Online poker strategy, poker room reviews and the latest poker news

Heres the latest piece I wrote regarding american poker legislation.
Online poker strategy, poker room reviews and the latest poker news:

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Color Up Poker Blog: thURsday HANDS: Paying Attention To Your Opponents...

Solid hand analysis I did for another blog. Worth a read so check it out. Great company as well. Their new line of poker training cards are great for beginners to learn the game quickly. They also help advanced players memorize outs and odds.

If you would like a hand history analysis of your own, leave a comment. You can delete your screenname if you choose, just let me know which player you are and any reads on players you may have.

Color Up Poker Blog: thURsday HANDS: Paying Attention To Your Opponents...: Welcome to ThURsday HANDS. Every week we look at UR HANDS and see how you played them, and if there is any room for improvement. ...

Outs in Poker

When referring to the term "outs" in poker, we are saying that this is the amount of cards we have left that will improve or make or hand. For example, we have 2 hearts in our hand and the flop brings two more hearts. This gives us 4 to a flush. So we can now say that we have nine outs to hit our flush by the river.

So, how do we determine how many outs we have? Using the example above (four to a flush) we need to know how many cards will make our flush. There are 13 cards of each suit in a standard deck. We need to subtract the number of cards we either hold in our hand or are already on the board. In this case we have two in our hand and there are two on the board. Therefore we have nine outs (13-the 4 we already see = 9).

Other examples would when we hold a pair pre-flop. We will have two outs to make a set. When we have AKo, we will have six outs to make a pair of kings or aces. Perhaps a more common and useful scenario would when we have an open ended straight draw. If we have TJ and the board is QKx, we need a nine or an ace to complete our hand. Since there are 4 of each card remaining, we have 8 outs.

Now I want to discuss an important factor when determining whether we should call a bet when we are drawing to a hand. The first thing to determine is how many outs we have which we know how to do now. Next we will need to figure out if the bet is worth calling based on the outs we have.

Sticking with the flush example, let's say we are faced with a $4 bet. Counting the $4 bet the pot now holds $12. To figure out the odds we need to call we will multiply the number of outs we have either 4 or 2. If we are on the flop and plan on seeing a turn and river then we multiply by 4. If we are on the turn and will only see one more card, we multiply by 2. This is commonly called the 4/2 rule.

If we take our nine outs that make the flush and multiply it by four since we are on the flop, we get 36. This will be the percentage that out hand will hit by the river. So, we now know that we have a 36% chance to make a flush when seeing two more cards.

We now take the amount of money in the pot and the amount we have to call to determine whether it will be a profitable call. Calling a $4 bet when we can win $12 will give 3-1 odds. Since we are 36% to make a flush this means that we are slightly more then 3-1. Therefore we are getting the right price to call this bet. Any time our chances of hitting our hand are equal or greater to the amount of money we have to call relative to the size f the pot, is a profitable call.

To sum it up, we first find the number of outs we have. Next we determine what percentage we are to make our hand based on the number of cards left to come, i.e. turn and river or just river. Finally we find the odds we are getting to call the bet based on the current size of the pot including the bet we have to call.

Your Daily Poker Tip

Table select: Finding the right table can make you more money than the skill you have in some cases. Often times players will just look in the poker lobby see an open table and jump right in not even thinking about who is already sitting. Next thing you know you're on the right of an aggressive player putting you in every awkward spot you can think of.

If you play often you will tend to know who the better players are learning to stay away from them. If you have no reads on any of the players, sit for a few rounds and if you notice they are tight and aggressive, sit out and search for another table. Looking in the lobby for high saw flop percentages, is a good way to spot juicy games. There's no shame in sitting out of a table full of regulars. You play poker to make, not to see who has the bigger club.

Poker Tip

Pay attention to stack sizes: This tip applies to all both tournament and cash games. You have to know what the stack size of every player at the table is before you make your decision. This is a common mistake made by all players and never ends well.

Often times we will be in a spot where we would like to raise and try to steal the blinds or have a hand that is weaker than normal but worth an open in certain situations. For example if you are the button and the big blind has a stack size that a standard raise will only leave them with little chips, its best to fold all junk hands and not even attempt a steal. Nine times out of ten they will call regardless of what they have or raise you all in and be forced to call a bet you really didn't want to. 

Todays Poker Tip

Isolate the fish: Most of our winnings will be coming from the less experienced players at the table. There are a few ways to help maximize our winnings by targeting the weak or fishy players. If you're not sure who the fish is, you can start by watching to see who limps in pots a lot and who is playing passively. Bad players usually don't play very aggressive and are often huge calling stations pre-flop.

Now that you've spotted the fish it's time to set the hook. When you have position on a bad player who limps before you, try raising and isolate them to get the pot heads up. Cards often don't matter, but ideally you'd like to have at least a high card that can make a big pair. Once the flop comes just fire a continuation bet regardless of what your hand strength is. More often than not they will just give up and you take a nice little pot with relative ease.

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Daily Poker Tip

Play short sessions: The human brain can only focus for so long. Different people will have different thresholds but for the most part, brain function begins to deteriorate after about an hour of straight work. If your decision making becomes obscured you will start to leak away valuable chips.

If you use some form of tracking software you will be able to find when you start to bottom out. Usually your graph will start going down after a certain amount of time. Use this information to set a time limit on your future sessions. Once you reach your limit, get up and take a little break. Go for a walk, do some push-ups, whatever. Just make sure you give your brain a rest so it can regain its focus. Little tricks like this can go a long way to keeping your bankroll intact.

New content

Ive been busy working on projects for this blog and am pleased ot announce that some cool stuff will be coming up. This site will now be called poker report card and our focus is going to be bringing the best reviews of everything poker, and ocassional off the wall stuff.

This will all be brought in a truly unique way. Keep following to see the new and exciting features to be revealed any day.