In business, leverage usually refers to what you have to push against someone who is trying to get the better of you in order to assert your position. If someone is trying to push a lowball job offer on you, having another job offer gives you leverage to push back. In poker, leverage refers to a bet that has more force because of the advantage created by the promise of future bets.

Using Leverage in Poker

Leverage in poker is most effective in a no limit game when you have a deep stack. When you make a bet at the pot, an opponent may be reluctant to call not because of the initial bet, but because he may be anticipating bets on future streets. Depending on the situation, you may win many pots on the flop or turn with minimal risk, simply because an opponent is not prepared to call bigger bets down the line.

However, if you wish to gain leverage, you must be sure that your opponent fears losing his chips. A bet made in later stages of a multi-table tournament with large prizes is not the same as a bet in a free poker tournament.

How to Gain Leverage in Poker

The way you gain leverage when you play poker online is by showing your opponents that you are an aggressive player who is willing to make big bets and are controlling most pots you’re involved in. If you are the type of player who makes one bet, then gives up and checks it down to the river, you will not get any leverage on your bets.

Similarly, if you are a short stack, you have no leverage because opponents know exactly how big a threat you are. In the same vein, if you are facing a short stack you have little leverage because this player is much more likely to be willing to commit himself to the pot if he likes his hand.

Notes on Leverage

Leverage is only one tool in a poker arsenal and should be used wisely. Try to determine which situations will create fear in your opponents and use your loose, dangerous image to push marginal hands. When you have strong hands, try to play in such a way that keeps your opponents relaxed and unsuspecting until the moment you bring the hammer down.

Found @ PokerMunch.com

In any poker tournament, no one wants to be the one to burst the bubble, in other words no one ever wants to be the last person to be eliminated before a prize is awarded. Experienced successful tournament players will tell you one of the most important stages in tournament play is the period that the bubble approaches. This is when players start to tighten up, and those players who came to win all of a sudden just came to try and cash. Small stacks are holding on for dear life, and a lot of the times big stack players will just try and ride it out till the bubble has burst.

No where is this more evident than in Sit n Go tournaments. Players at this point have invested a fair amount of time into the tournament, and they do not want to exit without getting at least a little bit of money back. This can work to your advantage, allowing you to take down pots by playing aggressively and not having to showdown your cards. Even though you may play more liberally in this period, you must always be aware of how your opponents are playing, this is probably the single most important factor in winning or losing. It becomes quite apparent which players at the table are fearful of busting out of the tournament before being in the money. Be cautious about just….continue reading article at PokerMunch.com

From Heads-Up-Poker.org
Heads-Up Poker games, where you face just one opponent, are an exiting and demanding variation of the usual ring-game format. This article contains 10 tips that will get you winning at heads-up poker.

Heads-Up Poker Tip #1 – Position

Acting last after the flop is a huge advantage in poker. You get to see your opponent’s action before you make a decision on what to do. This allows you to win more with your good hands and lose the least when you are behind. In heads-up poker you will have position (the small blind / dealer button) half of the time – make sure you use this to your full advantage.

Heads-Up Poker Tip #2 – Aggression

Pre-flop your opponent will not have a strong hand most of the time. Combine this with the fact that unpaired hands will only hit the flop 1/3rd of the time and it is easy to see how aggression will win many pots when playing heads-up. After all, if you do not raise then you have not given your opponent an opportunity to fold!

Heads-Up Poker Tip #3 – Pot Control

Over time everyone gets their fair share of good and bad hands. Winners in poker make sure that they win bigger than average pots and lose smaller than average pots. Decide whether you have a ‘big-pot’ hand during play and plan your bets to win as many of your opponents chips as possible. Conversely manage the pot with a vulnerable hand so as to lose the least if you happen to be behind.

Heads-Up Poker Tip #4 – Reading Your Opponent

Work out as early in the heads-up game as possible what hands your opponent raises, checks and calls your bets with. Is this opponent likely to raise strongly with a flush draw? Will this opponent check a monster hand looking to check-raise or lead straight out? Will this player raise a marginal hand on the river if you have shown weakness, or instead call and see a showdown?

Heads-Up Poker Tip #5 – Adapting To Your Opponent

In order to take advantage of your reads on an opponent you must be ready to adapt your play. If they are too tight then… continue reading at Heads-Up-Poker.org

by Niche Poker
Small pocket pairs can be very profitable starting hands in Texas Holdem poker. However, many people misplay these hands or play them in the wrong circumstances – ending up losing money with them. This article looks at how to play small pocket pairs both before and after the flop in order to maximize your profits.

We start by looking at the reason why small pocket pairs are so valuable – the opportunity to hit a hidden monster hand. Next the circumstances in which small pairs are playable before the flop are covered. Finally we look at how to play small pocket pairs when you miss the flop entirely.

If we define small pocket pairs as 22 through to 66 it is easy to see that you will rarely hit an over-pair to the flop with them. The real value of these hands comes the one in eight times that you flop a set with your small pair. In these circumstances you can win many times your initial bet by taking the entire stack of an opponent, for example if someone holds pocket aces.

The potential for a big reward from a small investment is known as your ‘implied odds’. That is to say the times you hit you will often win a huge pot – this makes up for the times when you miss your hand and need to fold to betting action on the flop.

When playing a hand with implied odds value such as small pocket pairs the critical factor is the size of the bet pre-flop compared to your potential gain. On average you will flop a set once every…. continue reading at Niche Poker

By Jennifer Harman
In Limit Hold ‘em, the big blind is one of the toughest position to play. You’re out of position, and that’s never a good thing, but usually, you’ll be getting excellent odds to continue with the hand. Against a single opponent who has raised, you’ll be getting better than 3 to 1 and, in most hands, you’re no more than a 2 to 1 dog. The problem is, you’ll often find yourself going into the flop with shaky cards and, at that point, you’re sure to face some tough decisions.

Before I talk about some tricky situations that develop in the big blind, I want to note that you can make your life a little easier by folding some hands pre-flop. If you’re holding a medium Ace and you’re facing an early position raise from a player who you know plays only good cards up front, then fold. It may seem like you’re getting a nice price to continue, but in this spot, you’re only going to get into trouble. When you miss the flop completely, it’s going to be tough to continue and, if you hit an Ace, you may lose a lot to a hand that has you dominated. I’d rather play 6-7 against an early position raise from a tight player than A-7.

There are some hole cards that are just hopeless. If I’m facing a raise from any position and I find something like…. read rest of article at Full Tilt Poker