Poker Winner Blog

The rowdiest game in the casino is dice, also called craps, a fast and exciting game with a language of its own. Players shout, cheer, scream, curse and gesticulate. The shooters elaborately shake the dice, blow on them for luck and yell for them to fall on the desired score, while the stickman commentates incessantly. For novices, dice appears complicated due to the arrangement of the layout and the terminology used, but it is actually quite simple once the basic aim of the game is understood. Craps is extremely popular everywhere, not only because it is fun to play, but also because it is the best value game in the casino. The house advantage on some bets is less than one per cent. Read the rest of this entry »

A wide choice of bets can be played on craps, some of which are better value for the player than others. Before betting it is best to compare the difference in house advantage (the profit made by the casino) for each bet. The best-value bets are the pass/don’t pass and come/don’t come bets. These allow the player to make an additional bet called odds. By playing the odds bets, the house advantage is reduced to less than one per cent. Read the rest of this entry »

Baccara

Baccara, the forerunner of baccarat and punto banco, is played mostly in European casinos. It is particularly popular in both France and Germany. High minimum stakes are the norm in baccara and it is not unusual to find games with a minimum stake of US$100. Some games even start as high as US$1000 minimum. Read the rest of this entry »

Poker conjures up images of saloons in the old West where hustlers and gun fighters did battle. It seems that no Hollywood Western is complete without a gunfight over a poker game, but this way of life was often the reality for professional gamblers in the Wild West. In 1876 one of the west’s most famous lawmen, James Butler ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, lost his life in a poker game in Deadwood, South Dakota. To this day his last hand — a pair of aces over eights — is known as the ‘dead man’s hand‘. Read the rest of this entry »

Each player receives five cards face down. When all the cards have been dealt, the players look at their own cards. After an initial round of betting they have the opportunity to exchange any cards in their hand for new cards from the deck. Cards that are being discarded are returned to the dealer before the new cards are drawn.

As a general rule, if you get nothing from the initial deal you should fold (that is, if you are unable to make a ranking of at least a high pair). Only a hand with a pair of at least six or more is worth playing. Read the rest of this entry »

Each player receives two cards face down. Five cards are placed face up in the centre of the table. These cards are called community cards and are used by all the players. Each player uses a combination of the two cards in his or her hand and the five community cards to make the best possible five-card hand. Read the rest of this entry »

BINION‘S HORSESHOE

Situated in the Horseshoe Hotel on Fremont Street in downtown Vegas, Binion’s gives a taste of how gambling used to be in the Old West. Opened in 1951 by Benny Binion, a former Texas bootlegger and gambler, the casino evokes the atmosphere of a traditional gambling hall — no shows, no music, just gambling. Minimum stakes are $2 on blackjack and $1 on craps. The poker tables are not for beginners though, as many professional players make their living here. Read the rest of this entry »

Subliminal Practices

Casinos use a variety of subliminal practices to ensure they get the maximum amount of money from visitors before they get anywhere near a gaming table.

Casino design is no accident. Almost every feature is built in with profit in mind. Exteriors are lavish and use every marketing trick to get players to walk through the door. This is taken to the extreme in Las Vegas, where shows put on outside the casinos get people to stop and watch, and, hopefully, go inside. Read the rest of this entry »

Gaming is all about winning and losing, so it makes sense to manage your money effectively. It is very easy to get carried away by the excitement, and lose your stake. By understanding the rules of the game, the odds paid, the chances of winning, and when to quit, players can ensure their casino experience is pleasant.

Gambling should be treated like any other form of entertainment. Expect to spend your money and have a good time doing so. Unfortunately most gamblers not only want to win, they actually expect to win and can take it extremely badly when they lose. Once the initial stake has been lost, they attempt to get it back by making increased bets. Most gamblers do not keep records of how much they win or lose. Big wins are fondly remembered, while losses tend to be forgotten. Even professional gamblers can delude themselves into thinking they either always win or break even. Read the rest of this entry »

Games of Chance and Skill

Casinos offer a choice between games of skill, where the player can affect the outcome; and chance, where players have no input and rely on luck.

Games of chance include roulette, slots and punto banco. Once players have decided what numbers to play there is no further action to take.

Poker and blackjack are games of skill. As players make all the decisions about taking cards, they are able to use their intelligence to win. With games of skill, a combination of knowledge and experience can make the difference between winning and losing. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Poker is a brilliant blend of strategy and psychology — there is really nothing else like it. When compared with strategy, however, how important is psychology in poker? Well, you can beat poker without understanding psychology, but you can’t beat poker without understanding strategy. Therefore, it’s important to learn the fundamentals first. But wait! Now we’re going to say something that — at first — seems to be contradictory:Psychology can account for the majority of profit you will ever make in poker!

That statement is true because after you master the fundamentals of poker, you’re most of the way to becoming a good player as far as strategy goes. Read the rest of this entry »