Playing Suited Connectors Online.

Suited connectors are a very interesting starting hand in no limit Texas hold’em. If you are able to make a hand with them, it will likely be a very strong hand, and one that your opponent will have difficulty putting you on. On the other hand, if suited connectors are played too loosely they can end up costing you a lot of money and crippling your poker bankroll.

What are suited connectors?

Suited connectors are defined as hole cards that are the same suit and are come one after the other in rank. Some examples would be 8-9 of diamonds and 3-4 of spades. The reason suited connectors are appealing hole cards is because they have the best chance of hitting a flush or a straight out of all possible hole cards. In fact, suited connectors between 4-5 and 10-J have the greatest chance of drawing to a strong hand because they have the most possible straights associated with them. Suited cards that are two apart are also considered suited connectors, but these kind of suited connectors have a smaller chance of hitting a straight because the middle card must be hit to have a shot at the straight.

When should I play suited connectors?

Seeing a cheap multi-way flop is the ideal situation for suited connectors. Your hope is to hit the flop and have your small investment pre-flop turn into a large return, but if you miss the flop you can still get out of the hand very cheaply. Limping from early position with suited connectors is risky because there are still many players left to act who can raise the pot to more than you are willing to pay. In late position there is a smaller chance that someone left to act may raise the pot, so you can limp in or call a small raise with more confidence that this investment will actually allow you to see the flop.
Don’t play suited connectors with the short stack.

You will miss the flop the majority of the times you play suited connectors and for this reason you want to ensure that when you do hit the monster you get value out of it, and you can only get value if you have chips to bet. For this reason you should only call with your suited connectors if you have at least 20 times as many chips as you invested, so that you have enough chips to win a big pot if you hit the flop.

How do I get value from my suited connectors?

Suited connectors are often one of the best hands for getting value after you make a strong hand. Your opponents will often find it hard to put your on a hand, especially if you hit the straight. If you hit a straight you can build the pot slowly because the chances of a player drawing out on you are slim. On the other hand if you hit a flush with low suited connectors your hand is vulnerable to a higher flush if another card of the same suit hits. For this reason you should bet out aggressively to try to eliminate any hands could improve past yours and hope that other strong hands which are drawing dead, such as top pair, come along with you.

If you haven’t quite hit your hand yet, but are 4 to a flush or a straight then your table position and your opponents tendencies will greatly affect how you should play the hand. If you are facing a raise you should calculate your outs and determine your pot odds and implied odds when decided whether to call. If it is an aggressive player making the raise you should be more likely to call because if you do manage to hit one of your cards you will likely be able to increase the pot on the turn or river. If the pot was checked to you when you are on the draw you have the option to see the free card or try to take the pot down right away with a semi-bluff. You should consider the tendencies of your opponents when making this decision.

Summary

In conclusion suited connectors have the potential to become a monster hand that is hard for your opponents to detect. However, the majority of the time you will miss the flop and for this reason you want to ensure that when you do play suited connectors, you have a large enough chip stack to win a big pot the times that you do hit. You have to take into account whether you hit a straight or a flush, as well as your table position and opponent’s tendencies when you are trying to gain value from your suited connectors.

You should try to play some suited connectors at PKR by signing up with a PKR Bonus Code.

Five Tips on Beating Full Tilt Poker Super Turbo SnG’s!

Full Tilt’s super turbo sit and go’s can be very profitable if you know how to play them properly and take advantage of their structure.  In these tournaments players start with 300 chips and the blinds raise every 3 minutes, starting at 15/30.  They are definitely not your standard SnG tournament especially in regards to stacks and blind levels, however, these types of tournaments can be a very good value for a couple of reasons:

1. The fee is lower than usual. Since the tournaments are so fast the buy-in to fee ratio is better than you can usually find at Full Tilt.  For example a $7 super turbo has a $0.50 fee, which is a little bit lower than the usual 10%.
2. A lot of players think the super turbo’s are lotteries. Players who are on tilt will often play the super turbo’s because they think they are all about luck.  These players come in with chips blazing and will usually push with any medium to good hand.

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Here are 5 tips to make a profit playing the Full Tilt super turbo sit and go’s.

1. All in or fold - Starting with only 10 times the big blind means that you should be pushing your entire stack whenever you want to raise.  If you double up early you can stop pushing, but once the blinds catch up and you are within 10 times the big blind, you should go back to pushing in your entire stack.  Slow playing doesn’t work in this structure because if people have a hand they will call an all in just as easily as they would a minimum raise.  The one time I could see a call being profitable would be if you have a huge hand, like AA or KK in the small blind and there have been no callers in front of you.  A lot of the time the big blind would push on you and you can hopefully double up.

2. Play fairly tight for the first few levels - Since you only start with 10 times the big blind you want to pick when you push.  The tournaments start with 9 players, which lets you see a lot of hands before you should feel the need to move in.  If players start going out and the blinds are coming faster and growing steadily you will have to change the range of hands you will push with.  A common mistake in these super turbo’s is feeling the need to push early and often.   Be patient for the first couple levels and only go all-in with a quality hand.

3. Use your position - Position is extremely important in this format.  A push from the button with no callers in front of you is often made with a hand that would have been an easy fold under the gun.  For example, (K,J) in early position is an easy fold 9-handed, but an easy push from the button.

4. Less Players = Wider Range - As players start to bust out of the tournament your range of hands to push with should grow.  The less players that are left, the greater the chance that your hand is the best at the table.  For example, 9-handed (A,7) doesn’t look so great, but 5-handed it becomes a much stronger hand.

5. Avoid the bubble -This is easier said than done, but 4^th place finishes are just depressing.  If the tournament is down to 5 or 6 players and you have the least chips, this is the time to start to push from good positions with a wider range of hands and hope for the best.  Don’t let yourself blind out.  6^th place awards the same prize money as 4^th.

You can find Full Tilt super turbo sit and go’s with buy-ins anywhere from $3.50 to $70.  Full Tilt offers a great first deposit poker bonus of up to $600.  Take advantage of the bonus with the referral code “PAWSUB989” when signing up for an account at FullTiltPoker.com.

Bodog Poker Launches New “Instant Play” Mac Software!

With the rise of Mac computers in households all around the world has come an ever-increasingly larger demand for gambling sites that are compatible with the new Mac OS’s.  Poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were quick to jump on this popular market demographic, as were online casinos such as Club USA and Rushmore.  Well you can add yet another big name powerhouse to the limited family of Mac-friendly gambling websites - Bodog!

The revamped software has attracted thousands of new players to the site, and with the addition of this “instant play” version available for Mac users, there is no doubt that this will trend will continue on for a long time to come.  Right now, new players can open an account and start playing at Bodog right through their web browser, and instantly open up all the available cash games right at their fingertips.

The only downside that I can see so far is that if you want to play tournaments or sit-and-go’s, you will actually have to use some type of PC Emulator or Boot Camp program on your Mac in order to get the full download version of the Bodog software.  Right now, the “Instant Play” browser version of the Bodog client only allows for cash game play at the moment.  It’s a work in process, but at least it’s definitely a start for one of the most recognized names in the online poker room business.

Check out our other top-rated Mac Poker Rooms.

Bet365 Boosts February Poker Cash Race To $1 Million!

Hit up the Million Dollar Mission at Bet365 Poker for exclusive prizes in February!

February 2009 is already looking like one of the best months of the year with the “iPoker Raked Hand Cash Race.” But the online poker site at Bet365 Poker - which also has the top-rated Bet365 Sportsbook in its personal gaming arsenal - have now ensured the action will be increased even more from a $400,000 prize pool to an astounding $1,000,000 in their Million Dollar Mission.

As it stands, the top 300 players on the raked hand leaderboard for the month of February are guaranteed a share of that insane prize pool, with the winning players who rack up their raked hands at Bet365’s tables will pocket an additional 250% MORE than if they played at any other iPoker poker room!  If a Bet365 player shows up at the top of the leaderboard, that player’s winnings will jump from $20,000 to a sick $50,000.

Players will find that racking up those hands for the Million Dollar Mission will be even more rewarding with additional Millionth Hand Jackpots. For every one millionth hand dealt from the start of February, participating players at the table will share a jackpot of up to SIX DIMES ($6k for you gambling noobies), just for being apart of the monumentail hand.

Yea, there’s more to read BUT you can always download Bet365 Poker if you get too bored…

Even better, the winner of every Millionth Hand will also have a chance of another prize in the Jackpot Hand Super Showdown. The player with the highest winning hand of all the jackpot winners will pocket a High Hand bonus of $30,000. But don’t worry if your hand isn’t high up the hand ranking list, as there’s also a $20,000 Low Hand Bonus for the winner of the lowest ranked jackpot hand too!

Kate Laverick, Poker Marketing Manager at bet365, commented, “The February Raked Hand Cash Race promises to deliver the most exciting competition and rewarding prizes for online poker this month. And with the additional $600,000 waiting to be won at bet365, poker fans would be crazy to play at any other iPoker site in case they miss out on the extra cash.”

New players can also give their bankroll a boost with a 200% bonus added to their first deposit, up to a whopping $600 free, when they hit the poker tables at Bet365.

DoylesRoom Launching on Cake Poker Network This Weekend!

Return of Doyles Commences with Weekend Launch Party

This is a press release that was recently announced by the management over at Doyle’s Room Poker:

DoylesRoom.com today announced the worldwide launch of their online poker room on the Cake Poker Network. Since their launch in 2004, the Cake Poker Network has experienced exponential growth and now ranks in the top 3 networks that accept all players on a worldwide basis.

“We wanted to offer our players a rewarding place to play and the liquidity and integrity associated with the Cake Poker Network made this an easy choice for our new partnership.”, says Doyle Brunson ten-time WSOP Champion and the most storied and influential force in the world of poker.

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DoylesRoom is wasting no time in getting down to business on their new network. With doors open to all players from North America and across the globe, DoylesRoom will christen the action with a $5,000 Launch Party Freeroll at 5pm ET on Saturday, January 31st. Poker players won’t have much time to rest as exactly 24 hours later, DoylesRoom will host a $100,000 Guaranteed No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament with a reduced-fee buy-in of $150+$12 at 5pm on Sunday, February 1st. Visit www.DoylesRoom.com for details.

With this blockbuster move to the world’s hottest poker network, DoylesRoom is more committed than ever to poker players from every corner of the planet. Bigger guarantees, more players, and ironclad integrity and security backed by the most respected name in the gaming industry.

For more information about the only online poker room to proudly bear the legendary Doyle Brunson’s name and to download the software for free.

PlayersOnly Offers Sick Super Bowl Promo!

PlayersOnly.com has announced a pretty sweet deal for this year’s Super Bowl at their online sportsbook - they’re giving bettors a chance to multiply their winning bet by 10x by playing a special poker tournament after the Super Bowl. This is huge for everyone - even $50 wins can quickly turn into $500 pay-days if you take advantage of this offer. Also, there is even an opportunity for players to recoup their losing Super Bowl bets. Here are all the details:

For starters, you simply need to place a spread wager on the Super Bowl game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then, on Super Bowl Sunday, just kick back, relax, and enjoy the game with your boys.

Your real work comes on Monday - you’ll have to log onto the PlayersOnly.com poker room and register for the ‘Super Bowl - Win 10x Your Bet’ poker freeroll, which starts at 11:00 PM ET. Then, use your sick poker strategy skills to win the tournament (or at least place in the top 20 finishers). If you come in at least 20th place,  your winning OR losing bet will be affected. Here’s how the pay scale works out:

As you can see, if you take first place your winning bet will be multiplied by 10x (up to $1,000), or your losing bet will be returned (up to $1,000). This is a sweet deal!

Also, make sure to note that the Super Bowl poker tournament is free, so you really have no excuse for not making your Super Bowl bet this year at PlayersOnly.com.

Sign up at PlayersOnly via this link for a 10% bonus on your 1st deposit!

PlayersOnly.com is one of our favorite online sportsbooks, as they’ve been in business for over 10 years now and are one of the most trusted brands in the industry. Their brand now offers poker, casino, sports betting, and horse betting all from one platform. This is extremely convenient for multi-game players, as you’ll only need one account for all of your gambling needs.

PlayersOnly is also USA friendly, so you don’t have any worries about depositing from the United States. In fact, the site rewards all players for depositing, because PlayersOnly Promo Codes provide players with 10% bonuses on sportsbook, casino, and horse betting deposits, and 100% up to $650 bonuses on poker deposits (these bonuses apply to first time deposits only).

Poker Pro Vanessa Rousso Left Out of Upcoming SI Swimsuit Issue.

According to several media reports, Team PokerStars member Vanessa Rousso will be left out of the upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated’s 2009 swimsuit issue.  The team from SI had originally approached Rousso back in December to be apart of the coveted yearly issue, and had told her she had roughly three weeks to get in top form before the photo shoot.

“It was a good opportunity for me to see what kind of shape I could get myself into,” said Rousso, who said she skipped the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in order to concentrate on her workout schedule. “Sometimes as a poker player you end up just sitting on your butt all day so this was a nice change of pace. I used it as a motivating factor.”

However, after all the training and preparation, it looks as if the 5 hours Rousso spent shooting pictures for the spread went for for nothing, as it was later found out this month by Casino City Times that they would not be using her for the issue.  The team from CCT tried catching up with her on the tourney circuit in Mississippi but she didn’t give any definitive answers over why Sports Illustrated decided to go in another direction regarding her pictures.

In the past, SI’s swimsuit issue broke barriers by using various sports couples (ie Roger Clemens and his wife) in their spreads, as well as branching off by shooting individual athletes such as Serena and Venus Williams, as well as popular Indy Car racer Danica Patrick in last year’s issue.

Like SI?  Check out the top Sports Betting sites through our partners list on G101!

Vote For The Legalization of Online Poker TODAY - Vote for CHANGE Now.

Citizens of the world have been given an unprecedented opportunity to influence the actions of a President Elect’s first four years in office. President-Elect Barack Obama has launched a platform on ‘Change.gov’ where anyone can propose an action (or cause) for the new Presidential administration to take.

Once proposed, people can vote the cause up or down. The promise is that whichever causes get the most votes will become priorities for the incoming Obama administration.

One of the causes getting the most votes is to legalize and regulate online poker to help the economy through tax revenue from online poker sites.

As of this writing, the “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker” is hovering around the 5th - 10th place cause by number of votes.

We, the poker players of America, need every vote. And in this election, every vote counts. Vote for legalizing online poker at the citizensbreifingbook.change.org website.

The “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker” cause is summarized on the Change.org website by the following:

Let online poker players in the United States play legally and without fear of prosecution. Reform the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act to exempt poker, a game of skill, from the law. Boost the economy by letting American companies and Ameican players make money and pay taxes instead of sending online poker businesses offshore. Protect online poker players by regulating the industry to ensure that no one is ever cheated.

There are currently over 1,300 comments as well, most of which are in strong favor of legalizing online poker. There is no reason why a free American citizen cannot play their favorite online poker download for a couple of bucks in the privacy of their own home when it perfectly legal to go to the local card club or casino and do the exact same thing in person.

One comment that summarizes the whole of argument rather succinctly is made by “dboy”:

This is win/win, the government can stop attempting to limit the freedoms of americans to spend their time and money as they please, and in return gain billions per year in tax revenue.

Even if you are against poker, no one is forcing you to play, but you will benefit from the taxes collected from those who do.

Poker is a skill game that is NOT played against the house, so there are also many skilled americans who earn additional income from it and the government should not be trying to take that away.

We have to realize that gambling is never going away, and we must also realize that it is better to regulate it than to prohibit it (because prohibitions do not work).

If you care about American freedoms; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and all that jazz, then get over to the Change.org poll and vote Yes! for online poker.

New Season of “Best Damn Poker Show” Starts Today

Tonight marks the beginning of season two of the UlmitateBet’s “Best Damn Poker Show” on Fox Sports Net. The show stars Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth along with twenty-four amateur players. The show will begin at 9pm in all times zones in the US.

The purpose of the show is to figure out which poker pro can teach the twenty-four poker players the game of Texas Hold’em better. Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth have the tedious job of teaching these players the game and hopefully increasing their game play to that of champions.

During each episode players will be eliminated which will bring a major pressure element to the players competing on the show. The series will have seven episodes and will be on repeat at 11pm and 12:30 am for those who may miss the early viewing.

UltimateBet will also have exclusive footage located on their website for those who want a behind the scenes look. The poker room also held live auditions and qualifiers that gave winners spots on the show. The winner of the first season of the Best Damn Poker Show, Tracy Scala, was signed to the new Star Players Team so the winner of the second season has the potential to be signed as well.

Think UB Still Sucks?  Play at a TRUSTED Poker Site - like over at Aced Poker.

3 Common Mistakes New Poker Players Make.

Poker is a complex game of making the right decisions at the right times. Outside of making the actual mistakes in your decisions at the table on a hand by hand basis, there are things that you can do that are detrimental to both your bankroll, and your game. In the world of poker, there are really three major mistakes that new players make.

The first of these is that they start out playing way too many hands, the second would be playing far over their head in terms of limits, and the third mistake is that they far too often will try to get back even when having a losing session. Here’s a look at these three mistakes more in-depth, avoid these and you’ll be well on your way to giving yourself a chance of becoming and staying a winning player.

1. Playing Far Too Many Hands Before the Flop

This is the absolute most common mistake the new players make. Too often players want to play any hand with a face card, even unsuited hands. This is plain and simple a bad idea. When first starting out, you really only want to be playing the top 10% of hands. Play the obvious monsters like pocket aces, pocket kings, Ace King, and pocket queens. You can also experiment with playing pocket jacks and pocket tens as well as other medium pairs in certain situations. Master playing your monsters first, then you can open up your range and begin to exploit others’ bad play.

2. Playing Over Your Head, and Over Your Bankroll

One of the most important questions you can ask yourself as a poker player, and one that you need to be very honest with yourself about, is if you’re playing the correct limits for your skill level and your bankroll. Everyone wants to hit the big score, however you need to understand that the higher the limits, the better the opponents that you’re going to be facing. There is nothing wrong with taking a shot; however you need to be able to easily drop down without it impacting your ego. I would even recommend taking a session at the free tables, until you feel you are back to playing your best poker. Your bankroll is your poker life blood, and you need to preserve it and watch it grow steadily at all costs.

3. Attempting To Get Back Your Losses

New players will often start hot, and then hit a rough losing streak, the problem is they continue to play and play hoping that they will get back to a hot run. This is often not as easy as it sounds. It is very easy to get caught up in a bad run, and lose your whole bankroll. Avoid putting yourself in situations forcing you to make very tough decisions, and you won’t be faced with chasing your losses. It is much better to get up from the table and take a break and live to fight another day, than it is to continue to play poorly, tilt, and lose your whole bankroll in one session.

This article was contributed by one of my poker strategy authors at NoPokerFace.net.

We here at Gambling101 strive to bring some of the most solid and sound poker advice to new players and people just starting out their adventure into the game itself. This article is one such piece that can assist in this very process. I hope you enjoyed it!

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