Posts Tagged ‘free poker tournaments’
Weighing up and calculating the percentages will give you an idea on the chances of earning some cash. For instance I’m taking part in a free poker game with twenty nine other opponents and ten of us getting waged. The percentages are quite easy to work out: one in three, and for this I would play quite mild for the majority of the game. Don’t be fooled into thinking I’m not going to be the front runner come the end of the night- but most of the time the cards dealt in the first forty five minutes will determine this.
I’m going to share and explain some of my better card play strategies. Remember this is not a beginning spot and is a long way off the real game. 77 I flat call and receive two times back and call. Flop comes 6D, 3H, 4H- 1st person to make a play all in on a one hundred and sixty five dollar, with a pot of three grand. I fold as they probably had better pockets or a nut flush draw/straight. Even though I had a fair chance of holding the best hand its way too soon to go for such a crazy move.
99 I flat call and the same opponent as previously shoved all in on flop 8D, 8S, 8H; I’m now wondering if I was incorrect on the previous play but I still fold regardless. He shows a Jtwo so I’m deciding I was right before. KJ off I flat call only due to the fact the pot is higher due to another player calling prior to me. We’re around fifteen mins in and I hold two thousand nine hundred of my initial three thousand dollars.
AJ I slow play A,6,9 flop and a player bets $350 the pot at this point was only $115 and the blinds $20/$40 so I fold. This player gave to much away with the size of his bet, if it were only me and him I would have reconsidered but I would like to think he wouldn’t try that with more players in the hand. I put him on a higher kicker, A6 suited or A9. Just in case I mention that he “should start showing a few to make it more believable.”
This way if he is doing something fishy hopefully my comment will make him think I am on to him. Even if this isn’t the case now I have him thinking that I do in fact think he is bluffing and that I may call him if he keeps it up. When in fact as you all know I am just saying it to keep him in line.
A good twenty mins on the same guy is making a move with K8 on a K66 flop when I have A6. Well as you might have guessed I ensure I double up & gain some vital info. He has in fact have hands when he makes these trivial gambles, however the cards he’s playing it with are very defeatable.
I will now employ a method of waiting for this player to make his next error. A different opponent to my right gambles before the flop- who seems to be on the same wave length as me, however playing it completely off the mark. The problem is he’s forceful with his cards and not stupid. I continue with the six grand double up here at first break 1hr into the game. At this point there’s still twenty two players at the table.
One hr and forty odd mins gone and I grasp the same opponent again slow playing a AK for an even 9 grand making my full sum twelve grand with seven opponents left and sitting in a modest third. Although this opponent had managed to pull together around eighteen grand in chips with an attacking style his final place is eighth while the low stack at the prior table is now playing for first spot. Looking for a mark and staying with it will work out in the lengthy game however you need to ensure you have another plan to bring in money to ensure you’re at the table long enough for the big dollars.
AA I gamble the smallest I can as I don’t have much to play with. The second hr is now in the books and I’m in last. Forth place with six grand so I will go all in blind regardless. The nearest opponent has sixteen grand and blinds are six hundred / one thousand two hundred. Fifty five and flop comes Qfive hundred and ten- a bit of good fortune never hurt anyone. I put down a AQ off to a gamble that would go in all in. I didn’t feel I wanted to lose my new chips so quick. Went out third place with A4 suited against K10 off. Not to shabby for a free poker tournament where I won some dollars although could have been WSOP from top table!
I look forward to playing you in a free poker tournament soon!
Whatever game you are playing, free poker online or pay poker, it is always about skill, with an added pinch of luck.
After all, there are only 52 cards in a deck. And any 5 given cards will always win a hand. It could be the ultimate hand of a Royal Flush or the lowest possible pair of 2′s. In some cases, it could even be A high. This is the wonderful world of poker, not knowing which hands are going to win the game.
When dealt cards you must first decide whether they are suitable to your style of play. Then the decision is whether to fold, call or raise the big blind.
Every individual player has their own style of playing. Some players will only play face cards, whereas others will play any card given to them. That is a style of play. I know of many players who will play nearly every hand pre-flop as long as the bet is within their comfort zone.
Once the flop is seen, it becomes more interesting and a bigger decision needing to be made. If you are holding 3 4 off suit and the flop shows AKJ, what is the likelihood that you will continue with the hand? I would imagine you would fold, unless it is a check through until the turn card is shown.
No poker player is the same, and its important to remember that you can never bee 100% sure how each player will play a hand. I have been in a game once where a player had a 3 4 offsuit and they made a big bet after the flop. They were obviously bluffing, but they pulled it off. This isn’t something that I would do personally, but it proves how each player is very different.
That is why it is always important to observe and study your fellow card players. In time, you develop enough information on their style of play to fairly accurately predict what they will do.
Does that always work to your advantage you may ask yourself. Well, the answer would be no. As I stated earlier, any given 5 cards will win a hand and they may very well be holding Q 10 and flopped a straight. But the odds are in your favor to predict certain scenarios after learning others’ style of play.
As much as you can rely on studying opponents playing styles to help you win, you must also remember that its your own playing which will win you a game of poker. Have a go playing free poker online and practice, practice, practice before moving on to money games.
Whether you are new to playing in free poker tournaments or not, you may wonder how to play your chip stacks. If so, then read this guide which will help you decide how to play the stacks from short to big.
First here are a few pointers on playing a short stack. When playing with a short stack, play tight, but play aggressively. The best way to do this is to steal the blind where possible, rather than just pushing your opponents into a decision. There is no advantage to trying to trap as a short stack seeing you are risking a lot more than your opponents.
Now we look at the average stack. Here you should play your normal game and do not change your style as you are good enough on chips to not need to be aggressive in order to survive. This is a good position to be in, as you have plenty of chips to keep the bigger stacks on their toes, and also plenty to cover the small stacks. Its worth trying to steal the blinds at this level.
Now we look at the bigger stacks. There are two ways to approach this. You can sit back and play as tight as you can until the weaker players are out of the game, or the other approach is to be aggressive and force others into tournament life or death decisions. You can get away by moving with marginal hands in this case.
However, remember that playing aggressive can cause you to let others back into the tournament by doubling them up with marginal hands. So play wisely if you go this route.
By knowing how to play each type of chip stack should enable you to stay in the game longer and hopefully start winning some tournaments and increase your winnings.
I hope these pointers help you out, start by practicing and perfecting your method and skill in free poker tournaments and games and then move onto the money tables.
This approach is just as applicable to free poker games as it is to paid, practice it with the free money and chips and you’ll be doing it naturally when the time comes to play with real green.
Before you even hit the tables, set yourself a couple of ground rules on spending money and time. You DO NOT want to spend an hour losing money over and over again. I tend to set myself three conditions. Upon meeting one of them I quit the table and take a break from poker.
While it may seem like they will restrict your winnings, and cause you to make slow progress in the poker world, you limit your losses, and so stop yourself progressing backwards. A penny saved is a penny earned, and those pennies will build up over time if you restrict your losses and have PATIENCE!
The purpose of this is to prevent a huge blowout of all your money and thus causing you to miss out on a huge win after lots of bad calls. Here are my three rules that I stick to:
1. If I have lost half the money I bought in with, quit and come back later.
2. If I have doubled the money I have bought in with, and start losing it, quit and come back later. On a side note never risk losing a big hard earned stack by going all in. I made this rule and adhere strictly to it so that I never make a loss on what I have earned.
3. If you’re going nowhere (played for 20-30 mins in my case) and haven’t made significant gain or loss then quit and come back later, chances are your luck will be better.
After joining a table to win big it’s all about playing the people, not the cards. It’s no use going all in with a royal flush knowing you’re bound to win, and watching everyone at the table fold.
Something else to look out for is bluffing styles…. If they have a great hand, many players will try to get as much cash as possible from other players so will be likely to bet small. However, if they are betting big, then its likely they are bluffing.
However, this is not always true. First look at the players at the table, try to guess their playing styles, notice patterns in their behaviour and then apply this guideline to them. It works for me I would say around 80-90% if the time.
A good poker player will try and do this to you, so always vary how you play after you hit the table! If you make yourself seem predictable and easy to read. E.g. start off by folding weak hands and only playing the good ones. When people see that you raise whenever you get a good hand, and fold on weak cards they will write you off as unable to bluff, and you can bluff your way through the next couple of weak hands, with most being too scared to call your bluff.
If you have a rubbish hand and have no chance of winning, make it clear that you are bluffing. Then as soon as a good hand does come along (it will eventually, it’s all just about PATIENCE) then you can bet big, people will probably call your bluff, and you can just rake in their cash.
If you’re a poker beginner start out playing free poker games and learn before you start risking real money. You’ll find that many free players don’t do rules very well and play silly but you will get a lot of experience in general game aspects on free poker sites so that you won’t waste too much money when you play for the real thing.