No other casino game offers similar advantages to those we enjoy in the poker room. The other games don’t even come close. What other game allows you to view your cards and then decide whether you will play or not, even before you have placed a bet?

The importance of selecting good starting hands can’t be overstated. Some players seem to believe any two cards may end up getting “hit in the mouth” on the flop. In the short term one might see profits from playing low quality starting hands.

Over a period of time, however, the profit derived from low quality starting hands will invariably turn into a loss.

There are many considerations regarding starting hands including but not limited to:

The quality of your hole cards,
Your chip stack,
Your opponents chip stacks,
Your position at the table,
The size of the pot,
The aggressiveness or passiveness of players yet to act,
In tournament play you will also want to consider the stage of the tourney.

If you try to start out with an inferior hand (hoping it will hit on the board), then you place yourself in a position of having to play catch-up time after time. Over the course of time this will have a negative effect on your bankroll. All other things being equal, over time the player who generally plays better starting hands will emerge as the more profitable player.

Consider this: in each hand of poker that is dealt, there are likely to be two or three players who are dealt good cards. If you decide to play with inferior cards you have to beat all the people who have been dealt good cards. Over time the results of playing inferior starting hands against good hands will create a negative expected income from your poker play.

Obviously the blinds and the player on the button will enjoy greater latitude to play weaker starting hands, but don’t get crazy. If you’re in good position and can limp in then go ahead and you may get lucky. If you don’t get lucky then you should get out of the betting before any more of your chips go into the pot.

Until next time, good luck on the felt.

The stop loss rule is new for me this week, after reading the thread in bankroll management at various online poker forums. I just got hit up a couple multi table tournaments. I cashed just in the money in a 10+1 mega at Party Poker and a 5+.5 Cannonball at Full Tilt Poker. I also cashed in the minor player freeroll at Party Poker, so all in all a good finish to a frustrating evening session. Now I need to work on getting deeper in the money.

I am watching some poker video by Daniel Negreanu right now in his training site to pick up some pointers. He is such a successful tournament player, I hope I can pick something from his brain. Only Phil Ivey has better tournament results, so there is no question that Daniel knows what he is talking about. And he is so entertaining to watch and listen to. I like his concept of small ball poker, this is a technique I am going to add to my poker strategy. This will add an element of randomness in my game and this should make me less predictable. And we all know that predictability is the worse enemy of a poker player.

My name – well I go by Thoughtful because of the way I have always played cards and my indecisiveness towards some major decisions (such as where I will be going to eat dinner at.) I guess I am slow.

Maybe I’m not slow because I am one of the smartest people I have ever come across. When I was 8 I tested out of regular school. When I was 10 I felt stupid for my first time. Around 12 I started playing chess, I won, and all it took was planned strategies. I then focused on Poker.

Poker had no solid strategy for winning. I never actually felt the power of the game until I was 17 and my friends started to pay for my computer parts. At the age of 18, I finished school and decided not to work, because the casino was already paying all my bills.

I am a professional card player. I have been playing professionally for about two years now. Just this past recent year half of my pro winnings were achieved by playing online. I now play completely online.

I have started this to give people information, help them play, help them learn, but most importantly I want to document my rise in the online poker world and at the same time I am sure I will use this site as a channel to my personal life.

My personal life is odd compared to most. I sleep weird hours. I do what I want, when I want, and as you will find out I seem to always get into some kind of situation. But I will attempt not to bore you too much with my personal life. The most important element for my readers is that this blog will discuss online poker bonus, promotions, perks, marketing codes…

Because when you start playing at a new online poker room, you need to make you you have all the elements in your favor.

So I hope you enjoy this space, and learn. Feel free to email me with questions, comments, or requests to be added to my blog links.

If the game is tight-passive, ask yourself a question: Why bother to play? You can’t win much; you can easily lose; and it’s going to be boring. It’s probably better to read the papers, take a walk, or change games.

But let’s say it’s raining and you’ve already read the papers. If you really want to play, and it’s the only game around (or you’re in a tournament and don’t have any choice), prepare for a long siege. Be prepared to wait and wait and wait.

Don’t Expect Much

If you want lots of action, or hope to win a lot of money, forget it. It’s not going to happen. In fact, don’t be surprised if you lose, and you might lose much more than you expect. This sort of game has little upside and lots of downside. You can’t win much, but you can lose quite a bit.

Control Yourself

Self-control is always important, but it is particularly important in such a tight-passive game, because it is so hard to beat and so frustrating. Your natural desire for action can cause you to play too many hands, and to play them too aggressively.

It happens all the time. The average player, sits down and plays his normal game. He does not lose a lot of money on any single pot; he just slowly bleeds to death. He loses one buy-in, then another one, then a third. He bets aggressively on aces up, but gets beat by rolled up eights. He makes a straight on the river, bets out, and loses to a flush that was made on fifth street. He wins a few pots, but does not win much on them, while losing again and again.

He slowly goes on tilt. At first, he just gets a little looser, calling with marginal hands, raising a little too aggressively. Then he gets mad at the “Damned Rocks” and at himself for playing in “this lousy game.” When that happens, he may be on his way to big trouble.

Do not play in such tight-passive games. If you play online poker, join a room such as Everest Poker where you will always find plenty of games to choose from in the lobby, and never need to join a tight-passive game.

Life is short, this is why you should spend as much time as possible having fun and entertainment and not do boring things. And nowadays one of the best places for fun is the Web. Why is it so good to play games on the Web?

Because of a number of advantages:

1. convenience: you can access and play online games from the comfort of your home, whenever you wish; no need to take your car and drive in the cold for 100 miles to the nearest casino; no need to wait for players to fill a sit and go tournament, as there are always plenty of online players available for a game.
2. game variety: the number of game choices is endless; just in online poker, you can play texas hold’em, omaha, stud, draw poker; in fixed-limit, pot-limit or no-limit; at ring game, sit’n gos or multi-table tourneys; at online casinos, there are slot games in many format, Caribbean stud, Baccarat, roulette, blackjack, craps, bingo and more; and there are all sorts of other games in the gaming category.
3. social game: the Internet is the place to make friends and what better way to make new friends than playing online games for fun; in online poker there is constantly a crowd of truly international players whom you can meet physically when you visit these countries in America, Europe, Africa or Asia.
4. profit potential: some of these games are free, others involve playing with real money; it is up to you, you do not have to invest any money if you do not want to; but if you play for money, this is a way to make good profits for the best players, and some make a living out of it; it is possible but not everyone can be profitable as it requires dedication and study.

Last but not least, if you are interested in such real money games at online poker rooms or online casinos, than you should try to get the best bonus deals. This is what this site is all about and you will find out more as we research and present some of the best gambling bonus deals on the Web. So stay put and more will come.

Good luck and we will be back soon.