Category: Gambling and Casinos

Texas, the Lone Star State, is famous for a number of things, all of which are important to the average Texas native. Texas is the home of The Alamo, U.S. President George W. Bush, and cycling champion Lance Armstrong. Texas is the second most populous state in the union, with 22,490,022 inhabiting people its vast, open spaces. The capital of Texas, Austin, has become a cultural Mecca for artists, musicians and more, with infamous South by Southwest Music Festival held in Austin annually. This large state covers at least 268,581 sq. miles.

With a state this big, it is believable then, that there are a large number of casinos covering the state. If it is a Texas casino that features horseracing that you are interested in, well, there are a whole lot of them.

Choose from Texas casinos available like the Gillespie County Fairgrounds, which features quarter horse racing or the Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie, which also boasts quarter horse racing as well as the option of betting on thoroughbreds. Valley Race Park in Harlingen features thoroughbreds, Sam Houston Race Park in Houston features thoroughbreds and quarter horses, Manor Downs in Manor features quarter horses and Retama Park in Selma features thoroughbreds and quarter horses. Each park features dining options as well.

The Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino, located in Eagle Pass, is one of the larger Texas casinos. It features more than 1,000 slot machines and more than 20 table games. There are dining and entertainment options in this Texas casino and is operated by the Kickapoo Tribe.

The Texas Treasure Casino Cruise is another gambling facility located in the Long Star State. Based in Port Aransas, this Texas casino features more than 400 slot machines, more than 20 table games and a host of dining options. Bingo is also a featured game at this Texas casino facility.

For those interested in visiting Texas casinos with dog racing, the Corpus Christi dog track, located in the city of Corpus Christi and Gulf Greyhound Park, located in La Marque, are both excellent quality dog-racing tracks. The Corpus Christi dog track features an option for dining and Gulf Greyhound Park features both a concession stand as well as a dine-in option.

Texas casinos feature enough variety for everyone to find one to suit their needs. Not sure which one to visit? Try one from each category and see which one gives you the best experience (with the most winnings)!

Certain advanced poker strategies used by pros have been well written upon, but many players seem to forget the exact poker situations described and tend to use certain tactics in the wrong game. The ‘free card’ poker play in Holdem is a perfect example of a strategy that should be used more often in a loose passive low limit game and less in tournaments or no-limit sessions.

The ‘free card’ poker play in Holdem is when a late position player bets or raises on the flop with a drawing hand in an attempt to show strength and to get the other players to check after the turn card is dealt. If the strategy works, the player then has the option of not putting any more bets in the pot on the next ‘free’ card (which is ideal when on a draw that needs to hit to win).

Low limit Holdem games are categorized as ‘show down’ games since many players will stay in the hand until the river and showdown. Straight forward play works better at these tables as most opponents won’t be paying attention to your extra aggression or attemts at trickery. If players are likely to bet into you regardless of your play on previous betting rounds, raising in hopes of getting a cheap or free card will obviously not work. Since betting with a draw only has value when opponents will actually fold on occasion or as a strategy to get them to check to you, the semi-bluff should be attempted less often in loose games and checking in turn with hopes to hit your draw is suggested.

In tournaments where players are considering their stack size and survival, along with no-limit games where bluffs can be more successful, bets on a draw can be carried through with much more success and results. Many one-pair hands will fold when facing pot-sized bets or bigger and the likelyhood that your foes will muck hands like these should always carry weight when considering if you should wait to hit your draw or fire again in hopes to win immediately.

Concept Example : You raise with AsKs in late position after four players entered the pot, the big blind and the other four limpers call, so 6 of you see the flop for two bets each. The flop comes down 6c, 8s, Qd. It is checked to you, you bet and get 3 callers. The turn is the 2c.

With this type of board a tournament player will often consider making another big bet after the turn card. You can win by eventually hitting your outs or by getting the others to fold their hands. At the low limit tables however, checking is the suggested play since players will likely call down with any pair to the end in a pot that size when facing cheap limit bets.

Most individuals have no beginning preflop texas holdem strategy; they would sit at a poker table trying to play quickly as possible without being aware of their surroundings and whom they’re playing with. This is a common mistake most poker players make. Before jumping into the action and start betting like maniac with your pockets, consider the following preflop strategy…

Number of Players: Is your table a full or short handed (Six players or less) game? With a full table of nine or ten players, it’s likely someone’s holding a strong hand or overcards (AA, KK, AK, AQ, etc) that can easily beat your hand. Also, the chances of someone else’s hole cards fitting the flop will be much better. You should take this into consideration, and play your hand as cautious as possible. But before getting into the action consider the next important point…

Type of Opponents: As explained in Lesson Two of identifying your opponents, the most crucial information you can obtain is how your opponents play and adjust to their style of play. Usually, I would sit at a table and not play for the first five minutes; I let the button and blinds pass me once before I start jumping in, unless I pick up a nice hand like AA, KK, AQ, etc. After identifying who are weak and strong opponents, I then start picking up pots off the weak players. But before I start hammering with bets and take those pots, I like to consider the next important point…

Your position: Position is very important, as I will elaborate in lesson four. Players in late position or last to act (preferably on the dealer button) have a great advantage than those acting ahead. Players acting last can observe the action taking place before them and also have the ability to influence the size of the pot. At times, your position may be more valuable than the cards you hold.

Stack Size: A player with a large stack dominates his opponents and can scare or drive opponents out of the pot and fold, giving them the fear of being eliminated. On the other hand, watch out for players with short stacks. If they are still in a pot, they’re usually all in at some point or another.

Online Texas Hold’em has taken the world by storm in the past few years. In case you’ve been left behind, we are going to get you caught up to speed with the world of online texas hold’em poker. I’m going to assume that you have a working knowledge of the game of texas holdem and only talk about the differences between online and offline texas holdem.

There are several major differences between online texas holdem and the texas holdem you’ve played for years at your friends house. First of all, there are no tells in online poker. Secondly, the software interface is one of the most important things in online poker. And lastly, you can always find an online game.

What happened to all of the tells?

There are lots of people that will tell you that there are still tells in online poker. I don’t believe this one bit. They will say that if someone bets quick or slow, you will be able to get a feel for their play. Well, what about internet connections? If someone has a slow connection, they will play intermittently. In other words, sometimes bet slow and sometimes bet quickly. This just isn’t reliable enough, so there are no tells in online texas holdem.

Software interface, the most important thing

The software interface allows you to do, and not do, everything at the poker table. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. For one, you are limited to the confines of the poker software. You are only allowed to do whatever the software programmers have allowed you to do. Fortunatly, there are some really good programs out there and everything is there except the feel of the felt and the chips in your hand.

A big advantage of online poker over at home poker is, there is never any mistake over who won the pot. Have you ever miscalled a hand and lost because of it? Well, that will never happen in online poker.

There is always a game online

Unlike your buddies house, there is always a game that you can play from the convenience of your own home. Just log on to your favorite online poker room and you will see tens of thousands of people online playing at thousands on tables.