A lot of poker players wonder why position plays such an important role in hand selection.  Why should I raise with a certain hand in late position but only call with that same exact hand in early position?  The difference is that all hands have a different value depending on when the action is going to come around to you.  If you’re first to act and have flopped a hand of marginal strength, it’s going to be hard to make a bet in early position because if you get a lot of callers or even a raise after you make your decision, you’re going to have a really hard time deciding what to do next in order to maximize your chances for winning that hand.

But now reverse the situation and say that you have a marginal strength hand and are the last person to act in the hand.  You now have a lot more information to base your decision on because you’ve had the chance to see what all of your opponents did.  If someone bet and someone called, then you know that a marginal strength hand probably won’t hold up, so folding will be an easy decision.  Likewise, if every checks the action over to you, now you can put out a safe bet and try to pick up the pot right there, however it would be difficult to make that bet in first position because you had no way of knowing what the other players were going to do.

Luckily for you, making a decision on what to do with each hand in every position is easy to figure out as there is a lot of different diagrams available on the Internet for you to use as a tool.  I would suggest keeping one of these diagrams open on your screen while you play online poker until you start to memorize these specific tips and techniques, this way you can remove a lot of the guesswork from your hand selection decision-making.

By Chris Iaquinta

As I quickly discovered when I first started playing poker, the more comfort items I bring with me, the more comfortable I feel when I’m at the table.  This statement of course doesn’t ring true for everyone, as there are certainly a lot of players that can just sit down in a t-shirt and shorts and play their best game possible, but there is differently a group of us out there that likes to bring out what we consider to be our poker necessities.  Here’s a list of five items that you should consider bringing with you to your next game:

1.  Music Player:  This can be an iPod, a old portable CD player, etc.  Having your own music piped into your ears can be beneficial on multiple levels.  It can drown out the distracting ambient noise of the card room, and help the time pass faster when the game and the hours are getting a bit tedious.  Just make sure that you can still hear when the dealer announces something or when another player raises, this way you aren’t slowing down the game by constantly asking questions.

2.  Sunglasses:  Whether or not to wear sunglasses at the poker table is something that has been up for debate for years.  Some pros argue that no one should be allowed to wear sunglasses at the table, with their feelings being that if you can’t cover up your emotions or your physical tells then that’s your problem, not theirs. Others players enjoy the mental protective shield that wearing sunglasses creates, and really all you should care about is how comfortable you are at the table.

3.  Warm Clothes:  While not an exact accessory, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve underdressed during a trip to the card room and been unable to fully concentrate on the game at hand as a result.  What I’ve learned is you always want to bring more clothes than you’ll need, as you can always take off a jacket if it gets too warm, but you can’t put one to fight away the cold if you never brought it in the first place.  Being physically uncomfortable at the table due to chilly weather can become a major distraction, something you shouldn’t tolerate if possible.

4.  Card Protector:  A card protector for some players isn’t just a way of protecting your hand, but also a way of boosting your comfort levels if the protector itself is a trinket you enjoy or have some kind of good memory attached to it.  Many of us associate card protectors with being large coins, but really a card protector can be any little item that can fit on the poker table and placed over your cards.

By: Chris Iaquinta

When it comes to sports and hobbies, for some reason poker players like to talk more than just about any other group of enthusiasts.  You don’t hear chess opponents chatting up a storm, but there’s just something about poker that brings out the social side of people, sometimes with mixed results.  What many players don’t realize is that what you say and the way you say it can give a lot of information to other’s at the table that know how to pick up on these little things.  Most conversations don’t end up giving too much away about your style or experience, but you should at least have an idea of what not to do.

The biggest pet peeve of mine and something I recommend you avoid doing is talking about poker the way you’ve seen actors do it in poker movies like “Rounders”.  My experience has shown that the more poker lingo and terminology a player tosses around, the less they actually know about how to play strong poker.  It’s gotten so bad before that it literally sounded like these two guys at my table one session were reading off a script that was just packed with poker terms and phrases.  Trust me, it doesn’t impress anyone in the game, and it’ll just alert players like me that you aren’t half as good of a player as you sound.

Next up, don’t say too much about how conflicted you are in the hand.  All players, even pros, will hem and haw from time to time, but rarely will any truly experienced player start to openly complain about the hand they’re in.  The types of players that do act like this are typically very aggressive and don’t make smart decisions enough of the time.  Keep your inner poker monologue to yourself.

Lastly, a quick way to identify yourself to the rest of the table as a beginner is to talk about poker pros, the industry and the game in general in complete awe.  A veteran player may recall a nice hand or two he saw on an episode of a poker TV show, but it’s the newbies at the table that will sit there and talk about Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey with stars in their eyes.  This will let everyone know that you’re still in the honeymoon stage of poker, the point in time where you are so new to the game that you love to talk about it as often as possible.

Overall, you can never go wrong at the poker table by keeping your mouth shut.  Feel free to engage in casual conversation, just make sure you don’t give anyway any signs that may allude to your experience or hand strength.

By: Chris Iaquinta

Poker on its own can be a very intimidating game, but tournament poker is usually carries far more of an intimidation factor for players, especially those new to the game.  Many players believe that all tournament poker enthusiasts are hardcore experts that do nothing but play hand after hand all day long.  While this is certainly true of a number of players, the vast majority of tournament opponents you’ll face, both online and live, are just casual players that are looking for some poker fun.  There are many reasons to try and poker tournament while you realize that, including these:

1.  Minimum Financial Risk:  When you sit down at a cash game you can continuously pull more money out whenever you lose all of your chips and continue playing, which can often lead to big losses when you do not know when to quit.  Tournament poker however features a set buy-in which limits how much money you will have to risk in order to enjoy some poker action.

2.  Faster Gameplay:  This varies largely on the caliber of dealer and aggressiveness of the players at your table, but tournament games very often progress faster than a cash game.  Since the blinds (and eventually antes) go up reach round, players are encouraged to see as many hands as possible per hour.  This will get you used to fast-paced poker games and make it easier for you to stay alert.

3.  Variety of Opponents:  You can play at a cash game for hours and maybe only see one or two new faces come into the game over that period.  In a tournament however, especially if you survive to the later rounds, you’ll get the experience of playing with a wide range of opponents, which is key to developing your quick-read abilities and being able to get reads on a player that you’ve just met.

BY: Chris Iaquinta

There has been a long debate on how exactly to play small poker pairs in various positions.  Many players will avoid them all together in early position and normally limp with them in middle and late position.  Aggressive players will use small pocket pairs as an opportunity to make a pre-flop raise and then continue to play them aggressively after the flop, but that type of strategy requires a fairly intimate knowledge of the players you’re currently up against and their playing styles.  For most new and experienced players, I recommend that you look at small pocket pairs as a hand to limp with in most positions with the hopes of flopping a hand like trips or better that will let you take down a big pot.

Small pocket pairs are hands like 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5.  As any poker book will tell you, any pocket pair has at least a slight advantage over any non-paired hand, event AK suited.  Against multiple opponents however, the value of small pocket pairs decreases heavily as the chances of someone flopping a better hand becomes far more likely.  Raising with these hands is often not recommended because you can still get a few callers pre-flop, and you’ll have very confidence in your pocket fours even when the flop comes something like 5-10-Q.

The reason I recommend limping with these hands is that the amount of money you can win when you flop a set or better should in the long run outweigh the amount of chips you’ll lose when limping and then having to fold after the flop.  Flopping sets can many times lead to all-in situations against opponents that have flopped top pair or a big draw and will defend their hand with all of their chips.  The ability to double-up and/or eliminate an opponent is what gives small pocket pairs their power, as they are deceptive hands that other players won’t suspect, allowing you to disguise your trips when you catch a lucky flop.

One thing I will add though is that if you’re at a table that does a lot of pre-flop raising, you may want to consider only limping with small pairs in middle and late position.  In games where everyone limps the majority of the time pre-flop, then you can go ahead and try to limp a few times with small pairs in early position and then just remove that concept from your strategy when you start running into too many pre-flop raises.

By: Chris Iaquinta

Unless you’re used to playing high levels of chess or other highly strategic games, chances are there are no hobbies of yours that ask you to remember as much information as poker does.  From basic strategy to hand selection, betting patterns, percentages and more, poker asks that you remember a lot of important details of the game, something that will likely take months if not years before you have a decent grasp of the fundamentals and most of the advanced theory.  One thing that I recommend that all new players learn out of the gate though are the top ten poker starting hands.

Some pros, such as Phil Hellmuth, recommend that that most players, regardless of skill level, mainly stick with the top ten starting hands when it comes to choosing what cards to play.  Phli himself actually sticks to this strategy quite often, despite being a world-class pro, so there is definitely some proof in the pudding.  That’s not to say that you should play all ten of the hands in any position, but overall you shouldn’t open up your hand selection any wider than these select card combinations, especially when in late position.

Here are the top ten starting hands:

AA
KK
QQ
AK
JJ
AQ
KQ
AJ
KJ
A10

You should study that list for a little bit for a few weeks until you can recall what all top ten starting hands are by memory.  It’s easy to remember most of them, but you also need to memorize their rank, as that will play an important factor when it comes time to decide which of these hands you play in early, middle and late position and how you play them.  After you’re comfortable playing with these ten hands you’ll be able to open up your hand selection gradually and start including suited connectors, small pairs and other types of hands that could be profitable.

By: Chris Iaquinta

The number of mistakes a poker player can make at the table can fill up a book, but some are more costly than others.  What’s interesting though, is many of the mistakes that beginner players make can be easily avoided as typically they are just not aware of what they are doing wrong.  Take a look at these three simple but common mistakes and see if they apply to you.

1.  Playing Too Many Hands – When you first get into poker you are either someone that plays not enough hands or far too many hands.  Neither of these mentalities are good for your poker future, but of the two it’s better if you’re the type of player that plays less hands than too many hands.  The reason is that beginners will often play any two cards in any position, which is a quick way to lose a lot of chips over and over again.  If you don’t know to fold hands like A-9 in early position, you need to read up on exactly what hand combinations to play and when.

2.  Not Paying Attention to the Game – This one happens all the time for new players.  As soon as they’re out of a hand, they’ll stop paying attention to the game.  They’ll either start chatting up another player, grab a bite of their sandwich, or do something else that will take their focus off what’s happening in the hand.  You always want to be focused on the game even when you’re not involved because this is a great chance to see how your opponents play and you can start to develop strategies in your mind on how best to play against them.

3.  Slowing Down the Game – This mistake won’t normally result in you losing any money, but it will annoy the other players at the table.  The easiest way to slow down the game is to not know what to do when the action comes around to you.  If you’re distracted and have to constantly ask the dealer how much the bet is or are taking far too long to make an otherwise simple decision, everyone else is going to be irritated at you.  If you’re in the hand, then focus on the hand and be quick to make your decisions.  If you really do have a big decision to make, don’t be afraid to call for some extra time, just don’t do it every hand.

By: Chris Iaquinta

One thing that tournament poker takes care of for all of us is that it features a set buy-in that reveals up front just how much we are going to be putting at risk when we sit down at the table.  For cash games though, most of the time it’s up to the individual to decide how much money he wants to enter the game with.  All cash games offer a minimum buy-in amount, but coming into a game with as few chips as possible is never something most experienced players would recommend.  In order to give yourself the best chance to see a profit in your session, you need to look at your chips as ammunition, and the more bullets you have, the better.

The reason you want to buy in for a decent amount of chips is that you need to give yourself some breathing room.  If you decided on putting up the minimum then you’ll have a hard time seeing a lot of flops, as the size of your stack will force you to play tight, probably too tight.  You also want to be able to maximize on any good opportunities that come up in a game.  If you’re able to trap a player, you want to be able to extract as many chips as possible as of them, something that will be difficult if you buy for just the minimum.

Most pros and veterans recommend entering a game with about 80-100 times the big blind.  So in a $1-$2 no-limit hold ‘em you would want to sit down with at least $150.  That’s going off of a pro’s standards though.  Many would buy into a $1-$2 game for $100, which is 50 times the big blind.  In a casual game this is a decent amount that will give you enough breathing room to make some plays, but at the same time you could find yourself playing a little tighter than you would like.  I would recommend that you never buy for less than 50 times the big blind, but shoot for more like 70-80 times if you can.

By: Chris Iaquinta

No matter how much time or effort you put into planning your poker home games, the experience of the event will typically only be as good as the table you’re playing on.  Brand name cards and expensive chips don’t really count for much if you’re playing on a kitchen table, and many of the classic oval-style card tables are started to fade away in popularity in favor of the types of professional poker tables you find in casinos.  There really is a table to fit any kind of budget, so first you need to ask yourself what your needs are in a poker table.

If you are going for as authentic an experience as possible, then you will definitely want to look into the tables that closely resemble the kind that are used in real card rooms.  These can range from a few hundred dollars to well over $2,000 depending on what features you want with the table.  If you want, you can have a wood inlay put in around the felt to act as a place for players to put their chips.  You can even go the extra mile and have built-in cup holders installed into the inlay.  You can choose to have a dealer chip rack installed as well if you’re going to have the need to color-up chips as the night progresses, such as if you are running a tournament.

As for the legs that hold up these top-tier tables, I highly recommend getting the thick, half-oval wood legs that most table makers offer, as that really completes the overall look. Some players opt to get a table with folding legs, but in my opinion that really damages the visual appeal of the table itself.

Of course if you’re on a tight budget, the old-school circle-shaped tables are still be found at any hobby store or major retail outlet like Sears in the game room section.  These tables are perfect for college dorm rooms or in areas where large poker tables won’t normally fit.  These tables are built to last but also don’t often offer the same luxuries that the more expensive versions do.  Shop around online and see what’s out there and I’m confident that you will find a table that fits both your budgetary and visual needs.

By: chris Iaquinta

When you first sit down at a live poker game, whether it’s in a casino or a friends living room, you are typically going to be far more alert and focused then you will be a few hours from then.  Eventually the repetition and slow pace of poker can cause many players to become lazy and less concerned about how much their paying to the game at hand, which is usually when some of the more ridiculous poker mistakes happen.  Today I want to talk about the two techniques that tend to get left out of your over strategy as the session progresses.  These techniques deal with protecting your hand, both from other players and from the dealer.

This first part deals mainly with new and inexperienced players that don’t approach poker from a very serious standpoint.  When dealt their cards, these players will often flip the majority of both cards up in a manner that makes it very easy for players sitting directly to their left and right to see the hand.  It sounds silly, but it happens all the time since these players just don’t know any better.  You always want to use your hands to minimize the possibility of revealing your cards when you yourself are taking a peak at them.  You may think that no one is looking, but trust me they are.

The next suggestion applies for players of all levels and skill types, and that’s protecting your hand from the dealer.  What I’m talking about is when a dealer may become confused in a hand and accidentally grab your cards and muck them, thinking that you were folding.  Most players don’t think about this scenario too much, but you should since you can do little to control whether or not a dealer is thinking straight.

The quick and easy solution is to always physically protect your hand once you’ve decided to play it.  You can just take one chip off your stack and lay it down across the top of your cards, this will signal to the rest of the table, including the dealer, that your hand is live and in play.  A dealer will never grab and muck a hand that is being protected in that way.  If you want to be more stylish with your hand protection, there are a number of collectable card protectors on the market that you may purchase instead.  However you choose to do it though, you should get in the habit of constantly protecting your live hands, because if you don’t, eventually they will get mucked incorrectly at a very inconvenient time.

By: Chris Iaquinta