Poker rules directory

Ok so maybe I did get a bit carried away with my enthusiasm after Obama’s inauguration. Couldn’t help it sorry the occasion was just so deep I couldn’t help myself. Looks like Obama did too because he went back for seconds and had to do it twice just to make sure…

You know when you start getting comments from F Kennedy (is your first name John by the way?), saying you’ve had one too many kool-aids, perhaps its time to cool down, come back down to earth and take it easy!

Today I want to talk about online casinos and the safest way to make payments. When playing online bingo, one of the best ways to deposit and withdraw money is with bingo paypal. This is a tried and tested system for money transfer that you can trust.

Let’s face it theft and fraud is common, I am not that keen on using my credit card online and there have been loads of people that have lost their money. I use paypal and have never had problems with their service.

I always like to keep up to date with online casino reviews. Last night I took a look at the Spin Palace Casino Review, it looks pretty good and I would have a flutter or two there. As usual they have some generous bonus offers, together with some special features. This is a great guide to online casinos, showing you where to play online and what features are available.

As you know I mostly play poker online, but once in a while I like to have some online casino games open whilst I am playing online poker. Still my all time favorite is to sometimes dress up all posh and go into a live casino to play Online Poker.

There is something about the romance and class of it all…

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Its only going to get better.  Sure it may take a while and I don’t expect immediate results overnight, but we have the right man in office now and he will get the right people in place to make the right decisions.  I am sure of it!

For too long now, the people of America have endured decisions that have resulted in a negative impact on the country and its people.  I am confident that this will now change.  Just look at the support Obama has already and he hasn’t even stepped into the White House.

Obama has done an excellent job of uniting the people of America and bringing them hope.  When everyone gets together and focuses on the task at hand – the task of working hard to get us out of this financial crisis – then we are sure to all prospur and achieve our dreams.

President Obama, you have this poker player’s 100% support.  You are a great leader and I will follow you.

If only Martin Luther King were alive to see you take the oath today – wouldn’t that be something.

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I found some great software, FlopZoom, which is suitable for all levels of player and could help your game.

FlopZoom is an online Texas Holdem analysis, statistics, and playback tool for Mac OS X.  It currently handles Full Tilt tournaments and ring games.  PokerStars support is planned for early 2009.  It’s a learning tool for beginners, an objective coach for intermediate players, and a comprehensive analytical tool for advanced players.  FlopZoom combines ease of use and analytical power with loads of features.

There are four views, or “panes” in FlopZoom: The Playback Pane, Session Pane, Statistics Pane and Analysis Pane.

The Playback Pane
FlopZoom’s playback pane is where you can replay and review every action in an entire session.  You can also search for sessions in FlopZoom’s database, search for specific hole cards, situations, player names, bustouts, final tables, and other details.

Playback pane’s features and controls:

- Session info, hero player login, hand id, blind amounts, button position, and other info
- Opponents’ known hole cards, names, stacks, actions, and status
- Win and tie odds for all players still in the hand, whether or not their hole cards are known
- Board cards, dealer button, final table indication
- Hand, street, and action selectors
- Session and hand keyword search fields with clickable lists
- Optional hand history text display drawer

The Session Pane
This pane shows you a graph of stacks or pots in a single session.  You can superimpose up to four players’ stack graphs, with your choice of Harrington M or big blinds to indicate stack sizes.  And you can instantly click over to a view of all pots played, with the amount each chosen player won or lost in each pot.
There is also an optional results window that can show you how much the four selected players won or lost in a ring game session.  Clicking any hand in the session pane automatically loads that hand into the playback pane for review.

Session pane features and controls:

- Graph of up to four players’ stacks (showing hands sat out), or
- Graph of up to four players’ pots with win/loss amounts (and ring game rake, if any)
- Descriptive caption of stack changes on the selected hand
- Clicking any hand in either graph sets it up in the playback pane
- Stack graph filter buttons for specific streets, seats, or position ranges
- Show all hands in a session or zoom in on 10 hands around the current hand
- Options: results window (ring games), blinds, M or BB values, and opponent count

The Statistics Pane
FlopZoom’s statistics pane can compare the vital statistics of up to four players simultaneously, covering intervals from just a single session to an entire career.  You can select up to seven key statistics and filter the results for any specific seat or position range, and the number of opponents, from a full table to a short-handed table to heads-up.

Statistics pane’s features and controls:

- Side by side comparison of up to four players statistics
- Seven different statistics:

Voluntarily put chips in pot preflop
Preflop raise percentage
Bets + raises vs. calls
Showdown percentage
Showdown win percentage
Uncalled bet percentage
All-in percentage

- Descriptive captions of statistics types and player names
- Full table, short-handed, heads-up, or any number of opponents buttons
- Stack graph filter buttons for specific seats or seat position ranges
- Session, day, week, month, year, and career analysis interval buttons

The Analysis Pane
Whilst the statistics pane shows you “what” happened.  The analysis pane will show you the “why” and “how” of what happened. You’ll see if you hit or missed your draws (and whether you won or lost either way), if your plays worked, if your bluffs were called or not, how much you bet and called with your hand types, and whether you ran hot or cold.

- Seven different analysis graphs:

Draws with hit / miss and won / lost ratios with theoretical hit average
Plays with won / lost ratio
Bluffs with won / lost ratio
Bets with uncalled / called / folded ratios
Calls with next card / folded ratio and win / loss ratio on river
Hands with won / lost ratio
Cards with won / lost ratio and mathematical average indicator lines

- Descriptive captions of statistics types and player names
- Filter results for preflop, flop, turn, river, or any street
- Buttons for selecting any of seven analysis graphs: draws, plays, bluffs,bets, calls, hands, and cards
- Full table, short-handed, heads-up, or any number of opponents filters
- Stack graph filters for specific seats or seat position ranges
- Session, day, week, month, year, and career analysis interval buttons
- Calendar or range preference for day, week, month, and year intervals

The online tutorials will help you learn how to use the software.  The site’s Blog will also keep you entertained.

Future Development for FlopZoom
Since its release, FlopZoom has been geared toward helping its users understand the strengths and weaknesses of their play (and of their opponents’ play).  It does this by analyzing hand history files of sessions that have already been played.  It has also been designed to not be results-oriented.

Now that FlopZoom 1.0.3 supports ring games as well as tournaments, one of FlopTech’s top priorities for FlopZoom development is to add a heads-up display (HUD) to provide real-time information about its users’ opponents.

Another high-priority feature, is ring game results statistics to help users track their results (and their opponents’ results).  FlopTech is serious about providing Mac users with a powerful, flexible, and effective tool to help improve their online poker results.

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During hard times we still try to get as much entertainment time as we can.  With less money to spend, we are forced to cut down our spending on luxuries; less time in the pub, fewer new clothes, fewer meals in nice restaurants etc.  Even the online gambler is cutting down on playing or at least trying to get as much as he can for his money.  This does not mean we have to give up our hobbies up completely!

As a regular online casino player and given the tough financial times that we are facing, I wanted to know which of the online casino games would give value for money; slots, cards, table or other games.

The cheapest games to play in an online casino with Playtech software are the card games. You can play a single hand of blackjack, poker and baccarat for as little as 0.01¢ and play for several hands for less than a euro, pound or dollar.  This is great value!  Deposit 20 bucks and you can have several hours playing your favorite card games.

Slots and video poker are the next cheapest games to play, if you only play single lines.  Even on multi-line slot machines there is an option to play a variation of lines.  Choose 1 line or 25 lines but beware that the more lines you play the more expensive it gets, although you can win more.  So, for as little as 0.05¢ you can play slots and video poker.

Arcade games are accessible for as little as 0.10¢ and can keep you entertained for hours whereas the most expensive casino game to play is the table game roulette.  A minimum of $1.00 is needed for a spin at roulette, granted you will win more and the different odds can play in your favor if you play safely.

So, we have found out which of the online casino games is cheapest to play but this does not mean it is the most cost effective game to play.  While betting 0.01¢ on blackjack or poker it will take you years to build up a small bankroll but you can have a lot of fun in the process.

Video poker and arcade games are the same as card games in that you will experience lots of fun but it will take forever to become rich.  Some slots games are like this too.

The most value for money, I found were the online video slots in the shape of bonus slot games.  These slots have many different symbols that open up bonus spins and bonus rounds where you have to use luck or skill to increase your prize fund.

Having played on each game for a period of 2 minutes I was better off playing the bonus slots.  A massive $23 profit, thanks to the bonus round, for my stake of $1.40 – a good day at the slots.

My deposit for this exercise was $20 and my total balance after the exercise was $38.35 which is a nice profit of $18.35 for placing the minimum bet on several casino games.  All this in one hour of play.

This just goes to show how much fun you can have in an online casino for as little as $20 especially in this economical decline.  After all it is about the entertainment and not trying to get rich over-night, right?

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You can discover the attraction of online casinos by playing online blackjack. Traditional casino games have been refined to add further pleasure to your casino gaming experience. Games have seen a rapid advancement in features and functionality. Today you have an incredible choice of different online casino games to play. The best attraction of playing online is that you get to play in the comfort of your home.

Playing casino games is reletively easy to learn and is suitable for everybody; the difficulty is getting carried away with popular distractions like trying to win the casino bonus. You need to find your fun in what suits you, whether it’s online craps or other online casino games.

This will surely give you a break from your traditional recreation process.

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Have you had a chance to take a break over the holidays? And now you are well rested and ready to take on the New Year… I hope that 2009 is a good year for you, that you are able to stick to your New Year’s resolutions and that all your wishes come true!

We get asked, “What is Rakeback?” quite a lot, so I thought it was time for an explanation:

In order to understand what rakeback is, first you need to nail down the notion of rake. Every online poker room makes its money off the rake players pay on every real money hand they play. The rake is a small percentage that comes off a pot, before it is awarded to the winner.

It is very important to note that the rake comes off the pot BEFORE it is awarded. Many beginners consider that the rake is only paid by the winner. This assertion is erroneous and overly optimistic too. The rake is in fact paid by all those who put money into the pot, and here’s why:

The pot is considered a stand-alone entity at the poker table until it is awarded to the winner. Before that, it belongs to all those who have equity in it. Because the rake comes off it before it is awarded, it is safe to say that the rake is in fact paid by all contributing players, in a directly proportional manner with the amount of money they put into the pot.

In order to stimulate player traffic and sign-up rates, some poker rooms run special promotions called rakeback deals. A rakeback deal will give a certain percentage of the rake, generated by the player, back to the player. This way increasing the profitability of the game. The usual rakeback percentage is around 30% (Full Tilt offers 27%) but it can be much higher too.

How does a rakeback deal stack up against a good sign-up bonus? While the bonus expires, rakeback never does, it just keeps on making you money for as long as you play.

If you run a closer analysis you’ll realize that rakeback works in fact exactly like a sign-up bonus, with the exception that it never expires. Some people will rightfully argue that as long as you play micro and low stakes, bonus redemption will provide you with a bigger revenue stream than rakeback. Most poker rooms which offer rakeback, do not deduct bonuses from rake rebate, which means there’s not much point in arguing whether the bonus is better or the rakeback, since you can get them both without any restrictions.

Signing up for a poker rakeback deal is as easy as 1-2-3. All you have to do is sign up through the rakeback providing site and create an account at the poker room of your choice. Once you’re done with it, you will have to confirm your user name to your rakeback provider and you can forget all about the whole deal. This is the beauty of rakeback: it keeps on making money without you having to pay any sort of attention to it.

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