Posts Tagged ‘table poker’

skill versus luck in poker.

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

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Most people misunderstand poker. To be completely frank: most people only know poker from the low-stakes games they grew up playing with their family and friends. In these low stakes, home games luck often does play a much bigger role than skill. However, this isn’t real poker.

The money to be gained or lost in a home game tends to mean next to nothing and everyone almost always plays every hand to the end. Add in to that, dealer’s choice & the ever popular “wild cards” and you have a recipe for gambling on your hand, not playing it. In these situations, it’s often the middle hand that wins by catching a lucky card on the river.

Another reason why luck has such a big role in home-style poker games is that many of the skills we use in pro-style games just don’t come into play in a home game. Skills such as patience in determining which hands to play, when to bluff, and how to read your opponent just aren’t used when playing such low-limit against your family. If you are playing too many hands in a tough poker game, you will find yourself short stacked in no time.

Patience

The plain fact is that if you play too many hands in a pro-level poker game, you won’t win. It’s mathematically impossible for you to last for any length of time. But, if you play this many hands in a home game, you may fair better because the sheer size of the pot from the hands you draw out on may offer sufficient pot-odds to draw on that inside straight or whatever the case may be. Especially, if there are “wild cards”.

Bluffing

Another big difference between home poker games and pro-style games is bluffing. Bluffing will actually succeed in a pro game, where everyone will just call you in a low-limit family-style game. It is extremely hard to pull off a bluff in the family oriented game. The main reason for this is the limits are set against you. That 25 cents you’ve raised the pot isn’t going to be enough to scare anyone away, even if it was a check-raise. Anyone would call that, even if they thought they were beaten.

In a pro game, however, bluffing is a sound strategy. If you’ve played very few hands, it’s very possible to steal a pot at the end of a hand by becoming overly agressive at the right time. Your opponents will almost certainly put you on a strong hand, if not the nuts.

Reading your opponent

Another very important element in pro games is the ability to read your opponent. Are they full of crap or are they the real thing? In most home games, there is so much money in the pot (relative to the size of the amount to call) that there is no need to even consider this factor. In pro poker, however, there is enough money involved that a good read can be very valuable.

The simple fact is, if serious poker was a mere game of chance, there would be no such thing as a professionaly poker player and the people you see on the television constantly winning tournaments (i.e. Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneu, etc) would just have to be the luckiest people in the world. This, obviously, is not the case and many a professional poker can have very successful careers by honing their poker skills.

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How To Play Omaha Poker

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Ohama Poker plays the second best in attracting a large amount of people in card games next to Texas Hold’em. Ohama Poker is very similar to Texas Hold’em, with the main difference being that a player can choose his or her hand out of nine cards instead of seven. This is the reason for the growing popularity of the game.

Omaha, which has the same structure as Texas Hold’em, is played very similar to Texas Hold’em; the only difference being that each player is dealt four hole cards instead of two. The players post the blinds and then receive their hole cards. After receiving the hole cards, a betting round takes place and then comes the ‘flop’, the ‘turn’ and the ‘river’ with a betting round between each of them.

The main difference between Omaha and Texas Hold’em is that each of the players has to form his hand out of precisely two hole cards and three board cards. This is different from Texas Hold’em where a player could use either one or both (or even none) of his hole cards. If a player is trying to win the low hand, he must use two unpaired hole cards that are ranked lower than eight, and three board cards, also unpaired, that are also ranked lower than eight.

In Omaha, the starting hands should be coordinated, which means that they should fit together. What you really want are cards that are more likely to form into straights, flushes or a full house. It’s very rare that a pair would hold up on an Omaha table. Look for double-suited hands, giving you two chances of a flush and cards that are close together or considered in a run.

In playing the game, this is an example where many new Omaha players falter. The players, for instance, see four spades on the board, which are the community cards, and they have the Ace of Spades in their hand. They think they have the nut flush, forgetting that a player must use two hole cards, therefore needing two spades in his hand to make a flush.

Omaha is played either Pot Limit or Limit. The game is not played No Limit, as having four hole cards gives so many extra possibilities, chances, and permutations. If playing No Limit, the game would be too wild and without direction.

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Multiple Table Online Poker Play For Increased Winnings

Monday, May 25th, 2009

You can play at more than one table when you are playing online poker. This is an option that is offered by every site individually, or you can choose to play at multiple sites at the same time. However keep in mind that poker playing software is different for each site and your computer might not take the challenge of running them all at the same time. You will have to try different software from different sites and see which ones work best for you. The last thing you want is to use many programs at the same time that will cause your computer to crash and you will lose money in games you can’t even play until you restart the PC.

Once you have chosen the right software for you, then you can play at multiple tables in many different ways. You can change the tables manually, switch between them and see every time when it is your turn to bet, you can set up the software to let you know when it is your time to bet or you can adjust the size of every table window so you can see them all on your screen. It is better to see them all because you can see and compare others’ decisions and bets, but it is totally up to you and you will have to try playing in every way you an think of until you decide how you are feeling more comfortable.

You must keep in mind that playing at multiple tables must be done only when you are already a winning poker player, because if you are a losing one all you will manage to do is to lose even more every hour.

When you are playing at many tables you can make more mistakes because you will make rush decisions and your opponents will act without you knowing it. And if you are not paying enough attention then you might have a chance in hitting the wrong button and folding instead of raising or the other way around. Playing at more than one table requires a higher capacity of concentration so you will play only when you feel capable of focusing and able of a greater attention.

But if you play at multiple tables your game might become more accurate. Developing further your game is a direct result of your playing of more hands and you don’t risk becoming anxious anymore. But pay attention and see just when you are about to go on tilt because the chance of doing so is increased when losing multiple times at once.

Playing at multiple tables has one great advantage. You can increase your earning faster and the hourly earning rate for a good player will increase about three times (when playing at three tables). This means that if you make one big blind overall an hour you will now be making three times the big bet. If you can play good at more than three tables then you can greatly increase you earnings. You have to try first and calculate the profits and only then decide what your table limit is.

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