Free Texas Hold'em Tips and Mental Strategies For Analyzing Players

You must be prepared to sit down at any money or free Texas hold'em table, online or live and study the other players. I do believe patience is the key ingredient when it comes to analyzing players and the most vital stage is when the game starts.

Why you might ask?
This provides you with you an opportunity to settle-back and take mental notes on the players actions. This is helpful during the first half hour of a free Texas hold'em game in particular as quite a lot of players like to go all in and hope they win the pot. I myself will only call these players with a high pair, or suited low connectors because I've played them before, and they will go all in with any two hand cards given.

What Do You Need To Analyze?
The notes you should take in the first half-hour or if moved to a new table in any money or free online poker game are quite simple.

Determine which players are playing carefully and those that are playing loose. Those who are playing loose could very well bet on virtually every hand and call almost anything.This is very common in free Texes hold em games where low risk eliminates good sense at times!

Those that are playing conservative will continue to fold until they get the cards in hand they want or any pairs of AA's, KK's, QQ's, JJ's.

How to Read a Bluffer
This can be tough if you have not been paying attention to the game as can happen a lot with free taxes hold'em or if you are playing multiple games online.

If you have been paying attention to the game you will get more of a feeling as to who is bluffing.

For example:

If you have an ace and king of spades you'll be feeling good about your whole situation. Now you wait for the other player to check or bet, to your surprise the player bets 400 chips when the pot is at 120 chips.

So you call the player and on the flop lands Queen of spades, Jack of Spades, and ten of hearts. The other player goes all-in in order to make you think he/she has the winning hand. You know you've won it so you call the players bluff and go on to win.

That is very obvious but if you are facing a more conservative player then they could try to buy you in by betting low not over the pot before the flop and after. These players know what they are doing and most likely will have a full house against your ace high straight. Now your experience comes into play...have you marked who is loose and who is conservative?

Handy Game and Player Reading Tips

1) Players who take a very long time and hold back are attempting to mislead you into believing they've got nothing and wait for you to make a bet worth calling. (Note: in free Texas hold'em the player may very well be taking a long time because he/she is playing multiple games.) Filter these players out as this might be a habit for them.

2) Be wary of players who anticipate until the last second and raise you all-in. They are attempting to buy the pot with a decent pair hoping you don't have any aces in your hand!

3) Everybody knows a chip bully. Every table has one. The only way to knock a chip bully off his high priced chair is not to be affected by his/her large chip stacks. When you've got it, go for it. Quite possibly, he/she is bluffing because, they want to pilfer the pot or blinds.

Every Player Develops Habits.

And from habits develop betting patterns - But What patterns might they develop?

A bad habit (for them) you will witness sometimes is that some players will lose a large chunk of their chip stack. They get upset because they've taken a bad loss but rather than cut their losses elect to carry on, often all-in until they lose all of it or earn back some chips (rare!). These players have given up and gone on "tilt". The best thing to do is to call them once the time is right. So have patience and you'll nail them 100%.

Some players are extremely difficult to read because they Know they're being read and are always modifying their strategy. They will repeat themselves at some point but these patterns are very hard to spot. These players will take up most of your time! When you can read players like these..well you are probably playing WSOP!

I hope this article will help you fine tune your skills and has given you some ideas you can use at the tables. Every player can be read but if you cannot read players you will make poker impossible for yourself!

I know this can be very tricky to start with. Studying players especially online is difficult. As such I advise you start out with lots of practice on one of the better free online poker sites before moving to micro then low stakes and beyond.

if you Were Rich in the past and loved Traveling so you should travel with these "Monsters"!

One of my dreams is cruising on a luxurious liner. Whooaa! A big big big ship gliding smoothly in the middle of the ocean, and I'm enjoying my sunny morning in the deck, laying down in the recliner lazily while taking my iced-lemon tea and bourbons, music in iPod, whoooaa! Life's so good, perfect life wtf whoaaaaaa!!

Whoaa.. those ships.. wtf!

But, let's walk back to the past in period 1800 to 1900. Some ships were famous in their era. Sign of the technology of the moment, it shew that the technology had reached the peak and then kept growing better and faster. Here are several photos of the famous liners at the era :

RMS Baltic

RMS Britannic II (note the funnels built lower)

Cunard's Line RMS Carinthia. Had good accommodation for 3rd class passenger. Personally, I think it was a good innovation at that moment, which made 3rd class passengers satisfied by the accommodation (compare with Titanic [especially on movie we've seen], how the crew treated them and the accommodation looked like a stable)

Cunard's Line RMS Carpathia. Rescued survivors from Titanic. The ship arrived approximately 4 hours after Titanic sink.

RMS Cedric, the postcard above exposed the ship weight (tonnage) : 21,073 tons

RMS Celtic, I dunno why the ships were look similar each other LoL

RMS Georgic, the card. It was written 'Cunard White Star' (if I'm not mistaken)

Cunard's Line RMS Lusitania. Basically similar to Titanic (4 funnels). Sunk by German ship

RMS Majestic

Cunard's Line RMS Mauretania. Remember what Rose said on Titanic movie. (Looking at Titanic) "It seems no bigger than Mauretania", Rose said to her fiance, Caledon Hockley

RMS Oceanic

RMS Olympic (above) and RMS Titanic (below), note the ships looked similar. Except for half of promenade A-deck (below the boat deck) was enclosed. And her B-deck configuration was different. But both of the hull were almost had same length. RMS Olympic had a collision with HMS Hawke, made a great damage in her bow. In World War I, Olympic was in service as a troopship. It was painted in dazzle scheme (camouflage). Titanic and Olympic, both had similar grand staircase in 1st class (remember scene where Jack Dawson waiting for Rose in the grand staircase then the clock chimes 9 times).

Titanic had a different story. As Olympic served long career (from 1911 to 1935), Titanic sank in her maiden voyage at April, 15th 1912 after striking an iceberg. Titanic was said "The Unsinkable", but the fact, she was gone. She had great on-board features for her passengers, swimming pool, Turkish bath, Verandah café, Café Parisien, gymnasium, library, barber shop, squash court, and many more. First-class passengers paid a hefty fee for such amenities. The most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic passage was US$4,350 (which is more than US$95,860 in 2008 dollars) [references from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic].

She had 45,000 napkins, 50,000 towels, 18,000 bedsheets, 7,500 blankets, 5,000 table clothes, 800 cotton blanket, 12,000 knifes, 12,000 forks, 19,000 spoons, 400 sugar bowl, 400 cream bowl, 1,000 bowl, 12,000 cups and saucers, 1,200 teapots, and 2,500 champagne glass. The stock for a voyage was a great number. Go to the dining room, we could find 11 dishes a night! Started from scallops and white Burgundy, soup, fish. The main dish would be beef or chicken, then mutton with mint-sauce, roasted-duck with apple sauce, or sirloin, or beef. Followed by the next dishes number 6, 7, 8, 9, like cold asparagus, pâté de froi gras. As the dessert, there would be Waldorf pudding, vanilla and chocolate éclair, French ice cream, or passion fruit in jelly.

Whereas, Olympic in World War I initially remained in commercial service under Captain Herbert Haddock. She sailed from New York on 20 October 1914 for Britain, though carrying very few passengers, as Germany had announced that her U-boats would sink the Olympic on sight and most of the passengers had cancelled. On the sixth day of her voyage, the Royal Navy alerted Haddock that four U-boats were pursuing his ship and ordered him to head north for Glasgow instead of continuing into the English Channel. On 27 October, as the Olympic passed near Lough Swilly, she received distress signals from HMS Audacious, which had struck a mine off Tory Island and was taking on water.

The Olympic took off 250 of the Audacious' crew, then the destroyer HMS Fury managed to attach a tow cable between Audacious and Olympic and they headed west for Lough Swilly. However, the cable parted after the Audacious' steering gear failed. A second attempt was made to tow the warship, but the cable became tangled in HMS Liverpool's propellers and was severed, and a third attempt also failed when the cable gave way. By 17:00 the Audacious' quarterdeck was awash and it was decided to evacuate the remaining crew members to Olympic and Liverpool, and at 20:55 there was an explosion aboard the Audacious and she sank.

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Commander of the Home Fleet, was anxious to suppress the news of the sinking of Audacious, for fear of the demoralizing effect it could have on the British public, so ordered Olympic to be held in custody at Lough Swilly. No communications were permitted and passengers were not allowed to leave the ship. The only people departing her were the crew of the Audacious and Chief Surgeon John Beaumont, who was transferring to RMS Celtic. Steel tycoon Charles M. Schwab, who was travelling aboard the liner, sent word to Jellicoe that he had urgent business in London with the Admiralty, and Jellicoe agreed to release Schwab if he remained silent about the fate of Audacious. Finally, on 2 November, Olympic was allowed to go to Belfast where the passengers disembarked.

Now, Olympic's fittings were auctioned off immediately before she was scrapped; some of her fittings, namely those of the First Class Lounge and part of the Aft Grand Staircase, can be found in the White Swan Hotel, in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. Some fittings and panelling also ended up at a Haltwhistle paint factory. The rest of her fittings found homes in scattered places throughout Great Britain.

In 2000, Celebrity Cruises purchased some of Olympic's original wooden panels and created the RMS Olympic Restaurant on board their newest cruise ship, Millennium. According to Celebrity Cruise Line, this wood panelling once lined Olympic's à la carte restaurant.

In 2004, in the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri, USA, a first class cabin from the Olympic served as an example of the class's interior quarters. A replica of the Grand Staircase in the Titanic also appears at this museum, as well as many items recovered from the Titanic wreckage (reference taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic).

Cunard's Line RMS Queen Elizabeth

Cunard's Line RMS Queen Mary II, note for the different interface (compare with Titanic), it had one funnel on-board.

Cunard's Line RMS Queen Mary. Now serving as a museum and hotel at Long Beach, California. LOL I wanna stay there...

Cunard's Line RMS Victoria

SS Adriatic, note the masts and one funnel applied

SS Arabic

SS Leviathan (the ship looked great)

SS Megantic

SS Normandie, gliding on the ocean

SS Paris, note the pollution she made from her 3 funnels

At last, still there was a ship left (I dunno whether this ship really existed or just a fiction, but I found a painting of her)

Antonio Graza, Genova

I found the ship on 'Ghost Ship' movie, where all the passengers and crews were killed sadistically.

So, which one would you choose?

Enjoy Life After Work

You can enjoy life so much more if you have a positive mental outlook. When things don't happen quite the way you might want, look at what you learned from the experience. so you don't make the same mistakes again and you can take forward any learning when the same situation happens again you will react more effectively next time.

Be a glass half full person rather than a glass half empty. If something doesn't work out the way you hoped decide what you would do differently next time and take whatever was positive from it.

If you've had to leave work in an unplanned way because of ill health or if you've been suspended because, or on suspicion, of malpractice, then you may be feeling very upset and confused about what's happening to you. You may feel angry about how unfairly life has treated you, or guilty about something you did which became much bigger than you imagined it could. In these circumstances it may seem impossible to enjoy life again. Amidst all the negative aspects of the situation what might be the benefit to you of this happening at this time?

It is so important to enjoy life, have a laugh, see the funny side of those situations that upset or frustrate you. Step back and find an individual or a group to support you during the difficult times. Others who have been through similar situations can often give you words of comfort and guidance and it's reassuring to know and realise that others have been through similar experiences to you.

If you find yourself becoming bothered about something or someone, try picturing the person as a cartoon character, or a clown. Imagine them speaking with a squeaky voice or singing everything. You may be surprised how doing this can diminish the anger or frustration you were feeling about what happened. When you make a joke of it either by telling the story to someone else, or picturing it in your own mind's eye, you will change the way you perceive the circumstances.

If you are leaving work because you've reached the regular retirement age and realise your thoughts are full of dread or apprehension about what the future might have in store for you, then seeing the funny side of life is even more important. There is life after work. Only you can decide what sort of a life it will be.