Category: Gambling and Casinos

When you refer to your position at the table, you should think about the place you have in the poker room relative to the player that is the dealer for that specific hand. If you are the dealer for this hand, you find yourself positioned last to bet, so your position is the best as you can see everyone’s reactions and bets before you make up your mind.

The player that has to bet the small blind is the player situated in the left of the dealer and after the pre-flop betting he or she will be the first to bet from now on.

The player that has to bet the big blind is the player situated in the right of the dealer and after the pre-flop betting he or she will have an early position. This position, as the small blind, is an obliged position, which means they cannot fold in the pre-flop

The player that has the position situated to the left go the big blind has the first action when cards are first dealt. Because the bets are placed in a clockwise motion, the ones that have to bet or decide later are the ones that are in late position and they are the one that have many advantages. They can think and see what everybody else is doing before acting and place bids accordingly. They can even gamble a little if the odds tell them too. They are most likely to lose less and they most certainly are the most confident players at the table.

The early positions presented above must select their hands carefully, if they have clearly a bad hand and they can fold they should do it. They have no privileges when it comes to decide the actions, so it’s better if they are more careful than the late positions. Let’s just say you are the first player to act, meaning the player situated to the left of the big blind. And you have these two cards: a ten and a Jack of different colors. The player right after you raises the bid, and all the other players in the games decide to give up and they fold. And now, you cannot change your bet, now you are being left alone with that player that stands a big chance of actually having a good hand and there is nothing you can do.

But, thinking from a different perspective, if you are the dealer you can clearly see how all they others are betting and also estimate the value of the pot and adjust it if necessary. If a dealer raises after a bet, all the others must act again, and is they betted once it is quite possible to do it again and maybe even again until the dealer is satisfied with the size of the pot.

Studying the history of poker is a worthwhile venture. However, it will be tough to trace back to its exact origins. Its history goes way back and the exact origin is more conjecture than concrete fact.

According to the dictionary, poker was derived from the French word poque in the early 1800s. And in those days, poque wasn’t even poker. According to sources, community card poker games, such as Texas Hold’em, didn’t come into existence until the 1920s.

Ah the 1920s-girls, gangsters and music. Back then poker was played in super-secret locations where finely dressed gangsters would guard the games. And they weren’t the only ones armed. It was commonplace for players to pack the heat too. Bandits and rival gangs would sometimes raid good poker games and make off with the loot. Playing poker was really hazardous to your health.

The world of Poker dramatically changed in the 1970s and it’s this point in time that most closely resembles today’s poker world. It provided the foundation for everything we have today. The famous Word Series of Poker came along and setup the poker world for today’s numerous big-money poker tournaments, such as those offered by the World Poker Tour and countless venues around the world.

And that leads us to Poker on TV, which is even being embraced by mainstream media outlets such as NBC and ESPN. But what was the key moment in time that made this possible? Surely watching people play poker is boring right? We can all thank the hole card cam. This little invention changed the game. Poker was now fun and viable for TV and we haven’t looked back since.

In fact, you could say that this one invention changed it all. Today, Poker is booming. Players all over the world are playing on TV-most started on the Internet. It’s all thanks to poker being popularized-making stars of the average poker player. And that’s all thanks to the hole card cam, which made all of this possible.

Poker’s history is so rich and filled with fun twists and turns that it would be impossible to deal with it all in a single article. Hopefully this article has wetted your appetite.

If you want to learn more about poker’s history, start with the legendary names, such as Doyle Brunson, David Sklansky, Mike Caro, Binion and then move on to more recent stars, such as Gus Hanson and Daniel Negreanu.

Let’s take a look at a situation that some online players find irresistible, and this situation is playing hands just for the color. Why they do it is pretty simple: they look nice all rounded up and with the same color and they will surely bring the player fabulous winnings. But they won’t, you need luck to get a flush just out of two cards. They play for instance and Ace or a king along with any kicker just because they are from the same suit. Many even cross this line, and they think that anything is worth playing if the two cards share the same color.

You looking back at your game you find that you also can be help responsible for these kinds of hands, even when you find yourself in early position, then you must really rethink your way of playing. Let’s take a look at the odds you get a flush right out of the flop. So, to have a flush them you must have in your hand two card of one color, and next to this, the three cards dealt in the flop must be all three of the exact same color as the ones you are holding. The chances for that to happen are under 1%. They are actually about 0.85%. That means something like 118 to 1. Very low chances. So, even now when you know this you might still play let’s say an Ace with any suited card because you hope you will get a flush along with the flop or on the river. But, usually you have to waste lots of money to test this. And saying that you do have a flush, you can not be sure that you have the winning hand. Maybe another player tried it too and he has a flush also, only with better cards than yours.

I know that everyone finds it hard to give up this method but if you want to be successful you must give it up. Just think of it as it is a bad think, that will surely make you lose money and this way you might be able to give it up.

To stop yourself from doing this mistake again just set an objective not to play this hands for 10 poker sessions from now one. Take a pen and a paper and note down every hand you will throw that fits this description. And fold but continue watching the game. In the end do some calculus and see if you could have won that hand. Include all the bets you would have made to win it, how much money you would have spent on that hand and how much you would eventually win.

Repeat this for every hand. And after 10 poker sessions, add all the figures up. And surprisingly you will realize that it was a right decision, that you saved money and this will convince you too be more careful with hands of two suited cards.

Poker is all about winning, but losing as well. And when he loses, a player gets decepted. Bluffing is a typical poker method. The reason you bluff is obvious: you want to trick the others, making them think you have a better hand than the one you do, and even a better hand than they do. If you want your bluff to be successful, you need to actually persuade the others that you have better cards. Players without experience love to bluff. They would do it all the time. And that leads them to bankruptcy. The efficiency of a bluff is sometimes increased by situations and it is closely related to the information you have about the others that are playing with you. It’s difficult to give specific situations when bluffing works, because it depends on people’s reactions and they can often be unpredictable.

When it comes to online poker playing, some situations just ask for a bluff.

1. When you are playing against just a few players.

It’s actually quite simple to understand, and as you know fewer people are easier to trick. When there are just a few hands, odds tell us that the chances for a good hand are low and you can go ahead and bluff. But experienced players know that you can bluff in this situation, so they might go ahead and call you till the end. It’s tricky as is bluffing always and you should try it only when you play with persons you are familiar with.

2. When you play beside tight persons.

Tight players will go along with bidding only if they have something they usually fold when they have nothing, or they make small bets. If you bluff early and the others are still calling your bets, then it is probable that they really do have something and maybe you should stop bluffing because they can stick to their cards.

3. When the last card is dealt, on the river.

You can bluff here because the ones that really have bad hand will fold, they have to other chance of improving their hand. If you got this far without bluffing you probably have something, like an Ace or a low pair, and the bluffing you are about to pull off it’s actually semi-bluffing.

4. When you are last and every one else checked.

If they all checked, this means their hands are not that great at all. Be aware because you will force some to make the bid, but some will probably fold. You might need to make this a persistent bluff, betting and raising bets a few times, because the bluff is common and others expect it.

5. When you placed a bet early but didn’t get the cards.
Of course, if they see you are still betting they will think you found the cards you need on the table. It is fairly risky and there are no patters for this, you just have to feel the table and analyze the cards and odds accordingly.

6. When the others fear you.

If you just won a good hand or some consecutive less important hands, then they know you can really play. If they type “Nice hand” they are now in your power, they respect and fear your hands. They are likely to fold if you raise the bet, only if you play this bluff the same way you played the winning hands.

7. When the cards in the flop are bad.
It is possible that players will fold when they see bad flops. If the flop has three rainbow cards that don’t match at all, like for instance: 5, 8, and 2 most likely no one has anything. So try to bluff, but pay attention to the reaming two cards. If they are also low, go on with it.

When using any of these bluffing strategies, think about the fact that other players might know them too and because of that they might see that you are bluffing. But bluff only against players you are familiar with to have better chances of succeeding.