Online Essential Tools
This page is dedicated to the explanation and review of a few essential entities, to increase your success in online poker games. Although the following tools are technically not required to play, it is borderline ludicrous to play without them.
“People have often asked me something to the effect of ‘what was the most profitable decision you ever made playing online poker?’. I always enjoy seeing the surprised and confused look on their faces when I reply, ‘rakeback’”. (The Poker Lama, 2007)
Rakeback
What is Rakeback?
There are few certainties in poker and even fewer guarantees; the following is one of them. You will make money if you sign up for rakeback! In short, signing up through a rakeback site enables you to be paid back a percentage of the rake that you pay each hand. Rakeback sites can do this because of the earnings they generate from attracting players to the poker sites which they are affiliated with.
Here is how it works; say you’re playing at a table with 6 players and the last hand there was $3 rake taken from the pot. Now since there was $3 rake taken and there were 6 players at the table, your rake contribution to the pot was $0.50 ($3/6 players). With Rakeback, you get a percentage of that back, usually between 30% and 60%. So you would have made $0.20 ($0.50*0.4 @40%) just for being dealt cards. If you play multiple tables at a time it can add up to thousands of dollars a month.
It is very simple. The only thing you have to do to get rakeback is sign up to your favorite poker room(as you normally do) except through a rakeback site, most of which are completely free. In my best month, I earned almost $5,000 in rakeback; Granted I played a lot of poker that month. However, even if you only play a few hours a week at small stakes, it still adds up. I strongly recommend the site RakeTheRake, because they are largest and most trusted rakeback provider (I’ve heard of other sites making late payments or sometimes not making payments at all. Other sites only credit you with a points for various promotions, instead of crediting you with cash). RakeTheRake offers over $100,000 a month in freerolls and promotions. For more info on rakeback follow the link to RakeTheRake, or click on the image below.
As mentioed above, of all of the Rakeback sites I have tested, RakeTheRake is the best option, based on reliabilty and return. To see how much money you would get back from signing up with RakeTheRake, just enter your poker details into the Rakeback Calculator below. Be advised that the calculations below are based on 'avergae' table rakes, and assumes a rakeback of 30%.
Enter your typical playing figures into the RakeBack Calculator below to find out how much money you will get back when you sign up to RakeTheRake.
Caution: If you are still not convinced that rakeback is valuable to your game then you should probably stop playing poker altogether. The Poker Lama wants to see you succeed; and if you can not see the opportunity in something that has only positive expected value than poker is probably not your game.
Poker-Edge
Poker-Edge is revolutionary tracking software that overlays people’s playing statistics onto the game screen you are playing. While there are similar products, what makes Poker-Edge superior is you can see players’ stats that you have never played against before. Here is an example of how this can help: Say you just joined a NL table and you have 10-10 in the hole pre-flop. You raise in middle position and get re-raised from the button, what do you do? If you don’t have Poker-Edge it might be a difficult decision; but since you are using Poker-Edge you can see that this player raises only 2% of the time pre-flop. Facing a re-raise from this type of player you can be almost certain that your opponent has at least pocket queens. Now you can easily fold your hand to any large raise knowing you are beat. There is hundreds of different ways this software can help your game; in fact the software will probably pay for itself in the first hour you use it.
Some people question the morality of this type of product claiming that it gives players an unfair advantage. However lots of professionals have been using this type of software for quite a long time now. I would argue that Poker-Edge makes it affordable for everyone to use it; this therefore levels the playing field since everyone now has access to it. The only major difference with Poker-Edge is you can gain access to people’s stats that you have not played a hand against before. With the prehistoric software versions you would have had to wait until you played about 20 hands against a player before you could get a baseline of how they play. So really all Poker-Edge has done is up the ante; don’t let your pride cost you your chips. Click on the link below and visit the Poker-Edge website where you can get more info and watch a video demo.
Poker Player Stats Tracking Software
Stalk Your Opponents with Poker-Edge
Poker-Edge also has an absolutely free trail period with no additional sign up. Once your trail period expires they offer three different plans, so you can keep generate profits at any limit of play.
Odds Calculators
Among the most useful poker tools are odds calculators. If you use a poker odds calculator when you play poker online, you can get real-time advice in difficult situations, and thus make correct decisions.
In short, an odds calculator is software that automatically gives advice and probabilities on the hand you are playing.
For the longest time I refused to use odds calculators; figuring if I wanted to keep improving my play I would be better off without one. While my game did keep progressing on its own, I have to admit know that an odds calculator would have helped considerably. Finally after a big score , I decided to try out an odds calculator just for fun. Most of the time the odds calculator and my strategies were in agreement, but there were a few hands that were different from the way I was playing. After analyzing the strategy I realized that I was not always using the optimum strategy, in those situations . The odds calculator allowed me to make an adjustment much sooner then I would have done otherwise. If you use odds calculator to improve your play , then they can be extremely beneficial. Or even if you just play occasionally and do not want to take the time to study all the strategy , you can use the calculator for assistance or to make sure you are not making costly mistakes.
In general if rely purely on the odds calculator for advice you will probably not be much better if and when you play without one. But if use an odds calculator to analyze strategy and your play, then they are a tremendously valuable tool.
Lobby-Edge
A new plug-in called Lobby-Edge has been added to Poker-Edge that may be worth acquiring depending on how much you play. This new plug-in is not included in the subscription you pay for Poker-Edge, it must be purchased separately. It shows you some vital stats on tables that can help you find the best table instantly. In addition you can search multiple poker sites at the same time. This is especially helpful when looking for higher limit games or games with less traffic. I use to manually survey tables by opening the table and looking at people’s stats. Now it is all done for you if you purchase this add on. I have purchased and found it to be invaluable thus far. However I recommend you start with rakeback and poker-edge first, and then purchase the lobby-edge if you feel it is worth while. I like it because the players at online tables change so quickly, so you can use Lobby-Edge to easily search for a better table while you continue to play. For me it has become an essential tool but for the average player, it is something you can get by without. If you already have a Poker-Edge subscription and you want to see more this of this product you can click on the Lobby-Edge link below.
Again some people may believe this new add on offers an unfair advantage to those who purchase it. While I do agree that Lobby-Edge offers an advantage, I do not see anything wrong with it. Poker in many ways is a reflection of the free market economy. Wal-Mart and FedEx gained an advantage by introducing new methods of doing business. Should they not be allowed to use their new systems because other businesses still use old ones? If one business succeeds, it comes at the expense of another and to this end; poker is very much just like any other business. So if profit is your goal then you better treat poker just like you would a business. If Poker-Edge and Lobby-Edge gives you a competitive advantage then you need to use them. Treat them just like you would any other investment that generates you profit.
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