SELECT A CASINO. Rule number one. Be a member of no less than six online casinos so you can rotate and move around from casino to casino during play. Select only well~known casinos with excellent reputations for paying quickly and maintaining industry~ accepted randomizing algorithms (more on this later).

SELECT A BETTING LIMIT. But only if it’s $1/2, $2/4 or $5/10 blinds. This section will discuss the research, the math, and the studies on human nature that prove conclusively that high~stake limit tables are not the place to make money. They are however an excellent place to lose large amounts of cash in a big hurry. The return on investment (ROI) is best at medium limit tables.

SELECT YOUR STAKE. No decision here if your smart. You must have 50 to 100 times the Big Blind. Any less and your chances of making money nose dive. More will only improve your table ‘cred’and help to intimidate weaker players.

SELECT A TABLE. Spend at least 15 minutes watching the play at each table. Review your notes if recognized players are present. Check out at least three tables before you start. Then select the loosest table. To win at Texas Hold’em Poker you must play tight in loose games and play in loose games only. If all the tables are tight, run. Go back to Step 1.

SELECT A POSITION AT THE TABLE. Watch for the tightest player at the table. Pick a spot to that players left. We have dedicated an entire chapter later on to table position strategy.

TAKE NOTES ON PLAYERS. Record playing styles. Do they raise before the flop? Do they fold before the flop? What’s the size of their stake? Do they react quickly or slowly when their turn
comes up? What kind of cards did they play on? Everyone should take player notes at casinos like Party Poker where they offer the feature. Don~t know how to take notes? Just right~click on the avatar (picture) of the target player and click ~Player Notes~. That feature is there for a very good reason -use it.

TURN OFF CHAT. It’s distracting and rarely valuable. If you want to chat, use MSN -but never while you’re playing for money.

TURN OFF TV’s, MUSIC, OTHER DISTRACTIONS. Now is not the time to catch the score on your favorite game or consume a bucket of chicken. If anyone’s going to be distracted, it should be your opponents. Let them miss cues, watch their stack disappear and wonder what happened.

PLAY TIGHT. Follow the Food Chain Theory. Learn the rules. Understand the odds. Bet like a’shark’, not a’fish’.

PLAY FOR ONE HOUR -then take a break, regardless of whether you’re winning or losing. This will keep you sharper than the other players who are hanging on for that one last win.

And there you are. Ten steps that will make you thousands, maybe a lot more over time.

After you’ve been playing poker for a while, you will inevitably want to get your feet wet and head down to your local casino or card room to play some live casino poker. Along with this desire comes a certain level of anxiety or nervousness about going down to the brick and mortar for the first time.

This is perfectly normal!

But don’t worry! There really isn’t anything to fret about, as playing poker at the casino is one of the most fun forms of playing the game.

Despite my reassurances, however, I’m sure you still have some reservations about going, and are probably a bit worried about what to do when you get there, what stakes you should play, etc.

The good news is that this article should explain a lot of the questions you have about playing at the casino. After reading the following tips you will be ready for the live casino poker game, allowing you to relax and really do what you came to the casino for in the first place – to win money!

The first thing you’ll want to do upon arriving at the casino is to talk to the front desk area in the poker room and have them either assign you a table, or place you on a waiting list to be seated. You’ll have to decide what stakes you wish to play. Normally most casinos will have a low stakes limit game ($4-$8), a low stakes no limit game ($1-$2), and maybe some mid-high stakes games.

After you are assigned a table, the floor person will likely point you toward the cage to get some chips. I would recommend buying in for at least 20 big bets (so $160 for $4-$8) if you are going to play limit holdem. If you are going to play No Limit, then typically buying in for the maximum or close to it is optimal.

Now that you have your chips, sit down – the fun is about to begin! Soon enough you will win your first hand… what a rush. There’s nothing like the feeling of winning a big pot and stacking up your chips.

One thing to remember in the casino though after winning a hand is to ALWAYS TIP THE DEALER! This is common courtesy just like tipping your server at a restaurant. Usually in low limit games I will give the dealer any $0.50 chips that they give me from making change for the rake. If I don’t get any chips that size, then I will generally tip $1.00. This is completely up to you though, and I would suggest anywhere from $0.50 to $2.00 is more than acceptable, although you may wish to tip more if you win a large pot.

As you play more and more at the casino, there is bound to be a time when you have a question about the way a hand was handled, or you feel that a mistake was made. Always keep your cool in these circumstances, and point it out to the dealer first. If they aren’t handling it to you satisfaction, call a floor person over – but ALWAYS give the dealer a chance to make things right. Dealers are people too, and no one likes it when someone goes over their heads. That said, if the dealer isn’t doing anything about your problem, certainly ask for a floor manager.

These quick tips should get you ready for your first trip to a live casino poker room.

But one more thing!

Remember the most important rule of all for going to the casino – Have Fun!

Although poker is a game and not a culture, it has a language of its own that many people find confusing. And it might be, because this particular language is based on words that have different meanings and all of a sudden they become specific poker notions a beginner finds hard to understand and adapt to. So, to help prevent this problem before it even arises and to initiate you in the world of poker we will go over some basic words and phrases used frequently when at a poker table or in a poker room. The last thing you need is too enter a casino (online or offline) and to get confused at the table when you see or hear these words. To have a smooth and healthy poker game, you must understand everything that comes with it, including the poker language.

The blind (small blind or big blind) – this is a forced bet that substitutes the antes in traditional poker. The blinds are bets placed by the persons left to the dealer: the first person will bet the small blind and the second one the big blind. The blinds are placed before you can see your cards.

The board cards – when referring to board cards we mean the cards exposed on the table, dealt from the flop on, cards that can be seen and shared by all players.

The draw – one person draws when he is trying to improve the hand he already has with the cards that board cards that still need to be placed on the table. A draw means you have specific cards in mind and you want those cards to be placed on the table.

The pre flop – This is the turn in which your hand is dealt. You will receive in the preflop the two cards that will be seen just by you. So will the other players.

The flop – the flop is the round in which the first board cards are placed. The cards are three in hold’em.

The turn – it comes right after the flop and this is the round that reveals the fourth board card.

The river – the last card gets reveled in the river, meaning the fifth board card will be placed on the table. You now have access to seven cards (two in hand and five on the table).

Limit poker – a game of limit poker is the game in which there are pre-settled some limits for the bets. For example in a game of $4-$8, the bets and raises on the pre-flop and flop will be $4 and after that, on the turn and river they become $8.

Shorthand poker – a game is referred to as a shorthand game when at the poker table there are less than 6 people.

Longhand poker – A game is referred to as a longhand game when at the poker table there are more than 7 people.

The outs – The outs are the cards you need for your draw it to hit. So, if you need a king or any card of hearts, then to calculate your outs you will have to think that there are four kings, and twelve hearts. You will also consider the cards you can see. So, if you have a king of hearts in your hand and another heart, and the flop brought two hearts and a king of spades, then you will need one of the two kings left or one of the 8 hearts left in the deck, having a total of 10 outs for your draw.

Position – This refers to the position you have at the poker table. Positions are counted in the order of bet placing, that means from the dealer and clockwise. The dealer last to place a bet : first is the small blind and then the big blind, which are also called early positions. The persons that place their bets later, the last ones, are sitting in late positions.

Have you seen Texas Holdem Poker? If not yet, then you better try to watch Texas Holdem Poker on the ESPN and the Travel Channel. But if you have some interested in joining such game, then you better read this article about the Texas Holdem Poker rules for your advantage.

Before anything else, it is important to note that the Texas Holdem Poker is actually the version of Poker that is played in many casinos and seen on the Travel Channel’ World Poker Tour and ESPN’s World Series of Poker. For those who wanted to know the Texas Holdem Poker rules, here they are.

First things first, you should know about the Shuffle, the deal and the blinds for these are the first important things that the overall Texas Holdem Poker rules hold. Under this Texas Holdem Poker rule, the dealer shuffles a standard 52-card deck. In line with that, this Texas Holdem Poker rule states that most of the Texas Holdem Poker games begin with a couple of players to the left of the dealer, which is actually the button, placing a predetermined amount of money into the pot prior to any cards that are dealt. This Texas Holdem Poker rule holds that this act is important to ensure that there is something to play for on each hand. Under this Texas Holdem Poker rule, this act is known as “posting the blinds”. Also, under this first Texas Holdem Poker rule, the “first blind”, who is the player to the left of the dealer, puts up the minimum bet, and the “second blind” puts up the full minimum bet. With this Texas Holdem Poker rule, each of the players is dealt two cards that are face down, and which are known as the “hole cards”.

As the gambling starts, the Texas Holdem Poker rule holds that if a round of betting takes place, starting with the player to the left of the two who posted the blinds, the players can call, raise, or fold when it is their turn to bet.

Furthermore, under the Texas Holdem Poker rule, after the first betting round, the dealer cancels the top card of the deck. This act is called burning the card and is usually done to make sure that no one of the players accidentally spotted the top card, and also to help prevent cheating. Other moves to complete the Texas Holdem Poker rule are maintained, and lastly, the Texas Holdem Poker rule remain to its level until the player who has the best hand wins.

If you new to No Limit Texas Hold’em poker and have watched the WSOP you are probably amazed at the brilliant play of some of the professionals. Most likely you find yourself saying, “Wow! How did he know to raise in that situation” or “How in the world did he know that he was bluffing?” Well, sometimes it is luck but more often than not it is skill and knowing their opponents tendencies. When you are staking out your next opponent you may want to keep in mind that most players fall into four distinct categories, loose passive, loose aggressive, tight passive and tight aggressive.

The term loose and tight describes a poker player’s frequency of played hands. A loose poker player will play many hands and mix their play up. They don’t necessarily wait on what would be thought of as a good starting hand. A tight player will play hands less frequently usually waiting on a good starting hand or at least to be in good position.

The term passive and aggressive describe a poker player’s betting tendencies. A passive poker player will normally check or call many times even if they have top pair or over cards. An aggressive player, on the other hand, has a tendency to bet or raise and put your ability to read them to the test.

Loose Passive

A loose passive player is generally new to No Limit Texas Hold’em. They will start with almost any hand not fully understanding which hands are strong and which hands are marginal. When the flop and turn are shown and they catch middle or bottom pair they will generally check or call giving the opponent an opportunity to catch cards. This type of opponent may scare easily with a large bet on the river.

Loose Aggressive

An experienced loose aggressive player is a very dangerous player and you always want them on your right. This type of poker player will play various types of hands and also bet very aggressively, as if he/she always has a great hand or is catching a great flop. Watch out for this type of player because it is extremely difficult to put them on a hand.

Tight Passive

A tight passive player is one of the most respected players at a poker table but that can be a good and bad thing. A tight passive player will only play a limited number of hands. They generally wait on good cards and will call or bet only when they have made their hand. Generally a poker table will recognize a tight passive player and when they represent a hand the table will respectfully fold their cards resulting in smaller pot sizes.

Tight Aggressive

A tight aggressive poker player will sit back and wait on a good hand or good position and then bet aggressively. It is thought that this style of play fits extremely well with No Limit Texas Hold’em. This type of player will frequently raise pre flop. If he/she is on a draw or thinks the hand is good, you better believe there will be a strong bet or raise following as well.

If you’re new to the game then you may not have a strategy down yet. Remember, there is no right answer to what type of style you choose or fall under but with practice you will probably be able spot what type or poker style suits you the best.

Playing poker online is fun and I dabble at it as well from time to time. But, many players seem to feel that playing in a live tournament is very similar to playing online. Well. It is and it is not. Here are 9 golden tips on how to ease your transition from playing online to playing in a live poker tournament.

1) If you have difficulty facing pressure in daily life, do not think that playing in front of watchful eyes and a roomful of people will have no effect on you. If you are very easily moved and influenced, I suggest you keep your money and forget about playing in a tournament at all and this is relevant even more when talking about a live poker tournament.

2) Wear comfortable and not fashionable clothes. This is not a fashion show: this is poker. Thus, wear those clothes that will help you feel comfortable and at ease. I have known a woman who wore tight jeans and then all through the round, she kept fidgeting uncomfortably. Regardless to say, she was the first one to lose and all because she was dressed uncomfortably.

3) Drink only water and even then only a little so that you will not feel thirsty and also will not get the urge to go to the lavatory. Either of the two feelings are disastrous to a poker player in the midst of a hand.

4) Do not drink alcohol or even sugared soft drinks. Alcohol will cause you to lose your concentration and sweet drinks give a false sense of well-being; both will work against you when you play in a live game.

5) Do not sit next to the dealer. Most poker tournaments allow you to pick your seat in the earlier rounds. It is best to sit opposite the dealer so that you will be able to look at each and every poker player.

6) Try not to change positions while playing. If you really begin to feel uncomfortable, change your position after a hand ends. In not circumstance should you move while playing.

7) Go to the toilet when the break is announced and do not hang around talking. It is best to loosen your gall bladder than exchanging a few words with other players.

8) Watch how others are doing. Those about to lose will opt to play only when they have strong hands; those with a large stack will be more willing to risk it.

9) Learn the rules and regulations of the particular poker tournament you have entered so as to save unnecessary losses.

Live poker games are against people and so if you can read people well, you will have an advantage when playing in a tournament. But do not over-estimate your opponents. Many poker pros fall to relatively unknown players because they are over-confident. So, study the game, think wisely and calmly and you stand a good chance of reaping in the first prize.

Ah, bluffing. When you get it right, you feel like a master strategist; when you get it wrong, you feel like a doofus. Bluffing is lying, to put it plainly. To be more specific, bluffing is lying about the strength or weakness of your hand. There is a common school of poker strategy that teaches to play every good hand as if it were a bad one and every bad hand as if it were a good one. Now while that may be a bit too simplistic to be applied across the board, it speaks to a sound underlying principle — you can win with a good hand and you can win with a bad one; it’s all in how you play.

If you’re playing No Limit poker especially you’re going to need to know how to bluff (and as a bonus consequence, how to tell when others are bluffing). Bluffing is generally more effective in No Limit poker than in Limit poker because in Limit poker, you can only raise so much at once, and you can only raise so many times in each round of betting.

A player in a Limit poker game is much more inclined to call a bet or a raise with a mediocre hand than a player in a No Limit game, and the main reason why is the size of the bet or raise. In No Limit poker, you can call “All In” at any of your turns and set the whole table on tilt. There’s just no equivalent in Limit play.

Now to extend the conversation on bluffing to the online poker arena, there are far fewer methods of bluffing online than there are offline. The main way to bluff online is to place a humongous bet or raise (when your hand doesn’t merit it, of course). You can try a bit of “coffeehousing” or blustering over the chat window, but if your opponents aren’t reading the chat window (or have that feature turned off) you’re wasting your time.

One way to heighten the impact of a bluff is to do it quickly and confidently. Though they can’t see your face while you’re doing it, like they could if you really were sitting across the table from them, but they can gauge how long it took you to come up with this maneuver based on how look it took you to execute it.

You’ll find 3 basic types of bluffs at the poker table, online or off:

The Stone Cold Bluff: Betting a huge amount right away with lousy cards; the choicest time to pull this is when you’re the last player to act in that round of betting and not much action has happened yet;

The Semi-Bluff: Betting on a potentially winning hand that for now is worthless (such as four cards to a straight or a flush); it’s considered a bluff because it’s currently a garbage hand, but since it could turn into “the nuts” or the best hand possible at that time, it’s considered to be only a semi-bluff;

Representing the Flop: Bluffing in two parts – first, raise a small amount in the initial round of betting, making folks think you have the beginnings of an excellent hand, though it seems clear you need to pull something useful on the flop to make it happen; in this round, you raise just enough to get the majority of players at the table to fold. After the flop, then, go ahead and bet a ton (maybe even going so far as to go All-In) suggesting that you just pulled whatever cards you needed on the flop.

It takes nerves of steel to pull off a good bluff, but it takes even more than that to fold when you believe your opponent is bluffing. If your hand is weak, especially, then no matter how convinced you are that your opponent is trying to pull one over on you, you still want to walk away and save your chips for another hand. If you don’t think you can win this round with the cards you’ve got, then by all means you can try bluffing. But if you sense you’re being bluffed, make sure you can beat it before you go ahead and call it.

If you are looking for a fun and challenging alternative to playing slot machines, video poker is the game for you. Instead of simply pulling the machine handle and hoping that you will be lucky enough to meet a row of identical icons, in video poker your moves would rule whether you win or lose. Moreover, the house edge in video poker is much lower than at slots.

Playing video poker is similar to playing draw poker on a slot machine. It enables you to enjoy the action of poker without having to face other players who may be more experienced and skilled than you are. In addition, in video poker, there are no dealers, no rakes, no bluffing, no cheating; it is all about you and your poker skills.

How to Play Video Poker:
There are several variations to video poker. Some of the video poker variations are played with standard 52 card decks while others are played with additional wild cards. All the variations are based on the traditional card game of poker. Therefore, a basic knowledge of poker hand ranking is necessary.

You start by choosing the coin value you wish to play and then pick the number of coins that you want to bet. Afterwards, you click on deal and five cards will appear on your screen. You can discard some or all of the cards and replace them with new ones. After pressing hold on the cards you wish to keep, you push the deal button and the machine replaces your discarded cards with new ones.

The outcome of the second draw determines whether you win or lose. Each video poker machine displays its payout table, which details the number of coins the machine pays for each five card poker hand. The payout table differs from one video poker variation to the other and so is the minimum hand that qualifies for a payout.

Video poker odds are the same as in regular card poker. A 52 card deck produces more than 2.5 million hand combination. Each video poker machine is set by a random number generator, which simulates the probabilities of drawing any of the poker hand combinations. While in regular card poker, the casino ensure its profits by collecting a rake, in video poker the casino ensure its profits by setting each machine pay table differently.

Video Poker Tips:
1) Learn the basics of draw poker before you start playing video poker at online casinos or at a casino nearby.
2) Know the machine payout of the table you have decided to play at by selecting the machine that offers the highest return.
3) Adjust your strategy to the specific video poker variation you intend to play.
4) Use a mathematical strategy to play the game correctly.
5) Do not keep cards that cannot be used to form a winning hand.
6) Hold on to any pair instead of keeping a high card.
7) Keep any pair rather than draw into a straight or a flush.
8) Practice playing online video poker in a play money mode.

So you want to be a poker player? Poker is a very challenging game although gameplay is relatively simple. Before you start throwing money around familiarize yourself with the rules of betting, calling, raising, and folding. Also, it is important to know the rank of each hand, because you do not want to bet on a hand that YOU think is a winner. Below are 3 other tips on helping you get started as a poker player.

1. Start by playing with play money- This is probably the best way to get started. You do not have to worry about blowing your whole savings account trying to become a good poker player. Start out playing for fun with friends or go online and play with play money. Numerous sites offer this service and you should take advantage of it.

2. Experiment with different strategies- Find the poker style that suits you best. Perhaps you don’t have what it takes to be an aggressive player, so don’t try this strategy if it doesn’t work for you. Don’t stick to one strategy in the beginning. You’ll get read like a book by better players and you will end up getting very frustrated after getting bullied around the table by these people.

3. Don’t get a big head- You may get lucky and win a few big hands when you start out. Don’t get cocky though. Keep a level head when you are up and also when you are down. This will help you to concentrate better and, in turn, play better poker.

Hopefully these things will help you as you are learning the game of poker. Poker takes a little bit of luck, but this will eventually run out and the skillful players will rise to the top. By following these rules, you can be the last one standing at your poker table.

Video Poker combines both Luck and skill. The luck part is the cards that are randomly dealt to the player. The skill part encompasses much more then simply knowing what to hold and what to fold. In this article we’ll discuss some of the things every video poker player should be doing, regardless of their game play strategy.

1. Only Play At Full Pay Machines

One of the smartest things any potential video poker player can do is to check the payout schedule before he or she starts playing. The payout schedule tells you how much you’ll be paid for each winning hand. In a Jacks or Better Video Poker game 9/6 is considered full pay. That simply means that 9 coins are paid out for a Full House and 6 coins are paid out for a Flush. Many casinos pay out less then 9/6, meaning that in the long run, you’ll simply win less money.

2. Always Play Max Coins

A Mistake many novice players make is to play fewer coins, thinking this will keep them in the game longer. The problem with that theory is many machines will give you proportionately more coins for hitting a Royal Flush with max coins then they will for hitting with less then the max. If you’re worried about going through your bankroll too quickly, play at a low coin size. Or, if you’re really not sure how to play, us a play for free version of the game until you’ve gotten your feet wet.

3. Plan How Much You’re Willing To Lose –And Stick To It.

There is a lot of luck involved in winning Video Poker. Unfortunately, too many players keep pumping coins into the machine, thinking their luck is bound to change. Successful players know that some days you have it and some you don’t. Before you start playing, have a set amount that you’re willing to lose, once that money is gone quit playing.

4. Take Your Time

Video poker is a game of man against machine. Always remember that there is no time limit. Make sure that you carefully review your cards, with each hand. Take as much time as you need, no one is waiting for you so don’t feel pressured to make your move. Don’t hit that draw button until you’re ready.

5. Take advantage of the “Play for Free” Games

Novice players need experience; obviously the best way to gain experience is to play. Fortunately, many online casinos offer “Play for free” versions of some maybe even all of their video poker versions. Take advantage of these and develop your strategy before you plunk down your money.