We’ve come a long way in these ‘Expanding Your Bankroll’ free poker Articles, and I’m very pleased that you were my guest. I hope some usable information was made available to all of you, and I hope that additional profits will accrue to your benefit.

Plus, in that this is the last Article, I want you to know that I’m intent on bringing home a powerful, profound, and purposeful 3 word message: THINK, THINK, THINK.

To start, please take a few minutes to THINK about these great quotes.

Each was culled from a quality professional poker player or a good published writer.

They sum up some of the interesting and most practical ideas associated with the game of poker….a game that is truly played in a 6 inch chamber; not on a 12 foot table. (Don’t be concerned; we’ll define the 6 inch chamber shortly.)

1. David Sklansky on Poker
“When we play, we must realize, before anything else, that we are out to make money.”

2. From Big Deal by Anthony Holden
Poker is a science, a semblance of warfare, an art form or indeed a way of life – but it is also merely a game, in which money is simply the means of keeping score.”

3. David Mamet on Poker
“Poker reveals to the frank observer something else of import—it will teach him about his own nature. Many bad players do not improve because they cannot bear self-knowledge.”

4. Bobby Baldwin on Poker
“The mark of a top player is not how much he wins when he is winning but how he handles his losses. If you win for thirty days in a row, that makes no difference if on the thirty-first day you have a bad night, go crazy, and throw it all away.”

5. Jack Strauss on Poker
“Limit poker is a science, but no-limit is an art. In limit, you are shooting at a target. In no-limit, the target comes alive and shoots back at you.”

6. From The Gentleman’s Handbook on Poker by William J. Florence
“Never lose your temper, either with those you are playing with or, more particularly, with the cards. There is no sympathy in poker. Always keep cool. If you lose your head, you will lose all your chips.”

7. From A Girlhood Among Gamblers by Katy Lederer
“The cardinal sin in poker, worse than playing bad cards, worse even than figuring your odds incorrectly, is becoming emotionally involved.”

8. Amarillo Slim on Poker
“It never hurts for potential opponents to think you’re more than a little stupid and can hardly count all the money in your hip pocket, much less hold on to it..”

Next, THINK about this: “The Game is Played in a 6 inch chamber”‘

….not said by a poker professional. Rather, it was said by a golf professional….Bobby Jones; and as you may well know, he was a very famous and successful competitor. He dominated the game when he was an active player, and he attributed his near-countless accomplishments to a very simple belief.

That belief, so ardently adhered to throughout his career (in golf and as a lawyer) can be paraphrased as follows: “Competitive golf is not played on a 7,000 yard course, it’s played in a 6 inch chamber”. And, as you might easily conclude, he was making reference to the gray matter between the ears….he was talking about the brain; not just his, but also those belonging to all of his opponents.

And, our game, as skilled as it is, as ‘advantaged’ as it is, always finds us seated at a 12 foot table, more accurately at it’s online equivalent.

Yet, we always play the game within our individual 6 inch chambers….I’ve never been able to come up with an exception to that Bobby Jones ‘piece of wisdom’. He used it for golf (and legal matters), we use it for poker; and, hopefully, we’ll use it elsewhere.

Recognizably, there could be a small number of you who would argue that ‘instinct’, not ‘thought’, often initiate our game play actions.

And, while I’ll not disagree with that point, it’s important to note that ‘instinct’ is akin to, or parallel with, ‘habit’.

Therefore, when we realize that just about all of our game play ‘habits’ are the direct result of what we’ve learned, what we’ve analyzed, we’re back to the ’6 inch’ chamber.

Plus, it’s our ’6 inch’ chamber that competes against everyone else’s ’6 inch’ chamber. Granted, it’s a simple task to overwhelm the ‘Farm Animals’....they’re pretty much lost in any environment where ‘thought’ is a pre-requisite for survival. They, and their play, bring to mind a comedy routine once used by the late George Carlin.

He would say that there was “a worst doctor in the world, and a number of people have appointments with him right now”. And, when we transfix the words ‘worst doctor’ with the words ‘worst poker players‘, we don’t need to look very far to find them. You play with them everytime you visit the NoPayPOKER site.

They don’t use their ’6 inch’ chamber; many of them do not believe that the gray matter existing within that chamber was meant to be used; with the singular exception that it’s intended purpose was to formulate sounds; like “Moooooooooooooooooo”….the bellow noise that emanates from the pastures.

However, the existence of one or more opponents at any 6 inch table who possess the ability to think is a reality that we need to deal with on an every day basis….even at NoPay. Don’t ever underestimate the talent of the ‘better’ players on the site; they know the game, they win money.

And, in non-gratuitous fashion, let me point out that there are many ‘solid’ players on the site; along with a few of NoPay members, who, if properly taught, if ‘risk-tolerance’ is not an issue, could become very profitable Brick and Mortar cash game players. In all candor, I’d thoroughly enjoy an opportunity to get the latter group in a classroom setting.

Therefore, it would be a mistake to play the game at NoPay with the belief that you’re always ‘underwhelmed’ by your competition.

And, that being true, it would be a marked signature of your intelligent approach to NoPay game play to adhere to the ‘advantaged’ tactic of identifying table targets….where the ‘better’ players are not targeted; at least not until you’ve surpassed the bubble, and you’re assured of a money payout.

Finally, to conclude this free poker Article, take a moment to THINK about some etiquette, a few rules, and a bit of protocol.

Poker, like most games, has it’s own forum of etiquette. It has grown up around the game, and it’s something everyone learns when they begin to play regularly. And, since we all behave differently, dependent on circumstances and environment, it’s important to know that what’s okay in one sport may be considered rude in another.

For example, you’re expected to yell and scream at a horse race or a football game, but maintain complete silence when you’re standing at a golf green. Both are forms of etiquette, it’s what’s expected of us, contingent on the unwritten code of conduct that’s grown up around the event. And poker has a set of rules all it’s own….it’s own code of conduct.

Most of pokers rules and protocols exist to speed things up and to keep things honest. The rules and etiquette are a part and parcel of poker….just like the cards and the chips.

In fact, after you first ventured into a game at NoPay, poker’s protocols and etiquette probably became vividly clear in a very short period of time.

Here, then, is a summary of some of the most important rules regarding online play:

• Discussing your hand with others at the table, even if you have mucked the cards, may yield information that provides an opponent with an edge. Don’t do it.
• Sending IM’s to a friend who’s also in the game, or colluding via telephone, is not just stepping outside the rules and protocol, you’re cheating. Don’t do it.
• Everyone wants a speedy game. Sure, you’ll see poker pro’s on television taking a long time to act. But, online, it’s both annoying and rude. Don’t do it.
• Never make fun of other players….especially those who have made what you would define as a ‘Farm Animal’ mistake. Don’t do it.
• Whine when you lose! Never….we all fell prey to an impossible draw against long odds. It’s poker, ‘stuff happens’, whining shouldn’t be a part of your game. Don’t do it.
• Poker’s defining rule: no advice to an active player during the playing of a hand, and no advice after the hand has finished. Don’t do it.
• Patterns of culture vary from society to society, and, while talking trash at the table in the US is generally the accepted rule, it’s not the rule internationally. Don’t do it.
• Don’t ever ‘slow-roll’. In online poker that would be described as taking an inordinate amount of time to call an ‘all-in’ bet when you hold the ‘nuts’ hand. Don’t do it.

In parting, I know we’re all familiar with real estate’s ‘rule of thumb’, “location, location, location. And, I know that each of you are aware of my poker ‘rule of thumb’, “patience, patience, patience”.

But let’s now add a competitive ‘rule of thumb’, a business ‘rule of thumb’, a relationship ‘rule of thumb’, a family ‘rule of thumb’, a friendship ‘rule of thumb’, and a decision making ‘rule of thumb’….”THINK, THINK, THINK”.

Best of Luck at The Tables.
D. Michael


Whether you just play free poker with us at NoPayPOKER or play with house sized buy-ins in Monaco the Set is one of the hardest poker hands of all to read.

It consists of a pocket pair and one of the Board cards with the same rank as the pocket pair.

For example, if you have 5-5 and the Board reads 5-4-10-J-K, you have a Set of Fives.

Sets are unreadable because most players are accustomed to reading (a) two different hole cards, (b) high cards or overpairs, (c) draws that complete the Board, or (d) cards anyway related to the Board cards.

Given that your hand reading habits usually are a combination of limiting possible hands to the given characteristics, how would you put someone on 5-5 or 4-4 when it is much easier for you to put him on A-K (for top pair, best kicker), A-Q (for a made Straight), or K-10 or 5-4 (for Two-Pair), or even A-A (a high pair)?

Sometimes you may even put him on one Five, say, 6-5. But on two Fives or two Fours? These are why Sets are very potent in Boards which have no Straight or Flush potential.

However, suppose in a Flop of Q-7-2 with no Straight or Flush possibilities, you have 2-2.

• You check (hoping to trap him), the other player bets.
• You raise all in then he immediately calls and reveals Q-Q.
• You thought your opponent had A-Q or K-Q.
• How is this possible? It’s possible. Even in this spot you are more susceptible.

Because there are no Straight or Flush potentials your opponent will fold cards that didn’t fit into the Board cards. If you read hands according to the criteria above, you might put your opponent on A-Q, K-Q, or even Q-7 (can you go as far as 7-2?!).

Here because you are the one who moved all-in, the outcome of the hand is not fully on your control; it’s up to whether your opponent calls or not.

But suppose the situation is reversed. The player with the Q-Q checks, you bet, then the response is a raise all-in. What would you do?

When you are slammed in a situation like this (which usually occurs on the Flop) on a cash game, take it as it is. Pay him off. Some other time you will have the Q-Q, some other player will have the 2-2, and you will be paid off.

But in a tournament, you have plenty of givens to consider (and you might want to consider these even in an ordinary cash game).

• Compare your stack sizes relative to each other.
• If the difference is great, expect one of you to put his chips in the middle.
• A Set may be the best hand both of you can have to get a double-up.
• If you have the smaller Set get eliminated, attribute it to bad luck.

However, assuming both of you have stacks above chip average, and you are put to a decision costing you all or almost all your chips. You have 2-2. You are not likely to be blinded out in a few hands.

You might want to reason out:

• I have a Set.
• He raised me enough to put me all-in, or almost.
• He might do it with Q-7, (and whether your opponent had Q-7 or not will depend on what happened preflop.
• If no raise occurred it might be with Q-7, and you can safely call.
• Whether your opponent had 7-7 or not can also come under similar scrutiny) or if there is a raise, it might be with A-Q.

Now, top pair, top kicker is a weak hand to risk an above-average stack. And there is no Straight and Flush incoming, so the all-in could be made only with an exceptionally strong hand.

It might also be with A-A or with K-K (most probably it is) but it might also be just with Q-Q.

If I put him on those three hands, there is a 2/3 chance I’m right, but a 1/3 chance of wrong, and when I’m wrong I will be busted. So I’ll fold.

If you have the middle Set (Set of Sevens), the same analysis may also apply. But you will be much safer because there is only one Set to kill you instead of the two a possible Sets a while ago.

If you have the Set of Queens, enjoy! The above analysis is agonizing and painstaking, especially when it all amounts to giving up one of the most cherished hands in Hold’Em.

Summing up Reading Sets

It takes some time to learn how to read hands, it’s not something the unthinking donk “chip flingers” seen on many free poker tables even consider. Most players it seems can’t or won’t put the time in, they claim to play just for fun which misses out on the key fact that winning lots of money is a lot more fun!

I think it’s crazy that so many people play with so little skill and almost revel in the fact! But this is also very good news for you as one of the few who is learning to play well. The reason why is that when you really learn how to play poker well you can go mercenary and hunt the “fun donks” down in low stakes real money games as well as %LINK2% sites that pay out real money while you happily build your skills and bankroll!

As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and play free poker at NoPayPOKER to learn to play poker online free and get your skills finely honed before going onward and kicking some ass.

Typically, the sage advice for average poker players who are more used to free poker who find themselves playing a pot against good players is for the average player not to play the pot at all. In cash games, in a table surrounded by good players, the “novice player” only has to leave and find an easier table.

But in tournament poker, it is not so simple to avoid being trapped on a table with some good or even exceptionally talented poker players.

A good player can defeat a novice player because a good player knows the general pattern of a novice player, given the Board cards, the novice’s actions and his position. Good players can also put them on a hand.

They will know if a player is holding a suited connector; a pocket pair, or even, in some extreme cases, a Set. They can play a Straight weakly (or even fold it occasionally) when the Board pairs and the novice suddenly pours down his chips.

Let us make some systematic analysis about our novice player.

A player is said to “win” a pot, for our purposes, if:

• (A) He wins the hand in a showdown or
• (B) He makes all his opponents fold.

If we want our novice player to win a pot against a good player, what kinds of hands should he play, and how?

Suppose he tries to win under the condition (a) – to win in a showdown.

• Then the novice player will have to pass through the preflop, flop, turn and river against the good player.
• At each stage the good player will get more information from the novice player than the novice player can get from the good player.

If the good player has more information, then he knows immediately whether the novice player has a good hand or not.

He can continue to showdown and probably win a big pot, if he keeps on value-betting our novice. Or he may lose a small pot, if he slows down and just checks. Or he can make the novice fold.

Suppose our novice now tries (b) to make his opponents fold.

• Let us assume the Board will help him only a little, and his hand, from the flop up to the river, will not be of showdown quality.)
• During the flop, turn, and the river, the good player will extract more inferences from the Board cards than the novice player will.
• If our novice, who usually has the tendency to get excited, overrepresents a hand unnecessarily, then he will just be called by the good player (unless he plays really strongly, but he can’t overdo this either).

From these, we gather that the pieces of information needed to make a decision is:

1. Your cards.
2. Your perception of your opponents’ cards.
3. The Board cards.
4. Tells your opponent gives away.
5. Tells you give away to your opponent.
6. Previous tendencies of each player.
7. Position.

Both the novice and the good player has (1) and (3), but the good player’s judgement is usually more accurate with all these criteria.

A good player, for instance, will believe that 8-7 (his cards) are not so nice-looking in a flop of 10-7-3 (the Board cards), but a novice player may think they’re powerful.

As for (4), (5), and (6) which stems from (1), (2) and (3), the good player is usually more aware of these. And good players care more for (7) than novice ones.

So if our novice wants to play a pot against a good player, he cannot really rely fully on the information above, for he cannot interpret it well.

So our novice should find a spot in which the good player also cannot rely on most of the information above, so that they will be on equal footing.

When is it? Answer: Preflop. How to play? All-in.

• Preflop, your perception of your opponent’s cards is less accurate than after the flop falls.
• Also, because there are no Board cards yet, tells are less reliable.
• Finally,  because a novice is less likely to have previous tendencies resulting from experience, the good player has little hold on (6).
• And preflop all-ins are dependent on hand strength more than position.

By moving all-in you can make your opponent fold (which is a win) or entice him to a showdown.

• Don’t call yourself all-in, however, unless you have a premium hand.
• Once your opponent does this move, if he is a good opponent, he knows you are vulnerable.
• When he does want a showdown, he is deprived of postflop information that will increase his chances of making an good decision.
• At this point, although the good player is still good, he has to play in terms of novice play.

The good hands the novice can have are still the traditional all-in hands: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, etc. A-K (or similar) is quite shaky, but if you can lull someone with 7-7 to play with you, you are still about 50-50 with him.

Whereas if you take him to the Flop, he will have more opportunities to play his 7-7 better than you would play your A-K, and you will be defeated most of the time.

Let us say your chance to win above is just 25% postflop; why not take the 50-50 instead?

Summing up What You Can Do When You’re Trapped By Good Players in Tournaments

Find free poker tournaments an/or cash games where you can take on better players with no or low risk, this is a great way to improve!

The fact is that It takes some time to learn how to play poker online or offline at a level above the unthinking donk “chip flinging” seen on many free poker tables. Most players it seems can’t or won’t put the time in, they claim to play just for fun which misses out on the key fact that winning lots of money and beating all these “fun” players is a lot more fun!

Yet this is great news for you as a player who aims to learn to play well. That’s because once you learn how to play online poker with above average skill and are able to combat the “all-in-all the time” donk maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated massacres anytime you like. This can mean really good easy money in low stakes money online games and in free online poker games that pay out real cash such as those found at http://www.NoPayPOKER.com.

To make this work first, play free poker tournaments lots at NoPay and learn to play poker free where you can learn while you lose but without losing real money, then once ready to can move up to low stakes and start to make some serious poker cash!

In poker be it free poker like you play at NoPayPOKER or big stakes you do not just play the cards. You also play the player, or to put it another way, you aim to manipulate other players so that they do what you want them to do. The desired end result of course is that they give you money!

Playing the player has 2 sides. On your side you are trying to read your opponent, classify their style, of play, motivations and actions and play your cards in accordance with your conclusions.

On the opposing player side you are trying to play them to increase the degree of error with which they classify your style of play, motivations and actions.

To learn how to do this lets look at an example of playing the player in action from a WSOP event.

BLINDS 50k/100k

• A has Ac-Qh raises 350k
• B is on big blind, has Kc-Js, calls 230k (Pot 880k)

K-J is usually a bit weak to call a raise. Moreover, B doesn’t have position over A, but he calls because he wants A to guess.

From the big blind, generally we just call because we are on a discount, so we might have 6-5, 10-8, and a bunch of other indeterminate hands which require guessing.

FLOP 4d-5h-3d

B bets 535k

Because small cards fell, B now wants A to think that his call from the big blind hit the Flop, and that his hand may well include those indeterminate hands like 5-4, 8-5, or even 6-7, or two Diamonds. But what did A think?

• A raises to 1.8m (Pot 3.215m)
• B needs 1.265m to call

Here, A thought that B’s bet was just a continuation bet, and with small cards falling A’s belief is reinforced that B is just trying to finish the hand. How would small cards likely hit B?

Additionally, B has been playing aggressively all night (stealing pots, etc.) so B could be betting with something (which is not likely with small cards falling) or with nothing. B could be playing just about anything, especially from the big blind.

At that point, A gambled that B has nothing. He may have also figured out that if B had something and then moves all-in later then he can move out quickly. So he raised to try B’s strength.

B folds

B folds, because, indeed, he has nothing, and if he calls, he will be committed to continue. (Had B moved all-in then it will be a good all-in, for A could still be guessing at this point what B’s hand was. But B’s cards were not strong enough.)

Also, he folds, because A raised from late position, which allows for a wider range of hands, like even 5-4 or two Diamonds.

Poker, indeed, is not simply a game of good hands versus good hands. Experienced poker players will win with bad hands under the right conditions.

We give credit to B for first trying to win with a bad hand, a good effort to play he player. Unfortunately for B, A did the playing the player task superbly too, having noted previous actions and motivations and related that to current con text and probability and so played out to win well.

The good news is that the majority of players can’t be bothered to learn how to play poker, they are happy to play in the donk zone and call it fun (it’s more fun to win money guys) so, for you, the player who wants to learn to play well the great news is that when you learn to play poker well you can go mercenary and deliberately hunt them down in cold blood in low stakes games on money poker sites and on free online poker NoPayPOKER that pay real $s and happily build your skills and bankroll!

This poker article was the winner of the June 2010 NoPayPOKER article writing contest. Member Buried_Child gets $1,000 FreeD and a big pile of Bonus Chips.

There is a poker tournament variant called All-in or Fold. The rules are this: There is only one blind (called big blind). Each player starts with just one chip; it doesn’t matter how many, anyway, for these reasons: Your only options are: All-in, and Fold. If you are on the big blind you are automatically all-in. You receive change, however, if, say, you have 5 chips and someone moves all-in with 2 chips and you call him (which is an all-in, too). He will not win five chips from you; you will get a change of three chips.

If you are on the big blind you just ignore everything else that follows. (It happens only about 1/10 of the time, however, in a 10-player table. If you somehow want to become hooked.)

So it’s really a math game, and a position game too.

Why math game?

Because you will be relying entirely on preflop all-ins, and you have to commit to memory the probability of your winning, or at least have a gist of them. I can give some examples (You can generalize; the probability’s pretty much the same in a similar situation; for instance the first example will be ‘Two Overcards vs. Small Pair, or the first example will apply too if it were, say, A-10 over 5-5) and approximate probabilities:

A-K vs 8-8
55%-45% in favor of 8-8

A-K vs A-Q
75%-25% in favor of A-K

A-10 vs K-K
75%-25% in favor of K-K

A-K vs 7-6
65%-35% in favor of 7-6

A-10 vs K-Q; A-Q vs K-J
63%-37% in favor of A-10 and A-Q

A-A vs 8-8
80%-20% in favor of A-A

A-A vs A-K
93%-7% in favor of A-A

A-A vs K-Q
85%-15% in favor of A-A

But these do not imply that you should wait for A-A or K-K or A-K before you move all-in, of course.

Do it with two face cards, a pair, or A-x. Just make sure the big blind doesn’t reach you, for if that happens your decision’s beyond your will.

All-In or Fold is also a game of position. Oftentimes players in these tournaments play hands similar to the above, and throw away the rest. Consider these two examples: (1) You are in late position with 4-4 and there are two all-ins in front of you. You might be facing three or four overcards, or an overpair.

Fold. After all, if you are in late position, there will be many hands before you reach the big blind. (2) You have A-8 in early position. You are two hands away from being the big blind, so you move all-in, and players after you will interpret an early-position all-in as a sign of strength.

What you consider, then, is the strength of your hand and the surrounding action. With one-on-one, which happens mostly, the above probabilities still apply. But with three or more, hand strength matters more.

Big pairs are still big; medium pairs shrink in power (because you can’t see the Flop yet; usually we see the Flop with a medium pair to hit a Set). A-x becomes weaker; A-K and A-Q weaken down a little bit. However, make sure you play a hand while you’re still in control of your decision. When you get yourself blinded out, it’s for your tournament life, mostly.