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Welcome to Marginal Poker!

Here at Marginal Poker we know that the key to playing great poker is in the detail. Becoming a great poker player isn’t just about luck, it’s about good judgement and owning the skill to play a hand to its full potential - which includes knowing when to fold! A great poker player isn’t made by the number of times they get pocket rockets, they are made from their ability to play marginal hands - and play them well.

Marginal poker hands

Marginal hands can be high or low. The expected value of a marginal hand is zero - your hand really could go either way. But the money is most certainly in the margin if you can manipulate it. The factor that makes one player’s pre-flop suited connectors a flush, while constituting another player’s fold or loss, is experience. OK so there is an element of luck, but the person who works the maths on the cards, and who role-plays a good game at the table is, more often than not, a pot winner.

The poker beginner’s margin for error

As a beginner, it is initially very difficult to play marginal hands well. Moreover, you might not even recognise that it is a marginal hand. Seeing a J9 might excite you as you’ve got a high card with a view to a pair but the chances of there being JQKA on the table or in another player’s hand are good. It only takes someone with a J10 to trump your pair. As you play, you will make mistakes, that’s what it’s all about. You will learn what hands catch you out and which have potential. You’ll get wise on folding and you’ll come to understand how your position at the table can help you succeed in marginal hand play.

At Marginal Poker, we understand the intricacies of this process, so we’ve compiled some pages that will help you in your journey to mastering marginal hand play. Use our articles to help you understand poker variance, a key factor in assessing the probable outcome of your marginal hands, and check out our tutorial on how to play high marginal hands effectively. It’s key to remember that your mistakes will make you. If you don’t go insane with your stakes, a small loss could mean a valuable lesson in marginal hand play. The more you play, the more you’ll master the margin.

The money is in the margin

Conquering marginal hands and becoming a good poker player has advantages beyond winning pots -which is clearly a great perk in its own right. We’re talking about ‘rakeback’. For every paid hand you play, the poker room will take their own margin from the pot. This is the ‘rake’ or commission an online poker room requires for hosting your fun. Needless to say the poker rooms make a fair bit of money from their rake. This is where, if you are a regular player and/or you’re playing high stakes, rakeback offers can be beneficial. Rakeback is basically a refund - a percentage of the rake you pay to the poker room given back to you. This is generally anywhere between 25-40% and is offered by rakeback-focused poker affiliate sites such as Rakeback Lovers. Through them you sign up to a poker room on their rakeback deal of the moment. Similarly, poker rooms will offer rakeback deals as part of their sign- up bonuses. Every time you play a raked hand you can expect a percentage back which can only be a good thing for your bankroll.

As Marginal Poker is all about wringing the money out of the details of poker, we’ve focused some sections on explaining rakeback and how you can make money out of rakeback offers and where you can find them. Check out our pages for more information on how you can make money from the margins of poker.

Read on to find out more about rakeback.