Hand Rankings (From Highest to Lowest)

Royal Flush – A royal flush is any A-10 straight of the same suit – Ex- A-K-Q-J-10

Straight Flush – A straight flush is any five card straight of the same suit – Ex- 6-5-4-3-2

Four of a Kind – Four of a kind is when you have four of the same card – Ex- 4-4-4-4-7

Full House – A full house is when you have a pair and a set – Ex- 9-9-9-5-5

Flush – A flush is when you have five cards of the same suit – Ex- 5-7-9-J-K

Straight – A straight is when you have five cards in a row of any suit – Ex- 10-9-8-7-6

Three of a Kind – Three of a kind is when you have three of the same card – Ex- 9-9-9-6-3

Two Pairs – Two pairs is self-explanatory – Ex- 9-9-6-6-2

Pair – A pair is when you have one pair only in your hand – Ex- 10-10-7-5-4

High Card – When you don’t have a pair or higher you use high card to determine winner – Ex- A-9-6-4-2

I recommend that you spend some time memorizing the hand rankings so that when you sit down at the poker tables you know exactly what you’re doing. The rules aren’t enough in order to play this game, especially since you’re risking your money.

For some basic strategy about hand rankings you shouldn’t get excited about anything under three of a kind. In most cases hands will be won by someone with a three of a kind or better, that is if it goes down to a showdown. So if you have under a three of a kind you should generally either fold or take the pot down without a showdown.

If you’re playing a short table at a site like UltimateBet.com then pairs and two pairs will come into play, but on full tables you should be weary of these hands. A pair of aces will win sometimes, but you shouldn’t fall in love with the hand. If you see a big raise or bet then you should consider the player you’re playing against and determine whether there bluffing or have you beat. Once you make this decision the rest is pretty simple, you’ll either call if you don’t believe or fold if you do believe them.

It shouldn’t take long before you’re ready to sit down at the poker tables on UltimateBet.net and play, but make sure you’re ready. You should memorize the rules and the hand rankings for sure, and you should also read up on some basic poker strategy. You can bet that your opponents spent time learning the game and strategy, so if you want to compete you need to do the work as well.

* A lot of low stake sit and go PokerStars players will limp into pots preflop in hopes of seeing a flop for as cheap as possible. 80-90% of the time you see someone limp preflop they have a marginal hand where they just want to see a flop. If you notice any players in your tournament that limp preflop regularly, you need to apply pressure on them. When you raise a pot preflop with limpers you’ll often find that they fold as long as you bet enough. If you only make a small raise then you’re most likely going to have a player or two call the bet.

* In sit and go tournaments that allow you to qualify for bigger tournaments, such as The World Series of Poker, you need to understand the value of your chips. Winning chips is necessary in a sit and go tournament, but it isn’t as important as preserving your chip stack. In a sit and go tournament you need to always play conservatively. When you do play a hand in a sit and go tourney you should always be raising the pot unless it has already been raised and you want to see a flop first. The reason you need to play conservatively in sit and go tourneys is because you don’t start with a lot of chips and therefore you don’t have many to play with.

* One mistake that I see a lot of players make in sit and go tournaments on PokerStars.net is that they will move all-in when they still have a lot of chips. Part of the reason why so many players move all-in in low stake sit and go tourneys is because they don’t want to be outplayed throughout the hand. They figure that if they move all-in and get called then they will just need to get lucky. The only time you want to move all-in is when the blinds are really high and you don’t have any other options.

* You should pay attention to every showdown during the tournament so you can identify which players are calling the river with marginal hands. I see tons of players in low stake sit and go tourneys that will call down to the showdown with top pair or something similar. If you can identify these players you’ll be able to soak them for a lot of chips when you have a decent hand. You need to make sure that you bet small amounts so that the other player is priced into calling.

Rakeback is essential for any poker player. If you decide to play poker on a new poker room, the first thing you should take into consideration whether it offer rakeback. There are so many poker rooms out there that offer rakeback; there are no excuses for picking a room that you can get rakeback on. Therefore, now you need to know which poker networks offer rakeback.

The biggest site that offers rakeback is PokerStars.de. The have a cap on how much rakeback that you can get, which is 27% rakeback. Therefore, if you decide to choose Full Tilt Poker, you should be looking for a rakeback deal of 27%.

However, they are other site and networks that offer rakeback. The Cake Network is another big poker network that offers rakeback. You will also be able to get a better deal on the Cake network than 27%. For example, Players Only offer up to 33% rakeback, which beats the 27% rakeback offered by Full Tilt Poker.

There are many other networks and poker rooms that offer rakeback. On the Merge network, you can get 30% with Carbon Poker. Alternatively, the Cereus network you can get 30% rakeback with Ultimate Bet. However, if you are looking the best possible rakeback offers, you usually have to look into the smaller networks. For example, on the Everleaf network you can get up to 40% rakeback on Gloss Poker. 50% rakeback with Fat Bet Poker on the Poker Nexus network – just to name a few.

So when it comes to picking a poker room, remember that you can always find a room similar to the one you want to join if the room you are choosing doesn’t offer rakeback. Full Tilt Poker is a better option than PokerStars because you can get everything that PokerStars has at Full Tilt Poker PLUS rakeback. However, if you are just looking the best rakeback offer, usually you have to go to the smaller networks to get the best possible rakeback percentage offer.

Table Selection Strategy -

Below, I shall discuss what Poker Star tables to look for, what tables to avoid and when to decide that its time to leave your present table.

Tables to Search For -

A table with a large pot size and with six to eight people is considered ideal, here are a few signs to look for to determine that you’re at the right table -

1. There are multiple players limping in.

2. You have the opportunity to position on a aggressive and loose player.

3. Players with weak hands calling raises after limping in.

4. Players displaying weak hands outside of binds, for example unsuited connectors, ace-little off suit)

5. Outrageous raises on top quality hands, thus making it clear that I should fold!

6. Players raising only to $1 or limping in with top quality hands.

Well, now that you know which www.PokerStars.it table you should select on Poker.net, it’s important to know which tables you should avoid. Tables to Avoid -

1. Tables where one or none of the players limp even a few times in a eight to ten hand series.

2. Tables where the players a getting down to just the blinds.

3. It isn’t possible for you to pick out the weak players at the table.

4. You’ve should definitely avoid tables where the weak players are willing to bet in all, on a one hand suicide pact!

5. Multiple strong a.k.a. tight players are filling in the seats left by weak players.

6. Lastly, you don’t want to be in a position where you are the last one to act.

Tables to Leave -

The saying, “it ain’t over till it’s over”, doesn’t work, because you need to play no limit Texas holdem poker without displaying any emotions, thus its important to put your pride aside and know when it’s time to leave the table -

1. If your already at a table and no one is calling pre-flop raises with weak hands, its probably time to leave.

2. Your most likely at the wrong table if you can regularly get away with taking blinds with $2 pre-flop raises.

3. You’ve got a “maniac player” with a position on you by one or two seats, trying to check and counter call his raises and re-raises can be a lot of trouble.

4. You have positioned on the short stacks.