Why You Must Learn To Play Hold Em On Free Poker Sites Before You Risk Money

I can imagine a free online poker player on http://www.nopaypoker.com/ who, after watching some episodes of the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour, suddenly gets ‘inspired’ and tries out one of the big advertised poker sites.

As luck would have it he gets dealt 4-4 and, just like a pro he just saw moves all-in early position in the belief that it is a great move. Of course it is sometimes a good play, but not always.

In most cases our newly enthused free poker player will proceed to lose a lot of money in a short period of time to the money site poker sharks.

Instead may I suggest that the best thing to do is to practice these "pro" plays on free poker, so that mistakes can be learned from? He can play free poker games get knocked out, learn from it and still have hundreds of dollars left.

Playing Free Poker Games is also a great way to build a bankroll, if you don’t have one, and if you play long enough. And if you play long enough you will learn from your mistakes and from the mistakes of others – and it wouldn’t be so costly. Sure, you can try playing your Q-7 offsuit and then flop a Q-5-3 and then get called by A-Q later or K-K – that is when you realize your Q-7 is trash, and you ought not play it again.

Of course, you can watch someone else play the Q-7. He may flop Q-5-3, as above, or even A-J-7. Now you know you have him, because you have K-K (in the first flop) or A-K, or J-J (in the second). Now you remember the times when you win, and when you recall these times every time a similar situation arises, you will win the pot. If you play free poker long enough you will see what these situations are and then be able to characterize them like this: On the first flop, it may be ‘Playing Overpairs’; on the second, it may be ‘Playing Top Pair’ or ‘Playing a Set’.

There is, however, a downfall if you are not careful: Suppose you play 3-2 off and you win. You might think 3-2 off is a good hand, and then suddenly you rush to play real money poker. You lose. You think, “How would 3-2 be harpooned in this board! This just won last week!”

If you are observant enough for a long time in playing free poker you might notice plenty of players doing the same (playing bad hands) and they win. You can watch if they are winning consistently or not, and oftentimes they don’t. Someone plays 7-2, the wins; someone plays it again later, then loses.When you play free poker games it may not yet teach you that A-10 is sometimes dangerous to play after a raise because it might be a better Ace, but it teaches you what hands to avoid and what to play.

In free poker you just don’t play any hand. You must play as if it is really big money at stake. Play only good hands as if your big money bankroll depended on it. If you keep playing bad starting hands without the ability to represent them (and representing hands is not so practical in free poker because many free poker players play just any hand, bet when they hit the Flop and throw when they don’t) you will be a bad player sooner.

Regarding this, here is another point, indeed this is the key point that will win you a lot of money:

Most free poker players are beginners or reckless fun seekers so when you take the time to master free poker then you will know how to blast them into orbit

Then you get to real money and you will meet the novice and maniac TV watchers who got a bit too inspired and guess what happens next!

That's right, your hard earned free poker skills will trash them and they will "donate" their stacks to you time and time again!. And as for the really good players, it’s so easy – avoid them unless you have the nuts.

This article brought to you by NoPayPOKER. The world's only free online poker site where you win real cash on every game. NoPayPOKER.com is the ideal place for new poker players to learn to play hold em without risking any money at all. Experienced poker players can test out new techniques and rack up lots of free poker cash!

Free Poker Guide to When You Should Fold a Set

Recently I played a 6 player Sit N Go free poker site where my belief in the power of the set was seriously knocked; by set I mean a hand that is made from a pocket pair and board card of th same rank, e.g., 5-5 and the flop shows 5-8-K

More so, it was a sharp free online poker lesson on maturity. After this experience I know a lot more about when to fold what seems like a good set or hand.

A set can be really strong, for example, you have 6-6 and the flop comes A-10-6. In this situation, against A-x (excepting A-10), you are 99-1 favorite, and if another player happens to have A-K or A-Q, you will see all the problems he will face later when he goes all in or calls your all-in.

But at this Sit and Go, there were 6 six players (blinds 10-20, average stack 1500), I was first to go. I had 4c-4s. I raised to 50. The button called, as well as the blinds.

The flop came 4h-6h-7d. Small blind checked; before me, big blind bet 200.

I asked myself, "How could he make such a fat bet (pot-sized)?". These players in previous hands always play any old hand that drops onto their screens. They may have A-6 or A-7, but also 8-7 or even 8-5. Or any two Hearts. They never know when to fold or not. And you don't know when your made Two-Pair will be crushed.

So I figured that the power of my Set was gravely reduced, so I just called in the hope that the Board would pair during the Turn, but the main reason is because there are were dangerous cards that can fall.

A Three, a Five or an Eight will render my Set unplayable, unless everyone checks; a Heart will jeopardize my chances.

Usually, I am inclined to move all-in with a Set, but there might be a stray Five. They are willing to call all-ins, even with draws. Even with gutshot draws. They do it all day.

And I can't banish them out of a draw by power-play. What if all of them call?

The turn came 3d. There are two Flush draws on the Board and one to a Straight.

Small blind checks; the Big Blind moved all-in (he had 1400 chips, I had 1200).

On already a pot of 2200, although I am getting 2-to-1 on a call all-in (or possibly 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 if the two others call), I folded. The Button called; Small Blind folded.

They showed the hands I guessed they had: an Ad-5c, and Qh-Jh. Either way, I will be smothered if I called too; the chance of the Board pairing is just 25% (10 out of 40) and I would be getting only 3-to-1. Not only I escaped devastating math; I also escaped the onslaught of made hands and big draws.

The point of this is: If a good hand doesn't stay good, then it's no longer good. Its power is just history and if you keep with it your chip stack is likely to be history too!

This article is by NoPayPOKER, the perfect online poker site for beginners to learn to play online poker without risking money. For experienced poker players the attraction is practice, the ability to fine tune their game and test out new techniques in a totally no risk zone while grinding away to accumulate free poker cash.

Free Poker Site Guide to How to Win Double or Nothing Poker Tournaments from NoPayPOKER.com

In standard cash tournaments or free poker tournaments typically the top 8-10% make the money and even then only a handful make more than twice their buy in.

The vast majority of the cash goes to those near to the final table. In double or nothing tournaments, half the participants win twice the buy-in.

For example, if there are 100 players with a buy in of $10 the top 50 win $20, the bottom 50 get nothing.

In this learn to play poker online free lesson lets assume 100 players in a double or nothing poker tournament.

At the start, when blinds are small, play unambitious, steady poker.

Do the mainstream moves. Move all-in with A-A or K-K and hope someone with a weaker hand will call. If you have a Pair, hope to flop a Set. Build your stack size by 50% or more.

You can also try "small-ball" poker. While the blinds are low, call with hands that have great pot odds when involved in multi-player pots, like with 8-7, A-5 suited.

If you hit hard on the Flop, say Straight or Flush, knock out someone or double up someone who has a Pair. If you don't hit, fold, and wait for the time you will hit.

This is how you should play until you're about 5 away from the money places Now there are 55 players left. And lets say you are 55th, what's the best thing to do?

As 50th gets the same as 1st place (double the buy in) there's no point going all in unless the blinds are killing you.

Play conservatively. What typically happens is that the players from 40th down get impatient and go all in because the blinds are eating them, too.

When they get impatient they'll kill themselves off fast, patience, in poker, always wins in the end!

Now lets say your are 48th of 55 and get A-A, what to do, move all in or call and all in?

In a normal poker tournament, if top 30 win money and you are 27th with 33 players left, you can move all-in with A-A because your callers will be A-K, A-Q or K-K and you are a significant favorite. You can move up from 27th to say, 15th to 20th, and you can win more money later.

But in double or nothing, ask yourself: What if you have 9000 chips and win $10 when you could win $10 with just 4500 chips? It will be unnecessary. 50th place is the same as any place above it.

What about calling an all-in with someone who has 3000 chips? Will you do it? It depends on what player we are, but I would not do it.

The bigger stacks can collaborate on knocking the smaller ones out. Stay out of the way.

If you are on top, say you have five times your starting stack or better, consider it your responsibility to knock the smaller stacks out if you have the opportunity.

Don't overdo it, however. In this instance, I would rather snooze away from the table and let the more adventurous big stacks eat the smaller ones.

If you have, say, just thrice your starting stack, don't call all-ins unless you have nuts or a strong hand close to nuts. I did this once in a Flop with A-5-8 and I have A-10. I have 3200 chips (about 1.5 times my starting stack) and someone moved all-in his 920 chips.

One player between us folded (If he called he may have A-x, and I don't know what x is, so if we get involved in a pot he might push me and I wouldn't be able to continue with my A-10) so I called. The player who moved all-in bluffed with 9-2.

If you are on top, you can just wait. If you are near the bottom, just have more patience and don't knock yourself out like the others who have less patience do. Because once you reach 50th place in our 100-person tournament, you will feel just like a champion.

To read more articles like this and learn to play poker free check out the NoPayPOKER.com blog which is full of free poker tournaments tips and lessons as well as offering a no risk free poker games site where you can put theory into practice.

The NoPayPOKER Free Online Poker Site Secrets of Playing AA and KK Preflop

Regardless of whether you play entry level free texas holdem poker or high stakes Vegas A-A and K-K are the top two hands preflop that will get your heart thumping with excitement every (rare) time they appear. With A-A or K-K, the chance of a smaller Pair winning until the river is just roughly 20%, and unpaired hands offer lesser hope. If you have K-K, an A-X (Ace with any card) only has a 25% to 30% chance of winning, and this is only usually if they hit the Ace.

With A-A or K-K the voice we always hear is ‘raise, raise, raise’. Yes, raise heavily it tells you, after all the only hands who are willing to call us will be ones like AK and AQ, plus a heavy raise will scare off the suited connectors that might be able to crack us later if they hit straights or flushes. Raise, especially from a late position, and reraise any raises. Then your hope, if you reraise, is that your opponents are intending to reraise again with a weaker hand which they think is the favorite, like for example A-K or A-Q, and so you can set them all-in, or move all-in yourself.

But there are times when it pays to be more subtle than just doing the raise and reraise thing. An example is this: Suppose you have A-A in early position, and you raise. All the rest fold. How many times have you been frustrated when you raise or move all-in with those big Pairs preflop only to bait no customers?

So in early position, if that’s what you intend to do – if you want to catch them spilling many of their chips into your stack preflop, then just call, then wish – wish! - that ones of them raises so you can reraise. If they fold, well you'll at least get a few more chips than if you went for it right away and scared them off. If they call, then already we're past preflop play...

But this “beyond preflop play” is very significant, in that there is a big difference between A-A or K-K. Usually you should be willing to move all-in preflop more often with K-K than A-A. Why?

Because if you have A-A and the flop comes, say, Q-7-3 or K-9-5, those willing to square off with you are those with, like, A-Q, K-Q or K-J. They are willing to feed their chips to you with these hands, and you can call their big bets or all-ins. Your A-A is still the best hand, while they think their large (big but not big enough) Pair is strong, and that hand’s already a significant underdog. A-A is good for trapping as well as for speeding. You can move all-in with it preflop, of course, but as above you can trap with it if you feel like it.

But if you have K-K, the flop might fall A-7-2, and…your K-K, no matter how golden, is now drawing almost dead. There are two Kings left, and anyone who might be there with you may bet large because he has an Ace. (Is he likely to bet with a single Seven?) So you have to fold your K-K, no matter how hard it is for you to get so good a hand and then banish it a few moments later. Or just call, call, call.

So, preflop, you may have to play K-K more strongly than you would play your A-A. It’s not as good as trapping as A-A. Ideally, if you move all-in with K-K, an A-X will call you, or a small pocket Pair and you’ll be an approximately 75-25 favorite. (You’re not likely to be called with K-X or Q-X because they’re not so strong enough for calling all-ins.) If you get called with A-X, they still have to catch the Ace. They're the ones taking the risk, and not you. If you play K-K slowly, and they ride their A-X with you on the Flop, and they caught the Ace, it's a thousandfold different from having to catch it. They have no risks to take.

There might be times where there is A-A versus K-K, but these times are rare. And if you're the one with the K-K, you might even fold it. Say two of you in a preflop hand are the chip leaders in a tournament, and you reraise his early-position raise, then all of a sudden he pushes you all-in! You might put him on A-A, and you fold, very, very smartly and sickly. Or he's a player whom you know who will not raise that LARGE an amount unless he has A-A. But these times are rare, remember.

So, excepting some special considerations that must be remembered with the K-K, playing A-A and K-K preflop is just almost identical.

This article is by NoPayPOKER, the perfect free poker site for beginners to learn to play poker online without risking money. For experienced poker players the attraction is practice, the ability to fine tune their game and test out new techniques in a totally no risk zone while collecting free poker cash.