It’s very hard to admit that you are addicted to something or have an unnatural obsession.  Many believe that those terms can truly only be associated with hard vices like drugs and alcohol, but the reality is that addiction can apply to a wide variety of activities and hobbies, from video games, fantasy football and poker.  Experts define obsession as when you spend an usual amount of time partaking in something over and over again.  So if you play online poker for at least 4 hours a day, almost every day during the week, and you’re not doing it for the money, does that mean you’re obsessed with online poker?

This is where getting a straight clinical answer gets tough.  When the poker boom hit, the online poker craze went into full swing, with players of all ages and skill levels finding themselves at the digital tables for a dozen hours at a time.  While many can argue that playing poker for hours doesn’t have too many detrimental effects (especially if you aren’t losing money in the long run), others believe that there should be an equal balance in all things and that donating too much of your time to any one activity is almost always a bad thing.

One of the reasons players end up putting in so many hours at the table is because poker has that the whole “just one more hand” mentality working perfectly for itself.  Quitting a session and ending your curiosity as to what cards the next hand will bring can be a very tough thing to do, which is why I tend to recommend a strict set of self-imposed limits to players that feel that they may be putting too many hours in at the online felt.

The easiest idea but one of the hardest to enforce is the time limit.  Just tell yourself that you’re going to stop playing after three hours, no matter how the session went.  But what if you’re not getting any good hands, what if you’re losing too much and want to win your money back or are winning a lot and don’t want to end your hot streak?  All of these variables can end up putting your time limit at risk, which is why you may want to start with a even simpler set of guidelines.

If it’s hard to stop playing once you start, then limit how often you’ll let yourself sit down and play.  Maybe you should play a bit before you need to leave for work or an appointment, this way you have a scheduled reason to quit playing.  By putting these small but important limits in place, you can self-regulate your poker habit before it gets out of control.

By: Chris Iaquinta

A friend of mine recently asked me why so many players advise against playing what appears to be the vast majority of hands, namely hands that are considered “trash”.  Trash hands refers to card combinations that do not stand to gain adequate strength as the hand progresses.  My friend, and many players like him that are fairly inexperienced, believe that limping with just about any hand makes sense as you can flop something strong enough to win with.  While this is certainly true, poker is all about making the right plays at the right moment, which requires a strict discipline on which hands we play and when.

The absolute worst card combination in poker is 7-2 offsuit.  There is practically no situation where you should find yourself playing this hand, except in the big blind in a unraised pot.  There are very few flops that can hit hands like these strong enough to make victory likely.  Even if you flop top pair with your 7-2 with a board of say 7-4-3, there are still a wide range of ways you could already be beat.  Not only are you worrying about overpairs, straight and/or flush draws and even just a player with overcards, you are also dominated by someone that maybe limped with A-7, 10-7, etc.  You would have to hit the flop perfectly in order to maximize the potential winnings of your trash hand, the odds of that are so small that you shouldn’t even consider risking the few chips it takes to limp into a pot.

That explanation can be expanded to any kind of trash hand, from J-5, K-2, 10-4 and everything in-between.  Why not play K-2?  Because even if you flop top pair, the chances that your hand will increase in strength as the hand continues is small, not to mention you could already be beat by any player that has a King with a better kicker, which in this situation every kicker is better than yours.  You always want to be in as much of a position of power in a hand as possible, otherwise you will always have to worry about the strength of your hand in comparison to your opponents.

By: Chris Iaquinta

While I do see it time to time in live cash games, watching players shove all-in with little regard to their bankroll is something that seems to happen far too frequently in online games.  Many times an online player will bet what is considered to be the right amount of chips on the flop and/or turn, only to go crazy on the river and end up shoving their stack with little to no good reason.  What these players fail to realize is that most of the time they would have arrived at the same conclusion at the end of the hand with a far smaller bet/call.

One of the most common all-in shoves that comes as a result of poor planning is when a player is frustrated or nervous at the way the hand is progressing.  They’ll bet the correct amount of chips to begin with, but end up pushing their full stack into the pile by the end of the hand because they are eager to see the hand come to an end.  Some believe that they can use this move as a way of pushing their opponent off their hand, but is sometimes true, but at the same time you likely could have gotten the same effect with smaller amount of chips.

You’ll also see a lot of all-in shoves when a player feels they’re getting bullied or pushed around, especially pre-flop when they have a big hand like AK.  They’ll raise, get re-raised, and then move all-in, even if it’s early in a tournament.  They’ll happily put their tournament life or entire stack at risk simply because it’s easy to click the all-in button and put the pressure back on their opponent.  In hindsight though, you figure that you’ll only get called by someone with a hand of comparable strength to yours, at which point why not just make the call and see the flop?  Obviously you can make this play if the size of your stack justifies it, but by and large I see far too many players happily move it all in the middle at times where they did not have to do so.

Rewind your strategy to the time where you would only move all-in when you had a stack that was less than 10 times the big blind or when it was a smart, mathematical decision to move all-in.  Avoid unnecessary pre-flop all-ins, and realize that you can get your opponent off their hand with a larger than usual bet.  If they call that bet anyways, chances are they were going to call your all-in and likely have you beat.  Never risk more than you have to.

By: Chris Iaquinta

There is little in poker that can compare to looking down pre-flop and seeing a nice, big pocket pair staring right back at you.  Big pairs like aces, kings and queens can have a weird effect on players, often making them feel like they’re already guaranteed to win the hand without even seeing the flop.  In reality, pocket pairs truly only represent an opportunity for you to pick up some chips as long as you play them correctly, while on the flip side, playing a pocket pair like it’s invincible can lead to some large losses.

How you play your big pocket pair is actually pretty easy to figure out regardless of whatever position your in, as the situation almost always calls for a raise.  In early position, rarely will you ever want to just limp in with a hand like aces, kings or queens.  Some novice players don’t mind limping with big pocket pairs because they feel that the more people that are in the pot, the more money they win.  The truth though, is that you want very few players to stay in the hand to see the flop, as that just gives you more opponents with more hand combinations that can catch the cards they need to beat out your pocket pair, which remember is just a single pair and is beat by any other type of made hand.

You should want only one or two players to see the flop with you at this point, so be prepared to make a bet that will get anyone with medium to trash hands to toss their cards in the muck.  This will eliminate garbage hands like J-5 that may catch a big flop and have you dominated without you having any idea.  If you bet 2.5 to 3 times the big blind (which is standard), you should only get called  by players with middle pocket pairs or hands like A-Q, etc.  Knowing this, you can now see how the flop comes and judge whether or not you’re in good position to proceed with being aggressive with your hand.

By: Chris Iaquinta

s with any sport or hobby, the number of people that play poker professionally is vastly overwhelmed by those that play on a much more casual level.  In other activities though, such as baseball, the only difference between the pros and the novices is the skill level, though they both play the game itself pretty much the exact same way.  Poker is one of those few activities though where pros not only play at a more advanced level, but also employ strategies and emotional toughness that is missing from the arsenal of many casual players.

I’ve spoken before about the dangers of being too nice of a player at the table. Anyone that has played enough poker knows what I’m talking about.  Nice poker players check often, don’t force the action, and generally let their opponents see the hand all the way to the river with as minimal risk as possible.  This might be fine at a local home game, but poker is all about maximizing how many chips you win at any given moment, making each hand you’re in possibly the most profitable hand you’ll be playing for the session.

Now this isn’t too say that you can’t be courteous as a person or as friendly as you want to be in your conversation, but as far as the game itself is concerned, you should be trying to win as many chips as possible when you play if for no other reason than most of your opponents will be trying to do the same.  Don’t give your opponent a free card if the situation doesn’t warrant you doing so, you’re only bettering his chances of beating you.  It’s like saying you’ll throw a slow pitch right down the center so that the batter has a better chance of hitting it.  No pitcher thinks that way, and you shouldn’t think that way when it comes to your poker game.

By: Chris Iaquinta

With so many poker players getting their start in online card rooms without ever having stepped into a live casino, there now exists an entire new type of player that must learn the differences between online and live tournaments so that they can make the transition with as minimal shock as possible.  The rules and basic flow of tournaments is the same no matter if you’re playing live or online, but there are a number of differences that come into play when you add in the element of playing at a real table with real players.

1.  Slower Games:  Live tournaments, much like live cash games, play typically much slower than their online counterparts.  It takes longer for the action to go around the table, the dealers aren’t as quick as computers, and just the overall pace will be far less than what you experience in a online room like at Party Poker.  Because of this, you’ll end up playing fewer hands, which means you’ll need to open up your hand selection a little since you won’t see as many cards as you would online.

2.  Physical Tells:  The types of tells you utilize in live tournaments will also be different than in online matches.  One of the benefits that live play offers is that you get to actually look at your opponent and pick up on their body language.  You can still keep track of the tells you use in online games such as betting patterns, but now you’ll also have more information at your disposal in which to make an informed decision.

3.  The Focus Factor:  Playing live means you’ll have pretty much none of the tools that are provided to you by online sites such as notetaking capabilities.  Many online players rely heavily on these tools and can find themselves at a severe disadvantage when they try to play live tournaments without them.  To try and counteract this setback, you’ll want to invest more time, patience and focus into the game, keeping better mental track of who’s doing what and how the action is progressing.

By: Chris Iaquinta

When you hear most poker players talk about why they win/loss at poker, they’ll usually start talking about hand selection, aggressiveness, even luck.  The factor that often doesn’t get a lot of mention in these discussions yet in many ways plays one of the biggest roles in potential success is the caliber of opponent you’re playing against.  So many poker players put little to no thought in the process of finding tables full of players weaker than them in overall skill, which can result in them playing against far tougher opponents then they should be.

Let’s use an extreme example.  Say you’re at a table that has at least five legendary pro poker players at it.  These players have seen and done it all and you’ll have a incredibly tough time trying to make plays and bluffs against them, almost guaranteeing that you’ll be a losing player for the night unless you catch an extraordinary run of cards.  On the other end of that spectrum, now picture that you’re seated at a table where at least five of your opponents are entry-level players that have a basic understanding of the game, yet are unaware of the most advanced theories.  You rate to perform far better at this game then you do at the pro table.

But the table doesn’t have to be full of pros for you to want to avoid it, it just has to have a few players too many that play better than you.  It’s okay to want to test your abilities at tables like these from time to time, but if you’re main goal is to win money then you’ll want to stick against players at and below your own level.  Ideally, you want about half the table or more to be full of players that you can get a really good read on in terms of how they play and what mistakes they may make/what their weaknesses are.  From there you can go on to attack these players at the right time, versus having to always be on your toes against opponents that are playing very strongly.

In a live card room setting, don’t be afraid to move around from table to table until you find playing conditions that you are comfortable with.  Online, you’ll want to make notes on players you meet and list their skill level accordingly so that you can know right away whether or not you should play against them when you meet up with them again in the future.

By: Chris Iaquinta

On this site we often talk about all the ways that poker has changed since the big poker boom back in 2003, and that list seems to grow more and more as we put more time into thinking about it.  Prior to the boom, televised poker had little following, which meant casual poker players didn’t have any access to the top professionals in the game.  As a result, these players could not be influenced by the things that pros said, did and wore at the table.  However, the mass appeal of current televised poker has lead to a legion of copycat poker amateurs that take great pleasure in mimicking plays they see made on TV by their favorite players, with one of them being the all-in shove.

Going all-in, especially in online poker rooms, is happy far too frequently and more often than not in the wrong circumstances.  Smart players typically only push all their chips in the middle when they are forced to do so in order to call a bet, or if they feel that there’s a reasonable chance they will get called and then show down the best hand.  But after watching numerous players use all-in as a consistent strategy in all forms of poker media, modern-day enthusiasts are now using  all-ins as a crutch instead of as a strong strategy.

A classic mistake that many beginner and novice players make is that they’ll push all-in as a last ditch effort to get their opponent to throw away their hand.  The main flaw in this strategy is that talented and experienced players will be able to often recognize when your all-in ploy is a bluff attempt and they will end up calling you.  Another situation is when online players move all-in after being raised and/or re-raised, even if they have many times the big blind. They automatically assume that they’ll be getting all the money in on the flop anyways so why not just do it pre-flop, but again these are just cheap, lazy tactics used by inexperienced players.

Ideally, you want to remove any kind of all-in strategy from your playbook and focus on making smarter bets that are designed to maximize the number of chips you can win in the hand.  Then, as your understanding of pot sizes, odds and other factors start to become more well-known to you, you’ll be able to start adding in some all-in techniques to your game.

By: Chris Iaquinta

Three of a kind, also known as trips, can often end up being more profitable for players in the right situation as they are easier to disguise since you don’t need that much help from the board to get the hand, as opposed to straights and flushes which usually are somewhat easy to spot because of what community cards are in play. One of the main drawbacks with trips though is that their perceived strength can be misinterpreted by players, who will continue to call and raise with this hand even when it seems likely that it is dominated by hands like straights and flushes.

The strongest types of trips are when you hold a pocket pair and a third card comes on the board to make your three of a kind.  Your trips are now very well hidden from the rest of the table, as opposed to if you have a hand like K-Q and the flop comes A-Q-Q, which is a very dangerous flop for most players hands.  However, if you have pocket fives and the flop comes A-8-5, you are now in a very good position to take chips off of your opponents.

Before you decide how to play your trips on the flop, you need to take into consideration any straight and flush draws that exist.  You don’t want to check and slow-play your three of a kind if giving your opponent a chance at a free card could end up heavily improving their hand.  It might seem like a waste to bet here and then have your opponent fold, but most of the time you do not want to play trips slow when there are straight and flush draws on the board.

With a rainbow flop though, you should be able to proceed in the hand however you like.  Against multiple opponents you still might want to consider betting to thin out the field a little bit, as if everyone checks you’re now letting far too many players draw at their hand.  Always be mindful of straight and flush draws that appear on the turn and river and you should be able to maximize your winnings with trips.

By: Chris Iaquinta

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