The basis of this free poker article is to talk through the strategy of paying with the big pairs: Ace / Ace, King / King, Queen / Queen, and Jack / Jack

If you're lucky enough to have the best cards, a pair of Aces, its paramount you try and find a large raise or re -raise if a player raised before you. With a pair of Aces you must not call a raise as potentially you're loosing the chance to get more money into the pot and probably more significantly allowing opponents with poorer cards get better cards on the flop.

Your goal is to force others to fold or to think you are bluffing with one big card or two big cards and call your big raise. It is important when playing with AA not to slow play with small raise so you won't allow your opponents to improve on the flop and maybe on future streets and also you will thin out number of opponents.

After the flop you should do big raise not giving anyone chance to call for any straights, flushes or drawing hands for small amount of chips. However, there is always possibility that one of your opponents has made a better flop and so you should be aware of the fact that you may no longer hold the best hand. But in spite of this, you will normally still be ahead and so you should continue to build the pot unless you are quite sure that you are no longer ahead.

Raising before the "flop" with cards such as King / King, Queen / Queen or Jack / Jack is a good idea. Imagine if a player has an Ace with a lower card, the odds are on your side that you will face better cards than this before "the flop". By raising will lower the amount of players who want to see "the flop"- you want to cap the amount of players who your playing against with either of these card duo's as the opposition can effortless end up with better cards by receiving an Ace on the "flop".

There are 2 scenarios which the "flop" creates- you will either turn overcards or you won't. When there's no overcards on the flop you should carry on raising. The 2nd scenario when overcards are on the table is a lot harder to play. I recommend to raise a three or four times a large blind and then consider your options after the opposing player responds to the raise. If they call be careful and bide your time as you don't have the highest chance of taking the money in any more scenarios. If the pot keeps getting larger you must be ready to let the hand go.

Although it's not an exact science playing with big pairs if you go for right raises before flops you have a better chance of taking the money. One thing to think about though is the possibility that the opposing players could have better cards than you; especially if they're playing strongly, gambling and raising too.

I look forward to seeing you at the free poker tables soon!

In this article, I would like to try and give some insight into the age old battle of is poker a game of skill or luck. I have personally been a money and free poker online player for some 7 years. I have made some nice cash at times but I have also busted several bankrolls.

In my opinion a skilled player is one who can recognize betting patterns, understand flop odds, and percentages, and have a solid concept of strategy and theory. I have noticed however, not matter how well skilled one may be, you must account for variance, and sometimes aggressive, even poor play from others.

I believe in conclusion it is best to assume that poker is a combination of both skill and luck.

The assumption would be based on this conclusion that you have to be both pre flop aggressive, as well as post flop smart. Many times one might find themselves in a position where they made the proper call, yet they find themselves behind due in part to an opponents luck hitting a one or two outer.

This is something that wont be easy to get out of. This is more common in online poker as opposed to playing in a casino, due to the fact that more hands are dealt when playing poker online. Online poker is played at a quicker pace and making choices must me made at speed.

A lot of players calculate that they take more bad beats when playing internet poker rather than in a casino. This could be down to the fact that more hands can be played when playing online as it goes so much faster than if you are sitting at a table with players in the flesh, but this can also be because a player feels they are being pushed too hard online.

When playing online players can play more irrational and play hands that they normally wouldn't play to try to get back money that they have lost.

An experienced player will more than likely notice the tendencies of opposing players, and exploit these factors to their gain. To the loosing player the loss seems coincidental and becomes another defeat in their mindset based on luck. The truth of the matter is this is not the case, and the loss is due to the flaws in their technique due to lack of experience.

I believe poker is made up of two primary skills both considered on par to each other: knowledge and fortune. To become a successful poker player one must understand how to engage both of these techniques before taking a seat at a money table. The key to building these fundamental attributes is experience, and the best way to build experience without loosing a pocketful of money in the process is by playing free poker online games.

I started playing poker years ago and have penned my fair share of articles about poker over those years. But, one thing I have learned is that it doesn't matter how many free poker articles I read, they wont make me a poker winner… its getting on the tables and making the hints and tips you get a reality. Most players will read the articles and then shy away when it comes to the tables because they don't want to look like a fool by making a wrong move.

By keeping a constant eye on the tables and playing poker regularly is the best way of staying ahead of your opponents. Making poker moves away from your comfort zone, such as bluffing and blind stealing is something I would recommend you continue over time to prove to yourself that they do pay off. Trying these moves a few times a week just won't cut it, you'll lose 2 or 3 times and just give up on that major part of poker all together.

Many poker players say that if you cant see the donk at the table, then you are it. Similarly, if every other player at the table looks like a donk, then it may well be that you don't actually know how to play poker. Some may be offended by that, but by winning is what determines who the best players are not what hand they had pre flop.

Don't put to much emphasis on what you lost with or how you lost a single hand. It is what happens in the long run that means the most. Keep at it, play the free poker games as much as you can then try to move up to money games, if it doesn't work out don't despair. Go back to a free poker site game and do it again… and again.

If you are interested in making some extra money by playing poker then here are a few tips on where to start. I'm not saying you'll win that much or anything at all to be honest but if you would like to give it a try here is how to do it. Most people when starting out in poker are starting with no money, so the first thing to do is to find a free online poker site where you don't have to stump up any of your own cash, and play some freerolls.

My first tip would be to avoid the huge sites where the freerolls can take as many twenty thousand players at one time. Mind you the prize at the end of the road is always something huge, your odds of getting it are far from it. Place top 1% to win a ticket to this, for a shot at that. After placement in top 1% two or even 3 times in a row is how you make money.

Hitting the big tables is where many players fail. Search for a site which is smaller and doesn't have more than 200 people in the freerolls. You may not win a trip to Vegas but this will start you on your way. Winning anywhere from 10c to $5 or $10 is not uncommon and a few placements like this is all you need to be on your way. Now you have made the first steps and have a some money to play with, the trick is to know how to manage your bankroll to avoid losing everything you have won so far in a single game.

The common way to do this is said to be using 1/20th of your bankroll for NL cash games. You want to have at least 300 big blinds in limit cash games so if the big blind is 5c you should have at least $15 before you sit. If you prefer SnG tournaments with 6-10 people you should use only 1/40th of your bankroll and about 1/100th for large tournaments.

The reason for playing with so little of your bankroll is because it doesn't matter who you are we all go on hot and cold streaks. By managing your bankroll correctly you will be able to take a beat and still have some chips left to continue betting without being down and out. If you have your own cash to play with then your bankroll can be restocked at any given time, so these rules really don't apply to you unless you want to put yourself on a budget. When I started playing, I found that free online poker were the way forward and I managed to get some cash behind me to occasionally take my play to real cash games.

At first poker, even free poker, seemed to me that it seemed to be a first class way of losing money, until that is, my first ten player tourney at a live table where my king ten suited blew my opponents weak ace clean out of the water with tens full of kings.

To my amazement I won the tournament and it gave me a real boost to continue playing. Years on, I am still playing poker and even though I have lost quite a lot of games, I also win quite a lot too and am never really out of pocket.

I now see poker as a bit of a habit too which is easily maintained due to the many enjoyable poker sites I have listed on my desktop I do love the game and am constantly learning new approaches and ways to develop my game it's a constant learning experience.

I do believe that online gaming is much different to live table play which I think is better as you get to feel your enemy and be there literally. I have found that the rule book to playing poker is simply the basics and to play with venom at your own pace with whatever two cards your dealt and are comfortable with.

I think is the best possible way, although a little killer poker from time to time is necessary to enable you to experience the thrill and excitement of true poker.

I do find that online poker is also pretty good, in that you can quite often find lots of new players who are looking to make a bit of cash that you can take out quite easily.

I like to play tight mostly and watch the cards unfold on the flop, as you can imagine I do a lot of folding but since I lost a bit I now play a bit loose if I can and it makes a difference to my bankroll but depletes my bankroll management. I never tire of playing poker, wherever I am playing. The more I play and learn, the more enjoyment I get out of it. My best advice to new players is to try out playing free poker online before hitting any casinos and losing a wad of your own money.