Depending on how long you have been playing poker, you have probably won hands with every imaginable combination of starting cards in your hand. We have all started with a 3 and a 6 and ended up hitting a straight, but it never quite feels right when we do this. The reason being is because in situations like this we depended on luck instead of skill to win the hand. No matter if you are lucky or unlucky, the only assured income for all online poker players is rakeback. For example you can receive 30 % Ultimate Bet rakeback paid monthly into your poker account. While there is nothing wrong with getting lucky in poker or anything for that matter, a good poker player will never depend on luck to get him through a hand.

I understand this can be a touchy subject, as most poker players, no matter how much their game depends on luck, simply do not like to hear that they are simply lucky poker players, and not necessarily skilled poker players. That being said, in all honesty, with a few exceptions, if you are playing any other combinations besides the ones I am about to show you, then you my friend are depending on luck to win poker hands.

In no particular order, here are the top fifteen starting poker hands:
A-A, A-K, A-Q, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, 7-7, 6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2

If you find any of the above combinations in your pocket, then what exactly should you do? There are truly endless options here, but if you want to play it safe and protect your chip stack, while at the same time slowly building it then I would recommend the following:

If you get A-K, A-Q, or any pocket pair of 10’s or above than I would move all in before the flop. This may sound funny as it is likely all of your opponents will fold and you will not even be able to play the hand, but it is by far the safest way to go. By moving all in pre-flop, and getting your opponents to fold you will eliminate the possibility of another player; one who is depending on luck; making a straight, a flush, a full house, or three-of-a-kind; in which case you would end up losing all of your money. Now, would you rather win $10 right off the bat by buying the pot, or lose $100 or more by playing the hand and allowing your opponents to catch a hand?

If you have any of the pairs from 9‘s on down to 2’s, then you should play the hand completely differently. If it is not overly expensive always try to see the flop when you have these cards. If you make a set (three of a kind) with the cards on the flop you should move all in and buy the pot to avoid another player making a hand that could beat yours on the turn or the river. If you do not hit three of a kind then it is time to fold (unless all other players check giving you the opportunity to see another card).

When you are just starting out in the world of Texas NL Hold’Em poker, if you stick to this strategy, and only play these fifteen hands you will nine times out of ten come out on top. Sure there will be times when someone will call your all in and end up catching a hand, but these are rare exceptions; and the exact reason you should only ever bring 5-10% of your bankroll to any given poker table at a time.

Once you feel completely comfortable playing these hands and only these hands, they are a few other hands that you can incorporate into your reservoir of playable hands; such as having an ace and another card of the same suit in your pocket, giving you the possibility of hitting an ace high flush. But these hands and the others are for another discussion after you have mastered playing the top fifteen hands I have discussed in this article.
Please do keep in mind that above all else, the practice of playing on the fifteen top poker hands is mostly about teaching yourself control; something that is of the utmost importance to all professional poker players; and something that will ensure you are a profitable poker player!

You are sitting at the poker table and one of the people sitting there with goes all in. What exactly should you do you wonder. Wonder no more, in this article I will explain exactly what you should in a when someone seated at your poker tables moves all in. This strategy only applies to forms of poker tournaments. However, whether it is an online poker tournament, a casino poker tournament, or even a poker tournament in your buddy’s basement this strategy should be followed as a rule of thumb. Far more than simple strategy, many professionals feel following this guideline is actually part of poker etiquette and that it should be followed to a tee.

Whenever you are playing in a poker tournament your ultimate goal is to outlast the other players. Of course in able to do this you will want to make sure you are playing your best possible game, but one very important part of playing your best possible game is sadly often over looked. For one reason or another; be it they are nervous, caught off guard, or simply do not know the preferred procedure, people more often than not fail miserably when an opponent goes all in, and inevitably often cause only themselves harm. At a regular poker table players success is based largely on reading their fellow players correctly. At an online casino poker table it is impossible to read another player’s face but patterns in the way they play may still give a clue to the hand they hold.

The proper way to handle a player going all in during a poker tournament is to use team work in order to get him or her out. I know this may sound odd as poker is generally considered an everyman for himself type of game, but this is the one area of poker where people get to show they are a team player. The reason you want to work as a team when a player moves all in simply boils down to odds. You do not know what the person who has moved all in is holding in their hand, you may possibly have them beat, but there is also a chance you may not have them beat. Even if you have pocket aces there is still a chance that he will catch two pair, three of a kind, a straight, or even a flush effectively     beating you and doubling themselves up.

The best way to prevent this from happening is of course to have as many people as possible involved in the hand. If the person’s chips that has moved all in are equal to only a small portion of your chips, regardless of what you have you should call them, likewise everyone else at the table should too. If you are seated at a six person poker table this will force the player who is all in to have to beat not only one hand to double up, but instead five hands. Do you see where we are going with this?

Okay, so now we have six players involved in the hand, the person who is all in, yourself, and at the moment your four teammates. The reason I refer to them as teammates is because you need to help each other out so that you can all stay in the hand until the very end. How do you accomplish this? By not making any bets at all for the remainder of the hand. Even if you have a strong hand, say a pair of aces and make a big bet, other players may fold their hands. This may not sound bad, but considering the person who is all in could very likely make a straight beating your hand and doubling themselves up, you may very well have forced someone who would have made a flush and eliminated the person who is all in to fold their hand.

The only time you should ever even consider making a bet when an opponent is all in is if you have nuts after the river has been turned over (poker jargon for the best possible hand). But I must warn you, even in this situation it is considered by many to be very unsportsmanlike and foolish, so expect to catch some dirty looks if you are in a casino, or some off color comments if you are playing online.

Ever folded pocket aces after the flop? It’s possible, especially if your flop is straight or something like a K, K and J. But still such a card at your hand could prove to be a crucial difference at the showdown. So can you really do it? Your post-flop betting really tells about your game.

Dennis Philips did it. Not once in the 2008 World Series of Poker, in which he finished third, but twice. Not only that, but he won a $200 double shootout satellite at Harrah’s Casino in his native St. Louis, and bargained that into a $4.3 Million payoff for his third place finish in the main event. That is but one incident to quote of someone doing that.
Aces are usually favorites to be held pre-flop, but it’s very dramatic how the turn card can make you change your mind about your hand. If you get to keep pocket aces with a flop of say, K, K and J, and your opponents beats your hand, it is because of only one possible reason. The hand of your opponent is simply better than yours. You just have to learn to part yourselves with those aces.

Nothing will really go wrong if you stick to the basics and the objective of the game of poker, and stop trying things in a grand but superficial manner. Slow and steady wins the race, at least ensures your survival out there at the poker table. You have to realize that the game is larger than winning a hand, or a particular bet. It is true that sometimes a not so bad hand urges you to pursue a heavy pot, especially when you have followed the raises a little too far. It’s always better to withdraw when you really should.

One of the greatest mistakes you can make while playing poker is to unduly commit yourself to a hand. It can prove devastating to your game in the long run, especially in the tournaments.  And if you get to play the World Series, you will have to spend the most of hours that you are awake playing poker for ass long as a week against top quality competitors, and if you start to engage yourself to hands that appear good but really are not, you should pack your bags soon enough.

It’s always important to learn from your mistakes… in your life, and also in poker. And there is hardly a poker player who has never experienced what we are talking about here. Yes everyone is tempted at some point. But many of the good poker players realize the importance of not sticking unduly to one hand, but move wisely. In fact many of the players make more folds than plays. There is nothing really wrong about that if it keeps you in the game. Besides, there is a lot that you can do between hands when you have folded. You could recall all your moves and analyze what you have been doing in the game. You could assess the categories of the players around the table in your mind and try to formulate your strategies for them and how to beat them if you are heads up against any one of them. Make notes of the play, and if you cannot think of anything better, socialize with the players if you like.
There is no doubt it feels great when you develop a straight hand out of your flop. But don’t rely on it every time. Say you get two suited cards on the flop, and great you got another on the turn, you get excited, you raise the bet. But wait, your opponent calls.

You still love what you’re holding, you say to yourself that your opponent may be bluffing and the next time your opponent is making a raise when you realize that your opponent may be holding something more monstrous than you imagined and your excitement ended in a lost pot. It doesn’t hurt to make a fold that makes you feel bad than to make a quixotic call that makes you feel worse. Try making such moves in a tournament and you’ll be knocked out before you know it. So know when to pull out.

One of the most exciting forms of the ring-game format of Online Poker is Heads-up Poker, in which you face only one opponent. Here are ten tips to help you these exciting encounters.

1. Dealing Position
Half of the time, the dealer button or the position will be with you, so make sure you make the most of it. Making your move after your opponent after the flop is always beneficial in Poker. Not only does this allow you the time to strategize as you observe your opponent’s action, but it also enables you to use your best hands to your advantage.
2. Aggression
Aggression is the tool to use as pre-flop your opponent’s hands will not be strong most of the time. This is further fuelled by the fact that unpaired hands will seldom hit the flop. Raise the pot and give your opponent an opportunity to fold.
3. Control the Pot
That’s what you are playing for. Where Poker can bring you luck, there are logically bad hands as well. The priority for a Poker winner is to win large pots and to lose the below average ones. You have to judge your hands to be worth of high wagers or not, and should also judge hands worthy of low wagers to lose the least when behind your opponent. Your main aim should be to win your opponent’s chips as many as possible.
4. Read Your Opponent’s Mind
In a game of Heads-Up Poker, you only have to beat one opponent and the sooner you read his or her moves the better your chances of winning. When does hr or she raises, checks and calls against your wagers. Is your opponent most likely to raise with a flush or a full house? Will your opponent build on a stronger hand or lead straight out? Will your opponent raise he pot on an average hand just to discourage you? Knowing answers to such questions can earn you an advantage.
5. Adapt to Your Opponent
One you have read your opponent’s mind, the next thing is to adapt to his or her game. You need a raise on more solid hands if your opponent is too tight, and call more often on average hands if your opponent is too loose, may be even go for a raise when you suspect your opponent has missed the flop to drive your opponent to fold the hand. Whichever opponent you face, make sure to observe the moves they make and adapt to their game to gain the ultimate advantage.
6. Fold When Weak
You bet a medium strength hand heads up and your opponent calls. It is up to you to judge whether your opponent is holding a made-hand, whether it is a draw or simply a bluff to pressure you to gain advantage later in the hand, but whatever it may be, it is for a reason. If you have a weak hand and your opponent is persistent in his or her calls, then it is a good idea to fold before you lose a lot of your chips. Try to move to the next hand and brining back more than what you have lost through better hands.
7. Bluff ‘Em
Bluffing is a lot easier in a head up game since you can be sure that your opponent will not often hit a devastating hand. But at the same time, your opponent knows this as well. It is all about making the most of the opportunities to bluff while you read your opponent. If you start with a flop of 2 to 3 suited cards, a bluff later on may just as well win you the pot.
8. Don’t Be Easy to Predict
You are not the only one trying to read your opponent’s mind in a heads up. Try to be unpredictable and varying in your moves, by varying your bets, calls, the size of the wager and the time you take to make your moves. If your opponent is not able to predict your moves, then it will benefit you throughout the game, especially if you are able to predict the moves of your opponent.
9. Stay within Your Bankroll
Where Poker winners have to take a risk or two to clinch those little edges over their opponents, betting outside the bankroll limit can put undue pressure and your comfort level will be exceeded. This will drive you into making mistakes. Play within your bankroll, relax your nerves and cruise towards victory.
10. Consider Your Mistakes Your Teachers
For those who will to master Poker, it is an everyday affair and as practice makes a man perfect, it is equally important to learn a little from how you have performed. Always analyze yourself after a game and see which good hands you played, the mistakes you made and how you could have done better. This will make you understand to play better hands in the future.

It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in a physical casino or at one of the many online casinos, your table image is crucial. In a physical casino, every thing from the way you’re dressed to the way you sit in your chair can portray a certain table image. But, when playing at an online casino, your table image is projected by things such as the way you bet, how quickly you bet and how many hands you play.

There are four main table images, loose passive, tight passive, loose aggressive and tight aggressive. The trick to taking full advantage of table images is to know both yours and your opponents. But, it’s also vital to make sure that you don’t always portray the same image all the time. Playing in the same style game after game tells the other players what to expect next.

Basically, a loose passive player is one that relies heavily on luck to win a hand. They’ll usually always place careless bets and will generally call no matter what type of hand they’re holding. They often don’t concentrate, leave the table early and appear to not care if they win or lose.

Tight passive players are just the opposite of a loose player. These types of players will rarely place a bet unless they’re pretty sure they’re holding a winning hand. During a strong betting round, a tight passive player will often quickly fold their hand.

However, if a tight passive player suddenly throws in a big bet, you’d better pay close attention. When a player has been folding a lot of hands, or making small bets and then stays in the game and places large bets, you can be almost certain they think they’ve got a winning hand.

A loose aggressive player can bring a lot of action to the game, but can also create a lot of chaos. These types of players will raise and keep raising no matter what kind of cards their holding and almost never just call a bet. This type of table style can result in some huge winnings, but it will usually result in many more huge losses.

Many of the most famous poker players have a loose aggressive table image. Often, these “high rollers” will throw their whole stack of chips in the pot and just be holding a small pair. The really good, experienced loose aggressive players will combine a passive style with the aggressiveness which makes it very hard to read their hand.

A player that generally only plays what they think is a winning hand and only bluffs occasionally, is a tight aggressive player. These players are the most successful, they possess a lot of patience, place decisive bets and do very careful hand selections. They are some of the best players in the game.

One of the hardest table images to break free of is tilt. This image usually occurs after someone has just lost a big hand. Desperate to get back into the game, a player in tilt will completely change their strategy and call almost everything. This can result in disaster at the poker table because the players state of panic is very noticeable to all the other players.

Bluffing is one of the oldest tactics there is in poker and it’s also one of the most used. There are many different styles of bluffs and knowing which ones your opponent uses is crucial. Don’t start bluffing with the very first hand, play a few hands and observe the other players to get a feel for their particular style.

A skillful playing style is the most important attribute to gambling. But, when you combine that with a carefully executed bluff, your chances of winning increase drastically. Bluffing in itself is a skill and knowing how to do it correctly can give you that winning edge.

Bluffing is just simply mannerisms and gestures that you make during a hand. Done in the correct way, you can easily make the other players believe that you either have a much better hand than you actually do, or that you have a much worse hand than you are holding.

While bluffing definitely gives you an advantage, never rely solely on bluffing your way to taking the pot. Bluffing, just like “Lady Luck” is only a small part of winning at any game of chance. There are different types of bluffs and knowing how to bluff and when to bluff can greatly increase your odds of winning.

Before you even decide to try to run a bluff, make sure that the pot is big enough to even try to bluff for. It’s perfectly fine to pull a bluff and rake in a some small pots, even small pots add up. But, if you’re placing all of your chips at risk for a small amount of money on the table, you could very well lost it all.

The most basic bluff is to call the bet or even raise the bet when you’re holding a weak hand. By doing this you will appear to have a much stronger hand that you actually do. If you a strong hand and want to make the other players think it’s weak, just call the bet and don’t raise. Used correctly, this bluff will encourage some of the players to fold their hands, or actually keep some in the game.

Always remember, that you’re probably not going to be the only one at the table that is bluffing. However, some players never bluff at all and if you can distinguish which ones don’t, it will be much easier to play against them. Other players will even try to bluff through the entire game.

You’ll soon learn that the very best poker players are those that only bluff now and then. These types of players are generally much harder to figure out than a player that bluffs continuously or one that doesn’t bluff at all. A player that just bluffs occasionally will keep the rest of the table guessing and if you’re just guessing whether they’re bluffing or not, you’ll end up being wrong a lot of the time.

You can not underestimate the power of an aggressive play in finals. Here is the situation in a recent tournament I played. We went to three players that are already in silver. Of course, the second is much more than the first and the third is much more than a second. We still have work sheets relating to the curtains. This means that you always poker after the flop.

With three players on the left side, I am with the chip leader in the vicinity of $ 35,000 in chips. A player is about $25,000, and Player B is about $15,000. The blinds are $500 – 1000, $100. A player is in the heat and betting on the majority of each pot. I collected the pots, and he is not the player B slowly bleeding away. I’m still a good opportunity for a player, but the cards are not together. Since Player B seems to be the intention of blindness in the hope that a player is hit, and I’m in a large pan and let the player B to move to second place money. Therefore, unless a player that I am, I would not be in a big pot with him.

At the end of this tour, a player has violated the chip away from me, and the player B was at about $5000 chips. The leap into the unknown $1000 – 2000, $200, if you KJ before the big blind. A surprise player on the button folds. Player B, in the small blind and cans back to B-players in general. He called for reluctant offsuit A-6. A king on the flop and the player B key rail.

Now we have the situation that I had expected. I am ready, the attack on a player, but after a couple of hands back, is capable of is the battery for me. It is about $45,000 in chips and $30,000 of the hand, as I expected at last. I AK on the button and a mini-raise to $ 4000th A player and insists that a failure. The flop comes KQ-2 and a fire of $8000 to a bet. I’m trying to raise, but only the hope that a good player with another fire ball in the back.

The change brings a lawsuit Player 8 and not bite. Instead of the controls. I have immediate access to all and hope that I am in a robbery or a hand, as K-10 and appeals to bear the grief. He calls me with little doubt that a cause for concern. If you back on my side, but her face says it all. I do not need to see the maps to see if I beat him. It is the Q-6 for the second pair. I’m already with the money if you have a 6 on the hand in the flow. Oh, well, that’s poker.

A player is aware that it is a bad call, and apologized for their fate. I would say no. He has played well and deserved the title. The truth is that he is not playing well, the control over the table and call the chip lead. Although I was in my plan, my mistake. I have a picture, but also to a stroke. What would have happened if the hand that was not taken? I think that I do with the fight against aggression, if we made it to the top. The mistake I have done, but had to abandon chip lead in the first place. Once I did that I could not afford to make mistakes or bad luck every time. A player who has the luxury of time he took the chip lead.

I hope that the player can be connected to the tip (and I think I did), but must never be forgotten network of a superior chip.