Poker is a hard game to understand. There are a lot of different things to take into consideration and while the game is going on, there are still the poker chips to think about! Understand poker chips before you actually start playing at tournaments and such is very, very important. After all, you do not want to throw out some chips that you have absolutely no idea how much they are worth!
Money is something that you never, ever want to put on the table whenever you are playing poker. You always want to make sure that you use poker chips as they are much easier to keep track of. One thing that you need to do before you even start playing is change out your money for poker chips. When you do that, you will get a handful of chips that are colored. This is a guide to those colors:
White = $1.00
Yellow = $2.00
Red = $5.00
Blue = $10.00
Gray = $20.00
Green = $25.00
Orange = $50.00
Black = $100.00
Pink = $250.00
Purple = $500.00
Light Blue = $2,000.00
Brown = $5,000.00
That’s all of them!
By freakin’ far, Erik Sagstrom is one of those players that I never, ever would think would be almost a millionaire. This Swedish man is definitely one of the best poker players in the world and he started his career when he was just the tender age of 18! That alone boggles my mind! Imagine, playing when you are that young and beating out all of the people that have been playing for such a long time. Incredible!
Erik started out with just cash games and some tournaments and then he came to the realization that he was really, really good with cards and he actually quit high school and pursued a career in poker. He now knows how to manager a powerful poker room all by himself and while he is definitely not as aggressive as a lot of people’s he is certainly making a name for himself.
He has only been playing online poker for about 10 years now, since 1999, but he is definitely still rakin’ in the dough and that is incredible!
I picked up the latest CardPlayer magazine and had a quick flip through. Really interesting to read about the young Finnish player, Sami Kelopuro, known as “LarsLuzak” online for all you railbirds out there. His ultra-aggressive style has managed to earn him millions and for a 21 year old he seems to be level headed.
Sami was quite open and honest about how he moved up in the stakes and learned his poker. I liked how he admitted to having bad bankroll management skills in the beginning and was lucky to not go broke in his early days of playing. I suppose when you could go up or down a million in a day, you have to be able to handle it.
Best advice out there is – learn to manage your bankroll, it’s a critical part of the game. And it doesn’t matter which casino game you are playing, if you are careless with your bankroll, then you’ll watch it slowly but gradually disappear!
Winning at online poker is something that is very difficult and it does really take some skill to be able to do it. Online poker is one of those things that in recent years has become extremely popular and if you are just starting out playing, you should definitely learnt he ins and outs of how to play poker before you try your hand at online poker. In blog, we are going to explore some of the most common mistakes that people make in online poker so you can avoid them!
Firstly – know when to quit. A lot of people play just to play and they usually are playing way too many hands and that is one of the main reasons why they lose so much money. So if your luck is down, you might as well quit while you are ahead and save yourself some cash.
Next, you should really set realistic expectations. Just because you are playing online, that does not mean that you can go ‘sit’ and play at tables that you know are a higher limit because you think you are going to earn more money. It won’t happen, so make sure you stay within your skill set!
One of the major headaches for people indulging in online poker is their conscience telling them, that the site might be scammed. Well not now, people can be rest assured that their money is not going anywhere, except the fact if they lose.
So players just need to focus on their own cards and give in their best shot. Most of the sites have employed a great bunch of people to manually secure the online system.
Breaking a few cheats:
Collusion is one of the most used forms of poker cheating. But now players can shoot without any fears because there are special programs (softwares) installed that detect suspicious play techniques and ban the player found guilty.
Another feature of online poker was all-in protection which has been completely removed from most of the sites now. Players used to take an undue advantage by intentionally disconnecting their internet connection if they didn’t want to put in any more chips and later claim their money’s worth. That might not sound like a huge issue to some, but not everyone plays six dollar poker — if you’re playing for thousands — you want the money in when you’re holding the nuts!
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All good poker players know that position is a key poker element in every single poker variant. Why? Well, Poker God Gavin Smith explains it very well in this short video:
Cash game poker and tournament poker are quite different. Not only does cash game poker allow you to walk away with your winnings at any time, you may play with any skill level player that you want to. In tournament poker, games and tables are much more regulated.
Cash game poker is what many poker stars began on. These games, which can occur in online poker rooms or at casinos, allow people to place bets on single hands, or multiple hands of poker. The players can come or leave as they desire, and this provides a much more, informal and relaxed atmosphere.
Tournament poker is quite different. Most tournaments require a fee to enter which, for some tournaments, can be quite hefty. Tournaments usually try to pit same skill level players against each other, to see if they can keep up with their competition. Also, tournaments do not allow players to switch tables or leave without being disqualified. However, most tournament poker games end with the winners making a large amount of money, and the other players making less, or no money at all.
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When you’re an online poker player you want to look for every edge you can get. Since everyone on average gets the same amount of good cards and bad cards, it’s those players who can find and take advantage of ways to shift the odds in their favor who come out winners. If you’re smart, the tool for tracking your bankroll you use will show a nice profit.
Overlays for Added Value
One of the ways to gain a big edge is to look for a big overlay in tournaments. This adds value to the tournament and improves your odds. An overlay occurs when a given tournament has a guarantee. This is quite common in online tournaments as a way of drumming up interest in the tournament. If the tournament is well publicized, the site will probably make its guarantee easily which doesn’t add any value to you. However, if a less well-known or publicized tournament has a big guarantee, they may not make their goal number, which means more value for you.
How Overlays Give Added Value
Let’s say a tournament is $50 to enter. If 101 players enter there is $5050 in the prize pool. Assuming you all have an equal chance to win, you are all getting fair odds. You are 100-to 1-to win and the tournament pays out at 100-to-1 (this is not entirely accurate as the tournament collects an entry fee, plus unless the tournament is winner take all, you will not get the entire $5050 for winning, but the point is that the tournament is a relatively fair value proposition). Let’s say, however, that the tournament has a $10,000 guarantee. Now the tournament is paying out at 200-to-1 even though you have a 100-to-1 chance to win, adding significant value.
Taking Advantage of Overlays for Added Value
Of course, most players think that in a 100 player tournament, they have a better than 100-to-1 chance to win. Some are correct in this assumption and some are not. Either way, if you play in a tournament with an overlay, your chances of winning, whatever they were before the tournament began, have now improved. If you can find tournaments of this nature, you should always take advantage of them.
I remember Jonathan Abdellatif about a year and a half ago playing the low stakes live games in the Belgian Casino de Namur — today, he’s an EPT superstar and soon to be WSOP-winner, I’m sure.
Jonathan has quickly moved into the spotlight of the European poker scene, playing a variety of games and limits (from 2/2 No Limit Hold’em to 10/20 Pot Limit Omaha). If I were to put one guy’s name down to win an EPT event in 2009, I’d write down Jonathan Abdellatif’s, for sure.
For those of you unfamiliar with this Belgian poker phenomenon — here’s two photos of the guy playing in the EPT Deauville (his first large tournament, in which he cashed and held the chip lead for quite some time!).
One way to do so is deciding to do what Teh Jinx Poker calls the “Re-Raise/Shove Heads Up Strategy“.
I’m going to give this a try…
