This poker article is about the tricky question of starting hand strategy. In poker your starting position is determined by where the button is and this can make a huge difference to the way the game starts and develops. To stack the odds as best as humanly possible, to coin the phrase “make your own luck” you need to know how to approach hand play from the different starting positions. In this article I am going to cover the Big Blind.

The Big Blind is very similar to the Small Blind but instead of putting half a BB (Big Bet) you put in a whole one before the cards are even dealt out. The hands that we discussed playing in the Small Blind are the same hands were going to want to play from the Big Blind. The hands you want to be raising with are premium hands A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-Ks, and A-Ko. I would reraise a raise only with A-A, K-K, and A-Ks from this position. The rest of the hands I want to just call somebody’s raise.

The other hands I would call a raise with include the following; 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, 7-7, 6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2. Now with these low pocket pairs we are looking for a set so we don’t want to be calling huge raises with them. 5xbb max with these hands from this position. Say there is a raise and then a reraise then its on you just get out of the pot, no matter how tempting those tens are you are most likely dominated and we want to go into a hand the favorite 90% of the time, we want and need every edge.

Now some people play the A-Qs, A-Js in this particular situation, and I’m not saying its wrong or right but I will say this; if you have absolutely no idea what your opponent is raising with from early position then fold it until you have the correct information. If you see him show down a hand like Q-Js from early position even once I would defend my blind in a heads up pot with this guy every time I had an A-Q, A-Js. I would still be cautious about it though because even a bad player can pick up an A-K, but I would feel way more comfortable with it against a guy who opens with Q-Js, I’d rather wait for a much stronger hand.

This situation also comes up; the guy in the cut off raises every time when everyone else has folded, you’re in the blind and you pick up the A-Qs. Again I would say try to get some information about the guy before you go making this call. Whenever you check to an aggressive player they are going to take a bite at the pot. So if you miss the flop he’s going to bet, when you hit the flop he’s going to bet. The key in this situation is being comfortable enough with your hand to take it to the river no matter what when you hit an Ace or you hit a Queen without a King on the board, because he is going to keep on biting if he has position. That’s with a LAG (Loose-Aggressive) type of player.

All other hands you just want to check to see a flop. You really want two pair or better with any hands that you check with to see a flop. Don’t go nuts with an open ended straight draw when you have an 8-5s and the flop is a rainbow 6-7-8. Remember it’s only a draw that you have approximately a 30% chance of winning. He could already have the straight with a 9-10s. So if that 9 does come your smashed and the same with a 4.

Four to a flush draws should be played with caution as well especially if it’s not the nut flush draw. With the nut flush draw meaning A-Xs or if the flop comes spade, spade, spade and you have the Ace of spades you want to make sure your opponent does not have an Ace as well because if he does not then you can add 3 more outs to your hand. So a semi-bluff isn’t a bad play here. Say you have the nut flush draw (9 outs) with A-9s. The flop was 2h-5h-7s. Now you think an Ace or even a 9 will give you the best hand then you add 3 outs for the Ace and 3 outs for the 9. 3+3+9=15 total outs.

So now you multiply that by 4 to give you the percentage of hitting your hand. 4×15=60%. So now you know how much to semi-bluff. How much you ask? 60% of the pot should be your flop semi-bluff bet. The turn bet should be cut in half if you miss the turn because you only have a single card to come. So only bet 30% of the pot on the turn if you wish to continue with semi-bluffing or you can check and hope he does as well. If he does not check and bets 3/4ths the pot or more I would fold.

Now say you think the only thing that’s going to save you is the flush in a hand like this. Then you only have 9 outs. 9×4=36 so you have a 36% chance of winning the hand then you only want to bet 40% of the pot (round it up or down). This is a good semi-bluff move because you want to try to keep control of the betting. I know these bets seem kind of low but believe me when I say that’s ok. They might be thinking why is he betting so low?

Weakness usually means strength so your projecting weakness so they might think your strong even when your not. The point of this semi-bluff is to take control of the betting while giving yourself correct odds to stay in the hand. The point of this semi-bluff is not to win the pot on the spot (although it would be nice and it does happen). This semi-bluff strategy works very well against calling stations. You may be asking what does this have to do with the Big Blind. Well you don’t know how many times your going to run into situations just like this from the Blinds and also late position and I’d rather touch on it now then have you go sit down and run into a situation like this with absolutely no clue on how to play your hand.

Poker can be a lot of fun. Please always play with the intention of having fun and leave the heavy gambling to the pros. Many lives have been destroyed because of addiction to gambling.

If you are one of the poker players, what type of poker table do you prefer? Are you into some thoughts of finding the best poker table before you play the game? These are just some of the questions that most of the people encounter when dealing with the poker table. We cannot deny that there are several poker players who really choose the best and comfortable poker table. And such event is just so typical that we even observe them in some forms of games.

Given such fact about the dilemma for finding the best poker table, it is noted that the act of finding the best poker table to play the poker game is really a skill in itself. This means that when someone is more accustomed to playing the poker in anything but big casinos, the poker table selection does not really come into play.

This is for the reason that when you are playing poker in big casinos, you have the freedom to choose for your poker table. Most of the time, the floor man in big casinos just leads you to a poker table to be seated at and that will be the end of your poker table selection. But then, in some cases, particularly when you are playing an online poker, the urge for poker table selection emerged.

In line with that, many of the poker table conscious often chooses those online poker games that have the best poker tables. There are even times that when there are so many sharks who sit at your poker table, you tend to get up and go. And if too many creatures are drawing on you and at your poker table, it is no doubt that the same thing happens – you simply leave. And oftentimes many people chose those poker tables that have average pot size listed for the table. Most of them automatically select those poker tables with the biggest average pot. But then this is still considered to be the wrong move.

With such fact, it is considered that with your poker table, nothing keeps you at your poker table except for your own decision to pursue. Here the concept of poker table consciousness emerged. It is for the reason that even if you know that you are better than the rest of the poker players at the poker table, when you no longer have interest for the play and you no longer have a poker table image, then you better leave for can longer continue playing at the top of your game. Such is the role that the poker table played for a poker game. Whatever the principle for poker table, that is beyond the scope of this article.

First, if you are looking to improve your poker game, you will want to read every book you possibly can about the subject. Professional poker players often write books about their playing techniques. In learning about the different techniques that various poker player’s use, you can learn the techniques that work best for you and subsequently improve your poker game.

Second, when looking to improve your poker game, you will want to explore as many strategic plays as possible. This can be done at free online casinos where you can learn the different types of rules for poker variants, the different types of hands to play and you can even play against people from anywhere on the globe.

Third, when seeking to improve your poker game, you may want to read or check out various poker game tutorials on the web. Such tutorials may provide you with some insight that you may have not otherwise had before you viewed the tutorial. You would be surprised what you might learn while viewing tutorials and you will find the learning process both engaging and fun.

Fourth, you might what to familiarize yourself with poker odds. You can memorize poker odds to increase your playing power at the tables or, if you prefer, you can invest in a poker odds calculator. A poker odds calculator can help you learn the odds of various hands and once you have mastered the odds; you will be able to place far wiser bets at the playing table.

Finally, you can learn a lot by watching the pros play. When watching professional poker players note how the intimidate other players and study their poker face. Studying the poker faces of the professionals will help you develop your own strategies for psyching out other players at the table. Let’s face it; sometimes you need to bluff, no matter what your strategy is. Nevertheless, by mastering the techniques of poker, there will be fewer times that you will be required to bluff!