Stud games are unique in that you and the other players at the table have your own individual hands and parts of the hands are visible to the other players.  You start the hand with two cards down and one card up, the up card is called the door card.  The next three cards come face up and the last card is face down.  You can gather a lot of information about a players hand from their up cards.  Up cards can also be used to bluff.  In seven card stud it is very common for the largest card showing to complete the betting or raise.  It is important to get a feel for what players are simply raising with big door cards and what players are doing it with a real hand.  If I am in late position with and the player before me raises with  showing I will often 3-bet and continue firing since they usually do not have that pair of aces they are representing.  You want to know your player a bit before making that play but it will be fairly easy to figure out if they really have it if they check raise on a later street. 

Up cards are just as critical in razz.  Usually the late position player with the smallest card completes the betting.  Just like in seven card stud you need to figure out which players are simply representing hands based on their door card.  I like to 3 bet a lot in razz before 4th street.  It is ideal to play hands heads up.  If I’m last to act and the player before me completes with a showing and I have with the hidden I will 3-bet.  is not the best starting hand but since the is hidden I can represent a strong hand against the person who is very likely to have raised with nothing other than a great door card.

Stud games are a lot of fun and can be quite enjoyable when you get tired of playing no-limit holdem all the time.  It is good to mix it up and keep poker fresh and fun.  There is obviously a lot more to the games then what I have mentioned but keep those door cards in mind and use them to bluff at times and realize when other players are the ones bluffing with them.

Floating is common place in poker these days.  Anyone that plays a lot of poker and has a good grasp on the game will do this at times.  Floating is calling a bet with nothing in hopes of taking the pot on later streets.  Generally people will float in position so they can bet after you check. 

It is so important to observe the players around you and their tendencies when playing any form of poker.  Figuring out which people are floating is something you should take notice of.  It is not always easy to figure this out since you are going to need to call some bets or raise to get the information you need. 

If a player seems to be calling your preflop raises quite often and is contesting every pot you can be sure he isn’t holding a hand every time.  There are a few different methods of attack on this player.

1.  Bet, Bet, Bet…  A lot of times a flop floater will fold when you continue and fire at the turn.  Occasionally they can be persistent and your going to need to represent on the river as well.

2.  When you are holding a real hand that you are confident is best rather than betting into them again on the turn, check.  When they fire their steal bet go ahead and pop them with a big raise.

3.  Regardless of your holding make the same play as #2, a good time to do this might be with a big draw.  At Least then if your judgement was off and they have a real hand you will have outs to make the best hand.  You need to be willing to do this with nothing though if you feel that you are getting run over.

These plays are not plays that you should make against a tight player.  Floaters generally play a lot of hands in position and if you see them winning more than their fair share you have to realize they are earning those pots through something other than their holding.  You simply have to take a stand at times and have the cojones to do so.

The newest addition to Everleaf Gaming is Victory Poker.  Everleaf recently merged with UPN (Universal Poker Network) in efforts to increase their overall player base and attract more players.  Victory poker will be represented by Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew Robl and former playmate Sara Underwood, a pretty unique group but what the heck.  If it brings them traffic and turns the new Everleaf UPN company into a major player then more power to them.  I am hopeful they will develop a nice player base since Victory Poker is offering 40% rakeback and a $10,450 Rake Race in the month of March 2010!  Victory Poker accepts US based players and has tables for both dollars and euros.  Victory has a currency converter so that people who deposit either currency can play on any table, which I personally think is pretty cool.

Merge Gaming is going to acquire three new poker rooms on their network.  Sportsbook, Players Only, and Superbook.  These rooms are moving from the Cake Network to Merge.  This is great news for players on the Merge Network.  Sportsbook currently brings a decent amount of traffic and “fishy” players to the Cake Network. 

To combat the player loss there are 8 new rooms opening on the Cake Network to bring in new players.  Cake is one of the best promotional poker sites out there and I am happy to see they are prepared for theses rooms leaving their network.  There is a good chance as well some of the players who enjoyed the benefits of Cake’s promotions will simply sign up to a new room on the Cake Network when the change is made.  Only time will tell, that time appears to be mid-April 2010. 

This would definitely be a good time to jump on one of the already established poker rooms on the Merge Network since they are sure to see an increase in their player base in April 2010.  The biggest player with the best sign up bonus is currently Carbon Poker.  Carbon poker offers 30% rakeback with a 150% sign up bonus up to $1,000.  The next best sign up bonus is Aced Poker with 100% up to $500 and 30% rakeback.  Trailing is Poker Nordica with 100% up to $200 and 30% rakeback.  Some of these rooms also offer monthly rake races with Carbon usually paying out the most.  Be sure to look at our monthly rakeback promotions as well as previous month’s races when selecting a room on the Merge Network.

If you are looking to earn some extra cash on top of your rakeback deal I highly recommend Red Star Poker.  There is hardly any competition whatsoever in their monthly $23,000 Rake Race.  Red Star Poker operates on the Cake Poker Network so there is plenty

of action at any given time, particularly at low-stakes.  Unfortunately if you already have a rakeback account on the Cake Poker Network you will not be able to open a new rakeback account with Red Star Poker.  New Red Star Poker players recieve a 110% sign up bonus up to $600 and 33% rakeback!  There have been a ridiculous amount of empty spots available at every tier, every month.  You can view last months table here as well as the current table here.  If you want to take advantage of a Rake Race with little competition and put some extra money in your pocket every month you should Sign Up for Red Star Poker Rakeback!

There are a wide variety of skills that are essential for successful poker playing. Usually, players think of these in terms of strategy, card handling and manipulating opponents. However, one of the most crucial skills for potentially winning players to master is the art and science of bankroll management.

A player’s bankroll determines how much and how far they can go because their funds are their point of access into games. Managing a bankroll effectively is one ways that players become long lasting, winning players who know how to invest their money as well as their skill into poker games.

Setting Your Bankroll Limits

The first step of effective poker bankroll management is setting limits. Poker bankrolls are not usually just limited by how much cash a player has on hand. Bankrolls are more appropriately determined as a budgeted part of a person’s wider financial life. In order to set poker bankroll limits, a player must take into account what his overall life requires in terms of weekly, monthly and annual income and expenses.

Poker hobbyists are those who play poker as a side business to make extra cash or more recreationally. For these players, the poker bankroll falls under a separate category on your monthly budget, like entertainment. It is a limited amount, and can be an “occasional” percentage that is designated to the poker hobby rather than other forms of entertainment. Usually these players seek to break even or come out just ahead, so that the winnings of recreational poker fund the hobby without making a big dent in the rest of the budget. Budgeting a percentage or using only winnings are two methods of setting bankroll limits.

Professional players who earn more than half their wages from playing poker are typically in a different league. Their bankrolls are more distinctly affected by their winnings, which is their main source of income. Becoming a professional poker player requires a long-term financial strategy allowing a player to consistently make money to invest in many hours of poker each week.  Professional players frequently have much higher bankrolls than casual players, but pros manage their bankrolls too. With much more money invested in poker games, one management plan is determining which amounts are directed to each kind of game, such as ring games, tournaments, sit’n’gos or Rush Poker games.

Dividing Your Bankroll Between Games

Once you have determined your overall bankroll “budget,” and where the money is coming from, you then have to factor in how to effectively divide that total among the games you intend to play within your established time frame. There are a couple helpful tips for accomplishing this task.

Use your favorite tracking software to determine your total number of hands or games per week. Also note what your typical stakes and buy-ins are for those games. If you set a weekly bankroll budget, then take your total number of games and divide your bankroll total between this game average. This gives you an approximate quantity of money to use for each game.

Next, calculate the different quantities of games you can play for higher buy-ins and lower buy-ins. You give yourself weekly flexibility for playing more or less games by strategically choosing your game limits within your weekly bankroll. Remember your totals. Only take with you to the cardroom the quantity you set aside for each game. This will keep you from overspending. For online cardrooms, this is more challenging but a wise player will exercise the self-control necessary to work within his limits.

If a player is working on a monthly budget, they can use the tracking software to determine the month’s average hands and divide accordingly. Otherwise, take the weekly totals and multiply by four for a monthly average. Players who play every week may find it more effective to break down a monthly budget into a weekly amount. Spending is more controlled at the smaller levels. However, accounting for special events, tournaments or tours that occur less frequently is more easily accomplished within a monthly bankroll budget because it allows for greater planning ahead.

Successful Poker Players Are Financially Responsible

Overall, for a poker player to be successful and winning over a long time frame, that player needs to learn the disciplines of being financially responsible. The best players know that poker bankroll management is an art that requires flexibility to accommodate unforeseen opportunities. Yet it is also a science of precise calculation and careful distribution of resources.

Poker players who intend to make their game a regular part of their life need a system that will sustain their money over multiple series of games. Financial responsibility means a player will take care of the overall necessities of their life in a viable way while still affording resources for poker. Expenses, including poker spending, are carefully balanced to not exceed income.

When a player manages their poker bankroll effectively, they set themselves up for a successful tenure as a winning poker player. Poker bankroll management is the effective process of distributing the allocated resources for poker while limiting the stakes of play or quantity of games to stay within “budget” as a savvy player.

Cake Poker Weekly Gold Card Race

Cake Poker a promotional powerhouse has introduced its newest gold card promotion, the weekly race!  Now Cake players can battle it out weekly for their share of $10,000.  The top place finisher will get $1,000.  Bigger gold cards are worth more points and have some bonus multipliers for being in the big blind, etc…  Cake still hands out $52,000 per year to the player that completes a full deck of gold cards or holds the most unique cards at the end of the year or after all the 5,000,000 cards have been given out whichever comes first.  To earn gold cards all you have to do is play at cake poker.  When a certain amount of rake has been reached on each table a card is randomly handed out.  The card is drawn by the random number generator and whoever holds the card the generator pulls up when the hand started will be given the gold card.  If no player holds that card a new card is drawn. 

The bigger cards such as are very rare and are less likely to be given out because there are less of them available.  Since a card must be given out when the table reaches a specific amount of rake, I believe that heads up no limit hold em players have an advantage when it comes to collecting the bigger more rare gold cards.  If you are playing heads up and one player holds while the other player holds  when the gold card is dealt someone is getting a gold card of or greater.  I believe this gives heads up players a clear edge on the field when it comes to collecting the more valuable gold cards.

Gold Cards as well as Gold Chips can be used to satellite into Cake Poker’s biggest tournaments including the monthly $250,000 Guarenteed!  If you want to take advantage of these great promotions Sign Up for Cake Poker Rakeback!

Choosing starting hands wisely is just as important in pot limit omaha as it is in any other form of poker.  You could even make the argument that it’s more important because it’s so easy to go astray.  When you start with four cards it can be easy to justify calling a raise or playing out of position thinking you will hit more often.  This is not a wise way to play your cards especially if you are a PLO novice.  As you play more and more omaha you will see how important it is to either hold the nuts or have a draw to it.  This goes out the window heads up but right now we are focusing on 5+ handed. 

Generally you’re going to want 3-4 cards that go together one way or another.  Ultimately 4 is best but we can’t fold every hand.  An example of a very powerful hand would be suited or double suited like shown.  This hand is a monster because we are often going to flop one of the following:  a big straight or straight draw, top set, and decent flush draws.  You always have to play a flush draw safely that is not the nut flush draw however on a flop of with a straight and queen high flush draw we can happily jam our chips in the middle as quickly as possible.  If we are up against the nut-flush draw we have more than enough straight outs to get all our chips in the middle especially when the  overpair might even be in the lead against their holding.  If we’re up against a set that’s good for us as well, we are a favorite and all the chips are going to get in the middle with us having the advantage.  Sometimes that board might pair on the turn and you’ll regret sticking it in but with that big of a hand on that big of a flop you have to get it all in if possible.  Another important reason to get it in is that scare cards that complete your hand will cause that set to fold on the river.

Race situations are very common so playing hands that give you the higher end of straight draws and the top set on the board will give you a long term advantage and result in you getting it in on boards where you dominate more often.  I can not even begin to tell you how many times I have seen set over set and flush over flush.  You need to play hands that will result in the best hand out there when you hit.  Hitting a set of 3’s in omaha is not a favorable hand that can easily be dominated by a bigger set.  That’s not to say you should fold but in a multi-way pot on a board you are going to have a world of problems.  The 8,9 can be out there, a set of 10’s or J’s as well as a big straight and flush draw can all leave you wondering where you went wrong when you stack off.  We are looking for top set, nut-flush, and nut-straight draws particularly in multi-way pots.

Having runs of cards such as the or have big time value in PLO.  Flopping straights, straight draws, and wraps are all very common and we have the best chance at hitting one of these hands by having 3-4 straight cards.  It’s ok to have gaps in your straight cards preferably at the end, for example:  or   While hands like are very playable we are going to see some flops that give us the bottom end of straight draws which can be dominated by bigger and better straight draws.  On flops like these we have to give up immediately:    As well if we hit a 6 high flush draw and nothing else with that hand we can’t fold quick enough.

Even though we are looking for nut-flush draws we should not play every suited ace we see.  Hands like have little value outside of that suited Ace.  You are not going to flop a nut-flush draw often enough to justify calling raises out of position with hands like that.  Keep in mind you are not always going to complete that nut-flush either. 

Playing x,x is very difficult in omaha.  People generally loose a lot of money with these hands when they miss the top set.  If you are going to play aces aggressively pre-flop it is good to have something to go with it such as a nut-flush draw or a couple of big cards like or   This will lead to you hitting the flop harder and being more willing to proceed on most flops.  If you can get close to half your stack in pre-flop by re-potting a raise and a couple callers then get the pot heads up you can stick it in on any flop.  If your beat, your beat.  You do not want to raise and get 1/8th or less of your chips in preflop and proceed to stack off against a flopped set.  When you flop the nut-flush draw with your aces against a set your atleast off to the races slightly behind about 60/40 or maybe 2/1 depending on how many off your flush outs they may or may not be holding.

Hopefully this article has given you a little bit of insight as to what starting hands should consist of and what type of flops we are looking for.

Two of the biggest names in poker have acquired new sponsorship deals.  Tom “durrrr” Dwan has joined Team Full Tilt and Tony Guoga better known as Tony G has joined the Party Poker Team.

It comes with little surprise the online phenom Tom Dwan was named the newest member of Team Full Tilt.  Tom has been a staple in the highest of high stakes games on FTP for quite some time now.  Tom has also become a regular in TV cash games making his brand all the more marketable.  Up and coming poker young guns look up to the success that durrrr has had at such a young age.  He is a fearless competitor that mixes it up with the best in the world. 

Tony G joining Team Party may have been foreshadowed by Tony G Poker merging with Noble Poker.  Noble Poker is owned by Partygaming Plc.  Bringing on a big name like Tony G shows that Party Poker is looking to regain some of the popularity they had in their heyday when their grip on the US market was HUGE.  Party Poker is also offering some nice promotions these days for non US Players including monthly big money points chases.

Sega?  A poker room?  It doesn’t sound right but it’s true.  Sega has launched a poker room.  It seems that everyone is jumping on the poker bandwagon these days and for good reason.  Poker is a big time business earning big time revenues.  Why wouldn’t a company like Sega that has always been Nintendo’s underling take first stab.  Sega is currently operating on the iPoker network so they will have little influence at this point on the rooms software but you have to feel they are getting their feet wet for something bigger.  How sweet would it be to play poker through a video game console on your TV?  How about a remote control specifically for poker that makes bouncing from table to table quicker and more effective than you can possibly be with a mouse?  It seems to me the sky is the limit for Sega or any other major gaming company.  The problem for Sega is that if they have any success whatsoever you would have to think that Nintendo and everyone else will do the same but better as usual.  However, maybe Nintendo or Sony wouldn’t touch poker because “gambling” might tarnish their already respectable image.  Sega has nothing to loose at this point.  I do not see any new Sega gaming console revolutionizing the market like the Nintendo Wii did.  Perhaps a new system specifically for poker that is not limited to Sega’s room but can support any poker room such as Full Tilt, etc…  Now this console would sell and sell in a big way.  I don’t think Sega will ever compete with the big gaming consoles like they sort of did in the past.  Lets face it they were always a step behind but they could be huge if they take this to the next level. 

Unfortunately Sega is not supporting US and Japan based players at this point in time, I feel they are not offering anything special yet anyways but big things are to come!