How to deal with continuation betting

Continuation betting has become one of the most popular deceptive strategies in poker in recent years. No longer is the follow up bet only used when the flop has helped your starting hand, but it now commonly used for the opposite result.

A continuation bet in Texas Holdem poker is when a player makes a bet pre-flop, and then follows it up with a further bet once the flop is drawn. The move normally indicates that the extra three cards has helped the strong starting hand, hence why the strategy has now become popular as a bluffing tactic to try and give off this message to the rest of the table.

If you do have a strong hand when you’re in one of the late positions, don’t be put off by a continuation bet ahead of you. It is very difficult to determine the legitimacy of the follow up bet, unless it is by an opponent who regularly makes such a move as a bluffing tactic. If this is the case, it would be advised to raise the initial bet to see exactly how much they like their own hand. People who play poker should remember this.

Continuation betting can be a useful strategy to win a hand you had no right to win, considering your cards, but, the biggest advice you should take note of is not to over use the strategy. Once you are labelled as a player who uses continuation bets on a regular basis to deceive, the tactic will become useless and even worse, you could lose a lot of chips because you are likely to get called a lot more than you would like.

Basics on position

Position around the poker table is one of the most important factors that changes from hand to hand. If you fail to see the significance of your position in relation to who is first act, you will be missing out on situations where you can take advantage of information available to you when it comes to your move.

The best position during a game is considering to be ‘on the button’. This is the player who is considered as the dealer in the game, although they don’t have to deal out any cards, they are given this tag for the purpose of rotating position and are identified with a dealer button. People playing Betfair Texas Holdem should remember this.

The reason why being ‘on the button’ is so favourable is because this is the player who gets to act last in three of the four betting rounds during one game. The only time when they don’t act last is pre-flop where that task is given to the player currently on big blind.

Acting last allows you to assess all the activity that has gone on ahead of you. If a player places a big bet in an early position, it may help you make your decision easier when it comes to folding, or you may decide to play if you get to see a cheap flop. This is also true in Omaha poker.

Alternatively, if you are in an early position, you have no prior knowledge about the decisions of the majority of your opponents before you make your own move.

Therefore, you may make a bet with a reasonably strong hand, but if someone pushes in with all their chips in a later position, you will have thrown away your bet, if you are not prepared to make the all-in call.

Pirates Paradise review

Pirates Paradise is a three-reel, one-pay line slot machine brought to you by the software development team at Microgaming.

The game can be found in a limited number of casinos where it can be played for free or for real money. The free version means people can get to grips with the game without putting any of their bankroll at risk. When you are ready to throw some pieces of eight around you can play for cash denominations ranging between $0.25 and $5 and up to a maximum of three coins per pay line. People who have seen the casino TV promotion might want to try it.

The game screen is your classic three-reel style theme. The three-reels are situated in the top left hand corner of the screen, pay table to the right and Pirates Paradise logo bottom left. The symbols on the reels are a variety of sea-faring objects such as the treasure chest, skull and crossbones flag and one, two and three bar symbols. The whole backdrop is set against a beach where three Parrots are sat on a hoard of treasure. Those who have seen the Casino TV advert may find this appealing.

Pirates Paradise does not possess any wild or scatter symbols and there are no special bonus features either. In fact the only other feature the game possesses is its auto play feature. This feature allows you to select a predetermined number of spins and then at one touch of a button lets the slot machine make all of the decisions for you.

Good poker isn’t always rewarded

You have been sat at the table, waiting patiently like a coiled spring. The fish to your right has not swum into your territory just yet. Then the fish makes his move.
They make a standard raise and you look down at your hand to see ace-king and you make a three-bet. Your sizing is slightly higher than normal because you know the fish will call with any two-cards. The fish doesn’t disappoint and makes the call and the flop is a tantalising ace-high, rainbow flop.

The fish bets and not wanting to scare him away you make the call and decide to apply the pressure on the turn. The turn is a low card that now brings a flush-draw on board. The fish bets and you make your move and raise.

The fish moves all-in and knowing he will do this with a wide range of worse aces you call. The fish turns over ace-two and you smile and show your ace-king. Just one more card to come and it is a deuce and the fish now smiles as he sweeps your chips into his little bowl. It just one of those little poker bonuses bad players seem to get.

For the next five-hours this happens again and again. Just like Penguin you keep setting these elaborate traps but just like the Batman the fish finds a way to wriggle free. You are playing out of your skin and even the emotions are in check, despite losing so much money to this player, who quite clearly does not know what he is doing. It happens in poker rooms online.

What is your reward for playing so well, making all of the correct decisions and yet losing more money than Nick Leeson? Nothing. There isn’t a reward – just get used to it.

Winning even when you’re losing

There are two ways to win money when playing poker. The first way is to take money from your opponent. This is accomplished by either getting your opponent to fold the better hand or ending up at showdown with a superior hand. The second way to win money is through minimising your losses. You cannot win every hand in poker (a philosophical mistake in its own right) so you need to face the fact that you will lose sometimes. The money that you lose is just as important, if not more so, than the money you win. Anyone playing poker cash games should remember this.

Imagine you have a pair of aces pre flop and you make a three-bet and get cold-called. The flop is blah, blah, blah and you bet and your opponent calls. The turn completes some potential draws and your value bet is suddenly facing a raise.  There are players who will fold here and they have minimised their losses to that point and only that point. There are other players who will call that bet or re-raise that bet and will have a sort of “I told you so,” thought in the back of their mind when they see they are dead. They might even just call and then lose even more money on the river with a check-call line. This happens so often in poker. The failure to realise when your hand ranking has diminished and that it is the right time to use your get out of this hand quick card. When most people learn how to play poker learning to fold can be one of the hardest skills.

The players who have the ability to get out of these hands and minimise their losses will take so much more money from the table than the players who don’t.

Thin value is a useful poker concept

Spotting thin value bets when the opportunity arises is certainly something that will improve the number of hands you win at the table.

Thin value is all about your opponent’s perception of your hand considering the texture of the community hands. You will see many people use it at Betfair GSOP Live Greece.

The best way to look at thin value is to give the example of a flush draw. If the flop deals three of any suit, but the turn and river card fail to deliver a fourth card from the same suit, your opponent may think you were on a flush draw and missed out. However, if you already have a made hand, that doesn’t have to be the strongest, it could be enough to surprise your opponent and worth playing with thin value. In the example given, top pair would be a good enough hand to play; your opponent is likely to call with any hand because they would think it was a bluff attempt after missing out of the flush, and if you were an aggressive player they would find it even more believable. Anyone taking part in GSOP VII Mini should remember this.

The reason why the best players in poker use thin value so well is because they can recognise when there is an opportunity that may not look as obvious to everyone else. You must be confident that your opponent may have a weaker hand than yours, and you must be remember it is only a value bet, so you need to keep the bets down to a minimum. The value of the pot should already be enough to make winning the hand rewarding enough. If you raised the stakes too high, you lose the value and it becomes a careless move.

Aggression is the key to heads up poker

Unless you are a regular at finishing in the latter stages of a poker tournament, or prefer to join cash games where there are few people around a table, you may not have much experience at heads up poker.

If you do have any ambitions of winning tournaments, it is essential that you do try to get some practise at the strategy for playing against one player, as it is much different than any other circumstance. It’s an important part of how to play poker.

During this stage of a game, when there are just two players battling each other, often the cards can have little value, as it is all about how you bet in the two different positions. Aggression is often shown by the dealer, and blinds can go back and forward between the two players.

In heads up play the most obvious difference is that your hand value doesn’t have to be as strong anymore to win. All of a sudden any kind of a pair is a good hand and usually enough to take the pot. The problem is making your hand count becomes a lot more difficult. If you place a large bet before the flop, your opponent will fold if they have a less than average hand. It is about trying to get your chips in gradually to maximise your return. If you want to win Betfair Sit and Go Tournaments you have to learn this art.

The only time where both players would commit large amounts into the middle before the flop, is if they have two large face cards each, or a pair. It would be likely that an all-in situation could happen, however, it can take awhile for both players to have such a hand, therefore patience is required on your part.

US authorities clam down on Full Tilt

The poker world was buzzing when news broke about the Manhattan United States Attorney’s Office bringing charges against the board members of Full Tilt Poker. The highest profile names on the board were Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, CEO Ray Bitar and Rafe Furst. As a result, the DOJ issued a warrant for the seizure of the bank accounts belonging to the five named men.

The warrants issued are known as “in rem” meaning that the property of the five is at risk of loss. Due to the fact that the complaint is a civil one, and not criminal, the warrants do not mean the five men will be arrested.

This comes after the social media and news networks went insane after allegations surfaced that 23 owners of the online poker site paid themselves $443,860,529.89 from April of 2007 to April of 2011 and that the payments only stopped after April 15th 2011.  The outrage is because over $300 million is still owed to players who used to play poker on Full Tilt. Those who claimed a poker bonus will be very unhappy.

“Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement.

The government alleged that Lederer and Ferguson received $38 million and $24 million respectively. Rafe Furst received $12 million and Ray Bitar $40 million.
Whether or not the players, who have money locked up in this mess, will ever see that money again is unclear, what is clear is there will be a lot of angry former players after hearing this news.

Choosing the right slot game

Choosing the right online casino slot game is very important with regards to your enjoyment and understanding of the game.

With the number of slot games increasing since the internet has taken the popularity of online casino rooms to a new level, it becomes even more important to get your choice right. With things like Deal or No Deal slots no available you are spoilt for choice.

Games range from the basic simple one pay-lines, to five game reels that have up to 50 different lines going in different directions across the face of the screen.

The theme of the game also has to be considered when choosing your selection. Football and sports fans will have plenty of choice when it comes to related games. There are themes that cater for all subjects and interests that include sci-fi, music and television programmes. You can even find Cleopatra online slots.

Most slot games allow you the opportunity to play the games in a free play mode and this should be taken advantage of to get a feel of the game before committing any of your bankroll. They also will be a help file attached that will reveal all the pay-lines and how to activate the bonus and feature rounds in the game.

Most of the traditional and original slot games are still available to play online. You will be familiar with the common fruit symbols and the rank of order with regards to their pay value.

It is worth varying the slot game you play online to avoid become bored of the same theme. There will be similar styles to the one you are used to playing, but a change in setting and features will keep things fresh.

Strategy is key in Omaha poker

Omaha poker players who have studied hard and have a keen knowledge of Omaha poker strategy are likely to do well in the long term as they soon realise that even though luck has a great influence on a game, it actually isn’t the only thing that matters and that skill will also have a tremendous influence on the game.

If you sit at a table with skilled players you are likely to find that the game is less exciting than when you play with less-skilled players who may be charging round like loose cannons using their money to make wild and wonderful bets but not actually giving a great deal of thought to what is happening. The more you learn, the more skilled you will become and this skill will enable you to understand the game and play more confidently. There may be times when you will make a decision which others think is incorrect but you will be aware that the game can change dramatically in a very short space of time. Fans of Betfair online poker should remember this.

If you have what you consider to be a good hand you need to bet aggressively as your best hand on the flop could be third best by the river.

Study your online poker opponents when they bet and try to work out what they are likely to do as this will give you an advantage throughout the game. Watch events like Betfair GSOP VII Mini for clues on how to master this.

Be very careful though, as misreading a hand can happen very easily and can end up being costly. Many a flush has been toppled by a full house and many a full house has gone down to a bigger and better full house.

It is no coincidence that the player with the best Omaha poker strategy usually wins.