Aiming For A Poker Tournament
Poker to me has always been a little bit of luck and a whole lot of information. An Online Poker Tournament has been proven achievable but the first disadvantage I see is my “whole lot of information” is going to be next to nil.
I’m only going to see other players and myself as caricatures on my screen. Facial expressions, hand gestures, body motions will all be absent, as well as eye squinting, blinking or twitching – those ‘giveaways’ on TV and why many use sunglasses. Add to this the screen names: how do I know that Tiny Tina isn’t some card shark from Vegas alluding to be female and harmless?
I’m going to have to compensate for this not-so-small handicap. Basically anybody’s poker actions are six — whether you play online or off… betting, folding, calling, raising, re-raising, or check-raising. So that’s a given. My observations are going to fall in the realm of a good site selection, a game selection (there are many tables), careful note-taking and money management.
And while all players are indeed in caricature-form, they still have behavior that can be noted. I can put their screen names under one of two lists: “tight players” or “loose players”. It will help to observe a few hands and label them before I decide to sit in. Too many tight players and I might look at another table.
Tight players are strong opponents. Even as a novice they will fold a poor deal and play a good one. When they raise, more often than not they have the cards to back it up with. I think it would benefit me to keep them to my right – that way, I get to act after they do. Loose players are often called ‘maniacs’ because they love to bet and raise with very little in hand to back it up.
As I see it, they are best if kept to my left in playing online poker. Advantages are: I get to see how the other players react to his/her betting before it’s my turn. And, at times if I check to the maniac who bets of course, this allows everyone else to call before I raise the bet and collect the additional monies. Get it?
Of course a table can also be tight or loose. Ideally I believe a loose table is better and the first sign of this would be how many players see the flop; the more the better – if many are playing to the flop, the pots are healthier. I read where 30% of the table playing all the way to the flop is a good measure. Anything less is not worthwhile sitting in.
So, it’s time now to choose a fictitious name and sign up for the best poker school where I can (as they say) become a professional in a matter of months rather than years by playing the game with “fun” money until I declare I am ready for a real investment.
Are you aiming for a poker tournament? If so, why not follow me as I write future Articles on this issue. Also share what you have learned, I’d be happy to hear from you and include your observations.
2006 Esther Smith
Advanced Blackjack Strategy
Blackjack card counting is an advanced technique to win on blackjack. A player must first learn the basic strategies of blackjack before learning “counting”. By learning the technique of counting you will have the odds with you.
The basic concept of blackjack counting is that a deck filled with 10s and aces will be to your advantage. While the deck of the dealer is filled with smaller cards but is to the dealer’s advantage. Simply put, when the deck is in your favor bet to the maximum, when it’s with the dealer’s bet minimum.
This is because a deck filled with 10 increases the chance of the dealer getting bust. You on the other hand can just opt to stand. In an opposite manner, a deck filled with smaller cards makes the dealers chance to bust less. If you know the deck is filled with 10s or smaller cards, this can give you the advantage of knowing what strategy to use.
The dealer must then always hit until having a soft 17. To hit with a hand of 10 & 6 and knowing the deck is filled with 10s is a bad idea.
If the deck is filled with aces, there is high chance that you’ll hit blackjack. When the player has blackjack, the pay off odds are 3:2. The dealer will only win on the other hand if he also gets a blackjack. That’s why a deck filled with aces is always to the player’s advantage.
Blackjack counting is not done by memorizing each card that has come out of a 6 deck shoe of cards. If you are able to do that, I’d be in awe: you should be in the world records book or maybe even the loony bin.
Blackjack card counting is done by assigning the different card numbers with different point values. Always remember to pick a system that is easy to remember. This will cause fewer mistakes and you will lose less money.
As stated above, you will assign a point value for each card and you will have to add the value of the cards that have come out. This is called the running count. Based on the plus/minus strategy, here are the values assigned.
2, 3,4,5,6 = +1;
7, 8, 9 = 0;
10, J, Q, K, Ace = -1
To illustrate this more clearly:
The first card dealt is an ace, so we start by having -1. Then 6 is the next card dealt so we add 1. This makes the run count back to zero. Then a 3 and 4 follows, making the run count now 2.
After figuring the run count, you can try to figure the true count. You take the running count you have and divide it with the number of decks remaining from the shoe.
The true counts tell you the appropriate bet size and you can base your strategy from there. Good luck!
About Five Card Stud
At one time 5-card stud was the most popular poker game being dealt. It was started in New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi on the steamboats and moved out west with the gold rush and the end of the Civil War. The game is rather simple to play and does entail some bluffing, as the hand possibilities are easy to read. It is played with one card dealt face down and four cards dealt face up. The betting starts after the first two cards are dealt and continues after each of the other three are dealt. This game is the game that is played in the movie Cincinnati Kid.
Now days the online casinos offer it less and less. Some Live casinos will still set a table on certain days or on special days. The game is becoming harder to find and many new players to poker have never played the game. The best starting hand is a pair of Aces or any other high pair. Pairs of higher value do have a tendency to hold up in this game. Three of a kind is a monster hand and any hand bigger than that would be a super monster. Five-card draw poker replaced this game in popularity, as it allowed more betting and more gambling as each player got to see more cards to make a hand. Lack of betting possibilities is what helped to kill off 5-card stud. Seven-card stud finally replaced both in most card rooms and this game is still one of the casino favorites.
There is a romance about 5-card stud and it was favored in the movies for a long time as it is relatively easy to understand and follow the action as a hand is played out.
Conclusions
Five-card stud is a fine game for learning to play poker and hand values. The lack of complications makes it an easy game to quickly learn and play. The other feature of this stud game is the art of the bluff. Bluffing is part of poker and stud is a game that a good bluffer will do well at against other players at the table. If you do not have a pair at the end of the five cards it is very hard to call a large bet with just an ace high. Four cards to a flush showing is tough to call without a pair.
A Look At Roulette Gambling
For the novice gambler, roulette gambling seems like a very difficult task to learn. It is true that learning the strategies used by pros can take years of experience to master, but you can find many sources online that outline the basics of roulette gambling. Just keep in mind that it takes a while to become a master gambler and to pace yourself.
Basically, you use chips to place your bets on a variety of number and colors on the roulette table. The Croupier (dealer) spins the wheel and a number and color is chosen. As the wheel spins, a small ball rolls around the wheel and lands on a destination. This is just an example of the basics of roulette gambling.
Roulette gambling can be as simple as placing a bet and watching the wheel spin. Winning in roulette gambling is a combination of strategy, odds and luck. You will not win every round; knowing the odds of the game can greatly influence your success in roulette gambling. Practice does not necessarily make perfect in roulette, although the more you play and the more experienced you become, the better you will be at gauging the odds.
You can always try roulette gambling at an online venue to begin with. Many websites offer free roulette gambling and this might be a great way to learn the game and test your abilities. As you feel more comfortable with the game, you may decide to play at a casino or at an online venue that is pay-to-play. Roulette can be a fun and exciting game with the potential for great payouts.
A Look at Casino Slot Machines
Casino slot machines easily account for nearly 70% of yearly casino income. Beginning and expert gamblers alike enjoy the fun and excitement of pulling the lever at a casino slot machine. Casino slot machines require no special skills, nor are there any strategies for winning. Winning at a casino slot machine depends entirely upon luck. We have all heard stories of people striking it rich after depositing only a few coins. Those of us who have played casino slot machines also know how easy it is to keep feeding the machine because playing is so much fun.
You can play casino slot machines at various casinos across the country. For those in the Southeastern United States, Tunica, MS is a grand hotspot for casino slot machines. Every year, thousands of people from surrounding, non-gambling states pile onto charter buses to spend a night or weekend gambling their time away. Casino slot machines are one of the primary attractions. Other gamblers will agree that Las Vegas casinos are the best place to play slot machines. You will certainly find no shortage of casino slot machines in Vegas.
Casino slot machines were first thought to be a very effective means of occupying the bored wives of the high-rolling gamblers of Vegas. The first casino owners who came up with this brilliant plan certainly had no real idea of what was in store for casino slot machines. Little did they know that those menial machines would eventually account for millions of dollars in revenue each year. Slot machines are now a big business and appeal to people from all walks of life. Young people who are experiencing their first time in a casino to the seasoned gambler, everyone is certain to find a casino slot machine that is invigorating.
Online Casino for iPhone: Playing on the Go
Mobile gambling is a relatively new invention and there are a handful of running mobile casino games in existence as of now. Mobile gambling refers to using a device such as a tablet computer (iPad, Samsung tablet) or a smartphone (Blackberry, iPhone) in order to play casino games for money. The phone must be wirelessly connected to the internet in order to participate. The revenues from online mobile gambling in 2009 were $4.7 billion and $5.6 billion in 2010. These revenues had been expected to be much higher but were not due to the 2006 legislation in the US blocking Internet based gambling. The laws in the European Union are often conflicting in response to online gaming and there has yet to be a single piece of unifying legislation released to address this issue, with each country passing their own laws.
With the advent of online casino for iPhone you can now gamble and play your favorite casino games from anywhere in the world as long as you have an established internet connection. Playing on an iPhone is not the same as gambling in a real casino or even playing online poker but it’s a pretty impressive adaptation. With the full color, high resolution, multi-touch capacitive screen of the iPhone 4 you get sucked into your favorite casino game and can hardly tell the difference. The iPhone 5 is due in the summer and is supposed to double the processor speed of the iPhone 4 as well as increase the graphics performance by 9x, which will do wonders for online casino iPhone and iPad applications.
The games that are currently available for iPhone are established and vibrant adaptations of Viaden Gaming’s trusted mobile casino software. You can play all your favorite games like roulette, bingo, blackjack, and poker.
#1 Secret Poker Strategy
If you have ever played poker before you know that you can obviously see all the players around you since you play in a circle (unless you’re playing online poker). You just figured out the most important part of poker. You may be thinking that that’s impossible.
You probably think that the most important part is the cards; what cards you get how to use them, ECT… These are very important, you are correct, but it all starts with your ability to use your body language to your advantage. The cards are going to be relatively the same for all the players. Luck usually doesn’t factor in well in poker since everyone has the same chance to get the same cards.
In case luck begins to play a large role in your game then what can you does? A player always has 4 basic choices; you can check, bet or call, raise, or fold. If you are not getting good cards you can always fold right?
This is not always a good idea. You may be leaving large amounts of money on the table in the long run after a few initial folds. Sure you seemingly get away with losing less but you give up the chance to even try. Bluffing is the art of misguidance. You want them to think you have a bad hand one second and the next a great hand with all the best cards that are sure to win you the pot.
How do you accomplish such a thing? Simply with your body language this can be done. If you have good cards act happy. You may not want them to know that you have good cards but it’s a way to change there thinking; now every time you act “happy” they will think you have good cards and may fold.
If you have bad cards and you act happy they might fold because now they are afraid.
What you want to do is create a complicated pattern of sad, happy, indifferent, ecstatic, angry, ECT. Actions for certain hands. You want to throw them off but try and lure them into a safe zone where they think they understand your bluffing pattern and then hit them with the reality. As long as they are trying to keep up with whatever pattern you have, you will have them all under your control.
In one game of poker tournament I was playing in I decided to create very complex poker faces. They where not good they where not bad. I scrunched my face, grabbed my lip and scratched my leg; I did the craziest thing that nobody understood. They had no idea what my faces meant so they assumed that when I didn’t raise that my cards where not good and they would raise and raise. When it came time to show, guess who took home the pot.
The moral of this little story is that you have to be creative. This is step two of poker (after learning the basics and learning them by heart), body language is very important. If you are known as a newbie and you come in they will expect you to show your cards loud and clear through your body language. You can mislead and kill your competition with a good poker face.
How to Use GamblingNerd.com
There are a lot of things that you can take advantage of when reading casino website reviews before even betting real money on any online casino site. For instance, if you read GamblingNerd.com, you will get a list of top rated online casino websites where you can play your favorite game of poker, blackjack, and craps or whatever casino game you want to play. You can even get a lot of information about sports betting on the site.
You can also find a lot of tips and advice on how you can start playing online casinos right in the comfort of your own home. Aside from online safety tips, you can also read about strategies and techniques on how you can win online casino games that you play. Hang around this site and you are sure to get a lot of online gambling information that you can take advantage of.
6 Helpful Online Slot Tips
Gambling is a world where it seems as though everyone’s trying to give you money. But the reality is that all the casinos and gaming dens lure you hoping to see your wallet shrink in size. Every gambler dreams of that one big win, but for most it remains a dream.
Slot machines are a comparatively less harmful way to take charge of how much you loose and win. It is a way wherein you can play with a relaxed mind and don’t need to plot, plan, or guess. Here the luck takes charge. Well, almost!
Here are a few tips to help you come out a winner when gambling on the slot machines:
• Don’t play on borrowed cash. This will only make you tense and keep that jackpot miles away from you. A positive and relaxed mind attracts treasures as you are less prone to overlook clues and information that could lead you to a win.
• Be very clear as to why you are near the slot machines at all. Are you there to enjoy yourself while you win some money doing ‘just so’, or are you after the ‘big win’. This will govern the type of slot machine that you will choose because the machines for small frequent small pay outs and less frequent big jackpot will be different from each other.
• Read your destiny in the symbols on the slot machine. When you select a slot machine, check how many symbols it has. The number of symbols is directly proportional to the combinations that can be made and therefore the number of times you are likely to win. But remember – more wins mean less winning amount.
• When to go for that biggie? Small wins will not keep you satisfied for long. Your palms will itch to play for the progressive big jackpot. Do not succumb to this desire until the progressive jackpot becomes exceptionally big. History says that when the progressively building jackpot becomes really big, it is very likely to burst. Wait for such an opportunity.
• For your own safety play slots at reputable online casinos that offer a bonus. This will not only give you peace of mind but also generous bonuses to play on.
• Remember to stop. Many players forget this simple rule and loose all the money they earned from playing slots and sometimes much more.
It is easy to get carried away when you see the money roll in. True winners quit when they are still at a ‘high’.
3 Card Poker Strategy
When you break out the 52-card deck and deal a hand of 3-card poker, the first strategy you need is a firm understanding of the rules. Rather than competing against other players, you are competing against the dealer. You need a better hand than the dealer (and at least a pair) to win. Each of you is dealt three cards, and the cards are shuffled after each hand. Because there are fewer ways to make a straight with 3 cards than a flush, straights rank higher. Aces are high or low.
You can make two bets: the Ante and the Pair Plus. The Ante is the fee charged to you for playing the hand. The Pair Plus is your bet that you will get a hand with a pair or higher. You don’t have to make both bets, but you do at least have to bet the Ante to stay in the game.
You ante when you put your bet on the game table’s Ante spot. Both you and the dealer are dealt three cards face down. Your next decision? Are these cards good enough for you to bet or should you fold? Fold and lose the ante. Bet and you place your bet that equals the ante in the game table’s Play spot. Win and you get the Ante and the Pair Plus payouts.
The dealer has to have a Queen or better to stay in the game. If not, you get payment on their ante only if it pays even money (1 to 1) – and as long as you didn’t fold.
Ante Payout
- A straight gets a 1 to 1 payout.
- A three of a kind gets a 4 to 1 payout.
- A straight flush gets a 5 to 1 payout.
Pair Plus Payout
- A pair gets a 1 to 1 payout.
- A flush gets a 4 to 1 payout.
- A straight gets a 6 to 1 payout.
- A three of a kind gets a 30 to 1 payout.
- A straight flush gets a 40 to 1 payout.
Remember these tips to help your strategy:
- If you have a Queen or better, bet the Pair Plus. If not, fold.
- A dealer will get a Queen about 66% of the time.
- The house has a 3.4% advantage.