Free online poker skins and card sets for NoPayPOKER

For a detailed guide to how to save and use them see this page first - http://www.nopaypoker.com/UserSection/StaticPages/content/gameskins.aspx

For a simpler guide plus even more skins to download see here or copy and paste http://www.nopaypoker.com/UserSection/StaticPages/content/pokerskins.aspx

Screen shots
	Download Ghazarian Skin HEREAbout: A kinda safari cheetah skin feel.

	Download free online poker skin DUCATI hereAbout: The classic bikes come to a poker tabel near you!

	Download RicoXZCars Skin and Cards HEREAbout: Disney car fun! A skin and custom poker card set.

	Download Tiger Shark Free poker table HEREAbout: Is it a tiger or a tiger shark? Actually it’s a tiger underwater so a bit of a mix.

	Download Dallas Cowboys free online poker table HEREAbout: Pretty self explanatory!

	Download Namzzzys 4 color poker deck hereAbout: Cool new card set in 4 colors.

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Is poker, be it free poker games or big stakes cash a math game, or a game based primarily on psychology? Players are still debating on how to classify poker, although they will unanimously agree that poker contains both mathematical and psychological elements.

Some people advise knowing the pot odds in order to determine whether a call is proper or not. Some will instruct you to take the tells of other players. Some advise knowing the odds preflop. Some will tell you to bluff a tight player and trap a loose player.

I have tried to reconcile the mathematical and the psychological element in poker when playing. In some ways, they are intertwined. Knowing the pot odds is a mathematical way of playing. But if your opponent keeps betting weakly every Flop when you have a draw, then you can exploit this to your advantage. Call.

If you know that your opponent doesn’t give mathematical attention to pot odds, then it is a part of his psychological character. Determine his character. Usually a mathematically-inclined player will get chips because all other players are making mathematically ill-advised moves. And the analysis behind this is a psychological analysis – the way how others play.

Usually, a math player is believed to play the cards; a psychological player plays the other players.

These distinctions are not so hard-fast, and many players can effectively do both. A math player in a board of 10-7-3-4-8 will bet or call a bet with A-7, if only he psychologically knows that (1) the board cards are small so that it would not help the other players, and (2) the opponent should raise if he has a hand better than top Pair. Both analyses are mathematical [note the 'small' in (1) and the 'better' in (2)] and psychological ['other players' in (1) and 'opponent should raise' in (2)].

Math and psychology, it turns out, go together. But there are situations where one of the two will prevail. When you are on a draw, you use pot odds to call. When you are short-stacked, you move all-in with a small Pair. When the table is so tight, you bluff without remembering at your hand. On a loose table, you wait for a trap.

In exceptional situations, they go together. Against a good player, you mix-up your play. This means playing in a way so random (math) that the other players get bothered over their inability to get a read from you (psychology). And when someone moves all-in against you when you have a marginal hand, you determine your stack size relative to him and use some pot odds (math) and figure out the chances he may be bluffing or trying to steal with a more marginal hand, and this requires a track history (psychology)

And what better place to practice your poker math and mind games than at our very own dear old free online poker heaven http://www.NoPayPOKER.com where you can play free poker games 24-7 with no risk of losing money like you do at on money sites while still winning real cash.

Feltstars are hosting their monthly $1,000 Community Freeroll where all NoPayPOKER Referrals are invited.

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To win more in poker, be it free online poker games or big cash you need to keep your opponents off balance, to unnerve the, make them fearful of your position and intentions, above all, make them pay through the nose for any transient gains or information you have to give them and in doing so allow you to set them up for even bigger falls later.

Your aim is to make them believe that the cost they have to pay for their potential gain in playing against you is too risky to justify so that they fold out or make errors and/or if they do go through with it and win a hand the price they pay is to give you information on their playing style while all they get is fearful knowledge of your unpredictable playing style. Lets look at some examples of this in action.

If you have A-A and the Flop comes 9-8-3, if you bet and you get a call, you expect your opponent to have paired one of his hole cards. Your opponent may also have a Straight draw with J-10 or 7-6. In the first case, you can afford to reach showdown because your opponent is also willing to reach showdown, but is unwilling to raise or call raises, so you play semi-aggressively; check-call or value-bet. In the second case, your hand may be unplayable if your opponent hits a Five or a Queen later. In this situation you have to play your Aces more aggressively than in the first case.

How is this? when your opponent doesn’t have something, why should you play more strongly? Exactly – because your opponent doesn’t have something. In the first case, your opponent has a “something”, but it is not strong enough against yours. You can afford a few value-bets because your opponent may fold if you bet too strongly. In the second case, you play more strongly because you want your opponent to stay in the state where he doesn’t have something. If he hits the Five or a Queen (or a Flush card), your Aces are quite unplayable if he plays-back too strongly later.

Make your opponents pay for their draws. Usually they are unwilling to pay; if you check, they check too. If you bet, they call. So: if you think your opponent is drawing, don’t check, and bet massively. Make the pot odds turn against their favor.

If they decide to call your bet, it’s time to be careful. If they suddenly take the lead during the later rounds by betting or by raising you, you have to think twice whether they are really on a draw or not during the Flop. But if they check, take the lead again. Perhaps they are still on a draw, and if they have hit it or not, they’ll remind you with their sudden and swift but all-too-readable actions, and you can fold your Aces without much remorse.

In the river, if no Straight or Flush-possible cards fall, you should bet again. Avoid showing your hand as much as possible. Your opponent can’t call here – and will fold. If you show your hand then your opponent will get a hint as to what your playing style is. So make your opponent pay for this information as well.

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Suppose your playing any type of poker, free online poker or cash and you have A-10 and the board comes up 8-6-Q-3-2. What hands do you expect your opponent to have? It may be Q-x, 7-6 or something.

However, notice the board: It contains no opportunities for Straights to form. So you can figure out that if your opponent called (just called) your last two bets which are bluffs, then you can put him on a Straight draw (possibly 9-7 or 10-9).

Now you want your opponent to believe that you have a Queen, but you feel that you have the best hand (and let us assume that you really do have the best hand). Let us add that you won’t call a bet, because you have nothing, and you won’t raise a bettor. Should you still bet, or just check?

Let us see the differences between the outcomes of these two actions. Suppose you are first to act, and you just check. If you just check, are you quite sure that your opponent will reveal his busted Straight draw? No.

If he has a hand as good as J-8 or 9-6 expect a showdown. But if your opponent missed his draws, then he will try to save himself the embarrassment of being a draw-chaser by bluffing, and you will fold.

He won’t check Nine-high or Ten-high, of course. Expect a small bet which you won’t call.

If your opponent is first to act and checks, and you check, it is with the conviction that your Ace-high is the best hand. However, revealing Ace-high will cement your reputation as a bluffer, and if you repeat bluffing later, others will be running you down with less than premium hands, such as second top Pair or even a small pocket Pair.
So you gain chips now, but at the cost of cramping your aggressive (maybe loose-aggressive) style.

Now suppose you are first to act, and you bet. Because your opponent has a busted draw, do not expect that he will call. You still win the pot. Furthermore, because the hand ended before you show down your hole cards, then your opponent will be left guessing as to what your hand really was.

This is the position you want to put your opponent in – he has a lot of guesswork to do, and his brain will be muddled as to what you are holding and as to what you may be holding if you repeat your bluffing later.

Even someone with 9-8 may fold. Why? Because you played strongly in the Flop and the Turn – and still in the river. Your opponent might put you on the Queen or on an overpair or eve J-J; in either case, he thinks his second top Pair is beat.

If your opponent checks, and you bet, it is almost the same as if you are first to act, and you bet.

Bluffing with the best hand is nearly a contradiction in terms: you bluff only if you make better hands fold. But, in this case, it may be better to make anybody else fold – best hand or worst hand – so as to preserve your unreadability which will pay off later.

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It’s one of those uncommon instances, it can happen in free online poker games and high stakes alike, when you have J-9, for example, and you flop J-J-9. You check, and your opponent bets, you call. Turn comes a 6, you check again, and your opponent bets. You call. River comes a 2. You check for the last time, your opponent bets a big amount which could be even an all-in, then you call. You finally reveal your monster J-9 against your opponent’s, say, 9-7.

Usually with strong made hands (like A-K in a flop of A-10-3) we bet aggressively with the hope that our opponents will take that for a bluff and play back, or that they will put us on a draw and call us, or that they have a showdown-quality hand which is not strong enough for our hand and then call us. Or that they will be not willing to call with their draw (say, K-Q) and fold.

But with very strong made hands, especially on the Flop, like the J-9 example above, we can slow play. That is to say, we play passively on the hope that our opponent will bet strongly so we can take away most of their chips.

Note that with a J-9 in the J-J-9 Flop, our checks may mean, that we may not have anything, or we may have just a draw (say, Q-10) so that they will bet on the hope that they will drive out our draw. They can’t. Our hand is like an erect statue already that is nearly impossible to demolish. The 9-7 our opponent has is decent enough to take to showdown.

But with the above, what we really want our opponent to have is the Q-10. Our check may mean that we may have nothing so that they may check along with us or semi-bluff with the open-end Straight draw. We just call.

Why wouldn’t we do the same with, say, A-J? Because with A-J, we have only Trips, and we do not want to give our opponent free cards to complete a Straight that can kill off our Trips. So we bet big, or raise big, and hope that the opponent folds, or at least put your opponent in the awkward situation of calling without sufficient pot odds.

But with J-9, we can just play it slowly. Because if your opponent hits his Straight, then he will bet big, so you can raise him. And it escalates to all-ins and calls and in a jiffy all or most of his chips are yours!

If your opponent didn’t hit his Straight, however, your slow play might mean to him that you’re the one on a draw, and you are playing passively because you are waiting for the right cards to fall. Nope! The right cards have already fallen! He will bluff, and you can take away all you can. Or he may just be in the proper mood to bluff with any hand (say, K-9 or eve A-K) and you can take his chips.

So, with very big hands that are nearly impossible to beat, we should play it slowly because you want your opponent’s hand to improve into a nearly-matched hand. If he hits his Straight, for example. If you raise him he may be scared away from completing his Straight, and you will get less chips than you would by slow-playing.

Or with 9-7, he may hit an additional Nine, thus giving him a smaller Full House. Another reason is that if your opponent is in such a mood to bluff that he is willing to bluff all the way, even with nothing, then you can strip off his chips, so give him that chance to bluff.

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We are now making the $5 Feltstars Giveaway payments.  Please note that we need all players table nicknames in order to do this, so, if you have had an email asking for this, please email support with it and we will make your payment.

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Winging it, especially in free poker games but at times even in quite high stakes live and online poker games has become a standard type of play for many people these days. I understand the complexities of pot odds and implied odds but, one can never understand the odds of someone just playing their “gut”.

Almost everyone I know has a favourite hand as do I, but to play against people that will play anything (and do very well!) can lend to a change in style and technique. Poker pros say to fold “bad” hands and to that I ask what those hands are. When your pocket pair of queens gets beat by someone just loose enough to raise you with eight nine off suit then again I ask what is a bad hand?

I can honestly say that I believe there are no bad hands. Any two cards you end up with are gold if you play them right. I’ve seen someone fold pocket queens to a loose player only to find out they were bluffed off the hand.

As much as I hate being ruled at a poker table by someone that should not have a prayer, I have to commend them for the sheer stupidity that led to their massive chip stack!

Now understand that all of my views for this article are based on tournament play, and usually with rebuys. Cash games are a totally different matter. I won’t delve into that area as I don’t play a lot of cash.

Now let’s say you buy into a nice friendly home game tournament with rebuys for thirty-five dollars. Now say that you have only ten players for your tourney. Let’s assume that of those ten you have one loose player. And by loose I’m talking about that guy, you know the one, raising nearly every hand no matter the cards, getting beat on occasion but in general getting lucky and acquiring most of the chips early on.

How can this be you ask? Well I ask also!!

The great thing about rebuys and no limit is the ability to outlast those kind of players. If you do get taken out early on by the loose cannon there is still the chance to get it back with a rebuy or two.

My strategy only applies to my game play against such players and I must admit that it doesn’t always pan out but, overall the odds lean slightly in my favour. And that’s not to say that I’m a better player, only that these type of players usually can’t stop the crazy plays that got them all their chips. All you can do is hope that they stay loose and you still have enough chips to stay in it till they go bust.

I hope for at least my sake that the loose players I sit down at the table with won’t ever read this!

My point is that if any one of these players could change their play at the correct point in the game then we would all be in trouble. Think about it, give the loose cannon a mass of chips, and then all of a sudden they don’t play anything except for the “premium” hands for the rest of the tourney. In most cases I believe this person would be the top paid person of the night! If they could only find the switch to flip!

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Whether you are playing in a cash or free poker games tournament or a Sit’n Go poker  game, poker is a card game that involves a mix of chance, skill, bluffing and intimidation.

To get started you will need to know what the cards are and the values placed on the hands. You will also need to learn the basic rules of the game you are playing. To avoid making bad bets, you should understand the lingo and know how to bet smart.

Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. The cards are ranked from high to low, with the ace being the highest and the 2 being the lowest. The cards are also separated into four suits.

The suits are clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. The object of the game is to end up with the highest ranked hand.

From best to worst, the hands are ranked in the following order: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and high card.

1. A Royal Flush is composed of the 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of the same suit—no suit is ranked higher than the other.
2. A Straight Flush is composed of five cards in numerical order, all in the same suit.
3. Four-of-a-Kind is four cards of the same numerical rank and another random card.
4. A Full House is composed of three cards with the same numerical order; the two remaining cards will also be of the same numerical order: Three-of-a-Kind with a Pair.
5. A Flush is composed of five cards of the same suit that are not in numerical order.
6. A Straight is five cards in numerical order, the suits must be mixed.
7. Three-of-a-Kind is three cards of the same numerical order with two random cards that are not a pair.
8. Two Pair is two sets of pairs with a random card.
9. One Pair is one pair and three random cards.
10. If nobody has any of these hands, the player having the highest ranked card wins.

There are basic rules involved in playing poker.

Each player must ante or make a token bet before the cards are dealt. The dealer then deals the cards, clockwise, face down around the table.

After the hands have been dealt, play begins. Each player looks at his or her cards; then, the first player either places a bet or checks. If the player does check, the next player can open by making a bet.

If a bet is made, the player has the next player has the option to see, or call the bet, raise the bet, or fold. After all the bets have been made, the players remaining in the hand will start the betting process all over again.

After all the betting is over, it is time to for the players to show their hands. The highest hand wins.

Bluffing, pretending to have better cards than you actually do, is a strategy of the game. A player who bluffs is trying to scare the other players out of the hand by making them think that he or she has the best possible hand.

An aggressive player is one who bets high early in the game and forces others to abandon their hands due to the fact that they are scared to bet so high.

A conservative player usually bets the minimum and is quick to fold if the cards are not in his or her favor. Smart betting includes not being afraid to fold, keeping a “poker face”, no alcohol, and maintaining control.

3 Key Rules Now

1. If you have nothing in your hand to begin with, don’t expect the cards to get better, go ahead and fold.
2. Do not drink; alcohol will make you bet irresponsibly.
3. Always bet within your means, never over your head.

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