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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!

Show No Mercy in Poker

staffadmin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:50:36 +0000

One of the most important factors to become a successful online poker player is to be merciless with your opponents. This may sound easy, but for some reason or another people tend to make bad moves and play too soft due to their mercy.

First you need to understand what poker is. Poker is about winning chips, and chips are usually money, the more chips you win the better you are doing. Again, it may sound utterly stupid but it is good for you to remember what your objective is so you won’t get distracted by things like getting more chips only from some individual you dislike or to make a good and “thrilling” competition.

Let’s put it that way, if you are playing online poker against your grandma your objective is to take all her money for you, if you are not comfortable with doing that do not play against your grandma. Maybe your grandma doesn’t play online poker (or maybe she does) but the big idea is that no matter if you like the player or you have chatted with him for a while or he is your friend or whatever situation your objective is still the same, taking all the chips in his/her stack and add them to yours.

Sometimes you may feel pity for a player who is losing a lot of money and still keeps playing like a fish, this may lead you to play with some kind of mercy to him, and you’ll earn less money than you could. Earning less money than you could is the same as losing money, so if you show mercy you are losing money and you are not playing poker correctly.

One of the advantages you have when you are playing online poker instead of brick and mortar poker is that you don’t see the face of your opponent. You must show no mercy when playing poker and then if you want you can give away part of your winnings to charity if that relieves you.

Some merciful actions are for example on a pot you have nuts and the other player has invested a lot of money into it, let’s imagine a $50 pot, if you got another $50, bet them all on the river. Even if you know the other player will get busted by that action, do not bet $30 if you think he will call $50. If you didn’t earn those $20 is the same as if you lost them.

Other merciful actions are to “give away” chips to players who are almost out of a tournament. You know you have lost the hand because you were drawing and on the river the other player goes all in with his little stack. You know you are going to lose but you call because you want to see his cards and you think it is no problem for you to give away a few chips to a player who is almost busted. This player may be the final winner of the tournament for such a merciful action.

Managing Your Casino Money

staffadmin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:59:08 +0000

One of the surest way to lose big in the casino is to carelessly bet on any large pot that you lay your eyes on. But of course, your goal in the casino is to win something. Hence, money management is definitely a must for every casino player.

There are several things that you need to know in order to have a better grasp of managing your expenses. One of the most important things that you need to know in order to assess your casino budget is the house edge of the place you are playing in. This, however, is the one thing that many casino gamers tend to overlook, or even forget altogether. You should remember that the casino’s house edge is as permanent as the guard next to the casino door. With that in mind, you then get a good picture of how much money you can lose during your sessions.

Once you know how much house edge there is, you can then decide on how much money you want to spend on your games. This is where bankroll management comes in. Basically, you should already have a budget for the day’s casino run. Never go into the casino not knowing how much and what to spend on, as you will likely end up with empty pockets afterwards.

Bankroll management doesn’t end with knowing where to bet your money. You should also know what to do with your winnings, even before you leave the casino. More often than not, many players are tempted to rebet their winnings to get a shot on bigger pots. While this is not at all bad, betting all your winnings back runs you the risk of losing all your money. Instead of taking that plunge, what you want to do is set aside a small amount from your winnings. This way, you will be sure that you still get to go home with some pocket money in case your bets bust.

One thing that you can do to further improve your money management is setting some win goals. These will definitely help you set a limit on your spending. The main thing worth remembering when setting your win goals is never set anything unrealistic. Rather, go for more likely, albeit less profitable, shots at the money. These may not actually return loads of cash, but at least, you still get money as opposed to a win all lose all situation. One thing that you can do with the goals is to make them slightly adjustable. This way, you can accommodate certain changes that occur during the session.

The last tip that any casino gamer can put into his mind is rather simple. Use common sense in judging your bets. Often players get easily enthralled by the large figures posted on the casino’s ads, that they tend to overlook small details. Often, this tiny details can have significant influences in the results of the games. Taking notice of these little cues will definitely save you a lot of money and will even help you get a good shot at the big prizes

How To Spot The Bluff When Playing Online Poker

staffadmin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:19:56 +0000

This article is strictly referring to online poker games. It has nothing to do with reading the players. You can read here about some moments in the game when it is likely for others to bluff. 1. When they are still betting after a bad flopWatch other player. Let’s say they already did bet pre-flop and their position was not that good. Now the flop is on the table and it is poor, so you have to think they could be bluffing. So raising the bet, or re-raising it might make them think about it, because they probably stand zero chances with the drawings and they might fold. 2. The odds are with themFor example, when everyone folds. And especially when the pot is quite big, like a drawing missed and maybe even you are thinking of bluffing. Then, you should naturally think that they could also be bluffing. So call or raise, whatever you want, just don’t throw away such a big pot. 3. When there’s only the two of you. It’s considered the easiest bluff. They will think that if they got that far, they might as well get on with it. But don’t be fooled and if you have a good hand go on and play it. 4. When the flop has no more draws. From time to time players will bet here to get rid of the capability to obtain a draw, now and again since they really have got good cards. They can bluff or not, you must know the ones you are playing with. 5. When they bet and then checked. When a draw just occurred, and it was not satisfactory, they are almost certainly just trying to go on without having much. Bet alongside them. 6. When they bet firstly, then for the second time and finally on the river they checked. It is the same situation just with two bets instead of one. 7. If when betting they are expressing their pity for your moneyThey are just trying to intimidate you. Nobody wants to win less at poker. If they really had a hand, they would have let you go along so they could win more. To spot more bluffing situations, just analyze the ones that you are ready to bluff in. Keep in mind that if you are willing to do it, others might do also. At the same time, try and get to know each player’s style before trying to spot when they are bluffing. It is important to know your opponents and it will help you have more accurate prediction about the games you are playing.

Betting Strategy in a Poker game

staffadmin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:35:24 +0000

Betting is involved in a Poker game. The betting rounds are distinct for separate variants in a Poker game. There are four betting rounds in Texas Holdem, there are five betting rounds in Seven Card Stud and there are only two betting rounds in Five Card Draw. The betting goes on clockwise around the table in each betting round. In turn, each player must either match the bet of the earlier player (i.e. he must call) or he must get out of his hand (i.e. he must fold). Also, a player in turn can choose to bet more than the earlier bet (i.e. he can raise) instead of just calling. When the last raise has been called or all players have folded, the betting round is ended. During the betting round, all bets that have been made are added to the pot. Same amount has been placed in by all players who now continue to stay in the hand. All existing players have matched the biggest bet in that particular betting round. This can be taken as an agreement within the players on a set price to see another card. When the betting round is ended, if all players have folded expect one, the remaining player wins the pot. If everybody folds, the remaining player does not have to show up his cards to win. This element makes bluffing possible in a poker game.

A player can choose to check if no bets have been placed prior to his turn. Checking simply means that the turn is passed on to the next player without making a bet. Checking is like calling a zero bet. Now assume, the first player checks and the another player places a bet. When the turn for betting comes to the player who checked, he may fold or call or even raise. If the player raises here, his move is called a check-raise.

At the commencement of each poker hand, some players have to make a bet even before the cards are dealt. This ensures that there is a small pot to start with. If such type of “forced bets” does not exist, then all players could fold every hand without any cost making poker relatively a slower game.

In some variants of poker, the “forced bets” are called blinds. The player to the left of the dealer places the small blind, and the next player in turn places the big blind. In Texas Holdem and Omaha this is how it works. Blinds are counted as valid bets in the first betting round. Blinds are known as “live bets”. Once the cards are dealt with, the next player in turn after the big blind starts the betting (This player will be under great pressure). Hence, the player in turn must either match the big blind, raise or fold. As big blind is considered as a valid bet, there is no option to check. Also, “checking” as an option can only be utilized by a player, if no bets have been placed prior to his turn in that particular betting round.

There is another poker variant called as “Antes”. Antes are utilized instead of blinds. An ante is one type of forced bet that all players have to place in the pot before the cards are dealt with. Compared to blinds, antes are not live bets. They are just placed in the middle to encourage the betting, but will not count in betting for any one player.

After the completion of last betting round, there is a showdown if two or more players stay in the hand. Now, all players show down their cards and the player with the best hand wins the pot. If more than one hand is equally good, then the pot is divided equally between them.

To learn more, please visit our website: http://www.kingsclubpoker.com

Poker And Its Variance

staffadmin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:08:24 +0000

Due to the dominance of skill on the outcome of most hands. Played at many different sites online, it is a somewhat unique online casino game in that it is played against other players rather than against the casino.

Poker comes in a variety of forms and has been climbing up steadily in popularity for many years now. There are many kinds of poker games being played around the world, from the really serious gambling ones, to the ones that are being played just simply for fun.

Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em is by far the most renowned form of poker, both online and at land-based poker rooms. Because players share the board cards, as many as 10 can play. Each player is dealt 2 hole cards, then a round of betting ensues. 3 more cards are dealt face-up, known as the flop, the beginning of the community cards. Another round of betting, and then a single card is dealt up, known as the turn. Another betting round, and the final card, known as the river, is dealt. After a round of betting for the showdown, the player remaining with the best 5-card hand wins.

Limit Texas Hold’em – Betting amounts are pre-determined and limited to a fixed sum.

No Limit Texas Hold’em – Made famous by the poker legend Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim Preston with no maximum bet restriction.

OMAHA

Omaha is a slightly more complicated version of Hold’em. The difference is that players are dealt with 4 hole cards, instead of 2. When composing an Omaha hand, players must use 2 of their hole cards to combine with 3 of the the board cards for best hand. The betting rounds remain the same as in Hold’em.

Omaha also has its own variation, known as Omaha High-Low. This gives players the chance to make the lowest hand, under the same conditions, as well as the highest hand.

Omaha Hi – Only the high hand wins the pot.

Omaha 8 / Omaha Hi-Lo – The pot is split between the best high hand and the best qualified low hand which are 5 cards under 8 with no pair. If there is no qualified low, the high hand wins the pot.

SEVEN CARD STUD

Seven-Card Stud is played between 2 and 8 players. It consists of an initial ante, followed by 5 betting rounds. Each player in a game of stud gets 3 cards face down, and 4 cards that must be exposed for all players to see. The goal of Seven-Card Stud is to make the best 5-card poker hand with the given seven cards.

Seven Card Stud Hi – The most straight-forward stud variation, as the straight-up high hand wins the whole pot.

Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo – The pot is split between the best high hand and the best qualified low hand with 5 cards under 8 with no pair. If there is no qualified low, the high hand wins the whole pot.

Razz – It is the Seven Card Stud in reverse. The only difference is that you’re trying to get the lowest possible hand. Straights and flushed usually don’t count against you. The lowest possible poker hand is A-2-3-4-5. Ace counts as a low card in Razz and is usually played with fixed betting limits.

CARIBBEAN STUD POKER

Caribbean Stud is different. In this game, everyone plays against the casino or house, which acts as a dealer. The house pays out all winning bets. To win a round of Caribbean Stud, a player must beat only the dealer’s hand and the players in the game do not contend between each other.

H.O.R.S.E

HORSE is the combination of Texas Holdem, Omaha, Razz and Stud. Play alternates between the 4 different types of online poker games and it’s thought to be the test of a truly good poker player to be able to play all 4 card games.

FIVE CARD DRAW

Five Card Draw can be played with between two and five players. Each player in a game of Draw receives 5 cards face down, and may discard or draw up to 5 cards after the first betting round. The player with the highest five-card poker hand at showdown wins the pot.

Poker is perhaps the most recognized card game around. Its popularity cuts across cultures and national borders and it is played by millions of people around the world.

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.