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Web Casino Online Basic Poker Strategy
Poker strategy is extremely important to winning, and Britain's Liv Boeree is living proof of this. In April 2010 she won the PokerStars European Poker Tour, worth approximately $1.7 million. Boeree has a university degree in astrophysics and credits her analytical math ability as contributing to her mad poker skills. But you don't have to be the world's best player to win at poker. You just have to be among the best at your table.
If you are a beginning poker player, the best and fastest way to improve is to practice, both online and around a table. You first have to lock down knowledge of which hands beat which other hands, and you have to master the rules of the variety of poker you play the most. If you are playing poker in a web casino online, pick a game that is appropriate for your level of skills and the amount of money you're willing to part with. Or stick with practice (no real money) games for awhile.
Most beginners feel that since they've put some money into the pot, they have to stay in a hand to the bitter end. Just because you've put money into a pot doesn't increase your chances of winning it. If you're sure you're beaten, then go ahead and fold. Knowing when to fold is an important poker skill.
If you're playing Texas Hold'em, there are five premium hands with your two personal cards: AA, KK, QQ, AK (same suit), and JJ. If you have a premium hand, play it if there was no raise ahead of you. If there is a raise ahead of you, particularly callers or re-raises, then you may want to fold on anything lower than KK.
What does this mean? It means you're going to be folding a lot of hands.
Now, there are thousands of variables in a game, but at bottom, there are only a few hands that are really playable. Suppose nobody has raised to open the pot. If that's the case, you can play just about any hand.
But suppose someone has raised ahead of you. In that case, narrow the hand selections you'll play so you'll keep yourself out of a situation where you're dominated. Say there's a raise ahead of you, and you have KQ. You should not play that into a raise, because 5 hands (AA, KK, QQ, AK suited, and AQ suited) have you dominated. If you're a beginner, stick to playing only the top hands until you are experienced enough to know when you can play those "good-but-not-primo" hands.
You should also know about bad hands and what to do with them. In Texas Hold'em, the "worst" hand is when you get a 7 and a 2 of different suits (also called "7-2 off") as your personal cards. They're the lowest cards you can have that can't make a straight. This is sometimes nicknamed the "beer hand," and "the hammer." Even if you get a 7 and 2 of the same suit, if you end up getting a flush, it will be a low flush, and if it's a 7-2 off and you end up pairing one of them, it's still a low hand.
But is a 7-2 off really the worst poker hand? For anyone with any experience at all playing poker, it isn't a terrible hand because usually you'll fold right away and be done with it. The real worst poker hand is the one that you personally get yourself in trouble with. If there's a hand that you have a hard time folding when you pretty much know you're beat, or a hand that for whatever reason causes you to make poor decisions, then that hand is your Achilles' heel.
For the typical poker player in a web casino online, the danger comes when they have some unpaired high cards and call a raise. If you have a Q-T, call a raise, then hit your top card, you could still have problems. If you pair the lower card, you're probably way behind and know it, but with your top card, maybe ... But then if the board ends up with all low numbers, you're still behind any pair of aces.
Another psychological blunder at the poker table is bad bluffing. Remember: if you bluff, you need to be representing a hand. If you are not, any decent opponent will catch on. Before bluffing, think about the hand you are representing. Can you represent this hand credibly? If so, good, particularly if you have a backup plan, because if you get called, you could still hit your long shot and win. So only bluff if you have a backup plan.
The other tips for poker strategy are basic common sense. Don't play if you're drunk, if you're angry, or if the limits are higher than you can afford to lose.
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