BONUS CHIPS, A WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT IF USED CORRECTLY

NoPayPOKER’s bonus chips work in the same way that add-on or re-buy chips do on deposit poker sites. Players using bonus chips have a definite advantage over those that do not but you need to use them wisely.

The first thing I would like to point out is the idea of any game is to win it and to do that you should make use every tool offered to you, this means there is no disgrace in buying and using bonus chips, in actual fact by not doing so you are setting yourself up to fail.

The prize pool of a tournament should be the determining factor on how many bonus chips you should add in a game. I base mine on adding sufficient to ensure I make it to the final table even if I only win a few hands . When I said they should be used wisely, that means they are not free, so determine how many freeds you can expect to win when adding them.

For the purposes of this article we will use the cost of buying the smallest amount which is 60 freeds for 2000 bonus chips.

In a $500 prizepool tournament if you added 2000 bonus chips you must win at least 60 freeds to pay for them. First place in that tournament is approximately $125 freeds, 2nd place about $95 freeds and 3rd place about $60 freeds depending on the number of entries,any place under that and you have lost money.

The tournament payout structure under resources in the lobby is a necessary tool in determining the cost of adding bonus chips and should be used prior to adding them along with your actual cost of purchasing the bonus chips. I recommend buying the maximum amount of 30,000 as that makes your cost less than 17 freeds per thousand versus the 30 freeds per thousand in the smallest amount, meaning more freeds in your bank.

I would not consider playing the larger freerolls without the addition of bonus chips, occasionally someone will win without them but the odds against it are so great that like I previously stated you are setting yourself up to fail.

Beginning a tournament with a larger chip stack also offers you a certain amount of freedom in the way you play, if you make a bad call or lose to a better hand early in the game you still have sufficient chips to continue and make it to the payout and very likely to the final table.

I hope you all decide to use bonus chips in your game and will take the time to learn to use them wisely.

A turbo tournament is a cash or free online poker games tournament where the blinds increase exceptionally rapidly. Suppose, in an ordinary poker tournament, blinds increase every 12-15 minutes. In a turbo tournament, the blinds increase every, say, 3-5 minutes. Time will come where everyone will be just from five to ten big blinds.

Given these numbers, a turbo tournament is about four times as fast as a regular tournament.
So how do you incorporate this ‘four times as fast’ into your playing style? Does this playing more hands?

No. For example, if in an ordinary tournament you ’small-ball’ – a playing style where you play more hands than your opponents, like 7-6 (even offsuit) and A-x (suited) which others feel a little woozy when holding. Then if you hit the Flop hard, you bet hard as well – because in the earlier levels the blinds are low in relation to the average stacks. 

But in a turbo tournament you can’t use this playing style. Blinds increase, but the number of hands never increase; in fact, they decrease. If you are playing, say, 60 hands in the first four levels of an ordinary tournament, in a turbo tournament you will be playing just 15-20 hands, most of them you will fold, of course.

What hands will you not fold?
- A-A, K-K, Q-Q, of course.
- In the early levels you can also experiment with connectors because your opponents might be a bit scared about losing their chips early with a, say, weak Ace or King.
- However, in the later levels, where everyone is near to blinding out, also put A-x or K-x (where x is greater than 10) and smaller pocket pairs in your arsenal.

Why? Because, simply, if you don’t play, the blinds will not just eat you – they will devour you!
If you move all-in with a wide range of hands than you are accustomed to in an ordinary tournament, then you can make the others fold.

And even with a caller, you may be on a classic coin flip if you have a pocket pair; you can be a favorite if you have A-x (x>10) and the caller is a weak Ace; and you will have two live cards with K-x and Q-x.

In the late levels the game will be mostly preflop; a series of crapshoots; so take advantage of preflop aggression.

However, you can also take advantage of postflop aggression in the late levels.
Suppose you are in the button with K-x where x is weak and the blinds call. You feel that the other two players have weak hands. Now the flop comes a bit scary (A-8-3) for example.

If you have the Eight or the Three and both your opponents check, you can bet. However, you can also bet if both of them check even if you have nothing. You have position; you are the best player to decide whether each other player has something.

Near the bubble, if you are sinking in chips, move all in with A-x, K-x or Q-x. Most of the time you will be drawing live. Others will be afraid to call you because they don’t know what you have and they will be the one sinking in chips if they call you incorrectly (or if you luck out).

If you play turbo, free poker games or for cash I hope this short advice article helps you some, if you are new to turbo poker them then I strongly suggest to practice them in free online poker games first.

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.

How can a small stack react to the bullying of a big stack, and under what conditions? Here Player A has the smallest stack in the table, and B the biggest one. (B had at least six times the stack of A.) Player A could move all-in with what he had, but see how well he did it.

BLINDS 100k/200k

PREFLOP:

• A has Ad-Qd raise to 550k
• B is on big blind, has 7d-7c, calls for 350k (Pot 1.41m)

Why didn’t B try to push A all-in here? A might fold, and he may not want to blow up his big stack yet.

What if A has J-J or above? Then A would be harder to kick out of the pot. B could put A on big cards, and he will be right if he does.

Generally, small stacks could afford to play only big cards.

FLOP: 8d-3h-8c

• B checks
• A bets 650k

B checks, hoping to check-check it all the way with A. But A fires out 650k.

That move is aggressive; he can push B out. Why? His 7d-7c is not strong enough, expecially on a paired board.

It is good for A to bluff, and the pot will be a chunky addition to his small stack.

That may make B put A on a high pair or two big cards (like A-K), but he doesn’t know which, so he tries a raise:

B raises to 1.5m

Because B called from the big blind, A could put him on a wider range of hands.

One of them could be A-8 suited, or 9-8. But it could also be something else which didn’t help A, maybe K-J which A decided to limp in with.

The raise may signal an Eight, or an attempt to push B out. One of the two.

Now A can think of why B didn’t bet the flop. The check may be a trap, so he bets to see if it is. If B just called then an Ace or a Queen may fall, and that may be costly to B, A might think.

But B raised, so A figures out that B wants him out of the pot because B’s hand is not strong enough (If he guesses a small pair, like 7-7 or lower, he’s right.).

And because he is the short-stack, he has to be aggressive.

He has to take more risks and take more chips. He just hoped that B is semi-bluffing, and:

• A moves all-in (Pot 8.085m)
• B needs 3.675m to call

B is now on trouble here.
A’s three-bet represents a strong hand. Also, look at B’s: comments: “I really think you have A-K or A-Q…” He is right. He could have called, and cost him only a sixth of his stack.

Also, B can consider the stack condition of A. Would he raise with 8-7 or 9-8 with a small stack if he can wait for and then move all-in with A-K, A-Q or any pair?

B will be more inclined to believe it’s A-K or A-Q.

However, B adds: “I’ve been playing with you for a long time, and you’re a very solid player, I never see you not having a hand…and if you have a very big pair I’m in trouble. Nice bet sir.”

Yes, he has observed that A has been playing mostly with good hands. Was A aware of this?
He may be, and used it to his advantage. B thinks that it might be a big pair, too. What’s a three-bet plus all-in for, anyway? Or even 8-7 or 9-8.

B thinks: The raise is from a late position, and A might be trying to steal preflop with anything which may include the stray Eight, and his aggression looks like he hit the Flop. So it’s really a nice all-in, and B folds.

So a short-stack should play more aggressively.

If A didn’t do the move now when the proper conditions are there (a paired board which is less likely to hit B and more likely to scare him, too; a raise he interpreted as a weak semi-bluff; his player image), he might be blinded and anted off, and he will find it harder to stage a comeback in the tournament.

Phew, heavy stuff eh! If you are a poker beginner this may be a bit way out there for now but never fear! Join NoPayPOKER today. You can learn to play poker for free on the blog and then put your learning into practice with no money risk whatsoever on the NoPayPOKER free texas holdem online poker site

I would imagine that questions might exist as to why a Premium Membership at NoPayPoker would increase your winnings, and, why a Premium Membership would vastly improve your Return On Investment (ROI). So, I’ll give you an example; it comes from a most trusted source; someone who plays at NoPayPOKER.

And, please note, that this person is a very good player; an individual who wins with a consistency that almost all of us would be envious of, almost all of us would look to be duplicitous of. Yet, as you might agree, it would be unfair to identify the individual by name. Therefore, the screen name will be held by me in anonymity.

The player uses the monthly allotment of 30,000 Bonus Chips (BC) in NoPay’s 500 FreeD BC games; with a 2,000 BC buy-in. And, the following is a summary of this individuals game play results over the past month:

• 100% money pay-out
• 99% getting to the final 20
• 95% getting to the final table
• 75% getting to the final 5
• 40% getting to the final 3
• A touch over 16% finishing 1st

The end result is that every 1,000 Bonus Chips used by this player produces 37 cents of winnings….or, a total of approximately $11 per month.

And, that statistic not only begs a question, it also makes the question compulsory: “Is the $2.95 per month (Introductory Offer), or $4.95 per month (Annual Membership Fee), or $7.95 per month (Single Month Fee) worth it?

Well….at $7.95 per month, versus an $11 monthly win rate, the ROI is 38%. At $4.95 per month, versus the $11 monthly win rate, the ROI is 122%. And, at $2.95 per month, versus the $11 monthly win rate, the ROI is 272%. Are we looking at a ‘yes-brainer’? It certainly appears that way to me! So, you may be well advised to get to your PayPal account, and sign on as a Premium Member; it’s simply another way to attain the goal of winning money.

Plus, of interest to me, as it should be to you, in a recent 500 FreeD BC game played at 1645 site time, not only did this player win the tournament, but he did it in what can be described as “in a no less than absolute perfect fashion”. By that I mean he had a ‘Flops Seen Percentage’ of less than 10%, and a ‘Flops Seen Win Percentage’ of 100%….yes, 100%.

Imagine! Every flop he participated in ended up as a winning hand. Hard to believe? Sure it is! But, the data was verified at NoPay….using the new ‘STATS’ feature. Granted, the player folded Big Blinds, even when only limpers entered the pot. Why? I’m aware that this was done such that the individual could complete a ‘practice session’ where only playable pockets by position were cause for participation in the hand.

Possibly, none of us can replicate the ‘quality of play’ held by this individual; yet, I doubt that….there are way too many ‘good’ players on the NoPayPoker.com site. Or, maybe none of us can attain a monthly win rate of $11 in Bonus Chip games….maybe the win rate will only be five-eighths as good; something like $7 per month.

If so, if the win rate ends up at $7 per month, not $11 per month, the Return On Investment still remains a very positive number; it’s 41% (versus the annual Premium Membership cost). And, the 41% ROI takes into account the assumption that the ‘good’ NoPay players are only about half as ‘good’ as the ‘really good’ player who wins the $11 per month. Now, that’s a challenge of interest.

And, in all truth, the player who’s winning the $11 per month has the very same tools and strategies that each of you could possess; they are available in the ‘Building a Bankroll‘ series of free poker articles, and the miscellany of quality scribblings that appear within the NoPayPoker monthly contest articles.

Should you become a Premium Member? Well….if winning money is your goal, if attaining a high Return on Investment is your goal, then the question doesn’t necessiate a whole lot of thought. Does it?

Best of Luck at the Tables,

D. Michael

by: D Michael Vadnais

(c) copyright; May 15, 2010; no reproduction, all rights reserved by D. M. Vadnais