Calculating opponents is extremely important in poker. If you want to be successful at the poker table, you need to gather as much information about the other poker players as possible. If you’re able to spot a “fish”, you will have great edge in the game.

You should begin your evaluation of a player as soon as possible, some times even before he sits down to play. Is he comfortable in the casino environment? How does he handle his chips? Does he seem confident in general? Any sign of inexperience and nervousness can be worth gold.

If you have ever played online poker you probably know a little something about the chat box. Without a doubt, it would be safe to assume that the majority of poker players online probably never even touch that chat box. For some however, it is there biggest flaw in their online poker game. Believe it or not, the chat box can be the best way to gain helpful information about your opponent. It can also be the best way to give off helpful information to your opponent.

Gaining Helpful Information

There are a handful of players that you will play against who seem to look at online poker as a way to meet new people and have a good chat. If you pay attention, you can gain a ton of information in a variety of different ways on your opponents. The first and most obvious would be when your opponent talks about things related to the current hand, where he may give off information that will help you understand what he has. For example, he may say something like “be careful I have the nuts”. Not at first you might not know if that means he has a strong hand or weak hand, but if you pay close attention then you will know the next time he says something like that.

Another way to gain a lot of really good information is by listening to the story tellers. Some players will sit there all day and talk about previous hands and why they made the decisions that they made. Some will even go as far as telling you about their entire poker session at a previous poker table. What they and many others at the table do not realize, is that this player is giving you the most valuable information ever-his thought process.

When you can understand and truly know the thought process of your opponent, you really can know what is in his or her hand. When you know how they think, you can stop and think about what they would do in that position based on their thought process. When you know what they did in a bunch of other situations, it is not hard to guess what they would do in similar situations. This is the most valuable information you could have on an opponent.

Giving off Helpful Information

The best way to make sure that you are not doing what was outlined above is to keep away from the chat box. You should always pay close attention to the chat box, because you want to get that information when it is handed to you. What you do not want to do is start typing in there and engaging in conversation that will end up beating you when all said and done. Unless you are saying “good hand”, “good game”, “good luck” or “thanks”-just don’t talk.

People think that you cannot get a tell on someone online. While it may not be as easy, it is still very possible to get some very good tells on your competition. One of the easiest ways to do so is by just simply observing. A good place to start is with that little chat box that so many seem to ignore.

One of the questions that often runs thought my head when playing poker: “does this guy know how bad he is?” Honestly, there are a lot more bad poker players out there than good ones. That is why I am able to do what I do. Otherwise, it would be pretty pointless to try to earn a decent amount of money playing poker. Not that I am complaining, but really–do bad poker players know they are bad?

Are you a Bad Poker Player?

If you play poker and you are bad, you probably don’t realize that you are bad. Then again–maybe you do? If you are bad at poker, you are going to be much better off just simply admitting that you are bad and either giving up on it and moving on, or doing something to make you a better poker player.

There are several different ways you could figure out if you are good or bad at poker. The first thing you could do is just simply think about whether or not you win more than you lose. The problem with that, is a lot of people think they win more than they lose, when they really do not. Fortunately there is a solution to that problem as well.

Keep Track of Everything

The one single way to tell how your poker game is doing, is to keep track of all your results. Even if you just use a pen and paper. Make sure that you track anything and everything about any given session. Once you have tracked your results (and do not lie to yourself about them), you have it right there on paper.

Track the time you started playing, the time you finished, how much you played with, how much you ended up with in the end, etc. You can even go as far as taking notes about your mood and things of that nature (that is what I do). When it is all there in front of you to see, there is no way to fool yourself. You can see from your statistics that you suck, if that is the case.

Become a Good Poker Player

So, lets assume you have tracked everything and sure enough, you are now convinced that you suck at poker and people probably make fun of you when ever you leave the table–now what?

Once you have decided that you are a bad poker player, it is time to become a good poker player. Do not quit playing, but decide why you are bad. Use all of your stats and and review everything. As you are playing, think about why you are losing money. If you are really that bad it probably has something to do with the following.

• You do not use Poker Math
• You do not know how to properly start Building a Poker Bankroll
• You do not know The Importance of Position in Poker
• You do not know the 4 Steps to Never Going on Tilt Ever
• You are not playing The Right Type of Poker Game

The point here is that, you are probably not understanding the game or the basics. If you are a bad poker then make yourself better. Just by reading and understanding some of the articles above, you will be a winning poker player. It will definitely take more than the basics to be a truly good profitable poker player, but at least if you know the math and stick to the basics–you can hang at any poker table.

I think I might have found my new favorite poker room. I have been getting some bad beats on Full Tilt lately, so I decided to try out another poker room. I have played in pretty much all of them (Including Bodog), but I had heard that Bodog Poker has made a lot of changes since the last time I played there. I decided to deposit a hundred bucks and see what I could do.

First of all I have to start by saying I was extremely impressed with the software. I couldn’t believe how good it was. Then on top of that, the players that I played against were just absolutely terrible. I was planning on writing a couple of good posts last night and I ended up playing a 14 hour session of poker on Bodog. Seriously, I was amazed–I do not know how I could have been missing out on this poker room for so long.

I have been trying to keep up and make sure you guys and girls know the best poker rooms to test out the skills you read on this site, so I had to inform you of a new good one. I will be writing up an in depth review of Bodog Poker, so you will be able to see more about the poker room. Either way, go check it out for yourself. The only bad thing I could find is that you can only play 3 games at the same time. That is one thing that could stop this poker room from exceeding Full Tilt (for me personally). Still, everything else so far, beats Full Tilt for me.

I started off just playing in a .50/1.00 no limit game with the $100 I bought in with. Right off the bat I got dealt KK so I decided to play it hard. I ended up doubling up off some guy who apparently must have thought that his pocket 5’s were Aces, because he just couldn’t let them go. After that I played it cool for a couple of hours, picking up a pot here and there.

Finally, I got dealt 7 8 of diamonds and I was at the button. I decided to keep the aggressive play going and I raised it up. I had a couple callers, and managed to flop a open ended straight draw along with a flush draw. I pushed after being raised (with a caller behind that). I ended up getting one caller (a guy with top pair) and I caught my flush on the turn. Then I caught my straight (not that it mattered).

Needless to say, that is how my whole night ended up going, and I went to bed with $965.32 in my Bodog Account. Starting with only $100.00, that of course was a pretty lucky run. I played very solid poker, and the cards just seemed to fall in the right place. I am sure that winning like that had a lot to do with why I like Bodog so much now, but that wasn’t just it. I just enjoyed every part of their software. Not to mention the very loose players that must have been coming from the Bodog Casino (thats right, they have a casino and sportsbook as well). That is what us poker players love to see–a bunch of gamblers strolling into the poker room.

So let’s Welcome Bodog Poker to Poker Perception. You will be hearing more about the room in the future.

No matter how big into poker you are–you probably know a little something about the World Series of Poker. In fact–if you are big into poker, you probably know a lot about the WSOP. It is really what has made poker what it is today. Airing on ESPN, you can find the World Series of Poker on Television at least once a day.

Is the WSOP Worth the Hassle?

The question here that is being asked, is if it is worth all you probably would have to go through to play in the WSOP. The World Series of Poker costs a lot of money and a lot of time. In order to play in any of the events, you are looking at a minimum of around $1500.00. If you want to play in the main event, you are looking at $10,000.00. There are not a lot of average people that could afford this–but there are a lot of average people out there that dream about it.

Before you start dreaming about the WSOP; consider the following.

• There is a lot of competition, and the competition is very good.
• It costs a lot of money–for most of you it will cost a couple grand just for air fair, hotel and living while you are down there playing. Then on top of that you have the expensive buy-ins.
• There are 54 events scheduled for the 2008 World Series of Poker. If you are going to play in the WSOP, it is like a rule that you have to play in at least 10 events, otherwise why bother?

Now before you let me get you down–also think about some reasons why you would want to play in the World Series of Poker (assuming that you are not worried about anything above)

• You may be better than the competition and even if your not, you could still beat them.
• You can get in to the Main Event by playing a $10 satellite on just about any big online poker room.If you have the bankroll–it would be an amazing experience.
• I mentioned expensive. That means that there are some expensive payouts–some very good expensive payouts.

Understanding the World Series of Poker

What a lot of people do not understand, is that the WSOP is not just one poker tournament (as mentioned above it is 54 poker tournaments). A lot of people just think that the World Series of Poker is just one huge poker tournament; of course thinking of the main event. Another mistake, is that many do not realize that the WSOP goes on over the course of more than a month.

It’s one thing if you live 20 minutes or even a couple of hours from the casino. If you live across the country though, you really have to think about what you want to get out of the World Series of Poker. If you have the money and the time to fly out to Vegas and spend a month playing poker–that is great. Most people, and myself included–cannot afford to do that.

Like I said before though, there are some great satellites that online poker rooms such as Bodog Poker hold. You can play in a little satellite tournament and end up in the main event. The package that you would win would also include your hotel and usually air fair as well. Some of the latest winners of the main even have came from the internet. The World Series of Poker is one of the best events of the year–just be sure that you know what you are getting yourself into before you start planning your trip to Las Vegas.