Free Texas Hold Em Guide to Chip Stack Size Strategy

Many poker beginners on free texas holdem sites like NoPayPOKER or the lower stake cash online poker sites simply play their cards without proper regard for situational nuances. This can lead to errors that can cost them a lot of money despite the fact that they’re playing with strong holdings.

One mistake I see many free poker and low stakes players make is not to account for how the size of their chip stack can dictate how they should best play their hand. When I started playing free online poker many years ago, I made the same error a lot.

The optimum play with a particular hand depends on many factors including your chip stack. A good move for someone with a large chip stack could be a dangerous move for someone with a tiny chip stack.

To put it plainly: size matters. That is not to say that bigger is indeed better. Being "deep-stacked" has its advantages, but small stacks can be equally effective at the cash and free poker table.

A Deep Stack Expands Options

For the sake of this article, I will define deep stacks as stacks that are roughly 125 big blinds or more. Others may define a deep stack as a bit less or more than that number of big blinds, but almost no one would consider a stack of 35 big blinds or less to be a deep stack.

I generally subscribe to the notion that deep-stack play is better than small-stack play. Most professional pokers would agree.

This is because deep stacks give you more room to take advantage of implied odds. In other words, you’re allowed more freedom with regard to starting hand requirements. You can play small pocket pairs hoping to flop your set or small suited connectors hoping to flop a flush or straight. If you miss the flop, you can fold and wait for a better situation. You can be more patient because the blinds aren't much of a concern; they won't eat up your chip stack that much.

Another benefit of being deep-stacked is maximizing your profits. If you have the biggest stack at the table, you can extract the most possible chips from your opponents. This is not true for short stacks.

Let's look at an example: If you're the largest stack with $800 chips and a player calls your all in bet with his $500 in chips, and you win, then you take all the cash.

Now another example: If you are the smaller stack with $600 and the larger stack with $900 calls your all-in bet and you win, you can't take all the money. He’ll be left with $300 because you don't have enough money to play for all the chips.

That's one of the pitfalls of the short stack, but there are some benefits.

A Shorts Stack Encourages Tight, Hyper-Aggressive Play

If you don't have many chips behind you, you're forced to basically play for all your chips in every hand you play. This forces you to play premium hands like big pocket pairs and big face cards. You often won't be getting the right price to play small pocket pairs and suited connectors. Those hands need to see the flop cheaply, and every hand played is expensive for a short stack. free poker sites are good places to practice and play about with short stack techniques.

The best move is to get all your chips in the middle with big pairs before the flop or to shove when you hit top pair on the flop. You don't have the opportunity to wait because the blinds will eat you alive.

One obvious advantage of this essentially all-in or fold strategy is that it forces you to play tighter. Another advantage of this style of play is that it's harder to get outplayed by more skilled post-flop players. Your decisions are simple: push or fold. You don't need to worry about the subtleties of the game like betting the right amount or knowing when to fold the second best hand.

There is also a psychological advantage. For some reason a lot of deep stack players give short stack players very little respect. They assume you are buying in small because you have a small bankroll, are not very skilled or are scared. As a result it's not uncommon for a big stack player to pay off a short stack player by calling with weaker than usual hands.

I do believe however that overall deep stack play is better, but you will come across some tough nut short stack players so don't underestimate their abilities! If you are new to poker, practice and observe these concepts first. Start off on low stakes and free online texas holdem poker sites such as http://www.nopaypoker.com before progressing as your skill and bankroll grows.

Free Texas Holdem Tips and Mental Techniques for Analyzing Players

It is important to have the ability sit down at any money or free poker table, online or live and analyze the other players. There's no doubt that patience is the key ingredient when it comes to analyzing players and the most important 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 player's actions. This is helpful during the first half hour of a free poker 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 Must You Try to Read?

The notes I suggest you take during 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 which ones are playing loose.

Those who are playing loose are going to bet on almost every hand and call just about anything.This is very common in free texas hold em games where low risk reduces good sense at times!

Those who are playing conservative will keep folding until they get the cards in hand they want or any pairs of AA's, KK's, QQ's, JJ's.

How do you spot a Bluffer?
This can be difficult if you have not been watching the game as can happen a lot with free poker or if you are playing multiple games online.

If you have been watching the game you should have more of a feeling as to who might be bluffing..

For example:

Say 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 player's bluff and go on to win.

That is very obvious but if you are up against 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 really know what they are doing and most likely will have a full house against your ace high straight. Here is where your experience comes into play...have you marked who is loose and who is conservative?

Practical Reading and Analysis Suggestions

1) Players who take a very long time and procrastinate are trying 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 could be taking too long because he/she is playing multiple games.) Filter these players out as this might be a habit for them.

2) Look out for players who anticipate until the last second and raise you all-in. They are trying to buy the pot with a decent pair hoping you do not have any aces in your hand!

3) Everyone knows a chip bully. Every table has one. The only way to knock a chip bully off his expensive chair is not to be distressed by his/her large chip stacks. Should you have it, go for it. Most probably, 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 form?

A bad habit (for them) you will witness only too often is that some players lose 80% of their chip stack. They get ticked-off because they've taken a serious loss but rather than cut their losses choose to carry on, often all-in until they lose the lot 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 are being read and are always switching their technique. They will repeat themselves at some point but these patterns are very hard to spot. These players will take up a lot 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. No player is impossible to read but if you can't read players you will make the game impossible for yourself!

My advice if you have difficulty with analyzing other players or if this is all new to you is to get in lots of practice in low risk games. Try low or micro stakes games or some free online poker games to get a feel for it all before betting any meaningful money.