It can be tough to decipher the articles aimed at helping you win in casinos for USA players, so I will continue defining key poker terms in today’s article. Last time we left at the letter M.
My next term is “Mexican Bankroll”, a stack of cash with $100 bills on the top and bottom but only $1 bills in between. I know that this term won’t really help you crush the games on your Bwin Poker download, but it was such a funny term that I couldn’t resist defining it!
Let’s define the “nuts” for the next term. If you are playing cash games on Tiger Gaming and you have the nuts, it means that you have the best hand possible. One thing to keep in mind is that the nuts can change from street to street. For example, AA is the nuts preflop, but on the flop it often is not.
A basic poker video might teach a new player that they do not want to be “outkicked” when showing down a hand. For example, when you have a pair, you usually want to have the highest kicker possible so that if someone else has the same pair, you can still win the hand. If you have AQ and you flop a pair of aces, the queen in your hand is your kicker.
The last term I will define today is “polarized range”. If you are playing tournaments on an Everest Poker download and you have a polarized range in a situation, it means that your hand is either extremely strong or extremely weak.
I recently made a slot machine download and gave the slot games a try, but I found that they weren’t even close to as exciting as playing poker. If you have yet to give poker a try, you are definitely missing out! Try a download and then come back to my site in a month for another entry full of key poker terms.
01/01/2011
Important Poker Terms 5
11/10/2010
Important Poker Terms 4
Welcome back! It is time to define more terms that will help you succeed at poker in casinos for USA players. I hope you are enjoying my alphabetical progress as much as I am. At the very least it prevents me from sitting here for minutes on end trying to decide between all the poker terms in the dictionary.
For the letter “I” let’s define ICM, which stands for Independent Chip Model. If you play sit & gos on Tiger Gaming, knowing about ICM is a must. It basically gives tournament chips a cash value so that you can make the right decision when someone is all-in.
There are not a lot of J terms, so I will just quickly define “jam”. If you are watching a poker video and the instructor recommends that you jam, he is saying to go all-in. It is interchangeable with the terms “shove” and “push”.
The next word I will mention is “kill”. If you decide to take a break from Craps online in favor of poker at the local brick-and-mortar, you can choose to play a kill game. A kill acts as an additional blind for anyone that wins two hands in a row. A full kill is twice the size of the big blind while a half kill is 1.5 times the big blind. Passive players that lose a lot of money on US poker sites are bound to like kill tables because they sometimes prevent people from playing too aggressively.
When someone calls, raises, or bets “light”, they are doing it with a hand that is relatively weak. Say you are on your Bwin Poker download and you have 92 in the blinds. Someone with a high steal percentages raises on the button, and you decide to 3-bet because you know he is weak a large percentage of the time. He is probably raising light on the button, and you are reraising light from the blinds. You will find these situations quite often on money poker sites.
We have gone through another four terms just now, so that is it for today. Next month I will start with the letter M and I plan to have plenty of great examples ready to go. In the meantime, get some experience at the tables. If you are looking for a new site to play on, give Full Tilt a try. Full Tilt Poker是世界上最大的在线扑克平台之一，马上到我们的Full Tilt Poker下载页面，和世界各地的扑克高手在线切磋。
10/11/2010
Important Poker Terms 3
Today I am going to continue with poker phrases you would benefit from learning if you sit at tables in casinos for USA players. In September I finished off with a phrase that started with D.
Whether you prefer tourneys or cash games on the best Euro poker sites, “effective stacks” is a word that comes into play very often. If two people are in a pot together, the most either can wager is the amount that the shorter stack has (the effective stack). If you have 3,400 chips and your opponent has 2,200, the effective stack is 2,200.
For the F term, let’s talk about the word “flip”, something that can occur when friends get together for friendly games on their Titanpoker download. When players agree to flip, they are promising to go all-in with any two cards. You might be thinking to yourself that this does not coincide with the definition of flip you heard the other day. Well a flip can also describe a situation in which you have 50% equity. For instance, if you sit at a cash table on Tiger Gaming and you push your chips in with AJ and get called by TT, this is a flip situation because you are around 50% to win the hand.
I thought “gutshot” was a good word to pick for the next letter. When you have a gutshot straight draw, you are basically hoping for one of 4 outs to complete your straight. Let’s say you choose to play poker rather than clear your Bingo bonus and get dealt 78 in late position. You limp behind and the flop comes 59K. Your draw is a gutshot because there is only one card that can come to make your hand (four outs). This is also known as an inside straight draw.
“Hero fold” is my H phrase. When you make you a hero fold, you are making a difficult fold with a relatively strong hand. Pretend that you are sitting at tables on the best Mac poker sites and get into a hand with a player that hasn’t raised once over a huge sample size. You receive 23s blind versus blind and flop a flush, but instead of just calling your bet, your passive opponent raises. Laying this hand down to a single raise is a clear case of a hero fold. An amateur player will find these hands difficult, but unlike a free slots download, poker requires a lot of discipline and sometimes tough decisions are needed.
That’s it for me today, but the letter I will be first up when I write another entry in a few weeks. Between now and then, hopefully you play a ton of hands. If you haven’t already made an account at PokerStars, I highly recommend it. ¡Aprende de los profesionales y mejora tus habilidades, todo con solo descargar PokerStars!
09/11/2010
Important Poker Terms 2
For the letter A, I would like to describe the term “ante”. This is a very important word for those that play a lot of tournaments on a PokerStars download. An ante is a bet that must be paid by all players at the table before the hand is dealt. The ante is usually around 10% of the big blind, although the amount varies.
Here’s a word for which you probably already know the definition: “bluff”. When someone bluffs, they are representing a stronger hand than the one they actually hold in order to make better hands fold. To see some very brave bluffs in action, I encourage you to watch a few Daniels Room Poker hands next time you’re on PokerStars!
For the letter C, here is a something that many of the top Texas Hold'em sites watch out for in their security departments: chip dumping. Chip dumping means to lose chips to another player on purpose. Sometimes people do this to share chips between friends in a tournament, and it can even be a way to launder money for those into illegal activities. This is why the best US poker sites always have a security team looking out for suspicious activity on the tables.
When reading articles on free poker training sites, you might come across the term “dirty outs”. A dirty out is a card that will improve your hand while giving someone else an even better hand at the same time. For example, pretend you are playing cash games to clear your Titanpoker bonus code and you have a straight draw on a flop with 2 hearts. If the turn brings a third heart but also makes you a straight at the same time, this could be a dirty out since someone may have also made a flush.
That is it for today, but be sure to come back next month for another list of poker terms. In the meantime, be sure to find some literature or watch some videos on beating US poker sites. Good luck at the tables!
07/30/2010
Poker Training Sites: SitnGo Grinders
SitnGoGrinders.com focuses on SNG play. Because SNGs always have a set number of players along with rigid payout structures, they play differently from regular tournaments. SitnGo Grinders will point you in the right direction via their articles and videos, and their instructors are proven winners. While you won’t find free poker training here, you’ll still probably find the membership fee a bargain. There is no sign up fee, and you’ll pay around $20/month for a short term membership. If you sign up for a year at once, you’ll pay $10.75/month for the first year and then $10 for subsequent months.
SitnGo Grinders is a relatively new training site, so their video catalog hasn’t reached the size of some of the larger sites out there. They release a new video daily, so the video selection should keep growing at a decent pace. The selection will still keep you busy for several hours the way it is, though. You’ll find hundreds of videos for both 6 max and multi-table SNGs, all played on money poker sites. Full ring and heads-up games have around 100 videos each, which is less than the other categories but still not too shabby.
Several of the video makers play on PokerStars, the room that advertises Daniels Room poker. These players really took advantage of the PokerStars bonus code and VIP program because most of them are either Supernova or Supernova Elite players. This shows that they are true grinders of the game, which is what you’d expect due to the name chosen for the site! You’ll find that the videos feature all sorts of buy-ins so that both beginners and veterans can benefit from the site.
If you’re a cash game player on a Bwin Poker download, I do not recommend this site to you. Multi-table tournament players might want to look elsewhere too, but you might still find the site useful for learning MTT endgame. Even though you can’t learn alternate forms of poker on SitnGoGrinders.com, it’s still an excellent site given its prices. If you’re a SNG player, it’s safe to say that you’ll greatly benefit from the in depth strategy that they offer.
06/28/2010
Poker Training Sites: Poker Pwnage
If you just can’t win any of the tournaments you play on your Full Tilt Poker download, you might want to seriously consider a Poker Pwnage membership. They have over 300 online poker videos, and all of them were produced by a number of profitable tournament poker professionals. In fact, a couple of the instructors have done quite well in WSOP 2010 so far. Adrian “Chardrian” Dresel-Velasquez cashed for $43,000 in a Limit event and David “GhettoFabolous” Randall cashed for $270,000 in a No Limit event.
If you hate MTT poker but love Sit-N-Go’s, you should also be happy with Poker Pwnage. The videos feature stakes that start as low as $10 and go up to over $100, and you can find 6 max and heads-up games if you don’t like full ring. It’s possible to learn the basics, but there are some more advanced tips to be had, as well. Even if you’re a fairly seasoned player, you’ll still have something to take away from the videos here.
You will not find a lot of videos for cash games, so you shouldn’t bother with this site if you’re even remotely a cash game player. A quick search returns only five videos featuring ring games, and I doubt another one is coming anytime soon. If you play mostly Razz after using a PokerStars Bonus Code, you should also forget about this site. You’ll find only Hold Em, and until another form of poker starts to become more popular, we probably won’t see this changed anytime soon.
It’s a refreshing change to come across a site that focuses on tournament play, so most people won’t criticize their lack of cash strategy. When you subscribe to the site, you can be positive that the education you will get will be from a tried and true professional with a solid win rate. After you’ve gone through the video catalogue, hopefully you will not find yourself making another poker deposit on TigerGaming for as long as you live!
06/14/2010
Poker Training Sites: Cardrunners
If you make an account at Cardrunners, you’ll be able to view a small number of free poker videos, but you’ll be required to pay a membership fee to see the really worthwhile content. You might not like the fees if you still have a small bankroll because first you pay $100 to become a member, and then you pay $30 per month. Serious players will learn that all the fees are justified, however. At the moment there are more than 1800 videos available for downloading, and every week at least seven more are put out.
Like a lot of the sites out there, Cardrunners specializes in cash games. They have an excellent selection of videos for No Limit Holdem 6-max due to its popularity, and their No Limit Holdem Full Ring selection has gotten better since a couple years ago. If you prefer Texas Hold Em hands in either Limit or Heads-Up, you’ll also have a very good selection of videos to view.
If you like Sit-N-Go’s or you’re a fan of Rush Poker tournaments, Cardrunners won’t be your first choice because their specialty is definitely cash games. I’m not saying that the tournament videos are bad – the selection is still better than most sites, and you’ll find them at both low and high stakes. If you play a mix of cash and tournaments, Cardrunners is a good site as they still offer a lot of videos for tournaments and SNGs to go along with their top notch ring game catalog.
If you need some Omaha videos to help you with Rush Poker Omaha, Cardrunners offers some of the best videos out of all the training sites out there. This is also the case for other types of poker like HORSE or Stud. You might be slightly disappointed with your choices if Omaha is your game of choice, but you’re not going to find better than Cardrunners for these games right now.
When you get some experience with real money poker sites, Cardrunners is a great way to go if you’re willing to pay for some really good poker videos. It is undeniably the best choice for cash game specialists, and if you become interested in tournaments, they’ll have something for you, too. Overall, everyone is sure to get at least something out of the videos at Cardrunners.
05/27/2010
Poker Training Sites: GrinderSchool
I’m choosing to start with GrinderSchool because it targets players with less experience. For as little as $10/month, you will have access to over 600 online poker videos made by those that have the results to demonstrate they are profitable in the stakes featured in their videos. GrinderSchool features 7 videos per week, and while the bulk of them feature No Limit Hold Em, you’ll find that 4 every month are videos for other games like Omaha or Razz.
Players that focus on No Limit Hold Em ring games have a lot to gain from GrinderSchool. There are several short-handed and full ring poker videos, and there are a variety of stakes to choose from. There’s less selection when it comes to Limit or Heads-up play, however. The site features a few heads-up and Limit videos, but a long term subscription is probably not worth it for people that frequently participate in those types of games. Unfortunately, the same thing applies to people that prefer help with Omaha or other less popular types of poker like Stud.
Have you tried Full Tilt’s Rush Poker tournaments yet? Even if you don’t like cash games, GrinderSchool can still help you out. Videos are also abundant for tournament players, and most of them are by some really excellent players. The videos capture buy-ins that start as low as $2 and go all the way up to $55, and almost all of the videos are part of a 3 to 9 part series. If you enjoy playing in tournaments outside your bankroll, you also have the option to view satellites videos.
If you dislike MTT poker but enjoy single-table tournaments, I highly recommend GrinderSchool. The founder of the site made most of the videos, but you’ll also find a couple new respectable instructors. The buy-ins featured in these videos start as low as $1 and go up to $33, and both beginner and advanced concepts are covered.
GrinderSchool is the top choice for inexperienced players making their start at real money poker sites. There is no sign up fee, and the monthly cost is very low to suit those with small bankrolls. If you play mostly Omaha or Stud, you probably should be looking elsewhere, but players new to No Limit Hold Em will benefit greatly from this training site.
05/11/2010
How to Use Implied Odds
I discussed the idea of pot odds last time, and today I’d like to introduce a related subject and teach you implied odds. Last entry showed that bankroll management is so critical when it comes to the game of poker because sometimes you’ll find yourself in spots where you will have to call a bet when you’re on a draw. Obviously you will lose a large percentage of these pots, and at times it’s difficult to get away from these spots even if you’re using a correct poker hands order. When we discuss implied odds, there will be a theme that’s similar in the fact that we’re also putting our money in with a worse hand. With pot odds we do it because it’s mathematically correct. With implied odds we do it because of future expectation.
It’s easiest to explain what I mean with an example, so let’s re-visit the flush draw situation from last entry. If you recall, we were using a Full Tilt Poker download to play in a tournament and our opponent raised when we bet. This time, though, pretend that our opponent just raises 600 more rather than all his chips. We saw in the last entry that we can only call raises that are less than 500 chips to have the pot odds to call, so this appears to be a bad deal for us. A little extra information, though, might turn this into a winning situation. Imagine that he has 1,000 chips behind and we know that he will call the rest on the river no matter what. To retain the premise that you’ll see both the turn and river if you call, let’s also assume that he checks the turn 100% of the time. This sets up a situation in which it becomes correct to calculate implied odds rather than pot odds. Because we know that he isn’t ever folding, you can put his remaining 1,000 chips into your calculations, making the pot 2,000 chips instead of 1,000. 600 to call divided by 2,000 in the implied pot gives you 0.30, and since you’ll hit your flush around 33% of the time, the call is profitable here.
So far you’ve seen that with a poker odds chart you can figure out pot odds and implied odds, and together they can give you a huge edge at the table. Someone new to the game could potentially lose money in a couple different ways with a draw after the flop. One option is that he might call without correct pot odds, and we’ve seen that this yields a negative expectation. The other way he could lose money in the long run is by folding his draw because he doesn’t realize he has the correct implied odds to call, and this is also unprofitable. MTT poker and cash games alike require you to understand both pot odds and implied odds to determine whether or not to continue with a hand when you have a draw.
I would like to end on a cautionary note, however. Occasionally players will think that it’s okay to call in all situations when they are taught implied odds because they are overly optimistic regarding their opponent. When you’re counting future bets, you must be absolutely sure that you are actually going to get them. Let’s pretend that you’re getting dealt poker hands in a ring game and you hit a set of sixes on the turn, but it appears it gave your opponent a flush at the same time. He raises and you need to decide whether or not you have the implied odds to try to hit your boat on the river. For this calculation, you must decide whether or not he’s likely to pay you off on a paired river. He might not do so because he might realize that you hit a boat! Your implied odds are going to be inaccurate if he actually won’t pay you off when you hit, and then your call will become inprofitable.
04/28/2010
Odds in Poker
Let’s talk about poker odds, a concept I briefly touched on when I wrote about poker hands order. Generally speaking, if you play with strong starting hands, you will do well post flop. There will be times, however, when you flop a draw and need another card or two to have the winning hand. Remember how we talked about bankroll management a few weeks ago? It’s so important to be properly rolled for the games you play because these are examples of situations in which you are sure to lose a fair number of pots. You will absolutely get into spots where it will be correct to get your money in even if you are behind. Being aware of pot odds will make it more clear when it comes to choosing between calling to hit and folding.
Several people believe that poker is solely for gamblers and don’t see that there is quite a lot of math involved. Don’t panic, though, because it’s not like the differential equations you had trouble with in post secondary. If you look online, you’ll find many tools that handle the math stuff for you. For poker odds, get out your poker odds chart, a tool we used back in the poker hand order entry. Like we discussed before, this chart is going to be necessary when you are in a pot and you need to decide whether or not you are a favorite to win.
Let me give you another example in case you can’t remember the poker hand order entry very well. Say you’re getting dealt poker hands in a $100NL ring game and you get dealt AQ. You choose to raise it up preflop to $3.50, and a very loose player 3 bets you to $15. You’ve seen him do this before, and you decide that if you go all-in, it’ll look like a bluff. Your stack goes into the middle, and when he calls with 33, you can’t hide your surprise. Do you think your hand is ahead or behind? The poker odds chart shows us that you’re only 46% to win the showdown. While it’s possible to memorize the odds of certain hand combinations winning against others, I find it way easier to just have the chart nearby in case I need it.
Let’s talk about pot odds now. This will be useful when you’re in a pot and you need to decide whether or not you can call someone’s bet. For instance, let’s say you’ve made a Full Tilt Poker download and you are competing in a tournament with a large prize pool. You flop a flush draw in a heads-up pot and you bet, and after a minute of thinking, your opponent decides to push all-in. You decide that he has top pair with a good kicker. How do you know whether or not you should call or fold?
If you call this push, with the turn and the river to come you will hit your flush approximately 1/3 of the time. With these odds, in order for it to be correct to call here, the pot should have greater than two times the amount you are required to call. For example, if the pot is 1,000 chips, you should be calling less than 500 chips to make a profit. If you are required to put in 345, then you make money from the call. If you are required to call 900, you will lose money in the long run by making this call.
You can see that knowing about odds is extremely helpful for both cash games and MTT poker. You have a clear advantage if you grasp the concept of odds since a huge percentage of players online and live don’t know how important they are. Anyway, that’s it for my article today, I’ll be back in a couple weeks to write again. Until then, take care!
