Poker rules directory

Whatever hand you want to represent, always, always stick to your storyline!!!

Pre-flop, post flop, whenever.. make sure your bets, or the size of the bets represent the strength of your hand.  Don’t jump around and vary your strategy too much.  Sure you want to suck them in with a check after the flop, and then a medium sized value bet to draw in the chips.  But don’t go crazy now, the good players will sniff something fishy and call you.  If your story don’t make sense, they will want to see your cards… but heh then again, maybe you have the cards and this is just part of your strategy.

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I was watching some of Tom Dwan’s poker play the other day and it was amazing to see some of the hands that he would play pre-flop.  Totally unsuit-able (excuse the pun) hands!  Granted as soon as he met some serious opposition in the betting or he knew he was out gunned, he would get out of there.

Whenever I try to get bold with my opening moves I usually come unstuck, that’s if I haven’t planned the move and set it up.  But just how does Durr Dwan do it.?  How does he get away with playing hands that most people would just throw away or leak some serious value?

On a few occasions I have seen Dwan come unstuck and get caught short, but he generally has a pretty good read on the game.  And, thats exactly it, he has a feeling of when to challenge and when to back off from the challenge.

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… and the debate rages on is poker a game of skill or is it all up to chance…

In my mind it is all quite clear, if you play online slots or some similar simple casino game then its mostly a game of chance.  Sure there is a small element of skill involved.  You should know how many coins to put in the slot machine, to maximize your returns and make sure you get your best shot at the jackpot.  But basically it is up to chance what the slot machine decides to give you.

The other element of skill when you play online casino games, is too ensure that you are getting the best casino bonus.  Because they vary all the time and it is up to you find the best deal.  Don’t just leave it to chance, because then you will end up getting the worst deal.

At the other end of the spectrum you have card games that involve a lot of skill to win.  Sure there is some element of chance in the deck of cards, but mostly its all about how you read the players and the skill of betting.

The debate of skill vs chance is a hot topic in the US, where legal teams have used the fact that poker is not a game of chance, to defend their clients.  US players can still play casino games if they

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Yet another reality show makes its mark, this time with some poker mixed in – 2 months 2 million.

Lets see what happens when you put 4 young online poker players into a Spanish style mansion.  Give them access to online poker, follow their games and their every move around Vegas.

The four players chosen: Jay “Krantz” Rosenkrantz, Dani “Ansky” Stern, Emil “whitelime” Patel, and Brian “Flawless_Victory” Roberts are described as former high school math whizzes. They are not exactly your classic sports jocks or your big bosomed blondes like you get on Big Brother, actually they are quite funny to watch. I am not sure that I can watch this show for hours, but I am sure that some railbirds out there will enjoy watching their online poker games.

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You’re playing heads up, its showdown time with some all-in action and your opponent asks you do you want to play it once or twice, what do you do?

Make sure you know what is the better situation to be in, depending on the circumstances and the odds of winning.  In general it is better to play it twice, that way things are evened out a bit and there is  less of a swing in either direction i.e you have less chance of losing and less chance of winning.

But if you feel that your opponent has been bluffing throughout the game and that you have a good chance of winning, then it may pay off to take a chance and just play it once, get it over and done with… don’t give your opponent a chance to escape…

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Usually when I decide to bluff I have thought about it for a while and set up the bluff, but then again I always have something to work with so that I hope to get lucky on the flop, turn or river.  Semi-bluffing is always the best way to go in the art of bluffing, because if they figure that you like to bluff with air, then it makes it more difficult to pull off a bluff.

Anyway I am losing myself here in how to bluff at poker, which is not really where I wanted to go.  Most of the time when you make a good poker bluff, the other poker players back off because of your aggressive betting.  But once in a while, two of you try to bluff at once and this is what happened to me earlier this week playing online poker.

Both of us went head to head, trying to out bluff each other with nothing but air… until one pulled out.  I felt committed, was deeper stacked and am feeling very invincible after my break so I just kept bullying him until he backed down.  Got off lucky because a better player may have called me.  He let on what he had, I think because he wanted me know that he was bluffing and it was nothing, wanted me to know that he was capable of bluffing, not sure why…

I ended up with a queen high, thats all and took down a tidy pot… lucky to get away with it this time.

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I got asked the other day, “what is a continuation bet?”

And judging by some of the discussion that followed there was quite a different idea about what this type of bet was.  It is simply a bet that you make, continuing on from your pre-flop aggressive bet and its purpose is to scare off anyone who is just hanging around, checking and waiting to see the turn card.   Usually I would make it about half the size of the pot, enough to make people think twice about staying in the hand and also not too much that if you lose, it doesn’t cost you too much.

Of course it depends on how confident you are of winning, you could vary the size of the continuation bet relative to the pot size.

Try it next time you are playing poker, or if you are not into all this strategy stuff then stick to your tried and tested online casino games.

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Online Poker is pretty much available to anyone who wants to play poker on his or her laptop or desktop computer and who has an internet connection.  The number of people partaking in online gambling has increased dramatically over recent years, as the popularity of both casino and poker games are becoming more widespread from day to day.  Playing casino games at online casinos has become a very popular form of online gambling, but it is still the online poker tables where a large number of people seem to be heading.

The difference between playing casino games and poker is that it is possible to win money over the long run whilst playing poker.  For those who like to play casino games, you should realize, over time, that you are doomed to lose because of the fact that the odds are always in the favor of the house.

Therefore the online casinos will make money despite the fact that some players will win every now and then, because in the long run players are losing more money than they are winning.  Gamblers never admit to this though!

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Poker is played for money and  the amount of money is how we keep score.  But correct play is not judged by who wins the most money.  Correct play is a matter of positive expectation on our actions – and our actions include many more things than merely betting…

I don’t like to think in terms of “the best players” because it is hard to define “the best player”.  For me, the best players, are the ones who play correctly, follow the poker rules and poker etiquette.  The best players are the ones who consistently play the best poker.

Watch Out Poker Cheats!
Most casino poker cheats work in teams.  The slang for the collusion of two players is sharing a  “kit.”  The most common form of “kitting” is touching your thumb to one of your four fingers,  each representing a different action;  bet,  call, fold,  and raise.  Cheaters employ all sorts of other signs to relay information to their partners using body language,  verbal clues,  chip placement,  and diversionary tactics.  Obviously,  you have to be a skilled player to be able to sit in these games to begin with and hold your own until the right opportunity comes along – to cheat and win the big pot.

In order to prevent cheating at your poker table,  you really have to pay attention to the signs.  Although cheating occurs a very small percentage of the time, there will be people who will do anything to gain an extra edge against the field.  Play smart and keep your eyes open and you should be fine.

Cheating happens whilst playing poker online and you have to be aware that some people may be colluding with each other – keep a look out for dubious poker moves and online poker cheats!

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Hey all you railbirds, have you been keeping up with the Durrrr Challenge?

Patrik Antonius has been the first person to take up Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s $1Million dollar poker challenge.  A couple of days ago they managed to squeeze in another 226 hands towards the massive total of 50,000 hands.  Both of them are far apart in different parts of the world, so I suppose the logistics of trying to co-ordinate their poker playing is proving difficult.

So far its pretty even – but its still early days as only 4,178 hands have been played in total so far.  Dwan’s winnings are higher than Antonius’s, he is up $140,380.

Although it seems that Antonius got the better of Dwan in this latest 35 minute spat, there was not much in it really.  Durrr has won more pots, but Antonius has got the bigger pots.  The biggest pot in their latest game amounted to $115,000, which Antonius won with a flush of clubs…

The flop was 7s, 5c & 2c.  Both thought they were in with a chance so they bet heavily.  The king of spades was the turn card, Antonius had $21,600 on the table by now… the river was 4c… three clubs on the board… Antonius was confident, Dwan wanted to make sure…

So Antonius turned over and was true to his word… he had a jack of diamonds, 10c, 8c and 8h to produce a flush and take the big pot!

Railbirds keep checking for the next game at Full Tilt, they’ve played six sessions so far… not sure when they will log on again and play…

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