Online Casino blog

Hold’em Poker – Just a game Or a danger to today’s youth?

April 19, 2007

The number of youth gamblers continues to grow. Why? Maybe because poker is more than a game, maybe because poker is a way for the youth to compete against each other. These people get to play poker because is one of the easiest games to access.

The worldwide number of online poker players is incredible: millions of players play the game daily, whether for fun or for real money. Every beginner plays the game for free at firs; they download a software program from the online casino’s site and they are ready to play.

They play the game but they don’t play it for money. If they want to play the game for money, they have to transfer a sum into their online accounts. The professionals that play for money form the so called addicted community. These professionals have created Poker Professionals.

Most of the times the amateurs that have seen some tournaments on TV try the game online, for real money, and they end up losing all their money to the professionals. The professionals call these amateurs “fish” because they are easy prey.

Our advice to the beginners is to not play poker online until they have learn every aspect of the game: hand rankings, probabilities, and reading players. If they know these aspects their playing time will be more enjoyable.

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Texas Hold’Em Poker Odds

April 17, 2007

Once you start to play Texas Hold’Em you will soon realize that you can be dealt a wide range of poker hands. In fact the odds are different for all the possible poker hands that you may get. What you always must be aware of is that Texas Hold’Em is played with a standard 52 cards deck and each card in the deck can influence your poker hand.

If the odds of getting a certain poker hand are low, then that hand is a strong poker hand. The lower the odds are, the better the hand is. A straight flush has the lowest odds and it is the strongest poker hand. A straight flush consists of 5 consecutive cards, all of the same suit. It is hard enough to get a flush, let alone a straight flush.

The poker hand with the best odds of coming up is a pair or a two pair. Although this hand is the easiest one to get, it is also the easiest to beat. If a poker player is skilled, he can turn things around and win. How and when you bet has a great influence. This is where the odds come into play.

Some poker hands are difficult to get, and other hands are almost impossible to get. Without cheating, of course. In the end the strength of your poker hand will determine the outcome of the game. You may have a poker hand that looks good, but will you take the risk and try to complete it? It may be a calculated risk, but sometimes luck is all you need.

A high card hand is the best, statistically speaking. A high card hand refers to a poker hand that has no pairs, not straights, and no flushes. The card with the highest value is deemed the high card for that particular hand. Unfortunately, a high card poker hand will not always win you the pot.

Most poker players use Texas Hold’Em odds to know what their chances of completing their hand are. The also use the odds to know how to bet, keeping in mind what cards they have and what cards the opponents may have. A skilled poker player can do all these calculation in his head, in a split second, without anyone at the poker table noticing.

Texas Hold’Em odds can be used to calculate what risks the community cards pose. Your opponent may be holding weak cards, but sometimes good cards will come up on the turn or the river and those cards will turn his weak hand into a strong one.

Getting a three of a kind, four of a kind or a full house usually means that you will win the pot. But these poker hands have rather low odds of coming up.

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How to eliminate the common mistakes that deplete your bankroll

April 11, 2007

Playing poker is all about taking the right decision. Making the good decision at the right time will prevent you from loosing and you will stay in the game for longer. Unfortunately, sometimes you find yourself making only the worst decisions and running out of money. Below I have listed six tips that will keep you from making mistakes, and thus you will be able to recover your money:

- Play aggressively;

You are advised to bet so as to force your opponents to make a tough decision. They are faced with making one of two decisions: call with a weaker hand or fold the best hand.

- Raise the pot if you are the first to bet;

Plenty of players do not raise pre-flop. This is an opportunity for the opponents to realize how strong your poker hand is, not to mention that it is an opportunity for them to better their hand. How will you know where you stand against them?

- Steal the blinds;

When the antes have started you are advised to raise significantly. Stealing the blinds is very lucrative, and most professional poker players will agree. In poker tournaments the best players have all the ante chips.

- There is no such thing as an unbeatable table;

If a table is too tight, then you get to play more hands per hour as most of the times the opponents will fold.

If a table is too loose, then the opponents do not have strong poker hands. You are advised to tighten your play and defeat them.

- Do not bluff a calling station;

Pay attention to every hand and note your opponents betting patterns. This is the only way to overcome the urge to bluff.

- Do not undervalue the bankroll requirements.

This is a common mistake made by amateurs and pros alike. Poker is a game with very large statistical variations. You may come out on top by winning just one big pot for an hour’s worth of playing. Playing too big will get you bankrupt, as any pro can tell you. You need a bankroll that can withstand the fluctuations. This is the only thing that can prevent you going broke.

The point is that if you want to be a successful poker player you must identify your mistakes and eliminate them from your game. As long as you keep the poker tips presented above in mind, poker can be a very lucrative game for you.

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Online Texas Hold’Em - Different from the traditional face-to-face style of playing

April 10, 2007

Traditional face-to-face Texas Hold’Em games used to be more personal. When it was time for the showdown you had your opponent to look at and observe his reactions. There were also long drawn out hands. Playing Texas Hold’Em on the other hand is fast paced. The whole experience is anonymous. Also you may very well come across unpredictable bettors and shoot outs.

Traditionalist Texas Hold’Em poker players do not look kindly upon playing this game online. Most of them avoid playing online Texas Hold’Em. They are mistaken in their decision as playing online Texas Hold’Em can be quite lucrative for a skilled player. There are so many players out there and most of them are inexperienced. The internet allows people from all over the world to join in and play. But most of them are not skilled enough and are easy targets. An experienced, skilled player can make lots of money this way.

The main difference between playing Texas Hold’Em in a land based poker room and in an online poker room is the environment. In a land based poker room you are face-to-face with your opponent. You can read him, you can pick up on his telltale signs. When playing online you cannot do this. The time to react is limited. Most players manipulate the small amount of time they have to bluff or conceal their hand. Some players do this without even realizing it.

There are differences when it comes to the strategy also. When playing online Texas Hold’Em you are not standing right across from your opponent. You are comfortably sitting in your favorite chair, at home, looking at the computer screen. This makes for a much looser game. Online Texas Hold’Em players go all in more often and take greater risks. They can afford to do this because of the high level of anonymity that online Texas Hold’Em poker provides. If the outcome of the hand is good, you can cheer all you want. If the outcome is bad, there is no one to see you react. This is extremely useful to beginner players as there is no one to see them mess-up a perfectly good hand.

High stakes players should be more than glad to play online Texas Hold’Em poker. Since the game is fast paced, more hands are played per hour, and these players have better chances of making a considerable profit. Sometimes half an hour is more than enough to empty a player’s account. There are some factors that slow down the pace of the game. These factors include slow internet connections and beginner players that are not yet familiar with the software. Luckily more and more people now have broadband internet connections and most casino software is user-friendly and easy to use. With fewer interruptions, the game can go along at a fast pace.

In conclusion I must say that all passionate poker players should try online Texas Hold’Em at least once. Playing online is definitely more convenient and hassle free. The experience is different from playing in a land based poker room, but this is not a bad thing. There are considerable advantages to playing online as opposed to a land based poker room. So give it a shot and see for yourself.

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Sit and go Poker – Play passive at first, not tight

April 2, 2007

Many sit and go poker “experts” have written different articles about the game. They said that the game should be played very tight at first, calling only when the hole cards are AA, KK or QQ, even going all in with those cards.

This strategy is wrong, because it never worked and it never will work. It is known by everybody and as soon as you start using it, it will be recognized and you will end up losing all your money. Playing aggressive at first is another bad idea because once again it will make you lose all your money.

In order to be successful you have to: see as many flops as possible in the beginning of the game. You need to play the position you are in at use it to gain an advantage. You have to enter in the game cheap; don’t spend too much money on the blinds at first.

Knowing your opponents is also important, and many say that the hold’em indicator can help you identify your opponents playing style. If you want to play after the flop you need more than knowledge about your opponents, and that is betting strategy.

You can’t just expect to go and bet without some strategies, because the opponents will make you fold even when you shouldn’t. The draws and the pot odds are an important aspect of the game. They can help you decide in what circumstances you can continue betting.

One last skill which is very important is the ability of folding a hand. You need to know when is time to fold, even if your instincts tell you that you should continue.

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Texas Hold’em It’s all about the luck

March 29, 2007

The title is not true and any Texas Hold’em player knows it. Texas Hold’em it’s not just about the luck, because skill is the decisive factor of the game. The luck is also somewhat important, as it is in everything, but relying only on luck to win won’t help you with anything.

These are the different decision required in a Texas Hold’em game:

You will have to decide which hands are worth laying, in what situations, considering the number of opponents, their playing style, your position at the table, the size of your stack, and the previous bets.

Then there is the bluffing, which is another essential skill. When you bluff you have to convince your opponents that you have a much greater hand than the one you are currently holding, in order to make them fold.
Another skill, the opposite of bluffing, is reading players. You have to read the players and try to understand when they are bluffing and when they really have a great hand. If you posses this skill you will be able to prevent some losses and gain some money.

There are much more situations that require skill, and as you can see you can’t just rely on luck. There are other games, like roulette, where you can’t modify the result, but poker isn’t such a game. Poker relies on skill and you can improve your skill to become a better poker player.

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The poker rakeback – guaranteed money

March 23, 2007

The rake is the fee which casino impose on each hand played, most of the times 5-10% of each hand’s pot. The casinos use the rake because it’s the only way they make a profit. Since the players play the game against each other, one player will win all the money, the money isn’t won by the casino, but they will receive a part of the money on each hand played.

The rake is applied on the online casinos as well, because the rake money is used for maintenance or paying the personal and for other costs. There are three types of rakes which the casinos can apply: the ring game rake, this is the rake taken from each hand by the dealer. Online the rake is automatically taken. The second type of rake is perceived on different amount of time: online, usually there is a monthly subscription, and on the land based casinos the player pays for each half of hour spent at the table. And the third type of rake is the entry fee to a tournament.

That was the rake; the rakeback is normally used by the online casinos. What is great about the online casinos is that the games can be played from home; you don’t have to travel to the casino in order to play. The online casinos usually demand a fee to play their games, but also offer rake backs to determine people to return to their casino. To have more members online casinos pay affiliates to advertise for the casino.

For each member brought, the affiliate will receive a part of the money (usually 20-40%) that player has spent in the online casino. Some affiliates offer a percent of the money they receive for each player brought back to the player. They promise the player a part of the fee back. Now the modern technology has allowed everybody to play poker online. The beginners can learn from the online sites the rules of the games. Everyone can play for free online, to get accustomed with the game. The amount of the rake influences the rake back; the more the rake grows the more the rake back grows. The rake back can be paid through check or Bank transfer or directly to one’s account.

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Improve your poker game with poker charts

March 21, 2007

Have you ever wondered what you can do to improve your poker game? One way to do so is to use assistant software that does certain and varied calculations for you. You can use these calculations to make your poker game better.

If this sounds interesting and you would like to give it a shot then go to PokerCharts.com. They will help you improve your poker game regardless if you play Texas Hold’Em, Omaha, Stud, No Limit, Pot Limit, Casino Ring Games, or any other poker variation that involves scrutiny on your part. Your game will be analyzed based on the common variables that you find in the variety of poker games that are available in casinos, online, and at private and friendly games as well.

Here is how things work. When you are done playing poker simply log in to PokerCharts.com and enter the details of that poker session. Various categories are available according to where you played, what type of game you played, the limits, known opponents, buy-ins, and other factors. Pretty much all the bases are covered. The purpose is to improve your game and make your poker sessions more profitable.

You have to gather information on your poker game on a regular basis. This may sound boring and tedious, but it is worthwhile. After providing PokerCharts.com with this information they will analyze it and provide you with easy to read performance graphs. Simply look at those graphs and see where your game suffers and where it excels. It also tells you which game, limit, and venue you perform best at as well.

Let’s say that you are playing at a 10/20 Texas Hold’Em limit table and your hourly win rate is $36. At a first look this seems like time well spent. But thanks to PokerCharts.com you can do further research on this. For example you can see if it is more profitable to play 10/20 Texas Hold’Em limit tables online or in a land based casino. You may very well discover that your hourly win rate is $88 when playing online. You may also discover that when playing in a land based casino you are actually losing $8 per hour. In my opinion that is valuable information that will definitely influence your game.

PokerCharts.com also has a main chart area that compares many different variables so that you can see graphically how your game is improving by way of ROI, and thus, the effects on your bankroll. You can even compare your performance to recent Dow Jones movements.

The text paragraph below the main chart area is extremely useful. It tells you about your recent progress, what your best game is, and your best venue is. It also points out how long you play each week. Some of you may be surprised to find out that they spend a lot more time playing poker than they initially thought.

You can try this software at PokerCharts.com for 30 days, absolutely free.

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Texas Hold’em advanced strategy

March 14, 2007

If you want to beat the novice Hold’em players you can use the basic strategy to do so, unless you lack self-discipline that is. However the more experienced players will be able to beat you if you don’t change the level of your strategy, because after a while you become one-dimensional.

If you want to change the level, try to play additional starting hands such as: K-Js, A-10s, A-Q, K-Q, 7-7, 6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2. The first two hands, with an “s” represents that they are suited. If you play these hands and the community cards don’t improve them fold, otherwise we advise you to call or even raise. It is best to use these hands when you are in a late position because by doing so you will diversify the game and you will become more unpredictable.

When the pot is big you can use the suited connectors, like 8-9 of the same suit. This cards offer you the possibility of making a flush, a straight or a straight flush. We said when the pot is big, because most of the times the suited connectors won’t bring you money, so that’s why they are worth using when a win would bring you big money.

Play the suited connectors before the flop, but be careful how you play them. Don’t raise too much, just call but no more than twice. If you don’t do so, you would have invested too much into the pot and that would not be in your advantage.

Try not to use suited connectors lower than 8-9 because the chances of winning with a straight or a flush are reduced. After the flop has been revealed estimate your chances of winning and play accordingly. If other two cards of the same suit have been revealed in the flop, you should remain in the game, but if the flop hasn’t revealed something worthe playing, then fold.

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Online and traditional poker - What are the differences?

March 9, 2007

online poker is similar to traditional poker as it follows the same rules and is played in the same manner. The main difference is that instead of playing in a land based poker room or casino you play from your own home, by using your PC. Playing poker online is a lot more convenient and it is the main reason why the number of poker players all over the world has increased dramatically.

online poker is a lucrative business. At the end of 2005 online poker was generating an estimated 200 million US dollars per month.

What are the main differences between playing poker in a land based casino and playing poker online? What sets these two apart? Below you will find answers to exactly those questions.

The gambling environment

This is the main and most obvious difference. When playing in a land based casino you have to sit right across other experienced poker players. They will analyze your reactions and your body language and they will use that information against you. We all know that getting a read on another player can dramatically influence your success.

online poker on the other hand is different. You are playing from the comfort of your own home. The other poker players are not standing right next to you and they cannot analyze you. This doesn’t mean they can still get a read on you, it just means that your reactions or body language will not give you away. Your betting pattern on the other hand will. This is what you have to focus on if you want to get a read on another player:

·      Betting patters;

If a player suddenly raises by a significant amount, then something is up. He either has a strong hand, he is bluffing, or he is setting a poker trap. Also take notice if a player that was using the auto features suddenly decides to play himself.

·      Reaction times;

If a player that usually reacts very fast is suddenly taking a lot of time making up his mind then something is defiantly going on. His slow reaction time must mean that he is seriously considering what to do with his poker hand or he is stalling. Stalling is a technique used when setting poker traps so you should definitely pay attention to that what that player is doing. Also take notice if a slow player suddenly reacts very fast.

·      Other behavioral patterns which are not physical in nature.

The rate of play

This is a less obvious difference between traditional and online poker. When playing in a land based casino or poker room you can expect to play about 30 hands per hour. This is because the dealer must collect the cards, then shuffle and deal them after every hand. There are also other delays that slow down the game, such as drinks being served, chips being counted and payouts being given to winning players.

Playing online on the other hand offers a much faster rate of play. The dealing and shuffling are done instantaneously, the chips need not be counted and the payouts are done automatically. online poker also offers various auto functions which allow the player to select his action before it is his turn. Thanks to all of these advantages instead of 30 hands per hour you can expect to play an estimated 90 to 100 hands per hour. As you can see the rate of play is three times faster.

online poker schools

This difference is one of the key factors why online poker has become so popular in the last years. No land based casino will ever offer a free poker game. online poker rooms on the other hand offer free games and online poker schools. You can learn the basics of poker, speed up the learning curve, and test your skills in free poker games. You can play for free all you want, without spending a dime. Play in a risk free environment while you are learning and then when you feel ready move on to playing for real money.

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