Slow Playing

A lot of new players to Texas Holdem Poker and even players who have been playing for years don’t understand when they should slow play there opponents. There aren’t too many times you should really slow play your opponents because normally you could lose too draws and it could make your idea of slow playing your opponent backfire in your face.

Preflop

Before the flop there really is no reason to slow play your opponents because any two cards could still win the hand. Even if you have pocket aces you could easily lose the hand to two pairs, straights and flushes. I always suggest that you raise the pot on www.PokerStar.it when you have a good hand so that you can get the bad hands out of the pot which limits the chances of being on the wrong side of a bad beat. You don’t need to raise the pot much, but when you have a good hand I would raise the pot at least 3X the big blind.

After the Flop

After the flop you might be able to find an opportunity to slow play your opponents depending on what you have. If you have the nuts then you’ll want to slow play down to the river to see if you can make your opponent bet into you. On the other hand if your hand isn’t that strong yet and you could still lose to a draw on the turn or river you need to think about betting. Slow playing only works on Full Tilt when you have the nuts or close to the nuts and know you have your opponents beat. It’s hard to slow play two pairs on the flop because there could still be a straight or flush that could potentially hit.

Turn

On the turn you’re going to want to slow play if you still have close to the nuts even if your opponents didn’t bet the flop. If you have a pretty good hand like trips or two pairs and there is still no straight or flush then you could also choose the check the turn and hope the draw doesn’t hit. If the draw doesn’t hit on the river then you might be able to get your opponent to try and bet and steal the pot which is why you would slow play your two pairs or trips on the turn. This could also backfire though, because if the draw does hit and your opponent was on the draw you’re going to lose on the river.

River

You can’t slow play on the river at FullTiltPoker.com anymore and you’re going to need to bet the pot if you think you have the best hand. If you couldn’t draw your opponent into betting the flop or turn then you probably won’t get them to bluff the river so you can’t continue slow playing. If they want to see your hand they will need to pay whatever you bet out.

Sometimes slow playing will pay off and you’ll make a lot of money from a player trying to steal the pot, but at the same time keep your eyes open for hands that can beat yours. Once draw start to appear on the board you might need to pull the string on slow playing and make a bet.

BlackjackVT – Blackjack Virtual Training

BlackjackVT is an online virtual training website for blackjack players of all levels. With this card game becoming more popular it’s important that you learn as much as you can about the game before others do. The Blackjack Online website uses the exact same concept as the PokerVT website which is to offer card game players a place to excel their skills in the given game. If you’re a new blackjack player or a veteran player just looking to sharpen up your skills then you will find that the BlackjackVT website can offer you valuable information.

The two co-founders of this online blackjack training website are Dave Irvine and Mike Aponte. Both of these blackjack players have had very successful playing careers and both players are also apart of the famous MIT Blackjack Team. Mike Aponte was one of the top members at one point on the MIT Team and even managed a group of players at one point. In 2004 the world was able to witness the very first World Series of Blackjack Event which saw Aponte walk away with the championship. You couldn’t ask for a more qualified team of instructors to present BlackjackVT to the world.

Not only will you find the above two instructors on BlackjackVT, but there is also a lot of other features on the website including insider interviews with casino security personal. The BlackjackVT team has gone deep to reveal some of the insider trade secrets that the casino security personal share with each other. This information is vital to helping you not getting caught in the casinos as they all have gone through extreme measures to prevent any type of counters.

One good thing that I liked about the BlackjackVT website was that they don’t just jump into the most advanced systems right from the beginning. You will be able to sit down and start from the very beginning by refreshing your basic blackjack strategies. Once you have refreshed your mind a little bit then you can move onto more advanced features of the website such as the card counting category, betting strategy and bankroll management strategy.

Apart from all of the training sections which include both text and video BlackjackVT also players a software to use so that they can practice their game. The practice software will allow you to play blackjack hands with every single hand that you play being tracked and kept in a folder. This will allow you to view your tracked stats once a week or once a month when you have time and you’ll be able to see where you’re making mistakes. The software will analyze your play and you will be able to make improvements so that the next time you check your stats you can see if you have improved from the last time.

This blackjack software which comes with your BlackjackVT membership is truly revolutionary and it will allow even the most advanced players to improve their game. There is no doubt that this training website will improve your game and you will pay for your membership in no time through profits on the tables.

Internet Casinos

Known as online casinos and virtual casinos, Internet casinos are basically the online versions of their original brick and mortar counterparts. The only difference is that Internet casinos allow their players to place their bets and play their games online. People will find that playing on virtual casinos is no different because they generally have the same odds that are found in land-based casinos. They even offer almost the same payback percentages.

Online casinos can actually be divided into three groups and it depends on the kind of interface that represents them. There are the web-based casinos, the downloadable casinos, and the live casinos. Web-based casinos are basically those that can be played on a website. They are usually made with Adobe’s Flash technology so that they can load fast and show interfaces that are easy to play with. The download-based casinos offer a chance for people to download programs that represent the casinos and still need an online connection so people can play. Then there are the live casinos that are fast becoming popular since they can be accessed anywhere through computers and even kiosks inside actual casinos.

Usually, the payout percentages are determined by the rules of the game and this can sometimes bring out questions on trust and reliability. This is why companies that have these Internet casinos will usually have the development of the software outsourced to people who know how to build the right random number generators for the games. These companies include Playtech, CryptoLogic Inc, Realtime Gaming and Microgaming. The reason that the software is bought from these companies is to have customers regain their trust because they know the software is not tampered with in any way shape or form. The job of these companies is make software that will have random number generators so that the numbers on the cards, or dice in the games appear in a random order.

Looking at the software companies that create the engines for these Internet casinos one will first notice that they have good reputations for their development practices. Microgaming, for example, is a private company that is based in the Isle of Man and they are one of the leading software providers for the online gambling industry. In fact, they even claim to have released the first online casino in 1994. Playtech is a company that has received certification by an accredited testing facility and from consultants in major gaming and wagering manufacturers and operators all around Europe, the US, and even Asia. Then there is Cryptologic Inc., which is base in Ireland and is a software application provider and is one of the five largest in the industry.

With the help of these companies, it is no wonder that people are more enticed to try their luck on online casinos. It is because of the software that is provided by these reputable companies that people trust that the games are all fair just as they are in the brick and mortar casinos people are used to.

Full Tilt Poker Mac Software Officially Released

Full Tilt Poker now features software to support both Mac and PC computers. Full Tilt Poker is my favorite place to play poker online on my Mac because of all the cool features, like avatars, playing against poker pros, and because of their bonuses. There are always freerolls and promotions going on and if you signup through this site, Full Tilt Poker will match your initial deposit 100% up to $600!

Satellite Tournament Guide

Satellite poker tournaments are very popular in poker and you can find hundreds of satellite tournaments through the many different online poker rooms out there. A satellite tournament is a tournament where the players pay a small amount of money or sometimes even points earned from the poker room in order to try and win a seat into a bigger poker tournament. Some satellite tournaments have different stages so you’d need to beat each stage in order to win the big prize which is usually a seat into one of the big live poker events throughout the year.

Most internet poker rooms have satellite events and they allow the regular poker player the chance to try and earn a seat into events like the $10K WSOP Main Event and many other huge buy-in live poker events. If you remember Chris Moneymaker was able to win the 2003 WSOP Main Event through a small satellite tournament that he had entered on Poker Stars. It changed his life forever and now he is able to play poker professionally and live a very comfortable lifestyle.

Anyone out there can become the next Moneymaker all you need to do is have some poker skills which you can use to earn yourself a ticket to the expensive events. Most of us can’t afford 10K for a poker tournament, but if you can get into the 10K tournament by playing in a series of small tournaments for $50 then most people can afford this.

Satellite events actually cost the poker room money because they need to buy the seat and most poker rooms such as Full Tilt Poker will also pay for your hotel plus give you some cash for when you’re traveling to the event. Most poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker will also send you some branded clothing so that you can support the poker room that sent you to the event. If you win the tournament or place high you also have the chance of being sponsored by one of the poker rooms which could earn you a nice little side income.

I wouldn’t make satellite events your bread and butter when playing online poker because you don’t really have the chance to win much cash in them. You should still focus on cash games and cash tournaments and then use your profits to enter the satellite events. That way you aren’t using your own money for the satellite tournament and if you don’t happen to get lucky and win a seat into the poker event you’re trying to enter then at least you haven’t lost any of your own money.

You should make sure before joining the satellite event on a site like EverestPoker that the event you’re winning a seat to is an event that you can play in. Some people can’t leave there countries due to many reasons such as work and other things so you don’t want to win a seat to an event on the European Poker Tour if you’re in Canada and can’t travel. You could sell your seat potentially, but you don’t want to risk much of your money winning seats to resell because you might not make your money back all of the time.