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.