What else can I say mate? If you want to look slick when playing poker or have a tendency to fidget whilst playing poker then Chips Tricks are your saviour. Learn these and the women will be falling at your feet as men shoot you high fives across town. Well… probably not, but it does look cool! Here’s a quick video we threw together to get you started.

MobileInsider performing a Chip Twirl – Chip Trick Tutorial

You’re new to the game and spoilt for choice. You know the basic rules but don’t know where to start your voyage. To start off I would choose a poker site with little traffic such as Cake Poker, Interpoker, or Fatbet,. Read reviews online and find yourself one that would best suit your needs.  Sites with lots of players such as Pokerstars tend to be tougher competition.

So once you have found your site and you’ve got an account, now you need to set up a rake back account so you can get some money back each month, go to http://www.raketherake.com for an account.

I would start off on the micro cash games 00.1 /00.2  00.5/ 0.10. Most importantly, you need to have good bankroll management, learning the ropes can be expensive, and you might think you can jump up a few levels a bit to quickly. I would also recommend playing a few sit n go’s 6 or 9 player, again small stakes $1 or $2 etc. Play a few 1 on 1s or heads up too, as it is a completely different game and will give you good practice for when you get heads up in a 6 or 9 player sit n go.

Many sites offer guaranteed tournaments with a certain amount in the prize pool, some very cheap buy ins, again $1 or $2, you should play at least a couple of these a month, to get used to a large field. They can be great value for money, there are also many freerolls available on many sites.

Once you have found your favorite style of game you can concentrate on that but not forgetting to play other styles occasionally to keep on top of your game.

Buy books, watch poker on TV, visit www.PokerTube.com, do all you can to get information about the game, you can never stop learning. Also have a look for your nearest casino/cardroom and see how you play live. Some people play strictly only live poker, and some online professionals have never even played in a live tournament!

There is only so much you can learn by reading peoples books and watching poker on the TV. The rest you must discover for yourself, you are your own teacher and student.

I keep notes on every session I have;  starting stack, buy in, hours played, total profit, profit per hour, and notes on people in key hands. It seems a bit of a task sometimes but its definitely worth it,there are sometimes where I’d be having a rough day and I would read through my notes and see that I’ve played well all month. I’ve been calling big bluffs, re-raising super aggressive players with 6 high and getting paid, and it would make me feel better, give me more confidence just reading it.

I have a list of all players that I like to see at the table. Easy money list and players I’m not so keen on seeing for whatever reason.  If you feel like you are outclassed at a table you should simply leave, forget the Ego and look after your wallet, what are you here for? To feel manly or to make money? I’d rather feel like a man off the tables with their money, where that whole society thing is…

You should always anazlyze every session, dont just make notes for the sake of it. You have to actually digest the information, did I play that hand badly? Did I Price him in for his flush draw? Why is he calling every preflop raise? What cards does he play under the gun? Is he really attached to suited connectors?  Poker is a game of questions, questions get information, and more information wins more money, you should always be making notes or mental notes on peoples play. Professional poker player, Gus Hansen, takes his hand held voice recorder to every live session, and makes notes on people in Danish, I love this idea.

OK so you’ve just been dished another bad beat for the 4th time today…? This is one aspect that differs great players from the average players… Bad beats are inevitable, you just need to look at the facts. OK, he had 1 out on the river, 2% and he hit it, its sucks yeah but did you play it badly is the first question? no, because you are going to win it 98/100 times and you got your money in with the best hand, I would rather loose to bad beats than through bad play. If I’m only loosing that way I am happy, there is nothing to improve on.

Don’t think about it to much, the luck factor is what keeps the bad players hooked. If there was set odds this game called poker wouldn’t exist,  so let them have there 2 in 100 pots.  Say nice hand and mean it, knowing that you will get him sooner or later. Going on tilt can’t be avoided, money saved is better than money lost, and if you are on mega tilt you are definitely doing more than risking it. When you get a bad beat you should just stop the game, analyze the hand, have a drink, do some exercise, have a smoke, do what you got to do.  It’s happened now…now concentrate on the next hand with a clear head.

People have different ways of dealing with bad beats but ultimatley after time you will cool off. It’s having this discipline that will save you alot of money in the long run.