Whether playing online playing for money or free poker can be a rewarding, but a tiring addiction. So here are a few simple (tongue in cheek!) tips to keep you playing for as long as possible.

1. Once prefrontal lobe pressure has built up due too an excess of wishing on the river, nip to the kitchen and grab the nearest tea cosy and place it on your head. This will disperse the pressure around your skull, as well as keep you warm.

2. When playing Online Poker on a laptop. If you become worried that your unmentionables are beginning to cook, ask your partner if they would kneel in front of you and gently blow between your thighs. They will also make a handy footrest.

Alternately wrap yourself up in Tin Foil to reflect the heat. This will also stop any evil aliens sending you messages.

3. When suffering finger cramp from obsessive bluffing, swap hands and rest your playing finger in a pot of low fat yoghurt. Allow five minutes to soothe then continue. Eat yoghurt at a later date.

4. During the long games with a full table you might feel like you are going to nod off. Bang a nail in the wall behind your playing chair and attach a length of string to it. Sellotape the string to your ear. That way if you do nod off, you will rip your ear off. Waking you up ready to make a bet.

5. If after a couple of days playing non stop you begin to experience back pains, repeatedly pinch both your cheeks, this will take the focus off you back, as well as give you a rosy glow.

These methods have been invented by myself and I can assure you no women, child or animal has been harmed in making these!

Always remember free poker is always a laugh but when you get online exhaustion you need to take some serious action.

When you start a game of free poker online all of your experienced opponents will be looking out for as many signs and vibes as they can pick up. As the only thing you know for sure when the dealer passes the cards out face down is your own hand and the community cards. The difference in strategies between free online poker games and live in the flesh games is the signs and signals that you need to look out for are obviously very different. That doesn’t by any stretch of the imagination mean there are no signs that I can’t teach you to look out for in the free online poker games; but for now I will give my attention to the live in the flesh games. From my experiences of playing in various small venues and also the glitzy casinos, the signs that players give away are very common and many can be pigeon holed.

I guess the only place to start is with the eyes. Nearly all beginners believe, mainly due to the explosion of poker on the TV, that they should be looking at everyone’s eyes. If I sit down at a ten man table I am expecting six or seven of them to be wearing sunglasses. Personally even without sunglasses, I find it difficult to read tells from player’s eyes, apart from the obvious where a player will raise their eyebrows directly after looking at their cards. My point here is that you should probably forget the eyes as they are likely to be hidden anyway.

Ok assuming like me you don’t concentrate on your opponent’s eyes as the main source of intellect. You will need to find more assuring ways of spotting the tell tale signs of what cards your opponents holds. The best signs I would look out for are all based on body language such as posture- slumped normally suggests bad cards and if you happen to notice a player suddenly sit up straight after viewing their cards this would be due to their increased interest at the excitement of what they might win!

Only good and experienced free poker players can remain motionless and you may be surprised at the amount of body language signs you give away without even realising it. You may notice an experienced / decent player readjust themselves, this is done vigilantly due to the fact their self conscious has remind them to remain neutral.

Body language comes hand in hand with table talk. If I’m in a big game I always keep quiet. Good players are able to sense strength and weakness from your voice and tone. I’ve been sat at a table chatting to the person next to me and consequently lost a pot, because I was not paying complete attention on the action. Really good players are able to chat away whilst being 100% aware of what’s going on. They will sometimes be playing a hand whilst casually chatting away to the person next to them. Before you know it they check raise you, then carry on chatting!! I am always wary of a good player playing a pot who doesn’t seem interested in it. I often read this a show of strength.

Other well known tells include sweaty palms, looking at your cards then directly looking at your stack, licking your lips, and even a bulging vein in the neck. Along with body language and table talk another big tell is betting patterns, and this is where I come onto the internet. Everything I have mentioned so far is useless online. Betting patterns are the only pieces of information you can get from players in an online environment. A lot of newish players tend to play free poker by the manual, pocket aces bring a bet of 4x the big blind, KJ is 2x the big blind, and suited connectors bring a flat call. By watching players at your table for a short time you will be amazed at how they stick to these principles. Once you have established players betting to a pattern, clearly you are at a big advantage.

When playing a hand as a result of reading what you believe to be a tell, always be careful as you may have misread the signals, and you may be playing a shark feeding you false information.

Whether you’re playing free poker online or at the money tables, the achievements you have will be linked to how well you can use psychological tactics to your advantage. The free online poker games can turn out to be decent money making buy in games and competitions further on.

Psychological tactics in poker ensures you have the advantage; this can be the difference between going home empty handed and taking the pot.

There are loads of psychological scenarios to consider which is as significant as knowing your place at the table: the chances and numbers involved in making a hand, pricing the pot and running a trap.

There are 2 main points to consider when using psychological tactics; clever surveillance and general intellect. Psychological tactics also form the basis of bluffing and also the platform for playing the salesman. These same essential tactics work at either end of the spectrum- whether it’s a friendly game with some friends at the weekend or at a large stake table gambling for thousands.

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that a massive part of playing poker and using psychological tactics is to know your opponents. If you’re playing with strangers it’s key to start observing them to notice their patterns and how they play. Once you have a grasp into the mindset of your opponents you can make decisions on your hand even before the second turn of the cards. By understanding your opponent’s strategy forms the foundations of an astute poker player.

Here appearances count for everything, neighbour, what they say is true: a man’s eyes mirror his soul.

There are many signs and bodily giveaways or as the pros call it- tells. An opponent could start becoming a ‘chatter box’ if they hold good cards. Another example could be if a player seems restless to get into the action or a different opponent could become silent if they’re holding decent cards.

If you were playing against me however you wouldn’t know the cards I was holding as I maintain a consistent level of conversation. I also enjoy playing the fool- as the tells of most novice or standard players have is remarkable. For instance I wouldn’t give you a dime to look at these players cards and call them out. As they would have inevitably by now told me by their body language what they’re holding.

Many of the psychological tips you have learnt in this article will only have an impact in face to face games as you will physically need to read their actions i.e. not being able to maintain eye contact. Others however can be applied to the free online poker world too, such as a change in characteristics of an opponent such as a chatter box falling silent through instant chat. Other similar philosophy applies to both the real and online world- another example could be the speed of their play drastically changing. Hopefully from this you will start thinking more during your games and live by the saying- think your way to victory!

Playing over the internet using cash on one of the free poker sites can be pleasing but can also take its toll. This article aims to give you a variety of ideas to keep the game refreshing, ok it’s an alternative guide!

1. As anxiety has maximised due to an overload of hope on the river, run to the fridge freezer grab an ice pack and wrap this round your head. This will dissolve the anxiety around your head, but may make you cold.

2. After spending half the night on the laptop you may notice and become concerned that the meat and two vegetables are slightly over cooked- I suggest asking your other half to get on their knees and blow on the affected area. As an added bonus you can also put your feet up.

For the sci-fi fans out there, I suggest wrapping yourself head to toe in tin-foil as this will also stop opponents and uso’s intercepting your thoughts.

3. When suffering finger cramp from obsessive bluffing, swap hands and rest your playing finger in a pot of low fat yoghurt. Allow five minutes to soothe then continue. Eat yoghurt at a later date.

4. A late night game or after a good few hours you may start to drift off and hear the land of nod calling. The best method of staying awake is to smash a six inch heavy duty nail into the wall directly behind you. You then need to wedge a few stacks of cards below the front of your front two chair legs to make the chair unsteady. You can now rest assured that if you do nod off you will fall back straight into the nail and probably never wake up again- now there’s an incentive!

5. After a long period of time sitting down and playing you will eventually have back pain- a good solution is to pinch your checks several times which will not only give you a nice blush effect it will also give you something else to think about!

I have developed these methods myself, and I assure you they work. Remember: Tea Cosy. Blowing. Tin Foil. Yoghurt. Sellotape. Pinch.

Just like Gran use to say. free poker is fun dear but when you get online Poker fatigue you need to stop or take drastic action!

Excitement runs through your veins as your eyes lighten up to the possibility of what your hand shows: a 2, 8, and yes you guessed it a fabulous King. You mildly lean over giving the slightest touch to the 2 old boys that lay in front of you. All the practice on the free poker games sites has paid off. The cards you hold have finally come in rainbow and the 2 lows are a fair distance apart. Flushes and str8′s are pretty much finished- and the kings reign supreme.

Awaiting your move you glance across the table hoping all while your not revealing the monster you hold at bay. Of course there sits the fish. They have grown your stack and you thank them for it. There poor calls and lousy bets have been most profitable. Just outstack you after there latest Hail Mary and you send a prayer towards the heavens and call them to push.

Your heart stops as fishy gets his go and as if it was Christmas he throws more money at the pot. This is it, its time to take the pot home; it’s the moment you dreamed of while learning your trade on the free poker games, and you want to take this opportunity. Inevitably it’s time to push your stack and show them all the Kings.

The fish reveals and there lay pocket 7′s. The table gasps and all wonder what they were thinking. Your heart pounds then calms as you realise only two more sevens can save him. Now off to the turn. And as if on call appears the first of those magic sevens. Surely not you heart screams as the dealer speeds forward and delivers that dreaded fourth Seven.

Your heart sinks and you drop to you knees. You have been forsaken. You swear never to play again as the gods can’t exist and let that happen. You want to scream as fishy. But you don’t. You congratulate and leave.

Later you realise telling the story is a waste of time. This is an internal badge of honour. What more could you have done. You begin to relax again when a larger thought enters you mind.

Everybody comes to the table expecting to win in a different way. Remember the bad beats but never admonish those who hand them to you. They are profitable people and need to be remembered. Keep them close to you heart and tell no one. Smile and remember there money will soon be yours.

And remember, there are always free poker games to practice on before you have to take a serious bad beat for real!

All poker games from the high stake bright light games for sin city to the free poker games come down to the ability to win cash from small opportunities. The strategy is to attempt to play reasonable in every game possible- sounds almost defeatist, but the truth is you simply can’t win every game. One way to achieve this to out bet the opposition and a way of achieving this is through slow play.

The Art of the Slow-play
The slow-play is when you deliberately under bet so as to disguise the strength of your hand and trap your opponent with a weaker hand.

Unlike the bluff bet, the slow-play is effective against strong and weak opponents. Bad opponents simply bet their hand, so if they have something or they are simply on a draw, they are going to pay you off.

When not to Slow-Play
You shouldn’t slow play when there is a flush or straight draw on the board. You should only slow play when your opponent has a hand that is not likely to improve enough to beat yours. Suppose the flop is AD-7H-KC and you hold 7D-7C, and you put your opponent on an A or K. It’s usually more profitable to bet the hand aggressively on the turn.

By slow playing the turn you’re potentially loosing cash on the turn- the only sensible motive for slow playing this scenario is if you know the opposition will fold with any gamble you declare.

If you manage to get quads or a full house don’t over play the hand- if the opposition are not strategically sitting right, they don’t seem to gamble often on the river, instead they check or call. By slow playing this turn, this type of opposition wont raise or re raise on the river.

Therefore, just keep betting the turn, despite the improvement. They rarely put you on quads, so try to get some action on the turn.

How to Represent Your Hand
The obvious assumption is that a big gamble stands for decent cards. This is believed even more so when gambling after the flop. If an ace or king comes to surface on the flop you can represent the same by gambling. You will learn that it’s what the opposition believes you have that is almost as important to the cards you are actually holding, especially if you have a relatively poor hand.

So there you have it a fast guide to the slow play. Typically it works better with money games than free poker where you’ll find many beginners who don’t pick up the nuances and throw all in regardless! But of you find yourself in a free online poker freeroll with real money up for grabs then think about how and when you might apply it.

Here are some pay poker and free poker stories I hope you will enjoy.

A few years back while playing the free online poker sites I stumbled across a site with a minimal (twelve dollars) sign up fee and tables and games at a penny or two a go. It took me a while to build up some petty cash and eventually I had enough to probably afford a 6 pack of beer and take away- needless to say I got bored of counting the money I could have won on the bigger tables. I decided to move up to the twenty five / fifty cent table- again I won a tidy little profit.

I always bought in for the minimal at each table; therefore I got great pot odds all the time when I was drawing. Also when I had the dominant hand, they felt inclined to call my all-in since it wasn’t much more to them so the bankroll climbed to $150 by mid-Feb.

I decided to pull out at one hundred dollars and built the fifty dollars up- My strategy for accumulating losses was to jump up to the next table and win my money back quickly i.e. if I lost at the twenty five cent table I would jump to the fifty cent table. Now moving to the start of March I pulled my dollars out at with a further one hundred and fifty dollars which left one hundred and twenty five dollars to play with. My total was now a flattering two hundred and fifty dollars without spending a cent. I thought about throwing the one hundred and twenty five dollars at the five or ten dollar tables so I could at least have the bragging rights to my pals that I gave it a go.

In hindsight it was not bright bringing a mere one hundred and twenty five dollars to a game with my opponent’s wallets packing up to thirty times my cash. But hey I got lucky. I fell to eighty dollars very fast and went all in with A 10 over cards on a raggity flop. It gives me two hundred and thirty dollars on A high as a guy called A 5 and another folded winning hand. I through another one hundred dollars at it and played the one hundred and thirty dollars. Oh without forgetting the two hundred and fifty dollars I got from clearing up their twenty five percent up to one hundred dollars deposit bonus and winning the before said amount of three hundred dollars fifty+ ranked hand freerolls.

While playing the $130, I dropped to $70, but miraculously quadrupled to win a $310 pot with AQ high (I still can’t believe nobody had hit a pair). Cashed out about $200. My streak came to an end in mid-March when I lost $200 with KQ to AK pairing the kings.

Well, I don’t plan to take another run and build a bankroll like that again. Currently I’m sticking to freeroll tourneys which have been great to me.

I started an account on a free online poker site and started playing their freerolls, and accumulated about 15 bucks. I had a foolproof (almost) strategy that seemed to be working pretty well. Ready to play the best poker of my life, I bought into a 5$ SNG and won. After a few more solid games I was up to about 190$, all from NOTHING! No deposit, just freerolls.

Feeling quite smug with myself I bought a fine whisky and a vision of turning my one hundred and ninety dollars into my future play wallet.

I woke up the next day in bed with my girlfriend. “Last night you asked me to marry you.” she says giggling. With a dry mouth and foggy mind I reply “Did you say yes?” (knowing very well that neither one of us have any plans of marriage for a long time). She says “No, I was too busy laughing at you when you told me we had a future selling farm equipment after you fell into the bathtub!” I groaned and went to get a glass of water, then sat down at my PC. Fuzzy visions of kamikaze plays started to resurface in my mind as I logged in to my account….Current Balance: $1.93 available.

My method, strategy and graft had been wasted- on the plus side I’m not being forced down the aisle and the farm equipment is defiantly not parked on my front lawn! The moral of the story is simple- play sober! The more drunk you are the rasher uncalculated plays you will make and your ability of reading people will dramatically slip. I guess a lesson learnt would have been to play the free online poker sites when drunk- this certainly would have helped with the hangover in the morning.

When playing free poker online, players are trying to obtain as much information as possible. Since everyone’s cards are dealt face down, the only two things you know for sure are your own cards and the community cards. This is where ‘tells’ come into play as good players are constantly analyzing every single part of your play and demeanour. Playing poker on line is obviously completely different to live play; however there are a few things to watch out for on line which I will come back to, but for now I am going to concentrate on live play. I have been playing poker in my local club and various casinos for a number of years now, and have picked up a few tells and ways of reading players.

I guess the only place to start is with the eyes. Nearly all beginners believe, mainly due to the explosion of poker on the TV, that they should be looking at everyone’s eyes. If I sit down at a ten man table I am expecting six or seven of them to be wearing sunglasses. Personally even without sunglasses, I find it difficult to read tells from player’s eyes, apart from the obvious where a player will raise their eyebrows directly after looking at their cards. My point here is that you should probably forget the eyes as they are likely to be hidden anyway.

Ok assuming like me you don’t concentrate on your opponent’s eyes as the main source of intellect. You will need to find more assuring ways of spotting the tell tale signs of what cards your opponents holds. The best signs I would look out for are all based on body language such as posture- slumped normally suggests bad cards and if you happen to notice a player suddenly sit up straight after viewing their cards this would be due to their increased interest at the excitement of what they might win!

Only good and experienced free poker players can remain motionless and you may be surprised at the amount of body language signs you give away without even realising it. You may notice an experienced / decent player readjust themselves, this is done vigilantly due to the fact their self conscious has remind them to remain neutral.

Quite often body language is accompanied by table chat. Chat at the table and the signs you give away as a result are easier to hide as you can simply remain silent throughout- which is not a bad idea during the big games. You would be shocked at the level of skill some players have at recognising distinctive changes in tone and rhythm and knowing what this means to your play. There are other fundamental parts which can also explain loosing at the cost of general chit chat. You could genuinely become distracted taking your concentration away from the game. This is the difference between the regulars and the pros. The pros are masters at using all their ability to fish for signs: by playing while talking to you they’re actually finding your weaknesses while only showing you strength. Most of the time you don’t realise what’s going on till you inevitably remind yourself at the end of the game of the friendly chatty guy who ‘lucked in’ and took home the pot.

Other classic signs consist of: sweaty hands, viewing your hand and then straight after viewing your stack, licking your lips, or even for some a pulsating vein in the neck. The art of free poker is noticing trends and playing numbers and for the best part of this article is only relevant to in life games. There are certain signs you can still look out for at the online tables such as if you notice an irregular trend in gambling amounts. Many new players play the game by the book- pocket aces bring a bet id 4x the big blind, KJ is 2x the big blind and suited connectors bring a flat call. The more you play the more you will notice that the majority of players stick to their beliefs. Once you cotton on to these beliefs you can use them and manipulate them to your advantage.

When playing a hand as a result of reading what you believe to be a tell, always be careful as you may have misread the signals, and you may be playing a shark feeding you false information.

It’s very important for your success that you learn how to use psychology in poker, even in free poker online games you should try to think your way to the win…that way those free poker games may become very profitable buy in games and tournaments later on.

Using psychology in poker gives you an edge that can make the difference between winning and losing. In fact, I play the players more than I play the cards.

If you’re going to win the money, psychology is as important as position at the table, the odds and percentages involved in making a hand, knowing how to price the pot, or running a trap.

There are 2 main points to consider when using psychological tactics; clever surveillance and general intellect. Psychological tactics also form the basis of bluffing and also the platform for playing the salesman. These same essential tactics work at either end of the spectrum- whether it’s a friendly game with some friends at the weekend or at a large stake table gambling for thousands.

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that a massive part of playing poker and using psychological tactics is to know your opponents. If you’re playing with strangers it’s key to start observing them to notice their patterns and how they play. Once you have a grasp into the mindset of your opponents you can make decisions on your hand even before the second turn of the cards. By understanding your opponent’s strategy forms the foundations of an astute poker player.

Here appearances count for everything, neighbour, what they say is true: a man’s eyes mirror his soul.

So do other physical giveaways, known among professional gamblers as “tells”: One player may talk a lot if he’s got a hand, giving of being anxious to get in; while another player may become very quiet if he’s holding something.

If you were playing against me however you wouldn’t know the cards I was holding as I maintain a consistent level of conversation. I also enjoy playing the fool- as the tells of most novice or standard players have is remarkable. For instance I wouldn’t give you a dime to look at these players cards and call them out. As they would have inevitably by now told me by their body language what they’re holding.

Some of these psychology pointers you will have realised only apply in real world games where you can see eye to eye but others, such as the chat (or lack of chat from a normally chatty player) speed of action and so on are very applicable to paid and free online poker games. So if you don’t already do it start to observe, think and observe more and think you way to more winnings.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing trends in poker in recent years even on free online poker sites is the increasing number of so-called “good players” that regularly criticize those who play poorly. Chasing away “fish” makes little sense for anyone who wishes to win money playing poker. The surest way to win money is to play against inferior opponents who don’t realize that they’re poor players. That’s why people say that you shouldn’t “tap the fish tank” or “tap the aquarium.”

To help keep fish in the water you may conceder playing a few bad hands to ensure they’re having a good time; as the better time the opposing player is having will result in the length of time they stay in the water and continue to gamble.

You may even congratulate them on their bad play to make them think that they’re playing correctly. This, of course, would be a form of hustling that some people wouldn’t be comfortable with engaging in.

You don’t have to set bait to keep the fish nibbling and putting money down. By simply ensuring there is a good feeling at the free online poker tables you will help bring down the opposing players self guard and they will gradually let free and play adventurous. While your opponent is having a good time playing carefree you can continue to play conservative poker and watch your money pile up.

If you’re rude and disrespectful to fish, they’ll be less inclined to play anymore. They’ll take their money to other places where they can play without being harassed. By chasing fish away, you’re giving up opportunities to profit from their mistakes.

Can you imagine if everybody played well? The game of poker would be very tough to beat.

The main goal of playing good poker is to make as many correct decisions as you can, while forcing your opponents to make as many incorrect decisions as you can. It’s much easier to encourage bad players to make bad decisions, so you shouldn’t scare them away. In the long run, you’ll profit from their bad plays.

Another reason why you shouldn’t berate fishy player at the table or in your online chat box is because you don’t want them to improve. If they feel embarrassed with how bad they play, they may actually take the time and effort to improve their play. In other words, you’re encouraging bad players to become good players. Once they’re good, they’ll be tougher to beat. You won’t be getting their money quite as easily anymore. Why would you want to make it any harder to earn a buck in poker?

It’s hard enough to win at poker nowadays with all the information that’s available to improve your game. There are a lot of decent players out there. The games simply aren’t as soft as they were when I started playing online seven years ago.

I continue to play free online poker where there’s still plenty of cash available to win- but you will never catch me “tapping the fish tank”!!