Author: horse-racing-free-tips

Most people misunderstand poker. To be completely frank: most people only know poker from the low-stakes games they grew up playing with their family and friends. In these low stakes, home games luck often does play a much bigger role than skill. However, this isn’t real poker.

The money to be gained or lost in a home game tends to mean next to nothing and everyone almost always plays every hand to the end. Add in to that, dealer’s choice & the ever popular “wild cards” and you have a recipe for gambling on your hand, not playing it. In these situations, it’s often the middle hand that wins by catching a lucky card on the river.

Another reason why luck has such a big role in home-style poker games is that many of the skills we use in pro-style games just don’t come into play in a home game. Skills such as patience in determining which hands to play, when to bluff, and how to read your opponent just aren’t used when playing such low-limit against your family. If you are playing too many hands in a tough poker game, you will find yourself short stacked in no time.

Patience

The plain fact is that if you play too many hands in a pro-level poker game, you won’t win. It’s mathematically impossible for you to last for any length of time. But, if you play this many hands in a home game, you may fair better because the sheer size of the pot from the hands you draw out on may offer sufficient pot-odds to draw on that inside straight or whatever the case may be. Especially, if there are “wild cards”.

Bluffing

Another big difference between home poker games and pro-style games is bluffing. Bluffing will actually succeed in a pro game, where everyone will just call you in a low-limit family-style game. It is extremely hard to pull off a bluff in the family oriented game. The main reason for this is the limits are set against you. That 25 cents you’ve raised the pot isn’t going to be enough to scare anyone away, even if it was a check-raise. Anyone would call that, even if they thought they were beaten.

In a pro game, however, bluffing is a sound strategy. If you’ve played very few hands, it’s very possible to steal a pot at the end of a hand by becoming overly agressive at the right time. Your opponents will almost certainly put you on a strong hand, if not the nuts.

Reading your opponent

Another very important element in pro games is the ability to read your opponent. Are they full of crap or are they the real thing? In most home games, there is so much money in the pot (relative to the size of the amount to call) that there is no need to even consider this factor. In pro poker, however, there is enough money involved that a good read can be very valuable.

The simple fact is, if serious poker was a mere game of chance, there would be no such thing as a professionaly poker player and the people you see on the television constantly winning tournaments (i.e. Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneu, etc) would just have to be the luckiest people in the world. This, obviously, is not the case and many a professional poker can have very successful careers by honing their poker skills.

The wheel goes round and round and James Bond is about to score big. Yes, the lure of Roulette is legendary. It’s been featured in movies for decades. The game itself is incredibly easy to play and incredibly easy to mess up and lose your shirt. Today, I’ll give you a couple of simple Roulette tactics to help improve your play and give you a better chance to walk away from the Roulette table a winner. And isn’t winning and fun why we play this great game?

I don’t know about you, but I love when the bets are down and the ball is spinning. The pulse quickens, the hands sweat and all sorts of endorphins are released. Clink, clink, clink, drop, winner! And what makes this game even better is that we get to have this fun experience about once per 1-2 minutes-depending on how fast the game is running. Can’t you just feel it?

It’s Budget Time

Yes, it’s time to become a mini-accountant. The first tactic in winning Roulette is to manage your money-and well. It’s so darn easy to throw chips all over the darn place, which usually results in heavy losses unless you’re a supreme mathematician that can keep track of all the odds and bets.

Never, ever begin a Roulette session without a budget in mind. You should know how much you’re willing to lose-willing, not want-and how much you want to win-realistically. Here’s a great example. I walk up to the Roulette table. I’m willing to spend up to $1,000. I’d like to win $2,000.

What’s this mean? If my $1,000 disappears, I’m done and I walk. If I’m having a good session and I look down and see $3,000 in chips ($1,000 bank and $2,000 winnings), I’ve hit my goal, so I walk. Make goals and keep them.

You Don’t Have To Bet On Everything

Seriously. Just because the Roulette layout is filled with all sorts of lovely betting options doesn’t mean you have to bet them all on each spin-although the casino would love that. Don’t get caught up in the action.

Pick your bets-a small handful at most-and roll with them. You don’t need to cover every possible piece of action and if you do, you’ll lose 99% of the time. Just because you’re betting on 17, doesn’t mean you must bet on black, odd, 1-19, the second column and so forth.

Maximize your hits by keeping your bets to a minimum.

Yes, Roulette is exciting, but it can lead to ruin quickly. Keep these Roulette strategies in mine the next time you go to play. Keep your goals and maximize your bets. Good luck!