Today, I thought I would talk a little bit about personality types at the poker table. Sometimes it seems that there are endless styles your opponents may have. In actuality, poker players can generally be classified into one of four main playing styles. They are:

1. Tight-Aggressive
2. Loose-Aggressive
3. Loose-Passive
4. Tight-Passive

In my opinion, the most effective poker style is tight-aggressive. I'll discuss the reasons why I believe this in a moment, but it�s a good idea for me to describe to you exactly what these four types mean.

For each of the styles, there are two words to describe them. The first part of the name describes the types of hands the players prefers to play. A "loose" players is someone who plays many types of hands, whether they be pocket pairs, suited connectors, connectors of any type or any suited cards. A "tight" player is someone who generally only plays stronger, more solid hands such as pocket pairs, big cards and suited connectors. more aggressive poker strategy...

It's important to realize that strategies vary for different limits, due to the amount of money involved and the general skill of the players at the table. Micro limit poker has some interesting dynamics and culture due to the fact that the amount wagered at any time is not a lot of money to most of the online players. It stands to reason that the majority of the players play at these low limits because they are beginners trying to gain experience or they are on a limited bankroll. Many of the significant cultural differences between micro limit and the higher limit tables can be broken down into these key observations. (Throughout this article I will use common shorthand to represent the cards. AK means, of course, an ace and a king. T8 means a ten and an 8. QJs means queen jack suited, while QJo means queen jack off suited. Kx means a king and a card of no significance to the hand. A common term used will be connectors, which means cards connected in rank, such as 76 or T9.) more online poker strategy...

It's hard to miss the fact that the last two winners of the World Series of Poker were not professional poker players and the fact that Chris Moneymaker (2003) and Greg Raymer (2004) are online players. It's no wonder that online poker is exploding. With so many new players out there giving online poker a shot it's feeding frenzy for the skilled player, or even the player with a modest amount of skills. Most of these newbies start out at the lowest limit tables until they either bust out or improve their skills and bankroll enough to move onto the higher limit tables. Even if you're a veteran of the Friday night home dealer's choice poker games, you most likely will have to change your playing style to win consistently online. But fear not, there are more unskilled players at the micro limit tables than there are skilled players. more online poker strategy...

Most expert limit poker players all have quirks and idiosyncrasies in their playing styles. Some may play marginal hands ‘fast’, for example, while some others may only play on when they enjoy a huge overlay. I’ve met a fair number of long term winners, and I can say that good poker players are somewhat like snowflakes; i.e., no two are ever the same. But if there’s one common trait that all solid players share, it is this: they all understand the value of not getting involved with bad hands on the flop when the pot is small and being contested multi-way. There are almost no exceptions to this. Most of the pots you’ll be playing will be smaller than 8 small bets before the flop action commences, and most of the time you’ll catch little or nothing on the flop. It follows, therefore, that any player worth his salt must know when to get away from a hand after the flop drops.more online poker strategy...

Why Does Position Matter?

This is something that newer players often ask me, so I thought I'd dedicate an article explaining the nuances of position. As most players-even newbies-know, you'd rather act last than first. But why is this?

As it turns out this question is fairly simple to answer. Although we could expound on the nuances of positional advantages until the cows come home, 95% of the benefits that last position affords a player can be found in the following three factors. more position strategy...

There has always been spirited discussion in relationship to investing in the stock market versus the merits of being a professional gambler. For years the folks who head on over to Wall Street to make a living have been looked upon as individuals with a strong analytical business mind, that have had years of college education. This background has persuaded many individuals with excess capital to trust their finances with these speculators.

On the other side of the fence sits the sports handicapper, who for many years, has been watching and reading about various sports teams and individuals. They analyze the draft every year, study the injury report, pour over statistics that reveal how their team plays at home, on the road, indoors or outdoors, cold or warm weather and then decide with at least a 50% chance of winning, what team or individual they should wager on.more about sports wagering...

As with golf, betting on NASCAR used to be almost exclusively on who would win the overall event. However, wagering on the odds to win has become a distant second to wagering on which of two competitors will have the better head-to-head results. Books typically offer match-ups based on drivers (and their cars and teams, of course) of similar skill, and will offer anywhere from a dozen to 50 match-ups on a race.

Picking the winner of a race is difficult, but the payoff is high. For example, Mark Martin might be 25/1 to win the entire race, and hitting that would be a nice payoff, but remember there are 42 other drivers in the race! more about betting on NASCAR...

It’s a lot like that in the sportsbook world, except bookmakers never truly have a buyer and seller in place at the same time, so they hold positions in order to provide liquidity for their players. Lines are moved to attract bettors to the side where the house needs more money, and away from the side where the house already has lots of action. more about line moves...

So you have decided to start betting online - or maybe you just want to find a new trustworthy sportsbook - what do you need to look out for?

Well I am in a position to speak from some experience - I did at one time hold accounts with about sixty bookmakers in Europe, UK, Australia and offshore - the latter catering mainly to the US market. I have had at least three online sportsbooks go broke on me - luckily my losses were kept to a few thousand dollars - that may sound a lot but it could have been a lot worse. more about choosing a sportsbook...

Who really likes math? When it comes to betting on football, most North American bettors favor pointspreads over moneylines simply because they get pointspreads. There’s no math involved. Once you face your fear of math, however, you’ll find that betting on moneylines is easier than you think.

With pointspreads, it’s easy to spot the difference between –3 and –4, right? But how much value is there between moneylines of –170 and –210? Most people don’t get that; it’s just not something that’s intuitive to football bettors. more about sportsbook moneylines...