The easiest way to understand how implied odds work is with an example.  Let’s consider a small fixed limit Texas Holdem game.  At these tables, normally most of the players are deep-stacked, a few dollars here represent an excellent bankroll. Due to the limited nature of the betting, all the skill-related twists like bluffs and putting pressure on your opponents are not as affective.

Schooling runs rampant and basic tight-aggressive play gains in value, because – provided your opponents do make mistakes – it is the only way to squeeze money out of these tables.  Tight aggressive play is based on the exploitation of the implied odds.

Whenever you’re well bankrolled, you can afford to take a look at a number of flops – after thorough starting hand selection, of course – in order to see whether or not you’ll be hit by them, without serious consequences towards the size of your stack.  Given the fact that your hand is around 70% made on the flop, you’ll be able to decide what to do once there.

If you do get hit and you believe that your hand is the best hand at the table, your objective becomes, getting as many chips as possible, into the pot.  If the flop misses you, you fold.  This is the exploitation of implied odds.  As long as you can afford to see your flops, you give yourself a chance to hit a good hand and you’re able to play in a healthy, tight-aggressive way.

To understand the mechanisms behind the implied odds, let’s take a closer look at how set mining works.  In most cash games it pays to play small pocket pairs, at least right up to the flop.  Seeing a flop on such a starting hand gives players the possibility to hit a set on the flop.  A set is an extremely solid hand especially in short handed games, one that is bound to earn you a nice pot, even more so because two thirds of it are concealed in your pocket, rendering its reading quite impossible.  You will lose money on the flops that do not bring you a set, but the theory goes that the few times you do catch your trips you’ll more than make up for those losses.

Depending on the type of players you’re faced with, you should play your pocket pairs either passively or aggressively.  If you’re faced with a bunch of rocks, you’ll be able to limp along and see your flops cheap, thus minimizing your losses.  If you’re faced with an aggressive bunch however, putting in a pre-flop raise might give you more opportunities to win the hand than limping along.  In this case, limping is bound to cost you a lot of money too, so you might as well use that money to put pressure on your opponents.

Regardless of how you decide to exploit your implied odds, you should know that this is what solid poker strategy is based upon.  Don’t forget to sign up for a rakeback deal too, as it will further minimize the losses you incur on the fruitless flops that you see.

In fact, rakeback will give your EV a tiny boost on every hand that you play, regardless of whether it turns out to be a winning or a losing one.

The technique of exploiting the implied odds is never enough by itself.  You also need to read your opponents and decide how to approach your implied odds based on those reads.

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So did you have a good time on new years eve?  I sure did, we had a lot of fun!

Actually maybe too much fun, because the first day of 2009 has slipped on by and I have suddenly realised that it is the 2nd of January 2009.  Am not sure what happened to the first day of the year, somehow it seemed to be a shorter day than most!

Today, I want to start off the new year, with some very simple advice that may sound like basic, beginner’s advice to some of you, but I have seen so many people get this wrong and make these mistakes.

To play really good seven card stud always remember the specific odds for seven card stud and what the probability of winning is with your particular starting hand.  Often, people who normally play a lot of Texas Holdem poker will not change and apply the odds for Seven Card Stud poker, when they are playing seven card stud.  Do your homework on how good your starting hand is.

Let me give you an example: if you have a starting hand with a pair lower than tens but a good kicker, is this a good hand when playing seven card stud?  Well, you had better find out before you start throwing your money into the pot!

Also, watch out for players that are not playing according to the odds, it could be an opportunity for exploitation.

I am not sure if it is the same for you.  But during the last week of the year everyone seems to want to know what you are doing for New Year’s Eve.  Where’s the party?  Where will you be celebrating this year?  And each year it seems like you have to do something better than the year before, or something different.

When I was a little younger (a few years back now…) we partied hard and made sure we were at the best party in town.  The life and soul of the party….You had to tell everyone what you did, where you went and just how great it was.

But now that I am mellowing, I am quite happy to have a quieter New Year’s Eve.  So this year we will be inviting a few friends around, we’ll setup a poker table and play a few hands – why not?

I cant think of any better way of seeing in the start of 2009.  It’s going to be a great year and I want to make sure it starts off on the right note.  Heh, there is nothing wrong with playing poker with your friends – you get to know them on a different level.  In fact its a very good way of getting to know your friends and their true characters.  Nothing like the competitive spirit to bring it out.

If you happen to be on your own for New Year’s Eve then get on the internet and find your favourite poker room to play in.

I wish you all the best things for 2009, may it be a fantastic year for you!

You probably remember that back when you were a beginner at online poker, you found it extremely difficult to move from the play-money tables to the real-money tables.  Sure, the opposition was much more focused and play was generally much tighter.  But there was something else that made the task of getting money out of the setup much more difficult; the rake.  Regardless of how you twisted and squirmed, you just couldn’t get rid of the rake which ate into your meager winnings… ruthlessly, hand after hand.  If you were a marginally losing player, chances are it was because of the rake.  This is why signing up for rakeback is such a great idea, but more on that later.

What exactly is the rake though, how is it calculated and who pays it?  The rake is a small fee you pay on every real money hand that you play in a poker room.  The poker room itself incurs a series of operating costs, since all the features offered – the action, money transfer procedures and other such services do not come for free.  On top of that, the online poker room is also a business, one that needs to generate a profit.

Although the rake on every hand is a minute amount, at the end of the day, when you add up all the raked hands that players have played, you’ll be amazed by the result.  Likewise, you’ll also be amazed by the quantity of money you personally pay out in the form of rake, over any significant period of time, especially if you are an active player.

Some rookies may think – since the rake is a percentage of the pot – it is only the winner who pays it, but that is wrong.  Every player who contributes money to the pot pays some rake.   Why?  Because the pot is an independent entity at the table, it doesn’t belong to the winner until after it’s been raked.  Every player who put money into it has equity in this independent entity, therefore, they will also have an equity in the rake which is paid.

A relatively simple example to illustrate how it is in fact not the winner who pays the rake alone, is to consider two tight players who have a poker session every evening.  They pay a certain amount of rake, which the floor-master collects at the end of the day.   One day, a third player joins them who is a beginner and is a loose-aggressive type.  This guy loses all his roll to the two seasoned veterans, and at the end of the day when the floor-master collects the rake he is surprised that there’s much more money than usual.

The loose-aggressive style of the third player gave the rake a huge boost, even though he failed to win a single hand.   The amount of generated rake does not depend on who generates it, it depends on the style of play, and more precisely on the amount of money that goes into the pot.

In conclusion: rest assured, if you play real money poker, you pay rake and you need a rakeback deal.   A good rakeback deal (like full tilt rakeback) gives you a high percentage of your rake back, thus taking a bite out of the biggest enemy of the beginner real-money player.

Sign up for a rakeback deal today, regardless of whether you’re a small-stakes beginner or a high-stakes pro and redirect your rake cash flow towards your own bankroll.

In Texas hold’em, memory is not the most crucial element. You can look at your hole cards as often as you need to, and the rest of the exposed cards remain in the middle of the table for all to see during the length of the hand. In seven card stud, the situation is a little bit different.

What Upcards to Remember in Seven Card Stud

The simple answer is all of them. You don’t have to remember the upcards that are still in play, but you can never be sure when a hand will be folded. You will need to have committed the cards to memory before this happens.

Why It’s Important to Remember the Upcards in Seven Card Stud

In stud, a tremendous amount of information is provided by the upcards. If many cards of a certain suit are out, it will be hard for you to make a flush in that suit.

If an opponent represents having more than one of a certain card, it is important to know how many of that type of card have already appeared in the hands of others. If a card is out but has been folded and you fail to remember it, you may be giving a big edge to your opponents.

How to Remember the Upcards in Seven Card Stud

It may be easier if you pair the ranks and suits separately. For example, if the following cards come out: 7c 8h 3h 7d Kc Ks 2h, it might be easier for you to remember one two, one three, two sevens, one eight, two kings, two clubs, three hearts, one spade and one diamond.

You may also choose to watch carefully and focus only on the cards that you expect are about to be folded, while not worrying about the upcards of players who seem clearly interested in remaining in the hand. You will have to learn what works for you. However, if you cannot remember upcards that have been folded in some way, your opponents will have a serious advantage over you.

When the Texas Hold’em wave swept the world a decade back, it brought quite a few casualties with it. One of the games that unfortunately ended up on a distant shore, with only a few loyal players visiting it, was my beloved Seven-Card Stud.

Luckily, more and more people are getting fed up with “holdem this” and “holdem that” and want to try this century-old game that started the first poker boom a 100 years or so back.

Stud is played in the WSOP, plays an essential role in popular mixed-games like H.O.R.S.E and there are nowadays many active Stud players on the Net. Therefore, Stud is no longer just a historic game. Its future actually looks brighter than it has for many years.

In this blog, I will keep you updated on the world of Stud including Seven-Card, Five-Card, Razz, Eight-or-Better, Mississippi Stud and more. I’ll provide strategy tips, post results from stud tournaments around the world and give you my view of the game; what it was, what it has become, and naturally, how you should do to beat your opponents.