Archive for May 2009

Responding to Poker Setbacks

I can certainly say that playing online pocker this week, and indeed last week, I had some moments that really tested my character. Strangely there have been three occasions these past two weeks where I have been looking great on the flop with an opposing player all in, and they have hit runners for a Straight.

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Pocket Kings against (8,8), top set on the flop with (5,5), and (A,K) against (9,9) with a king falling on the first card of the flop all, ended in this same way. But there is nothing to be gained by feeling sorry for yourself.
We all have to deal with these tests of resolve sometimes, and it is how you respond to them that can have a huge impact on whether you bounce back or go on to lose much more through sheer frustration.

In the short term, it is important to deal with these situations in the right way. I often allow myself a smile when faced with unpleasant outdraws, partly that’s to let my opponents know that it hasn’t gotten under my skin of course. When I make that next bluff, I do not want people to think it is a bet born of frustration or anger.

In the long term we simply have to trust the odds. No matter who you are or how unlucky/lucky you might feel on a given night, it all evens out in the end. That is why responding to bad beats is so important, because the hand itself is just one of many that will happen for or aginst you over time.

It is the hands afterwards where you either go off the rails and do something silly, or calmly smile and carry on playing logical, calculated, pocker, that will determine your profits or deficits at the end of a month or a year.

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Virgin Poker Reviewed

Virgin Poker offers a first time deposit bonus of 100% up to an amount of 100 Euros. In my opinion, the upper limit of 100 Euros is a little bit low, but still a reasonable offer.

To play poker online now at VirginPoker.com click here!

 

There is a refer a friend bonus on offer too, which stands at 25 Euros for you once your friend has played in 500 raked hands. Small daily freerolls are available too, but in truth it would be nice to see higher sums of money on offer.

In terms of graphics at the tables, they are rasonable enough and serve their purpose, but perhaps there is a little room for improvement in this regard. One obvious plus point is the number of games on offer at Virgin Poker. Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Five card Stud, Holdem, and Five Card Draw are all on offer which should keep most players more than happy. help and support are swift and helpful and can be contacted via seveal outlets 24/7. Satellites to the WSOP, as well as many guaranteed tournaments help to make up a nice looking schedule of tournaments, and the cash tables fill up fairly quickly on the more popular games.

All in all, I would say that as a relatively new site, Virgin poker offer a good place to play online poker, but they must continue to work hard if they are going to be up there with the biggest names in poker. There are a few points I mentioned earlier which need improvement, but overall, I think Virgin Poker do have potential.

A night in playing online pocker at PacificPocker.com

Omaha is a game I play very little of live, mostly because most of the players I know enjoy Holdem far more, but I do manage to play often online.

To play online pocker at PacificPocker.com click here!

 

Whilst I do not claim to be an exceptionally gifted Omaha pocker player, I certainly know enough to pinpoint mistakes I see made every day by amateur players. I feel that many players are branching out from Holdem to experiment with Omaha at the moment, and this brings me to my first point. If you pair both your hole cards in Holdem you are usually in a commanding position on the flop, but this is not often the case in Omaha. Whilst I admit there is a reasonable chance you are in front, you will find that especially on lower stakes cash tables, you will get several callers and end up losing the pot.

When there are less online pocker players going to the flop you can of course be more confident of these type of hands, but you still have to be extremely wary of any three cards to a suit on board, or potential Straight combinations. These hands are the obvious dangers that can hurt you after a seemingly great flop of top two, or a set. The basic fact is that in Omaha, you are never safe until you have the absolute nuts.

On a similar point, big pocket pairs are pretty in Omaha, but they are still just a pair. I would recommend caution with these hands, as they are only as strong as the other two cards supporting them. Ideally you want your two Aces or Kings to give you Flush or Straight options too in relation to your other hole cards. So often I see players betting the maximum on every street regardless of the board cards, then turn over hands like (A,A,7,10) for a single pair. Reading the potential dangers of the board cards is of huge importance in Omaha.

New Online Pocker games at CoralPocker.com

This week I have thankfully made a reasonable addition of Coral Pocker points to aid my league position, but there were a few other positives to take from the session other than this.

To play online pocker at CoralPocker.com click here!

 

I was a little unlucky in not seeing a pocker hand bigger than (Ad,4h) or (6,6) in the first hour. I shall try not to speak too much of this though, as I don’t like to blame luck whenever I do not succeed, as this is counter productive I feel.

I managed to take a cheap flop with (Js,10s) early on though after (A,K) fatally failed to put any sort of substantial raise out preflop. I flopped my trip tens, checked the three way pot, then a King came off on the turn. I decided to make a small bet in the hope of someone having connected and thankfully my opponent had. I made enough chips to see me through for the next hour, with the occasional blind steal, and after being moved tables I finally picked up a hand of (J,J) which was the best I’d seen all night. I moved my last 5,500 in and was called by (Q,Q). I hit my Jack, he hit his Queen, and I was eliminated in 10th place. I know I didn’t see many cards to work with but we all have that problem sometimes, I am happy enough with what I achieved regardless of this.

So a few more online pocker points now should put me into the top ten of the league table, despite playing two less games than most other players and so I cannot be unhappy with that. To be honest, I am already anticipating the big end of league game on May 24th, having managed 4th place last time around, let us just hope I am getting my poor luck out of the way before then.

Celeb Pocker Tournaments

This was the last hand I played in last nights live Celeb Pocker event, and involved being dealt (Q,J) in the small blind. The player to my right had mentioned two hands previously, folding (A,6) preflop, and he limped in from the button.

To play online pocker at CelebPocker.com click here!

 

The flop came down (A,5,9) and it was checked to the button player. He led out with a raise of 1,600 and I decided to come over the top for another 4,500 all in bet. The fact that he had mentioned folding a mid to low Ace two hands previously swayed my decision, as did the fact that he was last to act after the pocker action had been checked on the flop.

I felt he was folding mid to low Aces preflop and would have raised wih a strong Ace. So of course I didn’t feel he was as strong as an Ace, and he sat thinking for a long time before another player urged him to make a decision. Calling time on the player was perhaps fatal for me, as usually, I find that the longer a player thinks, the more likely they are to fold.

As soon as the online pocker player said to hurry up and decide either way though, my opponent sighed and threw the chips in saying he felt he was probably behind. He showed (A,4) for top pair which meant he had made a call which was slightly out of character preflop, and on the flop too actually. That said, I still have to take resposibility for making a dangerous play and coming off worse. This serves as another reminder that I need to adapt my play at my local live event and tighten up my play.

Online poker at VirginPocker.com

This was probably the biggest pot which I won in last nights game on VirginPocker.com. From the small blind I picked up (J,9) and along with the button player, flat called. The flop was extremely kind, falling (Qh,Kd,10h).

To play online poker at VirginPocker.com click here!

 

 

I checked, and the big blind led out with a bet of 600 which was around three times the big blind. The button player called, and I made a calculated risk to flat call and let another card come off.

I obviously did not want to see a heart or any card which paired the board and potentially made a Full House for one of my opponents. The (4s) was a harmless card and I was happy to see the big blind player raise another 800. The button player called, and I decided it was time to test just how strong my opponents hands were. I raised all in for another 2,500 and the big blind quickly called. The button player folded, and I was surprised to see the caller turn over a King for top pair. I spoke to him later and he said he felt I was on a draw.

This may seem like a loose call, but my table image is that I like to bluff often and this shows that you can get paid off much more often with this type of table image at Virgin Pocker. I had 10,500 after this hand which would have been a comfortable amount to take to the final table of eight players, but then unfortunately poker never seems to work out perfectly, and two hands later I doubled up a short stack when he got very lucky with (Ac,Qs) against my (Ah,Kh).

All in all, an exciting game of online pocker at VirginPocker!