It is a proven fact that many players start to play worse and achieve poorer results after they acquired more knowledge and became theoretically better poker players. The knowledge that you amass as you go through your poker life is not always conducive to helping you to make money. What other reason can there be to describe what has become known as FPS or “fancy play syndrome”?

This is the act of playing fancy plays but the fact is that this type of behaviour originates in knowledge that has been picked up and then incorrectly applied. So we then reach a situation where having more knowledge becomes harmful and not helpful and so much for the old adage that, “knowledge is power”. I think that card dependent strategies solve these problems to a large extent because they provide the beginner or novice with a good solid track to run on.

In a way then this operates almost like a basic strategy chart and card counting system in blackjack. Here your play is being dictated by numbers which keeps the player on the right track as playing correctly and incorrectly are clearly defined. It is when there is room for individual creativity that problems can arise if this is mismanaged properly. So what is a card dependent strategy and what do those words mean? Well it is basically what it says, a card dependent strategy is basically a way of playing poker that is dependent on the cards you hold and nothing else.

An example would be if it had been folded to you on the button and you held a junk hand like J-6. Here a card dependent strategy would assess your play as a fold because of the strength of your hand. But a non card dependent strategy would be more flexible and take other factors into account. These could be to do with the relevant tightness of the blinds or your ability to outplay these people post flop. So in short then it is taking other factors into account that are not dependent on your playing cards…..hence the term “card dependent strategy”.

While it is clear that this is not the “optimal” way to play poker, the word “optimal” needs to be better defined here. Optimal play is a way of playing that correctly fits a players own level of ability at a given point in time. Also given the environment then card dependent strategies have other strategic uses as well and one such environment is when players multi-table. Here it is not possible to follow everything that is happening if you are playing several tables at once.

I think that a large does of respect needs to be adhered to before you can start to make progress. You need to understand and accept that you will need all the outside help that you can get in Texas hold’em with regards to beating the game. You also need to be alert to the fact that as the stakes get higher then the player pools shrink. What this means is that the level of seriousness with regards the players increases as does their sophistication.

So if you are a part time or recreational player then what makes you think that you have the right to play with these people on a regular basis and to have an edge over them? As a poker writer, coach and a person who stakes players regularly then I am busy with doing many non poker playing related things. This is fine but the flip side to this is that your all round game begins to dull with time and you lose sharpness even if you acquire more and more poker knowledge.

You need to identify and accept that this level of sharpness has gone and the only way to get this back is to play constantly. If you cannot do that then what gives you the right to be able to compete successfully with very good players who do nothing but play poker all day long? At least accepting this can be a huge step towards a successful poker career where you identify your level and stay there and slowly accumulate money. I would rather play Texas Hold’em poker and make $50,000 a year than play on with the delusion that I could beat NL600 and recycle money and make nothing.

I always think that you are taking a massive step forward in your poker progression if you admit that you are not as good as you think you are. If more players approached poker in this way then there would be more winning poker players. Experienced players normally transcend through this stage but the amount of time that it takes to reach that stage differs from person to person. Isn’t it better to make $20 a day playing poker than to lose $100 trying to be something that you are not? Starting out playing tight solid poker is one such way to respect not just your own limitations but also the possible strengths of others as well.

Finding optimal value in this situation may involve checking or under betting your hand. Often though in aggressive poker games then the clear play is to bet as betting begins the process of escalating the pot to a level where your weaker opponents may stack off against you. In this example we open raise with the Qh-Qd from the cut-off and the button calls us.

Our raise was to $14 and both us and our opponent have $400 stacks. So the pot has $34 in it and the flop comes 10d-8c-5c and the action is on us. Now at this stage we can safely bet for value. We are out of position and our opponent is probably expecting us to bet nearly all of our range here in a continuation bet.

So aggressive strong players will likely not believe this bet at this stage and could call or even raise us here. A bet of around $25 seems about right and we are not surprised to see our opponent call making the pot $84. The turn card is the 2s and we still have the likely best hand and in this instance then our hand can certainly stand a second post flop bet.

Our opponent may still not respect our “double barrel” and could call again with a mediocre made hand like A-10 or even air looking to take the pot away on the river. We make a bet of $58 which also gets called making the pot $200. I think that our opponent has a hand like A-10 or maybe 9-9 or 7-7. If they had a set then they likely would have raised for value before now. It is still possible that they could have fresh air but the likely favourite is a weak made hand.

The river card is the 2h making a final board of 10d-8c-5c-2s-2h and here is where a lot of players check. While I do not think that checking is a bad play, our opponent will only bet with a powerful hand or fresh air. If they had a powerful hand like a flopped set then they would have likely raised before the river. It is possible that they could be looking to launch an elaborate bluff but purely based on probabilities and hand ranges then a mediocre made hand is the favourite.

So a value bet on the river is called for which also balances our range when we fire three barrels with air on future hands. We bet $120 which gets called and we take the pot against the A-8 of our opponent.

If you think about your personal issues while playing poker, then you’re screwing up yourself giving an edge to your opponents. Before you step into the poker room, you should forget all your personal issues to avoid tilt and play your regular game.
Bad beats are one of the main reasons for tilting. In my experience, I have come across many players who lose their temper and concentration after getting a bad beat. After all poker depends on 40 percent on luck and the rest is your experience and skill. It’s a regular process, and one who losses tilt, tends to blame his opponents. Instead of blaming opponents, players should think about loses, what happens when a player tilts. Learn how to control your emotions and manage to predict the early signs losing the game. If you have lost the game, try to take a break for some time, and make yourself comfortable before entering another room. Don’t just walk away if you have lost the game. Make sure that you are within your bankroll, and enter the poker room. This will definitely prevent you from tilting.

Tilt can badly affect your bankroll, in case you are playing aggressively. After all, poker is a mind game. It is a slow and steady game I would say, be calm and try to control your emotions, which may help you remain unpredictable to your opponents. Tilt can reveal that you have weak hands. Opponents will definitely try to take advantage of that situation. Be careful of your moves, they put a serious impact on your game play.

I am not referring to limit type bets and raises here but more to do with playing big cards and betting for value. The mistakes that the players make in these games tend to be that they play too many hands and that they go too far with them. Another factor behind these novice type players and how they play is that they tend to make big post flop errors. So basically bluffing should be kept to an absolute minimum and this is what I meant earlier when I said about having a limit hold’em mentality in these games.

The amount of bluffing that you can do in a game like limit is much less than it is in no-limit. This is based on the fact that the bets are structured and any bet or raise is only confronting your opponent with having to call one extra bet. This is obviously not the case in no-limit where pot sized raises and bets mean that the pot can escalate very quickly to an all-in situation.

But in low-stakes play then the play can be so bad that often the players do not have the experience or knowledge base to fold when they should. This means that bluffing them can become very expensive and often a losing play. Also the amounts of money that are on the table in these games is so low that they players themselves would not miss the money even if they lost it.

At the micro levels then players basically want to play poker and this means that if they limp in then raising may not be a great idea if all you have is a speculative hand yourself. You need to punish the failings of these players by value betting your strong hands properly and reducing bluffs to a minimum.

If the game has a $6 buy-in with blinds at $0.03-$0.06 then if you get all in for $6 then you have got all-in for 100 big blinds. To do this in a normal game would mean that to win this pot you would need to have a very strong hand indeed. But yet novice players would be more prone to getting all-in for 100 big blinds in $6 games simply because it is only $6 or because they cannot respect the money or because they cannot link hand values with pot sizes.

If you have a hand like A-Q and get all in on a flop of A-10-3 rainbow for 100 big blinds then in a normal game against solid players, the A-Q will not be the best hand. You will be faced with A-K as an absolute minimum but more likely A-10 or a set of tens or threes.

Though it’s good for a player to stick to one poker room, many players will occasionally have other poker rooms on the side which may help them in accessing their bonuses of choice because it’s not always or for that matter ever that a poker room will offer all the good bonuses being offered out there. A poker room may have an outstanding bonus but from poker room to poker room, the bonuses differ and may suite different people and serve them in different ways.

Match your bonus to playing habits

A poker player’s level of action and expertise could be used as a benchmark on the best bonuses to target. Full Tilt poker recently offered a bonus to a group of people who won in different small tournaments they held in the month of January. This poker site is known for having pros and as such, new players would in no way be able to make it to the final stage. This type of bonus was only suitable for established players.

Clearing your bonus

As for newer players, though a bonus may be a sign-up bonus or a no deposit bonus, the means of clearing this bonus may be different. Most poker sites will not automatically deposit the bonus to the player’s account. Some will require that a player attain a certain number of FPPs before the money is deposited. Others may require one to play a certain number of raked hands before being able to access the deposit. Players who are new to poker and pick up slow should look for a no deposit bonus from a poker room which will be immediately deposited to the account. Though it may be ‘locked’ for withdrawal until a certain numbers of raked hands is attained, this type of bonus to be released as a whole is better for the new players because it helps them access the real money and play real cash games. If new players to poker who are slow learners were to pick a no deposit bonus with strict requirements, it would be hard to access the real money. For example, take a player registers with a new poker room and gets a no deposit bonus requiring them to attain a minimum number of points. Such points require one to play constantly and commit a lot of time in the poker room. If this new player is only an occasional visitor playing for recreational purposes, it would take an extremely long time for him/her to have the bonus deposited into their account. One the other hand, a sign-up bonus should be carefully assessed from room to room. Take for example one poker room offering a 100% match up to $200 and another offering 110% match up to $50. If a player were to sign up with $100, which poker room would best suite the player? The one with the higher percentage or the one with the lower one? In the room with 100%, the player would bag $100, while in the other, the player would get a maximum of $55 and thus in this case, it would be better to go for the room with the lower sign-up bonus as it has a higher match up.

About Celeb Poker

Celeb Poker was started in 2003 and is registered at Gibraltar under the Playtech i-Poker platform. This poker site does not allow registration from US citizens. Celeb Poker offers a variety of card games to its players which range from high stake games to low stake games. Players can therefore choose a table of their choice but be careful to enter those of the same level than they are or those of a lower level. There’s a lot of weak competition on the I-Poker Network and thus players are bound to make a lot of profits in this poker site.

Celeb Poker Satellites

An interesting feature of Celeb Poker is that they offer satellites which are a favourite for many poker lovers. Their satellite tournaments grant entry into major Sunday poker events which end up securing large amounts of money in winnings for the top players. These satellites have low buy-ins and thus reduce the risk of losing a lot of money and provide access to many players. Virtually any player can be able to participate in the satellite tournaments. Their huge jackpot of $50,000 for Sit and Go tournaments attracts a lot of attention. Many people love participating in their Sit and Go tournaments for this jackpot. One must however win 6 in a row to bag the $50,000. They hold guaranteed tournaments each Sunday of $100,000 and $250,000 attracting many players on this day. Their software is also very much loved. It’s arguably very easy to use and highly fast. For frequent players who play recreationally, freerolls of $20 in prizes are available several times each hour and can be played by anyone. Join Celeb Poker and enjoy their benefits.

About Sportsbook

This site was started recently in 2006 but their brand has as many as 13 years of experience in the poker industry. It is a more savvy poker site with a lot of fancy features. Sportsbook Poker accepts registration from US citizens as well as from Canada. The disadvantage is that they don’t accept any other people to register apart from these two countries. This poker site operates under the Cake Network and is licensed in Antigua.

Bonus requirements

The requirement for claiming the bonus is that one must be registered with Sportsbook Poker and deposit some money into their account. For any amount deposit up to $850, Sportsbook Poker will match the figure with a 100% deposit into the player’s account.

Software & Tournaments

Their software is known for being very fast with no hitches and it’s very easy to use. It’s also colourful with a lot of extra features for players to use. Tournaments are very common at Sportsbook Poker and especially $100,000 freerolls are played very frequently. Their freeroll tournaments are used to elevate players to other world poker events and also award them with cash prizes. New players can play at Sportsbook Poker without incurring any financial risk. In other words, they can participate in the freeroll tournaments without paying anything and end up winning real cash. Apart from the cash, they may play in other promotional tournaments which could see those winning spots in world events and ultimately winning very high amounts of money.

Room & Playing Stats

Sportsbook Poker has another very interesting concept: they offer quite a lot of statistics to players as compared to other poker rooms. Sportsbook Poker will keep well documented history of past games and statistics of players and produce them upon demand by the players. Perhaps an interesting concept about Sportsbook Poker is their 13 year history in the field. Their poker site hosts a casino, sportsbook, racebook as well as a card room. They also boast a capacity of more than 1 million members. They try to recruit members to Sportsbook Poker from their other departments and thus most of the players come in as ‘newbies’. This means that the games are relatively soft and thus very attractive to the more experienced players to make easy money. Their poker rooms will hold up to 6,000 players at peak hours. Guaranteed weekly tournaments of $100,000 and $50,000 are available as well as a $250,000 guaranteed monthly tournament.

UB: Accepting US Players

This poker site allows for registration of US citizens and is registered under the Cereus Network. At a time when most poker sites are not accepting US citizens to register with them, poker sites such as Ultimate Bet Poker are providing some hope for the upholding of poker in America. Ultimate Bet Poker was started in 2001 in Canada and has gained a lot of popularity and directed a lot of traffic to itself over the past 9 years. They offer free poker pro lessons to their member to give them a chance at improving their game. These lessons detail the best way of playing the different games they offer in order to make profits and beat other players. Another feature of this poker site which is not found in most other poker sites is mobile accessibility to their software. This means that a player can down load their software using their mobile phone and play the game from any place as long as the software is available.

Pro line-ups

Pros are also lucky in this poker site as they sponsor their best players to participate in many big tournaments around the world. They offer smaller tournaments in their poker rooms which help them determine the best players and go on to sponsor them to represent them in greater tournaments. Due to the large traffic, players are also able to choose the best tables to play from. There are plenty of weak tables and thus players are bound to make handsome profits in this website. A player needs only to search for the weakest table and join it. For greater challenges and higher limit games, tables with pros are also available. Their software is also very good. In addition to offering it as a downloadable feature from mobile phones, it is very clear and detailed with many features. They also attract traffic due to their wide choice of deposit options. They however don’t have many withdrawal options and this coupled with the fact that they have no telephone support has gone a long way in pulling them backwards.

40% Rakeback Bonus

At 40%, it is much higher than most other rakeback bonuses being offered by other poker sites. Fat Bet Poker recently moved from Poker Nexus and is now a member of the Melita Gaming Network. A good thing about their rakeback bonus is that it is deposited into the player’s account weekly. This means that a player can use the money generated through rakebacks each week. 40% of one’s raked amounts in a pot for a whole week is by far the highest percentage that one can find out there. The dealt rake method is used to track the amount of rakes in this poker site. In addition to the rakeback bonus, Fat Bet Poker offers a hefty 1000% percent sign up bonus to new members up to $1000. Their bonus rewards are simply outstanding.

Fat Bet Poker Software

Their software is not the most complex of the ones out there. It has a simple outlook, much like their own website and the good thing about it is that it works efficiently. It has almost all the features of other basic software necessary to play poker.

Bonus Requirements

Redeeming the bonus requires a player to generate 1,200 FPPs in order to get $20 of the bonus. Unlocking is usually done in $20 batches and the players are required to have redeemed the bonus cash within 30 days. Fees paid to participate in tournaments are also included as part of the rakeback bonuses thus increasing the amount that one gets. Each day, a player can view the real time value of their rakeback bonuses and this determines whether they should play more games to hit their target or relax after reaching their target. The system at Fat Bet Poker is very convenient. Though this poker site does not accept US citizens to register with them, it is by no doubt attracting many people. It has an option of multi-tabling for its players with up to 16 tables which can be resized as the player wishes. Other features of this poker site include their variety of games. They offer Stud Poker, Telesina, Omaha, Amerikana and 32 Card Poker.

Texas Hold’Em Tournaments

The most frequently played game however, is Texas Hold ‘em. Their 2 hour freeroll tournaments and numerous other tournaments with low prizes are very suitable for all types of players. They offer very many tournaments which have limited capacities thus making them convenient for a wide number of poker players. Most of the tournaments are low stake which do not exceed $1,000. They also have occasional promotions and offers to their members and also to members willing to join. Their customer service people can be contacted through telephone, email or fax and are available throughout. Their service is however minimally required due to the super service already in effect.