The Multi Player Poker Online Survival Guide

I’ve written many articles on poker but one of the best ways to learn is to play. You can read free poker article all day but when you’re out there with the other players implementing what you learned can be a whole different story. Some players may feel scared to lose chips or just plan feel a certain move is dumb or “only for donkeys”.

By keeping a constant eye on the tables and playing poker regularly is the best way of staying ahead of your opponents. Making poker moves away from your comfort zone, such as bluffing and blind stealing is something I would recommend you continue over time to prove to yourself that they do pay off. Trying these moves a few times a week just won’t cut it, you’ll lose 2 or 3 times and just give up on that major part of poker all together.

Many poker players say that if you cant see the donk at the table, then you are it. It can also be said that if your looking around a table and everyone looks like a donkey you probably don’t know how to play poker. Some may be offended by that, but by winning is what determines who the best players are not what hand they had pre flop.

The thing to remember when playing poker is that everybody takes a beat at the tables. Nobody is invincible and it happens to the best of us, but the long term result is what matters. Keep at it, play the free poker games as much as you can then try to move up to money games, if it doesn’t work out don’t despair. Go back to a free poker site game and do it again… and again.

You may have been playing free poker and heard the word ‘donk’ used. If you have wondered what this actually means, then here goes: a donk is a bad poker player who makes bad poker moves and is a weak player’. Donk is a shortened term for donkey. Traditionally, donk is a term that has a negative connotation to describe sub par playing techniques. Believe it or not, some people are actually proud to be the donk at a table. Does the term donk describe a player with a different style of play that is becoming more acceptable in poker?

Now that we have defined the traditional negative paradigm of donk, let’s explore a new emerging view of being a donk.

A player may be called a donk if they have won a big pot with a poor hand. If someone calls a big preflop raise with small connectors or suited cards to catch a flush or a straight, is this poor play? Or, can this simply been seen as an opportunist? Although statisticians confirm that playing superior cards in poker will yield greater profits, the donk often confirms that playing inferior cards can result in surprising profits.

The creed of donks is that every hand should be viewed as an opportunistic adventure. Donks often call large preflop raises with low cards hoping the board will result in low cards to produce a winning hand. After all, why should paint cards get all the respect? Donks consider themselves entrepreneurs in the world of poker by employing every hole card dealt to them with equal opportunity to be put into play. Basically, donks are hopeless optimists believing that every hand will result in a win and the more hands played the greater the odds of winning.

So what differentiates a donk player from a winning donk player, since donks will play every hand fast and loose? The difference is that a sly donk will play a hand in good position and know when to fold when the board materializes. If the flop is favourable and offers a glimmer of hope, a chase will ensue. If there is absolutely no hope in the flop then a clever donk will fold. A wise donk isn’t simply a poor player, but someone who finds opportunity in playing a wide variety of cards.

Whatever type of player you are playing against, its worth checking out free poker sites to see if you can improve your game and find a way to beat them.

Many free online poker players and way too many higher stake players have a bad habit called “chasing”. A bad habit that you will recognise as having analogies in many human pursuits not just poker, especially money and relationship ones!

The definition of chasing is, to play a hand and take the chance of your cards hitting the board, that is to say, play a hand when you are behind.

I always say that I would chase down a parked car, just in the hopes I hit. This could be considered a negative thing, because people just think “Oh, they are just a bad player”.

Some poker players to try to get the chaser out of the game by betting higher in the hope that they fold, however, there are always some chasers who are determined to stay in and will call.

Many players chase a hand because they are pot committed. This is when they have invested many chips into the hand and chase hoping to hit their prayer, regardless of the consequences.

They say people who do this have a lack of discipline, which means no patience, and in a rush to play the hand. Admittedly, chasing is a bad habit to have when playing poker. It is something that can work out beneficial from time to time, but certainly not something that needs to be played day in day out. With that said I must say that playing a 4/6 versus an AK is thrilling especially when it hits.

If you are a self confessed chaser and find it difficult to stop, try to do it less often by knowing when its time to fold. By chasing too often you can put yourself in a vulnerable position and end up losing. Pick your chase carefully if you want to win.

Whether or not you are a chaser, you will need to learn as much as you can about pot odds when playing any type of poker. This is especially important if you want to move up in the poker world from free online poker to high stakes poker and start to win some big money.

bounty poker tournaments have been around for a while now and are one of the most exciting no limit holdem games to play. The bounties originate from each player’s buy-in and in many cases as much as half of it will be placed on your head as a bounty if someone takes you out in the game. We’re now also seeing bounty poker on free poker sites where the site play or virtual currency is used instead.

In this game it is even more important to build your chip lead early in the game as playing bounty games differ some what from standard no limit poker in that it is usually played in an even more aggressive, looser fashion due to the bounties placed on everyone’s head.

You can play this game in a couple of different ways.

The first one is to play your usual game, keeping your eyes on the final prize with any bounties you might earn being a bonus. There are more risks than usual in doing this because of the bounty hunters calling with very average hands anytime a low stacked player is in the hand and possibly hitting an unexpected hand but if you have built that early chip lead you should still be in a good position even if you do lose with your premium cards.

The other way of playing would be to be aggressive when playing and build your chip stack by taking out as many bounties as possible. Playing this way is more risky, but you will still get to the end of the game.

I use a combination of them both, building my chip stack early in the game while most of the players left still have a decent stack, then, if during this process I have taken enough bounties to cover my buy-in I become much more aggressive, keeping in mind that i want to make it to my final destination which is to win or at least place in the prize pool.

If you are new to playing bounty poker, or have never played before, then its worth having a go online to see if it suits you. Try one of the free poker sites first if you’re not sure and play with no or very little risk before you go for it.

Whether you are new to playing in free poker tournaments or not, you may wonder how to play your chip stacks. If so, then read this guide which will help you decide how to play the stacks from short to big.

We start off by playing with short stacks. If you are a short stack play as tight as possible but play aggressive. By this I mean do not just call push all in or raise and force your opponents to a decision. Just by stealing blinds and antes (when applicable) you can prolong your tournament life as a short stack. There is no advantage to trying to trap as a short stack seeing you are risking a lot more than your opponents.

Now we look at the average stack. This is where you should play your average game. Avoid changing your game as you have enough chips to be able to keep on the table. This is a good position to be in, as you have plenty of chips to keep the bigger stacks on their toes, and also plenty to cover the small stacks. Its worth trying to steal the blinds at this level.

Finally the big stack. There are two ways to approach this. You can play extremely tight and wait for smaller stacks to be eliminated to improve your position. By this I mean playing only strong starting hands. The other approach is to be aggressive and force others into tournament life or death decisions. You can get away by moving with marginal hands in this case.

However, remember that playing aggressive can cause you to let others back into the tournament by doubling them up with marginal hands. So play wisely if you go this route.

By knowing how to play each type of chip stack should enable you to stay in the game longer and hopefully start winning some tournaments and increase your winnings.

Hopefully my tips will be of benefit to you. Its worth playing as many free poker tournaments to perfect your skills when playing online poker.

If poker is all about playing for the fun of it and playing free poker, then learning the more detailed side of poker may not be something you are overly interested in. But if you harbour any ambition to play poker to win money then pay attention, this is essential!.

The first thing I felt I needed to know was how pot odds actually worked in order to make the most money I could!

So, what exactly does ‘pot odds’ mean? Well, this is the cash that is in the pot and the difference between what you need to contribute to stay in the game. For example, if there is $80 in the pot, and then another player bets $8, then the pot now has $88. You will now need to pay $8 to call, which means that the pot odds are 11:1.. If your chance of having the best hand is at least one out of twelve, you should call.

Pot odds also apply to draws. For instance, suppose you have a draw to the nut flush with one card left to come. In this case, you are about a 4:1 underdog to make your flush.

If it costs you $8 to call the bet, then there must be about $32 in the pot (including the most recent bet) to make your call correct.

Knowing pot odds, and correctly using them, can greatly increase your chances of not only winning hands, but also a chance to increase your bankroll.

The other side of pot odds that we need to look at are ‘implied odds’. These are trying to figure out what the future pot is going to be, how many other people are playing and also what the final pot could contain.

Whether you are playing free poker or pay poker then you will need to practice learning about pot odds if you want to be as good as the pro’s. Professional players have spent years practicing and calculating odds to be as good as they are.

An example of implied odds are as followed: First of all are you talking about the flop or turn? Four outs on the flop is about 17% and on the turn about 9 per cent.

So if you are getting 5/1 or better on the flop you should call if you are getting 10/1 or better on the turn you should also call.

You must remember to consider the implied odds and how big the pot may grow, so you might not need exactly the right odds at the time of calling to justify the call if you know the pot will get bigger.

A good rule of thumb on a draw is to have a least 2 other opponents in (this is for an opened straight or a 4 flush).

Most new players will be clueless on the subject, but there is plenty of good sites and books to learn the more advanced ways of thinking and playing, and its always best to be prepared before getting in over your head against advanced players.

Learning just a few methods of playing, will increase your chances of graduating from free poker games for fun to playing high stakes long into the future.

For starters ‘free online poker‘ of course this means you’re not sitting in a casino but in the comfort of your own home on your computer.

A free online poker tournament is a set number of seats which allows from 100-500 people to join. The free poker type is, as the name says, free to enter, no buy in is required. Others you’ll find do charge an entry fee (buy in) such tournaments tend to have larger cash prizes due to the inherent higher risk.

NoPayPoker for example offers totally free poker tournaments with upto $500 dollars in cash prizes and NO risk of loss as a result of their innovative advertiser supported free poker system.

Poker Tournaments, as opposed to simple single session poker games have placement payouts. So let’s say you and 130 other people join a $500 tournament. The prize money is paid on the top 40 places, paid according to the position finish in.

When free online poker tournaments starts you are automatically sat at a table with 9 other people. Everyone is giving the same number of chips to start which is anywhere from $1200 or $3000.

Tips for Free Online Poker Tournaments

1) In a tournament I play more carefully than I would if I were playing a normal poker game, and will even try to bluff a couple of times.

2) In a poker tournament, when you are out, you are out! Blinds increase every few minutes or number of hands. Try to build up a good stack at every opportunity.

3) Some people will only play the blind hands, that means unless they get high pocket pair they will fold until it’s there turn to post blinds. If you are not lucky enough to have a brilliant hand, then give bluffing a go to help build your stack.

4) Blinds are constantly going up in a tournament which leads to the pressure of needing to build your stack - Sometimes you have to take a risk. Often the best way is to play by your gut, sometimes going all in and putting another player all in could turn out to be your lucky hand or final hand at the table.

5) Reaching the final table with a big stack of chips is always the poker players dream come true. If I have a large chip stack I will sometimes kick back and let the low stackers take each other out of the game unless I am giving good cards. Putting more pressure on a player is easier in a tournament then in regular poker tables as unless you win you cannot re-buy and come back to the tournament.

Online Poker Tournaments Summary

Tournaments certainly take more patience and time than if playing a normal hold’em game.

Remember, poker is a card game but essentially a numbers game - a game of probability and statistics, you can’t win them all but if you play you’ll win enough to make consistent profits and have a great time!

free online poker tournaments are a fun way to play poker without losing your own money and are also great places to learn and practice your game.

With the popularity of poker in today’s society, and a growing interest in free online poker, there is a plethora of information to help one better themselves and become more educated to the game. Many books are available, written by professional poker players, enabling you to develop the skills you need to improve your game.

There are also plenty of available tools which are designed to help you, such as software to analyze other players style of play and online odds calculators. These tools are there to help you improve your skills, but there are also some pragmatic tips to help you survive the tables.

One useful tip is to reduce the number of hands played. This is a common mistake in poker. Playing too many hands depletes your bankroll rapidly by buying into a hand only to fold when the flop is unfavourable. Even worse, is the money lost in chasing and get tired to the hand because you caught a part of the flop. This style of play is detrimental to your bankroll and can cost you dearly. The dangers of playing too many hands are greater than the rewards.

Another common mistake when playing poker, is to over value a big pair. If you are holding a big pair and there is an over card on the board, then the best option is to fold. Over valuing and continuing to call bets with a big pair can only deplete you bankroll. If someone is betting, and your big pair is not materializing, you are probably beat. Identifying that big pairs don’t always win, will help you to fold and hold onto your bankroll. Not committing your whole stack to a big pair in poker is wise and smart free online poker play.

Thirdly, another tip is to recognize tilting symptoms and get away from the game. Tilting is an emotional disturbance or upset and can lead to disastrous results when incurred. Recognizing tilting symptoms is the first step. The next step is to recover from tilting by getting up and walk away from the game and take a break. This break will allow you to recover from the tilt and remove the emotions. It will also save you from making additional mistakes that will have a negative impact on your bankroll. Understanding that there is “no justice” in poker will help you overcome bad beats and prevent you from tilting.

The tips I have listed may seem like common sense, but many poker players do not adhere to them. By taking note of these tips, you will manage to hold onto your bankroll and increase your profit. There are hundreds of tips available and ways to hone yourself into becoming a great poker player, but understanding the common sense strategies will help you avoid the negative impact on your bankroll.

Playing free online poker games is a brilliant way to learn how to play poker and make real money without any risk to your own finances.

Take note of these tips and you should be beating the other players in no time!