Poker Guru

There are a number of ways on how to win in Poker and its many variations like Omaha and 5 card stud. One way is thru deception thru slow playing. Slow playing is also called in the circuit as sandbagging or trapping. This is a deceptive play in the card game that can be viewed as the opposite of bluffing. In bluffing, the player tends to bet aggressively even though the cards at hand are weak. But in this kind of bluffing, the player is betting weakly or passively but the player has strong cards in his hands.

An example of this play is called the flat call. And why do players opt for this kind of strategy in Poker Games? Well the objective of this kind of play on tables is to effectively lure the opponents into the pot who might want to fold or to raise. A play like this will also push the opposing players to bet more strongly that they would if the player have played or moved aggressively on the table.

In order for the slow play to be truly efficient on poker rooms, the play has to meet certain conditions. One condition that was noted by David Sklansky is that for a slow play to fast-track a win on the table, the player must have a very strong hand. Also the free card or the cheap card that the players allow to be used by the opposing player should have good possibilities of making the second best-hand. And remember as well that the very same card made available to the opposing player should give the opposing player less chance of having a better hand.

Also in order for slow playing to be effective, the player must also believe that he will drive out opponents by showing aggression and can win the bigger pot if the opponents stay in the pot. And one more important note to remember is this; the pot must not yet be very large. The slow playing kind of deception simply means that you allow your opponent to think that you have a weak hand, but the truth of the matter is what you hold in your hand is a powerhouse. Say for example that you have flopped a full house. Now there is no longer the need to scare the other players in the Poker Room. It is suggested that you wait for the turn or even the river to jam the pot with bets and then raises.

Now you should slow play if these two conditions are met again. Now if you hold the whopper, then there is almost no chance of someone drawing on you and you will only get the action if some of the cards on the table come out so as to improve the opponent’s hands but not so much that they can automatically beat the value of the card that you are holding. The important thing is to make use of the right strategy when you compete on regular online poker rooms, or when you compete on high stakes Poker Tournaments.

There are times when you are in the middle of a Poker Games, you have to raise. A raise will give you the opportunity to win which is unlike calling. Remember that an opening bet can be considered as well as a raise from the strategy perspective. So why is there the need to raise in poker games and tournaments?

Other players of Online Poker and the street smarts out there will often lists a number of reasons why raising is good and a good move. But sometimes the reasons that are given by these people are often too vague and borders on generalizations. Here is one known personality that took the ‘raise’ into a form of knowledge and he listed seven reasons that can be used to explain a raise. David Sklansky enumerated these seven reasons and these reasons are the ones that I recently discovered over the internet.

According to him, a raise may be good for you in order to get more money in the pot when a player has the best hand. It’s simple as it gets; the moment the player has the best hand in the table, raising for value will give the player the opportunity to win the bigger pot. Raising will also drive out opponents when the player has the best hand. Raising in a Poker Games is a form of a bluff and a semi-bluff as well. The moment the player raises with the use of the inferior or the drawing hand, then he may induce the better hand to fold. But in the case of the semi-bluff and if the player is called, he still have this chance to improve to a more better hand and the opportunity as well to win the bigger pot.

A raise will also allow a person to get a free card. The moment a player on the table raise using the drawing hand, then the opposing player on the table may check to him on the next betting round thus giving him the chance to get a free card and in the process improve his hand. A raise on the table is also one way of gaining information. For example if the player raises using an uncertain hand, then he successfully gains information about the strength of the opponent’s hand if the raise is called.

The poker players may use the opening bet on the later part of the betting round in order to gain more information. A raise is also one way of limiting the field and a way to drive out the worse hands and this is true when the player’s own hand may only be the second best. If you have the second best hand with cards to come and you decide to raise, then this can drive the opponents with the worse hands. And finally a raise is one way as well to drive out the better hands the moment the ‘come’ hand bets. A raise can be a potent tool on online poker rooms and Poker Tournaments if used well.