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An Online Poker Guide For Beginners!

staffadmin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:06:43 +0000

Yes your friends have told you a lot about poker and are throwing you challenges in Facebook and Myspace to compete and No, you aren’t doing anything about it. Not hard to guess, you are an online poker novice. Does the terminology confuse you? Here’s a concise guide through poker lingo.

Chips—you know them! They are the white or black or red coin kind of things you see beside the poker player. Chips replace money in a poker game and are used to place bets.

Buy In—poker is a game played with money and you need to pay up before you can play. The amount used to buy you entrance is the Buy In.

Fold—this happens when a player throws in his or her cards. There could be various reasons for a fold. The player might have felt that the cards dealt to him are her are worse than those of all the others or would have predicted loss.

Flop—the first three cards dealt to a player in the game is called flop.

Full House—if the player has a set of three cards of the same kind and another pair of one kind, it is called a full house.

Flush—flush refers to the situation where a player has five cards from the same suit.

River—the last card dealt is called river.

Now that you know what is what in poker, a few tips will help you get a nice start. We all know that beginners luck is important for a good boost later on. So the point is to make the chances of your losing money negligible. Choose a limit game so that you will not end up losing more than you are ready to. Losing a hand in a limit game is not as costly as losing one in a no limit game. While you’re at it, spend a little time observing an ongoing poker game before you actually join it. Observation plays a keen role be it online or a face to face poker game. Some sites allow you to watch tournaments and that would be your best chance to learn whatever you can before taking your own little steps. Before joining a game watch how and when the other players are placing their bets, which kind of hands they decide to play on and which kinds they don’t. The other thing you would want to remember is not taking the online poker games too seriously or too personally. A loss is a loss and you have better chances to win next time when you are more prepared than by jumping in till your neck because you have to win right now. It is a fact that poker games rely on simple mathematics, so like all things in life a little science is involved. If you take smaller steps and learn, you will have better chances in winning in the subsequent games. Otherwise, you would end up as an average gambler who is completely relying on luck and nothing else. Have fun while you play. That is the simple agenda of online poker.

Poker Guide 101

staffadmin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 06:28:18 +0000

Poker is the most popular type of card game in the world and has been fascinating individuals since the 1800’s and is still extremely popular today because it’s more than a simple game of luck. Poker itself is not a game, but it includes a wide range of different online casino games which extensively use the standard 5 card poker hand ranking.

Card Values

You have to understand the value of the cards. Poker is played with 52 playing cards. The cards are ranked from highest to the lowest order:

Ace

King

Queen

Jack

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

Note: Aces are constantly high and they are worth more than the Kings.

The suits are:

Clubs

Hearts

Spades

Diamond

Each player places a bet into the pot before the cards are even dealt. You need a bet because to ensure that someone will always win something on each hand.

The game commence with the dealer handing out the cards clockwise from his or her left. The dealer deals everyone their first card, then goes back around the circle to deal the second, and so on. The dealer-if he’s playing always deals to himself last. As soon as everyone has five cards, the remainder of the deck is placed in the middle of the table, and play begins.

Each player looks at his cards, and then the first player places a bet. While there are several ways of deciding who bets first, poker beginners are best off letting the player directly to the left of the dealer make the first bet. Then on the next hand, the person to his left will bet first, and so on around the table for each new hand.

Players have different options as far as the first round of betting goes. If no one has made a bet yet, There are 2 things you can do:

1. Check (pass the bet) -When a player checks, it means that he doesn’t want to open the betting, but doesn’t want to quit either. It basically means you are not going to open the betting, but you’ll stick around and see what happens.

2. Bet -by putting the chips into the pot. Therefore if the player has good cards he may be willing to risk more and make other players to pay more in order to stay in the hand. In some poker variations the betting amount is restricted while in the others there are no any limits.

There are commonly only 3 rounds of betting allowed in poker. When a player makes his or her bet, the next player can call, raise, or fold.

As soon as the cards are dealt,the players are left with betting options:

Betting Options

Fold – to give up the cards and quit the hand by placing the cards face down on the table. The player always can use this action in case his hand is too weak to compete and it is better not to risk. When the player folds he gives up the chips which are already in the pot.

Call – this action means to match the bet by putting the same amount of chips into the pot as in the last bet.

Raise – to increase the betting amount. If the player feels that his or her hand is very strong he or she can force other players to risk more by raising. Of course, all the actions in poker, especially raising, can be used just to bluff and make other gamblers fold even if your hand is very weak. But remember, every time you raise the next players can always re-raise your raise.

At this point, all the players who haven’t folded are considered to get rid of the cards they don’t want and take some new cards. A player is permitted to get rid of up to 3 unwanted cards and receive up to 3 new ones from the deck,as long as the player always has 5 cards total.

The game ends when there are no more raises and everyone saw everyone else’s bet, or everybody folds except for the winner, of course. The player with the highest hand wins the pot!

Online Casino Guide

staffadmin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:24:15 +0000

Gamblux’s casino section compares the payout rates of various online casinos, giving each one a rating. The reviews section goes into more detail, examining each site’s gamesselection, banking methods, bonuses and software – very helpful for players trying to pick a reliable casino out of the myriad of possibilities. The Editor’s pick highlights one recommended casino each month and the reasons why it got the top slot.

The news section is informative and entertaining, with the latest stories about gambling, online and offline, from around the world. You can also search the archives for older news from up to two years back.

If it’s information on casino games you’re after, Gamblux has a dedicated games page, with explanations of baccarat, blackjack, craps, roulette and poker, as well as some less familiar games including keno and Pai Gow. Each section contains a detailed description and breakdown of the rules, finishing with recommendations on where to play that particular game.

And there’s more. In addition to giving players the lowdown on the best online casinos to play at, Gamblux goes one step further, providing strategy guides for several games. Read up on poker, blackjack or craps to get detailed information on how to play and win, and methods the pros use to beat the house.

No gambling site would be complete without a special deals section. Scroll down on Gamblux’s homepage and you’ll find the ‘Deal of the Week’, offering the best current casino bonus or promotion.

One of the most useful pages at Gamblux is the ‘Understanding Bonuses’ feature, with a clear breakdown of different types of bonuses and the conditions that players should watch out for. It clearly explains wagering requirements, no-deposit bonuses and ’sticky’ bonus promotions among others. This is invaluable information for making an informed choice.

A similarly instructive page on payment methods is equally helpful, detailing specific deposit methods and their relative merits or disadvantages. This is vital information on how to keep your money safe, among what is often a bewildering array of choices when playing online.

There’s also a fun section, including gambling jokes and quotes for those light-hearted moments; and a section on online casino software providers, with information on Playtech, Micrograming and the other big industry names.

The Gamblux site is written in English, however language links take readers to casino reviews in the language of their choice.

Gamblux contains a wealth of information logically organized into easily searchable categories – there’s a section devoted to virtually anything you can think of. This is a truly comprehensive site geared towards players and it certainly beats the alternative of trawling through hundreds of different sites to find the information you’re looking for.

Log on to Gamblux to fill all your gambling needs on one site and get the most out of your online gambling experience.

Online Blackjack Playing Guide

staffadmin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:11:47 +0000

In order to have a good run when playing online blackjack, you should have a good strategy in mind. And in order to come up with a good strategy in the game, you need to know more about one.

Many people often find it difficult to play online blackjack simply because it somehow feels different than the table top game. However, as it turns out, the only ne version is not entirely different as one might think.

One of the most common complains that many veteran players complain of is the unfamiliarity of the game console. However, while you definitely can’t hold the virtual cards, the controls of online blackjack games are quite very simple. Usually, there is only one or two buttons that you need to use. A single deal button is placed under the the cards, which you click to start the deal. Then the cards are dealt to you. In order to hit, you simply hit the deal button again to draw a card. To stand, you either don’t press any button within a given time limit or there is another one you press to indicate the move. To bet, there is a space provided either at the top or at the bottom of the screen where you type in the amount of your bets and then submit them. Other betting options are often already incorporated in the space.

Once you get used with the controls, gameplay is relatively the same as that of the tabletop version. One thing that you will notice though is that the game is much faster online since there is no delays when the cards are dealt. You automatically get the cards as soon as you click the deal button.

Now that you figured out how the online game works, you can then devise a strategy for your use. Interestingly, as you will find out soon enough during your play, the strategies that you use when playing paper cards can also come in handy when playing online. One thing that you need to remember is that, while the computer game may use a very complicated software, it still used a definite set of cards, meaning a 52 card deck. Depending on the variant that you are playing, there can be either a single or multiple decks, but still they are the same cards. You can then use card counting to some extent in determining the cards remaining on the dealer’s possession. Your only limit in card counting is that you won’t be able to see other players’ cards.

Luckily, betting strategies also apply to online blackjack. You will still be able to play basic strategy here, since blackjack games don’t shuffle the virtual deck until after the round (there are some cases of continuously shuffling games, but these are few). Also, provided that you are in the right position, you can also use doubling down options to your advantage.

As it turns out for you, online blackjack can be very easy to play as long that you know what to do. And remember to simply enjoy the game.

A Quick Guide To Online Poker Tournament

staffadmin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:21:04 +0000

Poker comes in a large numbers of deviating forms, and nowadays as online casinos take the field to get hold of your gambling session. Online poker is now a universal online casino game that can be played anywhere and at anytime, its popularity has given rise to many different types of online poker games such as Omaha, Texas Holdem, Seven Card Stud, Better High-Low Stud and other impressive online casino poker variations offerings.

How Does It Play?

Your goal is to stay in the online poker tournament and continue accumulating a sturdy sized chip stack to put up a rising blinds, and knock out other players along the way. You are given a starting chip stack, and blinds will start at very low levels. However, If the tournament doesn’t allow rebuys, you are eliminated from the online tournament after losing all your chips.

It depends on the number of eliminations at certain tables,you may be moved to a different table during the online poker game to make sure that each table has the same number of players and a similar average chip stack and also depending on the payout structure and number of entrants, a certain number of players will sooner or later make it “in the money”, which means they have turned a profit from their buy-in. Let’s say, the online poker tournament that has a $5 entry and a 200 online poker players will have the prize pool of $1000. However, the prize pool is not only for the only one winner, rather it is distributed to a small group of remaining players who make the money.

In some online poker tournament, has an entry fee from the poker players. The money that are collected from the entry fees are added to the prize money. There are some online poker tournament that doesn’t need an entry fees to participate, however, the online poker players here only compete for the “points” to enter to the online poker tournament with prize.

There are some online poker tournaments are encompasses a multi-table types where you will start first with a fixed number of chips, then, start eliminating each player at the table by winning a maximum hands. With the number of players reducing in each table, the remaining players are told to keep the remaining tables full. This continues till the last few players end up at the final poker table. Another version of multi-table online poker tournament is the “shootout” where players dwell at their tables till a single player is left standing at a table.

Online Poker Tournament Rules

It depends on other online poker rooms regarding to their online poker tournament rules. In UltimateBet.com, the rules in their online poker tournament and the following actions are considered to be inappropriate in their online poker rooms:

Collusion with another player or any other form of cheating, collaborative or otherwise.

Agreeing to check a hand when there is another player all-in.

Telling anyone your hole cards before a pot is complete.

Needlessly slowing down during the online poker game.

Attempting to provoke a player to leave or quit a game.

Selling your playing chips for cash.

Handy Poker Hand Ranking Guide

staffadmin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:10:43 +0000

Poker is one of the most popular casino games, both on brick-and-mortar and on online casino websites. It is also a very complex games with lots of betting and winning rules, and the game itself has some variations on how to be played. However, most of these variations follow only one pattern of poker hand rankings.

The major variants of poker include Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Five Card Draw, and Seven Card Stud. If there are two or more poker players that have not folded until the end of the card dealing and betting on their hands, there will be a showdown among them, and depending on the rank of their hands, there is one, and possibly more than one, winner. How are the hands ranked? There are nine (9) poker hand categories, and starting from the lowest ranked, they are as follows: High Card, One Pair, Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, Four of a Kind, and Straight Flush.

In all variants of poker, each of the cards are ranked individually, with 2 having the lowest rank. The rank goes up with the number until number 10, then followed by Jack, Queen, King, and the Ace card with the highest rank of all individual cards. Card suits have no effect in ranking though, such as an Ace of Diamonds is ranked equal with an Ace of Spade. Likewise, card suite also have no effect on the rankings of the poker hand categories.

The lowest hand category that a poker player can get is the High Card, in which no two or more cards have the same rank, the five cards do not form a consecutive sequence, and all five cards contains more than one suit. The winner between two or more High Card hands is determined by the card with the highest rank. If they have the same highest ranked card, the next highest is compared, and so on until there is a difference. If there is no difference, then they are tied and the pot is divided among them. High card is also termed as “no-pair”, and it is described by the highest ranked card (such as a “King high” if the highest rank is a King). It has the highest probability (approximately 50%) of being dealt to a poker player.

When a poker player obtains one pair of cards that have the same rank and the other three are all non-paired (called the kickers), then his hand falls to the One Pair category, in which it beats any High Card poker hand. The winner among more than One Pair hands is determined by the rank of the pair. If more than one have the same pairs, then the kickers in each hand will determine the winner, applying the same rule as the High Card poker hand. The probability that a poker player is dealt with a One Pair hand is approximately 42%.

If a poker hand contains two cards of similar rank, and two cards of another similar rank, and one kicker, then the hand is classified as a Two Pair, and it beats any One Pair poker hand. It is described by the higher of the two pairs, which can be followed by the other pair optionally. For example, a Two Pair hand which has a pair of Aces and another pair of Queen and any kicker can be described as “Aces and Queens”, “Aces over Queens”, or just “Aces up”. The higher-ranked pairs in each hand will be compared to determine the winner among the other Two Pair hands. If the higher-ranked pairs of the players are similar, the other pair will be compared, and if they are still similar, then the kicker will determine the winner. If there are still no differences, then they are tied. The probability of a poker player being dealt with a Two Pair is approximately 4.8%.

When three cards in a poker hand have similar ranks, and the other two are non-pair, then the player’s hand is called a Three of a Kind, or Trips in other terms. It beats any Two Pair hand and ranks lower than Two Pair. The ranks of the cards that appear thrice in each hand are compared to determine the winner. The possibility that there can be two Three of a Kind poker hands with the same rank of their triples is only available to poker games with wild cards or community card games such as Texas Hold’em, and the winner will be determined by the ranks of the kickers of each hand. A poker player have an estimated 2.1% chance of being dealt with any Trips poker hand.

A poker hand that contains five ranks of consecutive sequence in more than one card suit is classified as a Straight, and it beats any Trips and lower hand ranks. In this poker hand, an Ace card can play either a high (such as Ace-King-Queen-Jack-10) or a low (such as 5-4-3-2-Ace, a “5-high straight” or commonly known as a “wheel”, which is lower in rank compared to a Straight consisting of 6-5-4-3-2), but not both at the same time (such as 3-2-Ace-King-Queen, which in this case is just an “Ace-high high card”). The highest-ranked card is used to describe a Straight, such as “King-high straight” or “straight to King” if the hand consists of the cards King-Queen-Jack-10-9 of more than one card suit, and is compared with the other Straight’s highest-ranked card to determine the winner among more than one Straight hands. If the ranks are similar, then they are of equal value, and card suit is not used to separate them. There is an estimated 0.39% possibility of a poker player being dealt with a Straight hand.

If all five cards of a poker hand belongs to only one suit (either spades, clubs, diamonds, or hearts), and if they do not form a consecutive card rank sequence, then it is classified as a Flush, and it beats any Straight poker hand and those lower than Straight. It is also described by the highest-ranked card, which can also be followed by the next-ranked card if necessary. For example, a Flush which contains the cards 10-7-6-4-3 of clubs can be described as “10-high flush” or “10-7-high flush”. The highest-ranked cards in more than one Flush poker hands are compared to pick the winner. The next highest ranks are then compared if the highest cards are similar, and so on until there is a difference. If all five ranks are similar with the other Flush, then they are tied. Card suit is not used to differentiate their rankings. A poker player has a chance of approximately 0.20% to be dealt with a Flush.

A Full House (also termed as Full Boat) is a poker hand that contains three cards of similar ranks and a pair. It beats any Flush and lower hand rankings. It is described by the rank of the triple followed by “full”, or the words “full of” and then the rank of the pair (such as “Aces full of Kings” or “Aces full” in case of a hand which contains triple Aces and a pair of Kings). The rank of the triple determines the winner among more than one Full House poker hands. In case of poker games with wild cards and in Texas Hold’em, it is possible for two Full House hands to have the same triple, and the pair is used to pick the winner. A Full House poker hand has approximately 0.14% chance of being dealt to a player.

If a poker hand contains four cards all in one card rank, and a card kicker of another rank, it is known as a Four of a Kind or Quads, and it beats any Full House or lower poker hand ranks. Quads with higher ranks beats other lower-ranked quads. It is possible in Texas Hold’em and poker games with wild cards to have more than one players with similar-ranked quads. Therefore, their kicker will be compared, and if they are also equal in rank, then they are tied. A poker player has only 0.024% estimated chance of obtaining a Four of a Kind hand.

The highest ranked poker hand category is the Straight Flush. As the name suggests, it is a combination of a Straight and a Flush, in which the hand consists of all five cards in one suit and forms a consecutive sequence of individual card rankings. Similar to a Straight poker hand, the Ace card can play either high (such as Ace-King-Queen-Jack-10 of spades, an “Ace-high straight flush”) or low (such as 5-4-3-2-Ace of hearts, a “5-high straight flush”, or commonly called as a “steel-wheel”) and not both at the same time. Any “Ace-high straight flush” is also called a “royal flush”, and has the highest rank of all standard poker hands. The highest ranked card of a Straight Flush hand is compared with the others, and if they have similar ranks, then they are tied and the pot money is divided among them. Being the highest ranked poker hand category, a Straight Flush is the rarest poker hand that can be dealt, with only 0.0015% of appearing.

Luck in obtaining high-ranked poker hands is vital in your gameplay to ensure a win. But strategy plays the most important part in winning your poker games, for you can still win even though you have the lowest-ranked poker hand of all. Just stay cool, do your best in bluffing, and most of all, always keep wearing your poker face.