The strange thing about poker is if you always make smart decisions, you’ll become very predictable for your opponents. That’s why you should sometimes make a misleading play. You should bluff or check a big hand to your opponent. The goal is to make your opponent make a bad decision against your hand. If you do this randomly, you’ll become far less predictable, but the real art of misleading the other players is to always have a plan. You have to know why you’re making an unorthodox play.

For example: you’re holding AK suited and raised pre-flop, 1 player called out of position. The flop comes A47 rainbow, your opponent checks to you. Normally you would bet here, but this time you check behind. Why? You don’t want to give your hand away and plan to bet any turn. The turn is a J, your opponent checks to you, you bet 2/3 of pot. He calls. The river is a K, your opponent bets 2/3 of pot, you go all-in, he calls with AK. Your plan worked. No way he could have put you on AK or AJ after you checked the flop.

Don’t make plays just because you can, make them because you think it’s the best option at that time. Always have a plan when you’re mixing up your play, don’t do it just because you can.

For those of you who don’t know what Black Friday means, check out this story.

If your as shocked as I am about what happened on last Friday (15th April 2011) these guidelines might help you come to terms with what happened, get informed and make right decisions for the days coming ahead:

Breath. Don’t panic. Although what has happened might be a major setback for your poker career, don’t despair. You will get your money back. Remember it are the CEO’s that are being arrested, not the players.

Reflect on what you were doing before this all happened. Ask yourself the following questions: Am I happy with what I’m doing, is poker really the career I wan’t to pursue, or am I just playing poker because it’s an ‘easy’ solution? For some of us Black Friday might actually be a wake-up call and the perfect opportunity to change our lives around. If your heart isn’t totally invested in poker, this might be a great time to get out of it.

If you still feel like being a professional poker player is the right path for you, you got two options: turn into a live pro or start investigating the smaller pokersites such as the Cake Network and Bodog. Mind you however, after what happened last Friday, there is no guarantee that the smaller sites will stick around for a long time. The last thing you want is having your bankroll locked-up yet again.

So, before you do anything THINK about what you’re going to do. Look at Black Friday at an opportunity to reflect on your game and poker career and take rational decisions from there.

Good luck to all of you.

This site is all about poker strategies and tips, but all of this will do you no good if you aren’t tilt-proof. Going on tilt is by far the most devastating leak in anyone’s game. All your fancy plays and well thought out strategies won’t do you any good when tilt kicks in.

Here are some tips that may prevent you from going on tilt:

- Start understanding poker as game of decision making: the donk might have sucked out on you this time, hitting his gutshot, but you know he made a mistake by paying far too much for that draw. In the long run your good decision making will result in a profit.

- Choose a more low-variance line of play. Instead of going for the check-raise with top pair in a multiway pot, hoping to build a big one, just bet it out and show strength. More likely then not (this also depends on the texture of the board of course) everyone will fold and there will be no suck outs on later streets, hence less stress.

- And if you do feel like you’re on tilt, just leave the game. A classic example of this is found while playing the deal or no deal game, knowing when to quit while you are ahead and pulling out when you get that not so lucky feeling is the difference between success and failure. There’s no shame in quitting when you’re not in your element. Live to fight another day, don’t bust your bankroll just because the donkey sucked out on the river. No river, no fish.

No matter how good a poker player you are, if you can’t handle money in a proper fashion, making money out of poker will be a very hard thing to do. A poker player needs a decent bankroll, and it’s paramount to protect that roll at all times. Here are some quick and easy guidelines to follow on how to manage your poker bankroll:

How many buy-ins do you need to play in a game? Well, the general rule of thumb is the following:

NL Hold’em Cash: 20 buy-ins
Limit Hold’em Cash: 300 Big Bets
Tournaments: 40 buy-ins

So, for example, if you want to sit down in a 1/2$ NL Hold’em cash game, you’ll need 4000$ in the bank. A player who’s playing professionally obviously needs an even bigger roll. While playing your cash game, playing live roulette at the same time might be a highly affective way for cash to drip into your bankroll.

Just follow this simple rule, don’t tilt, and your roll will be fine!

Like in any other poker game, one of the most important aspects of a winning 7 card stud strategy is starting hand selection. Being selective will make the difference between winning or loosing. In this article we’ll talk about the best starting hands and provide a few tips on how to play them.

Three of a kind

The best hand you can start with in 7 card stud poker. This is a hand you can slowplay, trying to trap your opponents. Although this doesn’t mean you should play them passivelly. It’s always a good idea to build a pot when you have a big hand, but it’s save to play it a bit slower if you think this will result bigger value on a later street.

Tens or better wired

A wired pair is when both of the paired cards are concealed. These kind of hands can be very powerful, but don’t get seduced in to playing every wired pair, play only the best ones. With this kind of hand, it’s usually the right move to play it agressive throughout the whole hand.

Jacks or better split

A split pair is when one of the paired cards is concealed and the other is showing.
To make up for the weakness of one card showing you’ll need a bigger pair then when the pair is wired. You should play your good pairs agressively, trying to knock players out. But beware, if you pair your door card and a player sticks with you, you might be in big trouble.

Three high cards to a flush

If you’re planning on drawing to a flush, make sure it’s a high one. Low ranking flush cards are worthless in 7 card stud. First of all, you might make your flush but someone can easily make a bigger one. And second, because your cards are low you can’t really pick up any other powerful hand.

Three high cards to a straight

The same problems as with low flush cards apply for low straight cards too. Look for a hand that contains tens through aces.

A good hand selection is a crucial part in any solid poker stategy, and in No-Limit Hold’em that ain’t no different. The following chart offers a good overview of which hands are profitable to play at what position.



But keep in mind: although an important part of a poker strategy, hand selection isn’t everything. The most important decisions in poker are made on later streets. Especially in NLHE cash games post-flop play greatly outways pre-flop play.

But still, and I can’t stress this enough, good hand selection is a crucial part of a winning poker strategy.