Ashton Cartwright Poker

One question that I get asked a lot is “What are the best poker books to read?” I’m a firm believer in reading as a way to acquire knowledge without having to make the same mistakes that someone else may have already made. Particularly in poker, learning a lesson from a book is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than losing all your money gaining experience from the ground up!

These days there are many types of poker: Texas Hold’em is of course the most popular, but there is also Pot Limit Omaha, Stud, Draw poker etc. Even within a single category such as Texas Hold’em poker books there are different categories of books: Poker tournament books, cash game poker books, Sit ‘n’ Go poker books, not to mention books that focus on either online poker, or live poker. There are books on poker tells, books on bankroll management, books about playing poker for a living, and even books about the philosophy of poker.

For that reason, this list is broken down into several categories. If you are a beginner, or if you are a superstar, chances are that there will be some books here that you may not have encountered. I consider myself a serious poker student, and I have read over 80 books on poker to date. These books have ranged in quality from “Must read!” to “Not that relevant” to ‘I want to drill a hole in my head to let the boredom out”.

Here is the list of what I consider to be the top 10 poker books. Every poker book listed here is a poker book that has had a significant impact on my caliber of play, my enjoyment of the game, or (most importantly) my profit.

Firstly, lets start with the basics:

Best Poker Books for Beginners

Harrington on Hold ‘em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1 and 2

If you are just starting out in poker, a solid grounding in the fundamentals is a must. These books are undisputedly the best books to start with. They are for Texas Hold’em poker tournaments, and cover such important poker concepts as overall tournament strategy, pot odds, bluffing, stack sizes, and the hugely powerful “M”. Written by WSOP Champion Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie, the books are extremely easy to read, and contain excellent step-by-step hand walkthroughs. As an indication of how awesome these books are, I’ve read each of them at least five times. Even though these books are primarily about poker tournaments, the basic concepts apply to cash games as well, which is why these books get their own list all of their own.

Buy them cheap at Amazon.com, since it’s almost impossible to find a bookstore than has them. Best poker investment you will ever make.

Best Tournament Poker Books

Every Hand Revealed

This book is, quite literally, one of a kind. In 2007 professional poker player Gus Hansen recorded every hand he was dealt in the Aussie Millions tournament in Melbourne Australia. After five days and 850 hands, he walked away with the title and the first place prize money of $1.2 million. This book completely changed the way I looked at tournament poker, and was directly responsible for my switching from playing mainly cash games or SNG’s to playing mainly tournament poker. Gus Hansen has a style of play that can be considered almost insanely aggressive to the un-initiated, but through the book you can see the fundamental maths principles that apply to his madness, and you can learn not only why they work, but also how to make them work for you.

Kill Everyone

One of the most well known books for professional tournament players, “Kill Everyone” is the sequel to the book “Kill Phil” (which was solid but not exceptional). Written by professional players Tysen Streib and PokerStars Team Online Pro Lee Nelson, this was the first tournament poker book to delve thoroughly into the concept of “un-exploitable play”. With plenty of in-depth tournament strategy for use in multi-table tournaments as well as Sit-n-Go’s, along with a solid grounding in tournament based mathematics, this book is definitely worth reading if you want to play poker tournaments in a serious way.

Best Cash Game Poker Books

If you are a more interested in poker Cash Games (the type of poker that you play at the casino), then you will want to read the books listed here. Unlike tournaments where the amount of money you can lose is limited to the cost of the tournament, in a cash game you can keep putting money on the table until your wallet is completely empty. With higher risks comes the potential for higher returns however, and the vast majority of professional poker players make their living from poker cash games rather than tournament poker.

Because there is the potential to lose plenty of money playing cash games, you are well advised to read quite a bit on the subject. An error in a poker tournament may well mean you are out of the tournament, causing you to forfeit the $5, $20, or $100 that was your cost of entry. An error in a cash game however can result in you losing all the money in front of you, which may be a significantly more costly mistake. These are the “Must Read” poker books that you should add to your library before you consider playing serious poker cash games:

Harrington on Cash Games Vol 1 and 2

Just as the Harrington on Hold’em books are the best place to start for tournament players, the Harrington on Cash Games are the best books to continue with once you decide to move into cash games. Whether playing cash games online, or playing live at a casino, these books should not be neglected. Even now I see so many semi-professional poker players at the casino playing reasonably high stake cash games ($500 or $2000 buy-ins) making the same fundamental errors over and over again, simply because they feel they “already know it all”, or because they’re just too lazy to develop their game. Don’t be one of those players! Buy, borrow or steal these books, and read them! These books are so simple yet powerful that they will often be the difference between a player losing consistently or winning consistently.

Professional No Limit Hold’em Volume 1

After you have read the Harrington Books, this is the next one you should read on the subject of cash games. This book was directly responsible for be moving from a slightly profitable player at online cash games to a significantly profitable player at online cash games. With the focus primarily on how to make the most money you can, this book will show you how to correctly size your bets, know when to go all in, and help you put your opponents in the most difficult situations possible. It will teach you essential cash game strategies such as the REM Process, Stack-to-Pot ratios, and the Commitment Threshold. This book gets about 7,000,000 out of 10 in my opinion. It’s just that badass.

No Limit Hold’em Theory and Practice

This book is written by David Sklansky, who is well know in the poker community as being not only an excellent poker player and a prolific author, but he is also a math freak. David Sklansky coined some of the common poker terms that are used today, such as “Semi-Bluff” and “Implied Odds”. Though the concepts in this book can be applied to tournament poker as well, most of the moves and calculations are more relevant in a cash game setting. Be aware, however: this book is not for the faint hearted! Though the layout and structure of the book is very simple, the concepts are ultra-potent, and sometimes extremely counterintuitive. Don’t get this book if you just want a relaxing poker book to read while on the toilet; because this book would probably cause constipation. If you are willing dedicate some effort in order to wade through intense multi-level thinking and maths equations in this book however, you will end up with an in-depth understanding about the game that very few people are able to match. Only recommended for the serious poker student.

Best SNG Poker Books

Sit ‘n Go Strategy

For those of you who may not know, a SNG’s (or Sit ‘n’ Go’s) is a poker tournament that begins once a particular number of players have joined. For example a 10 player SNG will start when 10 players have registered. It will not start with only 9 players, and it will never have 11 players. a 10 player SNG tournament will start with 10 players, and 10 players exactly. Because the SNG poker format has only become prolific over the last few years, there hasn’t been many poker books written about them. Of the ones that have been written however, there is one book that stands far above all others, and that book is Collin Moshman’s Sit ‘n Go Strategy. This book is to SNG’s what The Hobbit is to short people with hairy feet. For the few months when I was exclusively playing online SNGs for a living, this book was my Bible. It covers correct strategy at the early, middle, and late stages of a SNG, as well as discussing the powerful concept of ICM (Independent Chip Modelling) as it relates to SNGs. The book is simply and clearly laid out, and even though Collin has an honours degree in theoretical mathematics, the book is easy to read and assimilate. If you have any intention of winning consistently in SNGs (whether live or online) then this book must definitely form a part of your poker library.

Best Poker Book about Tells

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells is considered to be one of the most important poker books on the subject of “reading” your opponents in live poker games. Filled with photographic examples of tells in action, Mike Caro delves into the psychology that makes people act certain ways with certain hands. This book is particularly useful when you play against unsophisticated opponents (such as the recreational players at a casino), since many of the body language tells will be much more obvious when your opponent is inexperienced. Definitely a must read if you play live poker tournaments or cash games, even if only to make sure you aren’t giving away tells of your own that perceptive opponents can pick up on (Hint: you probably are!).

So! Those are my Top 10 Poker Books! I have always found poker to be a dynamic and exciting game, and the more I learn about it the more fun and profitable it becomes! Hopefully you will read some of these books yourself and gain just as much pleasure (and just as many new skills) from them as I did.

Best of luck!

Ashton.

Well Sydney Champs has been and gone, and we are in the middle of the World Cup Of Online Poker (WCOOP).

Sydney Champs was something that I had been looking forward to, as I’ve been enjoying the live poker scene quite a lot lately. Some of my friends had already had some great results in the earlier events, most notably the illustrious Rhys Gould winning the APW $550 tourney and scoring $18,000, while the ever-handsome Nick Polias and the ultra-muscled Tobin Ryall placed second in the teams event.

For the Sydney Champs Main Event, the buy-in was $1,650, and as I’m among the most frugal of individuals I decided to try and satellite in. There were life satellites for $330 running most nights in the lead up to the main event, so I decided to jump in those.

Unfortunately I managed to bust in 5 hands during the first satellite, Semibluffing in a 4-bet pot with 2 over cards and the nut flush draw (against a flopped straight alas). In the 2nd satellite I was on the reserves list, and didn’t get to a table until the blinds had increased several times, so my starting stack amounted to only 30 big blinds. . . and pocket Jacks on a 2-2-2 flop saw me bust against Pocket Aces within just 4 hands this time. Not my most sterling performances to date, and in the end I had to buy-in to the main event anyway.

I played on day 1B, and my table was moderately unpleasant, with “El Leatheros” and Logan English-Smith both on my table. No huge hands for the first day, and the three of us tended to avoid confrontations with each other. . . except for Logan very occasionally 3-bet bluffing me. Cause that’s how he rolls.

The day was all small pots for me. Played one 10k pot with KK vs AQ and won, but other then that it was a huge amount of raising preflop and then c-betting. . . general grindy stuff. Finished day one on $62,000, when the average for day 1b was about 40k, so that was all well and good.

Day 2 started off very well. I wont a nice 50bb pot with AQ vs AJ all in preflop, after which our table broke and I moved to the table of dreams! A couple ultra tight players on my left, and a couple of fishy calling stations on my right. One youngish guy who seemed as though he played a bit online (although that may just be my ageist stereotyping). I was sitting at about 100bbs when this hand occurred:

The young kid (who had been very active) raised 2.5bbs form the cutoff. Kamyar “Commie” Ekrami (the self-proclaimed calling station) flatted on the button. I was in the BB with AJo, and unsurprisingly decided to 3 bet, making it about 3x the original raise (not a big 3bet by any means).

The young guy instantly shoved his entire stack in (which was 32 bbs), Commie folded, and the action was on me. I was getting about 1.6 to 1 odds on the call, which is plenty for AJ generally. If the young guy was instead a tight player, then I may have even folded the hand, as the hands he is representing all have me crushed. Since he was a young guy however, and since it was such an obvious spot for me to 3-bet, I figured that he could be pushing all in here with a very wide range of hands indeed.

I made the call, and my opponent said “Yeah, you got me” before rolling 9-8 offsuit. Good times! The board ran out 2 3 4 6 with the river 9 however, and the young gentleman scooped a big pot.

The very next orbit, I ran my AK into Commie’s QQ, and lost the race. Standard. Never folding a hand that big to Commie, especially since I had bluffed him earlier in the day and he seemed keen to get his own back.

Unfortunately my stack had been whittled down a bit, and the blinds had escalated, leaving me with about 30BBs. I had a short stack on my left (9bbs) and we clashed when I jammed 55 into his 66 blind vs blind. Bah! Now I was down to only 21bbs.

21bbs is a stack size that lends itself very well to the all-in 3-bet or re-raise. Generally you will wait for a loose player to raise, hopefully get a caller, and then you can push your whole stack in the middle with any reasonable hand. If they fold, you usually pick up maybe 7 or 8 big blinds, increasing your stack by as much as 40% with no showdown. Of course the loose raiser may actually have a hand when you try this. . . but you can still get lucky and win, in which case you will have a bad-ass stack once again.

I was in a great spot for this, since I had the young, aggressive player two to my right, and Commie directly on my right, so I didn’t have to wait long for a spot to occur:

As expected, the young guy opened to 2.5bbs, and Commie the calling station did what he does best and called. I had 98 suited in the small blind, and this was definitely enough of a hand to shove all in with. Even if my opponent has a hand as big as AK, I’m still about 40% when called, and hands as big as AK don’t come around anywhere near as often as this guy was raising! Commie had been calling preflop raises with 56 off suit and other weak hands, so I wasn’t concerned about him at all.

In this instance, I re-shipped all in, and the young player instantly jammed all in as well. Unfortunate, but my hand isn’t terrible, and I might still be in good shape if he re-shoved a small pair (not unfathomable) Commie tanked for a couple of minutes, asked us both our stack sizes. . . and then, like a boss, decided to call as well. I roll my hand, the original raiser rolls AQ, and commie rolls KQs.

Not actually a bad situation for my 98 suited! Against those two hands I am actually 34% to scoop the pot, the AQ is 39.5% and Commie is only 26.5% to win, so I really wasn’t in that bad shape.

The flop came K Q 2, all of my suit, so I had flopped the flush. Awesome! Unfortunately another king on the river gave Commie a full house to scoop the pot. (he then went on to finish 3rd in the tournament).

Thus my Sydney champs run came to an end. Good fun though, and the calibre of live players is inspiringly soft, so I’m very keen to play more live events in the near future.

A quick note about WCOOP: I have an aversion to getting up early in the morning, and as most of these events kick-off between 1am and 5am, I really haven’t played many of them at all (just the opening day’s events in fact). I HAVE been playing a lot of the satellites into the WCOOP events however, and then when I win, just unregistering from the tournaments and taking the money instead. Satellites are traditionally filled with an abundance of weak recreational players, so getting involved in as many satellites as I can seemed to be the way to go.

I played a session in the evening last night specifically to play the satellites, and jumped in one or two regular tournaments at the same time. I was only planning on playing for about 3 hours, so I only joined turbo tournaments. I ended up winning about $1,000 from the satellites, and also came first in the $109 turbo for about $6,200, which was very pleasant. I rarely play in the evenings because there isn’t enough volume (I tend to get bored playing less than 20 tables) but with all the satellites running filling up my screens in the evening has become viable again, so it looks like I shall be doing more evening sessions for a while!

May head into the casino on the weekend. My friend Fel is performing some incredible musical act there tonight, so I shall definitely try and get in for that.

Jesse McKenzie is back from NZ, and is grinding away like a maniac as always. Good to have him around, as his commitment to the game quietly inspires us all. (He is standing next to me as I type this)

One other thing before: for anyone who has trouble finding good poker books in Australia, this is an Australian book site that I have started using. They have free shipping as well, and they are generally cheaper than any bookstore anyway. Highly recommended for anyone looking to expand their library.

Fishpond Books Australia

Till next time, best of luck!

In Texas Hold’em poker, as in every other form of poker, you should only play hands that will show a profit over the long run.

There are usually 3 factors that affect the profitability of a hand in Texas Hold’em Poker:

1. The strength of your hand
2. Your position at the table
3. Your skill level (compared to your opponents)

You may have a moderately strong hand such as 9-9, but if you are in terrible position (say, under the gun), and against the 8 best poker players in the world, you may not be able to show a profit even with a hand such as this.

If you have a very week hand such as 6-4 offsuit, but you are playing on the Button, and your opponents are all first time players, then you will probably still show a long term profit with a hand even this weak.

This preamble merely to introduce you to a type of hands that are generally unprofitable for novices, but can be very profitable from intermediate and professional players. This type of hands are:

Suited Connectors

Suited connectors are consecutive cards of the same suit, such as Js-Ts or 6c-7c. A small-suited connector hand would be one like 4d-5d or 5h-6h. Suited connectors are powerful hands because when they flop strongly, the hand is well disguised, and when they miss the flop, they are easy to let go of.

For this reason, suited connectors are considered “Drawing Hands”, because though they rarely flop a made straight or flush, they will often flop a draw to either (or both) of those strong hands. When playing suited connectors, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Suited Connectors Need Good Flops:

A good flop for a suited connector like 7c-8c is either 2 pair, a made straight, a made flush, or a straight draw, flush draw, or combination draw (such as a straight-flush draw or a pair + a straight draw). You aren’t trying to hit merely 1 pair with a suited connector, as that pair will rarely be top pair, and if it is, you are still usually a long way behind any player who holds an overpair. If the flop comes Ac Kd 8s, you must be willing to throw the hand away. This isn’t the flop you wanted, so don’t put any more chips into the pot.

Suited Connectors Benefit from Position:

While all hands are more profitable when played in position, with suited connectors this is particularly true. When you are acting last with a flush or straight draw, you get to see all the action that has happened in front of you, so you can easily calculate the odds you are getting to call. If you have position, you also have less to fear from a player re-raising on the flop after you have called an earlier positioned players bet. For this reason, you should be more inclined to play suited connectors on the button than you would under the gun.

Suited Connectors Need Cheap Flops:

If you take a suited connector like 4c-5c, and then deal out the cards for the flop, turn, and river, you will find that a suited connector only makes a flush or straight about 1 time in 4. Most of the time in a game of poker your opponents will be betting at you, so it will often cost you some money to see all 5 cards. Because of this, you want to see a flop for the cheapest amount possible. It is no good calling off 20% of your stack preflop, as you will very rarely hit a flop that you like. Seeing a flop for just 1 blind, preferably from the button is often the best way to profit from suited connectors. Putting any more than 3%-5% of your stack into the pot preflop with a suited connector is rarely a good idea.

Consider a Semi-Bluff with your Draws:

If you flop a big draw with your suited connectors (such as an open ended straight draw + a flush draw, giving you as many as 15 outs) and the size of the pot is large, you may want to consider moving all in as a semi-bluff. This move can give you multiple ways to win: All your opponents might fold, and you take the pot down with what is currently a worthless hand (such as 7 high), or you get called and win a massive pot if your draw makes it. This is a powerful move as with 14 outs you are approximately even money to win the hand, even against a hand as strong as an overpair! If you have 15 outs, such as the straight-flush draw, then you are often a favourite to win the hand by the river! If the pot is small and moving in would be a massive overbet, It might be best to make a smaller bet than all in, or you could go for a check-raise.

Suited Connectors can be some of the most profitable hands to play, but make sure that you play them only in situations that are to your advantage.

There are three main stages of an online poker tournament. Being able to change strategy as you move through the different stages will make a big difference to your results, and your chances of winning. This article is written mainly with No Limit Hold’em poker in mind, but the theory applies equally well to most other forms of big bet poker such as Omaha.

Early Stage

In the early stages of a tournament you will have a big stack when compared to the blinds. Usually 75-200 big blinds is what you get for your entry fees, and you are therefore have no urgent need to accumulate chips. You can play these early stages in one of two ways: either wait for good hands before getting involved in a pot, or play lots of hands and try and hit a miracle flop that will let you win someone’s entire stack. No matter which method you choose, always keep in mind that the early stages of a tournament you don’t need to take any risks. Play good, solid poker, and take advantage of any opportunities that come along, but don’t risk your stack needlessly. You want to make sure that you stick around for the long haul.

Middle Stage

The middle stage of a poker tournament is usually when the blinds have risen to a point where most players have between 30-50 big blinds. Often a third of the field or more has been eliminated by this stage. Since the blinds are constantly rising, you may not be able to wait for premium hands anymore. You will need to be more active from late position, and you will also need to raise more aggressively to try and win the blinds. Your opponents may play quite passively at this stage, which should give you plenty opportunities to add to your stack bit by bit. Keep being active, keep stealing the blinds, and keep trying to accumulate chips. If you can build a big stack going into the late stages, it will give you a significant advantage.

Late Stage

The late stages of a poker tournament will often be just before the money. Players will have varying stack sizes, ranging from just a few big blinds, to 50 or more big blinds. When you are close to the money, most players will play very tight, hoping to fold their way though to the cash. A clever player will use this time to accumulate even more chips however. Keep raising, keep attacking, and keep being aggressive. If you have a big stack at this stage, be merciless as you approach the “bubble”, since most of the smaller stacks will just get out of your way rather than risk elimination.

If you are a small stack, you might be tempted to try and fold your way through to the money. While this might result in a small prize, it will be virtually impossible for you to win any of the big prizes. If your goal is to come first, then you need to keep being aggressive, even if that means risking your tournament life. If you get a strong hand, don’t be afraid to put all your chips in the middle. In poker, it’s better to bust out, than to fade away!

If you make it past the late game stage, and onto the final table, you will need to continue with your aggression. On average, everyone will get the same number of good hands in a poker tournament, and when nobody has any good cards, the chips will go to the most aggressive player. In tournament poker, only by aggression can you gain an advantage!

Most inexperienced players play far too many hands, and go too far with them. Texas Hold’em is a game where preflop hand strengths make a huge difference to the playability and profitability of a hand, and one of the first things you realise when you start becoming a winning player is that most of the time “tight is right”. Playing fewer hands, and focussing only on hands that are high quality will make you money from players who are playing weaker hands than you on average.

The other benefit of playing tight preflop is that when you are playing only strong hands, it makes your play on later streets much more straight forward.

Your plan for how then entire hand will play out begins right from the point where you are dealt your two pocket cards. Unlike the flop and turn betting rounds, which you might only play every 5 or 10 hands, you make pre-flop decisions every single hand you are dealt into. If you play too loose pre-flop, splashing around with hands that aren’t going to be money winners, you’re costing yourself cash.

Therefore, the first poker technique that you learn should be playing tight before the flop.

Focus on only playing the best starting hands. These are hands that are either already powerful, like AA, KK, QQ, etc, or hands than make top pair with a very strong kicker, such as A-K, A-Q, etc. You can also play quality speculative hands such as T9s, 56s, small pocket pairs, etc. These are hands that can flop big hands light straights, flushes or sets, and take down big pots.

In a cash game, or at early stages of a poker tournament, don’t bother playing any other hands. Not only are they negative expectation, they can also be difficult to play after the flop.

A hand like Q-7s may look good, being a Queen and suited, but this hand is virtually unplayable. When it pairs its seven, it will very rarely be the top pair on the flop. When it pairs its queen, it only has a low kicker, and will often be behind any hand between Q8 to Aq. That’s the problem with this sort of weak hand: you can never be sure if you are ahead or behind. A hand like Q-7s also has no possibility of making a straight using both cards.

But they are suited! That surely is enough reason to play the hand isn’t it? Alas no. Being suited only adds a few percent to its chances of winning at showdown. Not enough to justify putting money into the pot with a weak hand.

Now compare that hand with a strong hand like AKs. When A-K hits the flop you make top pair with the best possible kicker. You’re never going to be outkicked at showdown. In fact if someone else hit top pair too, YOU are going to be the one out-kicking them! You can play this hand strongly.

Playing good starting hands make the later streets easier. When you hit the flop, you know that you have a quality hand that can see a showdown.

If you play hands that show a positive expectation pre-flop, you should be faces with very few difficult decisions later in the hand. Your good pre-flop hands are going to make good post-flop hands more often than your opponents who are playing weaker hands than you on average.

Playing tight is an excellent strategy, which should make you money from the looser players. Fold your weak hands but play your good hands aggressively. Selecting only quality hands will make the rest of your decisions easier, and put you in a great position to win.

Freerolls are poker tournaments that are completely free to enter. They usually offer prize money to the winners, and this prize money can be anything from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars, or even more. Sometimes they will offer entry to a larger tournament instead of, or in addition to, prize money.

Freerolls are a great way to build your bankroll when you are starting out, as they are a completely risk free way to win money playing poker. There are many people who have started off their bankroll entirely by playing freeroll tournaments.

Freerolls are also an excellent way to gain experience without having to risk any of your own money. The structure and format of a freeroll is usually identical to a regular poker tournament, the only difference is that it doesn’t cost you a single cent.

The fact that a freeroll costs nothing to enter also means that the play is a little bit different to a tournament where people have had to pay $10, $100, or even more dollars to enter. This article will go through what these differences are, and also discuss what type of strategy works besting a freeroll tournament, whether live of online.

Your opponents

Freerolls tend to have a huge number of players who are new to the game, and don’t want to risk real money yet. They might be playing freerolls while they learn the rules of the game, or they might just be playing because they want to have a bit of fun, and aren’t really trying to win. Most of your opponents won’t be playing a specific strategy. In fact it can often seem as though these players are raising, calling, and bluffing, seemingly at random. Because of this, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Your opponents aren’t paying attention to you.
You may have folded the last 50 hands in a row, but if you decide to raise on the 51st hand, you will probably still get 4 callers. They didn’t notice you folding for the last half hour, so they won’t give your raise any respect. This also means that any tricky bluffs that rely on your table image will be useless.

2. Players don’t like to fold.
When you bet and raise in a normal poker tournament, whether live or online, each bet carries with it the threat that if a player calls you, they might lose and be out of the tournament. In a freeroll however, players don’t really care about being knocked out, because it didn’t cost them anything to play. Because of this, you won’t often be able to win the pot with a well timed bluff. If someone has a pair of 7’s, they will probably call you all the way down to the river, even if the board comes A A K Q 10.

3. Play only good hands, and bet them hard.
When you hit a strong hand, you can bet, bet, bet, and expect to get called all the way. No need to slowplay. No need to disguise your hand. If you have what you believe is the best hand, just keep on betting till all the money is in the middle. Yes, sometimes they will get lucky and beat you, and you will be out of the tournament, but more often than not they will call away all their chips with a hand that they should have folded preflop.

Those are the most important things to keep in mind when playing an online or live freeroll. When it comes to how to play specific hands, it usually depends on the stage of the tournament that you are in.

There are usually 3 stages of a poker freeroll tournament:

The early stage: This is where most freerolls start, particularly online. You have 50 Big Blinds (BBs) or more.
The middle stage: The blinds have gone up and now your chip stack is 25 BBs or less.
Late stage and the final table: This is when most players will have 10 BBs or less remaining. You’ve reached the last table.

Playing the early stage:
In the early stage of a freeroll players will tend to limp in and even call raises with just about any old cards. Even an all-in bet is likely to be called by weak hands such as K4 or 22. Therefore if you have a strong starting hand you should either make a VERY large raise (about 40% of your stack) or just go all-in before the flop.

Preflop
Go all-in from if you’re holding AA, KK, QQ or AK, even if someone has raised before you. Your hand rates to be the best at the table, and so you are willing to get all the chips in.

If you’re in middle or late position and nobody has raised, you should also go all-in with JJ or AQ.

If you’re holding smaller pairs and there hasn’t been a raise yet, its usually best to just limp in and try and hit 3 of a kind (this is called “flopping a set”). If you miss, you can fold if anyone bets, but if you hit your set, be prepared to get all-in.

In late position such as the Button position or one before it (the Cuttoff position) you can limp in and see the flop with speculative cards as long as there hasn’t been a raise. When we say speculative cards, we mean things like 56 suited, or A-2 suited. Not rubbish hands like 72 offsuit.

After the Flop
On the flop, if you have a strong hand, then go ahead and move all-in. Anything else and, you can just check and fold. A “strong hand” is usually 2 pairs or better.

If you flop a flush draw or a straight draw, you can call a bet, as long as the bet is very small compared to the size of the pot (usually no more than a 5th of the pot). If you hit your straight or flush later in the hand, you can go all-in.

If you have a medium strength hand like top pair, then you are probably best just checking and calling if you are up against 1 or 2 opponents. Against 3 or more opponents, folding is the safest option.

The Middle stage
The middle stage begins when you only have about 25 big blinds left in chips. This is a chip level where it is best to either raise or fold in a freeroll tournament. In a regular tournament you would still be able to limp into some pots, but in a freeroll tournament at this level, you want to either raise, re-raise, or fold. Calling with low pairs or suited connectors is now no good either, as even when you flop a strong hand and win, you have paid too great a percentage of your stack preflop to do it, which will lose you chips in the long run.

Be sure to keep an eye on the stack sizes of other players. You’ll need a strong hand to play against the people with short stacks, because they will be keen to push all their chips in the first time they see something that even slightly resembles a playable hand.

Preflop
Raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT or AK to about four or five big blinds. If anyone raises that, you can push all-in.

You can also raise in any of the middle positions you’re dealt a pair of nines, tens, jacks or queens, as well as KQ, AJ and AQ. If someone re-raises you, you should go all-in with everything except the KQ and the AJ. Those are the weakest hands in your range, so folding them to a re-raise is fine.

After the Flop
Your actions on the flop are going to be pretty straight forward because of the large amount of money that is already in the pot. If you are “heads up” (against only 1 player), then you can bet about half the pot. If they raise, then go all-in if you have top pair or better. You can also go all in if you have a flush draw, or a straight draw, as the size of the pot will make it worthwhile to draw.

If you are against multiple opponents, push all in with any of the above hands, rather than making a bet of just half the pot. Chances are that someone is going to call you anyway, so make them pay the maximum for the privilege.

Late stages and final table
Now we are getting towards the end of the freeroll tournament, and at this stage the chips will usually go towards whoever is the most aggressive. Most players will only have 10 or so BBs, so every time you take down a pot preflop it will add significantly to your stack.

People will start raising with more and more hands as they become more desperate, and as a result, you will be able to re-raise with a wider range too. The important point to remember at this stage is that any hand that you decide to play, you should move all in with. Don’t make a normal raise and don’t just call. Move all in with any hand that you think is best.

Hands that you should always move all in with are AA, KK, QQ, JJ TT, along with AK, AQ and AJ. You can move all in with these hands even if someone has already raised.

If nobody has raised you can move all in yourself with any of the remaining pairs, from any position.

If you are in the last 2 seats (ie the Button or Cutoff) and nobody has raised yet, you can also move all in with any ace, or any suited connector.

In the unlikely event that the hand gest folded to you in the small blind, you can push all in with any 2 cards that are either suited, connected, or if at least 1 card in your hand is a Q or higher.

Remember, at the end stages of the tournament, winning just the blinds is a good result, so don’t be afraid to be aggressive. Keep raising and stealing blinds, until all the chips are yours. Everyone has the same chances to be dealt a good hand, but when nobody has a good hand, the chips will gravitate towards whoever is the most active and the most aggressive.

If you are ready to play some freerolls, here is a list of the top sites we recommend for free poker: Best Online Free Poker Sites.

Good luck at the tables, and most importantly, play well!

In poker, the same cards turning out in the same order will result in vastly different outcomes depending on where you’re sitting compared to the other players at the table. Hands that are profitable when played in late positions will often be extremely unprofitable if played in earlier positions.

Positions in Poker:

First some poker terminology: If you are first, second or third to play, you are said to be in ‘early’ position (the very first to act is also referred to as ‘Under The Gun’) If you are sitting in the dealer position (also known as ‘The Button’) or are one or two seats to the right of the dealer position you are said to be in ‘late’ position. All players seated between early and late positions are referred to as ‘middle’ position.

Early Position in Poker

If you are in ‘early’ position, the type of hands that you play must be predominately strong hands i.e.: big pairs or AK in a game of Texas Hold’em. The reason you must restrict your self to principally strong hands is because you have no way of knowing what other later players are holding, and if they later raise or re-raise your bet, you will have to fold all but your strongest hands. Therefore, folding your weak hands when in early position will allow you to save your chips for more profitable situations and positions.

Middle Position in Poker

When playing in ‘middle’ position, you will still have to be aware that the players behind you may bet or raise if you play the hand, and that they will have the advantage of seeing you act first for the remainder of the hand. You still need to play mostly high quality hands from middle position, but as there are less players remaining to act, you can afford to be a little bit more liberal in your starting hands. Additionally, you will be in a later position than any players who may have already entered the pot, so you will “have position” on them throughout the hand.

Late Position in Poker

When you are in ‘late’ position you have the advantage of having seen almost every other players action so far in the hand. You will have a rough idea about how highly each player before you rates their hand by whether they have merely called, raised, or re-raised. You will also get to see what your opponents do on the Flop, Turn and River betting rounds, allowing you to make better decisions. Additionally, if you enter the pot from late position, there is a much lower chance that someone acting after you will raise, as there are only the Button player and the players in the Blinds to worry about. All these advantages mean that you can often play a wide range of hands from late position, including suited connectors, suited aces, small pairs, and even hands with a gap in them such as 7-9.

Button Position in Poker

If you are on ‘the Button’ you are last to act in each betting round, and you usually only have 2 players to act after you (the two Blinds) so you can play an extremely wide range of hands. Some extremely experienced players may find that almost every hand is playable from the button, as the ability to bluff, and the ability to get maximum value out of your good hands is greatest when playing from the Button position.

The Blinds Position in Poker

When you are in one of the ‘blind’ positions, you benefit from having to call a smaller amount to play, as you already have some money in the pot. You will however be out of position for the remainder of the hand, which will not only make it harder for you to bluff, but will also make it harder to get paid on your big hands. For this reason, it is usually a good idea to play moderately tightly from the blinds, using a similar range that you would use in ‘middle’ position.

In some weak poker games, you’ll see a lot of “Raise, Call, Call and Call” type action going on. Limping into hands, or flat calling raises both have their place in a game of poker, but they should be the exception rather than the rule. Raising is often going to be better if you have a hand worth playing. Here are the two main reasons why you should be more inclined to play aggressively and raise:

1.Just calling shows weakness
2.The player who raises controls the hand

If you have a strong hand you need to be in there raising, firstly because it gets more money in the pot when you are probably the favourite, and secondly because it increases the chance that you will win the hand without a showdown, as the strength you have shown by raising makes it likely your opponent will fold to you when you bet on the flop.

Obviously there are exceptions to this rule; you wouldn’t raise a pot with merely TT if there has already been a raise and a re-raise pre-flop, for example. Just calling here might be the better option. But usually, you want to be rasing.

Just Calling Shows Weakness

Everyone knows that raising is what you do with good hands. So by just calling, you are in effect saying “My hand really isn’t that strong”. Just calling get you into trouble most of the time, because you won’t be able represent a strong hand on the flop, and therefore you have less chance of taking the pot down with bets later in the hand. If the hand isn’t good enough to raise, then often times it might not be good enough to play in the first place.

By just calling you leave yourself open to your opponent betting you out of pots you should have won simply because you didn’t re-raise pre-flop. When you raise pre-flop you show great strength, and most players will either fold to you pre-flop, or to your continuation bet if they missed the flop.

Raising Puts You in Control

When you raise or re-raise aggressively you show your serious intentions about the hand. If your opponents miss the flop, this aggression will be carried forward to your flop bet, and you are very likely to take the pot down. Your betting has shown a consistent story: “I raised preflop because my hand was strong, and now I’m betting the flop because my hand is still strong. You better get out of my way, because I’m going to win this pot!”

After raising preflop, most aggressive players will bet almost any flop as long as there are fewer than three people in the hand. The strength you have shown pre-flop will make it hard for your opponents to call, even if they hit the flop weakly themselves. Even if they do call, they will usually play passively for the remainder of the hand because you have shown so much strength, which might let you hit another card to take the lead, or might give you the chance to bluff them out later on.

Here’s an example of why aggressive players raise pre-flop:
A player limps in pre-flop and you raise with Ace-Queen. The player who limped calls your raise with pocket 9s. The flop comes K T 4. The player with 99 checks to you, and you bet. The player with 99 realises that since you raised preflop you could have many hands that hit that flop, so he folds. You win the pot with only your Ace-high. Your aggression has let you win the pot, even though your opponent had the better hand on the flop.

Such is the power of aggression.

To win an online multi-table poker tournament, you can’t just rely on getting dealt premium hands. You’ll need to bluff, steal blinds, check-raise, and pull all sorts of tricky manoeuvres, but above all, you must be aggressive, right to the very end. Here are a few tournament tips that will help you get to the final table and take home the big prizes a bit more often:

1. Bet big hands aggressively

In most online tournaments, there are lots of players who are willing to call all the way to the river with weak hands, or weak draws. These players will call huge bets down with top pair/medium kicker because they don’t believe that someone would bet two-pair, a set, or a straight so hard. Most people like to slow play their big hands, and even give free cards, so by betting your big hands aggressively, you may actually be MORE likely to get called. You’ll also get some calls from players paying too much to draw, so make sure you charge them the maximum all the way.

2. Call raises with your low pairs early

In the early stages of most multi-table tournaments you usually have 75-150 big blinds, so seeing some flops with your low pocket pairs isn’t going to damage your stack very much, even if you fold every time you miss your set. The times you DO hit a set though will give you an excellent chance to win a big pot, or even double up.

Your implied odds at this early stage of the tournament are usually so big that it can be worth investing as much as 1/20th or 5% percent of your stack to try and hit a set. If you are in position, you can profitably call for almost 10% of your stack, particularly with the larger pocket pairs, as you might be able to win the pot by betting even when you miss your set.

3. Semi-bluff your drawing hands

Let’s assume that you raised with two big suited cards (such as AK) and had one caller. Now the flop has comes 7 high. You would usually make a C-Bet on this sort of a flop anyway, to try and win the pot immediately. If you have flopped a flush draw to go with your overcards however, you can be extremely aggressive, raising your opponents bet, firing another barrel on the turn, or even check raising if you thing your opponent will bet when you check. You can often check raise all-in on a flop like this, with nothing except 2 overcards and a flush draw, because you will usually have 15 outs (9 cards that make a flush, and 6 cards that give you top pair top kicker), so you are actually a FAVOURITE in the hand against someone with a weak overpair like 99. Combined with the chance that your opponent will just fold and give up the hand, aggressive play when you have a healthy flush draw is an excellent way to accumulate chips.

4. The Shove

Many players, particularly when they are new, will let themselves get blinded down so low that their stack is no longer intimidating. This means that when the push all in, one (or both) of the players in the blinds will call them, just because they are getting good Pot Odds. Even if the short stack doubles up in this situation, they will still only have 7 or 8 blinds, and will need to push all in again very soon to avoid getting blinded down again! When your total stack is down to around 10 big blinds is when you have to start shoving all-in. At 10 blinds you still have enough chips that people cant call you with any old rubbish, so you have a good chance of winning the blinds uncontested.

You’ll need to pick the right spot to make you move, as the stack sizes of the players in the blinds can be even more important than your cards. Make sure you’re the first player into the pot (unless you have a premium hand), that way you have the maximum chance of everyone giving up the blinds without a fight.

If the action is folded around to you in late position, you can push all in with any ace, any pair, or any suited connector. The closer you are to the button the looser you can be with your hand, simply because there is less chance that one of the remaining players will have a good enough hand to call you.

The best time to push is when the blinds have medium sized stacks. If they have less than you, they might be getting desperate, and decide to call with any 2 cards. Likewise if the players in the blinds each have very large stacks they won’t be scared of you and may call light too. The best stacks to push into are medium stacks, as they are the players who you can damage the most. They won’t want to risk a large proportion of their stack with anything but a premium hand. Even when they do call, 5-6 suited will beat A-K about 40% of the time, which will bring you well and truly back into the game.