The Link Adder Nexus
Connecting Worlds

March 10, 2010

Stick it to the Man: Self Employed Poker Players

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 9:42 am

It is generally accepted that you are under no obligation to like your boss. It has actually become socially accepted to publically admit that you do not respect or think well of your employer. It has become acceptable to whine. More than that, it has become the social norm to stay in dead end jobs simply for the paycheck.

While complaining about your boss may be acceptable to society at large, it is not acceptable to me. I do not understand why you would put up with a boss you do not respect when there is an easy way out of the situation. I assume if you are reading this, that you have an active interest in the poker world. You are probably a decent poker player who reads articles like this on your constant search to better your game. You want to be better, but most of all you want to go pro. Why not go now? Going pro now would allow to ditch the job you loathe in favor of a full time hobby that you love. You would be your own boss, answerable to no one but yourself. If you want, you can stop working for the man and take control of your life. You can make a future being your own boss playing professional poker.

February 25, 2010

Early Position Raises

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 11:49 am

Betting position is a key aspect of how to play a poker hand. The later your position, the more information you have to make the decision about how to play your hand. Most online poker experts recommend folding in early position with any cards but the strongest starter hands.

Betting from early position if always risky since there are several players behind you who can raise. That is why poker online pundits advise against limping into pots with speculative or medium strength hands. J-Q offsuit looks very weak in early position when a raise, then a re-raise comes out behind you. When you are considering entering at the pot from early position, consider this question, “Will I want to play this hand even if it gets raised?” If you are going to fold to any raise, then lay it down pre-flop and wait for a better hand.

However, it you are sitting on the fence, or even better, certain you will call any raise – perhaps you are holding K-Q suited, or A-K off suit – then seize the initiative yourself and enter the pot with a raise. Any hand worth calling a raise from early position should be worth raising right away instead of limping into the pot.

By raising, you narrow the field of opponents going up against your strong hand. With early position, you can seize fold equity in every ensuing round because you are first to bet and can continue raising to intimidate any remaining players.

January 29, 2010

Fold Instead of Check

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 1:14 pm

Poker online is a game of opportunity-if you don’t get the cards that you want, the hand isn’t over yet. You can still draw out a winning hand or bluff your opponents out of the pot.

If you don’t make your hand on the flop, your next objective is to scare your poker opponents away or to see the next two cards for as little an investment as you can. If no one has made his hand, you may even get to see it for free. If you don’t want to win, though, folding instead of checking is a great way to let your opponents win a hand.

That’s where the tragedy lies for many new players. A lot of newbies will fold before anyone even makes a bet, which not only loses the hand for you, but it also lets your opponents know that you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s true that if you don’t make at least a draw to a winning hand on the flop, you’re probably not going to win the hand straight up, so folding can be a good play, but when you do it out of turn, your online poker opponents’ “newbie radar” goes off and they see you as a mark for the duration of the game.

January 14, 2010

When Can You Avoid Tipping

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 11:06 am

No one really likes to tip. We tip the dealer because we are told by poker online forums and our fellow players that tipping is the socially polite thing to do. But if you are like me, you secretly begrudge every penny that you hand off to the dealer as a penny that is taken away from your bankroll. I have tried to think of a lot of different ways to get away from tipping without looking like Scrooge on a bad day. The big question for poker online players like me is when can you avoid tipping? The bright news is that there actually is a time and place where players are not obligated to hand over cold hard cash to the dealer just because he did his job. The place for people like you and me is the lowest stake offered by the casino. These poker tables are always filled with fish and other cheap players who aren’t willing to tip. The dealers don’t expect it at this level and the other players will be downright surprises if you hand money over to the table. These tables are a great boon to players like me who are always trying to find a way to get out of tipping.

December 29, 2009

Good Hands Bad Boards

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 10:58 am

There are times in a game of poker where you’ll get dealt a monster. You’ll get AKs in the hole and the board will come out A-A-K giving you a huge monster of a boat. This is good, in that your hand dominates nearly everything that could possibly come out, even on later streets. But this is also a very bad situation to be in as far as maximizing your profits from the hand.

See, the fact that your hand is a monster and matches up with the board very nicely means, most likely, your opponents didn’t make any hand at all. As such, you should expect very little action on the hand and will most likely be forced to slowplay it in hopes that the turn or river give your online poker opponents a second best hand that they’ll bet into you with.

Of course there will be the occasional bluffer who will bluff just about any A-A-x board, but that’s the rarity, not the norm. So how do you get value out of this “crippling” hand?

The answer lies in your table image. If you’ve been spewing chips all over the place all night, you may be able to entice a willing victim to come along for the ride as you drive to value town. But if you’re a tight player, and you start to show some aggression, chances are, you’re almost stuck settling for a minimal profit.

Some good moves here are the check-raise, and the cold-call, as it shows just enough weakness that you may get one more bet out of your online poker opponent before he or she concedes that you have them dominated. A more extreme tactic here is to shove all in right after the flop and challenge the table to bet at you to see if you’re bluffing. A maniac will most likely want to call you here just because of his predisposition to always want to “be the bluffer but not be the bluffed.”

In any event, if you keep working at it, you’ll find a way to play these monster hands and make a profit, but always remember, not every monster is what will bring in the big money. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with small-balling your way up to a bigger stack.

December 7, 2009

Buying One

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 12:18 pm

You won’t always have the best poker hand, but if the price is wrong, then you might have a winner anyway. If that makes sense then good. If it doesn’t, let me explain. I’m talking about buying a pot. The whole objective of texas hold ‘em poker online is to win money, and sometimes this involves a little finesse. Protip: Even with bad hands, to stay alive in the dog eat dog world of online poker , you still have to win chips. Let’s take a look at a hand. 7-5 off and the blinds are 50 and 100 with an ante of 10. You’re in the small blind, and you get one late position limper. You call and the big blind checks. 6-5-9, two spades and you’re sitting on bottom pair with a gutter ball straight draw. The pot is now 380 with three players and the antes. Time to get down to business. This is a tricky flop, and is not likely to hit many raised hands, but the limper may be holding something similar to you. You aren’t going to win this by checking, so you break out your credit card and it’s time to buy one. Sure the cards aren’t good, but the bet might be. You bet out 420 into the pot, making it 420 to go on 900. That’s a little worse than 1:2 odds for your opponents. The big blind folds. At this point you’re in reevalutaion mode. If the limper comes over the top, you probably have to let go, but if he calls, well steal baby steal. The turn comes K of spades, putting a potential flush on the board and a huge over card. It’s a nonsense move to bet into the flush with your bottom pair, so you again choose to check, but your opponent immediately checks behind. Reevalute again. Is he slow playing the K or the flush? Only one way to find out and that’s to bet. The river comes out another 9 putting the full house on the board as well. Now comes the steal, and you have to put some thought into it, what can you bet that your opponent won’t be able to call unless he has the complete nuts. Ready to bring out your nerves of steel? You’re going to represent trip nines here and fire out a 2x pot bet. Sure it may look like you’re trying to get a smaller flush to fold, or maybe you’re trying to overbet your straight you don’t have. But no, you’re simply trying to buy a pot. Your opponent folds and you tell him you had the straight, and the rest of the world doesn’t have to know you were sweating bullets while you thieved away.

September 30, 2009

Dark Moves

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 10:38 am

Trends come and go in poker online, just as in fashion. One obscure, not widely known practice in online poker has suddenly come into play more frequently – “check in the dark.” This is when a player who is first to act after each new board card materializes, announces the check before the card is shown. By checking in the dark, the first-to-bet disguises the hand, since their action was announced before seeing how the flop, turn or river might affect their hand. It is a tactic meant to imply that the hand is either weak or already very powerful. Of course, if a bet comes out, then the dark checker will have to respond with an action that is suggestive about the hand, with a call or raise implying that the dark checker has a good poker online hand. The dark check has also given rise to raising in the dark too. Whoever is first to act will announce “raise in the dark” before the next card comes out. It’s meant to scare off the other players since it implies a hand is already made and powerful, or it simply dares an opponent to test for a bluff. By taking action in the dark, an early position player seeks to neutralize the risk of being first to act by deliberately obscuring the hand and the board’s affect on it.

July 25, 2009

Hit the Bowling Student’s Trusted Resource, a Helpful Bowling pro Shop

Filed under: Fun Place, Games @ 8:45 am

Are you a social bowler hoping to approach this intricate sport more seriously. If that’s your calling, you’re in the midsts of a critical time in building fundamental skills as a true bowler. My guide to bowling shouldn’t be ignored. The guys at a nearby bowling pro shop can help bowlers to uncover bowling skills. There’s an old bowling adage, you get back what you put in (from the ball return – hah). I kid. I admit, if only it were that simple. It’s all good, our bowling experts get you rolling the bowling ball correctly.

When you know the time is right get a knowledgeable friend to help you purchase the specialized necessities, especially good bowling shoes. Fit is important. There’s a reason its our number 1 recommendation, have your favorite ball drilled, and you can make more of your practice time. A carefully fitted bowling ball can make a substantial improvement in your game. The same goes for benefiting from well-made bowling shoes which provide solid footing on the approach.

If you already acquired comfortable bowling equipment, listen to the second best bowling tip: aiming the ball. As you face the pins, don’t necessarily roll the ball at your actual target, the pins. Line up using the points about 15 feet down the lane, like a sling shot. Why, you ask? You’ll find it more effective to roll through a target that is closer. To take full advantage, make sure you aim from the precise location 4 steps from the foul line every approach. With that consistency you can perfect your marksmanship.

Do you ever wonder how pros roll with spin, to achieve ten pin explosion? It is our next best piece of bowling advice. It’s all in the ball type. A lot of even semi-pro bowlers carry two or three bowling balls to get ridiculous pin action, depending on the type of game and lane. However begginers might want to not try to be fancy, and don’t get a ball that is too heavy for you. Some avid bowlers roll bowling balls with advanced composite materials. However you should know these balls regularly make even some well known talents seem silly. That about raps it up. Rest assured you’ll find in the August edition.

~Frank Hundley

We bowl with our team (the “Strykers”) a group from morning shift for our marketing business here in Plano, Texas. I chime in with tips to novice bowlers online and at the bowling center. Finally, I gotta give a shout out to my bowling buddies heading into tournament play. Wreck ‘Em!

June 12, 2009

Understanding the Bring in Bet in Seven Card Stud

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 10:25 am

Seven Card Stud a une rgle que le joueur ayant le plus faible de cartes montrant la porte de leur carte doit mettre en place un pari. Forcé de paris ne sont pas totalement inconnus dans poker en ligne de variétés, mais Seven Card Stud est le seul du reste de la jeux de casino dans l’idée que le joueur ayant la valeur la plus basse carte ne peut pas plier. C’est vrai, vous avez absolument pas le droit de fois o vous avez la carte présentant la valeur la plus faible. Il ne semble pas faire de sentiment, mais les gens ont joué Seven Card Stud poker pour un long-temps la confiance que celle-ci travaille dans le long terme.

Le pari est de mettre en général la moitié de la plus petite mise de la table. Donc, si vous jouez une table de $ 2.4, vous devrez parier 1 $ si vous avez la carte la plus faible valeur. S’il ya égalité pour la plus faible valeur de carte de suites puis entrent en scne.

Certaines personnes vraiment apprécier l’opportunité de placer le pari faire. Si elles se sentent particulirement optimistes, ils peuvent sortir de la norme et mettent en place un pari qui est égal l’extrémité inférieure de la table paris spectre. Essentiellement, le joueur qui met le pari de se rapprocher de décider de la sensation de la partie. Ils peuvent donner le ton pour l’avenir des tours de paris.

May 7, 2009

Playing Smaller Pairs

Filed under: Fun Place, Games, Virtual Gambling @ 3:59 pm

Getting small pocket poker pairs is a lot like getting tipped a nickel. It’s insulting-you finally get a pocket pair, and you can bet that there will be at least one over card on the flop. It’s almost worse to get pocket 2’s than it is to get 7-2 suited. If there’s more than one opponent in the pot against you, it’s hardly ever worth it to play a smaller pair when playing poker online. Most players will fold a small pair rather than throw away a blind on it, but it really depends on your opponents. If you are up against a tight player who you know isn’t going to raise against you, it’s worth the risk to see if your hand turns into anything. In the same regard, a small pocket pair gets better and better looking the farther back in the poker betting position you are. If there are lots of players in the hand, and you see that no one is raising, go ahead and pay to see the flop. Your crummy little pair will look a lot stronger if it turns into a set, so if you know that you can get a cheap look at the flop, go for it.

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