martes, 4 de mayo de 2010

Texas hold’em: rule number one

Forget the five card draw, Texas hold’em is the game that calls for true expertise at the poker table. It carries stakes in the pot. Money that goes into the pot is referred to as bets. For a game to be considered as normal, it must have at least nine players failure to which it will be referred to as short handed. For a full table of players, they could be as many as, but not more than twenty. The dealer deals cards to all the players at the beginning; that is one per player and the player who holds the highest card begins the game by dealing the cards first. They therefore become the first dealer. The good thing about this game is that even though the dealer is indicated by a white button that is on the table in front of them, all the other players also get a chance to play in this position because the game is rotational.

Before the game can commence fully, there two pre flop bets that must go to the pot. These are referred to as the big blind and the small blind.
The big blind is held by the person who is seated to the left of the person who is seated to the left hand side of the dealer. The small blind is normally half the amount of the big blind. After that, the dealer then deals two cards per person, not simultaneously but one at a time after which the players determine the second step in the game now. As they look at their cards, the cards will determine who calls for a hand first. He is the one who pays the first bet which is the equal of the big blind. Starting on the bet of the dealer, now all the players get into the game.

If a player raises a bet, all the other players have got to put its equal in the pot. However, if no player raises a bet, then the person who has the big blind may consider his position. He may either raise the first bet himself, or may relent, meaning that he does not want to deal. If a player raises a bet, then he may not raise another one until his bet has been exempted by another player who raises another one. This is the pre flop session of the game in its early starting stages.

Online Poker: Dark?

The popularity of poker has grown tremendously over the years. Advancement in technology has made it easy for many people to access poker through websites. In early poker games, the players were rounded on a table with a pot in the middle. However, today, playing poker has been made easy, with more people playing from their homes. Online poker can be played by many people. Bonuses have been introduced by online betting sites to increase the interest of playing the game. The sites provide journals that one can download to learn poker better.

Cheating in online poker is allowed. Many poker sites provide information on the various cheating schemes.

Playing poker has enormously increased the number of players drastically over the years. Now, there are more online poker players than round the table players. Online poker rooms are cheaper than the latter. They are also accessible at any point. Online poker rooms allow their players to play for small bets. Poker rooms are expensive to build and the machines are also costly. This is the reason why many casinos are doing away with poker rooms to create more room for their slot machines.

In online poker rooms, it is easy to detect fraudsters. Every room has qualified security personnel who can access information on previous cards played. However, this is impossible in casinos. Players usually fold their hands making it difficult to know their hand rankings. Online players gain the same experience as the brick and mortar casinos. Some players in the past have made their way to the World Series Poker Tournament, played with other players and won.

There exist over 500 online card rooms visited by millions of players everyday.
Over the past decade, many countries have legalized online poker. Its operations in certain states have been regulated as free sites to prevent school goers from gambling. There are about four ways in which online poker rooms make profit from the game. Most rooms use the rake method. Rake is the percentage of the pot fee. However, this amount is usually smaller than that of brick and mortar tables. The profit comes in because of the millions of online players visiting a site. Sometimes, there can be a lot of network traffic in one site due to the overwhelming visitations. Side bets are also used although the players are charged very little. Other ways or making profit include investing on the players deposits.

The dark truth behind bluffing

As long as you are playing poker, there will always be some bluffing involved. Bluffing is one of the things that make the game so exciting. If all the players had a way of knowing each other’s cards, then the best hand would always win every game. When you are playing poker, you are not availed all the information needed to make a win. A bluff is made when you want the other players to think that you have the best hand.

When you bluff, your intention is usually to raise the stakes even if you have a weak hand. Every good player has the skills required to make a good bluff. For you to be a winning player, you need to know of the perfect time to call a bluff. This can only be done by those players who understand the functions of a bluff.

The easiest way for a player to win a poker game is if they are dealt an ace with each hand. As good as that may sound the odds of that happening are almost nonexistent. A good poker player is one who can create a win with any kind of cards dealt their way. It is very risky for a player to bluff too many times in a game. Even those players who bluff at the wrong time also loose their ground. It is very essential for you to know how to achieve a balance between your bluffs.
When you are playing poker, you need to make use of the two major bluffs.

The pure bluff is made by a player who is having a bad hand and wants to bet or raise their hand. The bluff is made by those people who have no chance of improving on their game. This is usually an attempt to make the rest of the players fold.

The other kind of bluff is known as a semi bluff. In this bluff, the player bets with a hand that is not so good. They always base their decision on the fact that there is a chance of improving on the hand later on in the game.

Most players are usually of the assumption that after a certain number of hands, a player is expected to bluff. It is wrong to assume that you need to make a bluff regardless of the cards that you hold. If you do not observe the cues displayed by the other players, there is a likelihood of loosing the game.

It is always important to learn how to pull off bluffs. However, bluffing is not an essential part of poker. The number of times you bet has no impact on the outcome of the game. Your experience as a poker player is determined by how well you can execute your bluffs.

Stu Ungar

Stu Ungar was born as Stuart Errol Unger on September 8, 1953. He was known as a professional poker player who also engaged in some gin rummy. Stu is said to be the greatest player of the Texas Holdem; he is also an influential icon for the other gin rummy players.
He is the only player who has ever won the World Series of Poker’s main events thrice. The only other person to have won it thrice is Johnny Moss, but his first title was won after the players voted. Stu is the only professional poker player to have won the Amarillo Slims Super Bowl of Poker thrice. When the event used to take place, it was considered the second most celebrated poker event.

Stu was born in the lower side of Manhattan. His parents were Jewish. He was exposed to gambling at a very young age. His father used to operate a social club that used to hold gambling events. His farther was not pleased about his son’s decision to play poker since he had seen the negative effect it had on most players. Stu was able to make a name for himself in underground gin. He was a very intelligent boy, but opted to drop put of school when he got to tenth grade.
In 1966, Stu’s dad died of a heart attack and his mother became incapacitated as a result of this. This gave Stu the chance to move around New York and practice his gambling skills. When he was 18 years old, Stu became friends with Victor Romano. Romano was part of the organized crime syndicates, but he had the ability to pronounce and spell all the words in the dictionary. He was also very skilled at calculating the odds of a gambling game. Romano took Stu under his wing.

Stu had a reputation for being arrogant. Most of the times he would criticize all those opponents whom he felt were not of his level. The friendship with Romano ensured that he was protected from the wrath of other poker players.

A number of professional poker players have declared Stu as one of the most talented players to ever play the game. In 2003, a movie titled High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story was produced in his honor. Stu Ungar died on November 22, 1998. After his death, Stu was inducted into Poker’s Hall of Fame. In 2005, a biography about his life was published. The following year, an award winning documentary was featured by ESPN.

Risks associated with online poker

Apart from poker being known as a card game, everything else about it may seem unfriendly. Depending on location of play, there are some challenges that present during the game. There are two possible ways of playing: online and offline in casino. Even though both are lucrative deals for poker fanatics, the online type poses greater risks. The following are some reasons why it may not be a good idea to play online poker: -
Lack of proper laws governing the authorization of online poker rooms.

There is some considerable effort put by the government to control the poker rooms, but this has been effective as far as offline poker is concerned. Currently, there are a growing number of web hosts and applications for business and sport undertakings in online sites. It is a fact that the game is characterized by cheating and most people shun from playing due to this threat. Poker rooms in America are free-for-all; this means that there is limited monitoring by government agencies. With the internet in place, the threat becomes more real and you could be easily swindled off your money.

Misrepresentation
Online poker rooms and hosts are like firms. They are in business to make money and so they will offer the most attractive provisions to lure more players into their rooms. At most times, these deals are inclined to favor the firm. Auditors are also not as honest as they should be; there have been known cases of doctored reports so as to keep ill performing entities in business. These unfortunate circumstances put a lot of risk to investors and enthusiasts in the game.

Illegal scams
There are a lot of back door deals that operate in online poker. It is possible that the opponent is not as real as you may think. This is a great risk that cannot be proved in case of complains; mostly such cases go unnoticed by unsuspecting players. Once in a while, there will be a simulation which pretends to show winnings but in reality, they are just enticers intended to keep you interested.

Falsification of identity
How sure are you that your opponents are who they say they are? It is possible to find one player using more than one profile name. Creating multiple accounts is an easy way to restart life on the internet and this works to the advantage of con artists for their mischievous interests.
Most important of all is your money. Well, there is a saying that you keep your money where you can see it. Online poker has the potential to make or lose money in as large amounts as all your investments. Therefore, caution should be taken to ensure you are in the safest game and there is no better option than the old school way.