What this really mean is that someone’s introducing a stacked deck into play. This can advantage both players and casinos. Casinos? Yes, Casinos.

Player Advantage
In home games, usually the dealer button is rotated around the table along with the cards and everybody takes turns at dealing. Your sly friend has another deck sitting under the table that has been stacked to his advantage and he gives this the old switch-a-roo to get it up on the table. He then gives the deck a quick false shuffle, a few false cuts and deals the cards. Low n Behold, he’s got pocket Aces, and takes down the pot.

Casino Advantage
When I say “casino” here, I mean the term in the loosest sense possible. Any poker games that are collecting rake are casinos here, including your beloved poker rooms, Bodog.com and PokerStars.com.
I am not saying that all casinos do it (though, I am quite sure there are a few that do), but it is quite feasible, especially in online poker rooms. Basically, cold-decking in this sense would not be favorable to any one player in particular. Rather, it would give a couple of players significantly strong hands, in order to promote aggressive betting (in fact, in online poker, it’d be feasible for the cards to be dealt to the most statistically-proven aggressive players) in order to build a larger pot. As you all know, a larger pot = a larger rake. (For those that are still not following, a larger rake = more money for the casinos!)

I could go on and on at how people can rip you off at pocker… But then this site wouldn’t be about poker, it’d be about card manipulation!

Lets start with an example:

You have AJs in late position, a full 2/4 NL game. There are 3 limpers, you raise to 15, and only one player calls. The flop comes out 2, 7, 10. Rags. Your opponent has checked, and now you’ve got two options:

• Check in turn, and show weakness.
• Throw out a continuation bet. Most of the time you’ll take the pot down.

You need to understand that this continuation bet does not mean you should start a betting war every, single time that you raise at Poker Stars. It’s sole purpose is to steal as many pots as possible, whilst masking hand-strength. If someone re-raises, and you haven’t hit, run!

In this article, I will just teach you quite an easy way to calculate poker odds at the table. This will give you a fairly accurate idea of what your odds will be. The downside to this shortcut is that it is not 100% accurate, but it is very, very close to the real odds if you were to calculate them the long(er) way.

You may be asking why knowing your odds is so important. This is simple really, by knowing your chances of completing your hand and winning the pot, this will give you good information so that you can make informed decisions about when to call, and in the long run make you a consistent winner.

As an example, if you were to gamble at FullTiltPoker on something as simple as a flip of a coin, you would be expecting 1:1 on your money as there is a 50% chance of it being either heads or tails. If you played this all night you should break even. Now for arguments sake somebody offered you 2:1 on your money based on a coin flip this would make it a very profitable thing to play. In theory you should lose half of the flips – but the ones that you do win, you will be making 2:1 on your money and, in the long run, come out in front.

The first thing you will need to know when calculating the chances of making your hand are your outs. What cards will make my hand?

For instance if you are holding two hearts, and the flop also contains to hearts you are drawing to a flush with two cards still to come. Now there are still 9 hearts in the deck that can complete the flush for you.

In the short cut method I am about to teach you consider each of your outs to be worth 2% then multiply that by how many cards are still to come. So for your flush draw you calculation should be as follows

9 outs X 2% = 18% 18% X two cards to come = 36%

As you can see you have about a 36% (By calculating the long way you will find your odds are 35%, so you can see the shortcut is very close) chance of making your hand, which means you will make it about 1/3 of the times you play it.

Does this mean I should only call one in every three times I flop a flush draw?

No, the answer to that question is you should call based on the pot odds.

Pot odds sound scary but are very simple, they are merely just the money in the pot (plus the bet) in ratio to how much it will cost you to call.

For instance, if there is $40 in the pot and your opponent bets $10 the pot odds are 5:1, which means you will need to win the hand 1 out of every 6 times to break even.

Now you know that you are going to make your flush and win the pot 1 out of every 3 times, so in the long run you will make a tidy profit if your opponent offers you odds like this.

So as you can see if the pot odds are greater than the odds of making your hand you should call as in the long run this is profitable. But if the pot odds are shorter than your hand odds you should generally fold.

Of course this is just a quick guide so that you know how to calculate poker odds for your own use. You will need to consider many more aspects of the hand at Poker Stars.com before deciding whether to call, fold or raise. Things such as “implied odds” need to be taken into account, and of course the obvious things such as if your opponent is bluffing.

I will go into more depth about pot odds and ‘implied odds’ in the coming weeks, but for now I want you to get just a general idea about how to use pot odds and give you the basic calculation to assist you in your game play.

Keep updated for more articles about pot odds and ‘implied odds” in the coming weeks

Basically, here’s a list of hands that a person might slow-play:

• They’ve flopped their set.
• They’ve nailed their flush.
• They’ve nailed their straight.
• They’ve flopped two pair.
• They’ve booked up.

When slow playing, you must note what is actually on the board! I’ve seen far too many players bust their hand by slow playing their set, or their two pair, when there’s a flush draw on the board. Observe. Check to see if there are hands that have a reasonable chance of beating you:

• Is there a flush draw out there?
• A straight draw?
• If you’ve flopped a flush holding two low cards, you’ve got to keep in mind that other people are still drawing to a higher flush.

You must not overvalue your hand; it’s great you’ve flopped your set with your pocket pair, but you cannot slow play it if there’s a potential flush out there. It’s just not safe betting. You’re letting people draw cheaply – is your hand strong enough?

A great time to slow-play:

• You’ve flopped the nuts (or a very strong hand.. i.e. 7d, 7s or Kd, Kh)
• There are minimal draws on the board. (3d, 7h, Ks)
• The pot is small.
• You want your opponents to catch up a bit. You’re so far ahead that it is very unlikely they will catch up completely.

Hopefully another player at Full Tilt Poker has caught a pair of kings and will call you down, but you want to check this one out and let others improve their hands so that they bet and they think they’re ahead.

A bad time to slow-play:

• You’ve flopped your set. (Hole cards: 2s, 2d)
• The flop holds 2 suited cards, and they’re also connected. (7d, 8d, 2h)
• The pot is large, and there are still 4 other players in it.

What will happen in the latter example is that people have great odds to call with their drawing hands, so you must be careful even when betting aggressively. Just don’t slow play!

Muppet Rule #1: Don’t overvalue your hand!

Ever been in a friendly free game of poker with a few friends and thought “well stuff it, its only a freepoker game what do I have to lose by calling this raise with 2 5 off suit?”

I’ll tell you exactly what you have to lose, and more importantly what you don’t get the chance to gain.

First and foremost, if you are serious about improving the way you play poker online and refining your poker skills, play every game, ever set of cards, as you would if there were real stakes on the line. Although there may not be an immediate reward for playing your hand well, like a nice juicy cash pot; in the bigger picture the reward can be much greater, it will be experience, and that isn’t something you can win or buy!

What better way to improve your game than when there is no money on the line? For this reason free games can be invaluable. Free games of poker are a great way to fine tune your skills and try to make plays you wouldn’t other wise have the guts to make.

Knowledge is another great asset that you stand to gain from playing in free games. You can work on learning to read your opponents at no cost to your hip pocket.

When I first started playing at PokerStars.de I focused only on what cards I had in my hand and the cards on the board. After a while I realized that poker was much, much more than just what cards I had, its also what my opponent is holding (which can be even more important than the cards that you hold in your own hand). So I figured I had to learn how to read players and put them on a hand.

Now how did I go about learning these skills that I needed? Free tournaments of course! I would go down to one or two free poker tournaments per week and do something that may seem a bit strange at first but ended up teaching me a lot. I would play my hands as I usually would, but every fourth or fifth I would play my hand without looking at my cards! I would be playing the other players in the pot, if I thought someone was bluffing I would call them regardless of my two faceless cards, if I put them on a genuine hand I would fold. This cost me no real money to do, and it allowed me to see if my read was correct when the other player was forced to open his hand. By doing this I gained valuable skills that I will have with me for the rest of my life.

Secondly have you heard the saying “you play as you train”? well think of free games as your training! if you fool around calling on long odds, entering pots with hands you usually wouldn’t, and in general just playing poor poker you will teach yourself bad habits and these could be the difference of coming out a winner or a looser when it counts!

Poker is a game that can never be mastered, and there is always something to learn no matter how many years you have been playing at PokerStar.de!

So don’t dismiss a free game as just a waste of time, and just fool around. Instead see them as a great opportunity to improve your game, fine tune your skills and perhaps make a great play or two that you other wise wouldn’t have the courage to make.

The same principles can apply in poker. I’ve seen far too many player fall in love with their hole cards, then be completely oblivious to what their opponents could be holding. Metaphorically speaking, this is the same as being oblivious to a partner that could be cheating on you.

You just don’t do it.

Recently, I was playing poker at Full Tilt Poker against an opponent who did exactly the thing that I am trying to warn you against. Now this opponent was no amateur, they were quite an experienced poker player and perhaps shouldn’t have made the mistake that they did, but this just goes to show that anyone can fall in love with their cards.

This opponent was lucky enough to be dealt what we all hope for: Aces in the hole. He was on big blind, and when most players limped in, he raised. I was on the button with 10 jack of hearts, called his raise, as did one other player before me. Up until this point, my opponent has played his hand flawlessly, he raised to narrow the field of players that could beat him as well as stopping players with weaker cards seeing the flop cheaply.

So now there are three players in the pot and we see the flop, eight of clubs, nine of hearts and ace of hearts. BANG just like seeing the woman of his dreams my opponent was in love, he had flopped his set of aces. But – as you can see – I had flopped a flush draw and also an open ended strait draw.

Straight away, he bet into the pot and the other player folded. With so many outs, it made the odds a no-brainer to call. The turn was a lousy 3 of spades, no help to me. Not to worry though, as I still had 15 outs left in the deck. Immediately he bet again, not enough to make the odds too long for me to call though, it seems as though he was trying to keep me in the pot to extract as much money from me as possible. I call, and on the river falls the five of hearts.

Completely oblivious to the third heart that had just fallen, he bet into me with no fear and I immediately raised him to not give him anytime to think. Without too much thought process, he pushes all in. I call, knowing I have him dominated. With much authority and pride, he shows me his pretty set of aces. I calmly show him my flush and the look on his face – I will never forget, it was as if he had just caught his partner in the act of cheating. He got up from his seat and walked off without saying a word.

In hindsight, he will know he made a mistake, but in the heat of the moment and the love for the “monster” he had just been dealt, his eyes were wide shut and didn’t even consider what I could be holding. He isn’t the first player to make this mistake on Full Tilt, and certainly won’t be the last. We have all made this mistake and when we look back on it we say “DAMN, how did I not know that he had made a straight”. A quick re-assessment of our hand and what our opponents could be calling with can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Just like a relationship that’s gone sour, its best to release your hand when its obvious that you have been outrun, no matter how much love you had for the cards when they were first dealt!