Wed, 08/10/2011 – 00:42 – PokerPages Staff

Online poker tools are a great way to play over the Internet. Whether you’re just starting out or a professional poker player, read on to find out which tools you should be using to help improve your game and achieve higher winnings.

Hold’em Indicator
This is one of the most established poker odds calculators around. In fact, it’s renowned as being the best on the market. It consists of a wide range of prominent features and is easy to use. As well as being able to collect hand histories efficiently it also lets you see your opponent’s mucked hands.

Poker-Edge
With this poker tool you can access a huge database of online games. Poker Edge is constantly taking in new data and, by allowing you to track your opponent’s stats and game, you can easily increase your chances of winning.

Poker Calculator Pro
This Texas Hold’em odds calculator lets you gain access to player information, stats and odds and outs all in real-time. You can change the settings to suit your style of gaming and it’s a vital addition to cash games and tournaments.

Poker Crusher
Poker Crusher can be used in more than a 100 poker rooms and is capable of tracking over one million hands at once. Players can gain access to a wide range of information in real-time, including stats and detailed analysis, to greatly improve their poker game.

Calculat’em Pro
This poker tool is considered one of the most advanced poker odds calculators to be found on the internet. Developed by Texas Calculat’em, it’s used by more then 25,000 players and provides a number of great features, for example it shows the odds calculations for pots, your hand odds and outs as well as a wide range of betting tips.

Thu, 08/11/2011 – 00:03 – PokerPages Staff

If you’re a beginner poker player and want to play tournaments then it helps to be aware of the main stages involved. The following poker information is based on No Limit Hold’em poker but still applies to most types.

The Early Stage
At the beginning, you’ll have a larger stack in comparison to the blinds. There are two main strategies: wait for a good hand before betting, or playing many hands in an attempt to win more chips. Whichever way you choose remember not to take any unnecessary risks early on.

The Middle Stage
The middle stage is when the blinds have grown and around about a third of the field has busted. As the blinds will be continuously increasing you can no longer wait for good hands if you have a small stack and will have to be more active with your raising to win blinds. The more blinds you steal and chips you win through your poker betting the better you’ll stand later.

The Late Stage
Now, all players will possess a range of different stack sizes. Even if your opponents play in a tight fashion your best move is to continue with your aggressive betting to keep winning chips. If your stack is large as you reach the ‘bubble’ then your play will scare off players with smaller stacks. If your stack is small but you still want to try to come first then don’t be scared about betting all your chips if you have a good hand.

At the final table continue with your forward style of betting. In general, everyone in a game will enjoy the same number of good hands and when no one has a good one it will be the most aggressive player who wins the chips.

Visit PokerSchoolOnline for more information or play a free tournament and test what you’ve learned at PokerStars.net.