FreeUsPoker

In the modern Texas Hold’em game then there is a large number of articles that have been written on the subject of bankrolls. This is where I feel that a large number of people are lacking understanding. One such measure comes from the increasing use of PokerTracker which is the number one online poker tracker program at this time. This measures your earn rate in ptbb/100 which stands for PokerTracker big bets per 100 hands.

This causes a lot of confusion because a big bet is a limit hold’em term relating to the bets on the larger betting rounds on the turn and the river. But yet this term is till used in PokerTracker. So we cannot confuse big bets with big blinds as a big bet is double the big blind. So if a player had an earn rate of 10ptbb/100 at $1-$2 no-limit Texas hold’em then this would not be $20/100 but actually $40/100.

This then equates to $/hour based on how many hands per hour that you are seeing. So a player who was playing more tables but maintaining the ptbb/100 would make more money per hour because they would be playing more hands per hour and so the yield would be greater. But yet as you start to move up through the levels then it is clear that game selection will become a far more critical factor.

So you may not be able to play the same number of hours at your higher level and you may also not be able to maintain your ptbb/100 figure at the stage that it was at lower levels of play. The plan of course is that the higher stakes games should produce more $/hour but this is not always the case. Often a lack of playing time and decent games to play and weaker opposition can leave players at levels like NL400 and NL600 sitting out as their optimum money management move.

I have met numerous lower stakes players who were making as much money if not more than many of their middle stakes rivals. What is a factor here is in how the ability to earn more money at higher levels becomes a geometrically escalating problem. More time, knowledge and effort is required to beat NL600 than it is NL100 but this time, knowledge and effort may not be possible for many people. What I meant by “geometrically escalating problem” was that the size of the task in beating any level is consummate to the size of that level.

This is why for me personally then I much prefer to multi-table limits that I know that I can either beat well or can crush. Even though this prevents me from ever making life changing amounts of money, it does always provide me with stable income and that is basically what I need. So it pays to remember that ptbb/100 is not the same as bb/100 or bb/hour and certainly not $/hour. It is the $/hour metric that is the number one metric for me in poker and nothing else.

A few years ago I heard from a friend of mine about a team of players on Caribbean Stud Poker who made an estimated £50,000 ($75,000) before they got caught. But even the gaming industry was unaware of their real winnings. The problem with casino security is that it basically stems in the main from their very own staff. Now this can be in the form of croupiers and Inspectors and these people represent the first line of defence closely followed by the Pit Boss and any CCTV that may happen to be in operation.

The fact that these games are supervised by humans makes potential weak spots a problem. Staff get tired, lethargic and bored and many are disgruntled with their profession and pay. So this is a clear problem for any casino management as if there is a problem with their first line of defence then they have a problem full stop.

Caribbean Stud Poker presents such a problem because of the high potential pay-offs which stretch to 50-1 for a straight flush. In the instance that I am just about to describe, several casinos in England were hit for sizeable sums over about six months in 2005 with a three man team. They were situated on Caribbean Stud Poker with the first two team members sitting on the first two boxes and the third team member sitting on the third base box.

The first and last team members played minimums and the second player was the big bettor. Now the house advantage on CSP (depending on rules and pay offs) is in the region of 5% which is far higher than blackjack or roulette. But that can be offset massively in this instance where the two small betting team players can assist the big player. Firstly both of these players communicate to the big player if they are holding a card that matches the dealers up card.

If this is the case then the big player will know if the dealer has a less than average chance of making their hand or not! But this is only part of the scam, the third base players also acts as a decoy so that the player on first base has the option to place his superior hand down onto the box of the big player and not his own while the big player discards their hand. If you think that this move sounds too fantastic for words then I can sympathise.

But I have seen this in practice and when done with the process of misdirection and disguise is actually very difficult to spot. The key as always is not to alert suspicion so if the big player has a big hand like a flush and the dealer does not get a qualifying ace king hand then the big player simply keeps quiet so as not to bring attention to himself. When you see this move in action then it is not hard to see how several hundred pounds a night can be obtained by this cheating move without any undue suspicion falling.

Wherever you go in the sporting and gaming world, there seem to be pivotal characters that spark the public imagination. In Chess it was Bobby Fischer who basically single handed ended the Russian domination of the World Chess Championships. In boxing in the 1980’s then it was Mike Tyson who become World Champion at such a young age. Poker as well has its ground making characters and Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 main event at the World Series of Poker really sparked a huge online boom.

In Australia though they kind of had two booms because in 2005, Australian poker player and pro Joe Hachem won the main event at the World Series of Poker becoming an instant millionaire in the process and also a household name amongst poker players! This led to a huge surge in popularity in poker in Australia and the knock on effect from this was an increase in poker tournaments.

The Australian Poker Championships are actually older than many people thinks and started as long ago as 1998 and were called The Crown Australian Poker Championships. This became known as the “Aussie Millions” in later years when prize money escalated. The Aussie Millions also hosts the largest buy-in of any poker tournament in the world with the $100,000 buy-in high roller event.

The main event at The Aussie Millions though is the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em event. In 2007, Gus Hansen really brought fame to this event when he won it and picked up $1.5 million for doing so. But what made this event so ground breaking was that Hansen was carrying a tape recorder with him and recording every single hand. He went on to write one of the most entertaining poker books that I have ever read when he wrote “Every Hand Revealed”.

When you consider that he won the tournament at the same time then it was a ground breaking moment for poker in Australia and the popularity of the Aussie Millions. This year’s event paid even more for first place and Australian Tyron Krost picked up a cool $2 million for his success this year with Sorrel Mizzi and Annette Obrestad also making the final table. When Gus Hansen won in 2007 then it was surprising to see only one Australian player make the final but that has changed over the last few years.

In 2008, no fewer than five home players made the final seven with three in 2009 and two this year. The event has grown so significantly recently that the Aussie Millions is now the sixth largest poker tournament in the world in terms of prize money and coming from an event that only had $74,000 in prize money as recently as 1998 then that is some achievement. So of all the places to go for a poker vacation then I cannot think of anywhere better than Australia and it is such a beautiful country that even if you don’t manage to show a profit, the trip will still have been more than worth it!

As you begin the process of playing more and more tables in online poker then you will at some stage need to play tighter with regards to how many hands you will be playing. In games like low-stakes no limit Texas Holdem ring games then playing very tight will be profitable for numerous reasons. Firstly the proportion of the pot that you will need to pay with regards to the rake will be higher. If rakes are capped at say $3 then the higher limit games will have a very high percentage of the average pot size go in as rake free money.

What this means is that you could take two different players who each play in a game where the average amount of rake played is $2.50 per pot. But if both players play in games where the $3 maximum is reached at pots of $60 and Player A has an average pot size of $70 while Player B plays in games with an average pot size of $600 then Player B is getting an extra $540 of money into the pot that is not raked while Player A is only getting a mere $10.

What this means of course is that micro-stakes and low-stakes players are penalised the most when it comes to poker sites and casinos raking games. What this also means is that a player needs to do two things and the fist one is to avail themselves of the best rakeback and bonus deals that are out there and the second tactic is to play tighter in lower stakes games than higher stakes games.

It may seem counter intuitive to play tighter against weaker players as you want to see more pots against them. However in the online low-stakes no-limit Holdem poker environment then the average stack size is smaller than it is in a live game and you may even have several minimum stackers who are active on your table at the same time. This hugely offsets your advantage of skill (taking for granted that you have it to begin with) when buying in for the full stack is useless against nearly half of the field.

So tight play when you are multi-tabling is important for numerous reasons! Many players only play about 10-13% of their total hands when they multi-table because they don’t want to end up paying huge amounts of rake and also because seeing too many flops at the same time can get you into an awful lot of trouble if you are playing quite a few tables.

If you happen to be playing on tables where the action is quite loose and the minimum stackers are constantly shoving on you when you try to steal then you may find that your profit potential in these games is very low and trying to play “poker” in these games can often be a big mistake. It took me a long time to work this out when I tried my Vulture system last year but it was a lesson that I learned well.

Tilt is one of the most common problems in poker today. Primarily it is based around negative emotions that kick in when negative events happen but the emotions become extreme when certain loss limits are reached or exceeded. Often these negative emotions are created by players not really fully understanding the level of variance that is inherent within the game. More likely though it is because of players not accepting variance on a subconscious level!

So educating people isn’t always the answer if people cannot accept the negative events subconsciously. Often our behaviour is pre-programmed into the part of our brain that controls our subconscious behaviour and avoiding tilt for some people could be an impossibility……or is it?

The overwhelming majority of poker players play worse when they are losing for this very reason. It is also why when we are winning, it is always a good idea to stay in the game because if we are winning then by sheer definition it is our opponents who are losing. If you do have a problem with tilt then I suggest that you take the following action. You cannot avoid losing pots in poker or experiencing bad beats or outdraws. If the poker gods have decreed that you will lose a pot horribly or a series of pots then there is nothing that you can do about it.

But if your emotions get the better of you and take several hours before they calm down then you need to do something about this. If you cannot stop yourself from tilting at poker then you need to avoid the problem if a cure isn’t possible. This means sitting down at the table with less money or having less buy-ins. It is also a good idea not to have too much money in any online poker site because having a cooling off period is essential to overcoming tilt.

Getting hold of your credit card and then buying in for more money takes time and it is this time that can allow a player to cool off. If you tilt after losing $100 then why would you want to ever sit in a poker game with $1000? It is basically all about knowing yourself and keeping emotional control is the hallmark of an accomplished player.

If you cannot keep emotional control then you have to find your own individual limits and avoid going over them. Poker is a game that does not suit perfectionists for instance or people who hate losing.

If you absolutely abhor losing at anything then you may not be psychologically suited to playing poker for meaningful amounts of money. Likewise if you cherish money too much. These traits are terrible for any person to have who wants to be successful at poker. If you hate losing then you had better stick to playing games where having a skill advantage means that you will win a very high percentage of the time like Chess for example or other types of games where luck is limited.

The Poker Players Alliance, also referred to as the PPA, is an interest group with no profit motivations whose main aim is to protect poker players and ultimately promote the game. It currently boasts more than 1 million members. The main reason it came into effect was to act as a communication bridge between poker players and Washington lawmakers. Its most challenging issue to date has been the adaptation of the UIGEA Bill. The Poker Players Alliance has continuously lobbied for the Bill to be expunged from the constitution and repeatedly moved to court to extend its application. The most recent move was the one made in late 2009 to delay the UIGEA compliance date which was set at 1st December 2009. A petition was filed with the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, asking for the compliance date to be extended by 1 year to 2010. A lot of support has been given to the PPA from many quarters. The American Greyhound Track Operators Association and The National Thoroughbred Racing Association jointly petitioned for the extension of the compliance move. In addition 19 members of congress backed the petition by throwing support behind it and writing to the Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Chairman to support it wholly. The PPA and most other supporters argue that the Bill was flawed and was unfaithfully sneaked into parliament. Arguably so, the clause which bars financial institutions from transferring funds into online poker sites was hidden within a larger Bill which was bound to go through the house. Many who voted for it in Washington have come out to contest their commitment to the Bill and instead argue they were duped into voting it in. The NTRA which is a Horse racing organization also participated in the petition, further proving the fact that the UIGEA Bill was contrary to the will of many. Horse racing was not barred from receiving funds and was actually exempted from the Bill. The fear however is in the fact that over-blocking may come into play and this would affect horse racing as a whole different entity. The PPA has continuously defended the rights of poker players around America. The UIGEA Bill seems to be the most critical issue at hand. However, smaller depressive issues which are witnessed by poker players are also handled by the Poker Players Alliance. Such may include poker sites that incisively do not pay out withdrawal requests by members, sewing the creators of fake poker sites and ensuring the game is promoted. Members are able to share their views and give advise or contributions on blogs and review articles both in the PPA website and in affiliate websites. The PPA has also benefited from the celebrity supporters who have come out in support of expunction of the UIGEA Bill. A celebrity who is known to be a great supporter is the famous actor, Matt Damon. He has continuously held his position as a supporter of the principles and values advocated for by the Poker Players Alliance.

Over the past few years we have been hearing quite a bit about the Poker Players Alliance. I know it may seem to be on the periphery for some but if you live in the United States maybe not. In 2006 the US passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act. In a nutshell it prohibits banks from doing transactions with online gambling sites. This means that US poker players have very few avenues in which to deposit money in their accounts. It also limits the number of poker rooms US poker players can play in because of it.

Personally, I have felt the effects of this bill. I used to be a long time bwin poker player until I had to move over to Full Tilt and PokerStars. True, this was when the poker boom was in its infancy and all but the move was still inconvenient nonetheless. I played and was successful where I felt most comfortable. Yes, I continue to do well both online and in cash games but the difference now is that I have very few choices. I do not like that one bit and neither should you.

The PPA Mission
The mission of the PPA is simple. The PPA’s mission is to provide poker players that play poker online and live a way to enjoy the game in a safe and regulated environment. The PPA also continues to both prove and promote the fact that poker is indeed a game of skill with a smaller element of luck involved.
There is no rocket science involved in understanding just what the PPA is all about here. The idea is that everyone should be allowed to participate in what most of us believe is the greatest game in the world – poker. So far the PPA has done a fantastic job of presenting the case of poker players to both the media as well as the government in an easy to understand and meaningful manner. This means that people like Barney Frank, D – Representative from Mass, can effectively help to present our case in a language that our law makers can understand.

Global Issue
Many poker players seem to think that banning online poker is only an US issue. That is not the case at all. There are other countries around the globe that for whatever their reasoning have banned online gambling and refuse to regulate it and count the revenue stream as viable. In my opinion this is a huge mistake and one that is rather easily corrected through education. One of the major problems the PPA faces is the idea that the game of poker is all luck based despite all of the documented evidence to the contrary.
It seems that the European states have figured out a way to make it work and everyone is benefiting from the game including the government. Do I believe that online poker players should be taxed like everyone else?

Absolutely!
I don’t believe there are many of us that would have a problem with paying taxes on our online winnings anymore than we would had we won the money in a brick and mortar casino. What’s the difference? The disappointing part of all of this is that the US, despite all of the examples from neighboring countries, still has not figured out how to bring this silly issue to a close. If the US would simply reach out to its friends around the globe you would find that the answers are only a phone call away.

How Long?
That is the question that many of us poker players continue to ask. How long will it take before any of the many bills submitted to congress and the senate pass? That is a question only time will answer. There have been delays for various reasons and honestly poker may not be high on the priority list at this time. Ultimately, I still believe this can be corrected in relatively short order with a little cooperation and understanding from both sides of the aisle.
Let’s hope that this issue is resolved soon for all of our sakes. If the US tips in favor of online poker it would go a long way in influencing other countries to do the same. That would be a win situation for all of us involved.
We can only hope.
Curtis Mayfield III

Pokerstars is the worlds biggest poker room and offers online poker for us players. You can find a lot of really big tournaments and as the name implies a lot of really big poker stars. In averege there are about 20000 players there every day. Pokerstars have their own independent software.

Poker has gained tremendous fame over the past few decades. It is now one of the most played games at casinos. The simple format of the game makes it easy to adapt to various forms of rewards, monetary or otherwise. But the goal of every player is always the same, to win! And to win, different players employ different strategies. One of the most cherished tricks in the poker player’s bag is the Poker Tell. This is used to judge the opponents’ game and also to trick them.

The technique of poker tell relies heavily on the physical reactions or changes in a player during the game. It is not as easy to judge an opponent’s move with this technique as it looks. One single poker tell can not really give you the true picture of what your opponent’s situation in the game is. Therefore, a good poker player uses a combination of different tells. At the end of it however, the player that is best able to read into his opponent’s moves will win the game.

A poker tell popular among players is ‘Speed’. The time a player takes to place his bet is very important. One should not take too much time in analyzing the hand as most professionals know this to be a sign of a strong hand. On the other hand, professional players also know how to use this technique to fool other players into believing they have a strong hand. Another important tell to be aware of is the ‘quick bet’ – it indicates a weak hand. Playing the online game however, is entirely different from playing at a casino. In a casino the players have to wait till the opponent moves his hand whereas, in the online format the players have an option of clicking the button and choosing their move early.

A very good online poker tell is “Chat”. Based on just the chat, the mindset of the opponent can easily be determined. For instance, if a player is talking continuously and suddenly he stops, it is probably because of a weak hand or something else in the game play has adversely affected his chances. So it might be a good idea to keep the chat to a minimum, much like casino poker and in effect reduce the chances of giving out vital information.

Another tell-tale tell is the ‘shaky hand’. In this, the player might be oozing confidence in his words and the way he’s behaving, but his hands give him away. As an old Chinese proverb goes, ‘where the hand shakes, the heart trembles’. If a player notices an opponent’s hands shaking, he can easily tell that the confidence is then only an act. It then becomes easy to call that player’s bluff and take advantage of his weaker position. Remember to capitalize on the weak moment that the player is having as very soon as the situation changes, he might truly be confident of beating you. But, with the knowledge of all of these tells, you know well that there is no way you are being taken down!

The rules of poker are so simple that anyone can play it. To master it however, is not as simple as learning a few rules and a few tricks. The key to poker lies in understanding your opponent’s evaluation of his own hand. To do that most poker players use something called the ‘Poker Tell’. It is a behavioral change that can be noticed in player, when reacting to something in the game – either the cards or a favorable bet or anything else. By rightly interpreting this behavior, a player can properly assess his opponent’s situation and formulate the right strategy accordingly.

There are various poker tells that can help a player successfully navigate to come out at the top of the game and win with his hand. One of the oft-employed strategies in poker is that when a player sits on the table, he should select any one player to be his opponent for the game. By doing so, the player is forced to think more about not only his game but also his opponent’s. And based on the information they gather, they can formulate their strategy for the game. The most important opponent in a game is the player sitting to one’s left, as he is the one who moves right after you.

The player that thinks out of the box and plays unconventionally will increase his chances of winning. An important tool when playing with novices is ‘time delay’. A rule of thumb states that any player that is taking more time to make his move generally has a strong hand. However, when playing with seasoned players, this might not work as they sometimes deliberately use this idea to mislead the other players. If playing a game with opponents that might be intentionally using the time delay technique to mislead, it is important to use a combination of poker tells to analyze the moves right.

‘Betting’ is one of the other better-known poker tells. And though betting is an important technique, without the right timing it is not of much use. If a player takes too long to place a bet, it can safely be inferred that he is not in a winning position. This might even be a trap by the player to confuse his opponents and an attempt to mislead them. Also, the player to start after the deal in not ‘telling’ if he checks quickly. To understand this point, an example will be helpful. Hand 1: A player checks in the hope of getting a free card but quickly folds after seeing the bet of his co players. Hand 2: He checks on marginal cards and makes a quick decision to call and later check for the deal and to flop a monster. In this case, the player is the first person to act and so he should take his time to make his decision and he should check. This strategy is known as a clear poker tell. When he does this, his opponents will most likely fold and he will win the blind pot.