Is there a correct way to play poker? Yes and no. Winning players do have subtle differences in their styles but what you’ll find is that what they have in common outweighs what they don’t.

They are usually in with a hand and aren’t afraid to bet it; differences lie in situations the players excel in and how they seek those out situations and avoid others.

Each player has his/her strengths and weaknesses which includes the type of opponent they do best against and worst against. The type of game also dictates how different the player’s styles can be.

A no limit structure allows more creative play since the potential earnings from each pot are so big. In limit holdem it is very hard to get too creative and still win.

When is the right time to adjust your strategy and when is the wrong time?

Wrong time:

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With our thanks to NoPayPOKER member 1949Boomer who submitted this article as part of the write a poker tips article for FreeD offer. We post it here unchanged apart from a bit of formatting for ease of reading.

I can not imagine that I am able to write something about poker that hasn’t been written by those who are much more experienced and knowledgeable than I. However, as a beginner in poker myself, I might be able to elaborate on some concepts of the game in a way which might be more understandable to those who are also just starting to play poker.

I, in fact, just started playing poker in December of 2011 and since that time I am $105 ahead of the game. There are, in my opinion, a few important areas of the game that a beginner should study quite a bit before seriously playing poker.

The first area of importance is what I would title Read and Study.

• > There are innumerable sites on the web which have very good articles allowing the beginner to study the game before starting to play for real money.
• > Choosing the correct place to start reading is very important in as much as many of the articles include terminology that is technically specific to poker.
• > Without a working knowledge of these terms, the articles are almost meaningless. I would recommend starting a study of poker with those articles that deal with terminology and those that include examples of each term.
• > Just knowing the meaning of the term doesn’t necessarily mean that the beginner will understand how the term applies.
• > There are also numerous articles aimed at the beginner to help understand rules, play, position, starting hands, betting and so forth. (Editor – see our free online poker lessons directory)

But once again, start with an understanding of the terms of poker.

The second area of importance to me for a beginning poker player is that of Bluffing.

• > This means that you bet an amount but don’t necessarily have the cards to back up the bet. You bluff, you have a very good chance of loosing your bet.
• > Just remember, the more people there are at a table, the more chances there are that one of those players is going to have a good hand and they will most definitely call your bluff.
• > I’m not sure that real poker players would agree with this, but when you are just starting out, stay away from bluffing. If you feel that you need the exhilarating feeling of bluffing then at least bluff from a position of power.
• > What I mean is that if you bluff do it later in the game and make sure that you have more chips or money in your bank than the player(s) that you are trying to bluff.
• > If necessary, bet an amount that forces the other player(s) to commit to betting all of their money.
• > Many players are very wary of betting everything they have unless they have a very good hand or unless they are just poor players.

The third area of concern for the beginning player is All-In.

• > This term means that you bet all of the money that you have at the table. As a beginner, you should never go all-in unless you know, absolutely and for sure, that you have the best hand.
• > This can be determined by knowing the hierarchy of hands.
• > Just remember that if you feel you just have to go all in, don’t do it until the last card appears on the table.
• > There have been so many times that the last card completely upsets my apple cart and I wind up losing everything.

An example would be having hole cards, the cards that are dealt to you at the beginning of the hand, which are an Ace and a Queen. On the table you have two Aces, a Queen and a Nine.

• > You go All-In because you are sure that your full hose of aces and queens is a winner. Unfortunately, the last card to turn up, called “on the river” is a King.
• > What does your opponent have? He has an Ace and ?… a King. You lose due to that last card. You wind up with Aces and Queens and now your opponent has Aces and Kings.
• > Always remember that the cards on the table are SHARED and although it’s not likely that all four Aces would be in play, it certainly is not impossible.

The truth of it is that you would probably go all-in with a hand as good as aces and queens BUT you need to consider ALL of the cards on the table AND how your opponent bets.

• > If we had waited to go all-in and if the opponent were to bet before us, we might have been able to make a better decision as to whether or not to proceed with such a hefty bet.
• > Odds are that we would have been betting pretty heavy prior to that last card appearing and your opponent might have folded (although I doubt it in that situation).
• > Just remember, win and you are in good shape. Lose and your gone for good from the game.

If it comes down to calling a player who has gone all-in, take all the time you can to consider the consequences.

The fourth area I feel is important to the beginning player is Practice.

I am a professional musician and the idea of practice makes perfect is very over looked in our society. It seems to me that there are few people who commit to anything with an appropriate amount of practice.

There are so many free online poker sites available that there really is no excuse for NOT practising.

• > Play every day, hundreds of games, over and over.
• > Play at different sites, with different people from all over the world.

The more you play, the more prepared you will be when once you decide to play for real money.

• > Would you get in a boat and pay the entry fee to participate in a bass tournament without ever having fished before? I would hope that you answer this with an enthusiastic NO!
• > Would you pay to play in a golf tournament without ever having played golf? I wouldn’t think so.

Then why would anyone consider sitting down at a table of poker players, put money down in front of themselves and start playing poker, never having played for money before? Probably because they have too much money and time and they don’t care if they waste both or the person is just ignorant.

Finally, if you have stayed with me to this point in the article, I will give you what I consider to be the most important point for a beginner: Patience.

I am not referring to the patience to make it through the volumes of information that you can read and study on the game of poker, nor am I referring to patience in listening to all of the advice you will get from people once they find out you intend to play, especially for money.

No, I refer to patience during the game itself.

• > Many sites have charts which show the player what hole cards (the two cards dealt to you at the beginning of the hand) are worthy of a bet and in what position (where you are compared to where the dealer is located) these cards are of value.
• > It takes a great deal of patience as these combinations of cards do not appear in your hand after every deal.
• > In fact, these combinations of cards are seldom dealt to you. In a very good game you will see these cards quite a bit, but more than not you will have all sorts of combinations of cards which include good cards but aren’t quite what you find on the charts.

It is hard to resist betting on these poorer combinations and truthfully we all bet on them a lot more than we should because we hate to just sit and watch the other players rake in the money.

But patience will pay off in the end if you can master the concept. Poker can be a very boring game when you sit and wait and the cards just do not appear during the entire game.

Then again, there will be games in which you can do nothing wrong.

• > The cards seem to be connected to your thoughts and requests for certain cards are there for you.
• > Those games more than make up for the times you lose.
• > You just have to be Patient.

Enjoy the game, it is fun. Enjoy meeting people, they too are fun. Enjoy the act of learning something new.

This game will make you exercise your brain while you get a certain thrill during the “battle” of the game. I could give you a list of free poker sites but all you have to do is Google “free poker sites” and there will literally be page after page of sites.

Be careful in your selection, some sites are not “free” as they advertise. Truthfully, the site I have found that I enjoy the most (and the judges of this article will think this is an attempt to sway their thinking, which is probably is) is NoPayPoker. There are more games at this site than at any other at which I have played. In addition, even though you do not pay any real money, you are to some extent playing for real money. Go to the site, read the documentation and you will understand more. Once again, have fun.

For a huge selection of free online poker training see the NoPayPOKER training directory page here. Free online poker lessons for beginners to masters.

With thanks to NoPayPOKER member kuki06.

Do you ever think about how online poker poker could damage your mind and even your family? Do you think about how poker is consuming your time?

Maybe you didn’t. That is because most of us who play free online poker at NoPayPoker, are not the kind of players who spend a lot of hours playing poker online, losing a lot of money and hands.

The first reason for this is because NoPay is a free poker room where you can learn and play without worrying about losing money. Of course, we are playing for some cents but it’s not the sort of money that can change lives economically.

But, I suppose most of you are thinking about going further in the world of poker. I am sure that a lot of us have imagined being in Las Vegas playing the World Series of Poker, stealing some chips from Phil Helmut and hearing him crying out. And if you think that’s possible, let me tell you something: You are right!

You may think I’m a crazy man or a dreamer. “You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one” – said John Lennon. But consider this – Most of the professional poker players started playing in freerolls or home games, and guess what? They did not get to where they are now in a couple of days. If being a poker pro is what you want then you’ll have to spend a lot of time on that goal and even then success is in no way remotely guaranteed.

If being a pro is not your objective then there are 2 commons reasons for playing that I’ve observed.

1.    You want some money from online poker but it’s no big deal. You already a life where money is OK and you can live without depending on poker for earnings. You can also afford to lose a bit on the tables you choose to play on.
2.    You need money from poker. You are either unemployed and really need money or maybe you are a student and think that poker can give you enough money to live on.

In the first case, poker is secondary in your life and you play at NoPayPOKER for some free online poker fun.

In the second case, be careful. You have probably already lost money in other sites and you are playing in NPP for a weird mixture of fun and need. The point is, don’t let the poker damage your lifestyle and keep a cool head. No one can reach their objectives if they don’t have good self-control.

If you are a person who has fun playing poker, keep it in that way and enjoy it as long as you want without giving poker more importance than it needs.

If you are a gambler or maybe a person who wants to make a living from poker, but are not doing well and keep telling yourself it will come good soon then:

> You either need to search for another way to make a living

> Or figure out why you have not done well and create a really detailed and comprehensive plan to improve your game significantly. Firstly in the free poker and then in micros and minis. But accept that this will take time and that there are NO shortcuts or miracle “secrets” as sold by all the poker snake oil sellers online.

Don’t lose your mind; you can do it if you propose it to yourself. The person who decides in your live is yourself. No one can take control of it except you. Manage it the correct way and do not make poker a necessity.

Easy new ways to earn loads and loads of FreeD and get into the weekly $10,000 FreeD Sponsors Tournament

Doing advertiser offers in return for FreeD is one of the pillars the NoPayPOKER idea is built on, after all, the money we get from the advertisers is what fills the free online poker game cash pots!

One way to get FreeD of course is win them by playing free poker with us – and please, keep playing, NoPay is after all a poker site!

But for easy instant FreeD, the best way to get them, is to do some advertiser offers on one of the NoPay “Offerwalls”

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This free online poker training article by NoPayPOKER member lostandbroke, thanks Well, I say training but it’s more of a school of hard knocks and reality

Heed thee now the erudition garnered from seven decades of observation – and seven minutes of thought. Poker has rules beyond the ken of average mortals. These rules are incomprehensible, immutable, and insensitive to the expectations of all.

These rules impose themselves upon Hold’em fanatics in a manner inversely proportional to need – the more you want it, the less likely you are to receive it. These rules defy the laws of probability, but prove Murphy’s Law.

They are as follows:

Rule #1: If two non-connected, non-suited small cards go all-in against a pair of aces, the board will flop two cards to match the small cards, and no ace.

Rule # 2: The turn card would have given you a win if you hadn’t folded at the flop.

Rule #3: You will draw a pair of aces and the board will flop the other two aces only when you are sitting out to take an important phone call.

Rule #4: You will see multiple hands containing a royal flush; none of them will be yours.

Rule #5: You will hit quads only if the opponent has a straight flush.

Rule #6: If you wish “gl” for the other players at the table, they will have it.

Rule #7: The river card will fill an Inside straight only if your opponent is the one trying for it.

Rule #8: The board will flop a nut flush only if the turn and river cards give your opponent a boat.

Rule #9: If a serious expert induces the novice to bet, the novice will win the hand.

Rule #10: If you take yourself too seriously, you won’t have any fun. Enjoy the game, no matter what frustration it throws at you.