Understanding Texas Holdem Poker Rules

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Posted by admin | Posted on 27-06-2009

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You have heard of Texas holdem poker rules, but you never quite understood them. Understanding the rules of the game is essential, particularly if you are looking to win. The game of Texas holdem poker is so popular these days that it can be found all over the internet, in casinos, and even on television. Texas holdem poker rules are not hard to learn, the real difficulty comes with strategy and developing skills to become a winner.

Before you can really understand Texas holdem poker rules, you have to understand the basics of poker. While you may have more than 5 cards, your best hand can only be comprised of five cards total. To win, these five cards must total one of the following winning poker hands:

• One Pair – one pair of the same number or face cards

• Two Pair – two pairs of the same number or face cards

• Three of A Kind – Three of the same number or face cards

• Straight – Consecutive cards (i.e. 2,3,4,5,6) of any suit

• Flush – Five non consecutive cards of the same suit

• Full House – Comprised of one pair and a three of a kind of any number or face cards

• Straight Flush – Consecutive cards of the same suit (Number cards 9 and under)

• Royal Flush – Consecutive cards of the same suit (10, J, Q, K, A)

One pair is the lowest winning poker hand and royal flush is the highest beating all combinations before it.

Texas Holdem Poker Rules

A button is used to signify the dealer and plays moves to the dealers left in a clockwise method of play. The number of players depend on the table, but can range from 4 to 10 or more, with 10 being the average. With each new hand, the dealer will change one spot on the left of the current dealer.

The deal starts with every player receiving two face down cards. No one else sees these cards and are the private cards of that particular player. After this deal, there will be a betting round. After this betting round, the dealer will then deal out three more cards. These cards will be face up and placed in the tables middle. These are called the flop and are shared cards, community cards, for every player that is playing. These can be used to make up a winning poker hand.

Another betting round will take place and now the dealer will deal another card, which is called The Turn, this fourth card is placed among the community cards as well and can be used to make a winning poker hand. After betting again, the river, which is the fifth and final card to be dealt, is placed amongst the community cards. The player who can make the best five card hand out of the seven total cards wins.

Blinds are important to Texas holdem poker rules. Big and small blinds are placed before the first two cards are dealt and always made by the first two players on the dealers left. A small blind is half of the table’s minimum bet. A big blind is the exact same as the minimum bet at the table.

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Poker Calculator Wars Part 3 – Tournament Indicator vs PokerEdge

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Posted by admin | Posted on 26-06-2009

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Recently the designers of poker edge announced that their controversial tracking software of the same name now included support for tournaments. What this means is that when a player on their database plays in a tournament those statistics can now be analyzed separately as tournaments stats should be.

These are the kind of statistics that both Tournament Indicator and Poker Edge collect: VPIP%, PFR%, WSD%, and WSDW%. Tournament Indicator also adds a statistic called WIN% which means the percentage of hands won that may or may not have ended in a showdown.

Now what exactly do these statistics represent when you are playing somebody at a table and looking up their stats? Let’s say your opponent shows 35% VPIP and 35% PFR on Tournament indicator and poker edge which is generally quite loose and very aggressive for tournament play. Well the problem with that kind of general information is that it actually doesn’t relate to tournament play in the sense of it being valuable to you. For instance, that information was likely collected during a period when that player was short stacked, and ultra aggressive was his best strategy. In fact, general tournament statistics like that can range from questionable to downright misleading. The real value in tournament statistics is what has happened recently, unless you can qualify those actions with a players’ stack or mzone situation.

If you do happen see tournament statistics on Poker Edge, (that is a slim database as the software is mainly for ring games), you will find general data that is much the same as in the Tournament Indicator main stats window. However, Tournament Indicator goes much more in depth as you can simply click on the players name and get a history of that player’s stats divided into mzone categories that player was in when those stats were collected.

If we go back to this same example, we could find that the player with a 35PFR% actually raised only 10 hands altogether, 6 of which were from his red mzone (desperate stack) and that violently skewed his information. Omitting that, the rest of his stats indicate he is a very tight player. Now don’t you think that is more relevant? Not only is it relevant, it demands analysis that Poker-Edge simply cannot provide.

Since Tournament Indicator breaks down opponent statistics into mzones, you are able to rationalize your opponent’s strategies in one easy glance. Now it is true you won’t often run into the same player from tournament to tournament, but if you make it deep, chances are you will be seated at a table with several players you have already crossed paths with in the same tournament! You will also likely have information on them from different mzones as well.

There are some additional technical differences between the two that may help your decision making. The main difference being that Poker-edge is a screen scraper which means you don’t have ANY flexibility in resizing your poker table, nor can you take advantage of all the background options your poker site may offer. Screen scraping also means that if you cover your on-screen poker table, even partially with any other program you have open on your computer, Poker-edge will lose all reading capabilities.

Tournament Indicator uses the chat box on your poker screen and transcribes that information into a single window with much easier to read information. As we have determined before, that information is much more credible for tournament play. Keep in mind too that Tournament Indicator is a program that is allowed by all the major websites too, where sites like Poker Stars will freeze your account when they find out you are using Poker-Edge. (Check your PokerStars user agreement on this). Good luck in getting your money out if they do that.

While Poker-edge has made a decent attempt at offering tournament statistics, the value of which that software displays is virtually meaningless. Tournament Indicator is the only poker calculator on the market specifically designed for tournaments and can effectively serve up the critical information you need to make decisions in tournaments.

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Are The Online Poker Rooms Cheating You, Too?

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Posted by admin | Posted on 26-06-2009

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I get a lot of emails and see a ton of allegations that the poker rooms must be cheating, especially from folks who are taking bad beats. So, are they cheating?

Let me try to answer this with a true story that recently took place in our poker club…

To maintain his privacy, I’ll just call our poker player Dale. Dale joined our Club in January, and it wasn’t long and we started seeing a bunch of forum posts about the bad beats he was taking.

He posted hand history information, proving his case. As usual, we took this seriously and analyzed the hands and provided our feedback as a mentoring team.

The very next week, Dale posts more bad beat stories. A few days later, Dale accuses Poker Stars of being rigged. He provided a bunch of “evidence” and made numerous accusations, but we could not find enough facts to really support his point of view.

We made a special effort to spend even more 1-1 time with Dale, as we felt bad for him and his continued losses. We urged Dale to take the time to study the instructional videos on SNG and MTT tourneys.

Then the accusations and bad beat posts subsided for a few weeks. Then all of a sudden, Dale reported doing well at Poker Stars, but he was now convinced that Full Tilt must be rigged, as he was once again taking an improbable number of bad beats there.

There must have been a collective sigh from all of us who were desperately trying to help Dale improve his poker game – I know I for one was growing weary of this…

But, instead of deriding him and shewing Dale away (he’d have been blasted out of existence on any other poker forum on the planet right after his original, first post), we redoubled our efforts and started mentoring him along as best we could. He was somewhat argumentative, so this wasn’t easy.

Dale’s next post shocked us all. He said he was quiting poker – he’d had enough of the bad beats and just didn’t think he could take it any more.

Man, I’ve never seen so many people step up to help someone before in my life. It was as if Dale had fallen overboard into a raging sea full of sharks.

Everyone jumped in and offered about every form of persuasion and advice I’ve seen. In that one instance, we all pulled together to save Dale’s poker life.

As painful as it had been dealing with his continual whining, crying, bitching and moaning and accusing everyone except the real cause of his poker woes (himself and his bad decisions), none of us could bear admitting defeat and seeing him fail. It would be like someone dying and being gone that we knew so well.

And that was the turning point. From that point forward, Dale never accused another poker room of being at fault. He started listening and learning what we were teaching him. He started seeing improved results. He actually started posting positive results for a change.

About a month ago, Dale came in 2nd place in our Club’s weekly MTT tournament. A couple weeks later, he came in 2nd place again. He’s also reported a positive ROI at his Sit and Go’s for a change.

Best of all, we don’t have to defend the poker rooms anymore, since they were never at fault in the first place.

So why am I sharing this story with you? Because Dale’s is not a story of going from nearly broke to being a WSOP multi-millionaire like Chris Moneymaker. It’s not a story of increasing his bankroll by 50X like some of our other members.

Dale’s is a story of survival to fight another day, and realization that the real enemy is within when it comes to poker. We must first master our own demons, accept the responsibility for our own actions and decisions…

Then and only then, is it possible to become a winning poker player. Dale still whines a little and talks too much at times, but that’s just Dale. We’ve come to understand and respect him.

And we’re glad he’s still with us – fighting to win another pot along with everyone else at the final table.

Rick

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How To Use A Poker Calculator – Reviews Of Different Poker Calculators

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Posted by admin | Posted on 25-06-2009

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Poker is a very complex game and you need to be sharp if you want to manage the whole concept of poker. A minor part of all poker players have that ability. If you want to become successful you need to read poker books, play a lot and reflect on your game, search for weaknesses and mistakes. You need to calculate instant odds, think about your table position, decide which hand you should fold, when to raise or call. This is very time-consuming. But, keep in mind; if you want to succeed, you have to master it all. Luckily for you there is help to get. Software, called poker calculators helps you with all the calculation, and much more.

Poker calculators can be divided into two different groups: one for cashgame and one for tournaments.

Poker calculators that are intended for cashgames have existed for a couple of years and they are constantly updated to fit today’s poker market. Most of them have similar functions, despite that they differ from each other. The most popular calculators for cashgame are:

Holdem Indicator: One of the most popular calculators. Support over 180 online poker rooms. Instantly calculates accurate win odds, pot odds, how many outs you have and your table position. You get stats both for your own play and your opponents in displays.

Pokerbility: This is an easy-to-use calculator. It provides you with odds and recommendations while you play, in real-time. You can choose your style of play – from tight to loose – and you will get recommendations for the category you choose.

A poker calculator for Sit n Go´s or tournaments differs from a cashgame calculator. Don’t use a cashgame calculator when you play a tournament that will only cost you money. The most popular calculators for tournaments are:

Tournament Indicator: The big thing about this calculator is “the MZone”. This is simply the ratio of your stack to the blinds and antes. This information can be used to determine how aggressively you should play and when to push or fold.

SngWizard: This calculator acts like your teacher. It helps you in the late phases of the tournament. You will learn when to push or fold. This poker calculator is both for beginners and semi-pros. You can adjust the displays and choose which functions you think is best for you.

Hmmm, lots of poker calculators, which one is the best for me? That is a question that is hard to answer. All 4 software are popular and it is a matter of taste which you choose .I can recommend that you to give it a try, often you can the try the program for free.

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The Difference Between Online Poker and Real Poker

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Posted by admin | Posted on 24-06-2009

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This article briefly describes the major differences between online and live poker. It looks at which tactics work more successfully in each environment as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.

People have been playing poker since the 10th century and it’s popularity is far from waning. In fact, interest about the game is on the rise with more people playing the game. The increasing popularity of the game can be attributed to it’s being easily accessible on the internet. Online poker has revolutionized the game with thousands of people logging in to play while sitting right at home. It would be a huge mistake to suggest that there is not much difference between online and real poker. The truth is that, there is.

Keeping aside the obvious dissimilarity that exists in the environment of online and real poker, there are a lot of other differences between them as well.

Firstly, online poker is played at breakneck speed. Players have to act within 20-30 seconds before the timer goes off leaving very little time to think. On the other hand, players who play real poker have the time to sit and think about their next move as the game moves at a pretty slow pace.

Secondly, contrary to what most people think, real live players don’t possess better skills than online players. There is no guarantee that real players are outstanding in comparison to online players. In fact, sometimes the opposite is true.

Thirdly, stealing blinds is lucrative in online gaming than offline gaming because the number of hands played in an hour is much higher in the former case. Thus it is possible to win a bigger amount of money by blinds-play in online poker.

Fourthly, open raising is also more profitable in online poker because the internet lets a player be more aggressive than he is in real life.

Fifthly, reading an opponent is almost impossible when playing poker online. A great advantage of playing in a real room with real people is that you can know what your opponent is thinking by looking at his face. This is not possible while playing online and bluffing is plain stupidity.

Last but not the least, there is no scope to limp and while away time when playing online. Reacting fast is the key to win. Playing a live real game may seem to be a luxury because of it’s casual pace.

Poker wouldn’t have gained such tremendous popularity if not for it’s numerous online versions. The availability of the game to the masses is the reason for it’s continuous growth.

Hopefully this article will be a benefit you when you next attempt to play poker. Remember above all things you should be having fun while in a game whether it’s offline or online and never gamble what you can’t loose.

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Poker Cheats: The Marked Card

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Posted by admin | Posted on 24-06-2009

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As the world of poker players continues to gain members everyday, more and more players are looking for easy ways to win the game. For cheaters, many feel that rather than take the time to hone their skills, they would prefer to master the skill of cheating.

Some players have learned how to mark cards as a way to help them win the game. Depending on the skill level of the cheater, marked cards can be obvious, or unnoticeable.

Sometimes the dealer will use his own deck of cards, or will get one prior to game play. Many cheaters have learned how to mark their cards during game play. To avoid having the marked cards noticed by other players, the cheater will usually make his marks so that they do not go all the way thru the card, because it would let light be seen through the card, thereby showing the mark.

Cheaters card markings are usually just small changes to the back of the cards. They may be scratches, change in design of the card, or possibly a bend in one corner of the card.

Marking the cards gives cheaters an advantage to their game play. They will most always mark all the high cards, or any other they card they think is crucial to the game.

Some cheaters prefer to mark their cards by using what is called shading. They will use a very fine ink to change part of the design on the back of the card. It requires the cheater to be very precise with his markings, but if he does a good job, no one but him will ever notice the marking.

Another technique many cheaters use is called daubing. Daubing uses a special form of ink and a small dauber. The cheat daubs the ink onto the back of the card, and the ink is invisible to the naked eye. Special sunglasses are required to see the markings. The kit to do this with can be purchased at magic or novelty stores.

Corner crimping is a method that many cheaters will use to mark their cards with. The cheater will see a card that he wants to mark and will then move that card away from the other cards and use his thumb or pointer finger to bend the corner of the card ever so slightly. He will be able to spot the marking during the game, and remember the card. Some cheaters when dealing can shuffle a number of cards to the bottom of the deck, and crimp the corners on all of them at one time.

Still other cheaters prefer to use thumbnail marking on their cards. The cheat will see a card he wants to mark, and then drive the end of his nail into the back of that particular card. Players who aren’t trained to look for these marks will not notice them, while the player will be able to spot them for the duration of the game.

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Poker Affiliate Secrets: How Poker Affiliates Generate Commissions

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Posted by admin | Posted on 23-06-2009

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If you’re a website owner and you’ve noticed that a lot of other sites have advertisements and yours doesn’t you’re probably wondering why. You might also wonder what do they do? Why are they there? Do they make money from them? The truth is that these advertisements more often than not mean that the site owner is a part of an affiliate scheme. Whilst they may sound like a bit of a longshot and an unlikely earner the truth is actually very different. Webmasters all around the world are benefiting from earning an extra income simply by having small advertisements on their pages, which begs the question why aren’t you?

Affiliate programs are simple and require little or no effort on the part of the website owner. All that is needed is to sign up to one of the many programs available, download some adverts, place them on your site and bingo your away. It sounds simple because it is simple, you can make it as easy as you like. Working hard, like in all working environments can pay dividends, by increasing your sites marketing and content there is a far greater chance of success. Work hard and your site could be earning you more than you ever thought possible.

But when a site manager goes to choose an affiliate scheme to join, which should they choose. The Internet is awash with ideas and companies all desperate to get a small advert on as many sites as possible. The best bet for any website owner is to choose a successful industry, one that will reward you with the greatest payouts and attract the most visitors. Industries that have the potential to increase, whilst already being huge. An Industry that generates thousands of new members each day. An industry like the online poker gaming sites.

It may sound far fetched to many, but the truth is online gambling has become one of the most profitable and lucrative business opportunities. Millions of dollars are generated each year through poker alone. But in a game where players play against other players how can a site make money. It is very simple, every time a hand is played the poker room takes a cut of up to around $5 depending on the size of the pot. With dozens of games happening in dozens of rooms 24 hours a day 7 days a week, money soon adds up. Similarly each competition and tournament has a two prices one that goes into the prize fund, whilst the other goes to the site. For example a $20+2 tournament costs $22, $20 of which goes into the pot for the poker players and the $2 straight to the website. By taking small percentages each time, the poker site can eventually amass a tiny fortune.

The worldwide availability of the sites means that players in different time zones can play at any time, making sites constantly busy. Therefore the sites can make more money at all times. So where do the affiliates come in? The role of the affiliate is simply to attract people to the sites, once they have done this the poker site rewards them with a percentage of a players money that they have generated for their entire lifetime. So site owners can get a piece of a huge industry, with little or no knowledge about it and with no risk, it’s as close to a sure-fire success as any online money making program.

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How to Play Pai Gow Poker

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Posted by admin | Posted on 19-06-2009

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Many casinos are aware of the popularity of poker. Unfortunately, poker is a game played against other players and not the House, so the casinos have little involvement in regular poker, other than to charge a rake (a percentage of each pot) for the use of the dealer and the table. To combine the elements of poker with those of typical table games played against the house, casinos have invented a number of poker variations that are played like traditional table games, player vs. the casino.

One such variation is Pai Gow. In Pai Gow Poker, after each player puts up a wager of their choosing they are dealt seven cards. Your objective is to make your best five-card and two-card poker hand. As a rule, your five card hand must be stronger than your two card hand. If you are dealt A, A, 9, 8, 7, 3, 3, you could not split your hands into 9, 8, 7, 3, 3 and AA. You could split them into A, A, 9, 8, 7 and 3, 3, or A, A, 3, 3, 7 and 9, 8. As long as your five-card hand beats the two-card hand, you can arrange them however you like. If you are not sure the optimal way to set your hand, you can ask the dealer to help you. There is one joker in the deck, which can be used in your hand to complete a straight or a flush, or as an Ace. The joker is not wild, you cannot use it to pair any card in your hand other than the Ace.

Once you have set your hand, the dealer also sets his hand. If both of your hands beat both of the dealer hands, you win an amount equal to your initial bet. If both of the dealers’ hands beat both of yours, you lose your bet. If one hand wins and the other loses, it’s a tie and no one wins. The House gets its edge by charging a five percent commission on winning bets.

In Pai Gow you also have the option of being the “Banker”. If you choose to be the Banker, you put up a sum of money to cover (or “Bank”) all of the bets on the table (if the amount you put up is not enough, the House will pick up where you left off). If you are the Banker, you play against all Players. Your five percent commission is calculated after all wins and losses are tabulated. Being the Banker affords a very slight edge because if your hands “copy” (are exactly the same) a Player’s hand, you win.

Pai Gow is an interesting variation of poker and one you might consider if you like poker but are looking for a more traditional casino game than regular poker, or just one that provides an added dimension to the game. You can find Pai Gow at certain online casino sites and in any live casino.

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How Can Average Poker Players Win Big Money on FullTilt Poker?

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Posted by admin | Posted on 15-06-2009

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The premise that poker is a game where anyone from anywhere with any background can win huge amounts of money is the basis for the allure to the game. Novice players like Chris Moneymaker, Jerry Yang and Jamie Gold went on to win millions in live tournaments after getting their start in online poker.

The fact that online poker sites such as FullTilt poker are designed for the beginner, gives any player an opportunity to win big money every week in their huge tournaments. Although the online poker games require a special skill set apart from live games, anyone with the knowledge of the way the online poker games work can easily make it to the big time.

One important fact that must be understood, is that sites such as Fulltilt poker, use a randomizer (computer-generated code) to shuffle and deal out cards. Moreover, this computer program adds in several other anomalies not present in live play.

Additional software algorithms and subroutines implemented by fulltilt poker and other pokersites give an advantage to novice players by skewing the true statistical odds. One may wonder why they would implement such software, and the answer is to level the playing field.

For example, if you went into a casino and played against all professional poker players, would you have an even advantage of winning? Not realistically, simply because the skill of professionals to make moves, read their opponents and force an unskilled player to make mistakes would easily cause you to lose rather quickly.

In that event, it is hardly reasonable to believe that you would return to that casino every day hoping to beat the pro’s. Online poker sites, like fulltilt, are much the same way. There are a lot of pro’s that play there, known and unknown, who would easily take all your money with their years of experience and skill.

This is the reason Fulltilt poker as well as many other poker sites, have implemented software to level the playing field. These algorithms and sequential determiners used in the mathematics of the computer generated code are the main reason you will see constant bad beats and players will scream ‘this site is rigged’.

Of course, skeptics will just believe that this is poker and that’s the way things happen. However, it does not explain all the unusual bad beats and one or two outers always making the river for your opponent.

The solution to the fulltilt poker anomaly is simple, learn how the software works, implement that strategy into your game and adapt your style to the same way the software works. Once you are able to do this, you can easily win cash for your poker account and give yourself an advantage to possibly win the big money.

The bottom line is, if you are an average poker player and truly want to excel in the online poker games, you need to apply the online poker skills to your game.

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How to Win at Poker with These 5 Awesome Internet Poker Tips

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Posted by admin | Posted on 15-06-2009

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How to win at poker is not as difficult as it seems. I hope by now you have realized all the books written by the big name professional players are totally useless and way off base. They write these books with little or no concern for the advanced player. In order to beat the online poker game, you need a sound strategy. I have used these five internet poker tips to continually beat the donks and totally annihilate the calling stations.
Table image – Whatever table image you have established make sure to use it. It’s important you do not forget how your opponents have viewed your play. If you have been playing tight, in order to steal the blinds. Make sure you exploit the blinds and loose players at your table. If you have been playing loose, do not try and steal the blinds. Go after tight players with you big hands and make them pay you off. Shift gears – You need to play the exact opposite your table is playing. It is so vital and it’s how to win at poker. Feel the tempo or flow of the table and make sure you do the exact opposite of your opponents. Tight tables call for you to play loose in position and steal the blinds. Loose tables call for you to play tight and play only the best hands. Trying to play tight on a tight table is a huge was of opportunity and vice versa. Deep tournament play – Deep tournament strategy is one the biggest internet poker tips you will ever receive. You have to and I repeat have to play for first place. Every decision you make should be based on the fact you are playing for first place. Never hesitate in your approach, I always am willing to fall on my sword when 15 handed. The tournament is one when you are playing short handed at the final two tables. The best players in the world understand this and routinely exploit tight players. The chips you stack up at this stage of the tournament are the same chips you will use to bully your opponents and win first place. Hand selection – Stick to this internet poker tips and understand you hand selections is vital. You will not win many tournaments online playing tight poker. You need to mix up your hand selection and play your position well. The golden rule still is applied today as it was 50 years ago. Good hands in early position and loosen up as you go around the table. You can play all kinds of random hands in unraised pots in later position. It’s usually wise to play the better hands in early position, but your image and type of table will dictate what you can play. I will play 75s under the gun with a raise if I know my table is playing tight. Raise – Raise and raise some more, call only when trapping. The person who takes direct control of the hand pre-flop wins 80% of the time. Always take control. The players personality will dictate how you will play your hand. But, always bring it in for a raise. Trap players with calls in late position and please never re-raise a player who had not played a hand in 40 minutes. Look for the loose players and re-raise them.
You want to know how to win at poker, please use these internet poker tips to dominate your competition.

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