PREFLOP CALCULATOR VARIATIONS

If you play online poker, then You probably are familiar with at least one of the online preflop  calculators. If you don't already own one, then you tend to be thinking of having one. But if a preflop  calculator investment is in your near future you need to know the basic variations and how they get along with the security of your poker account and bankroll.

Preflop  Calculator Variations

Mathematical - In general, all Preflop  calculators have the basic ability to calculate the bets and pot size while measuring that against your position, hole card power and drawing potential. These basic reading functions, extracted right from your poker window automatically, are basically why preflop calculators exist on the first hand. They quickly decipher the exact math and possibilities and offer a raise, call, check or fold suggestion.

Empirical - In addition to the above features, these Preflop  Calculators monitor and record the behavior of your opponents. Based on this added information, such a Preflop Calculator can help assistance or contradict your impression of a certain opponent's grid factor, but more likely, set the structure for an hypothesis all on its' own.

Operative - This kind of poker calculator will have a combination of at least some of the features in each of the Mathematical and Empirical, but is distinct in how it obtains that information. You can call this the "black hat" of Preflop  Calculators, because it extracts information on your future opponents, by monitoring your poker website's table action, and thus building a player database whether you are at a table or not. Then you can get information from that database to view your opponents' hand selection, playing styles, raising habits, bankroll changes, experience, and a host of other factors.

In general, the Mathematical and Empirical types of preflop calculators are both allowed or supported to some degree by your poker website, of course depending on compatibility. If you are pondering the purchase of an Operative Preflop  Calculator however, you should know there is risk included. On the sunny side, your poker website may never know you are using one and you will not be punished, while enjoying an individual, statistical benefits over your opponents. That however, is optimistic. The simple truth is that Mr. Big Poker Site is always on the lookout for such programs and enjoys the legal power to take away you from a table(s), confiscate your bankroll, and ban you from their site permanently. This however, is pessimistic. Let it be known though, that Mr. Big Poker Site has a huge research budget and will continue to throw money at this issue with the intent to seek and damage you and those "Black Hat" programmers. They need to, because it's their reputation at stake for fairness and image. Because simply put, a Big Poker Site cannot attract new players amidst cheating scandals.

TOP 10 ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT MONEY WINNERS

 This are Top 10 All-Time Tournament Money Winners:

• 10th all time tournament money winner

Erik Seidel — $9,344,841

His runner-up finish to Johnny Chan immortalized on celluloid in the film Rounders, Erik Seidel has continual an effective poker career for over two decades. The winner of eight WSOP bracelets, Seidel also earned a WPT title last year when he took down the Foxwoods Poker Classic for nearly $1 million. Seidel also has two runner-up finishes at the Aussie Millions, finishing second to Alexander Kostritsyn in last year's Main Event and second to Erick Lindgren in the 2007 $100,000 buy-in high roller tournament. Cool and calculated at the table, Seidel is a calm presence and an extremely decent player for someone who targets tournaments rather than cash game action, having won bracelets in pot-limit Omaha, limit hold'em, no-limit hold'em, Omaha 8 or better and no-limit deuce-to-seven individual draw.

• 9th all time tournament money winner

T.J. Cloutier — $9,373,135

Many like to joke about how most of T.J. Cloutier's tournament profit have ended up in the craps pit, but this Texas rounder's tournament ability is undeniable. Cloutier is the proud owner of six WSOP bracelets, has made 55 WSOP cashes during his career (good for fifth place on that list) and has lots of final-table appearances at the series, including a fifth-place finish at the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2006 WSOP. He came within a whisper of winning the 2000 WSOP Main Event, obtaining all in with A-Q vs. Chris Ferguson's A-9, but the cards did not fall his way that night. Cloutier is also a productive poker author, having penned a number of outstanding strategy titles.

• 8th all time tournament money winner.

 Peter Eastgate — $9,714,111

Denmark's Peter Eastgate arrived on this list after winning the 2008 WSOP Main Event for a mind-boggling $9.1 million and being the youngest player in history to win the Main Event, breaking the record that Phil Hellmuth held since 1989. Since then, he's confirmed to be no flash in the pan, making deep finishes in the EPT London and the Party Poker Premier League, and just last week, he took down a $5,000 buy-in side event at the PokerStars Carribean Adventure, good for another $343,000. Though Eastgate comes in at #8 on this list, he is Denmark's #1 tournament money earner, the WSOP's #2 all-time money earner, and the top European money earner at the WSOP. All this, and he has yet to enjoy his 23rd birthday.

• 7th all time tournament money winner

Scotty Nguyen — $10,009,934

This year's $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. champion gets to #7 on our list. The five-time WSOP bracelet winner has also made five televised final tables on the World Poker Tour, finally notching a victory with his win at the 2006 Gold Strike World Poker Open in Tunica. Constantly decked out in gold chains, tinted sunglasses, and more frequently than not, swigging one of his beloved Michelob Ultra Lights, Nguyen also one of five players in this top ten to win the WSOP Main Event, a feat he completed in 1998. He very nearly did it again in 2007, but famously imploded, exiting in 11th place despite seizing the chip lead when the tournament was down to its final 12 players.

• 6th all time tournament money winner

Phil Ivey — $10,034,351

For a man who doesn't play too many tournaments, Phil Ivey has certainly done well for him self. The high-stakes cash gamer and sports-betting fanatic has five WSOP bracelets to his name and over the last two years at the series, has placed huge amounts of money in side bets on winning his sixth. A consummate professional considered by many of his peers to be the world's greatest living poker player, Ivey has won titles in just about any discipline of poker, from pot-limit Omaha and seven-card stud to no-limit hold'em. After making a record eight televised final tables on the World Poker Tour, Ivey finally notched a win in 2008, earning nearly $1.6 million for his first-place finish at the L.A. Poker Classic. If there was a way to track all-time cash game earnings, there is little doubt that Ivey would top that list handily.

• 5th all time tournament money winner. 

Allen Cunningham — $10,341,752

Quiet, focused, and motivated, Allen Cunningham banked his first $9 million in tournament earnings before turning 30 and gets to #5 on this list without winning the WSOP Main Event—though he came oh so close in 2006 when he finished fourth for a $3.6 million score. Since then, he's extended to rack up the cashes, winning his fifth WSOP bracelet, capturing a WSOP Circuit ring, and winning the $15,000 buy-in NPL Vegas Open at the Venetian.

• 4th all time tournament money winner

Joe Hachem — $10,744,616

Some might call him the luckiest man in poker—he won the 2005 WSOP Main Event for $7.5 million and didn't need to pay a dime to the tax man in his native Australia. Formerly a cash game specialist at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Hachem now travels the world as a member of Team PokerStars Pro and has racked up deep finishes on the APPT, the EPT, and at the Victorian Poker Championships. Hachem also has a WPT title to his name, earned at the 2006 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic at Bellagio, for which he earned over $2.2 million. Pass the sweets, indeed.

• 3th all time tournament money winner

Phil Hellmuth — $10,744,988

He's the one you love to hate (or, occasionally, actually hate) but Phil Hellmuth's tournament resume is probably the most impressive one in poker. At the WSOP, Hellmuth has the most cashes (69) of any player, the most bracelets of any player (11), and has made 40 final-table appearances. Though the WSOP is Hellmuth's primary tournament stomping property, he has also made three final-table appearances on the WPT, but has yet to notch the win. In addition to playing poker and hamming up his bad beats for the video cameras, the "Poker Brat" has a lucrative speaking career, has authored a number of poker publications, presents itself in video games, and yes, even has a clothes line.

• 2nd all time tournament money winner

Daniel Negreanu — $11,203,152

If Phil Hellmuth is the one you love to hate, then Daniel Negreanu is the one you love to love. The affable Canadian broke out into bona fide poker superstardom in 2004, winning his third WSOP bracelet, taking down his first WPT title at the Borgata Poker Open, and only two months later winning his second with a $1.7 million advantage at the Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. Oh, and there was that little matter of winning both WSOP Player of the Year and WPT Player of the Year in the same year. Negreanu hasn't slowed down a lick—he won his fourth WSOP bracelet this past summer, made the final table of the WSOP-Europe Main Event, finishing fifth, and only last month, won the British Columbia Poker Championships in his native Canada. He's also the top tournament money earner of all time who has not won the WSOP Main Event.

• 1st all time tournament money winner

Jamie Gold — $12,170,024

Still coming in first on the all-time money list is the man who won the largest WSOP Main Event ever presented (or perhaps ever will be played). Jamie Gold topped a area of 8,773 to earn the $12 million champion's prize at the 2006 Main Event, by utilizing an inventive, talkative style where he always told his opponents the truth about his hand. Clearly, most of them refused to believe Gold, who prior to that summer had earned about $100,000 in local Los Angeles-area tournaments. Though he tops this highly decorated list, Gold continues to be loathe to consider himself a full-time pro, and still has a "real job" creating and producing reality television series.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHOICES IN A BETTING ROUND?

 What are your choices in a bettin round?

• Fold

If you don't want to keep on in the hand, you can throw your cards away and "leave" the current round.


 

• Bet

When no-one before you has bet anything, you can do so on your own. You would say, for instance: "I bet 10 chips" and place your chips in the pot, so that anyone who wants to continue playing must match up your bet. If they don't, because it is too expensive or they don’t have a good hand, they can fold.

Betting all of one's chips is called heading all-in. Once you are all-in, you can't bet anything more, but also cannot be forced to fold any longer. Indeed, when you are all-in, you will instantly be in the hand until its end, giving you the chance to win by showing the best cards.

• Raise

You can also raise a bet; for example, raise an opponent's bet of 10 chips to 20 chips. By doing this you are making the bet more expensive to call for anyone who would like to play on. If they don't want to pay additional, they have to fold.

• Call

If someone before you has bet, you have the possibility to call this bet. For this you just pay whatever the cost of the bet was. If an challenger bets 10 chips, you would have to call 10 chips to stay in the hand.

• Check

If no-one has bet yet, then you can check. This indicates you don't place any bets and let the next player act. It is like saying "I'll wait and see what happens"

POST FLOP STRATEGY

To begin with post flop strategy, if the flop misses you  completely, almost always FOLD to any bet. You put in a lot of time waiting for a hand to play, and if you completely miss the flop and somebody bets into you, you are going to have to throw it away and wait some more. It is not easy to be patient and wait for an alternative hand, however this is exactly what makes you money in hold'em. You have to get off the hands that miss on the flop. Not on the turn, on the flop. Anybody can push in chips when they have the best hand, but really great players are able to throw away good hands that seem to be beaten. The key is to get off those losing hands early and give your opponents practically nothing when you miss.Even if you have the best overcards, you are often still better off to fold to any bet. You just have 6 outs to make a pair, and your opponent may have paired already. So if you get one of your cards on the turn, it could make an opponent two pair and you will lose even more bets. Most gamers are unable to let go of a good opening hand no matter the flop and they lose money as a result. Don't make the mistake of making loose calls on the flop. If you don't flop a good hand or a good draw, get off the hand quickly. Let other players make loose calls and you can income from them when you make a hand. That is solid "post flop strategy"poker.

STRAIGHT FLUSH

A straight flush is a hand that made up of five cards in series, all of the same suit, such as Q♣ J♣ 10♣ 9♣ 8♣ (a hand that meets the requirements of both a straight, and a flush). Two such hands are in comparison by their card that is ranked highest. Aces can play low in straights and straight flushes: 5♦ 4♦ 3♦ 2♦ A♦ is a 5-high straight flush, also known as a "steel wheel".{2}{3}
In five-card poker, there are 40 possible straight flushes, such as the 4 royal flushes. The probability of being dealt a straight flush is.
In seven-card poker for example Texas hold 'em, the number of occurrence of straight flush is 41,584 (4,324 for royal flush and 37,260 for non-royal straight flush), the likelihood of straight flush is around 0.0311% (0.0032% for royal flush and 0.0279% for non-royal straight flush).

Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen Part 3

POKER RULES

The following poker rules apply to the ranking of all poker hands. Under typical rules there are nine specific rankings.
A hand always is made up of five cards. In games where more than five cards are available to each player, the best five-card combination of those cards must be played. Any cards not included in the hand do not affect its ranking. For example, if player A holds 3♠ Q♦ and player B holds 3♣ A♣, and five cards 4♣ 5♦ 6♦ 7♠ 10♥ are available to both players, the players hold equally ranking 3-4-5-6-7 straights despite the fact that the player B's ace ranks higher than the player A's queen.
Individual cards are ranked A (highest), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (lowest). Aces can become low (as if having a value of "1") when part of an A-2-3-4-5 straight or straight flush. In the poker variants ace-to-five and ace-to-six lowball, the ace only plays low, and only plays high in deuce-to-seven lowball. Individual card ranks are used to rank hands that are in the identical rank category.
In poker rules the suits of the cards are used to determine whether a hand forms a flush or straight flush. In most versions, suits do not have an associated value, and play no part in determining the ranking of a hand. Often a ranking called high card by suit is used for randomly selecting a player to deal. Low card by suit usually determines the bring-in bettor in stud games.
Hands are positioned first by category, then by individual card ranks; even the lowest hand that qualifies in a certain category defeats all hands in all lower categories. For example, 2♦ 2♠ 3♦ 3♣ 4♠, the lowest-valued two pair hand, defeats all hands with just one pair or high card (such as A♠ A♦ K♦ Q♥ J♣). Only between two hands in the same category are card ranks used to break ties.
A poker hand has the same hand ranking regardless of the order in which it is arranged by the deal, by a description, or by a picture. So a hand arranged as 10♠ 8♦ 10♦ 6♣ 10♣ is ranked the same as 10♣ 10♦ 10♠ 8♦ 6♣ even though in the first hand the three of a kind is not immediately obvious.
If there are multiple hands of the same rank at the showdown (therefore no kicker(s), or kickers have equal ranks), the pot is split equally between the winning players. If the divided number creates fractions (odd chip), the first hand clockwise from the button/dealer gets the chip.
There are 311,875,200 ways (5-permutations) of being dealt five cards from a 52-card deck, but since the order of cards does not matter, there are 5! = 120 5-permutations given in any one hand, so there are only 2,598,960 () possible combinations in five-card poker. Similarly, in seven-card poker there are 133,784,560 () combinations
 If the game is played (acording to poker rules)without having the high card by suit rule, hands that have similar values are considered to be the same hand, there will be 7,462 distinct hands in five-card poker, and 4,824 distinct hands when choosing the best five in seven-card poker, like Texas hold 'em; the number of seven-card poker is fewer than of five-card poker because some hands are not possible with seven cards (e.g. 7-high).