Mastering The Art Of Slow Play In Poker

Hey Guys!

Sorry it's been a while since i've blogged :) Lots of stuff going on.
How was everyone in the merry month of March? The UK was a little wet and miserable but I soldiered through, came out with a cold though :( I hate them.

Got another article prepared, I have a few tbh so the next week or so will see more frequent updates. This one is about a special poker technique known as slow play. Hope you find it useful and remember if you need more help visit wassonline to learn to play poker

If you happen to acquire the expertise to slow play in poker, you will prove to be a formidable foe to your fellow players and will be able to cripple them adding their chip stacks to your own. The term slow playing denotes a style of poker playing, in which there is a display of weakness when in fact your hand after the flop is exceptionally strong. If the flop is an off suit 8-6-K and you hold pocket sixes, it gives you an excellent opportunity of slow play as the flop eliminates a flush draw and also makes straight draws highly unlikely.

With such a hand and flop, you let your opponents do the betting as you put on an act of silence, simply calling when they bet. Aggressive players are very much in the habit of betting when no one else does and the slow playing strategy will work best against such players. As you remain disciplined continuing your play acting, you can rest easy that no scare card will pop up on the turn and you can check-call again. Your time to raise or check raise comes when your opponent bets on the river. This presents an opportunity to extract some more chips from his pile.

However, this is not the proper strategy to pursue at every favorable flop or each time you happen to ‘flop’ a set. Your opponents are also intelligent players and would be doing their own analysis and betting as per their own strategies. When you raise pre-flop, they may become suspicious if you check later, although at a weak table you might just be able to get away with it. With strong players at the table you need to analyze the flop carefully and determine what sort of draws are possible on the existing board and what cards can your opponents hold that could result in those draws. You first need to watch out for flush draws which may be a possibility if there are two or three suited cards on the board. Then examine the possibilities of straight draws. Either of these draws makes slow playing undesirable. However, you can try it on a flop, and if a scare card comes upon the turn, you can examine if your set is still good and increase your speed.

When slow playing, you need not be scared because you only slow play when you have a monster hand! Therefore, just play cautiously keeping close watch for draws and let your opponents chase them. Slow playing may not be suitable against conservative players, but if there are super aggressive ones on the table, it may be the ideal style of poker for you.

Poker Table Selection

Hey Everyone!

Hope you had a good new year. Mine was a lot of fun and I was glad of some time off work, a good drink and some fun company. Saw the new year in with a house party, lots of fun and definitely better than cramming into a pub. We also got a few game sof poker going although it wasn't one of my better nights. We didn't finish completely but at the end we counted chips and I was 3rd. I had a lot of pocket pairs that turned intro nothing that night :(

Got another mini-article update ready for you all, this one is about the fine skill of choosing a poker table in a casino. It's only short so you should be able to read it now :) If you want more advice about playing poker for real in casinos then visit wassonline.com and check out their poker forum.

Poker is a very popular game in the U.S. that calls for skill and good luck, along with special tact to deal with both wins and loses. Poker became popular in the last two years. You can play poker by hiding the cards, either partially or completely, which are then gambled into a main pot. Ultimately, the player who gets the best cards or makes an uncalled bet is awarded that pot. It is one of the most fun-filled games where the thrill of bluffing makes the game all the more interesting.

It is believed that the world’s tenth best poker player is likely to lose money if he would play only with the nine better players. Selecting a poker table is one of the most difficult tasks, which is considered to be as important as selecting hands to play. Moreover, profits in poker usually come when opponents make mistakes. So, it really helps to select the tables with the weakest opponents, no matter what game and limits you plan to play. Some of the tips that can help you to select the right poker tables are as follows:

• Almost every online poker websites display statistics on the percentage of players who can see every flop in the main lobby area. Try to find for the tables that have the highest percentage. 35% and above is considered to be good. It is observed that strong players face considerably less flops.
• Online poker rooms display an average pot size. Try to search for a considerably larger pot size, to get paid off as soon as you hit a big hand. Large pots along with a large percentage of players seeing the flop is considered to be ideal.
• As soon as you identify certain target tables, try to look at the stack sizes of opponents who are already seated. In case there are over 2 short stacks, it may be essential to search for another table. Short stacks are often known to make playing post-flop very difficult.

The Difference Between Online and Live Poker

Hello Everyone,

Another update from your local poker enthusiast!

I have had another busy weekend, it was Bonfire Night in the UK on monday but it was pretty much celebrated all weekend. For those who are not familiar with the tradition check it out on Wikipedia, it's actually very interesting.

I went with my family to a public display of fireworks on the Sunday, seems they get bigger and louder every year (or I am just getting older and more frail heh), it might be a little shallow but I always enjoy a some pretty lights and big bangs for an hour. Got me an overcooked burger to finish the night off and played with some sparklers which endlessly amused my partner (more so than my child!).

We didn't get chance to play any poker this weekend because of the displays but my friends did bring round Zombie Fluxx, its fun as hell I recommend anyone who likes fun 5 minute card games to give it a try.

I have a new article for you all here, this one is centred around the differences between online and live poker which I am sure you all agree is huge and very important for players. Personally I see pros and cons in both, I love the atmosphere and vibe and live poker tournaments but i enjoy the speed and ease of online tournaments. That's the great thing about WassOnline's poker community, they offer both! As always they have let me post this so give them a visit if you enjoy poker and want to make some new local and international friends, they have photos of their last live poker tournament event.

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Poker is a popular game which has been played by people since the 10^th century. With more people playing this game its popularity is increasing. Another reason for its increase in popularity is its availability on the internet. Online poker has improved the game by allowing thousands of people to log to play from home. It would not be right to say that there is hardly any difference between online and real poker. In reality there is a lot of difference.

Apart from the difference in the environment of online and real poker, there are a lot of dissimilarities among them. Firstly, in case of online poker the game is played at a breakneck speed. The players hardly get any time to think as they get 20-30 seconds before the timer goes off. Whereas in case of real poker the game proceed at a slow pace and the player gets enough time to sit and think about his next move. Secondly, the gaming skills in real players are not better than online players. It is not possible to give a guarantee that offline players are better than online players. Infact, it is often observed that online players have better gaming skill than real players. Thirdly, in case of online games the number of games played in an hour is more than offline games. So stealing blinds is more profitable in case of online games. Thus in online poker the probability to win huge amount of money by blinds- play is more. Fourthly, online poker allows a player to be more aggressive than real poker. So open raising is lucrative in online poker. Fifthly, in online poker it is not possible to read an opponent. Whereas, in real poker which is played with real players it is possible to read an opponent’s face and know what he is thinking. However, this is not possible in case of online game and so there is no reason of bluffing. Lastly, when playing an online game it is not possible to limp and while away time. The key to win is to react fast. Whereas playing a real game because of it casual place is considered a luxury.

Poker today has become famous because of its different versions that are available online. The continuous growth of this game is because of its accessibility to the masses.

A History of Poker

Hello All,

Everything seems to be going OK here at the moment, tired as hell from squash last night but hey that's how it goes. Weather seems to have taken a turn for the worst, not the ebst news when the weekend is on the way but maybe it will get better. I have another house viewing Saturday to look forward to, a bigger semi than I am in now.

Got a nice article for you all regarding the history of poker that I did for some people I know. I rewrote it and thought I would place it on here for you all to see :)

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Poker is considered to be most popular among the different card games played in the world. This game is not only fast- paced but also fun- filled and it can be enjoyed by many players together. How the game of poker is still a mystery. However, people say that this game began more than 10 centuries ago. Since then, there have been a lot of changes in this game.

It is believed that the Chinese were the first to play the game of poker that goes back to the 10^th century. In the 12^th and 13^th century an early form of the poker game was played by the Egyptians. In the 16^th century the Persians used to play ‘Ganfija’ which was a version of poker. In the 18^th century ‘Poque’ was played by the French which was considered its national game. The game played by the German was called ‘Pochen’. Both ‘Pochen’ and ‘Poque’ are said to be early versions of the game of poker. From the year 1526 the Spanish started playing the ‘Primero’ which is considered to be the ‘poker mother’. This is said to be the first version of poker as it has direct similarities with the modern poker. The Spanish knew that in spite of having poor cards the opponents could be deceived by using the concept of bluffing and calling high stakes.

The writings of Jonathan H. Green in 1834 provide the earliest written references of the game of poker. This game was referred by him as the ‘cheating game’. But on realizing that his writing was the only written evidence of this game, he decided to name it ‘poker’. However, the origin of the word ‘poker’ is contradictory. The word poker is derived either from French ‘poque’ or the German ‘pochen’. It is often believed that it may be derived from the Indian word ‘pukka’. It is also believed that the word poker is derived from the slang word ‘poke’ which is generally a term used for pickpockets. Even though the origin of poker is uncertain this one of the most poplar card game in this world.

The present poker scene is dominated by three games which are the 5 card draw, the 7 card stud and the Texas Hold ‘Em. The most prestigious event of the game of poker that attracts players from different parts of the world is the World Series of Poker. Poker is a simple game that has and will continue to attract players. By playing poker people have and will continue to win money.

If you want to learn to play poker visit WassOnline, a fantastic poker community that I mentioned before.

Welcome!

Welcome Everyone!

This is my blog devoted to my life, my hobbies and above all else online gambling!

To introduce myself here is a brief history :)

Name: Frank Woodford
Born: 1969, England
Now In: Nottingham, England
Married: Yes with one son

Childhood: I grew up in the mining town of Warsop, it's fairly small (especially from a worldwide perspective) and there wasn't that much to do but it does have some nice places to run around and the town of Mansfield is a short bus ride or long walk away when I needed some shops to spend my hard earned cash on.
My dad was a typical miner, often working very early to very late but he still found plenty of time at the weekend to do some Father/Son stuff. I have a little sister which meant very often in my younger years my Dad and I went out of the house on a saturday to leave the girls together.

This would often entail a trip to the local bookies with my Dad and his friend David. They would have small bets (usually on opposite results!) as a past time and to hopefully boost the samll amount of disposable income they had. Football and Horse racing were their main vices and we spent many hours shooting at the radio and cursing referees we never saw. On a few special occations (such as my birthday) we took trips to local premiership side (although not anymore!) Nottingham Forest to watch one of the games. These were lots of fun and I often had lots of bets with my Dad about the out come of such events.

I think the big step that really got me into gambling was an event when I was around 11. As a treat I was often allowed to choose one horse in the Grand National and my Dad would put a very small bet on for me once I had chosen a horse from the paper. This particular year I had seen a horse that drew my eye almost as soon as I opened the tabloid he was dressed in blue with white stars and reminded me of the american flag. He was a bit of an outsider (30:1) but he managed to pull of the win and when my Dad came home with my winnings it was one of the funnest moments of my life.

Since I was old enough to bet I have placed small (not dangerous) bets on different sporting occations and along the way discovered something which gives me even more pleasure than normal betting. Poker.

It seemed poker smashed in popularity in the UK in the 90's and then again to an even higher extend in the early 2000's (probably due to growing internet popularity). I learnt to play as a student and I had many great nights playing for beers and bags of crisps or even slices of cold pizza!

There is lots more to my story but thats more than enough!
I will be updating soon with tips, tutorials and general chat, feel free to comment and suggest any sites that offer similar services or contact me directly if you want a review :)

-Frank