Regardless of whether you play free online poker games for fun at NoPayPOKER.com or seriously for money you always get a buzz when you get a good starting hand such as a pair of kings. The perpetual question that follows a split seconds later though is how to make best use of this stroke of luck? After all, if you go All-In hoping to win big there is a big danger that the other players will think “hmm must have a real strong hand” and will fold.

This can happen a lot and is very frustrating, however, there are ways to cash-in on such opportunities and in this article I am going to look at such scenarios.

Sadly there is no magic bullet, very simply it is about experience; knowing about things such as playable pockets, implied and pot odds and how to play in such a way that the others think you’re bluffing and not fold.

At the start of a hand, in most cases having a pair is good news and you will definitely get chances to win based on the cards that follow on the flop, turn and river.

Lets look at an example: You get a nice pair to start: Ks, Kd. A great pair that should give you strong winning opportunities.

<b>Your options at this point are</b> to either go all-in or wait for the flop.

If you wait you must keep in mind that if an Ace opens on the flop then your winning chances will be greatly reduced.

If an Ace does fall then going on and betting more could be a waste and you would be advised to fold as if someone else is bets then it’s likely they have an Ace in their hand and will be able to beat you. Alternatively they could be bluffing or are playing crazy. Your experience helps here, once you learn to observe other players you can get a feel for if they are bluffing, playing crazy or if they really might have a better hand meaning it’s best to fold.

You might think that it would have been better to have gone all-in but you need to remember that in that case too the person having an Ace might have gone ahead and bet and you would have lost more money. Having folded you are just down a bit but very much not out.

Now lets look at your Ks,Kd again but where the flop cards are 6s,6h, Qh. Now you know that if anyone has a 6, you will be beaten.

But do not lose hope, a 6 is a lower value card and there is a good chance that a player holding a 6 might have already folded. So in this case you should raise the stakes and see how the others react. If someone goes all-in then, unless you’ve flagged them as a crazy player, there is a good chance they have a 6 so your best option is to fold and minimize damage.

Don’t be disheartened by the examples, they’re not meant to imply that you can’t play to win or have to reply on pure luck. Not at all! What I am trying to get across is that poker is a game that involves a lot of probability (also known as luck) to which is added psychology, and into this is mixed what cards open up as the hand progresses which in turn affects the power of your hand.

That’s how poker works and sometimes even the best cards will be rendered powerless by events, so keep this fact in kind and when you get a great hand that turns bad just accept it as part of the game and aim to lose as little as possible.

As long as you playing solid good poker then probability will come out on your side in the longer term and as you have minimised your losses during the bad patches you will have money to bet when probability smiles on you.

The best way to learn better poker online is in quality but low risk games,learning by your mistakes is very much the way of things in poker so it is a good idea to keep those mistakes cheap! Micro stakes and free poker games are the way to go in the early stages and be sure to read up on lots of free poker lessons too in order to learn about things like pot odds and playable pockets.

See the DM Vadnais learn how to play poker free lesson series for lot more details and ideas about these sorts of situations.

In this free online poker article we’ll look at what happens if, in a heads-up match, both players think they have the best hand and decide to slow-play – Trap versus Trap basically.

To illustrate the lesson we’ll look at the situation by example. In this case a World Series of Poker final table hand.

The scene:

BLINDS 100k/200k, ante 30k

PREFLOP:

A has Ks-10s, raises to 400k
B has As-Ad, calls 200k

A’s raise is standard for K-10, which is not as weak in short-handed play as in a full table.

B could have reraised A, but A might fold. B could be worried only if the Flop came up paired like J-J-7, but B thinks that a continuation test bet will detect if A has a hand after the Flop.

Reraising preflop and this test bet has the same effect of making A fold if A doesn’t have anything, but calling not only conceals A’s hand strength, but also makes it dangerous for B to bet if a King or a Ten comes.

FLOP: Kc-5c-3h

B checks
A bets 525k
B raises to 1.45m
A calls 875k (Pot now 3.76m)

Now A suddenly had top pair which he may think is the best hand!

B checks, again to conceal hand strength.

A bets to build the pot, then B raises.

A may interpret B’s raise as a bluff because he may think B is drawing (note the two Clubs) or that B may have a smaller pair, say, A-5 or A-3.

A just calls because he is now the one attempting to trap.

TURN: Kc-5c-3h-6s

B bets 1.5m

The three-Flush didn’t come. B’s bet is now challenging A.

If A folds, B still wins a large pot. If A calls or reraises, B can push him all-in if action gets back to B.

A’s trap seems to be working so far. Now B may have decided that A is still on a Flush draw with maybe a small Pair, say Ac-3c.

Additionally, because preflop A concealed his hand strength well (just smooth-calling), B can think that A also has a King, but with a weaker kicker.

Now he believes that A is ready to call anything he hauls in the middle, and he also thinks his trap is working. So what does he do?

A moves all-in
B calls 3.6m (Pot now about 14 million)

Both think their traps are successful! In poker, the bigger the hands, the bigger the chips in front.

Both did well in preserving the balance building the pot and concealing hand strength, but only one hand can win.

A can only win with a river King or Ten.

RIVER: Kc-5c-3h-6s-10c (!)

A wins! But had A continued trapping until the river with this river card, it’s still the same. Both still have big hands, both are willing to trap, and both are willing to ravenously hoard each other’s chips once the opportunity arises.

Summary of the Trap Vs Trap

Spend some time to read and consider the principles behind this article. Try and consider the key facts behind what’s going on in this particular example and consider ways to put these lessons into your individual play.

Poker, while not so difficult to learn if very difficult to make a living from, or, indeed, not lose money at most of the time!

But if (and when) you learn to really play online poker well then you’ll make some great money. Why?

Simply that the vast majority of players you come up against never get to what can be termed a good level.

So you, if you can get to a good standard will do very well very easily. You don’t have to be a TV pro to make good money in poker!

The fact that most players are at such a low competence means that whenever you hunt/play them on free online poker sites or low stakes sites you’ll be able to clean up.

To learn to play poker free go look at the rest of the NoPayPOKER blog, the free poker lessons here  cover all levels from rookie to advanced, plus, the site itself as a free online poker site is the ideal place to practice what you learn.

If I were to suggest to all of you that we need a form of constant aggression in our poker game play, a perennial deployment of reckless abandon in our game play, or, if I were to tell you that aggression must be a part of every poker hand we play, every poker game we play, then I’d be a fool; and you’d be an even bigger fool if you opted to listen to me.

Alternately, if I were to convince you that aggression will never yield a positive return on investment (ROI), then, not only would we all be fools, but the likelihood is that we’d all end up in the manure-rich pastures; our game would be on par with the ‘Farm Animals’ that we’ve methodically shipped off to the stench, muck, mire, and desperation of ‘DonkeyTown’.

Might we need a balance? Good thought! But not correct. There can never be an equal balance between aggressive and passive poker play, between bold and conservative play, between loose and tight play.

The truth is that the ‘advantaged’ player uses passive, conservative, and tight play far more often than he or she would ever use any of the respective opposites.

Also, the task of numerically quantifying the relationship between any of the ‘style of play’ options and their counterparts can’t be done.

Therefore, we need to properly select the occasions for our use of aggression, our use of bold initiatives, and our use of tactical abandon….note that I’m using the word ‘tactical’, not ‘reckless’; don’t ever confuse the two descriptors. No similarity exists between them.

Yet, a very common mistake made by many poker players is participating in the game with an overly passive approach; their game completely lacks any form of aggression….except with very strong hands. And, this approach makes their play exploitable.

Just about all ‘solid’ players will ‘pick-up’ on the overt tell, and, the ‘Only Strong Hand’ (oSH) players will be stuck in the background winning hands where the pot holds nothing more than the blinds. Clearly, you’re not going to be ‘Expanding Your Bankroll’ if you were an ‘oSH’ player.

However, nothing in the preceding paragraph is suggesting that you become an ’aggressive maniac’.

True, a strong aggressive game puts your opponents on edge, and will make them moderately afraid of playing against you.

But, any such fear on their part is founded in their view of your table image….if it’s too aggressive, prepare yourself for a quick ‘goose-neck’ trailer ride to the nearest pasture; you’ll be broke, and you’ll be relegated to a daily routine of hiding from the resident ‘alpha’ bull. Not the most pleasant of thoughts!

So, we’ll need to selectively include aggression in our game.

We’ll need to carefully identify the appropriate timing for it’s use. We’ll need to methodically pre-establish a ‘table image’.

And, we’ll need to ordain a somewhat rigid set of guidelines; plus, at all costs, we’ll be doing everything possible to never expose our posterior to the ‘single minded’ alpha bull.

Let’s begin with the guidelines. And, since all of you are advanced poker players, since all of you are ‘advantaged’ players, I don’t believe that I have to lay out the explicit details associated with each of the ‘bullet points’ that will be listed below (with one exception(**)).

Moreover, since all of you have gone through the process of ‘Building a Bankroll‘, none of this is going to be difficult to comprehend

• Your poker chip stack is equal to or greater than the competition’s current average stack size
• Your analysis of each competitor’s style of play has been self-validated more than once
• Your seat is in post-flop late position at the table, and no one has made a post-flop bet
• Your eyes witness a dry flop texture (**), and the Small Blind/Big Blind were not limpers

Why the need for an ‘equal to’ or ‘greater than’ stack size?

Consider this: if we were to aggressively push out a post-flop ‘pot-size’ bet, and subsequently fall prey to a ‘good’ player coming ‘over the top’ (raising our bet), we want out of the hand.

The end result, a small dent to our ’equal to’ or ‘greater than’ stack size….we can handle the loss, not a problem.

Or, if the ‘over the top’ bettor is timid, is fearful of us, we have the ability to re-raise from what is a decent sized chip stack.

The end result, a likely ‘fold’ by the individual who raised, and an increase to our stack of chips.

Alternately, if he/she re-raises, it’s definitely time to fold, take the loss in stride, and move on with what is now a somewhat smaller stack; albeit still sizable enough to effectively compete in the upcoming hands.

We lost! So what! It’s poker! We’ll take an ‘A’ for effort, and an ‘F’ for results….but, dollars to donuts says that the latter won’t happen very often; at least it’s not been my experience.

Take note, however, that the play described above is directed at a ‘timid’ player, a player who we believe is afraid of our game….as such, most of the time, he/she is going to fold.

Why the need for our competitor’s style of play to have been self-validated more than once?
Simply stated, we should always know as much as possible about our opponents.

They might be TA (tight aggressive), LG (loose aggressive), PW (passive weak), PS (passive solid), or any of another dozen or so descriptors.

And, as referenced above, if we didn’t know that we were playing against a timid individual, our re-raise would have been totally ineffective.

Why the need for a seat in post-flop late position at the table, and the fact that no one has made a post-flop bet? Again, simply stated, late position is the best seat at the table; we’re last to act.

Plus, any bet that’s been made into us may well serve as a notice that the bettor has seen a flop that fills well with his pocket cards.

Thus, appropriately, we now get to discuss ‘Flop Texture’ (**)….especially, a ‘dry’ Flop Texture.

Why the need for a ‘dry’ Flop Texture, and the fact that both the Small Blind and Big Blind were both NOT limpers? Let’s deal with the latter first.

Either of these two players, when they have ‘limped’ into the pot, could be holding rag/rag.

And, as you’ll come to recognize, when the ‘Flop Texture’ parallels ’dung frisbees’, one of them could be sitting with two pair.

Need I say more?

We don’t want to put aggression into play when there is a distinct possibility that someone has hitched a ride on the ‘Big Blind Special’….the two pairs have given that person a first-class seat; and we may well be in a ‘standing room only’ ticketed area deep within the confines of the trains cattle cars….where, the alpha bull could easily have opted to partake of a day trip riding the ‘high iron’.

To relate with the former, ‘Flop Texture’, the earlier mentioned exception that I wanted to detail, we need to develop an understanding of the term’s meaning.

And, of significance, “Flop Texture” is not familiar to many players.

It essentially means ‘how coordinated is the post-flop board’.For example:

• Are there straight draws, flush draws, or overcards?
• Does the flop fit well with your opponents’ playing style?
• And, most importantly, was it a ‘dry’ flop? Meaning, ‘near useless’ to your competitors; something like 27J rainbow.

Clearly, if you happen to be holding pocket jacks, or ace/jack, and the dry flop of 27J rainbow fortuitously hits the board….well, that’s a ‘very’ dry flop: there are no straight draws, there are no flush draws, there are no overcards, and you hold top pair/top kicker, or a set.

Consequently, it’s unlikely anyone will be holding a hand that would justify a call to a pot-size bet.

Or, anyone who does call a pot-size bet is doing so from a terribly disadvantaged position; frankly, the person who calls likely got a day-pass from the ‘Farm Animal’ confines, and is looking to validate his ‘permanent pasture residence’ status. And, we’re gonna’ be fairly happy to punch his pass, and send his ass hee-hawing back to ‘DonkeyTown’.

Yet, caution hangs in what we might believe to be the unpleasant odorous farm air currently drifting through the area….since the caller could hold a set of two’s, or a set of seven’s.

And, if we do, in fact, hold pocket ace/jack, and, if we do, in fact, know the playing style of our opponent (suggesting that he regularly limps with low pocket pairs), our top pair/top kicker has almost no chance of winning the hand (we’d need runner-runner JJ, or runner-runner AA; watch out for the bull….like the NoPayPoker Moderators, he’s always lurking!).

At this point, I want to add ‘Continuation Bets’ and ‘Suited Connectors’ to our understanding of aggression.

And, a ‘best bet’ for garnering an absolute comprehension of ‘Continuation Bets’ would come to you in Dan Harrington’s book “Harrington On Hold-Em’, plus Doyle Brunson’s book ‘Super System’ (either version 1 or version 2).

But, for now, I’ll say no more on CB’s, do a little reading….after all, you’re in the game to win money.

Plus, we ought to make a minor change to our Playable Pockets Matrix (PPM) regarding late-position ‘Suited Connectors’….like 3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 6/7, 7/8. 8/9, and 9/T (I often refer to them as ‘Paint Killers’).

With only ‘limpers’ in the pot, they do possess a Positive Expected Value (+EV); when the cost to see the flop is only the value of the Big Blind.

Contingent on the composition of the flop, we’ll often find ourselves in situations where our ‘Paint Killers’ permit both Pot Odds and Implied Odds to become major considerations; necessitating some quick arithmetic on our part.

Remember, we have a never-ending quest for those rare opportunities where Pot Odds give us a 40% or greater advantage, and we’re almost always interested in Implied Odds of more than 35 to 1.

Best of Luck at the Tables,

D. Michael.
by D. M. Vadnais

(c) copyright; March, 2010; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais

Part 3 of Advanced Poker Strategies will be released June 20th. Keep an eye on the NoPayPOKER Free Poker Blog or NoPayPOKER Facebook page for it. If this was a bit heavy going for you and you want to learn to play online poker go back to the Building a Poker Bankroll series. This combined with free play poker practice on NoPayPOKER is the perfect way to learn to play poker for free, no risk of losing money but you can still win it.

This article about poker hand strategy in relation to table size was a runner up in the January 2010 NoPayPOKER Free Poker Article contest. Member wolfsbite got $100 FreeD

In this article you’ll learn how and why it’s so important to vary your hand play approach when playing buy in or free Texas hold em poker online or in a live room.

Numbers of players at the table and how this relates to your hand strategy is another part of Texas holdem where the math aspect of the game is important, sorry to say that but that’s a fact, but don’t get scared if math and you are nor friends, it is not that hard once you get the hang of it.

I have 4 different size tables that I put into categories.

1. Heads up
2. 3 and 4 people
3. 5-7 people
4. 8-10 people

Essentially what we are looking to do here is avoid coin flip situations e.g., all-in’s Preflop. A key part of being consistently Texas holdem player is risk reduction in every aspect of your game. Here now is how I advise you apply risk reduction to hands play based on table size.

#1 – Heads up

Basically any 2 cards are live in heads up games and I generally like to see a flop. However if I have 2 cards that I don’t like coupled with a raise I’ll fold . I love it when they make a big raise because it’s easy for me to fold.

If I have to decent cards unless it’s a very big raise I’ll call and see the flop after that it all depends on the feel of the player and what they do. If I suspect it’s a tight player and I’m on the button I’ll raise just to see where I’m at. Most times if they don’t have anything they fold but if they are drawing or have a pair they might call so I would be careful from here on out.

#2 – 3 and 4 players

With so few people at the table any cards with “letters” on them get played to see a flop. Most times when you are at a table like this the players are mostly tight players. So if you are on the button call most of the time and aim to steal pots by betting on into the pot.

#3 – 5-7 players

Now this is really where it gets tricky. Only pocket pairs and very high cards should be played. Small pocket pairs should be limped into the pot hoping to hit a set.

With medium pocket pairs aim to limp into the pot. If you can call a small raise you can hope to hit a set.

Now with high pockets you should be raising same deal with any 2 cards that have letters on them (J-A).

#4 – 8-10 players

Here you have to play real tight. I only try to play the top 10 hands which are pockets thru 10s and then the letter cards. Anything less than a 9 in my hand is almost non playable. I will limp into a pot with any pockets however.

Now knowing the “position” and the “math” is important because of the amount of people on the pot and the people left to act after you.

The reason why you play a shorter table different is the amount of cards left in the deck.

• In Heads up money or free Texas Holdem poker games there are 48 cards left in deck so anything can come out on the flop.
• In 3 and 4 player scenarios there are at most 44 cards left in deck thus a better % of your cards hitting.
• With 5-7 players there are at the least 38 cards left in deck and therefore more chance that someone else has some of the cards you need or folded them.
• At 8-10 now you are down to 22 cards left in deck and it is most likely that some or most the people folded cards you need or have the cards thus the reason for mostly playing pockets.

This all being said when the river is dealt if there is a four card straight or flush on board you don’t need to be in the hand if someone bets.

If it’s folded to you then you can sometimes bet to try and steal pot. If they check raise you just fold and live to play another hand.

I know this sounds more complex that it really is. When you think about it, it is logic that the more players there are means the more cards there are in play and so you need to be tighter and play progressively better cards only as player numbers rise.

So good luck at the tables and try to remember that no matter whether you are playing high stakes or simply fun free Texas Hold em the principles remain the same with only the financial risk varies – and that is a totally different type of risk to that of hand probabilities.

This free poker article contest entrant was runner up in November

Many poker beginners on free poker sites or the lower stake cash online poker sites simply play their cards without proper regard for situational nuances. This leads to mistakes that can cost them a lot of money despite the fact that they’re playing with strong holdings.

One common mistake that I see players make is failing to account for how the size of their chip stack may dictate how to best play their hand. When I started playing poker more than five years ago, I made the same mistake.

The optimum play with a particular hand depends on many factors including your chip stack. A good move for someone with a large chip stack could be a dangerous move for someone with a tiny chip stack.

To put it plainly: size matters. That is not to say that bigger is indeed better. Being “deep-stacked” has its advantageous, but small stacks can be equally effective at the poker table.

A Deep Stack Expands Options

For the sake of this article, I will define deep stacks as stacks that are roughly 125 big blinds or more. Others may define a deep stack as a bit less or more than that number of big blinds, but almost no one would consider a stack of 35 big blinds or less to be a deep stack.

I generally subscribe to the notion that deep-stack play is better than small-stack play. Most professional pokers would agree.

This is because deep stacks give you more room to take advantage of implied odds. In other words, you’re allowed more freedom with regard to starting hand requirements. You can play small pocket pairs hoping to flop your set or small suited connectors hoping to flop a flush or straight. If you miss the flop, you can fold and wait for a better situation. You can be more patient because the blinds aren’t much of a concern; they won’t eat up your chip stack that much.

Another benefit of being deep-stacked is maximizing your profits. If you have the biggest stack at the table, you can extract the most possible chips from your opponents. This is not true for short stacks.

Let’s look at an example of this: If you’re the biggest stack with $900 chips and one player calls your all-in bet with his $600 in chips—and you win—then you take all his money.

Now let’s look at another example: If you’re a small stack with $500 chips and the biggest stack with $800 in chips calls your all-in bet—and you win—you can’t take all his money. He’ll be left with $300 chips because you didn’t have enough money to play for all his chips.

That’s one of the pitfalls of the short stack, but there are some benefits.

A Shorts Stack Encourages Tight, Hyper-Aggressive Play

If you don’t have many chips behind you, you’re forced to basically play for all your chips in every hand you play. This forces you to play premium hands like big pocket pairs and big face cards. You often won’t be getting the right price to play small pocket pairs and suited connectors. Those hands need to see the flop cheaply, and every hand played is expensive for a short stack.

The best move is to get all your chips in the middle with big pairs before the flop or to shove when you hit top pair on the flop. You don’t have the opportunity to wait because the blinds will eat you alive.

One obvious advantage of this essentially all-in or fold strategy is that it forces you to play tighter. Another advantage of this style of play is that it’s harder to get outplayed by more skilled post-flop players. Your decisions are simple: push or fold. You don’t need to worry about the subtleties of the game like betting the right amount or knowing when to fold the second best hand.

There’s also the strange psychological advantage you will have. For some reason, many deep stack players don’t treat short stack players with much respect. They assume that you’re buying in for a small amount because you have a small bankroll or aren’t very skilled. It’s not unusual for the big stack to pay off a short stack player by calling with weaker than usual hands.

I still believe that deep stack play is better, but I’ve faced some tough short stack players and wouldn’t underestimate their abilities.

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