How I Play Pocket Queens

Picture this... you are playing no limit poker 10 handed and you are an average sized stack with 2 stacks double your size at your table. You are in an earlier position, but not under the gun. The under the gun player raises twice the blind and now it's your turn. I'm going to show you how I would play this hand and come out ahead in the long run.

I would double if not triple the under the gun raise to see if he is sitting on AKs, KK, or AA, but with a weak raise like that I want to assume that he has 10 10 or AQo or AJs or possibly AKo. Depending on the type of player he is, when the action gets back to him and I have my pocket queens I will decide what to do on the flop and thereafter. Now lets throw something else in the mix, it's the final table and the bigger stack steals the button by raising all-in. The Under the Gun player calls... do you think your queens are worth going all in preflop?

In this situation I would be hesitant to call because the big stack could take out a player and get you closer to the money, but the real reason that I would not call is because of my conservative style. If he has AK or AKS or KK or AA then I'm pretty much done for with my 4:1 dog hand. Personally I would rather play the game from sheer skill than preflop luck so I wouldn't mind mucking it and making a play later. The odds just don't seem to be in my favor with the situation (this would of course be a game with normal / good players since it is the final table)

Now let's say that the big stack was just a guy who gets lucky all the time and goes all in on a whim. I would call in a heartbeat because I know I've probably got him beat and even if the other guy under the gun calls, each of them probably has just an A for an overcard to my Queens, making there be only 2 more aces in the deck for them to catch.

I guess the way I play QQ is all about how I "feel" It's about instinct, about knowing your players, and especially about being able to guess what they have preflop to see if you are in a coin flip situation or if you are a dog or if you have the upper hand. Short stacked people will go all in with Ax and try to outlast you... so any short stack should be called with QQ... there are so many scenarios that you just don't know until you've been in them all and I've been in quite a few.

The other night I was playing a high stakes limit game at Canterbury Card Club MN and I had made it 3 bets preflop and got a lot of callers. I automatically assumed lots of pocket pairs and lots of overcards. The flop was 7810 and I was first to go. So what did I do? I had to see if I had the best hand... no check raising... just bet out and see who raises. Well the bet was raised twice so QQ looked pretty dead to me, even with a 10 high flop, so I mucked it. You must realize that in poker, you should never play a hand emotionally. Always have an objective look on things and you will be a consistent winner as I am. I walked out of there 2 hours later with 40 big blinds in profit. Not a bad 2 hours.

Canterbury Park MN Card Club - Canterbury Park Minnesota - Model

Canterbury Park Minnesota Card Club is a great place to play live poker. For those who want live action rather than playing mac online poker, and live in MN, Canterbury Park MN Card Club should be the first place in mind.

The Canterbury Park Model Card Club is very nice and has a professional look to it. Canterbury Park is located in Shakopee MN and is Minnesota's great State Casino Canterbury Park Model. Canterbury Park MN lays Texas Holdem, Seven Card Stud, and Omaha, as well as a good selection of casino games in the backroom. With 34 poker tables, there is always a good selection of live games to get in on.

Depending on the limits in which you feel comfortable playing, the Canterbury Park Card Club has soft and tough competition. Usually the other players are softer until the $6/$12 limit, but I would say that the $8/$16 limit is the toughest game in the house. If you are going to play high stakes $30/$60 then be careful because the table has a good mix of sharks as well as lunatics. A friend of mine had JJ and pushed them really hard as he should have and some luny called with 69o and caught 2 pair on him and taking his all-in win away from him.

If you are planning on going to Canterbury Park MN card club you should definetely plan ahead. On Friday and Saturday nights, the lines are very long to play any poker game. Just last year I had to wait up to 2 and a half hours just to get a table at the Canterbury Park Card Club and you can imagine what they wait is like now that the popularity of poker is so high.

We arrived at the Canterbury Park Card Club at 10:45 and we got on our live poker tables right away. I was feeling great and was on top of my game so I decided to play the $4/$8 limit texas holdem poker games Canterbury Park MN card club was laying. I was getting my fair share of hands and I had AA once. I took down about 75% of the pots I played and walked away winning about $200 within only 2 hours. After that me and my friends went over to their house and played some more poker but just for fun.

Online Poker Tournament - 58th of 2500 - First Table #157

I played the $5000 NL Holdem Freeroll onlier poker tournament at Party Poker again last night. This time, the story was different, as was the way I played. I started out the night by playing A8s. I saw the flop for 30 and missed so I folded.

The next hand I played was 89s. I decided to simply raise to 30 preflop to see if I could setup a post flop bluff and also because many people folded to me preflop. The flop came with an ace so I bet 30 to see if they were bluffable or not. I ended up getting called by 2 people and quit right there. They ended up having a flush and a full house. What a crazy online poker tournament! I was now down to $900 in chips and folded for many hands.

The next hand I played was my big blind with 65o. Somebody raised to 30 preflop but I called because I love calling just a little bit into a raiser, that way if I catch on them they will tend to pay me off on the hand. Another blank flop and I fold.

My Small Blind was J7o so I called $5 to see a flop. Sure enough I got lucky and caught top two pair on a flop J72. Since I was first to act, I bet out 45 to see if anybody who had a jack with a high kicker would raise me. I smooth called the raise and checked to the raiser on the turn, which was a 9. Just as I wanted him to do, he bet very heavily... $400. So, naturally, I put him all in. The river was a King and he showed 72o for two pair, but mine was higher. I raked in $1770 chips on that hand and began to take chiplead at my table.

Contrary to what many may believe, I played even tighter after I gained my chiplead. I was folding mediocre hands such as K9s and Q10s. I didn't play another hand for quite some time.

I did get sick of not playing so I called 10 for my small blind with K3o. The flop looked poor, A82 and I checked as did my opponent. I smelt weakness so I threw in a post-oak bluff of 20 chips to see if he had a horrible hand, but he called. I still felt my hand was good and put him on a draw so I bet another 20 on the river and he called. He just had a pair of fours.

My chipcount was not at $1690 and it seemed like the only hands I truly played were my blinds. I always say the blinds are the most dangerous players because you can never tell what they may have. I played A4o for 10 and checked down to the river until a guy bet 80 with a board of 777210. I called him cuz I knew he was full of crap and we split the pot with Ace high.

I got pocket fours about 10 hands later and raised to 60 preflop with them because I was close to the button. Somebody reraised me to 125 preflop and I just called. The flop came 599 and I checked to the button. He made a "healthy" pot sized bet so I put him on pocket jacks or up and folded.

My bankroll was now at $1555 and I was still sitting tight. The very next hand i was dealt 99 and simply raised to 60 from an early position. I took the pot preflop.

I got KQo shortly afterwards and just called from under the gun preflop. The flop was 732 and I bet 30 to see who had overcards and who had a pair. I only recieved one caller so I bet 90 on the turn which was another 2. The river came a 5 and I knew this guy had nothing so I made a healthy looking bluff of 125 and he folded out. I took a $500 pot down.

I played A5s on the big blind and it was heads up between me and a lone caller. I caught an ace on the flop but decided to check raise because I knew the player was loose. He bet 90 and I raised to 200 and took the pot down. Soon after that I won a pot of $150 with King high.

Now my bankroll is up to $2040 and I look down to see J9s. I called preflop and guess what? I flopped the nuts, 810Q. One guy bet so I raised to 90 and bet more on each street. I took down a $550 pot after he folded on the river.

2 hands later I got pocket kings and took down a pot right after the flop. It seemed like I was only winning every hand I played!

I played a hand or two and lost them, the I was dealt K10o. The blinds were at 25/50 and I called a $100 raise preflop. The flop came J92 and I bet 50 and called a raise to $100. The turn came a 3 and we both checked. That was a biggest online poker mistake on his part because my gutshot card came on the river and he bet $375 into me and I simply raised all in and made him fold. Slowly but surely my bankroll was climbing in the tournament.

Bankroll: $2880 Blinds $50/$100
After a few hands I found myself with A4 spades. The flop was in my favor 5c 6s 5s. The pot was pretty big already so I bet $150 immediately and was raised to $400. I showed no mercy and pushed them all-in right away with the draw and the ace. The called extremely fast but only showed Kd 2h, which was nothing at all??? I caught my flush and they caught a two allowing me to win a $5785 pot and take chiplead at the table by a VERY large margin. It was time to get cocky!

Before I knew it, I was raising preflop with hands such as J9o and betting 4x the blind ($200) on the flop and taking pots left and right. People were just plain afraid of my power. Nobody wants to mess with the chipleader!

A tight player raised all in preflop with 2210 when I had AJs, I figured if I win I will have an even larger chiplead and if I lose I won't be out or even shortstacked for that matter, so I called and won with two pairs, aces and kings (board pair).

Bankroll: $8175 Blinds: $25/$50
Went all in preflop with Q9s next hand, picked up a small pot and moved to table #3. I have noticed that the bigger chipstacks tend to get moved to the lower number tables like tables #1-#5. This is probably to keep the game at a level playing field so it's more fair.

$150+$12 Super Tuesday Multi-Table Party Poker Tournament

Tonight I was sitting around writing some stuff for my website when I buddy of mine contacted me and asked me to play in the Super Tuesday PartyPoker Tournament. I looked and saw that the tournament cost $150+$12 to play and said, "no thanks, I don't have that kind of money." After talking with him for a little bit, he offered to stake me. If I win any amount of money, I would give him half of the winnings for staking me. After pondering for a moment as to what I was doing tonight, I accepted the proposal.

We started playing at 8:00 Central Time and I was as pumped as ever to play this high stakes tournament. I kept telling myself that I was going to place and that I was going to outplay everybody and get to the final table. Well I played pretty tight unless it was my blind, but I noticed that everybody else was playing pretty tight as well so I started to loosen up a little bit.

I had Q7o on the small blind and it was me and 2 others playing. I flopped a queen so I bet out 15 and got one call. I figured he had Ax or a draw so I bet out 35 on the turn and he folded. I took down a little pot.

My next playable hand that came was 44. Since the table was fairly tight, I decided to make a run for the blinds and raised it to 45 preflop. One guy reraised me to 90 so I simply called his reraise. I saw it as a situation where I was a 4 to 1 dog if he had a pocket pair or a coin flip if he had overcards. I saw the flop just to see if I could either catch a 4 or bluff him on a bad flop. Something in my gut told me that he had pocket jacks or pocket queens by the weak reraise preflop. The only overcard on the flop was a King, so I bet 15 to see if he would raise me and how much he would raise me. Sure enough, he raised, but only to 50, which I thought was weak. I reraised him to 150 and he pondered for awhile then called. I was actually surprised that he called. The turn came a blank card and I thought that I could get him off his hand if I went all-in. He immediately called and showed me pocket kings for 3 of a kind.

After thinking about how I played the hand I believe that my actions were poor. If I went into the hand with the intentions of getting him off of his hand just like I did, I should have let him take the hand away after he called me reraise/checkraise on the flop. Right then and there I should have recognized that his hand was far superior to mine.

The next hand I got AA so, naturally, I put the rest of my chips into the pot hoping that a would quadrouple up. 4 people called the raise and the flop came all low 355. I was quite satisfied with my position at this point in time, however it was not long before 2 players had bet all of their chips. The turn was a 10 and the river was a blank. The two players turned over 45 and 10 10. My AA turned out to be the 3rd best, or worst, hand at the table. What a joke.

So, no matter what, I would have lost all of my chips if I played them at either of the hands that I lost in. They mostly went in with 44, which was a dumb play, but if they went in with AA I would have lost anyways. The Mac Party Poker gods just weren't with me today, but hopefully they will be there some day.

I view my experience playing this $150 tournament as a great one. I learned more about the difference in play at higher stakes. People play more tight and more aggressive. Unlike the low limit tourneys where the number of players drops from 2000 to 1000 in only an hour, the $150 table sustains its level of players for a much longer time.'

If you want to play high stakes poker, I highly recommend playing at Party Poker. They have high stakes up to $2000 No-limit and the action is very hot.

Yahoo! & Google and Other Search Engines Being Sued for Online Gambling Advertising

Yahoo!, Google, and other major search engines are on the defense as Cisneros et al (San Fransico Country Superior Court) is determined to sue the search engines for alleged illegal advertisement of online Internet gambling.

The complaint given by the plaintiff, which was filed last August in California Superior Court, alleges that a conglomerate of Search engines (Yahoo!, Google, Overture, FindWhat, Ask Jeeves, LookSmart, AltaVista, Terra Lycos, Jupiter, Kanoodle, Business.com, and Sex.com) violated California law by aiding and abetting "illegal" Internet gambling websites by accepting paid online advertisements that were in violation of California Penal Code provisions and the Unlawful Business Practices Act. The plaintiff's claim is that California's minors, elderly, and poor have lost millions, perhaps a billion, dollars to Internet gambling websites alike because they were allowed the right to pay for advertising on these search engines.

In a recent statement, Ira Rothken, an attorney for the plaintiffs, stated "We are pleased that the Court denied the search engine defendants' motions to dismiss and strike allegations and we are optimistic that the Court will find that the defendants were involved in an unlawful business activity when they actively advertised for a fee illegal Internet gambling and that the Court will enjoin such activity."

The plaintiffs are concerned that the defendents aided the Internet Gambling websites because of the huge revenues that went with them. It is alleged that, at one point in time, the defendents were making as much as $12.97 per click-through for directing people to these illegal gambling websites through paid search engine advertising.

The court's recent ruling grants the plaintiff the rights to investigate the defendant's net gambling activities as part of the discovery process. The plaintiffs claim that this will allow them to discover and learn the magnitude of their alleged wrongdoing, Stan Mallison stated. The request of the plaintiffs is to get a declaration from the court that such illegal online gambling paid online advertising is in fact illegal and they also want the defendents to pay restoration fees to the general public from the plaintiff's online gambling gains.

Another $5000 Party Poker Freeroll

There was another $5000 Freeroll on Party Poker tonight at 1:10 AM so naturally I played in it. After playing so many multi-table tournaments on Party Poker, I've noticed a trend in how most players are playing. Of course, during the first few rounds the players are all very loose and very wild, but when 4th level comes, players seem to tighten up a little bit.

$100 PartyPoker Bonus

I had a good chipstack going, and I was always above average, until I was dealt AQs. I was in an early position and because the game was tight and my hand wasn't as solid as AA or KK, I only raised from 50 to 100. To my surprise 3 players called me. The flop came A710 with 2 hearts, which is just what I had. When I see a flop like this I pretty much tell myself that I'm going to win the hand and I just get it over with by pushing. But because there were 3 callers I wanted to see who had what so I just bet out 100 again. 2 people folded right away and one guy called. The turn came a blank 5 so I bet out 500 to put him to a decision. To my surprise he raised me to 1000. I knew I had outs and figured he caught two pair, but since the pot was already laying me the odds to call that's just what I did. The river card was no help and I called another 500 which brought my stack down substantially. It was an uphill battle which I didn't win from there.

It's amazing how Party Poker can shell out this money to players. $5000 to 2500 players is $2 a player, but to do that twice a day is great news for their players! First place is $1000 and I see myself as a fairly competent player so I do have a chance.

Party Poker Balance $96.78

$5000 FreeRoll at Party Poker

It looks like Party Poker is having a few random $5000 freerolls today for some reason. A friend of mine was talking to me online and then suddenly asked me if I was playing in the freeroll on Party Poker. I never used to play the freerolls there because they charge you "player points." But he said that you need not have any player points for this $5000 freeroll.

I entered and played for about an hour. I had pocket 9's and went all in preflop because the other guys were short stacked and I knew I had the best hand. I made a full house and took home the cheese on that hand. Shortly after I had AKo and pushed lightly preflop then went all in when I caught an Ace heads up on the flop. I took that one down too.

Well, after accumulating 3000 chips, I made a few bad bluffs and didn't catch my good hands and before I knew it I had to go all in with 108o on a bluff and I got called by some passive player holding top two pair.

Players are Party Poker really suck. Of course I don't think that I made the right plays a few times, but that's what happens when you get bored and have piles of work to do. If you want to play against really bad players and possibly win some money, you should play at PartyPoker. If you make a deposit and become a real money player they will let you play the $5000 freerolls.

Online Poker - Pay Pal Poker - Party Poker

Pay Pal Poker

Today a friend of mine asked if he could play online poker at PartyPoker and pay with Pay Pal today and I had a stroke of genius. Pay Pal does not directly support online poker or online casino transactions so after thinking about it for a little bit, I offered to transfer him $50 Party Poker cash if he would pay me $55 to play online poker Pay Pal, since Pay Pal takes out some money in fees.

We all know the frustrations of transfering money from one account to another, especially transferring money with Pay Pal to play online poker at Party Poker! We used to be able to make and take payments for online poker with Pay Pal, but PayPal no longer supports online poker PayPal transactions.

Where there is a will, there is a way!

Folks, I will deposit $50 into your online Party Poker account for $54.99, be it you pay me by Pay Pal, with a money order, or with a personal check (takes 10 days to clear). You can even pay me with your credit/debit card via Pay Pal! All you have to do is email me your online Party Poker screenname, your First name, and your Last name, and you will be playing online poker with Pay Pal before you know it!

Please Pay by credit card to moravecmotors@hotmail.com
If paying by with PayPal funds or checking account please pay adioking@gmail.com
Email for money order/personal check instructions.

Mac Online Poker Sites - Play a Macintosh Poker Game

Mac users want to play online poker too! So, I have investigated this topic and found several ways for Mac users to play online poker.

Many online poker sites are not Macintosh compatible poker sites, and require users to download VirtualPC to play a Mac poker game. VirtualPC is a good program to have for your Mac if you want to play at Ultimate Bet, Party Poker, and PokerStars, with UltimateBet being the most stable. I took the Party Poker link out because it is claimed to be unstable on a Mac. But why should you have to download VirtualPC to play poker?

After some research I have found PokerRoom to be the best Macintosh compatible poker room where users can play a mac poker game online without having to download VirtualPC.

So if you are a Mac user and want to play online poker and join the poker craze, but don't want to download VirtualPC, I ultimately reccommend that you play at PokerRoom. When you sign up, you want to play the "light version" of their mac poker game which runs in java in your browser rather than having to actually download anything.

Over the past few weeks I have been working on a website for Macintosh poker players that want to play mac online poker. Most Mac poker users know the frustrations of finding a place to play a Mac Poker Game.

In the near future there will be a macintosh download available at my new website. Either way, I suggest you browse the site and comment on it, especially if you are a Macintosh poker player. Read more about Mac Online Poker at http://www.macpokeronline.com

Lost $14 on Party Poker last night

At the beginning of the night I started with $106 in my Party Poker account. I opened up PokerEdge as usual to give me a little bit of an edge over the competition and let me see their stats as I usually do when I play. A few junk hands went by then I got A9 of hearts so I called the blind at a 25NL table. Two hearts flop with Q62 and there are 3 players. First guy bet a quarter, second guy called a quarter and I raised to $2 thinking I could push them out of the small pot. The first guy folded and the second guy called. I turned my ace, but no heart and the guy bet $3 into me. I've seen this play before many times and he wanted to represent an ace, but I put him on a queen or two hearts so I went all in with the best hand. He thought for a second and called and sure enough he had his queen and wouldn't you know he also had 2 hearts. I won $19 and moved on to the next table after a few dead cards.

This new table was playing really loose, people calling everything. There were two players that played aggressive with mediocre hands. We played around for awhile, I got called on my bluffs and was down to $16 then I saw a pair of twos so I call a quarter blind and Mr. Loose raised it to $1 so I called once again. The flop was awesome, 2 A 9, so I had my set of trip twos! I put him on an ace so I bet $1 to see what he had and see how much I could milk him and he just called. I figured he was slow playing because he was playing opposites so I put him on a big hand like AK, AQ, or even AJ. He would usually bet strong mac online poker with a weak hand and bet weak with a strong hand on the flop. The turn card came an Ace so I filled up, 222AA, I bet $3 and was raised to $6. So what did I do? Because I put him on AK, AQ, or AJ, I reraised all-in! The river came a King and it scared me like crazy, but when he flipped his cards he showed A9. He slow played two pair on the flop and caught a bigger full house than me on the turn. Of course I went broke at this table.

At the end of the night I found myself down $14, but I think that I played everything well. The only thing I could have played better was my bluffs. I need to learn not to bluff as much when playing online poker at PartyPoker.com