Poker Room Radio

Considering playing poker online is a relatively new phenomenon, it is quite surprising how quickly the game has developed. Many online poker rooms have opened, attracting thousands of players to enjoy a game at any time of the day or night.

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It is difficult to say which direction the online game will take in the future, but personally, I feel the following trends will be prevalent. Graphically, one or two sites have really moved several steps ahead of the field in recent years, and I think that most sites will follow suit in the next 5 years.

As with any game you play on a computer, more defined graphics make you feel involved and moved by the whole experience of playing, and there is no reason why poker should be any different. More first person views of the action when at the tables, is a possible step forward in the near future I feel, but it is not only the visual aspects of the online game that will change.

It is my feeling that online poker tournaments which are televised will be a theme for the future, although perhaps this aspect will be localised to the site itself.

Rooms where players can chat whilst watching their final table played back onsite would be interesting, as players could discuss strategy, and also see why their plays did or did not work against one another, and why.
The only real barrier to something like this would be the poker rooms concern that players would be encouraged to watch a tournament back, rather than playing in another one.

Pokerstars have long been established as one of the finest poker rooms online, with excellent player traffic and a wealth of experience in the business, they have good reason to be there too.

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I have always said that one of my favourite things about Pokerstars are the variety of games offered. You can play many different poker games in different formats and stakes, with H.O.R.S.E events on offer too. It is not easy to offer all these games of course, and you really need the player traffic to be able to fill the tables, but this isn’t a problem for a site as big as Pokerstars.

The graphics onsite are smooth, with picture avatars of your choice representing you at the table.
The staff at Pokerstars are very helpful and available to contact 24/7, this ensures that no problems remain unresolved for long. First time deposit bonuses are good here, and promotions in general are of a high standard, with inventive new ideas and opportunities updated each month.

There is an expansive team of top class professional players who play at Pokerstars, and this is proof if any were needed, that Pokerstars is a poker room of the highest integrity and quality. The large guaranteed tournaments and satellites at Pokerstars cater for the more serious players, and for those who simply play for fun, there are ample freerolls, bonuses, and small tournaments. Overall I would say that Pokerstars are one of the finest sites around, and if they continue to try and better themselves, they will surely stay at the top.

Pokeroom.com – This was a hand that took place on this years WSOP main event final table, involving Schwartz and Demidov. Schwartz is dealt (Kh,Qs) and Demidov (Ah,10c). There is a small raise from Demidov preflop, and Schwartz calls. Both players check the flop of (5h,7h,Jh). The (9h) is a disastrous card for Schwartz on the turn, and he puts out a bet of 1.075 million. Demidov raises another 1.6 million to go, and Schwartz calls. Schwartz then checks the (5s) on the river too, and Demidov puts out a bet of 4.325 million. After some thought, Schwartz makes a quite brilliant fold.

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With the second nut flush, this is a very difficult fold on the face of it, although some would perhaps make an argument that Demidov reraising on the turn gave his hand away. I would disagree with that argument though, as a small reraise does not necessarily mean he has a big Flush, he could have a set or top two pair and be putting out a small reraise to test if Schwartz really had caught the Flush, or whether the original bet by Schwartz was pure representation.

Overall in this hand, you have to say that Schwartz folding was remarkable and I cannot take that away from him, but there are two potential reasons he has folded. One is driven by a perfect read of the situation, and if that was the case, I am in awe of his reading ability. The potential other reason, is driven by fear. Schwartz and Demidov were the two biggest stacks on the table at that time, and Demidov was playing fearless aggressive poker.

I could certainly understand if Schwartz simply wanted to avoid playing a pot with Demidov, but I cannot see how that would factor into this particular scenario. Schwartz knew there were no more betting rounds for Demidov to play back at him, so he had the option to simply flat call on the river. With that in mind, I have to say there was far more skill than simply fear in this top class fold. Pokeroom.com

Full Tilt Poker – With the usual starting stacks of 6,000 chips, I spent the first hour being careful and playing solid poker, but I found myself having slipped down to around 5,400. Then came the key hand where I was dealt (K,K) in the small blind. Somehow, the unthinkable happened when a crazy player with (8h,9h) called, and hit one of four outs on the river for a straight, putting me down to 700. What followed was another hand in which I was all in, and should have been eliminated.

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By some miracle, the same crazy player as last hand, decided not to check the hand to the river against the other player who was in the pot and holding (Q,Q). Instead, he decided to shove all in for 15,000 on the flop with nothing but an inside straight draw, forcing (Q,Q) to fold, and my flimsy pair of eights somehow held up to put me at 2,100. After a failed all in soon after, against the shortest stack at the table, I had just three chips of 100 value each.
Then incredibly with a familiar looking (8,9) in my hand, found myself with little choice but to push all in because of the blinds, and promptly trebled up. I then managed to double up three more times in quick succession.
Feeling incredibly blessed to even be in the tournament, I started playing great poker and fought all the way through to the final table.

Somehow I had gone to having 300 chips, to 40,000 two hours later when I got to heads up. After getting aggressive on a few hands I inched up to 48,000 against my opponents 52,000, then, made a risky all in move with (Jc,8c), and was instantly called by (A,A).
Whether there was some divine intervention at work that night I don’t know, but I rivered one of my four outs to make a straight (just as an opponent had done to almost eliminate me 2 hours earlier), and quickly finished my opponent off to take 1st place.
This was an incredible tournament with no end of twists, and I shall probably remember it forever. Fulltiltpoker

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For new players at bodogpokercom, there are free play tables, at which you can try your hand at games you have not encountered before, as well as reliable customer support to help you if you find yourself with any problems getting started.
The first time deposit bonus is a generous one too, standing at 110% on top of your initial deposit.

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Excellent customer service and security aspects help to ensure players are kept happy too, and player points earned can be redeemed for cash, which is very convenient if poker merchandise doesn’t catch your eye. Player traffic is reasonably good and most tables fill up without too much trouble, particularly Holdem ones. Once a month, players are given the chance to collect a 100% reload bonus which is a very generous offer I feel, and the new players could seriously benefit from 6 free tickets to the 100k guaranteed tournament every week.
Royal flush and bad beat bonuses ensure that should the best or the worst happen to you, there will be a bonus cash payment waiting for you.

Poker league games and satellites to large scale tournaments help to make up a very interesting tournament schedule, which should have something for every players needs.
Overall I think www.bedogpoker.com is underrated as a site and has every chance of becoming one of the top name in online poker rooms. If player traffic improves slightly, I don’t think there will be any obvious weaknesses to Bodog poker.

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www.pokerstars.com – I was playing in an Omaha tournament a few moments ago and there were some hands which cropped up that really demonstrated opportunities to make good folds in Omaha.
The first of which involved myself being dealt (3d,4d,8c,8h). The blinds were still low and so I decided to take a flop from late position. The flop came down (Js,9h,8s)

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and with three players in the pot, the first to act made a fairly small raise. Instantly, I was concerned, but when the next player to act then moved all in, it was a very easy fold to make. Having folded, I watched as the first raiser turned over (x,Q,10,x) for the top straight, and the second, rather foolish player turned over (J,9,x,x) for a two pair. if the second player had not shoved all in with his two pair I would still have been looking for an excuse to fold, but might perhaps have called hoping to pair the board.
The second instance of a player not being able to make the right fold, involved firstly, his raise preflop when I was holding (Qc,Qh,7c,8h). We were in late position with only one caller so far, and I didn’t think he, or the single caller were very strong, and so I reraised the maximum bet. The first player folded, and the second pushed all in, which was only an extra few hundred chips for me to call.
He turned over a hand of (Jh,5h,7h,Jc) which with three to a suit, a big reraise, no real backup to his Jacks, should have told him to fold his hand immediately. But then maybe he had a premonition he was going to river a two pair of Sevens and Fives without there being a Six on board to make my straight, or the suits to complete my flush.
The fact is, that in Omaha, making good folds and sensing danger are two key components to succeeding, so you have to know which hands are worth putting down, and when. pokerstars.com

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Pokeroom.com – When looking at this question in a very broad sense, we could say that the answer is simple. Players will place a bet into the pot when they think they have a strong hand. I am sure that this is how the earliest games were generally played, with poker players simply betting on whether they were holding the best hand or not. I would not have taken long though, for players to realise that they can bet heavily on their cards and force players to fold without having any sort of hand at all. This is commonly known as bluffing and is a bet placed to represent strength and force your opponent to fold.

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On the other side of the coin, there are bets which are usually smaller and are made in order to induce a call from your opponent when you have a strong hand. These smaller bets can also be made if you are drawing to a big hand and wish to build the pot a little without committing too much in chips.

As well as the aforementioned reasons, bets can sometimes be made simply to ask a question of other players, as betting is the only real way of extracting information about how strong your opponents hand might be. If you find yourself in a pot and th action is being checked round, placing a bet can sometimes be enough to pick up the pot uncontested.

The point to remember is, that all bets have a purpose and the skill of poker, is understanding that purpose and reacting accordingly. www.pokeroom.com

Full tilt poker – If we are lucky enough to reach the final two players in a Multi Table Tournament, then as players, it is important to know how to give ourselves the best chance of winning.
There are some players out there who may feel that caution is the best approach, and while I would certainly agree that cautious play does have it’s place in poker, I don’t think it is in heads up play.

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The fact is, that in a MTT, when you reach the closing stages, the blinds will be very damaging to you, and so you cannot wait for a strong hand to get involved. Every hand that you fold preflop, you are giving chunks of chips away to your opponent in blinds, and this, will begin to give them the edge, unless of course you start with a big chip lead. In the situation of starting with a strong lead in chips, you can afford to wait to an extent, but I still feel that applying immediate pressure, could swing the chip count further in your favour before your opponent makes their move.

The only situation where I would choose not to be immediately aggressive heads up, would be if I am shortstacked myself. In this situation, it is true that you need to gamble quickly, but I would wait a few hands to try and pick up either suited connectors, any two paint cards, any pair or Ace. If I outchip my opponent by a considerable margin, I will probably shove with almost any two cards every hand. Fulltiltpoker

www.pokeroom.com – Most of the younger poker players these days are all too familiar with online play, but for the older generations who are used to playing live, the experience might be a little more daunting. First of all I should point out that there are a vast number of different online poker sites and many reviews can be found online for each site too.

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Almost all of these which I have come across are completely trustworthy and offer an excellent place to play poker from the comfort of your own home.
Some sites will require you to download software first before playing, and will need some details from you in order to set up a real money account. You do not have to play for real money of course, as most offer the possibility to play with ‘play money’ which means you risk nothing of your own capital. You do not win any real money in these games either however, but you can do so in freeroll tournaments, which run regularly on most sites.

There should be numerous outlets of help and support from site employees too, so if you are unsure about anything, they are always on hand to talk you through your problems.
One of the greatest aspects of playing poker online, has to be the sheer variety of games involved, you can play just about any type of cash game or tournament, in several different variant of poker. This means that whatever your favoured game, you will always be able to sit down and play whenever you please.

www.pokeroom.com – There are many different things which lead to successful results in poker, but timing is one thing that has to be high on the list. If there was some way you could play poker with perfectly timed raises and folds for an entire night, you would almost certainly win every time. The problem is, it is sometimes very difficult to know when the right time to make a move is.

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We cannot just simply, randomly guess when to push all in or fold, although sometimes it appears inexperienced plyers are doing just that. The key with knowing when to make a certain type of play is ultimately understanding when your opponents have weak or strong hands. This requires you to read situations with clarity and accuracy and that, is the skill of poker. Having said this, it is not just a case of making the right decision at precisely the right time, because if you are bluffing, remember your opponents do not need to have a strong hand to reraise you all in and force you out, they simply need to read your hand as well as you have read theirs.

With this in mind, try and be careful how quickly or slowly you make your decisions. If someone has raised you a lot of chips and you sit thinking for a very long time before calling, you show a great deal of uncertainty by doing so. You can of course use this to your advantage when you know you have an opponent beaten, and that’s something I like to call ‘theatric thinking’. You know you have your opponent well beaten, but you want to make it look as if you are close to folding in order to induce another raise on the next betting round. So try and remember when you play, that in several senses, timing can be very important to both your overall outcome, and that of a given hand you find yourself involved in.