Tag Archives: poker

Poker Strategies for Beginners

Follow these tips to set you on your poker learning curve:

1. Be selective with your starting hands.

2. Bluffing is not essential – it’s better to play your cards to the best advantage.

3. Think about your opponent’s cards, and be prepared to fold if you think he/she has the better hand.

4. Choose your games – play against players who are worse than you!

5. Choose your table position – being last on the table is perfect as you then know what everyone else has done before your turn for the action.

6. Concentrate and pay attention to the game.

7. Bankroll management – don’t play too high as a beginner.

8. Don’t pay over the odds for draws.

9. Don’t over-value suited cards – flushes are rarer than you think.

10. Learn the rules and study strategies to take your game to the next level.

The Ins and Outs of Poker Tells

Poker is not just a game of chance; it is a game of skill and deception. When it comes to playing poker in a casino or at a tournament it all boils down to how well you can deceive your opponents. ‘Poker tells’ can give away your game completely, however well you think you may be bluffing.

It is completely natural to have signs that you may be lying, but what are the most common tells in poker? Unconscious tells are something that we do when we think we’re not being watched or that we don’t even realise we’re doing. This could be anything from yawning to scratching your head. A deliberate tell, on the other hand, is when we deliberately try to put the other player off; this could be a sly smile or an action passed off as an unconscious tell.

Your body language can tell a thousand stories when playing poker, so be careful of those sneaky giveaways and watch for your opponents’ too.

What Makes a Good Poker Hand?

Every poker player will agree that a good poker hand is a “winning hand”! However, what two cards you hold at the beginning of each round can play an important role in whether you win big or not.

An Ace, with another high card such as a King, Queen or Jack is considered a great starting hand – especially if they are of the same suit.

A pocket pair (two of the same cards), is another good poker hand. With this hand, you are already a step ahead of everybody else sat around the poker table. You should raise the blinds before the flop to eliminate anyone with mediocre cards; from out-flopping you.

Suited Connectors (two running cards of the same suit), is one of the most favoured poker hands to begin with. These cards mean you have better over-all odds of winning the hand by catching a flush, a straight, or even a straight flush.

Important Factors to Consider in Poker Tournaments

Playing in tournaments demands that you think carefully about how you play, because tournament players are going to see mistakes and capitalise upon them. Fundamentally, you need to be controlled in all aspects of your play.In a tournament you can’t restock your chips, so you can’t throw caution, or chips, to the wind. You need all the chips to win, so if you’re throwing them away, you’re losing. However, this also means that you need to do more than just minimise your losses. If luck comes your way, then you have the chance to ride it, but if it doesn’t, you need to work with what you’ve got. Don’t forget that blind levels will increase as you progress either.

The biggest determining factor in competitive play is skill, so developing your skill will do more than anything to help you win.

Adopting the Perfect Poker Face

Being able to obscure your true emotions is a key part of playing poker successfully. Everyone has ‘tells’, or signs that give away what their intentions are. Being aware of your own tell-tale expressions and movements will help you mislead and mystify your opponents much more easily.

There are two approaches the thinking poker player can adopt. One is to remain absolutely stone-faced all the time, showing little or no emotion at whatever occurs in the game. This can be hard to maintain, as an element of relaxation is necessary to play well. Showing little or no reaction in this way is usually regarded as being the classic ‘poker face’.

An alternative approach is to be ebullient and lively, reacting clearly to everything that occurs. This way, you can mislead your opponents with displays of fake emotion. Harder to carry out, this strategy can be very effective, especially when used by a more experienced player.

How to Become a Professional Poker Player

Here are some handy tips to start your way to becoming a professional player:

To begin with, you need technical skills in order to become a winner. You also need to ensure that you can cope with the financial and emotional stakes. You need to be able to play with high enough stakes and be able to uphold them.

It is important to be self-motivated. You may not always need to play poker. Remember there are other things to do with your time. Discipline yourself. When the table is looking exciting, you may need to stake higher odds. However, you’ve got to know when to stop.

Change with the times. You may be required to makes changes. For example, you might need to find new players, change your stakes, play on new sites etc. Trying new strategies can very often bewilder your rivals ultimately helping you to win.

3 Card Poker – Strategy

Three Card Poker is a very popular game in many casinos and can provide relief from the intensity of playing Texas Holdem or Omaha poker. The game is quick and easy to play. Because Three Card Poker is a negative expectation game, it is very difficult to come up with a strategy that will beat the house. Here are some tips to give you a slight advantage.

When playing Three Card Poker you should always play when your hand contains at least a queen, a six and a four. Any smaller hand will give too big an advantage to the house. You can also raise with any queen or better but you’ll probably lose more money. Never raise with just anything, the house advantage is much too high.

The best strategy for Three Card Poker, however is to enjoy yourself. You’re never going to be a big winner at the game, so have fun instead.

Different Hand Ranks in Three Card Poker

Despite the recent upsurge in popularity of poker variants such as Texas Hold ‘Em, the popularity of the simple format – Three Card Poker – remains. As the name suggests, each player is dealt three cards which are ranked as follows:

Straight Flush

– Best possible hand. Made by having three cards of the same suit, in sequence.

Three Of A Kind

– Three cards of the same rank.

Straight

– Three cards in sequential rank, but with at least two different suits.

Flush

– All three cards are of the same suit.

Pair

– Two cards of the same rank, and any other random card.

High Card

– When none of the above five hands are ‘made’, the highest card of the three in your hand comes into play.

Good luck at the table!

History of 3 Card Poker

The original game of poker is thought to date back to the 16th century. More recently 3 Card Poker was derived from the British game of Brag. The casino version was created by British professional poker player Derek Webb in 1994. It was initially known as Casino-Brag and Brit-Brag to differentiate it from the original game. Patents for the game were granted in Britain and the United States. Webb established Prime Table Games which marketed the game up until 1999 when Shuttle Master acquired the rights outside of Britain. Since then, there have been various legal battles over the ownership. Although it is quite different from traditional poker, Shuttle Master renamed the game to appeal to American players. In 2002, gambling regulations were changed in the United Kingdom, to legalise playing casino 3 Card Poker. The game has grown in popularity from the introduction of internet casinos in the 1990s.

The Southern Roots of Poker

Originating in the south and predating the American Civil War, the game of poker began as a modest version of the game that is enjoyed today. Played with just 20 cards, the combinations for a winning hand were limited as were the number of participants. There was no draw with the deck being evenly dealt to just four players.

Earliest indications have poker first being played in the early 1800’s. Mississippi riverboat steamers with their saloons for gambling were the birthplace of this notorious pastime. Within a few decades, decks containing 52 cards were becoming more widely used, giving the players added options for bidding and allowing more gamblers per game.

Hoyle’s Games first lists poker as a card game in 1845, but without the draw that would emerge from the English game of Brag. It took England until at least the mid 1800’s to experiment with American poker. The introduction of the larger deck along with player’s ability to draw more cards added a second betting dimension and changed poker from a game of chance to one of skill.