Category: Gambling and Casinos

There are many different theories out there as to how to play small and medium pocket pairs in Texas Hold’em, but one thing is clear: a lot of players make crucial errors with these hands that end up costing them dearly in tournaments and cash games. These starting hands, pocket deuces all the way up to pocket tens, are undoubtedly very tricky and there is no one right way to play them. As with most strategic or theoretical discussions of poker the context of the hand is all-important. How many players are in the pot? How many players are left to act? What is their style of play? What is your status at the table in terms of chips, previous play, and your general table image? And those questions barely scrape the surface in terms of what you need to consider before you act.

Broadly speaking, however, we can say the following when it comes to these hole cards – the most common mistakes made when playing pairs is a tendency to be too aggressive or the exact opposite, namely to muck them without a fight. These hands are often worth a speculative bet because they do have tremendous potential value. If you are in a multi-way pot with aggressive players a small pair can be a lethal weapon. Hitting a set on the flop is not only likely to be the best hand, but also is so well disguised from the rest of the table that you are likely to get paid off for having the best hand.

In no-limit hold’em small and medium pocket pairs can help you take down monster pots if you isolate a single opponent who happens to hold a premium hand that isn’t a pair. A lot of poker players will happily get all their chips in the middle when they hold big slick or even AQ and AJ. If you challenge those hands with 88 or 66 you are ahead, although only slightly, and these type of races are certainly very common to see. Neither player has made a mistake, but both have taken a serious risk. The problem for players who hold the small or medium pair is that they could easily be dominated by a bigger pair. A lot of players behave the same way with AK as they do with AA, so when you have a small pair it is very tough to call that type of opponent. It is interesting to note that many players are far more aggressive pre-flop with AK than they are with a genuinely big hand (AA,KK,QQ), either because they are very confident that their hand is worth whatever they have in front of them (a misguided view) or because they don’t really want anyone playing back at them. It’s not quite a semi-bluff because AK can potentially be a very powerful hand, but often the easiest way to win with this hand is to make everyone else fold pre-flop.

In limit games it is generally unwise to push too hard pre-flop with small or medium pairs, but it is hardly ever correct to fold these hands pre-flop either. The issue here is that in a loose limit game your pre-flop raise will not scare anyone so you will still likely need to hit your set at some point in order to have a fighting chance of winning the pot. You are better off playing those pocket pairs cautiously, calling and playing passively (especially if there is a lot of action and several live hands) and taking a wait-and-see approach. The implied pot odds of hitting your hand definitely dictate that folding would be the wrong play, at least in limit hold’em games. There are times when you will be forced to lay down these hands. If you have a healthy stack and an opponent makes a huge bet in no-limit hold’em there is no reason to look him up. The best-case scenario is that you are in one of those races where you are a slight favorite, but you could easily be dominated. Isolating an opponent when you hold a small pair is an ideal strategy when your own back is to the wall – for example, you are short-stacked in a tournament.

The beauty of small and medium pocket pairs is that they enable good poker players to be very creative. You can switch gears with a hand like this at a moment’s notice. Say you are in the big blind with 77. Five players limp in before you and now the action is on you. It is a good situation for a strong player because depending on the context of the hand she can either limp in as well, hoping to hit a magical third 7, or she might push right now and win the hand before the flop can be dealt. It is very tough for those limpers to call a huge bet by the big blind unless they were slow-playing a monster (which does happen!)

More serious errors are committed with these hands after the flop, but rarely by good players who know what they are doing. There is no crime in giving up on these hands if you miss the flop. The hope of spiking a set on the turn or the river is unlikely to be supported by the pot odds you’re getting, but if there is crazy action and you’re in a limit game it can of course be correct to wait and try to do just that. You should also keep in mind that opponents tend to stay in hands with high cards so if there is paint on the flop it is doubtful that you still hold the best hand – and you may have been behind from the outset, which is why playing those little pocket 44’s can be so trying!

Do you know what one common element is that links all successful gamblers? The answer is money management. Every successful gambler that wins consistently knows how to manage their money. This article won’t go into painstaking detail of all the ins and outs of money management. Rather, we will talk about how to manage your money for one playing session. This is where it all begins. Knowing how to manage your money for one playing session will allow you to have more fun and ride through the low periods.

The first step is to figure out how much you have to work with. This is the maximum amount of money you are prepared to lose. For our examples, we will say that this amount is $200. What follows are directions for common games like Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack and so on. Managing your money for slots, poker and video poker is a little different. However, you can get a basic idea of how it works. The goal of session management is to give us a chance to win by having enough funds to ride through the losing periods.

In general, you want to have at least 20 bets in your bankroll. If you want to be really safe, go up to 40. If we divide our $200 session bankroll by 20, we have $10 units. The unit is the maximum amount that can be bet per betting instance. For example, you could be $10 per hand in Blackjack or Baccarat. In Craps, you could wager up to $10 per point. In Roulette, you have up to $10 per spin. Actually, I recommend going to 40-50 bets in Roulette since it’s a rough game.

Now that we know how much we can bet per betting instance, it’s time for the action. If you are into Blackjack, you could run off to any table up to $10 minimums. However, I recommend playing at tables that are half of your maximum bet. This will give you betting flexibility. For instance, let’s say you run to a $10 Blackjack table and start losing. You have no way to scale back your wager. You always want to give yourself the ability to scale your wager to the circumstances.

As the playing session progresses, you have two options. First, you could simply stick to your original betting unit ($10 in this case) or you can use a running count and adjust your betting as your bankroll goes up and down. For instance, let’s say you started out like gangbusters at Blackjack and your bankroll is now $300. You could keep betting up to your original $10 limit, or you could revise your limits and go up to $15. In the end, having good session management of your bankroll will allow you to have more fun and keep you from making wild and costly wagers.

For those who enjoy gambling on the game of roulette, playing roulette in an online casino can prove to be quite enjoyable. Most online casinos do their best to simulate the sights and sounds of a land-based casino so that their customers can experience the excitement of real casino gambling. Play roulette in an online casino and you’ll most likely see and hear the wheel spinning, the ball bouncing and landing, and even hear the drone of voices and the sound of slot machines all around you. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the game and forget that you are sitting at your computer!

Online roulette is played the same way as roulette in a land-based casino, except that you need to use your mouse to place bets and start the wheel spinning. A player has a choice of betting on one number, a set of numbers, whether the number will be red or black, or whether the number will be odd or even. The online casino will display certain amounts to bet, such as $1, $5, $10, $25, $100, and $500. You click on the amount that you want to bet, and then click the place on the board where you want to place your bet. For instance, if you want to place $1 on number 33, then you first click on the $1 chip, then click on the number 33 on the roulette board. After you place your bet, you click on “spin” and the round begins. You’ll see the wheel spinning and the ball bouncing, and you’ll be able to see right away where the ball lands when it stops. If the ball lands where you want it to, then you’ll usually hear a voice saying, “you win”, “player wins”, and your credits will be increased by the appropriate amount.

Any roulette system that you think works well for you in a land-based casino, you can also use in an online casino. The software that online casinos use makes the end results of the roulette wheel spin just as random as the results in a real roulette wheel. You should note, however, that when online casinos give you free bonus credits for certain promotions, that most won’t let you play roulette with the bonus, since many people have invented roulette systems that work fairly well in the bettors favor. If you are playing with money that you have deposited and are not using a casino promotion bonus, than you are free to play any game that you want, including roulette.

While there is no argument that QQ is one of the most powerful starting hands in no limit Texas holdem, it also can be challenging to play correctly. The trademark of a good player is one who can win big pots while losing small ones. What this means is that the best players minimize their losses when they do lose a hand and maximize their profit when they win. QQ is one of the starting hands that separate the winning players and the losing ones.

When you are first to act or the first player who hasn’t limped into the pot, you should raise most of the time. There are two reasons for this. The first is you don’t want anyone to see the flop for cheap, especially hands with an Ace and small kicker. The second reason is that you need to do everything you can to find the strength of your opponents hands. By raising, if one of your opponents re-raises and/or moves all in, you will have a difficult decision to make, but you may be able to get away from the hand if you think your opponent has AA or KK. This is the absolute worst position to be in. In addition, QQ plays best against one or two opponents. You should keep all of your pre flop raises roughly the same to not give away the strength of your hand, usually three or four times the big blind.

Playing QQ after the flop is usually straightforward. If you have shown strength by raising pre flop, continue to show strength until one of your opponents convinces you that they have a better hand. This includes when an Ace hits on the flop. You must bet to represent an Ace in your hand. If you check, you are giving your opponents permission to steal the pot from you, as you will have to fold to a bet. When you bet and an opponent calls or raises, you then must decide if they actually have a better hand or not. In most cases they will have a better hand because you have shown strength two times and they should respect your hand, unless you have been playing too loose.

There are a few situations in which I will check after the flop. They both happen when I am in the hand with an aggressive opponent and I feel I have the best hand. The first is when a Queen hits on the flop giving me trips. By checking, rarely will a free card hurt me if my opponent doesn’t bet and this gives them a chance to bluff off more chips to me. The other situation is when the flop doesn’t have an Ace and appears ragged. My plan when this happens is to move all in when my opponent bets after I check. There is danger in both of these situations, especially the later one. Your opponent may have hit a set, in which case you will be drawing almost dead. However, I have found that the times they can’t beat my hand far outweigh the times they can, so these situations are profitable. The key to both of these is that you must be sure your opponent will take the bait and bet. Giving free cards can be harmful. I do not do this when two cards of the same suit are on the flop unless I did flop a set. When you flop a set, you have many outs to a full house, even against a flush. The other thing is that these plays do not work very well against the best competition. They will respect your hand and will be less likely to bluff at the pot after you check unless you do a great job of acting weak. After showing pre flop strength, this is often difficult.