Poker
Strategy
Here we focus on the poker
rules and winning poker strategies
for today's more popular poker
games:
Texas Hold'em, Omaha Holdem
High Low Qualify Eight, Seven
Card Stud and Seven Card Hi
Lo Qualify Eight. The rules
are more or less universal for
each of the poker games and
the winning poker strategies
are those that are generally
accepted by the champion players
and experts on each of the games.
There are no big secrets here,
but it is the basics of what
you need to know to be a consistent
winner.
One of the great things about
poker is that the game offers
good players a way to consistently
win in public casinos and online
gambling sites. This is because
it is the only game where the
player does not compete against
the house. Unlike the other
gambling games where the
casino always wins in the long
run, in this game the casino
makes it's profit from the table
"rake", which is a
small percentage of each pot.
The house doesn't care if you
win or lose. The winners collect
most of the pots,
so they usually don't mind paying
most of the "rent".
Along with the information
you will need about good and
bad starting hands, mid hand
tactics etc, you will find a
directory to land based, river
boat and online games. You will
also have the "Best of
the Net" resource to many
of the finest articles and game
information pages from a survey
of over a hundred poker content
web sites.
Before you challenge the juiced
up tourists and the cigar smoking
Las Vegas "rocks"
at their home field,
you might do well to consider
this - . . Log on to Paradise
Poker or Poker Stars and practice
online under regular casino
game conditions first! . Knowing
your poker strategies is essential,
but actually playing against
average to very good players
is the only way to get sharp
at compensating for certain
game conditions, betting position,
and such.
Playing the free games is ok
for getting used to the tables,
but We recommend starting in
the lowest limit games offered
($.05/$.10 and $.25/$.50) until
you have confidence in your
skill level. These very low
limit games are good practice
because, unlike the free games
and despite the low prices,
most of the players are seriously
playing to win. Many play to
increase their bankrolls enough
to comfortably play in higher
limit games and others simply
enjoy the challenge of winning
at real money poker.
If you want to get very good
at this game, then it's important
to always play your very best
game and play
to win, regardless of the betting
level.
We are recommending Paradise
Poker and Poker Stars for starting
out because they both offer
a lot of very
low limit games that are hard
to find anywhere else. Stay
in these low limits until you
usually win more than you lose,
then move up to the next betting
level and start over. . . Again,
all the things you read and
learn about the game are very
important, but they don't hold
a candle to time in the trenches,
actually playing real money
games against good players.
The most important thing to
keep in mind in split pot games
is the big profit difference
between winning half the pot
and "scooping" it
all. - It is a lot more than
just twice as much. . Scooping
the pot usually builds a healthy
addition to your stack of chips.
Getting half often puts you
barely ahead of where you were
before you started playing the
hand. Expert Omaha Hi Lo players
only play starting hands, like
those recommended here, that
have a good chance of winning
both ways. Omaha is a game of
"nuts". With so many
players with so many cards,
finding so many reasons to play,
a final hand with a fairly good
high and a fairly good low can
easily get clobbered by better
hands both ways. So after the
flop or maybe the turn, if it
looks like you don't have an
almost certain winner for one
end and a decent shot at the
other, or the best high hand
with no qualifying low probable,
you should usually fold up and
wait for the next hand.
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