Poker emotions could be what differentiates the winning from the losing players, and in particular how they handle them. Here are two quiz to see how you handle your poker emotions:

Question #1: an awful player just gave you an horrible bad beat online. He took a monster pot when he caught a runner-runner to make a flush with his 7-3 of hearts, cracking your pocket kings. Do you:

A) Type “NH” in the chatbox and let it go, secure that your superior play will get the money in the long run, grateful to have such bad players in your game.

B) Type “NH” in the chatbox while screaming a string of colorful expletives at your computer screen, which if your opponent could hear, would cause him to passionately defend the virtue of his mother.

C) Keep playing in this game much longer than you ever wanted for no other reason than you desperately want to “get back” at the player who sucked out on you.

D) Quit the game, immediately close out your account, and tell everyone who will listen that this particular poker website is rigged against you.

Question #2: you’ve had a very bad session. It started out with a series of horrendous beats and then got even worse. Somehow you’ve hung in there, and after many hours you’re almost back even. Now you’re tired, hungry, and supposed to meet a friend for dinner in thirty minutes. If you leave now you will have just enough time to make it. Do you:

A) Quit and go meet your friend knowing that the game will still be there tomorrow.

B) Tell yourself, “Just one more hand,” then leave forty minutes later, hoping that your friend won’t mind too much when you show up late.

C) Tell yourself, “Just one more hand,” then leave three hours later, calling your friend and making up some lame excuse why you couldn’t make it.

D) Forget about your friend, forget about eating, forget about everything except camping out at this game, determined not to leave until you’ve won all your money back – even if it means losing all your money.

Answer: If you have answered A to both questions, well done, you have a lot of potential as a poker player. If B, you are still OK. You know how to control your emotions but sometimes they still manage to resurface. If you said C, you cannot make money at online poker. For D, forget it, and go first visit a psychiatrist.

Making a really good first impression is always an important factor in life and this is very true for an online poker site. The amount of online poker sites that are available means that poker players have to look hard to find one that is right for them. This means that many online poker sites will be fighting to be seen and to give a great reason for their site to be checked out. Over time, the best sites will always rise to the top but this doesn’t mean that the best sites can afford that. This is why you will find that Party Poker bonuses are a great introduction to one of the best poker sites you’ll see.

The fact that a poker site is happy to dish out bonuses should go a long way to actually convincing people of how good the site is. After all, if you were to spend some time on a site, you should start to get a feel for what the site is like and how good it is for games. If a site is bad, they are less likely to offer good bonuses because bonuses allow people to play on a site for not a lot of money.

Party Poker lets you see the substance

A poor online poker site would be better served in being as flashy and as promotional as possible while promising massive prizes and tournaments. This may be a way to get new players to sign up to the site while depositing a decent sum of money. Once that money is in the account, most players will likely play until it’s gone, so the site has a winner on that score. However, if a site is poor, the players won’t come back, so you can see that the bonus offered by Party Poker is a good way for a confident site to show what they are all about.

Party Poker lets you experience all the games

With a good first impression created by using a Party Poker bonus code before you even set foot onto the site, it is likely you will be bowled over by the poker and gaming options that you will find on that site. There are a whole host of poker games to choose from but no matter what style of poker game suits you best, you will find it here. This is why the Party Poker bonus option is such a good one, because it provides an introduction for all poker players, not just the ones that like a certain type of game.

Party Poker can also give you a great start when it comes time for tournament play. Being involved in a tournament is a great way for poker players to really test their skills and to have fun taking on their opponents. Knowing that you have to overcome your opponent is quite a thrill when playing and this is where a great deal of kudos is given to a successful opponent. Beating the cards is one thing but beating multiple opponents is something that all poker players love.

These days more and more people start playing poker online. Why? Because poker is a fun game but also it can make you very rich with little investment. Who does not know the stories about the player that qualified for $1 and won $100,000.

But it is not just a fun game played with luck, it takes skill, a lot of skill to make yourself a top poker player. You have to know the rules, the odds, when to make a big bet, when to fold. Also position is one of the most important things. How do you learn all this fast and while playing? The answer is: use poker calculators and tools to help you improve your game and get insight into other players. Some of these tools just calculate what the best next move is on the table. But most of them also track players and tag them so you know what you are up against.

Magic Holdem is a great poker odds calculator, with over 100 poker rooms supported. Customize it by adding or removing the stats that you want to see. A lifetime license costs only $119,90, or you can get a free license when signing up with a poker room they promote.

Texas Calculatem is one of the best poker odds calculators, with more than 100 online poker rooms supported and already more than 50,000 users worldwide. Know your odds and get advice on your next move with this clean and easy looking tool. One year license goes for $69,95, or use a one year free license when signing up with one of their featured rooms.

Poker Crusher is another amazing poker calculator. After opening Poker Crusher you have information on millions of hands, it displays icons next to each player’s name saying their style like shark or fish. They have very useful introduction video on their website. You can buy one license from $4,95 to $29,95 a month, and they have a free 5 day trail available.

Sit & go Shark gives you real time stats and hints on how to play any sit-n-go. It can be used on any type of sit-n-go tournament and has over 20 supported poker rooms. Get a one year license for $49,95 or for free by signing up to Party Poker on their website.

Holdem Genius is another great poker odds calculator, where you can see your hand strength and related odds in a blink. You can customize how you want to use it, and they have over 120 rooms supported. One year license goes for $99,85 or it is free by signing up to one of their promoted poker rooms.

Yes it is already 2011. Be the luck with you, and if you need a little bit more luck on your side and if you have not yet registered at pokerstars france, then use a code marketing pokerstars to benefit from your 100% bonus up to 500 euros.

I had a good session at pokerstars yesterday. I know it must seem odd that I win virtually every hand there. You might think: “Is he just trying to pump himself up?”. Well, there is that.

The truth has more to do with the fact that I only order hand histories when I can’t see my opponents cards. One of the many nice things about online poker is that you can request to see a hand that makes it to the river but isn’t tabled. Of course, when I lose a showdown I nearly always see my opponents cards. There are of course exceptions in multi-way pots. I only have easy access to the hands which I’ve won and my opponent didn’t have to show.

Yeah, have I walked through the bowels of society to rid the world of players possessed. Seriously though. What does possess player to play the way they do? Ok, check-raising the turn with 88 when there are three overcards isn’t the worst play in the world. And calling the three bet isn’t totally nuts. But when the four-flush hits on the river and you have none? Well I guess a rivered set might just be good enough one in 12 times there. Either that or my opponent just got a new gig. Be gone! In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

You never know what goes through the mind of your opponent when you play online poker. He may be drunk or on tilt for all we know, but sometimes they really make amazingly bad play, and the key is to have the patience to wait for these golden opportunities to make money playing online poker.

We finally know the winner of the 2010 WSOP Main Event.

He is a young 22 years old Canadian player named Jonathan Duhamel. Indeed in recent years all WSOP main event winners have been very young male 22 to 24 years of age, showing how online poker has forever changed the face of poker as we used to know it. Indeed the oldest player at the final table was 37 years, and most others were less than 30.

This is the largest poker prize every year and the most prestigious of all live poker tournaments, this year in its 41st edition. Jonathan Duhamel defeated a field of 7,319 players to take possession of the humongous first prize of $8,44 million.

The most famous player at the final table was Michael Mizrachi, who was chip leader for a good period of time. But when his stack took a big hit when he doubled another player with a dominated hand, this was the beginning of the end and he finished 5th for 2 million dollars and change.

With only three players left, there was a big stack, a medium and a short stack. And in what sometimes happens in such situation, the two largest stacks put all their chips in the middle in one hand. This is always a great moment for the shortest stack when he sees the big guys battling each other instead of trying to grind him out. After all the difference between second and third place is worth $1.4 million, a costly price for making a mistake.

But this is what Cheong the chip leader at the time did when he ended up playing his A7 versus Duhamel’s QQ. After this hit, it was just a matter of time for him to take the direction of the rail, leaving Duhamel a 6 to 1 chip leader over John Racener, who got over $5 million for his second place.

After dinner and the worst episode of Family Guy ever, I decided to hop back onto the tables like a man. what a roller coaster that was. I made $1000 super quick, then a few minutes later, I’m only up $70. I ended the session up $1351 after nearly 3 hours of play. I have never flopped so many sets in 1 session in my life. I quit

Later I started another session. I fired up my usual 4 tables of $10/$20 6-max on Pokerstars and as usual had some ups and had some downs. I got up $1008 at one point and when I ended the session, a mere 10 minutes later, I was only up $588. Still a great session. Running good is sweet.

I was a little bored waiting for Monday Night Football and the Red Sox game to start so I thought maybe I’d play, but playing out of boredom hasn’t been very successful for me in the past so I just went on games grid and sat at a $75 NL table with my buddy. I then proceeded to move all in about 80% of the time. My buddy limped in first position and there was like one more limper, and I had 66 in the BB.

I said to myself “I’m pretty sure you’re trapping me”, as he isn’t dumb enough to limp in without the intention of calling my all in, as it’s what I’d been doing the whole time. However, since I was moving all in every hand I obviously was not in this for profit and tough poker, I was just trying to kill some time and have some fun, so I went all in anyway. He instantly called, as did some moron with $20 and A8o. My friend had KK.

Long story short I flopped a set. Later I had 74o in first position and I decided to mix things up a little and just make it $9 to go rather than going all in. Two callers and I said to myself, “I’m just gonna go all in on the flop here real quick”. The flop is AJ4 with 2 spades and I go all in. Both people call. First guy has AKs and the other guy has 95s. 95s has a flush draw. So I’m in trouble.

Anyway the turn was a brick and the river was an off suit 4. Last fun suck out was me pushing all in for about $275 with 92o, AJs calls me with about $60 in his stack, and I nailed two pair and he missed his flush draw. I told them all how much better I was than them and left the table with about $300 after a few of my pre flop all ins lost and such. It was fun. My net profit was about $120.

How to win a poker tournament?

Most of us feel that in poker there are only the cards, but if that were true participants in poker tournaments could be children or scholars. Texas Hold’em Poker tournaments differ from other games such as video poker because we play against other players and not against the house. In addition poker is more than just a card game and understanding the intangible aspects makes the difference between amateurs and professionals.

Focus and observe: Becoming too involved in a poker session and losing your head completely are mistakes to avoid. Pay attention to everything around you. Watch and listen carefully to your opponent to see his body’s posture and his face’s expression when he speaks. Many players talk in a relaxed manner but play with more tense movements. If observation alone does not give you too much of an edge over your opponent, you can apply aggression to test his reactions.

Psychology: There is of course a psychological aspect in the game of poker. By playing aggressively, you can intimidate the most passive of your opponents, so that you easily force them to fold when it is preferable to reduce the number of players involved in a given hand. Bluffing and deceiving are also very important and you must understand well the opponents using a lot of these types of bullying. Find their weaknesses as it is certain that at some point they will make a mistake. Such opponents offer better profit opportunities than the conservative rocks who only bet with a strong hand.

The extra-sensory perception: This skill comes with time and can help a player at times when he has nothing on which to build. A player who has developed this type of technique feels comfortable using his instinct even if it may seem a bit risky. For instance if your opponent makes a bit bet at the river, he would often be bluffing to try stealing the pot. Instincts may help in such scenario, as your subconscious could have noticed something you are not aware of.

Math: Mathematics is an essential element in poker because of the ability to assess the likelihood of whether certain situations with a large pot will conclude in your favor or not. Using odds and probabilities is crucial so that you can maximize profits and minimize risks and bad calls. If you base your game on odds calculations and not on your emotions, you will play closer to optimal poker.

Most people like to play suited connectors in a multiway pot. This is maybe from reading Doyle Brunson’s books. I like to go against the grain and raise with them with the intention of getting heads up with someone. This is part of a poker strategy of mixing up my plays to confuse my opponents.

I play them like a big pair because that’s what the opponent is putting me on. It’s easy to lay it down if I get raised or check raised on the flop (because I usually have nothing). Of course a lot of times I raise, bet the flop and the opponent folds because he missed the flop. The times I hit the flop with a draw, 2 pair, or trips, it’s a gold mine.

Here’s my all time favorite scenario though:

I’m playing $2/$4 NL. I open raise to $16 with 98s. I get reraised the min to $28. This almost always means a big pair and better yet, it means if I hit the flop I’m going to bust the opponent.

So I call the $12. This is a very cheap price to pay to get a chance to take his entire chip stack. The pot is now $38 including the blinds. The flop comes 982 rainbow. I bet $20. The opponent raises to $80. I call.

The pot is now $198. I checked and he bet $100. I check raised all in to $310 and he called instantly. I have a feeling he’s somewhere out there telling his bad beat story about how his AA got cracked. If he would’ve reraised the correct amount preflop, I would’ve folded, but a min reraise is the perfect scenario.

So the moral of this story is pay attention to bet size. If you raise pre flop, do not min raise, but if you are the one getting raised, call in a deep stack situation where you may double up your stack.

I use Holdem Manager and a Poker HUD when I play online poker. I find it definitely helps especially when I am playing 4 or more tables. I don’t use it like gospel and I make my own reads generally. I find that a lot of people who are starting out at the low levels focus too much on stats – and not enough on situation. I myself do this. So I make a concerted effort to run down a variety of evaluations when I am deciding on a play.

The real big area that I miss this information isn’t in the play once on the table. It’s when selecting a table. I took advantage of IdleMiner for FullTilt and it would run for hours a day and I have a huge database on all the players at my level – and I always mine a few tables at the level above me as well. So very rarely would I sit down at a 6max tables and not have at least 200 hands on at least 5 of the players sitting there. This is HUGE when quickly evaluating the fishyness of a table.

My practice was, if I were playing $10NL on FullTilt, was to open all say 20 tables at the level. Let it run for like 5 or 10 hands and let Holdem Manager update and get going. Then I would filter through the tables by hand and look at the basic table stats – and then the rating on each player – and then lastly on the size of the stacks.

Any table with a VPIP under 30 was immediately closed down. Any table with a PFR% over 10% was closed down. Then of those tables that were left I looked at the ones with the highest average pot. At these tables I would look at what ratings I had for each player at the table. If I saw a 6max table with 4 weak players with at least 1 buy-in I would be mashing the button to get on the waiting list. Generally I didn’t mind if there was one other player that the stats told me was dangerous and a good player. It’s easy enough to avoid these players and still make money off the weak players. But any more then one generally and I would take that table out of the running.

Now be careful. Just because you see a fish – or two – or three at a table doesn’t mean it’s worth sitting at. If these guys have real short stacks you might want to just move on and find the next one. Why? Because I find that by the time I actually get at the table (assuming I have to get on the wait list), I will more then likely be replacing one of these fish from his seat. And two there are plenty of other players like me that are like vultures monitoring the tables and they will spot this juicy table too and many times I find myself 20 minutes later sitting at a table full of predators because we quickly sat down and busted the fish. To me sometimes it’s just not worth it.

So that’s my general algorithm for table selection. But not having these statistics available to me has really hampered my ability to find good tables on PokerStars. Generally I sit down and it takes me at least 30 minutes to even figure out if I have a good table or a bad table. The good news is as I play more, I get more and more statistics on the players around me and this problem should slowly lessen.

Back in the grind

So I had a real good session last night…for once.

I sat down for about 2 hours last night and just crushed it. It was one of those nights where even my marginal hands were holding up. I must have gotten pocket 10’s five or six times, and each time the flops fell, they held as over pairs. How often does that happen? It was nuts.

Also I don’t know what’s going on but I am flopping a lot of sets. I get these little pocket pairs and I am fairly confident now that I will hit the set on the flop. So much so that I don’t raise pre-flop cause I want as many people in as I can get. Those two things stand out in my head for my play lately.

So I sat down and 2-tabled it for two hours. My initial buy-in of $10 turned into like $28.22, and that was only after a tough suck-out on my last hand as I was trying to push the session total over $30. What’s the fuss about thirty bucks you say? Well that puts my little experiment bankroll now over $100 and moving pretty steady.

It also pushed my BB/100 mark to a little over 25. I have managed to maintain pretty good discipline with a SawFlop% of around 33%. That’s a little higher then I would like it to be – but at these limits it’s expected. For me it will be my main focus to tighten those screws as I move up.

I am still going to hold fast onto the fact that I want a $200 bankroll before I move to the $10NLHE tables, so I still have some time to go. I have also yet to take a considerable losing session so I know that will probably pop it’s head up sooner or later.

I am growing a little antsy at these tables as the better I play I do tend to think about “man if this was only 2-4 or even 1-2 this would be that much better.” But I knew I would think that at times, and it actually hasn’t happened that much. It’s all economies of scale and I am not really looking at the money as much as I am looking at it as “points.”

It was to the point last night where I had top set against two to a flush on the board and I go all in to get called by 2 players. When the turn and river come rag – rag I actually raised my hands in the air and pumped my fist. Looking back I am surprised I didn’t do the Tiger Woods fist pump. I was that excited about winning ten bucks. Haha this is free poker. When you look at it like that, it puts a big damper on things, but when you look at it as tripling up your buy-in that puts it in perspective.

I am finding that I am a guy that needs a comfortable bankroll. I like to play aggressive and lean on people. I like to serve out pressure on people and to do that you have to be pretty comfortable with your bankroll. At the $5 NLHE tables, it’s pretty easy to do that cause what do I care about 50 cents. But I know that will change as I move up, so in order to keep that sense of security I need to keep a nice sized secure bankroll.

It’s one thing for me to play tight and aggressive – but once I start to play tight conservative, I am off my game totally and my results usually show it. If I am able to sit at a table and get into my game, I fall into a flow and I usually start to see my buy in multiply.

That is probably my biggest goal when looking towards moving up. Being able to keep this sense of secure aggressive play. It is fun to watch as my personal play style seems to be surfacing from all the hundreds of poker books, magazines, websites and thousands of hands. I have such a melting pot of poker theory in my poker psyche that it’s nice to start to see my own sense form. And basically that’s the purpose of this entire experiment.