We all know (or should!) that setting specific goals in all aspects of our lives is essential. After all, if you don’t know what you want you’re never gonna get it! So take some time to think about it and make them as specific as possible, even for shorter term things like new shoes

Everything from shoes to houses, boats and, not forgetting of course, winning the WSOP…or maybe just moving up to the next skill level (Set a goal of reading all our read our free online poker articles to learn how to do that!)

Now for a real example, for this we thank NoPay member Malverium for the article “Happy new Year” here it is -

It’s the start of a brand new year. It’s the time of the year to set goals and challenge yourself!

I’ve played poker casually for the past 4 years whilst studying. Never made it past 10 NL 6 Max and 25 NL full ring, but hopefully that will change this year!

To make this relatively short, I’ll just list the goals I’ll be working towards this coming year. Both in poker and life.

Poker Goals:

1. Make it to Mid-Stakes, haven’t decided if I want to play full ring or 6max.

But I’ll move up when I win $500 playing either 10 NL 6 Max or 25 NL Full Ring. Move up when I hit 1k, move down if I lose 8 BIs at 6 Max/4 BIs at Full Ring.

2. Achieve a decent win rate at all stakes.

3. Take some time to study poker every weekend.

4. Review my hands after every 10k hands.

Life Goals:

1. Find a job! I just finished studying and have been looking for a job with no success so far. So I need to get my act together and get a graduate/entry level position (Its pretty expensive living in Australia, I probably won’t go pro unless I earn 40k+ per year).

2. Get fit, go to the pool at least once a week, lose 5 kg (I’m not going to be too strict on how much I lose but I’d like to be fitter than I currently am, atm I’m about 24.3 BMI).

Summary:

• Make Mid-Stakes, Find a job, Get fit.
• When I’m playing I’m gonna enjoy it (play hard)
• When I’m working I’m gonna work hard

GL to everybody else in 2012 also . Will start grinding today or tomorrow.

As you know, the free online poker games at No Pay Poker are a powerful way to improve your poker game as well as winning some money at the same time. Here are some tricks on how to in money at NoPay without spending anything other than time.

1. Click ads!
Those ads (in the top and the bottom of the lobby, and the sides of the table) that you see all the time and you don’t give any attention are really a gold mine. Each click on them will give you 1 instant FreeD to your account. Only by clicking it, and simply closing the popup that shows up. So, you win money without doing anything more than two clicks. And you can click 26 of them over the day. So, this is 26 FreeDs every day! If you do this 30 days in a row, you will get 780 FreeDs without any effort! Pretty easy, isn’t?

2. Join every freeroll!
If you have enough time, spend it in freerolls! Even if you don’t play poker very well, or if you are learning: you won’t spend anything more than time, and freerolls are an excellent way to practice and improve your poker game. The only thing that you could lose is time. And what you can win? FreeDs, experience, having some fun and even getting to know some players! I have made some friends at the NoPay poker tables and so can  you. When you’re starting out Freerolls are the way to go, so go join them and play as much as you can.

3. Join in leagues!
Many player at NPP don’t play in the leagues and some might consider them a waste of time. Well, let me tell you something: they are not. Most of them are free to join and can reward you with extra FreeDs and great game experience. The only thing that you have to do is join them and play 5 Sit and Go’s of the same kind, and if you do it well, you may get a prize from that league. They are very easy, and are easy money too.

4. Do not play the cash tables!
Not until you’re good anyway. Maybe you are fed up with freerolls and/or tourneys and want some real action in the cash tables. Well, you should not do it. Why? Because you can lose money. You might also win some too but when you do you’ll want to play more and soon or later, you will lose. You can’t win every time you play, and this means you will lose money (if you play freerolls and leagues, this won’t happen) but once you’re a decent player and if you have ambition to graduate to real cash games at places like PartyPoker, Titan and Winner then you can try these games later on, but as a beginner or even intermediate (in free poker) – avoid.

I hope this advice helps, it’s not hard to get some free poker money from NPP very quickly and easily AND you get to improve your poker skills game without losing any FreeD/money.

This article is a guide to the best free online poker tools and resources. You might have used some of them or maybe not but all of them are well worth checking out.

Since these sites are forums you can also ask questions and get, at times, useful advice for free though keep in mind that such advice is often an opinion so take with some salt!

To find both of them just go to Google and put the names in and they will both appear right away.

Pokenum, is a poker hand analyzer that is excellent for determining the win percent of your opponents hands against yours. And they have a really nice feature where you can add cards to the table to see how they affect hand strength in relation to other hands.

And here’s one you probably haven’t heard of; The university of Albertas computer poker research group. Here, if you are into math and c programming you can find the Open Poker Variance Analysis Tool (PVAT) toolset which can be used to design your own self-owned poker simulation, not for the faint hearted but great if this is your thing. You’ll also find more publications and resources here, it is an ideal pitstop for the academic poker player.

Chessandpokerdotcom is another excellent resource site. There are strategy guides for hundreds of games including an excellent holdem limit strategy guide. Perfect for beginners and intermediates.

Or how about the original home of online poker, IRC poker? IRC poker is poker played over the IRC chat protocol and was the way poker was played online in the early days of the Internet.

Pokernews.com has a forum section where you can ask any poker questions. There are a lot of skilled online poker players both questioning and responding to questions there and a lot of answers come from professional online poker players so you can be certain you’re benefiting from real helpful advice.

Not forgetting of course free online poker game sites such as our very own NoPayPOKER.com where you can ask poker questions in the lobby on better poker tactics. Plus the NoPay blog has a big free poker training library with training lessons for beginner upwards.

In face to face poker room games it is easier to read your opponents than is the case online. In online play there is no way to see the many physical tells but don’t worry, online poker has a whole load of tells you can spot when you know what to look for and this free poker online guide is all about ‘em.

Speed of Play
In online poker games there is a time limit on making moves or else the players hand is auto moved all-in or folded. Due to this player speed of action is often a good Tell.

A lot of the time if a player makes a fast bet it is a sign of weakness, slow speed though often indicates strength because the player is busy figuring how best to play their good hand. Note how long opponents take to act and if you get to see their cards at showdown, see if you can determine what they were fast and slow with, that can help a lot next time round.

Do you give away speed tells? Ideally aim to take time for each play unless you can be a real master and mix speed no matter what type of hand you have.

Check Boxes and Auto Plays
A lot of poker rooms online have check boxes to allow players to set automated fold, raise any or call any instructions.

You can tell when a player has used a check box, because actions are immediate. If a player has checked “raise any” it indicates a strong hand. If it is “check” then it is likely weak. If it is “call any”, then the chance is good that it is a draw hand that is not completed but definitely not ready to fold.

While not 100% definite tells, over time you can draw some good conclusions from check box use especially with regular opponents.

Opponents Fold and Flop Percentage
This percentage can’t be exact but over several games you will be able to get a feel if some players fold a lot of hands or if they stick it in most pots.

A lot of folds equates normally to a good player but the player who stays in most pots is not good and can be hammered when you have a good hand.

Chat Box
Generally, if a player chatty player suddenly goes quiet he may well have got good cards.

Alternatively when a player is betting and gets antagonistic in chat it may well be a show of bluffing as the player hopes the show of “confidence” will bluff you off the table.

The chat classic is the “Tilt” player who is whining a lot. Tilted players can’t play good poker until they calm down so it’s a great time for you to push them into making errors.

Waiting for the Big Blind
You will often have the option to wait for the big blind to get to you when you join a table, or you can choose to post a matching big blind so you can get into play right away.

If a player is not patient enough to wait on the big blind to come around, it may indicate an overall lack of patience. Impatient players are loose players and loose players make mistakes.

On the other side players who wait are showing patience or maybe that they are tight fisted with their money, both are good qualities so note who waits and take care with them.

Novice Tells
Free online poker, micro and low stakes games will exhibit a lot of these.

The first is betting with a weak hand and feigning weakness with a strong hand. If you have pocket aces, don’t slow play them. A lot of novices will slow play such pockets and find themselves getting beaten on the flop, turn or river by players who make straights and trips.

Another beginners tell is when they wait one card after he has paired before betting. For example, the player gets a King on the flop and checks. The Turn shows a 2 yet the player starts betting hard. No way would he bet like that on a pair of 2′s so you can be pretty sure he paired the Kings on the flop. If you can beat it bet it.

Seeing Tells and acting on them takes practice, so start of by testing yourself and learning and play free online poker games at NoPayPOKER.com or the lowest stakes possible at PartyPoker before you start to risk real money.

In this free online poker coaching lesson learn how to play low pocket pairs. 2/2 through to 9/9 are what we define as low pocket pairs and they will, believe it or not (and you will believe by the end of this article) win you more money long term than any other pocket cards.

More than pocket A/A, pocket K/K, pocket Q/Q? How is that possible you shout! It is. They will.

And they’re good against all skill levels of players too and especially good for taking out “know it all” donks and maniacs.

Why Are Low Pockets So Good?

First lets look at some base facts and rules of pockets pairs and low pockets in particular.

1. You have about a 6% chance of being dealt a pocket pair of any type.
2. This equates to approx. every 16 or 17 hands.
3. With a pocket pair you have about a 1 in 8 chance to get a set at the flop (3 of a kind).
4. So 6% followed by 1 in 8 comes to you having a post set flop once per 133 hands.
5. At a 10 player table that equates to once every 13 small/big blind bets you deposit on.

 

Low pocket pairs are playable from all table positions however ONLY:

1. At a cost that does not exceed the big blind from Early Position.
2. Over 2x the big blind from Middle Position
3. 3x big blind from Late Position.
4. Plus, the low pocket pairs are never a pre-flop cause for raising the big blind.

Should you limp in from Early Position, or if you have called a 2x BB from Middle Position, and there has been a raise to 3x the BB, and there are five plus players left in the hand,then you should call 3x the BB bet from Early and Middle position.

Why?

When there are five plus players left there is a higher probability the flop will show 2 or 3 low cards. This is true primarily because it’s logical to assume that the 5 or more players currently in the hand each hold one or more paint cards.

Now, the one set we end up with becomes a powerful weapon. This is especially so if it is a 2-9 set. Yes, Aces down to Tens are serious weapons too, but the chance to put a big hit on the opposition lies more in the lower pocket pairs, rather than the higher pocket pairs.

That’s because a lot of players don’t fear lower cards in the flop, now do you see where we are going with this?

This example hand illustrates the point.

1. You’re seated Late Position with pocket 5c/5h.
2. There is a ‘bad’ player with Jh/7c and a ‘good’ player with Ad/Qd.
3. Our better player raises 3x the big blind and the poorer one calls, you also call, everyone else folds.
4. The flop shows Ah/Jd/5s; you have made a set of 5′s.
5. The ‘good’ player, again bets 3x the big blind.
6. The ‘bad’ player, raises by a factor of three; crazy as he’s holding the middle pair, and the ‘good’ player has betted into the flopped Ace.
7. You call and so does the good player.
8. Now it is the Turn and the card is a 7d.
9. It gives the ‘good’ player a nut flush draw (Ad/Qd/Jd/7d), and he holds the high board pair (Ad/Ah).
10. It gives the ‘bad’ player two pairs (Jacks over Sevens).
11. You have your set of 5c,5h,5s.

At this point you may be concerned that the River will bring a card to fill the flush or a J or a 7.

But do not be.

1. Left in the deck are 9 flush maker cards and 4 full house maker, 13 in all minus the last 5.
2. It’s a flush-maker but will also give you quad Fives.
3. So there are 12 cards left that can be dealt that will make you lose and 34 that will win it for you.
4. You’re about a 3 to 1 favorite to win.

The river card is one of the 34 so is no use to the others. The ‘bad’ player moves all in and you call and take a large pot.

So how was it that this pocket 5 situation was so good?

It’s because the set of Fives was hidden; as will always be the case when pocket 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, and 9/9 are turned into sets by the flop (1 in 133; although that includes sets of Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces).

Plus the fact that no one could have read the cards. You almost always slow-play it such that opponents, ‘bad’ or ‘good’, cannot identify the powerful set the flop created.

The power of low pockets is not very well known but is used by all pro players. After all low pocket pairs win more money at a poker table than any other two cards so why shout about it!

So add these rules to your playable pockets reference card (see Playable Pockets Tutorial or Building Bankroll part 2) now and start practicing hard and play free online poker games at NoPayPOKER.com!