their highest ranking card. A person with AKJ75 would have a high card ace, while the rest of the cards are kickers.

Mommas and Poppas
Pair of Queens and Kings

Pair
Two cards of the same rank. For example, KKQ54 would be referred to as holding a pair of Kings.�
�
Quads
The hand of Four of a kind, holding four cards of the same rank. Also called Four of a Kind.

Rockies
A Set of Aces�
�
Royal Flush
The poker hand consisting of AKQJT of the same suit. The highest possible Straight Flush.

Set
Three of a kind. Where 2 hole/pocket cards connect to one board card to create the threesome.

Steel Wheel
A straight flush, Ace to Five, A2345

Straight
Poker hand consisting of 5 cards whose ranks form a sequence. The highest possible straight is AKQJT (Broadway) and the lowest straight is 5432A (Steel wheel).

Straight Flush
Both a Straight and a Flush. Poker hand consisting of 5 cards of the same suit whose ranks form a sequence. The highest possible straight flush is AKQJT of the same suit (also called the Royal Flush). The lowest possible straight flush is 5432A of the same suit.

Tackle Box
A set of Jacks (hooks, J’s)�
�
Three of a Kind
A poker hand consisting of three cards of the same rank, and two unpaired cards. Also known as Trips.

Three Wise Men
Three Kings. Trips or Set.

Trips
Three of a Kind. Where one hole card connects to two board cards to make the threesome.

Two Pair
Holding two pairs.
�
Unsuited
Mixed card hand, E.g., 8c,Jd Also known as Offsuit.

Wheel
A wheel is the poker hand A2345, the lowest possible straight. Also known as a Bicycle.

That’s it for the free poker game hands and card names meanings and definitions glossary. We hope you found what you were looking for. See you at the tables for a good fun free poker game very soon!