Study our poker strategy and earn some real Poker Clams

Freeroll tournaments have become a huge part of online poker and they are used as a marketing ploy for the poker room, but they also benefit the player. A freeroll tournament costs no money to enter, but the poker room where the tournament is being hosted will post a prize pool for the top players. Generally the prize pool is going to be small although if you join some private freeroll tournaments then the prize pools can become larger. Over the years practically every single online poker room has offered a freeroll tournament and they continue offering them to this day.

Many new online poker players will spend their first few months strictly playing in freeroll tournaments. There are daily freeroll tournaments available for players across the different online poker rooms, which mean that you can really make some money from playing in them everyday. Typically only new poker players will compete in freeroll tournaments due to the small prize pools and large playing field. If you already have your own bankroll for poker then freeroll tournaments aren’t going to post significant profits for you, but if you don’t have a bankroll then you can use freeroll tournaments to build one.

The one downfall about playing freeroll tournaments in multiple poker rooms is that you’re going to need to use your money in the poker room where you win it at first. Typically when you win money from a freeroll tournament you need to play a certain amount of poker in the poker room before you can withdraw the money. In order to build your bankroll you’ll need to try and grind the micro levels so that you can make a withdrawal with the poker room.

Once you’ve been able to clear your money with the poker rooms you make money with you’ll be able to pool all of your money together so that you can have a starting bankroll with the poker room of your choice. One of the benefits of playing poker freeroll tournaments for the first few months that you play online poker is that you’ll be able to play in a lot of different poker rooms on a daily basis. This will help you find the poker rooms that you like the best as well as the poker rooms where you seem to have the most luck.

If you’re going to play in freeroll tournaments to either gain some playing experience or to build your starting bankroll then you need to remember a few things. Don’t become discouraged if you don’t make money in the tournaments because it’s very difficult to place in the top few places out of thousands of players. You may also experience some bad beats when playing freeroll tournaments and this is apart of poker. Generally you’ll notice more bad beats in freeroll tournaments then real money tournaments, but that’s because the players in freeroll tournaments didn’t put up their own money to play. Often the action is really loose and there are tons of bluffs when you play in most freeroll tournaments.

Stock trading is a game. It is a strategy game. Every move must be calculated. One wrong move and the game can be over. There is no gamble in trading stocks; you must know what you are doing. Before your last move, you must know your next move. You must know your rules because there are penalties if you fall foul. The only thing that changes in stock trading is change in strategies. There are several strategies in trading stock. The basic principle in trading stocks is called betting. The experts might not want you to know this but trading stock is betting on the company you are buying. This can be compared to playing poker. The basic rule they both have is that it is not about luck.

Poker play is basically betting on your hands. Playing poker requires the player to be in control of his or her emotions. Bringing your emotions to the table only clouds your judgment and this is not good for you as a poker player. Developing and understanding strategies is everything in a poker play. The greatest poker players do not concern themselves with losing. They rather use their strategies and vary them whenever the opponent makes a move. Does that sound familiar in stock trading?

In stock trading, traders develop and use several strategies to win. Markets can go up and down, but in all these, good stock traders have found a way to beat the tide.

In stock trading and poker, no one knows what happens next. There are two things you can do. You can either decide to wait and see or you can adopt the plan ‘B’. Good stock traders and great poker players all choose to have a backup plan in case things do not go the way they initially planned. This does not only save them from total annihilation but also give them a fighting chance in recovering from the shock.

One thing poker and online stock trading also encourages is disciplined money management whilst trading or on the table. In poker when you go ‘all in’, it can bring you great fortune but it can also take you away from the table. In stock trading, being greedy on the financial market can send you home really fast. This is why both good poker players and great stock traders press their advantage only when it is there else they will go small number of hands.

Great poker players and great stock traders are ready to play even if they are coming from losing streak. That is the only way to win in poker and stock trading.

A poker player, who always wins, always knows their opponents. Knowing your opponent and his/ her weakness is important to winning a poker game. That is also true with stock trading. Winning on the trading floor requires that you know the company you are buying into.

The next time you sit on the poker table, pay a little attention because it can teach you a lot of things about making money on the trading floor. Strategy is everything is playing poker and trading stocks.

Internet poker are far better to play than the poker machines you find at a live casino simply because of the sweet Internet poker bonus that is tied to playing games on line. When you sign up at a new Internet casino, a poker player is typically greeted with a deposit bonus of some sort. The poker bonus comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some Internet poker bonus offers match money deposited, while others provide a specific number of spins. Still other rooms simply hand you free money just for signing up and trying the poker game. Poker bonuses of this nature cannot be found in live casinos and those who thoroughly enjoy playing poker games will get more poker play for their money by taking advantage of the various Internet poker bonus deals that are available online.

To claim a Internet poker bonus, simply select an Internet casino that takes players from the country in which you live in. Additionally, poker players are well served in ensuring that the poker site allows deposits from the way you plan to fund your poker account. Internet poker credits cannot be purchased using straight cash, so in order to play Internet poker you will need to use a credit card, a bankcard, an e-wallet account, or make a wire transfer from your bank to your poker player account. The deposit will trigger the Internet poker deposit bonus if one is available. The bonus money is typically available immediately and the instant bonus money serves as a boost to your poker bankroll. Typically, Internet poker instant match bonuses are stated as a percentage of the deposit amount. For example, an Internet poker site might offer a 100% up to $200 bonus. To claim this bonus money, a poker player would deposit up to $200 and they would find $200 more in instant poker bonus money in their player account.

Some poker sites do not require a deposit in order to cash in on the poker bonus offer. A few select Internet poker sites offer a no deposit bonus. This type of poker bonus requires only that a player set up a new account at the Internet poker site. Upon establishing a new player account, one can put their no deposit poker bonus to work. Other Internet poker websites provide a timed bonus or a set number of spins upon registering a new player account. These bonuses are claimed by simply setting up a player account and players get something such as 200 free spins or 20 minutes of free poker play upon registering their new Internet poker account.

You’re never going to need to calculate your own rakeback because you’ll always have live stats when you sign-up for an account, but in case you’re wondering how we’re going to teach you. Before you can calculate the amount of rake you’re supposed to receive back you’re going to need to learn how to calculate the rake you contribute to the poker room you play with. Since your rakeback is a percentage of the amount of rake you contribute to the poker room it’s important you calculate how much you rake before you try finding out how much rakeback you’d receive.

Some poker rooms calculate the rake in ring table games differently then other poker rooms so you need to make sure you find out how your poker room calculates the rake. One method that the rake is calculated by is through contributed rake which is based on how much money you contribute to the pot for that given hand. The other method for calculating rake is through an equal share based on the amount of players in the game. For instance, if there are 10 players in the game and there is $3 taken from the pot for the rake, each player would earn $.30 rake.

When you’re playing in sit and go tournaments or other forms of tournaments you won’t pay a rake every hand you pay. You’ll pay a fee at the beginning at the tournament when you buy-in to the event. For instance, Poker Stars offers lots of tournaments with a buy-in of $10 + $1. The $10 is the amount of money that will go to the prize pool and the $1 is the rake taken by the poker room for hosting the tournament. Your rake when playing tournaments equates to the fee that you pay at the beginning of the tournament.

Once you calculate the amount of rake you contribute to the poker room roughly you’ll be able to figure out how much you should earn roughly. You’ll need to find out the percent that you’re receiving from the poker room as your rakeback in order to figure out how much you’ll earn. Most poker rooms offer 30% right now although you’ll also find both higher and lower offers then this available. One thing to keep in mind when calculating your rakeback is whether or not the poker room you play with takes bonuses off of your rakeback. A lot of poker rooms take your bonuses off of the amount you earn in rakeback so make sure you find this out before you start playing so there are no surprises.

If you don’t feel like making the calculations on your own to find out your rakeback then there are plenty of rakeback calculators available online that you can use for free. Once you sign-up for a rakeback account you’ll be able to see your stats update in real-time in most cases so you won’t even need to use a rakeback calculator. Remember that your calculations or the calculations you come up with off a rakeback calculator might not be exact.

Here’s a run though of an incredible knockout punch delivered during the 2008 World Series of Poker tournament. Players at the table include the Russian Akopyan, Hellmuth and others. AK (as I’ll refer to him for short) opens the bet for $16K with a pre-flop hidden hand of 10, 9 off-suit (interesting, no?).

Player Ballande peeks at his Ace, Queen off-suit and immediate goes all-in. AK no doubt is wondering at this point if he made such a wise choice to put those initial chips in play on such a sketchy hand.

Hellmuth folds, which is great, we don’t have to hear or even see him much right now. The bet stands at about an additional $66K for AK to call. Bellande currently holds a 63% to 37% statistical advantage on the hand.

A head-shake-inducing quick call from AK follows. You have to wonder why he makes this call. It doesn’t make sense. Even if he feels Ballande is bluffing, which he’s not, the probability that he is beaten by just one higher card is high enough to significantly discourage this type of call on an all-in bet. My guess is AK was smarting from the feeling of being burned and let his emotions get in the way of his common sense. Too late to take it back now. Ballande eagerly flips his cards after the call.

The pot stands at $174,000. Ballande, after seeing what AK called with, makes a comment and then starts shaking in anticipation in his chair. Anyone else would do the same thing, as well as wearing the sizable grin on his face.

The flop is Ace, 2, 8….which puts Ballande at a massive 94% advantage now. Out of the corner of your eye, though, you have to peek at that 8 and wonder if weird things are afoot here. Nevertheless, the flop pulls an expected fist pump and cheer from Ballande.

The turn is a 6. It’s also worth nothing all 4 community cards are of a different suit, so there’s no chance of a flush. The Pro Ballande was calling for “no jack and no seven” so the six was a welcome sight to him. Still, though, the advantage drops a few percentage points, and the lingering stink of an inside straight rears its ugly head.

The river is…do I even need to say it? Yes, a 7. Ballande rips his hat off and wipes his brow with his sleeve, his plastered grin suddenly replaced with a frustrated, disbelieving frown.

You hate to see that happen. But, as anyone knows, that’s poker.

If this is the first time that you’re looking into getting signed up for a rakeback account, then you probably don’t really know what you’re supposed to look for. There are several different factors that you need to look at when you’re joining a program and we’re going to make sure that you’re prepared. The problem with most players is that they rush into signing up for the first rakeback account they find and then they end up not being happy with the choice they made. To ensure that you make the right choice the first time when you sign-up for a rakeback account continue reading through the below tips.

How Is the Rakeback Calculated?

As we mentioned in an earlier article rakeback can be calculated two different ways online and poker rooms use both of the methods. Make sure you learn the way your poker room calculates the rakeback so that there aren’t surprises when it comes to being paid. If you’re a tight poker player then it’s ideal to find a poker room that uses the dealt cards rake contribution because you’ll be able to earn rake every hand you’re dealt. When your rake is calculated based on how much money you contributed to the pot it can become difficult for a tight player to earn much rake.

Are Bonuses Deducted?

Some online poker rooms will deduct their bonuses from the amount that you rake for the given time period. Some poker rooms won’t make any deductions to your rake and these are obviously a bit better then the poker rooms that do make deductions, but this isn’t the only thing you should consider. You should also make sure that you can benefit from the bonuses offered by the poker room if you’re using a rakeback account because some poker rooms won’t allow you to receive any types of bonuses.

Is the Rakeback Paid Weekly or Monthly?

Some players won’t mind whether they are paid on a weekly basis or a monthly basis, but for some players it’s important to receive payments every week. If you play poker full-time and you rely on poker as your income then you’ll definitely want to find a poker room that offers weekly if possible. Some poker rooms have even started offering daily payments to certain players that are able to rake a lot in a short period of time.

What Percent Rakeback Are You Receiving?

With the rakeback market becoming more competitive, poker rooms have been increasing the percentage that they offer players as rakeback. Generally you’ll receive 30% rakeback although there are deals out there where you can receive anywhere from 30-100% rakeback from the poker room you play with.
As you can see there are several factors that you should consider when you’re signing up for a rakeback account. It isn’t going to help you if you sign-up for the first deal you find because you might find a better deal if you do a bit of research. Take your time when looking for a rakeback deal and make sure you find the best deal available.

What should your strategy be in a hold ‘em tournament as it pertains to your pre-flop hand? There are a few general guidelines to consider. First, unless you plan on bluffing your way to the top, you need to at least have a strong enough hand to catch something on the flop should you be in a position to limp in. All right, that said, let’s explore some strategy further.

The first thing to consider when forming your strategy is where you’re sitting at the table. It makes a huge difference in how you can play certain hands. Your position will either help or hinder your knowledge of other players’ hands and decisions. If you’re at an early position, meaning one of the first to act, your options are limited. At a full table, a bluff or check is suicide, as you’ll most certainly get at least one caller on a bluff, and if you check (unless it’s to set a trap) you establish yourself as a weakling ready to surrender his blind. Later position players can use what they’ve seen in the betting round thus far and react accordingly. They can limp in on a call, raise back with a bluff or strong play, etc… And by then, half the table might already be out of the hand.

A second point of consideration for forming strategy was already briefly touched upon – your hand. Crazy, right? How good your cards are might actually affect how you play your hand! You should already know how you plan to play certain hands in certain situations at Poker Star before entering live play. Then it’s simply a matter of remembering and sticking to what your strategy is for each of those hands, breaking only when you sense a trap or a tight table you can take advantage of.

A tight table? Great transition to the final point of strategy, how your table is playing. You’ll need to sit through at least 15 hands or so before coming to a conclusion here, but if the table is tight, you can open up with some aggressive play. Taking a risk here can net you some early blinds and establish you as a chip leader before the middle rounds where the blinds get up to a certain level. If players are aggressive around you, leave your options open – don’t automatically assume it’s the right call to do the opposite and clam up. While doing so might allow you to avoid the big hands, you’ll also miss out on some very winnable big pots. So stick to your hand strategy here and be open to going along with the aggressive game until you get burned a few times, then you can back away before it’s too late.

One thing that almost every full-time poker player has in common is that they have the ability to play multiple tables online at the same time. In order to increase your profits at online poker often the best way of doing so is through adding more tables to your game. Whether you play cash games or tournaments you’ll be able to add more tables to your game which should improve your bottom line.

When you multi-table you don’t need to make nearly as much money on each table then you normally would in order to post profits for the day. For instance, if you generally play 1 table and you win $20/hour at the table then you would only need to win $5/hour at each table with 4 tables to make the same amount of profit. If you manage to make $20/hour on average per table then you’re going to be making $80+/hour which is more then most people earn at their jobs. This profit is before you even begin to add any of the rakeback you receive to your profit.

Of course when you start to multi-table if can become difficult to focus and play all of your hands. The one thing you need to realize when multi-tabling is that you won’t be able to make as many moves. You’ll need to take your time and wait for your monster hands at each table to make money. You shouldn’t become accustomed to making weak and marginal calls when you multi-table because one bad move could cost you your profits for your entire session for the day.

Some players out there currently multi-table over 20+ poker tables at once and although I don’t advise you to do that to start out it is possible in the future. When you start adding more tables to your game you’re going to need to make sure that you have the bankroll to cover the costs. If you’re playing $10 + $1 sit and go tournaments and you want to start playing 4 tables at once then it’s going to costs you $44 instead of $11 every time you want to play. As you can see you’re going to need to have the bankroll to cover your losses so that you don’t run out of money.

The most common mistake that new players to make is that they go broke because they are on tilt or because they’re trying to make more money then they should be. You’re not going to make thousands of dollars everyday playing poker, but you definitely have the potential of having some great days. In order to become a professional poker player it isn’t about the great days you have, but it’s more so about how you minimize your losses when you’re on a bad run. If you’ve never multi-tabled before then I would recommend that you start out with 2 tables and start moving up as you deem fit based on your comfortability levels. The last thing you want to do is become overwhelmed by playing too many tables at once because it could cost you a big chunk of your bankroll if you aren’t playing you’re A game.