Texas Holdem Poker

Ladbrokes Poker Room Details:

Overview:

Ladbrokes are a long established gambling providers whose brilliant services have brought them the fame that they have today. This very fame is the reason for their successful launch of the Ladbrokes Poker room in 2004, which has also been acclaimed as one of the leading online poker rooms in the whole of Europe. Its name itself is enough to prove that the website is reliable and highly efficient.

Poker enthusiasts can look forward to exciting games and promotions besides Ladbrokes Poker also offers casino games to add more excitement to a player’s gaming experience. It is hardly amazing that the poker room is so popular among the poker community.

Software:

Ladbrokes poker earlier used its own-patented software but now has changed over to the Microgaming network software though it is not a part of it and is still officially run by Ladbrokes Poker. The software operates smoothly and provides great graphics and has an easily navigable interface. It is available in a downloadable, browser and the most recent introduction, the 3D version.

The classic downloadable version gives a simple look with no fussy avatars and the standard green poker tables. The features offered on this version include a player note facility, flop percentages, hands per hour and average pot size. The games move at a smooth pace and players can play nine tables simultaneously though it is advisable to play not more than five tables at a time.

The latest 3D graphics have brought in a more realistic look to the tables including live table statistics with pot odds, draw percentages, hand rankings before the flop and many other important facts. The earlier text messaging facility has been updated with a more advanced voice chat facility. This helps players interact with each other during game play.

Player Traffic:

Player traffic comprises mainly of Europeans with peak hour traffic going up to 10,000 players playing at more than a 1,000 tables. Players that can be seen playing ring games fall around 2,000 players while the others are seen playing tournaments.

Games:

Games include the standard Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 5-Card Stud, 5-Card Draw and 7-Card Stud. There are various stake limits offered with micro limits for those on low budgets and bigger limits for the high rollers. The games at Ladbrokes Poker are loose and juicy and offer great potentials for players with caliber. Flop percentages can be seen going up to 60%, thereby offering great opportunities of winning good money.

Casino games that are available at Ladbrokes Poker include Blackjack, Roulette, Slot Machine games and video slots.

Tournaments:

There is an abundance of tournaments available at Ladbrokes Poker with buy-ins being the most favored. Players can also get an opportunity to play satellite qualifiers that can get them to major poker events such as the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise. Also available are free rolls and guaranteed tournaments like the $1,000,000 weekly guaranteed tournament. There are several other lucrative tournaments such as the bad beat jackpot.

Bonus/Promotions:

New players are offered a welcome bonus of 100% up to $500 when they open an account at Ladbrokes Poker and make their first deposit. They can get this amount deposited to their account by making wagers at cash tables to meet 30 times the deposit sum. They are given a period of 30 days in which to clear this bonus amount.

Promotions are offered in way of Player Points, which the players can accumulate, and exchange for the bonus amount and for cash as well as used for buy-ins to tournaments. These player points are listed on the leaderboard ranking, placing the players according to their points and at the end of the month the top players are rewarded with cash prizes amounting to $10 million.

A referral program is also offered wherein players who introduce genuine new players to Ladbrokes Poker are rewarded with $50 while the referred member gets $25 for introducing a sub-member.

Deposit/Withdrawal Options:

Deposit and withdrawal options include VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Bank Wire and Check with more options available for deposits.

Customer Support:

Customer Support is available around the clock via email and telephone while an FAQ section can also help solve your basic problems.

With the WSOP coming up, it would seem to be the perfect time to start to discuss how to get deep into a tournament. Whether you are playing for a seat via an online qualifier or you are getting ready to make the trip out to Vegas to play in one of the dozens of tournaments that are listed in this year’s line-up, some tips on getting deep into a NL Hold’em tourney might be helpful.

The first stages of a tournament are often spots where you can gather a lot of chips with not so great cards, especially in a major tournament. You are going to have a lot of players that are in the live game for the first time and more than a few scared players. They don’t want to be the one to get knocked out on the first hand if you are a little looser and aggressive, you can take down hand after hand by applying pressure.

The early stages of the tournament are where you need to make the decision as to how you want to approach this tournament. Are you going to go for it or are you just going to try to survive. Those that sit around and wait for a hand end up getting short stacked and never have any chips to do battle with. Be aggressive in the right situations and take advantage of weak players and your stack will grow nicely in the first few hours.

Once you gather a stack, it is time to switch up gears and go after the really big hands. By this time, your aggressive play is going to be noted and you are going to have other big stacks coming after you. By switching your gears, you will now be able to set them up when you finally catch a big hand. You are looking for that one hand that will allow you to win a huge pot and show your hand. Do this a couple of times and everyone is going to start to slam on the breaks when they get into a hand with you.

This of course is when you go right back to the aggressive mode and take advantage of the fear that you have instilled in the rest of the table. Assuming the tournament director does not have you jumping from table to table, you are in a perfect position to pull off a nice bluff. Everyone knows that you are going to showdown with the best and unless they have a loaded hand, they are going to back off. You show the monster bluff and tilt starts to settle in on your table.

From there, you are going to have to play it by ear. If the table continues starts calling you down with anything again, you have to tighten it up and go back to playing big hands until you can show a few big winners. Remember, keeping everyone off balance is the best way to go deep. The moment people get a fix on you, you are walking right into their trap. You need to be the one setting the traps and scooping the chips. Regardless of the stage of the tournament that you are in, there are going to be weak and scared players that you will be able to take advantage of. Find them, take their chips and keep moving forward until you get to the final table.