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Holdem Poker has a rich tapestry of character. From old days on the Mississippi to modern day internet whiz kids, poker has been played all types of people in all manners of locations. Subsequently almost every hand in poker has a name and can tell you a story.

The most powerful hand before the flop in Texas Holdem Poker is two Aces. Subsequently they generate the most excitement and colourful names. The most common names for two Aces are Rockets, Pocket Rockets, and Bullets (for obvious reasons). They are named after several famous people and organisations with initials starting with the letter “A” including Alan Alda, Albert Anastasia, and American Airlines. They are also known as numerous pointy and sharp objects including Rocky Mountains, Sticks, Teepees and Two Pips. A few obscure references include Squirrel (the nuts) and Batteries (Double A). Individual names for a single Ace include Bull, Bullet, Death Card (spades), Mastercard, One Spot, Puppy Foot (clubs), Seed, Sharp Top, Spike and Tax Card (spades).

Two kings are the second best hand preflop in holdem and are commonly known as Cowboys. Variations on this include Butchers of Baghdad (so named in reference to Saddam Hussein on the infamous Iraqi most wanted playing cards). Combinations of alliterations of KK include Krispy Kreme and King Kong (and by extension Gorillas, Gorillas in the Mist). They are referred to as Ace Magnets because an Ace always comes on the flop. A single King is also known as K-Boy, Monarch, Sergeant, Alexander (clubs), Charlemagne or Charles (hearts), David (spades), Julius Caesar or One eyed king (diamonds).

Queens often have nasty nicknames, partly because of the number of times they are beaten by Aces and Kings, but also through reference to homosexuality. Some nicer terms include Lovely Ladies, Ladies, Calamity Jane (likely extensive of Cowboys for KK) and Snowshoes (resemblance to the original shape of snowshoes). Crude nicknames include Siegfried and Roy and B***hes.

Other pairs such as Jacks through to Twos all have a nickname or two. Jacks are commonly known as Hooks or Fish-hooks. Less known names include Rent boys, Kid Dyne-o-mite (TV show reference), Brothers, Jay Birds, John Juanda (Poker Player) and finally possible the most vulgar – Colostomy Bag (as Jack is slang for toilet in some countries). Two Tens are referenced as Two Dimes, TNT, Dynamite and Binary (In Binary 1010 is the equivalent of 10). Nines are known as Barbara Feldon (Get Smart- Agent 99), German Virgins (Nein), Phil Helmuth (Won WSOP in 1989), Popeye, Pot hooks and Wayne Gretzky (Hockey Player). Two eights are Snowmen, Dawg Balls, Piano Keys, Little Oldsmobile, Racetracks, Two Fat Ladies, Lacey, Pretzels, and Wurlitzer. Sevens are axes, mullets, hockey sticks or walking sticks. A couple of sixes are known as Cherries, Boots or Kicks (On Route 66). Fives are Presto, Snakes or Speed Limit, while Fours are Canadian Presto, Dark Force, Darth Vader, Magnum and Sail boats. A Pair of threes is either crabs (claw shaped like the number 3) or treys and a pair of Twos is usually Deuces, Ducks, or Quack Quack (in reference to the number two being shaped like a duck).

Other hands with nicknames include the powerful Ace and King combination known as Big Slick. Other names include backronyms such as Korean Airlines and King Arthur, as well as the aptly named Anna Kournikova (looks good but seldom wins). Another common reference is Kalashnikov (who designed the AK47). Ace-Queen is known as Big Chick or Mrs Slick. Other notable hands include Jack-Four (Flat Tire) and J6 (Rail Road). A Ten and a Deuce is a famous hand known as the Doyle Brunson after he successful won two World Series of Poker bracelets.

Obviously the list of starting hand nicknames is more extensive than this. In addition there are alot of names too crude to be discussed here. If you are interested in other poker starting hand nicknames I recommend searching Wikipedia for an extensive list of common names with interesting references.

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Poker tells are one of the most important aspects of poker and they help to separate poker from other games of luck. When playing poker, it is crucial to observe your opponents in order to pick up on any clues they make inadvertently give away. Poker tells can include any piece of information gathered including voluntary and involuntary movements, verbal cues and behavioural patterns. The best part about tells is that every single poker player has them, and if you observe enough hands closely enough, you will eventually find them. Be careful though, some players try to give off reverse tells to trap you.

Eyes The eyes are the windows to a person’s soul. The length of stare at hole cards is a key timing tell, each person is different but some people can help but stare longer at their hole cards when they have a big hand. Others quickly snap the cards back down as soon as they see a monster. Another glaringly obvious tell is the glancing to the left consider a steal if in position. Quickly glancing at their chips when the flop comes down usually means they hit a piece of the flop. If a player glances at their chips when they hit it hard, then they will often stare at the flop when they miss.

Hole Cards Double checking their hole cards is a useful tell, if someone saw two Aces the first time, they don’t need to look a second. Looking away and uninterested when checking your hole cards is always strong. Players usually stare longer at cards that are bad than cards that are good. They look away to deceive you instinctively. When player’s glance back at their hand when the flop comes out monotone, you can almost be certain that they did not flop a flush. Instead, what it probably means is that they have one of that suit. If you notice someone that looks at one card before they look at their second e.g. if they look at their first card then immediately look at their second; you can probably assume that the first card wasn’t very good. However, if they look at their first card, then take a moment to squeeze out the next card, this is probably because the first card was an ace.

Patterns in Betting In poker, one thing that is often true is that strong means weak and weak means strong. Any player that forcefully shove chips into the middle looking aggressive is on a bluff. The reverse is also true.

Chip Stacks Studying how the chips are put out, the amount of bet, whether it is large chips or small chips can give clues to betting tells. Loose aggressive players usually have unorganised stacks while tight conservative players keep neat stacks. Some players keep two stacks in cash games, these type of players will stack their winnings off to the side or in front so they can easily tell how much they are up on the game. If you can determine this, they will be less likely to call a bet which would put them in the red for the game, unless they have a very strong hand. If you ever notice a player winning a large pot, and perhaps may still be stacking their chips from it, they will not play the hand unless they have good cards.

Voice Changes If a player is talking smoothly while in a hand, it means he is not overly concerned about the hand he is playing. This is because he feels comfortable and usually means a big hand. Any speech means strength. Any question directly at your or the dealer means strength e.g. Is it my turn to bet?. An opponent that is acting rude is trying to induce a spite call.

Every player gives off tells, try to remain patient and always watch the table even when you aren’t in a hand.

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While Omaha is an attractive and profitable choice, there is so little literature on the subject that it is not your best option. You want to start with Hold’em with its rich body of literature both in book and online form. It is easily accessible to players because it is the most popular form of poker played today in casinos and clubs as well as online.

Okay, now that Hold’em is the game of choice, which form of Hold’em suits you best personally? Do you gag on risk or thrive on it?

It is a very peculiar thrill, and those who cannot stand, having calculated your best chances, to make that step into the air, like Indiana Jones towards the end of The Last Crusade (he did not so much summon the faith the walk on air, but merely calculated that his father’s diary implies an invisible bridge), had better keep away from the poker table (watching others play might be the compromise to settle for). Nor is poker the right activity for people who cannot control themselves and play kamikaze-style. For those who feel they do not sufficiently understand themselves, there are tests which determine inclination towards risk. The more risky you are the more sense it makes to play no-limit cash and tournament poker.

Decide for yourself if you are a mathematician or a psychologist. Human calculators will be comfortable with limit games. The body language deciphering psychologist will be most at home with no-limit and multi table tournament (MTT) play.

Should you really want to invest some time and brain matter in the game, the complexity of no-limit and MTT games give you the best shot at developing as a player. For the dilettante, stay with sit-and-go tournaments and limit poker.

The least potential for players desirous to grow in the game is limit poker because of their rarity compared to no-limit and tournament games. The best games for would-be poker champs are tournament games.

Limit poker is far more prevalent and available online than in casinos or clubs. Tournament poker should gain the attention of all players in public establishments because it is the only form of the game officially designated as a sport.

If you consider poker as a profitable profession, you will systematically target games with a high percentage of weak players. Because of accessible literature, the amount of weak players is particularly low in limit Hold’em. Focus on no-limit and tournament poker, training yourself accordingly, whatever you feel your inclinations are initially. Limits higher than $1/$2 may already prove too large a piece of cake. In SnGs, the beginner may want to stay bellow $20+$2, in no-limit bellow NL$100. Below these levels, basic knowledge of poker principles are likely to suffice. Higher levels will demand intense efforts to study the game, and even the studious player is not guaranteed consistent wining.

All of these suggestions are preliminary for you to play and gain experience. With experience, you will be able to answer your own questions much more clearly.

The author is a full time online poker player and makes the majority of his income from his online play and rakeback at Fortune Poker. To sign up for a Rakeback account of your own visit Rakeback Solution.

We often regret having prolonged the game (to the private glee, we feel, of a few players who led us on). It would have been better, we always realize too late, to have left too early. If we had left earlier, we would have then been tormented by the question of whether we should have stayed, but having lost too much right now is definitely worse, with the last hour having been a grueling experience. What’s worse, we can’t really say why we have stayed too long and so we are likely to repeat the same mistake when next time we inevitably show up at the table.

It is crucial to be able to stay or leave based on a logical analysis of the situation, not an emotional impulse. If logically you have matters to attend to – liking picking up your wife and kids or attending work – you must be able to leave immediately. Sometimes a desperate hope for by now certainly imminent better luck is so strong that you miss dates and business appointments. But, the longer you stay overdue, the worse you play, because you know you are supposed to be elsewhere and that possibly your are ruining your life and career.

Poker is meant to be entertaining. If you are not having fun, that’s as good as reason as any to walk away early before the game becomes a tragedy of poor play and an even poorer frame of mind. A lot of players begin the game of poker for recreational purposes. If the game becomes overwhelming and they cannot leave, but neither can they play a decent game, it ceases to be recreation. They may be staying out of a sort of guilt, doing penance by playing badly and losing. They stay on and on suffering greater losses with every new deal, instead of taking their medicine with maturity, maintaining their good nature and understanding that it is just a game after all.

To overcome such pitfalls, the source of the problem must be discovered, and that can be done by the realization that the problem has nothing to do with the game intrinsically. If you insist on performing a pointless activity of self-torture that you cannot possibly enjoy but neither can you get up and walk away from, you have a problem. If you are not staying at the table for the poker, then you are deluding yourself and avoiding what is really troubling you.

If this is you, I’m sure you will find that this psychology affects other parts of your life and activities as well. Try training your concentration on other aspects of your life when you find yourself pondering the stupidity of remaining in a losing situation at poker hand after hand. Envision yourself in other functions instead of half-assed playing in a doomed game. You may be able to identify the source of your idiotic obstinance and change your game and your life for the better.

The problem may lie in not facing the fact that you hate your job, or owning up to a real feeling of grief that you have suppressed for a long time. If you are able to make a connection, you may be able to stop kicking yourself and enjoy the reality of life and of poker.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives NoiQ Rakeback as well as Minted Rakeback.

To help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of particular poker games, I offer the following brief analysis. Those who have ever played poker online are aware that limit poker was once the most avidly played game on the net. The internet still offers quite a few low and medium limit games, and a few in the $100 to $200 range. The limit game is still easily found online and will continue to be in the future, particularly since only a few players are of the $20 to $40 level of expertise.

What may be considered a significant plus of the game is the amount of literature devoted to it: many of the contemporary books on poker are devoted to limit games. It is a well studied game and it is possible that a thorough student may learn much from the experience of others. As a result decisions are simpler to make in limit hold’em and most of them are easily supportable by basic mathematic tools for quick mental in-game calculations.

To add to this, dispersion is not the factor in limit games as it is in others. Dispersion is a coldly calculating entity that determines who is lucky and who is not. With limit poker, even the lousy player with lousy cards can be the lucky winner sometimes. To understand more about how dispersion affects the game of poker and the game of life, read any of Terry Pratchett’s Rincewind novels.

Generally speaking, all poker is necessarily subject to statistical dispersion: big losses inevitably happen even to the best of players (even when they play ideally with what they have in their hands) and are what turns many off the game in the first place. No-limit and tournaments have higher dispersion than limit games, which means that limit poker is not as psychologically intense. Relatively low bank rolls suffice for limit holdem and there are many specially designed computer programs for limit poker: Poker Tracker and Poker Office offer help which is not to be sneezed at, particularly so for low limit players. These programs are useful both during the game and after, when you want to make an analysis of any part of it or calculate general statistics.

Now for the bad and the ugly. Because of the quantity of information available on the game, there is a large and ever-growing number of knowledgeable, skilled players. So the game while it is easy to find, is not very profitable. Poker rooms make their money from the small amount taken out of the pot for each hand. So, poker rooms earn money not from the number of players, but from the percentage of the total number of hands played at the end of a long series of poker hands. This sum more often than not turns out to be quite a tidy one. Limit games which include good players can wind up with minimal profitability or even a loss.

While the availability of limit poker is not a problem online, off line is another story. There is little exposure in the non-virtual world because limit poker does not include the features that make a poker game attractive to casinos and card clubs. It is the camaraderie around the table, the laughter and chatter, that makes the game rewarding and memorable to most people. This cannot be found online but requires a group around a table. The limit player gets his thrills from the true essence of poker – the combination of cards.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Doyles Room Rakeback and Carbon Poker Rakeback.