Some Online Poker Suggestions

Your hand is your only strength.

Here is a general rule to upkeep this mantra. You should keep your vision set on the pot when you are in a late position. Even though you will be playing with an excellent hand you should always be aware of the ratio of pot: position. Play the big cards, but if you are in a later position than it’s a good idea to switch to the suited connectors. This especially holds weight if you have four or five players who see the flop with you.

Check in with the pot odds in order to excuse a call from you, more than this, a suited connector like a 4-5 pair can bring an interesting hand if you strike the right flop. Say you have been showing the other players a good card selection; it may now be wise to think of a raise. If so then your challengers will play you on by throwing big cards your way. This can be a huge payout if you hit two pairs or a sweet flop set to compliment your 4-5.

When you play a low card combo, there are several ways to take advantage of the game. Table situations such as low and mid size pocket duos like 3-3 through 10-10 are easily converted into winnings if you play your hand correctly.

Let’s say you are in a late position with at least four to five callers ahead of your turn. This is the time to unleash the potential of your pocket pairs. Another good opportunity to play the pairs is when you notice you are sitting with a group of non aggressive players.

You can recognize this style of play once you see there are a good amount of pre-flop raises. Here is a good time to consider using your pocket pair from late or middle position. However, you must remember that if you do not hold an overpair on the board, then join then don’t bet.

A bit more of a simple strategy to think of when playing online poker is to notice if you are sitting with good, fair or down right awful players. If your opponents are hitting good hangs with poor hands you might be lured into playing the same way: trashing cards to bring huge payouts. This however is the wrong way. Counter this strategy and sit until a good hand appears.

Sahamies and his Swinging Losses

Recently, a major loss of $1 million by Ilari Sahamies to Tom ‘durr’ Dwan brought the latest online competitions to new heights, especially as he faced DrugsOrMe this past Thursday on Full Tilt Poker.

Sahamies string of painful loses was compounded last week as he was taken for an enormous Big Blind Pot against DrugsOrMe. Narrowing in on these brutal defeats is a brief look at his losses.

It was an up and down slide for Sahamies at Full Tilt Poker as he settled into a sour session at a six max pot limit Omaha. Flagging his misfortune was a huge loss on a 768-big-blind pot in a face off against DrugsOrMe and Cadillac 1944.
Sahamies’ end raise went up to $1,400 from, following was DrugsOrMe who took the pot to a three-bet at $4,800. The final flop came in with 6  3  2 , 1944 went all in for the crisp $83,667. Next Sahamies called all in for $50,200, following was DrugsOrMe who called to place the two challengers on edge.

When the A  came in to fall on the turn, DrugsOrMe was all sitting pretty on a set of aces that came to crush Sahamies’ chances. Once the 3  appeared on the river was secure with a full house. Taking home the $307,331 pot, DrugsOrMe succeeded not only in winning big but removing the unknown on his style and overall character.

Meanwhile, the USPC main event was being held by PokerStars, who have been running satellites to the 2010 United States Poker Championship (USPC) upcoming event on 11/19/10.
The lead finishers for the $5,250 buy-in on November 19th 2010 began as candidates with only light money, some only entering with several dollars. This of course was able to lend enthusiastic players with a more modest bankroll a real chance to win.

Slated for the Trump Taj Mahal resort in Atlantic City, the USPC is being billed as one of the most prestigious events to surface in sometime in the U.S. There are several promotions and other registration material available at the PokerStars lobby online.

Poker Downunder

How’s the poker down under in these days. Well this years ANZPT Melbourne, Australia action has led to a sward of Ozzy player all vying to put their country further on the poker map. With the latest boom in the U.K. why can’t Australia follow in the new trend as well.
The second year of PokerStars’ expedition deep into Australia and New Zealand has brought the sponsor into the limelight of each event they host. This year, the ANZPT hosted 310 main events

In its seventh stop of season 2, the PokerStars-sponsored Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour hosted 310 main event potential final table winners. The action went down at the Crown Poker Room in the lovely city of Melbourne. The most prized AU$2,700 buy-in organized the cash pool at $775,000 and left thirty-six players with cash in hand. One of the Ozzy stars was Kozlov, who managed to keep himself in with a weak stand of chips he would not come to raise the Australian flag and found himself in a series of grinds throughout his play.

Kozlov remained in with the nasty nine in the final table and set in to show what a 23 year old was worth from down under. His weak chip count didn’t deter from aggressive and rather lucky play; In a deciding moment Kozlov’s pocket queens showed as a mismatch for the pocket aces of James “Andy McLeod”, lucky for Kozlov a third queen touched down and Kozlov was able to keep hope alive.
The tourney was quite a spectacle as the young Austrlian was able to defeat his own hurdles as well as dodge offsetting flops and a steady stack of short chips. The major shortcomings throughout the 2010 ANZPT main event proved minor for the 23 year old.

Kozlov was able to claim the 2010 ANZPT Melbourne main event title by defeating a thick selection of poker starts and seasoned players. The young stud’s determination over his odds gave a good cheer for Australian poker and should be able to continue the push to expand poker throughout the country.