Category: Gambling and Casinos

It was not so long ago that most members of the public would shun the legitimacy of the poker player who treated a game of cards as a “profession”. It wasn’t like a real job or profession where you had to physically exert yourself in some way or another. Poker players just had to sit at a table all day, eat, drink and play cards. Sounds more like a holiday to me. But the stealth like success and mass appeal of the game, much like its strategies have propelled it to stellar proportions.

Today, we see those once shunned poker players as legitimate professionals who are celebrated in their own right; a status previously kept for sports personalities. However, the trimmings associated with this level of fame does become a prime feeding ground for opportunists hoping to attach themselves to these pros and bask in the fast paced Bondesque lifestyle the game now conjures up for itself. Of course the ‘Rags to Riches’ stories such as that of Chris MoneyMaker who went on to win the WSOP 2003 championship of $2.5 million from his humble $40 online poker entry fee has only helped increase poker’s allure.

But it has primarily been the internet that has vastly improved poker’s appeal by helping the game reach the masses. Many online gambling sites such as InterPoker.com show that they can provide secure and trusted environments from which amateur players can learn the skills of the game and participate in competitions with jackpots that would otherwise have been unattainable without going to Las Vegas.

These gaming sites have become the hub of online gambling and helped drastically change the image of the game from a lazy man’s living to a socially accepted and practiced pastime with over a $12billion turnover. In turn, the games hosted on these sites such as Texas Holdem, Omaha, Roulette and the like are being played on a constant basis thanks to the ease in which player can now access these games. In turn, the professional poker players have gained a wider acceptance and fame as more and more people begin to understand the intricacy of those games and want to pick up on those “secret” tips and strategies.

With this success come the spoils of royalties, sponsorships, TV deals for the echelons of professional poker and some very prominent gaming companies riding the mania. For example, InterPoker.com sponsors many a professional player, recently sending their key players to the WSOP 2006 and 32Red have just signed a two year sponsorship deal with Aston Villa football club. But of course it is not only the companies that are blitzing every marketing avenue, poker players too are reaping the perks associated with sponsorship, now becoming the key endorsers of mainstream brands such as a recent television campaign taken on by Pepsi showing poker pros playing against a can of soda. Like with all things once taboo in the media, it won’t be long before poker pros become the future kings / queens of cool and much like Kate Moss, the darling of most brands.

Let’s consider for a moment the effect that “poker prohibition” has had thus far. The goal of the UIGEA and the US Department of Justice was to cut off the flow of money to gambling sites, and hopefully bully the US facing sites into closing their doors to US customers. Let’s grade them.

1. Cut off money to online poker sites. Total failure. Just a few days ago I was able to create an Epassporte account, deposit to it with my bank issued Visa Debit card, and have money on Absolute Poker within about 15 minutes after starting the entire process.
2. Bully US facing poker sites into closing their doors to US players. I’d have to give them a “D” here for below average. They got Party Poker to close and a handful of smaller sites. The fact that Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Absolute, Ultimate Bet, Bodog and others remain open to US players, is concrete evidence that legal issues facing online poker have not had the desired effect.

So what has the ban accomplished?
1. They made it hard for us to get our winnings in our pockets. You can’t pay taxes on my if you can’t get them to your bank.
2 They caused the most respected and reliable e-wallet, Neteller, to shut down it’s US operations, thereby giving room for scam operations to pop up. Wonderful.

The vast majority of US citizens believe that online poker should not be banned. I guess government by the people and for the people is an outdated slogan. If you’re a citizen here and want to get your online poker fix, there are still plenty of Poker Sites that accept US players and Casino Sites that accept US players. As noted above, if you’re looking for a method to get money to a poker site, Epassporte looks to be a good option at least for funding your account. Withdrawal times are a bit slow, but I suspect if they continue to work with the USA customers, this e-wallet will become much more efficient.

Poker pot odds, just what are they?

When we are referring to pot odds we are actually talking about a crucial element in the game of poker. The pot odds are determined by evaluating the size of the pot and the bet that is about to be made. Let’s take a little example for clarification purposes: the size of the pot is $20 and a bet of $5 has been made and now you are about to call it. The pot odds in this case will be 20/5 that means odds of 4:1. If the call would be done for $10 instead of $5, then you would get pot odds of 2:1. Generally, the pot odds are identified by dividing the size of the pot to the amount of the bet when all bets of the round are equal.

The size of the pot

You must always be aware of the size of the pot if you are planning to calculate the pot odds. When playing in a Limit room, the odds will also depend on the numbers of the bets in the pot, instead of the actual amount of the pot. For double bets like some games of hold’em have when on the river you will count twice, that means two small bets for each double bet. If the limit is put only on the pot or if you are playing no-limit hold’em, then the amount of bets is a little harder to calculate and the resulting pot-odds will be more as a guideline than as exact facts, but you still have to try and calculate them at all times.

Using pot odds

In order to use the pot odds, you first have to know them for your game. After you calculated your pot odds, they must be evaluated in a direct connection to the value of the cards you are holding. This includes evaluating the hands of the other players too, and making a plan or a statistic of the outcome of your own hand, calculating the chances you can get to have the best hand in the game.
Let’s say you are playing hold’em and are currently on the flop, having a flush draw. Your opponent is most likely to have at least a high pair. The cards you should concentrate on are the outs, the nine cards that can give you a flush once you already can see four of the cards that will be used in your flush. The chances to get the card you need on the turn or on the river are of about 35%, or 1:2 for you, so in order to be sure you are making the right choice, you calls on the flop should be made only if they are based on 2:1 pot odds.

The implied odds

The term of implied odds asks for a calculation of the pot you are most likely to win if you do win. The implied odds are relative and dependent on the evaluation that you provide the game with. They are the relation between the actual size of the pot and the expected final size of it. Let’s consider one player bets in a limit game $5 and the pot is $20, so if you call your implied pot odds would be of 5:1 because you are betting a fifth of the expected winning. This is where we should tell if your opponent is either going to call or raise later on the game. Then the implied odds can get to 6:1 or 8:1 depending on the future bets that you must predict.

There’s a board game that originated from the Philippines called Game of the Generals. Only two players can play the game and the winner is usually the one who has the better strategy when it comes to positioning key players of the game.

The flag is the most vulnerable and must therefore be protected at all costs. The spy is the highest ranking official in the game and can ironically be defeated by the lowest ranking officer, the private. It depends on where you position all your players in order for you to win the game.

It’s almost exactly the same process when it comes to winning a game of poker.

Positioning is a very important aspect of poker and unfortunately, it’s also an aspect that most new poker players tend to overlook. First time poker players tend to believe, you see, that everything depends on their cards alone. I assure you that it’s not. In poker, everything matters and expert poker players are aware of this. That’s why for them, positioning is quite an important factor because a good position in a game of poker, especially when it’s something like the Texas Hold’Em version, can give you an advantage over your fellow players.

The Starting Positions

It’s always difficult to be in one of the starting positions because you’re ultimately forced to reveal your hand in the first few rounds without having any idea on what types of hands your opponents are holding. The key to surviving the next few rounds is gauging what type of opponents you’re facing and see if it’s possible to bluff your way through. It’s also a good sign if you’re facing a few opponents and you’re holding large suited cards in your hands.

The Middle Position

This may not be the best position to have in poker but it’s certainly a shade better than having an early position in the game. With the middle position, you have better chances of calculating the odds of winning and being able to get the cards you need. If you’ve been given a slot in the middle position, simply try your best to hang on and do stick with small suited cards.

The Last or Late Position

Alas, this is the best position that you can have when playing poker, especially when there are around ten players or so which is often the case in Texas Hold’Em Poker. If you’re still not that good in playing poker, being in the last position will then give you the upper hand. As others before you will reveal their cards first, use this to your advantage and just calculate the odds as best as you can.