Poker Expert – Michael Keiner

Poker Pro and doctor Michael Keiner wasn´t born as a poker professional but he has the courage to risk and his mentality to gamble is recognizable. The first time Michael Keiner got in touch with Texas Holdem Poker was during a surgery training in 1993. Being enthusiastic about the game he started to visit different casinos in Germany.

In 1997 he participated in the European tournament Pot Limit Seven Card Stud in London and won straightaway the title. He was the champion! After his success he focused on Omaha Pot Limit Cash games. In 2002 he concentrated on German Omaha Cash games and in the meantime paused in international events. Keiner worked as a surgeon only part time until he gave up his profession in 2006.

In 2003 and also in 2004 he won again in several big tournaments, but his desired goal was to win the bracelet of the World Series Of Poker (WSOP)

After successfully reaching the Seven Card Stud Final of the WSOP in 2007 he won a remarkable prize money and moreover his first bracelet.

Since 2007 Michael Keiner is sponsored by 888.com and is playing at Pacific Poker Germany, the German Poker Room of 888.com.

Michael Keiner is not only a doctor but also a professional poker player, a motorcycle racer, an inventor and a stock exchange speculator. In 2007 his autobiography „Living on the Edge“ got published in which he describes his career as a poker player. In this book you can find a lot of tips, explanations, and advices how to be successful in poker games.

Michael Keiner writes articles and blogs in doc Poker, produces videos, and is often a expositor in poker tournaments.

Despite the fact that most people would expect Michael Keiner to rest, that just does not fit in with his personality. He is constantly looking for new things to do. We are looking forward to hear from him!

How to study your opponent in offline poker

Winning a game of poker will require that you study your opponent styles and have a way of learning their weaknesses.The most challenging thing in offline poker is that the opponents do not show off their cards to you and so you have less chances of knowing exactly what they will kill you with.
There is an old adage that says that what you do not know will kill you.Studying your opponent will entail knowing exactly what your opponent has, and getting to fight it out in a very secretive way.There are many ways of studying your opponent.

The first thing that you ought to know is that  having lesser talk while in the game and listening to the  opponent will give you an ample opportunity to lay your strategies properly. A good poker player does not brag or pant about if he or she has the best hand. They listen and make surprises.Another thing that you will have to do in the game of poker is to watch keenly every move that your opponent is making. You will need to view the willingness or reluctance of your opponent in releasing the cards while in the game. You will also need to study the facial expressions and other paralinguistic. These will help a lot to know whether it is easy or not to beat them.

You should also be keen on checking the reaction of the opponent when you drop your cards. If they check theirs to confirm what is in store, check the facial expressions. You may read a lot and set up a good attack strategy.

Why poker is the best online game

Game of poker is one that will require great creativity. A lot of players are actually aware that the game requires great calculation and strategies to win. In competitive poker, there are stakes that are involved that will require one to go to the playing platform not only as a player but also as an investor. There are many strategies that are equivalent to the normal investment decision making that will have to be focused on.
It is said that poker has a lot of resemblance to the speculative world of the stock market.

Nobody wants to hold a loosing stock. A loosing stock is a liability. A serious investor in the stock market will keenly observe the trend of a given security before   putting some investment on it. Similarly, a poker player will also have to check and evaluate the cards that he or she is holding to eliminate the average or liability ones.It is a game where rationality is still held supreme. A rational investor makes a killing on a highly risky venture. That person will only put high capital on a thing that is expected to generate the equivalent match in the short run.

There is that application of the cost benefit analysis in a game of poker, just like it  is the norm in every investment.The good thing is that online poker shapes your mind. It challenges you to do the necessary calculations. It sharpens your business skills. Go for it.

Common mistakes to avoid in poker game

There are poker habits and old time strategies that have been used by people in the game of poker that ought to be avoided by a person who is serious enough to make an impact in poker.Many players of offline and online poker make such serious mistakes that actually jeopardize their chances of knowing the game or making an impact in future.

The following are there common mistakes that will have to be avoided:
1.Listening to the opinions of the ‘know it alls’
There are people who are always there to see the game on your behalf uninvited. When playing a game of poker, you should always be guided by your mind.  Relying so much on the ‘know it all irritants’ in the game will make you remain a novice for long.  Try to come out of that York.

2.Avoid having a constant chat on the game as you are playing
Your opponents will find it hard to predict your moves if you are a man of few words. The game of poker will also entail reading the mind of your opponents. Read much and chat less

3.Never let your opponent know when you have a strong hand
Some players brag when they have a strong hand in the game. The only thing that you will be doing is to make your opponents imagine the opposite, and perhaps have a counter strategy that will make you loose. Be the kind of a person who will make abrupt surprises that are not predictable. That will assist you to become an expert in the game even more.

Tips on building confidence in poker

Poker is a game of strategy.  Experience in poker may give one strategies; and the strategies that you may have are the ones that will make you increase confidence in the game.Building up your confidence is the key to winning in every game that you play be it soccer or poker.In offline poker, experienced players beat off their opponents by claiming to have winning hands, so that the less confident can miscalculate and hence succeed in causing havoc to them. A newbie needs extra motivation and confidence to challenge the very experienced players or a fellow newbie in the game of poker.

The first step towards building confidence in poker is to actually be conversant with the basic rules of the game. You should never play the game of poker without first and foremost  learning the rules because experienced players have a sort of a way of intimidating the inexperienced using them.

Self belief is another vital thing that you will be required to have. You have to show confidence from the way you are holding your cards, facial expressions and the gestures you make. You must also ensure that you have enough balance throughout the game. A very experienced player will be in a position to identify a very nervous player, just by studying the paralinguistic.Serious confidence may be attained after winning several games, but even as you are beaten in a game, rules dictate that you should start a new chapter as a winner.

Investing Versus Poker

Both games can be fun, especially when you are winning. Some players in both arenas know the game better than the other players, and they are often called winners. Everybody can’t win in either game. What separates the winners from the losers?

Here’s a simple investor guide to playing the game to win. Don’t play for dollars until you know the basics.

Know who you are playing with. In poker some players cheat, some hustle, and others bluff. If the stakes are too high and you can’t afford to lose, you don’t belong in the game. If you don’t know the rules, you don’t either. The rules can be learned quite easily, but applying them with success requires a bit of savvy and experience if you expect to walk away ahead. You don’t need to be super intelligent or formally educated to win… you just need to know the game.

The above paragraph applies to poker, and to investing as well. Your friends will be glad to teach you poker, but where do you learn how to invest? Here are a few investing principles to use as a basic investor guide.

In the stock market don’t continue to hold and bet on a bad hand, there is no bluffing. If you’re holding a loser, throw in your cards… sell and get out.

Don’t expect any market to act on a rational basis on a day-to-day basis. The participants are people, as in poker, and as a group tend to place their bets out of emotion. Extreme news events cause investors to overreact. Don’t go along with the crowd and sell out of emotion. Wait until the dust settles and take advantage of the artificially low prices.

Don’t take big risks unless the potential rewards are high. This way, if you make a good call one-half of the time your winners will more than offset your losers.

Actually, it is easier to win at investing than in poker, which is truly a zero-sum game. Every poker game comes to an end, and total losses must equal total winnings.

In the investment markets this is not the case. For example, over the long term stock prices have historically risen, and stocks have returned about 10% a year on average. In other words, anyone holding average stocks long enough would have netted 10% a year if they just stayed in the game long enough.

If you know how to invest you can do better than average. Our investor guide now comes down to earth, to address serious long-term investing.

The long-term investor can avoid major losses and achieve better-than-average returns by utilizing a few basic investing tools. Chief among them are diversification and balance across the basic asset classes, rebalance, and dollar cost averaging.

It might take a while longer to learn how to invest vs. a game like poker, but over the long run the payoff will be worth your time and effort. There are many fine articles on investing available to you, keep on reading.

Good Online Poker Strategies

Playing poker is something that needs to be learned, not only with the cards but also by the body language of your opponent. However, seeing the body language of your opponents is impossible when you are playing poker online.

Still, “tells” can be seen even if you are playing poker online. This is because tells are just ways that players betray their hands or their decisions. In fact, do you realize that you see more action in a game of poker online than in poker that you play non-virtual? This is because there is bound to be a lot more money and betting involved.

Here are some tells that you can watch out for when playing poker online.

1. The stall – most inexperienced online poker players would do this when they have a strong hand. This is because they are feigning ignorance of what to do to make their opponents call their raise. For experienced players, they take advantage of this to fake having a strong hand. So young players would stall when they have a big hand, expert players would stall to fake it.

2. The rant vs. the gloat- some players take advantage of chat boxes to make it seem as if they are on a losing beat. Sometimes, it is even true. There are players that break down under chat pressure so you can bully them some more to make them lose their games. Gloaters on the other hand are immature players that want to make you think they are stronger and more experienced, aside from always getting good hands. Bluff them and see how far they go, especially if you have a very good hand.

3. The all-knowing player – This is the player that keeps on giving out unsolicited advice on how to play. Do not worry about these players; they normally get out of your way before you even notice them.

There are other tells that you can learn to distinguish as you keep on playing online. The only thing you need to do is to try and not get too much attention on yourself. This is to make sure that you have ample time to observe other people’s tells.

When playing online poker, you may not be able to see your opponents but you can see what they do. Just like playing poker with your buddies, people will reveal their personalities whether or not you actually see them face to face.

Here are some behaviors that you should avoid:

1. Chatting constantly. Whether you are ranting or gloating, other players might be able to read between your lines and make you lose your strategy.

2. Over-reacting. Do not be so foolish as to tell everyone you have a good hand or a bad hand by putting too much raise on the table or by sending “emoticons” on the screen.

3. Rechecking your cards when a flush draw is flopped – write down your cards if you have a bad memory. Rechecking your cards mean that you either have a weak hand, or a very strong hand and you are silently gloating.

4. Telling your opponents you have a strong hand – they are going to know that you probably have the weakest hand imaginable so refrain from this bluff.

For yourself, you can avoid giving away your own tells by not reacting in any way perceivable to other opponents on the online table.

Quick Guide to Online Poker

Poker is the biggest card betting game in the world. Millions of people are playing it especially after the boom of televised poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and the European Poker Tour. The most popular poker game is Texas Holdem, a simple community poker game known for its fast pace.

If you want to be one of the top online poker players, follow some of these poker online tips: Learn how to pick your spots when you bet. Most online poker tables hold ten players and most of them tend to be aggressive. Wait for the right moment then pounce once you are confident with your hand. Use the software’s note feature to track the behavior of worthy opponents. Average players are unaware that they are being tracked closely so that they can take advantage of the tendencies of the player.

When you play online poker, be familiar with the user interface of the game. This will allow you to react quickly and make the correct decision without feeling rushed. If you follow these simple tips, you are on your way to become a formidable poker player.

Basics of Texas Hold’em Poker

As Texas Hold’em Poker is the most popular form of poker, a lot of people are interested on it. There are lots of books published on this book and there are lot of websites. But here is a quick guide on what is is, and how it is played for the people who knows nothing or very little about Texas Hold’em and want to start it. 

Two cards are dealt at the start of the each game in Texas Hold’em poker. And these two cards are called ‘hole cards’. Remaining cards are shared between the players.There are 1326 combinations of two cards you can make from the 52 cards in a deck. That fact easily makes the novice players nerveous. However, by defining the hole cards to ‘suited’, ‘not suited’ and ‘pairs’, the possibility of the starting had can be reduced to 169 combinations. 

Hold’em is normally played using small and big blid bets by two players. A plays deals using dealer button and the small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer. Small blind is normally equal to the half of the big blind. The blind periodically increases in the tournament poker as the game progresses. “Head-to head” and “heads up” rule is used when only two players remain and the blinds are posted in different way. The dealer acts first before the flop and last after the flop. 

Limit Hold’em, no-limit hold’em and pot-limit hold’em are the common variations of hold’em. However, the Limit hold’em  is the most popular variation of hold’em in USA. Bets are raises must be equal to the big blind n the first two rounds in limit hold’em. And after that raises should be double of the big blind. That amount is called big bet.

Internet vs. Live Tournament Poker

At present, majority of online poker players prefer playing their game with an entire mathematical calculation and never consider human feeling as a part of the game whenever they participate live in tournament. Obviously, you’ll not see the player on your opponent while playing poker online and this makes it extremely hard to read your competitor’s mind and exploit their weakness. This is why it’s always recommended for you to play it online and gain knowledge about tactics of the mathematical tricks for getting an edge over your defense player in the live games like texas holdem.

Although the mathematical equations aren’t a bad idea at all but it’s not overall as well. When it comes to a live poker tournament, there are numerous points need to be considered while bluffing and betting all the way through your games.

Below are some of the tricks better to be preferred if you wish to enhance your game’s posture: Read more…