iPhone Jacks or Better Poker

While this application is actually for video poker, not standard poker, it can still be a lot of fun and a great way to kill down time. You’re not playing against live opponents, so you can pick up or put down the game at any time and start again where you left off. The rules are the same as normal video poker. You can replace any of the five cards dealt to you to make your best five card hand, and are paid off according to how strong your final hand is.

Apple Texas Hold’em

This application features standard poker, and the graphics and gameplay are top notch. You can use this application to play poker with friends who also have Apple Texas Hold’em for the iPhone, or you can play computer opponents if no real players are handy.

Zynga Live Poker

Zynga Live Poker is as close to the online poker experience as you are going to get with an iPhone. You can play opponents from all over the world, just like with online poker, and the application hooks into social networks, increasing your player base and adding some fun features, like the option to turn your Facebook profile pic into your avatar.

With all iPhone poker apps, it’s important to note that you are not playing for real money. Apple simply doesn’t allow it, so if you are looking to play real money mobile poker, you will have to look somewhere other than the iTunes store.

Texas Holdem Betting Strategies #1: Feeler Bet

The first of the betting strategies involves the feeler bet. The feeler bet will always let you know WHERE YOU STAND in the hand. If you never put out a feeler bet about 1/3 the size of pot, you will never know what other players are holding in their hand. It’s for this reason you use it to get a “feel” for the strength of your hand also the strength of your opponents hand.

Texas Holdem Betting Strategies #2: Check Raise

The check raise should be used to extract additional chips from your opponent who wouldn’t more often than not commit many chips to a particular pot. The check raise works by acting weak in hopes of hiding your strength. With any luck, this will induce a bluff or at least a misinformed bet from your opponent to get him to commit his chips to the pot. Use the check raise for only the stronger hands, and never use the check raise if you think your opponent is on some kind of a flush or straight draw, which would allow him to catch up and beat you. The check raise is useful against a tight opponent, where you give him a free card hoping he might catch up and encourage him to bet.

Texas Holdem Betting Strategies #3: Stealing the Blinds

As you develop your game over time, one skill you need to develop is taking the pot without cards. It is betting about 1/3 the size of the pot with the intent of taking down uncontested blinds and pots! To utilize this bet you must have position on your opponents.

Texas Holdem Betting Strategies #4: Continuation Bet

Continuation bet is showing strength before the flop, most often with over cards. Oftentimes you will miss the flop, but continue to show strength through betting, as if you have a real hand. The key to successfully pulling off the continuation bet is to narrow your opposition down to one or two at the most. Here is the rule of the continuation bet: If you raise before the flop, you must bet after the flop. Period. Even when you miss on the flop.

Texas Holdem Betting Strategies #5: All-In Bet

Among good poker pros, betting all of your chips on a single poker hand are rare until they get short stacked. The reason is simple. When you gamble all your chips, you are risking your tournament life and leaving no room for other options. Honestly good poker players do not like to do this. The all-in bet can be very useful when played properly. Before you do though, several things need to be in play before using this strategic move: 1. If you are short stacked this can be good move. 2. If you have been re-raised and you have the absolute best hand. 3. Not usually looking for more action, just want to win the pot. 4. You have the best hand at the flop and one of your opponents is on a draw of some kind, the move can be a deterrent to a probable call. The above texas holdem strategies will help you toward becoming a more profitable poker player. So now take these strategies and use them next time you play. Good luck and see you at the tables.

Remember that when you’re playing Texas Hold’em poker you are trying to create the best 5-card poker hand from a total of 7 cards. There are 2 hole or pocket cards and 5 communal cards. You may use any combination to create your best hand. You may even use all five communal cards.

Poker Hand Rankings are as follows:

Royal Flush
This hand is the highest ranking hand possible and cannot be beaten A Royal Flush is made of 5 cards of the same suit, Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.

Straight Flush
A straight flush made up of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. An ace can play both high and low

Four-of-a-kind
This is any hand containing four similar cards.

Full House
A full house is when you have Three-of-Kind and a Pair.

Flush
A flush is any five cards of the same suit.

Straight
A Straight is five cards of any suit in succession. Straights are very common in Holdem Poker.

Three-of-a-kind
This hand is any three similar cards of any suit.

For example, you are dealt A9 of hearts in Texas Hold’em and the flop comes up showing two hearts. Your odds for hitting another heart by the river will be about 36% or 3 to 1. This can be figured out by finding out the number of outs that you have, that is the number of cards remaining in the deck and which can help you make your hand.

Again, taking the same example, you hold A-9 of hearts and catch two hearts on the flop, than you have 9 more hearts in the deck that can help you complete your flush. 2 hearts in your hand + 2 hearts on the table minus 13 hearts in total = 9 outs. If you multiply your number of ‘outs’ by 4, then you will get an approximate percentage of hitting your hand by the river (9×4=36%).

Poker pot odds is the ratio between the size of the pot compared to how much it will cost you to call a bet from another player. The higher the ratio between the size of the pot and the cost of calling a bet, the better your poker pot odds will be.
If there are $40 in the pot after the flop and a player bets $10 and two other players calls his bet then you get 7 to 1 in pot odds. If you are chasing the A-9 flush draw from the flop than you get a 36% or 3 to 1 in hand odds to catch your card at the river, so calling or even raising this bet will be a wiser decision to make.

There are a few virtues that come into play in Texas Holdem and the fist one of them is Patience. Do not go chasing and playing every hand. Be selective and you will increase your chances of winning your odds greatly.

Be aware of how the other players are playing, whether they are playing loose or tight. A loose player likes to bluff; you can bring him out by raising his bet or by check raising him. Observe how they react so that you understand his style. A tight player generally only plays the “nuts” early on but in the later rounds tries stealing the pot with a big bet. If you have a feeling he might be trying to steal the pot, raise the bet. If a tight player is quick to call, he is likely to fold. Else he may put you on a higher hand, fold and wait until his hand comes along.

Try and understand the betting style of each player. Is he betting on flop, turn and river or slow playing his hand. Does he have a made hand or is he on a draw? This intuitive analysis will help you later on in the game when the blinds are higher.
There are some things to remember while playing Pocket Pairs. The higher number of players the higher the risk. Wait until you see the flop and then if your pocket pair is higher than the board, bet aggressively and see how others react. Do no be afraid to fold if need be. Later in the game and with less players, pocket pairs increase in strength, because you are not on a draw.

Bluffing plays an important part in the game. Since people tend to bluff more online, you need to get a feel if the players’ playing styles so that you can establish whether it is a bluff or not.

Another important aspect of this game is controlling your emotions. All players will have ups and downs, but it is important to keep cool. Think and refocus. Be patient and your chances of winning will increase It’s always better to rake a small pot than to lose a big one.

Some Poker Tells cry out to say – ‘I have a good hand’

• Acting uninterested in your hand is usually the most common sign of a strong hand. He may even tend to shrug away his cards saying that they are bad. Although he is pretending he does not care, he is excited about something in his hand
• Shaking Hands – When a player has a fantastic hand, it is often that he will exhibit this through trembling hands unable to contain such excitement.
• Rapid Breathing – Some players are unable to control their heart beating rapidly while seeing pocket aces or hit the flop really hard. If you can see a player’s chest visibly rising and falling, they have an excellent hand
• Glancing at Chips continuously – When a player looks down and sees strong hole or pocket cards, he will keep glancing at his chips to see just how much he can bet.

Some Poker Tells that cry out ‘I Have a Bad Hand’

• Staring down Other Players – If an opponent is staring you down, he’s trying to represent strength which is typical when he has a weak hand.
• Holding Breath – Often, inexperienced players, incapable of lying, will hold their breath if they are bluffing.

Some Poker Tells that cry out ‘I Have a draw’

• Checking Hole Cards after a Flop – If the flop shows the possibility of giving someone a flush or straight draw, players will start re-checking their hole cards to ensure that they are not missing out on some vital card.
• Taking your time to call a Bet – If a player looks into the pot and seems to be doing some calculating in his head, he probably is. He’s most likely figuring out the pot odds to see if it’s worth it to try and catch the cards he needs to complete his drawing hand.

Before starting to play, ensure that you have read as much about the game and are thoroughly knowledgeable about it. Information can be gleaned through books, web sites etc. Knowledge is power and you can never know enough about poker. There are constant changes in the industry and you would be wise to keep yourself informed as much as possible.

Practice hard before you play seriously

After gaining theoretical knowledge on the game, ensure that you have enough practice sessions. The best way is to download free poker software off the internet and practice until you build up enough confidence in the game and hone your skills. Once you feel that you have acquired sufficient proficiency, start playing for real money.

Enhancing your Skills

When playing poker, you will need to know the general probability of the game, the importance of outs and how to figure out the pots. Enhancing your mathematical and analytical skills will help you in improving your game. Reading people and learning to recognize the behaviour of people is also important in poker. Improving psychological skills will come with patience and practice.

Discipline

Discipline is an attribute that separates winners from the losers in poker. A disciplined player will know how much money he has to spend, how long each gambling session will last and most importantly sticking to these decisions. A disciplined player will know when to quit, during a bad spell or even after having won a lot.

Develop Psychological Skills

To improve your game of poker, you will need to learn to identify what the other opponents around the table are thinking and doing. You will learn in poker tells how to recognize answers to questions such as “What hand has my opponent been dealt” and “What hand does the opponent think I am holding” will go a long way in improving your game strategy.

Four months of improving before WSOP Final Table

In the WSOP 2008 Main Event, once the huge starting field has been sieved down to nine remaining players, there will be a four months break before the final table is played out.

Imagine you’re one of those nine people. You have four months to prepare for your once-in-a-life chance to win a gargantuan amount of really hard cash.

What in the world should you do???

1. One of the first steps you take when you start an online poker session is selecting a table. This is one of the most important decisions you will make, but it is a skill overlooked by many players.

Many online poker players simply sit down at the first table with an open seat. This can often be a huge mistake. Just ask yourself if you have a better chance of winning at a table with nine great poker players, or with nine terrible poker players. If you can find the table with the worst players then your chances of winning consistently increase greatly.

If you need help finding the best tables to play at then check out these online poker tools designed to help you find the softest tables. They help you find the softest table based on table statistics like percentage of flops seen, and the hand history of millions of online poker players.

2. The next skill you need to be a successful online poker player is the ability to calculate the odds. Poker is all about probabilities. What are the chances of making a flush on the river? What are the odds of catching an inside straight draw? What are the odds of winning with a starting hand of 6,7 suited and seven other players in the pot.

If you are not able to immediately calculate the odds and pot odds for every situation within seconds then you lack one of the essential skills every poker player needs. There are several poker odds calculators to choose from that will do it for you online, or you can take the time to learn them for yourself.

3. The third skill you need to win consistently at online poker is patience. This is one of the hardest skills to master for most online poker players, and is one of the main reasons many players fail to win consistently. Have you seen the lack of patience by over 90% of the players in a poker freeroll? It is more exciting to play crazy, but you will not win over time.

Patience at a poker table means not playing bad starting hands just because you have a streak of cold cards. It means not chasing draws when the pot odds are not there. It means not going on tilt when you fall victim to a bad beat. Patience means being disciplined enough to stick to your strategy no matter what happens at the table, and if you start to lose your pateince then you need to stop playing immediately until you regain your composure.

If you are able to master the skills of table selection, calculating odds, and the patience to implement a good poker strategy then you will be way ahead of most other online poker players.

Play only when your turn comes, do not try to fold early. It’s unfair to the other players if someone gets to know that you’re going to fold out of turn. The same holds true for calling and raising.

Maintain silence during the game

Be quiet when playing a gem. There is no need to think aloud or offer commentary on the hands.

Do not Splash the Pot

Splashing the pot is throwing the chips in the middle in such a way that they fly across the table Keep your chips in a neat pile in front of you and do not throw them around. With a lot of players, this really helps keep track of where things stand and helps avoid nasty arguments.

One Player To a Hand

You don’t get to receive advice during a hand, and you don’t get to give it. Play your own hand and let everyone else play their own.

Be attentive

Pay Attention during the game. Few things are more frustrating and annoying than a player who says, “Whose turn is it?” or “What just happened?” when it’s his turn to play.