Category: Gambling and Casinos

Similar advantage can be also achieved in poker. To the position advantage in poker we can refer the factors of your position with relation to your opponents, the availability of varied membership and the number of opponents continuing the tournament, your aggression, the size of opponents’ stacks and so on. From all of the arts of poker the most important is the creation and realization of position advantage. Here it is as important as in chess.

The conclusion is that an intellectual analytic effort is present both in chess and in poker but they are not alike as the position advantage differs in quality.

The third type of an intellectual effort is connected with the analysis of the part of a game situation which is not connected with the game process itself. This type includes taking into account the psychological peculiarities of the duel.

Strictly speaking, this psychological element is not as widely used in chess, mainly because of the game information which is fully open to both opponents.

In poker the psychological element is very important indeed. It provides almost the half of success of the player. The restricted type of information in poker makes the players only deducing it and it can be done only by observing your opponent. And here you meet a great chance to misinform or manipulate him or create the psychological pressure upon him, and etc. We can name at least three aspects of a psychological element that are often used by experienced players.

Firstly, it is watching for the “signs” of an opponent and the “sings” that you send him. Secondly, one uses the continuous assessment of the psychological state of opponent. Thirdly, one may cause the psychological pressure upon the opponent in order to impose one’s will on him.

To summarize the aforesaid we can say that both games are intellectual fights but their profiles differ. From the three component of an intellectual effort – logical, analytical and psychological, the most important ones in chess are the first two while in poker the last two. But the analytical component dominates in both the games, which is quite understandable because these two games are intellectual.

And finally there is the last comparative observation. In chess, the role played by psychology, is far less important than the role of logic and analytics. Chess in this sense appears as the game of spirit. Irrespective of the state of mind the player must and can find the way to victory, with this way not depending on human feelings and emotions. Chess is the philosophy, the game of aristocrats of a soul.

In poker the role of psychology is more important especially in comparison with logic. The moral state of the opponent, their feelings and emotions not only influence the course of game but change the way to victory. In this sense poker is a game of plebeians, the battle of human passions.

Both, philosophers and plebeians, we are all human. Moreover, in our life in turns we become these and those. Both the games are beautiful, both are worth your attention under condition that your intellect needs a check in a battle with equal ones, in other words, under condition that you are a human being.

In America active poker is not older than 100 years. In this regard if we make analogy between chess and poker we need to compare modern poker with the 19th century chess. Those were difficult times for chess players. Outstanding chess talents, which have received the universal recognition in our times, had to spend sometimes all their energy to find supporters who would agree to pay for such expensive and not perspective event as the world chess match for the champion title! But the reality was sad, any seeker for the title had a possibility to call for the world champion after fulfillment of one obligatory condition: he had to pay prize money by himself, loosing the great part of it in case of a failure. If the pretender would loose such match, the poverty was almost guaranteed for him. Many years had passed before chess became the honorable and respected thing and the tragic fates of losers became history.

The situation has changed greatly today. There are poker clubs, poker community and poker life goes on.

According to the historians’ statements and to the archaeologists’ testimonies, games have existed throughout the whole history of human society. Before we start to learn more about poker we would like to formulate the general classification of games and to identify the place of poker within its frames. Mostly classifications are relative but still we need them in order to have the general idea of any phenomenon.

Athletic games, intellectual games and gambling.
Athletic games: the idea of the game, where the final result (victory or defeat) is achieved largely at the expense of athletic qualities of the competitors.

Intellectual games: the idea of the game, where the final result (victory or defeat) is achieved largely at the expense of intellectual qualities of the competitors.

The relativity of these definitions is obvious. Athletic games (boxing, football or any other type) surely contain intellectual component. In every type of games we have to think. The majority of famous athletes today prefer to keep their personal athletic diaries where they describe in every detail all of their competition and training matters.

Standing apart from others is the third type of games: gambling and casino games.
The definition of gambling and casino games based on the idea of the game, where the final result (victory or defeat) is achieved by chance. In such kinds of games the athletic or intellectual or any others qualities of the competitors are not principal. Believe it or not but according to this classification poker belongs to the second category, intellectual games. Let’s turn to the more detailed review of the latter.

Intellectual games. Games with almost perfect information and games with inexact information.

Games with almost perfect information: the idea of the game where all the game information (the position, the players’ actions) is fully open to all participants of the game.

To tell the truth there is restricted information even in that kind of games. That is: every player has its own idea of the game action and these thoughts as a rule are unknown to others. Chess is the most striking example of intellectual games with almost perfect information.

Games with inexact information: the idea of the game, where the part of information is mutually hidden from all its participants. The information type can be different. For example in backgammon the game position and players’ actions are fully open, however, the result of future dice toss is unknown to all of participants. In turn, in poker the scope of hidden information is bigger: the unknown information is not only the future coming out of cards from a pack but also the cards of each participant because they are hidden from the rest participants of the game.

We have made this preliminary analysis in order to draw the readers’ attention to the comparison of two types of intellectual games. As an example for a game with almost perfect information we will examine chess, as this game is probably well-known to our readers. As an example of games with inexact information we will study poker.
We have found out that in both the games the final result is achieved by intellectual qualities. But the intellectual effort is just a verbal definition. What does it stand for?

Let’s start with differences of online poker from off line poker game and the pros and cons of the online poker version. The main principal difference is obvious – poker players, the opponents cannot see each other. Hence, on one hand online poker player does not have to maintain his “poker image” and on the other hand the poker player cannot “read” the opponent hand by focusing on the Body Language. So, in online poker room the psychological moment of the game is rather weak, for somebody it is good and for someone it is not so good. In other respects online poker presents only advantages and it will take a long time to name all of them. Here are the main ones.

Any online poker room the same as any online casinos work 24 hours a day 365 days a year and any poker player may play all around the clock hole year.

Online poker room player does not have to tog up and go somewhere. Playing poker online at the computer is more comfortable that at the casino table.

Online poker room player can choose from a wide variety of games including the rarest ones. Online poker room player may play during a fifteen minute break; or leave the table any time. Poker player may participate in a number of tournaments and cash-games. Online poker room player can play short handed tables or face-to-face. Online poker room player may play at several online poker room tables at a time, play many games in an hour with simultaneous shuffling and dealing. Time limit for decision taking makes the game more dynamic. Online poker room player does not have to control and count the jackpot and his own chips.

Playing poker in online poker room is a good practice for the beginners playing micro limits which cannot be found in off line casino.

Before playing the game.
If you are ready to play poker in an online poker room, you should install online poker room client programs. Basically the poker software comprises two parts – server part – here the cards are generated and information about all the players is collected. Client’s part – here the player sees the cards, opponents and makes poker decisions. Both parts of the software are connected via the Internet and constantly exchange information.

Client programs.
Online poker room client programs can be of two types: downloaded (executable programs ) and non-downloaded ( flash or java, played in the browser ). Non-downloaded programs are less convenient though their number is increasing. To play non-downloaded poker room version a poker player should, as a rule, press some button like “Instant Play”, then a small browser window will be opened and the poker room software will be downloaded there. If this is java poker room program, the player should have java scripts enabled in his browser, flash plug-in should be installed to view flash. The poker players are likely to have Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher with 128-byte encryption.

If you prefer downloaded version ( and it is more convenient and functional), please find the section “Download” at the poker room site and download the program (usually 4-8 Mb, though sometimes occur small ones less than 1MB; they download the software after the launch and then will install the client). When the download is complete, start the program and it will install the poker client. As a rule the client will automatically add the icon of poker room at your desktop or to folder “Programs”.

Rules for the registration at online poker rooms, money depositing and withdrawal of the winning money are the same as in online casinos. When registering, fill out the application, indicate your full name, address, phone number, email, select login and password, and also your screen name that will be used during the poker room playing sessions. Almost all online poker rooms accept cards. There are a few e-wallets such as Moneybookes, Neteller, Firepay and so on to ease online poker room players funding options.

Recently the pace of quantitative growth of online casinos is slowing down, which is due to the satiety of the market and new anti-gaming laws. At the moment casinos try to attract clients by improving service and increasing the amount and quality of games. For instance, online casinos software company “Microgaming” has been adding four games every month for the last two years. The company “CryptoLogic”develops service packs with about ten games every several months. New games appear in PlayTech and RTG casinos. Certainly, the leadership among new games belongs to various slots, mainly video-slots with a great number of lines, bonuses or simply with new graphics. However, ordinary table games (card games against the dealer) are being developed as well. Let’s look closer at the latest innovations in the online casinos.

Let’s start with the solitaire. Yeah, it is old good “Klondike” that firmly occupies its place in the standard set of Windows games. Now the CryptoLogic casino also has this game, but it is called “Solitaire”. I will not retell the rules of the game – if you do not know them, launch the game and see by yourself. If you want to train in the very casino version, install parameters “deal cards one by one” and “account for money” and you will receive a clear idea of what you will encounter in the casino. In the beginning of the game, you stake from 1,04 to 52 USD (52 USD are embedded also in Windows Solitaire) and you will receive from 10 cents to 5 USD for each card, put in its proper place. So if Solitaire is completed, you win five times more than the initial stake. But even if Solitaire is not being completed, you receive some money back. As you see, if you place 11 cards, you will be in pocket. Unfortunately, the analysis of the game is too complicated and information about expectation is not available yet.

The fantastic popularity of the online poker club preconditioned the appearance of following games in the casino. First, the game Casino Holdem was developed, which is now available in casinos RTG, PlayTech and CryptoLogic; a little later there appeared Tequila Poker (PlayTech).

So, the Casino Holdem is the game that really resembles the holdem-poker. At first players must stake the ante, then the player and the dealer take two hole cards and at once the flop is dealt. The flop means three open board cards (one pack with 52 cards is used). Looking at five cards (hole and flop), players must make the decision whether they will continue the game or not. If the game continues, the player stakes the blind in amount of two ante, otherwise he discards and loses the ante. If the game continues, the dealer deals two cards more – turn and river – and showdowns. The combinations of the player and dealer are compared according to rules of the Texas Holdem – the higher poker combination, formed by five cards, wins (it is possible to use from 0 up to 2 hole cards and from 3 up to 5 board cards). Like in the Oasis-Poker, the dealer can have “no game”. If the dealer has less that pair of fours, the player receives winning in the amount of ante, but not only one ante, but in accordance with the winning table, where winning varies from 1 ante for straight and lower up to 100 ante for royal-flesh (the main blind returns to the player). If the dealer has the game and his combination is higher, all blinds of the player are lost. If combinations are equal, the winner is determined by the seniority of cards remaining. If the dealer has the game and his combination is lower, the player receives payments on ante in accordance with table and on the main stake as 1 to 1.

Depending on table of payments, the advantage of casino in the game makes up near 2%. Taking into account the variety of possible combinations, it is practically impossible to develop the optimal strategy. However, one can roughly say that the player must play about 82% of dealings. The player should discard, if he has two small unpaired cards, does not comply with the flop and he can’t hope on the straight/flash.

In addition to the main blind, the player can make an additional bet on the field marked as “AA”. The player wins the additional stake, if his 5-card combination on the flop is formed by pair of aces or higher. In this case, the player will receive payments in accordance with table from seven up to 100 times of the stake amount. The advantage of casino by the additional stake makes up little more than 6%.

Tequila Poker is far from the club poker, but it has some features that make it closer to Blackjack or even Baccarat. So, the game needs the pack with 52 cards, before dealing the player stakes the ante. After this four hole cards are put on the table. Here the player has to make his choice, he can refuse to continue the game, losing the ante, or he can continue the game Tequila Poker or continue the game Tequila High, making the main stake at the amount of the ante. If the game continues, two hole cards are dealt more and five cards are chosen from them to form the best combination. If the player has chosen the game Tequila Poker, the combination is formed according to the standard poker rule. The hand with pair of aces and higher is considered to be a winner. If the combination is lower, the player loses all stakes, if it is higher, the ante is paid as 1 to 1 and the main stake multiplies in accordance with table of payments that is generally looks like the Video Poker one. If the player has chosen the game Tequila High, points of his five higher cards are summed. Points are accounted as in Blackjack (cards from two up to ten according to nominal value, pictures are valued as 10 points, aces – 11 points). The player is to receive minimum 46 points for winning. If he receives more than 45 points, the ante is paid as 1 to 1 and payments on the main stake are made in accordance with table (maximum 54 points with payments 200 to 1).

As you understand, here the optimal strategy is also very complicated. I will only say that the player is to play Tequila High in 30% of dealings, Tequila Poker in 32% and he is to discard the remained 38% of dealings. You should play Tequila Poker if you have any pair or four cards for straight/flash (including an inside straight). You should play Tequila High if you your three higher cards give 28 or more points. The advantage of casino at the play with the optimal strategy will make up 4,2%.