Learning to play poker: a novice’s experience

When I had just begun playing poker I was the raving maniac. A player who kept on calling and betting irrespective of what hand I was dealt. I never ever used the fold button and kept on loosing irrespective of who I was playing against. I would call this my kamikaze phase. Come to think of it the Kamikaze Pilots of World War II at least knew what they were up to. It took me the hard way to learn that just looking up a few poker rules and regulations and reading a few blogs does not qualify you to play online poker overnight. The kamikaze phase continued for some time till it came to a point that I started folding more frequently then the rest of the players in the poker room. I finally realized that one needs to vary your poker game play else your opponents begin to read your moves. The only saving grace in all this was that I was playing with play chips and not hard cash.

The next phase was a more calculating one. I happened to come across a couple of poker odds calculators. These tend to give the mathematically correct odds to know if you should be in the hand or not. Why I say mathematically correct odds simply because you have no way of knowing which cards may be there in you opponents hand. Also there is a large chance that there could be another Kamikaze maniac sitting on the same table as you. What really set this phase apart was that I began to look and calculate odds before deciding what to do next. I have still a long way to go and every day is a new day. I think I must add here is the fact that the more you play poker online, the more you gain in terms of experience and tactics which make you a better poker player as time passes. There are no short cuts in life and the same holds true for poker

Baccarat

In the original Casino Royale (both Ian Fleming’s novel as well as the 1953 film), James Bond is seen to be playing Baccarat. In fact, he is seen playing the game in subsequent novels as well, and it has been said that it is 007’s favourite game.

Baccarat is believed to have originated in Italy, and then introduced in France by the then-king, Charles VIII. It is mostly played in casinos, and as with most casino games, has several variations. There are 3 main variants of baccarat in existence today, chemin-de-fer, banque, and banco punto.

Players of the game rely on luck, and there isn’t much skill involved. For this reason, it is a popular game in casinos, each player hoping to “strike it big” that night. The highest score a player can receive is 9. Number cards are scored at face value, while tens and face cards are worth zero points. In hands where the total of the cards is higher than ten, the tens place is ignored, giving a final total of 9 or less. A zero hand is known as Baccarat, and as such this game is the only one of its kind to be named after its lowest hand.

Online Casino

I woke up a little early yesterday, with a lot of time on hand to read the daily papers with my cuppa tea. The brushing and bathing could wait. Well, what do we have? An entire page of the local paper is screaming about how the local cops have sealed the lids on gambling addas (read kiosks) in a city in Goa. The cops are now basking in the glory of the media glare, on their way to become the next Scotland Yard.

Social activists say that there is nothing unusual in the police raiding the small time matka (read betting) houses and so on, they usually do it when they don’t get a share of the booty. Small time gambling and betting is usually considered illegal by administrations and public alike. In that light, how would you describe gambling at a casino? The only differences here are the ambience and the kind of people who visit these places. Rich businessmen cruising around in their swanky cars, spending their money at a hip casino gives you a picture of an upwardly mobile, “uber- cool” guy. Matka houses are visited by men from the lower strata of society. A group of such people huddled up in a small cubicle is usually eyed with suspicion by the public. For most of us living the good life, anything that comes from the streets and its by-lanes is scum.

Offshore casinos have come under a lot of flak lately. It seems that they pollute our culture and attract a lot of other evils. You never know, you’re next trip to the casino could land you in a cell. Don’t fret; you can always play your casino games online. Poker, baccarat, blackjack, they’re all there…waiting for you….to be played in the privacy of your home. No other smartasses around you, telling you how to play your game…and the money just pouring in.

National Heads-Up Poker Championship

With Poker being ever popular, there has been a flood of events being aired by television networks in the US. The WSOP airs on ESPN, the world poker tour, a worldwide series of poker tournaments broadcast on the Travel Channel. The National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC is one such made for TV event .It is a $20,000 buy-in invitation-only tournament centered around no limit Texas hold 'em.

The participants include many of the world's best poker players. The 2009 edition was a three day event with 64 poker players facing off at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Out of these 64, six spots were reserved for qualifiers – four from online competitions and two from tournaments at Caesars.

There is a slight difference in the way the NHPC is conducted over other poker tournaments. In the NHPC, players are seeded randomly in the first round with players divided in four brackets – Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades. Players winning a match advance to the next round. Here winner of the spades bracket plays the one leading the clubs bracket. The same holds for the remaining two .A best of three final then decides the champion who takes home the $500,000 check. This year Huck Seed emerged victorious taking the event from Vanessa Rousso.

Strategy tips to play Omaha hi low

Play to Win: The spirit of the game is in winning it, so after the flop, if your high hand is not a sure winner and might have to split with the low, or even if you are playing for low but don’t stand a decent shot at the high hand, it’s a good idea to check/fold and get out early.

Slow play most Omaha hands: Early raises are risky unless you know you can't lose.

Avoid playing middle suited connectors. Hands like 8h 9h spell bad news in high-low split. In order to make the high end of a straight, you need to catch the cards that will also qualify low hands. To play these you also need a suited ace or an A2.

Do not overbet A2, A3 and 2 3 nut lows. You could end up getting quartered as these are often shared with another player. If there are two playing the same nut low and one going high, every bet you make contributes 1/3 to the pot that will only pay you 1/4 back. It makes sense to check around. Fast play, here will make you money if there are three or more other players with either high or losing low hands.

Beware of uniform flops, like 8 7 6, they could easily turn into straights that can overtake your high pair trips, or other good hand.

Watch out for Suited Flops that can make a completed flush. Hold the nut in that suit, or have trips or two pair that can fill up.

Check the raisers chips. Players that are close to all-in often rush the betting just to get all their chips in a sink-or-swim last hand.

Study your opponents, especially when you are not playing hands and can pay careful attention. Look for any "tells" (give away mannerisms) that disclose information about their hands etc.

Get caught bluffing once in a while, as it varies your play. You win pots that you don't deserve when your bluff works. You lose a few chips when it doesn't work but it will get you calls from weaker hands down the line when you are really strong and need the action.

Pay very close attention to your cards. Omaha High Low hands can get confusing. You think you have a nut hand winner when you don't, or you have the best possible hand and not realize it. Avoid these costly mistakes.

Poker strategy

If you’ve just gotten into a game of poker and you’re in a mood to rake in big bucks, keep in mind you need to have a game plan. Simply put, you need to plan your strategy in such a way that you gain maximum leverage over the other players throughout the session.

Your play at the start of the game will determine the course of your game. You could either be aggressive and active and dominate the game or play it cool and avoid confrontation. However, being passive does not mean that you allow other players to dominate your play. Remember, you’re playing to win.

When you’ve just settled in at the poker table and play has just started, you’ll have around 9 to 10 players with you. These guys are usually very aggressive at the beginning of an online poker game. What they’re hoping to do is build up a big lead over the other players so they can play it cool in the middle of the game and save their energy to bounce back at the end of the game.

You can, in fact, use their strategy to your advantage. Use the continuation bet feature and turn the tables around. You could win yourself a few rewards towards the pot. A continuation bet is an ancient online poker strategy. This bet is made after a flop in online poker tournaments. The player will raise a hand during the game after which he has already gained control of the game.

Taking control of the hand together with a possible position will make your opponents check to you.

As the game continues on, the other players will have no idea whether you hold a monster card or not. At the end of the supposed last card hand and you lay out your bet, your opponents will rack their heads to decide, especially if the continuation bet is large enough.

Your opponents will push head on towards the end of the game, since it is their strategy to be aggressive.

If you are faced with the online poker strategy using continuation bet, an aggressive player must weigh his chances, but usually should not stop being aggressive and must be ready to risk all that he has. You need to see through the other player’s bluff and his continuation bet and dare him in the game. This way, you’ll earn rewards towards the top table and will in the end win the pot.

If you’re using the passive style of play, you’ll have to avoid confrontation. Wait it out and be patient till some of the players are knocked out of the game. You wait for one wrong move and then take them out. The advantage here is, you get to observe your opponents’ play and the pattern of their strategy. You then come up with ways to counter their strategies and win yourself rewards.

Remember that your strategy within the early stages will determine your play in succeeding rounds. You may want to win the game or just earn rewards, either case keeping up till the end of the game is essential.

The Art of winning at a Poker Game

When does one win at poker? It does seem to be a very nice question to ask, but a very difficult one to crack. One way of explaining a win would be when you play poker, the way you would if you could see your opponent’s poker cards. Conversely you would also gain if your opponent plays his cards differently from the way he would have played them if he could see your cards.

This simply means that if you are successful in inducing your opponents to play the poker game differently than they would if they could see your cards than most of the time you would end up winning. Bluffing and slow play at a poker table are classic examples of this. Bluffing helps in masking your poker hand from that of the opponent and induces them to fold superior hands. However if a poker player observes that you never bluff then you have had it. They won’t call their bets unless they have very good hands.

Slow playing is just the converse of bluffing where you bet low even if you have a great hand. However if your opponents observe that you never slow play then they will pounce on any sign of weakness.