When it comes to hand strength, straights fit in the awkward middle in-between low/medium ranked hands like two pair and three of a kind, and higher strength hands like flushes and full houses.  Most of the time when you have a straight, you should be able to win the hand, however anything less than the nut straight is by no means a free ticket to victory and you still need to watch the progress of the board and the actions of your opponent carefully.

How to play a straight will depend on how you made your straight.  Did you flop a straight?  That’s very unlikely to happen, which means you can capitalize on opponents that may have hit top pair or better, as long as no scare cards that form potential flushes or full houses hit on later streets.  Flops that are easily disguised, such as a fourth street board of A – 8 – 6 – 10 and you hold 7-9 in a limped pot scenario, can also net you big gains if your opponent got a good piece of the flop as well.

As long as there are no major flush or full house scares on the board, you can play a straight relatively slow if you prefer and let your opponent bet into you, sometimes all the way to the end.  If you flop a straight but see two suited cards on the board, you’ll need to make at least a bet when the action comes around to you, and possibly a raise if there are more than 1-2 players still in the pot.  Never check a dangerous board, as you are just inviting the opportunity to let opponents draw at a free card that could cripple your hand.

Surrendering a straight can also be very tough to do, even if there are four suited cards on the board (at which point you almost have to fold if someone bets or raises you).  If you’re up against three spades on the board, you’ll want to pay close attention to how your opponent plays their hand.  If they are just calling your bets and end up raising you on the end, they’ve likely been trapping you.  If they don’t seem likely to raise though, you can go ahead and try and check or small bet your way to the end with moderate hopes of winning, as any descent player will always try and maximize the amount of chips they can win with a flush by putting out a raise on the end.

By: Chris Iaquinta

Poker players often ask how they can get the most poker entertainment for their money.  In theory, playing $2-$4 no-limit shouldn’t be that much more interesting than playing $25-$50 no-limit as long as the difference bankroll doesn’t play a factor.  Therefore, players need to look to other avenues when it comes to getting a lot of time at the tables without needing to continuously gamble with their money.  Most of these solutions are provided by online tournaments.

Online tournaments, like live tournaments, can have very large buy-ins. Unlike live tournaments however, online events can also be found with entry fees far lower than you could possibly find in any brick & mortar casino or card room.  Many of these tournaments offer considerable poker entertainment value with the increased appeal of not requiring the player to spend an huge sum in order to enter.

If you find yourself wanted to play more poker but also need to set yourself to a strict budget, these cheap tournaments are the way to go.  Some can be as cheap as a dollar and can offer up hours of play time if you perform well.  And, if you’re just looking for some quick poker action regardless of the stacks, you’ll also find dozens and dozens of Sit-n-Go events to choose from, which are (usually) single-table tournaments that offer fast-paced action for players.  Sit-n-Go’s are typically the cheapest tournaments you’ll find on any poker site, which is why you’ll never have any problem finding one to jump into almost every second of any day.

If you haven’t already, head over to the tournament section of your favorite online poker room and see what tournaments they have to offer.  Normally you can filter out the selections based on their entry fees, this way you don’t have to waste your time combing through all the events that are out of your price range.

By: Chris Iaquinta

Every once in awhile you’ll hear an individual player’s technique or even a whole table’s worth of player’s poker style referred to as “no fold’em hold’em.”  What this means is that the player/s in question are exhibiting the obvious quality that they are electing to play a lot of different hands, and refusing to throw most of these hands away under even the most discouraging situations.  Lots of beginner and bull-headed poker players often fall victim to adhering to this style of play, which is almost never a profitable technique.

With poker, there are normally two types of novices; those that fold often or those that call often.  The players that fold often do so because they don’t have the confidence to step out and with anything other than extremely premium hands, while the players that call often do so because they believe that any two cards has the same potential strength as any two other card combinations.

Interestingly, both problems share the same solution.  If you find yourself playing “no fold’em hold’em” or realize that you’re folding almost every hand all the time, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with basic strategy and tips on hand selection based on position.  Which hands are good to play in early position but not middle position?  These details are mandatory of every skilled poker player, and there’s plenty of materials online that will help you find these answers.

Now if you find yourself playing against a player with either of the above traits, you can take advantage of that.  Against players that fold quickly you’ll want to bet/raise often, especially if you’re heads-up with them.  They’ll fold to pretty much any bet, allowing you to pick up a number of pots regardless of your own personal hand strength.  As for those that never fold, look for situations where you have a monster hand that will likely hold up all the way to the end, and use the opportunity to make profitable bets that your opponent will call.  Just make sure that you yourself aren’t falling into these predictable patterns.

By: Chris Iaquinta

It definitely has its share of regulars, but Las Vegas isn’t the tourist capital of the world for nothing.  Outside of all the shows and the glitz and glamour, some of the best gambling in the world can be found both on the new and old Vegas Strip, especially when it comes to poker.  Many of the top players in the world move to Vegas permanently because the action is so good, and the casinos go the extra mile to create a poker room atmosphere unlike any other all in an effort to keep the players happy.  Here are a few of those rooms I would suggest you try.

1.  Bellagio:  After the poker boom, almost every major casino completely revamped their card rooms so that they could attract all the new players that were coming into the game.  Bellagio quickly became known as the one of if not the most elite poker facility in all of Vegas, which lured many of the top pros there on a regular basis.  The room plays frequent host to the “Big Game”, the world’s largest no-limit poker game, and comes decked out with all types of amenities that are designed to keep players coming back again and again.

2.  Venetian:  While many of the poker rooms in Vegas are going for a very modern look, the Venetian card room definitely stands out from among the crowd with its classic design and vintage look that combines high-end technology with impressive aesthetics.  It’s also positioned to be easily viewable to anyone that wants to get a view of the action, as opposed to other poker rooms that are tucked away out of sight.

3.  Binion’s Horseshoe:  Even though the Horseshoe has undergone a recent transformation, it still doesn’t pack the visual punch of rooms on the new Vegas Strip.  However, Binion’s is the original legendary card room where many of today’s poker legends got their start in the game.  From just a pure historical standpoint, Binion’s is considered a must-play location for anyone that wants to see the room that spawned Vegas poker as we know it today.

By: Chris Iaquinta

Try as you may, eventually you are going to get really frustrated, angry or upset while playing poker.  Everybody does it, even the top players in the world.  It can’t be helped, poker can be a very emotional game, not to mention that nobody likes to lose money, which adds a whole other level of stress to the situation.  And when people start to lose money, they start to lose focus, which can then have a number of detrimental effects on how well you play at the table.

The common solution that a lot of experienced players like to suggest when a player gets overly irritated while playing poker is to just get up and leave the game for awhile.  This, as we all know, is way easier said than done.  When you get beat in a hand or make a bad call, lots of players want to try and make up for that loss right away and will end up playing more hands and sacrificing proper hand selection in the process.

The top pros say that the easiest way to overcome many of these frustrations is to try and eliminate them from the start.  You can’t be thinking straight about what plays to make if you’re worried about the amount of money you’re losing.  If losing too much money at one session of poker will put a financial strain on your life, you are playing at way too high a level.  If you want to have the same relaxed mind at a $5-$10 no-limit table that you do at a $.25 - $.50 table, you need to make sure you can afford to be at those levels.

When you remove the stress of having to worry about your bankroll, you’ll be able to take bad beats and bad plays in stride a lot easier.  If you find yourself constantly counting your stack while in a game, it’s time to look for a cheaper game where you can put the focus on strategy and not have your mind on the money the whole time.

By: Chris Iaquinta

There’s a reason why so many poker players choose to play online poker almost exclusively and never step into a live cardroom; there are just too many technological benefits.  With online poker you can play multiple tables at once, not have to worry about any physical tells you may be giving off, and most importantly, you have access to a wide range of poker tools including notetaking access and player tracking.  But believe it or not, many of these benefits have origins that stem back to the old days of poker, back when online poker didn’t exist.

Obviously you can’t play more than one table at a time in a live cardroom (though trying to figure out how to make that possible is an interesting idea), but you can study the game, your opponents, and keep accurate notes on all these aspects.  Play enough poker at a local card room and you’ll see the old-timers in the room that have been grinding out a living for years take out little pocket books and mark down their winnings, something online poker rooms do for you.  You need to have a very good idea of how the swings are affecting your bankroll and use that information to make any necessary decisions.

As for notetaking, you may feel a little ridiculous scribbling notes all session long with the other players looking at you in confusion, so for comfort sake you may want to be a little more discreet about it.  Almost every mobile phone now has some sort of notetaking application, where you can jot down some quick observations at your table, especially if they’re regulars that you will for sure be playing against one day.

You’ll want to learn how to take shorthand notes as well, since writing down long essays on your opponents just isn’t practical.  Just make general observations in your notes, single word descriptions such as “bluffer” or “loose-aggressive”.  You may want to add the person’s first name to the notes as well as a some comments on their attire so that you can easily pick them out the next time (Players that wear a hat will normally wear that hat every time they play, but will change their other apparel).

By: Chris Iaquinta

Poker tells shown in movies and on dramatized television are often never resemble the types of tells that exist in real poker games.  Players in movies are given tells in the form of unusual physical/bodily behavior that somehow gives away the type of hand they have.  Granted, there will always be the rare exceptions where someone may suffer from a over the top tell, but your unlikely to run into such a person at the tables.  Instead, keen poker players must rely on much more subtle tells in their opponents, the types of things that show up when players get lazy and neglect one important factor, repetition.

Now I am not referring to repetition in such a way that I am recommending that you always play specific hands like AK or J-10 a certain way, as that will make it very easy for your opponents to pick up on your playing style, which isn’t necessarily a tell.  Instead, I’m talking about the way in which you conduct yourself physically and emotionally when playing a hand. Players that don’t make an attempt to act and react the same way over and over again regardless of the hand their dealt will often give off telltale signs that will alert their opponents to the strength of their hand.

For instance, say there’s a player at the table that is hardly paying attention to the game.  They’re watching the TV in the casino, or chatting up a friend, whatever the case may be.  They limp into a few pots, fold a lot, all while maintaining their disinterest in the match.  All of a sudden they are dealt a hand and they spring into action, which includes sitting up straight and ceasing whatever other activities they may have been doing a few seconds ago.  Anyone at the table that had been watching this player for any amount of time will notice this change of a behavior, behavior which is normally triggered only by having a very premium starting hand.

Now, had this player remained focused at the table all throughout the match, having maintained a specific way of acting and reacting regardless of whether they were dealt 7-2 or pocket aces, they would not have given off any additional signs of strength/weakness.  Just because you might not pay attention to the small things doesn’t mean your opponent isn’t either.  Be mindful of the way you act in certain situations and see if you can develop the discipline to maintain your composure throughout an entire session.

By: Chris Iaquinta

When it comes to starting hands that are hard to get away from, pocket Kings is definitely in the top three along with pocket Aces and AK.  For whatever reason, strong starting hands can cause players to lose their minds and lose their chips at the same time when they refuse to believe that their hand is beatable, even when the board comes as scary as possible.  No starting hand guarantees success, though you can often trace why someone lost with Kings back to how they actually played them.

Slowplaying Kings pre-flop is practically never an option except for the rarest of circumstances.  If you limp and get four callers and an Ace comes on the flop, there’s a very good chance that your hand is all but completely useless now.  Not only do Kings require a pre-flop raise, they also warrant a re-raise if someone raises in front of you. One raise will get anyone with a weak Ace to fold, while a re-raise will get everyone to fold who doesn’t hold a very premium starting hand.

On the flop, you should be in good shape if there’s no ace and you raised pre-flop, especially if the board is something like J-8-4 rainbow.  Some players will chose to check in this situation and try and trap others, but this can be risky in case you were called by AQ and now you might be letting someone draw at an ace for free.  Since it’s unlikely that your hand will improve on the next two streets, it would be wise to make a bet and try and take down the pot right there.

Now comes the hard part, the moments when a ace does come on either the flop or a following street.  If you or someone else raised pre-flop and there were two callers or more, it’s very likely that this ace hit someone, especially if an opponent bets out on this flop before the action gets around to you.  I know it’s hard to throw away these premium hands, but you need to be able to recognize when you’re beat, as you will just lose more and more chips if you can’t handle getting away from big pairs.

By: Chris Iaquinta

When friends or students of mine ask me the best ways to learn about poker, they’ll normally inquire whether or not they can advance their game by watching a lot of poker on TV. To me, learning strategy for games like hold’em through watching shows like High Stakes Poker or Poker After Dark is like watching the Yankees play so that you can improve your swing. Why? The pros depicted on these shows are playing a level of poker that you can’t even begin to comprehend, which is why you’ll see them make confusing calls and raises with marginal and junk hands.

When pro players play with low-strength hands, they understand that they aren’t going to win the hand on their power of their cards alone. They’ll rely on making good reads and formulating strong strategies based on how the hand progresses. When your typical novice player steps out with a hand like J-5 though, they don’t possess the necessary skills needed to maximize the chances of winning with rags, hence they’re just throwing their money away.

This is why beginning to amateur players are taught to play a fairly tight style based around premium hand selection and position. It takes years to learn how to develop reliable reads on other players, as well as have the experience to be able to recognize when you can take down a pot with a weak hand. It is understandable if you want to limp into a pot or make a raise with rags every once in awhile as to not look like an extremely tight player to your opponents, but these moments should be few and far between. The money lost limping and trying to make plays with these hands will far outweigh the amount of money won.

Poker players in general have a standard reputation of being able to stay at a table for extremely long periods of time, a potential problem not really associated with any other competitive activities like Baseball or Soccer.  This ability for extended sessions has lead to the heated debate of just when it is the right time for a player to step away from the table for the night and give it a rest.  Should it be when you’re losing, when you’re ahead, or just after a certain amount of pre-determined time?

The popular opinion given by many novice and amateur players is that if you can, you should quick while you’re ahead.  It’s hard to argue with this line of logic as if allows you to walk out of the card room with profit in your pocket, a far better outcome than if you decided to leave while down a few hundred (or more).  There is a flipside argument for this way of thinking though, as many high-end amateur and professional players feel that you should almost never quit a game while you’re ahead as long as the game is still profitable and may continue to be for the immediate future.

The reasoning behind this concept is that players who sit at a poker table to make money should always want to stick around when the conditions are prime enough for you to have the opportunity to make some good money.  Why play for three hours, win $400 and then quit, when instead you can play for six hours and potentially double your profits?  In order to see which situation applies to you, you’ll have to decide whether you’re winning simply because you caught the right hand at the right moment, or if because you are noticeably a better player than most of the rest of your opponents and you have been consistently in the lead for most of the match.

If you’ve been playing decent poker, winning some and losing some, and then take down a few big pots because you were dealt monster hands that you were able to capitalize on, then yes you may want to quit while you’re ahead.  However, if you are dominating the table with good reads, bluffs and catching great cards, you may want to stick around until you notice that maybe the other players have tightened up or the cold has started to run a little cold for you.  As soon as the profitable table conditions have started to considerably decline, now is when it would be a good time to walk away from a very profitable table.

By: Chris Iaquinta