Poker Experience: PartyPoker.com
While playing poker on Party Poker, I encountered an interesting hand. This hand, I have no doubt led to me winning my SnG earlier today, even though it happened quite early on. The hand was Four of a Kind, it was up against one player with a set of Queens, and another player with a Full House, and the game being played was Five Card Draw. All three players got all their chips in, leaving one player with almost half the chips in play, another player eliminated, and the third player critically low on chips.
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The reason I speak about this hand in third person is because in fact, it wasn’t me holding the Four of a Kind, it was the player who was looking like the least experienced pocker player at the table. He played his hand well enough, but then Four of a Kind in a Pot Limit FCD game isn’t exactly the trickiest of hands to play when two opponents are raising into you.
Despite his strange plays which seemed averse to any sort of logic, this player eventually made it to heads up with a comfortable chip lead, and with some early pressure on me, would perhaps have won. The fact that I didn’t see many cards in the first 10 hands of heads up play was not fatal due to my opponents passive play, and eventually, I picked up the hand I needed. From there, the chips counts were looking a lot better for me, and I had my space to manoeuvre and played well, taking victory.
This was a strange SnG in that my opponent took out most of the players on the table playing very strangely and seemingly getting lucky. Perhaps though, he was confusing peoples reads of his hands intentionally, in a way which was tactically very astute. Either way, without that Four of a Kind hand, the pocker game would never have played out the way it had done.
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Learning How to Play Poker
It is not overly difficult to learn how to play poker in terms of the basic rules, and you do not have to start off by playing a game like Holdem to understand the basics.
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I started off playing Five Card Draw and found this an enjoyable way to get a feel for hand rankings amongst other aspects of the game. Talking to other players who are experienced at the game will often help your game develop too. Books written by professional players provide an interesting way to gather more in depth information about pocker, but sometimes I find this can be a little too much, too soon, for players starting out.
Setting up a home game to provide regular practice is very helpful way to better understand the game, as with anything, putting in the time to play regularly will help your pocker game more than anything else I feel. Understanding position is one of the most important aspects you can learn after you get a feel for the game, but reading the dangers of board cards will help you greatly too.
As an amateur player, I would advise against watching the professionals play on television and simply trying to play like they do. This is partly because you can see what the players do when faced with different problems, but you cannot see their thought processes and their reasonings. You will find it almost impossible to simply sit down and replicate the way they play no matter how much you watch them.
The only way to really become skilled at the game is to put in many hours, develop your own game, and then be ready to sometimes play better than the player beside you and lose anyway. For this reason, pocker can be a very frustrating, yet ultimately exciting game to play.
ABC Poker Review
When I talk about ABC Poker, what I really mean is playing strong hands only, playing them well, and doing what is mathematically correct. Keeping risk taking to a minimum is important too if you wish to play this way, but the main point is to keep your play simple and effective.
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I know one or two pocker players who are experienced in the game who play this way, and are successful at it too, but it is not always the way I like to play myself. In my view, you can become predictable playing this way, and so you have to try something slightly different some of the time. Having said this, you cannot underestimate the benefits of making the correct moves at the correct times. I would certainly recommend playing this way to beginners, as getting creative and trying to outplay superior opponents will only get you into trouble.
Experienced players, including myself, can find cause to tighten up and play this way sometimes too, especially if you have a nice chip lead on a full table. In this situation there is no need to take risks with your chips, but when you are shortstacked, you will often find you do not have time to wait for a strong hand. In this instance, you are sometimes forced to take risks and get involved with marginal hands. To me, this is where the true test of pocker lies and although I wouldn’t say I play marginal hands and make risky moves all the time, I certainly do not feel uncomfortable about it when I have to.
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What’s new at partypocker
I should firstly mention the excellent Party Poker facilities for beginners. The poker school here is very detailed and informitive, giving new players the helping hand they need.
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In terms of promotions, Party Poker are running a ‘Million Dollar Race’ at the moment which pays out huge cash prizes for those players who can accumulate the most points on the cash tables over the course of the promotion. This is excellent in terms of potential winnings, but obviously the high stakes players will be more likely to end up at the top of the board. Also running currently, are numerous guaranteeds, and many ways to plot your path to the WSOP 2009.
Recent updates have made multi tabling easier at Party Poker, and personalised avatars are now available, giving a choice of pictures to represent you at the table. Searching for the table you want has also been made easier, with the opportunity to add favourite tables to a list for easy access.
Many new changes have been made since the new year, and all of these demonstrate how hard Party Poker are working to remain at the top in the online poker room industry. These improvements make playing pocker here a simple and smooth process, offering maximum choice and preference to players.
All the details of these changes can be found onsite, and hopefully, we will see Party pocker continue to make improvements during the year.
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888poker.com online poker
888poker.com – This week has been a turbulent one in places, finishing on the bubble in my live event after playing pretty well throughout. I also played a small cash game with a friend of mine and had him on the ropes three times when he was all in. He managed to survive each time though and came back to win, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
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Next week I will get back into the Omaha games on PKR as I have not been involved in much online play this week.
I enjoy cash Omaha tables a lot at the moment, and hopefully I can turn a little bit of profit while I’m there.
The grand final game of our local poker league beckons in a months time too, and so as ever, my live tournament on Wednesday will be a priority. I should have cashed the last two times, but at least I am picking up plenty of points in the poker league table.
Another small cash pocker game with a couple of friends will I am sure, be a fixture, offering the chance for some light hearted revenge for being beaten last time. I have withdrawn some money from Pokerstars this week, but left enough to get involved in the ‘Battle of the Planets’ leaderboard this week if I wish. My focus has gone away from this recently, although if I find the time to, I shall resume trying to break onto that board. Generally speaking though, I hope as ever, to play at my best. I have done so in patches this week, but consistency is what is needed in the coming week I feel.
