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14 January 2006
Punter Talk - Online Casino Fans
Share Their Stories
Internet
poker aficionado Mike French talks to casinotimes.co.uk
about his experiences with online gambling.
Hard
Facts
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
How long have you been playing online, and what prompted you
to start?
Mike French: I'd
always played the odd game with friends over the years and
watched shows like Late Night Poker on C4, but more recently
I started to chat about online
poker on a
bulletin board on a website I use for share prices. As my
work laptop didn't let me access any poker sites, I bought
myself a PC and have been playing online since.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
Is there a particular variant of poker you prefer? If so,
why?
Mike French: No
Limit Texas Hold'em - it's the game I'd seen played on TV
and it's also the most popular game online, which means I
can normally find a good table to play at my preferred
stakes.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
Which sites do you use, and why? Are there any sites you'd
particularly recommend?
Mike French: I play
at a few different sites. For instance, VC Poker for STTs as
they have a decent chip/blind structure and the standard of
play is quite poor. Poker Stars also has good structures for
STTs/MTTs and I play a regular Monday night game there on a
private table with some friends. I also play at Poker
Champs, which has a very good bonus scheme and a clean,
uncluttered interface, and also William
Hill Poker Room
which has some good MTTs. I'd recommend any of the above,
depending on your requirements.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
Do you play real-world? How does it differ from online
play?
Mike French: I only
play the occasional game with friends so can't really
compare to online. From chatting with others who play a few
games in land
based casinos,
there does appear to be a world of difference. This is
predominantly related to the physical/emotional side of
things. If you are nervous or excited about a hand online no
one can really tell, whereas in a casino you can completely
give your hand away.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
What size stakes do you usually play for?
Mike French: For
STTs and MTTs it's normally a buy-in between $25 and $50.
For cash games it varies, but anything up to $2/$4 on
NLHE.
Battle
Stories
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
What's the most satisfying hand you've ever
played?
Mike French: It's
not so much one hand, but a series of hands. I was sat to
the left of a stereotypical mouthy American who thought he
was the greatest player alive. I won a couple of lucky hands
against him, which upset him somewhat. I then bluffed him
off a couple of pots and showed him my cards both times,
which had the desired effect of sending him crazy. The next
time I bet he just raised me all-in so I folded, but was
sure he'd do the same next time. I just waited a few hands
and was fortunate enough to get dealt QQ. I made a small bet
and sure enough he went all-in. I call, my QQ holds up, and
he leaves the table.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
What's the most disastrous hand you've ever seen
played?
Mike French: I've
had hands where I've lost a chunk of money, but often that's
just down to bad luck rather than bad play. My biggest
single loss was when I called a $200+ pre-flop all-in - all
I remember is that I was ahead until he hit a card on the
river.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
What's the biggest pot you've played for?
Mike French: I've
had a few pots of $400 - $500 playing NLHE. I won most of
these but there's the odd one or two that didn't work out.
Nearly all of these would have been pre-flop all-in
situations - get your opponent committed for all his money
when you're sure that you're ahead and let the
cards/probabilities do the rest.
Game
Strategy
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
They say: "If you can't spot the sucker within the first
half hour at the table, then you are the sucker". What are
the tell-tale signs you look for?
Mike French: It can
be quite hard online as you don't have that much information
to go on. Typically I will make a judgement based on
players' hole cards (assuming I get to see them at some
point) and how they have played/bet certain hands. The
person who is happy to play any two suited cards, an A with
a small kicker or chase an inside straight draw to the
river, is pretty much nailed on as the sucker.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
Which is more important in the long run - good cards, strong
knowledge of statistics and probability, or the ability to
read your opponents?
Mike French: In the
online world it has to be a good understanding of
odds/probabilities. If you commit your money to a pot when
you are the statistical favourite to win, then you will be a
winner over time. Yes, good cards are important, but in the
long run these should even themselves out so shouldn't
really be a factor. In the bricks & mortar world I think
getting a good read on your opponents is a big plus, but
this is not such a factor online given that you have
significantly less info to work with.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
What's your philosophy regarding bluffing? How does bluffing
work online?
Mike French:
Bluffing is a must, but as a weapon you need to be
disciplined when using it. There's no point just chucking a
load of money into the pot in the hope that everyone will
fold. You need to consider how you have already bet, how
your opponents have bet and what cards, if any, are on the
board.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
What's the most important piece of advice you could give a
new player?
Mike French: Apart
from all the basic stuff, I think the most important thing
for a new player to grasp is the value of position, ie.
where they are sat at the table relative to the dealer. In
simple terms, the later your position, the greater your
advantage. As such being 'on the button' - ie the dealer -
is the strongest position as you get to see what everyone
else does before you have to act.
CasinoTimes.co.uk:
Go on - tell us a secret strategy.
Mike French: One
thing I will do on a selective basis is to play fairly weak
hole cards when on the button. A lot of people playing will
have read the various books and websites that tell you what
starting hands to play, and as such they expect you to adopt
a fairly similar approach. If you can get to see a flop
cheaply every now and then with 85, 96, etc, it is often
worth a shot. Of course you'll miss a lot of the time, but
when you do hit you have a very good chance of winning big,
as it is then very hard for your opponents to put you on a
hand.
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