Here I want to break down a hand I played last month at the Venetian Deepstacks $5k Main event. With almost 900 entries, this was a great value tournament. I came in feeling good and played my A+ game for 3 days straight. I was big stacked most of tourney, that is until the middle of day 3 when my KK lost to QQ for a 650k pot when the average was 400k. That left me with 250k (instead of 900k and among the chip leaders).

Soon thereafter, I played an interesting hand against Men the Master. Men and I have a bit of history… let’s just say we are adversaries at the poker table. This was the last hand before dinner break, and some people were already getting up to leave. I usually consider this a good time to steal the blinds, which were 5k-10k. I looked down at 7c8c and raised to 25k with about 300k total. It’s folded to Men in the big blind who calls. The flop comes Td9h2s, giving me the bottom end of an open ender. I had already planned to check behind when Men comes out firing 40k into the 60k pot. I put him on a ten: either JT, QT, KT, or AT being most likely. He has me covered with about 350k starting the hand. It is tempting to raise here (either all-in or a pot committing amount), and many aggressive players would take this approach. But I think that Men might get stubborn and call me with a ten, and force me to hit my straight draw for my tourney life. On the surface, calling seems bad because I am not getting the right pot odds, and even including implied odds (what I might win if I hit my draw), it is marginal at best. However, calling here looks strong… and allows me to potentially bluff later in the hand.

So I call 40k, making the pot about 140k. The turn was the Qh, an interesting card because in Men’s mind I could easily have KQ, or maybe J8 or QT. He thinks for a while and checks. Now I go into the tank. I think about betting this card, but decide there is too good a chance that either Men is trapping, or has a hand like JT which he won’t fold. I also think that he will check the river with an unimproved ten and I can often win the pot there. So I check the turn. The river brings the 9c, pairing the middle card on the flop. Men thinks and checks. I decide this is the perfect card to bluff at… I could easily have called with middle pair on the flop, or had KQ (or maybe AQ) and decided to play it safe and check the turn. I bet 60k, almost too small a bet with the pot being 140k, but in this case I thought it looked more like a genuine value bet. Men read it the same way and after a while folded.

This bluff gave me the confidence that I could come back and win the tourney. Sadly, things turned south for me after dinner and I busted in 29th place, pretty disappointing overall.

Two important lessons from this hand are (1) to anticipate how things might play out in later betting rounds, and (2) to think about what your opponent thinks you have.

Poker is not completely a game of luck, but it is a game which requires skills and how much you can take the cads you are dealt and make a strategy on how to make it win. This card game demands you knowledge of odds, bluffing and the general rules of the game not to mention the other cards opponents have showing. So, if you are really interested in playing poker online, learning how to play poker is what you need. It’s not just about what you are dealt with, but it’s how you play the cards so focusing on learning the rules and techniques before you begin playing poker online with you money.

Learning how to play poker in a real poker table with other people can frequently be frightening and your nervousness and anxiety will take over making it hard for you to think and play with your hands efficiently. But after a few plays this will wear off as your confidence starts to build up, however there is a certain way to avoid this situation altogether and that is with virtual poker.

You can easily enter an online poker room or table and start practicing the basic of poker game. Most of the top poker websites have poker rooms where you can play and practice with no price of fee to pay, so better take that advantage of the situation and log some hours to practice in the free poker rooms online. You will surely build your knowledge of this card game and at the same time your confidence and once after you had mastered the basic poker strategies you an now give  try on entering in some poker rooms that has a fee. It is like marathon, you wouldn’t enter the competition without training and you should enter an online poker site without practicing if you do not want to lose your money.

Strategy is the main key factor that will help you win many games and collect money from other online poker players and this can also help you even if the cards did not fall just as you were hoping. Several player lacks strategy and too arrogant to think they need it. So simply do some researches work on some strategies for your preferred poker game and apply these as you are practicing. The more you practice those strategies it gets easier and easier and before you know it your brain will just simply be thinking in a strategic way.

If you are really eager in becoming a better poker player all you have to do is to stay focus on the practice games as if they were real games and if there is money involved. Implement the strategies that you have learned and focus on you mistakes such as why certain moves did not work, with this you will really become a better poker player whether it is online or in real poker game. Don’t think that the free online poker games are just a waste of time but rather utilize them and make them as your guidelines to teach you the in and outs of poker.

Luck is a big factor in poker games. Just to win a major event these days you must get lucky more times than you can count. Skill is also important but you must be sure to overcome the luck and beat the odds in playing poker.

There are many players playing hands with marginal consequences because of this the luck factor in poker has increased. Even if you are going into all in situations with the best of it, worse players are calling out. Even though it is impossible to avoid this, there are ways to keep the skill high and the reliance on luck power. Be sure that you are playing with the right hands.

Bluffing is the simple and effective way to beat the odds in playing poker. A bluff is a bet or raise a player makes when their cards have no chance of winning. This can be valued strategy when used properly. Players catch more bluffing in no limit poker games and tournaments. But a soft bluffing can work better than an outright bluff. The danger part on bluffing is when your opponent starts tracking your strategy.

You should always maintain you limits in bluffing. If you get caught then your bluffing too much but the true secret in bluffing is to keep them guessing. Bluffs perfectly work when you are heads up against your opponents and when the stakes are a little higher as long as the pot is small.