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For those of you  who are new to poker or just may not be aware of what Rake Back actually is I’m going to explain how  important it is to your poker bottom line. To start off, what is the rake? Basically this is the amount of money that the poker rooms, either online or offline keep as their cut for hosting the poker game. If you have ever sat down to play a tournament online and had to pay that extra little fee, that is the rake. The normal amount taken is 10 percent for SNG’s and MTT’s. Look at this example.

If you play a $10 SNG then usually you will have to pay $1 as the rake fee.The rake would be $3 for a thirty dollar MTT. Now that you know what the rake is, you can probably guess what the term Rake Back means. Basically the payouts range from 27% to 100% just for playing poker at their poker rooms.

Why do the poker sites do this?

As you can probably imagine, the costs associated with running an online poker room are much less than the costs of a regular land casino. These poker sites can offer these types of bonuses to join their sites since their overall expenses are much less than land casinos.

So how much can you expect to get back?

To answer that question it all depends and how much you play, but let’s  look at an example. Let’s just say that each week you play only twenty $20 SNG’s. The numbers would look something like this:

# of SNG’s :                        20
Rake Paid (Week): $40 ($2 x 20 SNG’s)
Rake Paid (Month):        $160 (4 weeks X $40)
Rake Paid (Year):             $1,920 (12 months X $160)

Now if we use a typical Rake Back Deal of 30%, you would get back $576 over the course of a year. That’s pretty good since you would be playing these games anyways. Your numbers may look different depending on the levels you play, but I’m sure you get the point. A lot of the Rake Back programs will issue payments once a month, but there are others that offer weekly and even daily payouts. The best part is that Rake Back offers are FREE to join and there are usually no minimum requirements that you have to play.

What it comes down to is that you are getting FREE money for playing anyways. You are leaving money on the table if you are not using Rake Back.

If you are interested in learning more about being a Winning Poker Player, You can sign up for my FREE SNG Poker Training Course “From Fish to SNG Pro in Only 17 Days” by visiting http://www.sngtrainer.com

I’m sure the word TILT is nothing that you haven’t heard before even if you are new to poker. In a nutshell, being on TILT means that you are no longer thinking clearly or that something occurred at the table that has upset you. A few things that could set someone on TILT are :

1.       Taking a Bad Beat  – Getting your money in the pot with the best hand only to be outdrawn by a  worse hand

2.       Being shown a Bluff – Sometimes after you fold your opponent will show his terrible hand which can trigger emotions of anger and frustration

3.       Drunk Players at the Table – Although it’s fun to play against people when they are drinking as they tend to make errors, listening to them yap away is enough to upset anyone

4.       Trash Talker at the Table – Many players use this strategy to get you upset. They constantly berate you at the table hoping to get an edge and make you do something stupid to lose all of your chips. (I’m really not a big fan of this approach, but it is effective for some)

These are just a few examples of things that can put you TILT. If for any reason you find yourself TILTING it’s best to take a break and walk away from the table. Poker is a game of incomplete information where we try to make the correct decisions. By not making good decisions and not thinking straight you can really lose a lot of money. If you want to have long term poker success then being in the right “Poker State of Mind” is crucial. Here are some other examples of things to avoid:

1.       Avoid playing if you are Tired

2.       If you are drinking or have been drinking you really shouldn’t play

3.       Don’t play if you want to watch TV

4.       If you are surfing the web or answering emails, you really shouldn’t be playing

I know sometimes poker can be long in between hands to play so we tend to do other things. If you find yourself getting bored and looking for things to do, my suggestion would be to play a few tables at the same time if you are playing on line. By playing more than 1 table it increases you chances of playing more hands and eliminating the possibilities of getting bored. If you still find yourself drifting then maybe you should just quit for the day. You really shouldn’t worry about it, you know you will always be able to play again tomorrow.

If you are interested in learning more about being a Winning Poker Player, You can sign up for my FREE SNG Poker Training Course “From Fish to SNG Pro in Only 17 Days” by visiting http://www.sngtrainer.com

We here the term poker bankroll and bankroll management all of the time, but why is this so important? This question can be answered quite easily, if you go broke then you can’t continue to play. I know it sounds easy, but this is the main reason why so many poker players lose.  People are trying to win too much too fast which usually results in many redeposits  back into the poker sites.

When I talk about poker bankroll, I’m referring to the amount of cash that has been put aside to use on nothing else but to play poker. It should definitely not be money that you need for the necessities like food, rent or clothing. The amount that you choose, should be an amount that you are comfortable losing playing poker. When it comes to managing my poker bankroll, here is what I would suggest and personally use. 

SNG (Sit n Go’s) – I use 2% or 1/50^th of my bankroll for each buy in. For example if you have a $1000 bankroll then you should be playing $20 SNG’s

Multi Table Tournaments (MTT) – I used 1% or 1/100^th of my bankroll for each buy in. The reason for this is that usually in MTT’s they only pay the top 10% so you will be cashing less often and you will have more fluctuations  with your overall bankroll.

Cash Games – Use only 2% or 1/50^th of each buy in. As an example if you were playing $1/$2 NL, the buy in is usually 100 X Big Blind so in this case $200. In my opinion a bankroll of 10K is needed at these levels.

These are the simple guidelines that I have followed to never have to redeposit into my poker site again and as extreme as it seems, will virtually eliminate the possibilities of you going broke. There is no doubt that you will go through some losing periods as poker can be a roller coaster ride. Not having enough cash to handle these downswings can force you into making poor decisions due to the extra pressure added. There is so much truth in the old saying “Scared money is losing money”.

If you are interested in learning more about being a Winning Poker Player, You can sign up for my FREE SNG Poker Training Course “From Fish to SNG Pro in Only 17 Days” by visiting http://www.sngtrainer.com

If I can't get pocket aces or pocket kings then I always hope for AK or AK suited. But playing the micros where there are absolute maniacs i.e. those who play anything aggressively pre-flop, take the joy of landing AK. I mean donks who are in every hand, and I mean every hand betting, raising, or re-raising whatever he has even air. They ruin it because of course they stand a good chance as any to land something better than AK on the flop, unless you land a good one too.

I’ve made three typical plays to deal with these players. One is to push them hard PF and then after the flop if you hit something, play passively. If my poker software says I am up against a maniac, I feel tend to bluff more even with air if he senses weakness in your hand. It’s the perfect way to trap him especially if you flop something big like a KK or AA, or get flush or a straight draw.

The second is I play normally as I would pre-flop so that I can just let it go if I don’t hit the flop and reduce the risk of a major suck out. 

The 3rd alternative is to put him to the test for all his money. Needless to say, if they don`t have a pocket pair, you are ahead with AK. Poker odds math suggests I am good against all other hands aside from KK and AA. Once there, I just hope that the AK holds up. I am reasonably confident it's not pocket aces or kings, since I am already holding part of that.

Each one of these strategies depend on the type of maniac I’m facing, and if there is poker tournament strategy involved. If he’s a super donk and a known idiot who will call and raise any hand just to get to the flop, I do number three. Which is a very popular strategy indeed. This is proven profitable.

If he’s aggressive but is known to play a good hand or two, and shows a penchant for waiting for the flop, I go with number one. In the long run, you should have the higher chances of winning as you have top hand other than AA and KK, and have as much a chance of flopping flush or straight, and have an edge of winning top card.

If I don’t have enough information yet on said donk, I go with number two until I know more about him at least. Profiling your antagonist is clearly important. After several years of playing AK, those are my best ideas for playing the hand.