The software was actually designed by poker players and that’s why there are many convenient features, which we’re going to talk about in more detail after we quickly explain the simple steps for downloading the Full Tilt software to your computer.

Step-By-Step Full Tilt Software Download Guide

Full Tilt offers a download only poker room that’s compatible on Windows and Mac computers. The minimum requirements to run the software are extremely low and just about anyone with a computer that isn’t 10+ years old will be able to play at FTP.

Players will need to have at least Windows XP or Mac OS 10.4 or higher to install Full Tilt Poker. There is a “Download” link at the top right of the website that players can click on to automatically begin downloading the software to their computer.

When the software is done downloading the only step left is to register your account. When the software launches there will be a “create account” link that allows you to register your account in minutes. After that you can begin playing online poker.

If you happen to be running on Linux the only way to download Full Tilt is by using a Windows emulator. There are a lot of free emulators that you can download to your computer, which allow you to install/run Windows programs such as Full Tilt Poker.

Best Features on the Full Tilt Software

The #1 feature at Full Tilt Poker is Rush Poker, which is poker at its finest if you love fast paced action. Rush Poker is one of the main reasons to join FTP. They have a range of stakes that you can play and the player pools are usually pretty big. Ever want to see how you lost a hand and if there was something you could have done differently?

The FTP hand replayer lets you replay the hand how it was played at the table. The hand replayer can be opened on the poker table you’re sitting at. For more detailed instructions on how to use the Full Tilt Poker replayer, check out this site.

You can also customize the feel of the poker room by selecting a 3D avatar amongst a huge group of uploaded avatars. There are also three table themes that you can alternate. You can change the table theme by right clicking on the table background.

If you like using hotkeys Full Tilt is programmed to work with various hotkeys. You can open up the cashier, hand replayer, tile tables, find a player, find a tournament and much more. The list of hotkeys that you can use is listed on the Full Tilt website.

If you’re sitting at a poker table and want some more action you can now join a new table instantly. You’ll be seated at a new table at the same stakes you’re playing and you can even choose the minimum number of players seated at a table.

The player notes feature at Full Tilt goes a bit beyond what most other poker rooms offer. You can write notes on players and also color code each player. For instance, you could color code players in red that like to buy pots off the blinds in position.

Head over to Full Tilt Poker now and get in on the action. The poker room is already boasting big traffic numbers again and the software is going to see many new upgrades in the future. We also expect mobile poker to be available soon at Full Tilt.

After starting hand selection, the flop is the most important betting round in Texas holdem poker. The 3 cards on the flop can make or break any starting hand. Reading the flop correctly is an essential skill for any poker player.

Flopping a monster hand

A monster hand means you hit a straight or better hand on the flop. This is the ideal time to slow play against aggressive players. You want to get as many players as possible into the bet to ensure the biggest payoff.

You need to be careful with straights and flushes though, you want to make sure you have the highest straight or flush. This is why we muck our low suited cards and low connectors preflop, it is dangerous when you hit your flop but you are drawing dead to a higher flush or straight.

So generally you want to slow play monster hands after the flop and make it more expensive for other players to stay in the pot on the turn and river.

Flopping a set

If you hit your set (3 of a kind) on the flop, it is a great opportunity to slow play the hand. Especially if there is a high card like an Ace on the board that you think helped another player.

There are of course times when you need to raise the pot if you do hit your set. Especially when there are strong straight or flush draw opportunities presented by the flop to other players, like suited or sequential cards. In this case it would be a far better move to jam the pot and win the hand there and then before someone else draws out to you cheaply.

Another case where you want to bet large is when you flop a small set like a set of 3′s or 4′s. Even though you are most likely ahead, the chances are there that someone who paired on the flop could draw a bigger set.

This is an ideal opportunity for a check raise if you think another player connected. Always bet and raise with small sets.

Flopping 2 Pair

If you hit two pair on the flop, it is advisable to jam the pot and bet big. Two pair is strong, but a lot of hands beat it. The rule of thumb is to take the pot as quickly as possible and you do not want to slow play two pair. Be aggressive.

Flopping top pair

If you had a pocket high pair before the flop, and your pair is an overpair after the flop (a pair higher than any other card on the board eg. QQ is an overpair on a J68 board), you should bet hard after the flop. You are most like ahead unless someone hit a set. That is why we bet large with these hands before the flop, to drive out small pairs who might make a set cheaply otherwise.

If you hold two high cards, for example AK and either an Ace or King comes on the flop, you want to bet aggressively as well. With a high kicker, you have a very good chance of winning if someone else also paired but holds a smaller kicker and can’t get out of the pot.

Top pair top kicker is a very strong hand, but not strong enough to slow play. You should always bet with this hand.

Flopping a small Pair

Now we are moving into dangerous territory. If you hit middle or bottom pair on the flop you should bet if it is checked to you. The chances are good that someone hit top pair if there is a strong bet before you, in which case you should most likely get out of the hand.

Another reason for betting here is to test exactly how strong your hand is. If someone calls your bet, be prepared to check and fold on the turn.

Flopping a straight or flush draw

Here pot odds come into play. You only want to check or call small bets to see if you can hit your drawing hand.

Fold your hand if the amount to call is too big. This is also a great opportunity for a semi-bluff if you’re up against another player who you think missed the flop completely. Even if they call your bluff, you still have the opportunity of making your straight or flush.

Any other hands

All other hands should be either checked or folded, including inside straight draws.

If you would like to learn more, you can read this previous tip that I wrote about playing the flop.

Note: If you control the odds, you win much more often.

This is a simple fact – but to accomplish needs perseverance, patience and determination. Do you have it in you? Read how to calculate the odds of Texas Holdem as you play and improve your overall winnings. If you would like to play poker online, you can visit Carbon Poker to put your talents to the test.

Texas Holdem is played with a deck of 52 cards and the odds of a certain type of card appearing can be mathematically calculated. You don’t have to know the exact odds but rather only the round figures. These will come in handy when you have to decide whether to play or to bet.

What do you do if you aren’t very good at counting cards?

I suggest you make a real effort because the better you can count the better you can calculate the odds. And the better you can calculate the odds – the more money you will make! Finally – it all rotates around one clear statement – know the odds wins money.

All you have to do is divide the number of cards you need to improve your hand with the number of hidden cards. The result is what is called pot odds. This is compared to the profit you stand to make. You decide according to the higher ratio.

If for instance the pot odds are 40/4 (which come to 1/10); and if you win you stand to make $400 by wagering $10 (which comes to 1/100). You need to compare the two – and since 1/100 is relatively bigger than 1/10 – you should call. (If it’s vice versa – you should fold or be aware that the odds aren’t in your favor.

But always bear in mind that you will lose even by becoming an expert at Holdem odds. Losing is an integral part of online gambling and it’s futile to fight against it. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. Have patience and you will be successful.

You shouldn’t rely only on your cards but also try and guess what your fellow Holdem players are ‘hiding under their sleeve.’

Basic Texas Holdem Odds

Pre-Flop

The probability of being dealt:

1. Pocket aces – 220/1 – 0.45%
2. Either pocket kings or pocket aces – 110/1 – 0.9%
3. Pocket pair – 16/1 – 5.9%
4. Ace/King suited – 331/1 – 0.3%
5. Ace/King offsuit – 110/1 – 0.9%
6. Ace/King either – 82/1 – 1.2%
7. Two Suited cards – 3.3/1 – 24%
8. Pocket Kings, Pocket Aces or Big Slick – 46/1 – 2.1%

The Turn

The probability of making:

• Full house or higher from a three of a kind – (7 outs) 5.7 to 1 – 15%
• Full house from 2 pairs – (4 outs) 11 to 1 – 9%
• Flush on the next card – (9 outs) 4.2 to 1 – 19%
• Straight on an open ended straight draw – (8 outs) 4.9 to 1 – 17%
• Straight on a gut shot straight draw – (4 outs) 11 to 1 – 9%
• Pair with two over cards – (6 outs) 6.8 to 1 – 13%

Flop to River

The probability of making:

• Full house or higher from a three of a kind – 2/1 – 33%
• Full house or higher from 2 pairs (4 outs) – 5.1 to 1 – 17%
• Flush on the river (9 outs) – 1.9 to 1 – 35%
• Backdoor flush on the river – 23 to 1 – 4.2%
• Straight on an open-ended straight draw – (8 outs) 2.2 to 1 (32%)
• Straight on a gut-shot straight draw – (4 outs) 5.1 to 1 (17%)
• Pair or higher with two over cards – (6 outs) 3.2 to 1 – 24%

It is always recommended to play with the odds. Without these odds, there is no reason to play. The odds give you more confident feeling when betting.

Preset an Amount of Money

OK, we’ve settled on a win goal of 70 percent. The next page tells you what to do with your profit, so right now we’ll touch on the reason you set a goal in the first place.

How the deuce can you determine when it’s time to leave a table if you don’t preset an amount of money you should get ahead based on your session money?

It all goes back to the reason you’re gambling in the first place – money.

My friend E.Z. Lyer is an out-and-out liar. He tells his wife he’s gonna play until he has enough to take her to a nice restaurant for dinner. E.Z. Lyer gets ahead $600 with a $100 buy-in and starts chasing every pot as if he is destined to go undefeated for the afternoon.

His win goal is reached, passed, and ignored as this goof thinks he’s the first person to hit a scorching hot streak. He originally wanted to get ahead $60 but now he’s closing in on $600. He’ll see $60 profit again, but on his way back to zero as he runs into a string of bad cards.

Does he stop at the $60 profit the second time around? No way, now he wants to get back to $600. This guy hasn’t got a goal in his head; he has a hole in his head. E.Z. Lyer lies when he says he’ll quit when he gets ahead $60. He doesn’t have the guts to quit.

Do you see yourself somewhere in that story?

Here’s what he SHOULD have done!

The Misconception People Have About Discipline

That dope E.Z. Lyer should have set his win goal and when he reached it, jumped into the discipline move of guarantee and excess.

Let’s say he agrees with my thinking and sets 70 percent as his goal. I ain’t telling him to leave the game, which would be stupid.

Look at how easy it is:

1. Rat-hole your starting session money, in this case $100
2. Put aside 50 percent of the profit of $70 ($35), called your guarantee
3. Continue to play with the other ($35) called the Excess

What’s so hard about that move? You’ve made sure your starting bankroll of $100 is intact, plus you’ve guaranteed that even if you lose the excess, you’ve got $35 to bring home.

Notice I did not take you out of the game. That is the misconception people have about discipline. Setting win goals is merely putting up a point at which you set aside the guarantee that surely goes home with you because it absolutely cannot be touched again.

Once you decide on your win goal you can’t deviate. The amount you set is up to you. Maybe 70 percent is too high or too low, that’s your decision. But what a great feeling to know your starting session money is intact along with a guaranteed profit.

Go back and dwell on the best sentence in this book and how it applies to all gamblers. Do you remember it? Of course you don’t!

“Seventy Percent of all the people who enter a casino get ahead yet 90 percent of that 70 percent give the profit back.”

Memorize it. You may be one of the people starting m that percentage.

Never Leave a Winning Session

Once you hit your win goal and put the guarantee away, I didn’t tell you to leave the table. Never leave a winning session! Stay in action with the other half of that win goal, called the excess.

This money stays on the table as your session amount and since the casinos usually offer table stakes, you cannot dip into that guarantee to put additional money at risk.

If you reach a pot where your excess is down to Zippo, you merely play all in. If you lose, that session is over. You should quit for the day with that guarantee or at least move to another table. The one you’re at is drying up as far as you are concerned, so it’s time to leave.

However, let’s say you are playing with your excess and win a $36 pot. When you pull that profit to you, divide it in half. Put 50 percent ($18) with your guarantee and keep 50 percent with the excess.

Every subsequent winning pot is divided in half. This way you are increasing your guarantee while at the same time increasing your excess. You stay at the table until the excess is gone.

Since you cannot remove a chip or add money or chips to your session amount during a hand, you must rat-hole 50 percent of that winning pot to the guarantee in between deals. Definitely get that money off the table or else it will have to be used during a subsequent hand and I DO NOT want you touching your guarantee again at that session.

Handling the excess is merely the act or art, if you will, of increasing the amount of money you’ll leave that session with. Will you do this?

Show me!

Manage Your Money at the Tables

We now slide into the section that is more important than any knowledge you may gain about Hold ‘Em, or for that matter, any form of gambling. A lot of you are nodding and acting like you agree with that sentence. Well then, why don’t you do something about it?

You all admit that you know about money management and want money management and will try to manage your money at the tables. But as soon as you park your carcass on one of those casino stools, it’s as if you’re sitting on your brains.

I could give you 7,643 different examples of different hands that will occur during a poker session but there would still be 7,644 I left out. After a while you’d just be trying to digest all the examples and would start skipping over the analysis, so I won’t bore you with all that gibberish. I’ve read books by sharp, excellent Hold ‘Em players and they give out all types of percentages and odds and examples, and it all seems and sounds so logical.

That Stuff on Odds

I disagree with a lot of that stuff on odds. If I’m sitting with KH, QH, and the flop shows JH, 5H, 5C, I now have four hearts to a flush. The geniuses of the world spit out a percentage or odds against your catching that flush.

If there are eight other players in the game and three cards have already been buried, how the heck do I know how many hearts are already used up in their hands? Plus there’s more than a deck left un-dealt that may or may not have a lot of hearts left in it.

How can you calculate your chances without knowing how many other players are sitting with two hearts and also have four of those love cards?

Suppose you’re early in a position seat and you check. In back of you come three successive raises and in a $5 – $10 game, it is now going to cost you $30 to look at the turn card and surely another set of raises. Are you going to call? No way. Regardless of what the odds say, I’m gone. Those two fives scare me, as does the fact that the ace of hearts is unaccounted for. It’s conservative and it’s money management.

Learn the Game, the Basics, and the Theory

Odds and percentages, in my opinion, rate far down the road in comparison to protecting your money. You don’t read a book on how to ride a bicycle and then enter a cross-country jaunt. You don’t read a book on computers, then sit down and build a competitor to the space system. You don’t read a book on sex, and then call Pamela Anderson for a date. And you don’t read a book on Hold ‘Em and enter the World Championship in Las Vegas. You can find a list of US Poker Sites here to help get you some more experience. The more you play, the more you learn and the more you can figure out other poker players.

You learn the game, the basics, the theory, and you learn to read players. You practice reading three-card flops then you play a casino game of $l – $3 or $3 – $6 Hold ‘Em. You learn the logical moves by being subjected to them and you learn how to manage your money!

The last part of that sentence says it all…. WERE YOU LISTENING?

Players who are reasonably new to poker often think that a bluff is just a big bet made with no real poker hand – in the hope that your opponent will fold and let you scoop a bog pot.

As you gain experience the situations and types of bluffing available will start to become more apparent. This article lists 5 common forms of bluffing to help you start winning at Texas Holdem poker today.

1. The ‘Pure Bluff’

The ‘traditional’ bluff of a big bet with no hand to back it up. While this bluff has its place in Texas Holdem poker games, over-using it will quickly result in going broke! The key to an effective pure bluff is the consistency of bets throughout the hand.

A poker hand tells a ‘story’ to an experienced player. If your bets, along with the flop, turn and river, do not ‘add-up’ an expert opponent will often call – a very expensive outcome for the bluffer.

2. The ‘Semi-Bluff’

The semi-bluff is a big bet made with the worst hand – however this bet is made with a hand that has a reasonable chance to improve to the best hand if you are called. Common examples are bluffs made with straight or flush ‘draws’ (for example 4-cards to a flush with the turn and river still to come).

While the bluffing element and the ‘drawing’ element may be unprofitable alone, together they turn this bluff into a winning proposition in many circumstances.

3. The Continuation Bet

Probably the most common poker bluff of all, this move relies on the fact that most hands will miss the flop. If you have raised before the flop and were called – then a bet of one-half to two-thirds of the pot after the flop will often win – even if you missed.

This is known as a continuation bet as you are ‘continuing’ with the strength you showed by raising before the flop.

4. The Check-Raise Bluff

Advanced bluffers like to use the check-raise bluff as a defense against opponents who habitually continuation bet. The idea is that you allow your opponent to represent a hand on the flop by checking – then raise them as a bluff.

The advantage of this bluffing technique is that you will win 2 bets when it works. The disadvantage is that this is more expensive when it does not work.

5. The Post-Oak Bluff

If you had a really strong hand by the river in Texas Holdem there are many times you will make a small bet in order to ensure you get paid a few more chips.

The ‘Post-Oak’ bluff mimics such a small bet, in the hope that an opponent will ‘read’ you as being strong and fold their hand! This should only be tried against thinking opponents and has the advantage of being a cheap bluff to run!

In the 3rd article in this series looking at the importance of positional play in No-Limit Texas Holdem Poker – we look at a scenario where your position at the table is not actually as strong as it seems.

The distinction here is between absolute position (where you act in the betting order after the flop turn and river) and ‘relative position’ (where you act in relation to the pre-flop raiser).

While this distinction may seem subtle it is actually very important indeed -awareness of when you are likely to have bad relative position can save you getting involved in many unprofitable situations.

As in the previous articles we will use 2 examples in which you have the same hand – this time Ace-Queen of hearts. Both times you will be seated in the best position, on the dealer button, the difference is the position of an opponent who raises before the flop.

Positioning Examples

Scenario #1: A Player in early position raises and there is a call from a middle position player – you call on the button.

Scenario #2: 2 players limp from early position and the player to your immediate right raises, you call the raise as does one of the early position limpers (the other player folds).

Let us look at what happens after the flop in each situation, assuming that you hit a reasonable (but not great) hand such as second pair on a flop of K-Q-9.

In scenario #1 you have last position both in absolute terms (you will act last on each betting round) and in relative terms (the 3rd player in the hand will act between you and the pre-flop raiser). This means you can fold if the action gets too heavy – for example a bet and a raise. You can also use your judgment of opponents to either call or raise the button.

However in scenario #2 the raiser was to your immediate right. Even though you act last you do not act last relative to the most likely player to bet the flop. What commonly happens here is that the first player will check and the pre-flop raiser will then bet. Now you do not know the real intention of the first player – he may be check-raising or he may be about to fold. Your position relative to the pre-flop raiser has made your action unclear.

With a hand as strong as Ace-Queen you will usually stay in the pot – however situations where the pre-flop raiser is to your immediate right will often be dangerous after the flop. If you are sandwiched between the pre-flop raiser and several callers then you may have a difficult decision to make. Raising before the flop (or folding weaker hands) can often clarify a situation that may have been difficult after the flop.