Poker Winner Blog

Computing your win or loss rate is simple: Divide the amount of money won or lost by the number of hours you’ve played.

This calculation shows you the average amount won or lost per hour played. In statistics, that figure is called the mean. If you play in different games, you might want to keep records on a game-by-game basis (to determine whether you’re doing better at Hold’em, Lowball, or Omaha) as well as on an overall basis.

All averages are not created equal

Knowing how much you are winning or losing on an hourly basis is important. But it is also important to know whether the mean is representative. In other words, is the mean a good indicator of the data it represents? Read the rest of this entry »

How much money do you need to keep from going broke if you’re a professional and poker is your paycheck?

A professional poker player should realize that every dollar she wins will not be added to her bankroll. After all, she has to pay rent and buy groceries just like anyone else, and her only source of income is her winnings. Lose, and she pays her bills the only way she can: by dipping into her bankroll. But there’s a limit to how deeply she can dig without putting herself in jeopardy. Read the rest of this entry »

By avoiding marginal situations that require you to put additional money into the pot when it’s a close call, you can play with a smaller bankroll. If you’re a winning player, you’ll eventually win just as much money. It will just take more hours at the table to reach your goals.

There is no right or wrong way to put money at risk in a poker game. Some people are comfortable with a high level of risk and have the bankroll to accommodate the fluctuations, which inevitably accompany this kind of play. Read the rest of this entry »

How large a bankroll do you need to outlast any bad run of cards and ensure that you’ll never go broke? This question comes up repeatedly whenever poker players start talking.

While “How big a bankroll . . .” is a complex issue that can’t be resolved by applying a rule or formula, there is one fact you can bank on with absolute certainty: If you are not a winning player, your bankroll will never be large enough. To eliminate the possibilities of ever going broke, losing players need a big enough bankroll to outlast their life expectancy. Without one, they’ll find themselves regularly infusing their playing stake with fresh cash. Read the rest of this entry »

Some players really do have bankrolls that can outlast their life expectancy. In Southern California, where there’s always lots of loose money at play in card casinos, these players have the derisive nickname “trust-fund pros.” Many play every day and will swear to you that they are long-term winners. Trust-fund pros seldom deceive their opponents no matter how strongly they claim to be winning players. They delude only themselves, and their opponents know it. Read the rest of this entry »

At one point Ungar raised seven hands in a row. No one called. Was he bluffing? Of course he was — some of the time. Everyone knew that. But no one knew when. Every contestant hoped one of his opponents would be eliminated first. It didn’t matter which one. Every time someone was knocked out, the surviving players climbed another rung on the pay ladder. Ungar knew that.

Ungar’s mastery of the table seemed palpable. He was a shark among a school of fish, and he sensed blood in the water. Bao, short on chips the entire day, was the first to fall — eliminated by Judah. By 1:30 p.m. Ungar had more chips than his remaining four opponents combined. Read the rest of this entry »

The main event is what draws the crowds to Las Vegas, and the 1997 and 1998 World Series of Poker were more dramatic than most. One event is the thrilling yet ultimately sad tale of an incredible comeback, the other a quintessential American success story.

Stu Ungar: The Comeback Kid

A dozen former world champs competed in the 1997 event, including two- time winners Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Stu Ungar, along with 27-yearold defending champion Huck Seed. Formerly an engineering student at Cal Tech, Seed took a year’s sabbatical to play poker and never returned. Read the rest of this entry »

Video poker shares some of the characteristics of a slot machine. The gambling gear itself is housed in a similar cabinet, and most have a coin slot and a payout hopper. Many have a slot-club card reader and/or a bill acceptor. The important difference is that on a reel slot you just pull the handle and hope for the best, but video poker involves an element of skill.

To the novice player, the main attraction of video poker is the prospect of pitting wits against the machine in fast action with a chance at a big jackpot. To the skilled player, however, the appeal is that some games offer an opportunity for a long-term profit. Just as in a live poker game, you can expect a considerable amount of risk and luck involved in the short term, but a player’s skill can make the difference between a winner and a loser in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »

Playing an unknown or short-pay game: Most players pay little attention to the payoff schedule. We often see someone playing a short-pay game while a full-pay machine sits idle nearby. Avoid any game that does not match the payoff schedule shown with a published strategy.

Holding too many cards: The most common playing error is holding a useless card (a kicker). In live draw poker, you can occasionally hold a kicker. For example, holding an ace along with a pair gives the possibility of making aces up, which is a pretty good hand in draw poker, and it has the deceptive value of making some opponents think you have trips. In video poker, two pair pays the same regardless of the ranks, and deception is futile. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some general pieces of advice that you should take to heart when playing video poker:

Play intelligently: Learn to recognize and play only the better games, and learn an accurate strategy for each game you play. To do otherwise is just donating your money to the casino.

Look for competitive casinos: Nevada regulations set the minimum payback for slot machines at 75 percent, but statewide statistics show average paybacks in the 90 percent to 98 percent range. Read the rest of this entry »

Getting lots of practice quickly

Here’s another fabulous timesaver available in some of the Wilson Software programs. Once you set up a game and click to start it, a screen instantly pops up to ask whether you want to be dealt random hands, hands worth at least a call, or strictly raising hands. (Now don’t you just wish you could do that in a real game?)

The zipping and hand-skipping features enable you to play 60,000 hands — the equivalent of a full year’s play in a live game at 30 hands per hour, eight hours per day — in a quarter of that time (or less). It’s a lot like typing; you’ll get faster and faster as you practice. How many hands can you play per hour? Except for those hands you elect to play out, your speed will be limited mostly by how fast you can click that mouse. Read the rest of this entry »

Interactive Poker Software Programs

Computer poker programs have come of age. The best programs offer interactive learning opportunities that were unavailable only a few years ago. Improved versions are hurtling down the pipeline at warp speed, each leaving its predecessor light-years behind. The realism of contemporary programs has largely negated statements made by poker gurus only a few years ago:

“I suspect poker is just too difficult a game to program reasonably well,” wrote one expert in 1996. At about the same time, another expert wrote that computer opponents were unable to learn from events in previous hands when making decisions, something a human player always does (or should). Read the rest of this entry »

Using a Computer for Interactive Poker Practice

In the past, you could learn the nuts and bolts of poker quickly, but you could get experience — that old beginner’s bugaboo — only through the school of hard knocks. There was no comprehensive, integrated poker course for beginners. You just had to run the gauntlet of costly errors at the tables and take your lumps. Period.

Then poker books came on the scene, making things a lot easier for those willing to study them. By using book and others we recommend in a continuous cycle of reading, studying, playing, and thinking, you’ll have a real leg up on the competition. Videos and seminars will help, too. And do discuss your play with experienced friends! Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re serious about improving your poker skills — especially if you’re a beginner — you need to get cozy with a personal computer. Here’s why:

The union of poker and computer technology offers an opportunity to jump- start your poker progress and move up the learning curve with ease. Playing poker on your PC will also save you money: Dump those beginner boo-boos before they cost you dearly in real games!

Today’s poker students can use a personal computer as the cornerstone of a comprehensive, interactive self-study course in poker. If you study poker books and use a computer to practice your newfound skills, you can leapfrog past the anguish and expense of gaining experience the old-fashioned way (by losing your greenhorn’s money to the sharks). Read the rest of this entry »

What the games are like

Most Internet play-money games are loose action games. (That’s putting it mildly!) Players enter pots with guns blazing, firing bets and raises at will. Much of this activity is just smoke and mirrors, but when the smoke clears, someone will have made a hand. Don’t expect to win a pot without a struggle!

There are many family pots (pots in which all players participate in the action), and you won’t find many wallflowers sitting on the sidelines hand after hand. Betting is frequently capped (when players put in the maximum number of raises allowed). Hang on for the ride — if you have a hand. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes you simply have to know that you’re playing against, well, real people — not against computer creations. When the computer opponents of interactive software games have you talking to yourself and longing for human adversaries to gripe about, what can you do?

Just as you can find almost anything else on the Internet, you can find poker games. These cybergames have no physical location, but you can summon them up from your personal computer at any time. Like genies in a bottle, they await your command — all it takes is a few clicks of your mouse! Read the rest of this entry »

Participating in the Future of Poker at(RGP)

Think of the Internet newsgroup(RGP) as your one- stop poker newspaper, discussion club, information bureau, and personal advisor. Like all Internet newsgroups, RGP is a global, interactive electronic bulletin board serving thousands of people interested in the same subject— in this case, poker.

As with other bulletin boards, you can read messages already there, respond to them (using either private e-mail to the author or a public message called a post that is meant for all RGP readers), or create your own messages. Read the rest of this entry »

Online poker casinos offering real-cash games often offer introductory play- money games. These are a great place to start. Here’s why:

Because they are meant to get clients used to the graphics and procedures of cash stakes games, these play-money games are user-friendly by design. You’re a potential cash client, and the online casino hopes to expand its business by making you feel welcome and comfortable.

Although the games are remarkably easy to use, the programming and graphics are highly sophisticated — they’re identical to those used in the money games. Overall, the games are far superior to games offered at Internet sites intended strictly for entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »

Using state-of-the-art computer technology, thousands of people play poker online for real money. By linking their computers to the Internet, players living as far apart as New York, London, and Tokyo are able to play together simultaneously in computer-generated poker games — for real cash.

Until recently, such games weren’t feasible. The challenge was to invent poker software that would enable strangers to play against each other in live games from different locations — and with enough confidence to back their mouse clicks with cash. Read the rest of this entry »

Staring at You

When it’s your turn to act, an opponent conspicuously staring in your direction is likely acting. This usually is a dare, an attempt to prevent your bet through intimidation. The opponent may call but will almost never raise. This means that you can bet any medium-strong hand with impunity, not fearing a raise.

So, instead of being intimidated by an opponent staring you down, simply consider that you can make more borderline bets for profit when you hold marginally strong hands. Read the rest of this entry »