A Beginning Look at Playing 7-Card Stud Poker

A Beginning Look at Playing 7-Card Stud Poker
A very old form of poker still popular today because of its standard, familiar structure is 7-card stud. It attracts a major following in both casinos and Friday night home poker parties. Depending on the region of play, the rules of stud may be altered slightly, but all will have the rule of a maximum of seven players per table due to the fact that a deck contains only 52 cards, also the dealer is allowed to burn 4 in the course of a game. There are less rounds for betting so it is not unusual to find house rules include an ante or pre-flop requisite bet to elicit more hand participation as well as add more complexity to the game.
Players who are unfamiliar with stud poker should definitely not charge right in as its strategy differs from other games, particularly the ever popular holdems. It would be wise for the uninitiated to observe very closely as many stud games as they can and play close attention to the rules, tactics and betting strategies before plunging in. This careful study will help in improving one's strategy when playing any number of poker's forms.
How Betting Goes Down in 7-Card Stud
The deal commences by dealing two cards face down and one face up to each player. Round one begins in a clockwise direction beginning with the holder of the highest hand (at this point, the top hand would be two aces). The following three rounds are dealt with the cards face up while the final card is dealt face down, which takes us to the highest scoring 5-card showdown hand. Betting rounds do occur between each deal, though the Mississippi form may feature just four rounds of betting and two cards are dealt at the same time for the final deal.
Some 7-Card Stud Strategy
There is usually a mandatory ante that marks the start of most stud games and it is not unusual for some games to demand that the player with the lowest scoring visible hand "bring in" (place a forced bet). The game continues with each player being dealt three cards, two up and the bring in hand holder must bet first. In case of a tie, the suit is the tiebreaker. At this point in the game, a player has the right to bet, fold or raise to the level of the house limits.
Next up, another card is dealt followed by a betting round beginning with the holder of the best hand (by now it would be three aces). For all remaining rounds, it is the player with the highest scoring visible cards who may choose to either bet or check at the rounds onset. The final arrangement of the cards after all are dealt looks like this: two cards placed face down, two face up, and the last card in the arrangement is placed face down.
Similar to holdem or Omaha poker, he who creates the best hand of five cards gets the pot. Stud differs in its lack of community cards as well as the hands include some face- up cards. The ranking of card combinations is the same as traditional poker. In order of ranking: Royal Flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, pair, with high cards in last place. A good strategy for betting should have at its roots the strength of your hand, the visible cards and betting schemes of your opponents and a keen sense of the size of the pot.

Read More

Learn the Best Draw Poker Strategy to Make Sure That You Make Your Prerogative Earnings

Learn the Best Draw Poker Strategy to Make Sure That You Make Your Prerogative Earnings
The poker is a game where a player receives a maximum of five cards at any point of time. There is a dealer who moderates multiple players, who are on the table to ensure harmony amongst the players. The table could be physical table surrounded by players seated on chairs or could just be online game wherein the players get to see only the digital avatars of the player. The advantage is that there would be no emotional threats from any other player in the game. To win in the game of draw poker make sure that you use the strategy that would work in both the short and long run.
• Outplaying your opponents: Unlike other poker versions wherein the strategy to get the biggest hand, the draw poker aims at outplaying the opponents. So, the talent of guessing the combination of the cards held by the opponent is very important to make the next move.
• Make everyone fold: The game gets over only when everybody folds. Therefore, your aim is to make everyone fold.
• Bluffing strategy 1: You can use the strategies of bluffing which can confuse your opponents. For instance, when you are having a bad combination, then you may not offer to draw the cards sowing fear in the minds of the opponents as though you have got the best combination.
• Bluffing strategy 2: The other way is to get rid of the oddest card to make sure of an impression that you have a bad combination, whereas you really are in a good position to take the wins. The more you confuse your opponents, the better your chances are to win the game and take the pot.

Read More

Do You Really Need Poker Strategy Software?

Do You Really Need Poker Strategy Software?
The question as to whether one really needs the increasingly popular poker software is one that has been coming up often on various poker forums in recent times, with opinion among the various participants divided right in the middle - and with proponents and the critics of such poker strategy software offering equally cogent arguments for their positions.
To answer the question as to whether you really need poker software, it is important to understand what this software is, how it works, who develops it and what it promises the people using it.
As it turns out, poker is a game of both skill and chance - so that a player's odds of winning a particular game depends on that particular player's skill in poker (strategy) as well as the player's luck that particular day. Now what most of the poker strategy software promises is a way of improving the 'skill' aspect of poker, though the more audacious type (called cheating software) goes further to promise a way of improving one's chances of winning a game of poker beyond skill, that is, by somehow tampering with the 'luck' aspect of poker.
Consequently, most poker software can be classified as being either a playing (strategy) system, an odds calculator (which would help you work out whether it makes sense to continue in a particular poker game), or as outright cheating software.
While there are a few free poker strategy software programs here and there, most of the available poker strategy software tends to be only for sale, with most going in the tens of dollars range, and a few going up to hundreds of dollars.
Since Texas Hold 'Em Poker is the version of poker which is most open to betting, it naturally turns out that most of the available poker software revolves around this version of poker, though there are also a number of poker strategy software programs on the other versions of poker.
Most of the available poker software is developed by various experienced poker players, naturally with the help of some geeks to handle the technical side of it all.
So, at the end of it all, do you really poker strategy software?
The answer to the question as to whether or not you really need poker software will depend on the type of poker strategy software you have in mind. If the poker software you have in mind is the so-called 'playing system' poker strategy software (which seeks to enhance your poker skills), then the question as to whether you really need it is very much like the question as to whether or not you need to take revision questions before an examination, which for most people is yes. On the other hand, if the poker strategy system you have in mind is the 'cheating type' which seeks to unfairly influence your chances of a particular game, whether or not you need it will depend on your values - much like whether or not you would cheat to pass an examination. This, in most cases will tend to boil down to whether the Russian adage that 'the end justifies the means' is an adage you agree with or not.

Read More

Pre-Flop Poker - Slow Playing Strategy

Pre-Flop Poker - Slow Playing Strategy
Slow playing a huge hand like AA or KK is a bit like taking a penalty and dinking it down the middle. If all goes to plan it looks awesome, but if it goes wrong everyone is very quick to criticise. "You should never slow play AA mate" is the proverbial cry from the terraces, and patiently explaining that you wanted the guy all in with A9 on the 9 high board, that was kind of the whole point of the exercise, isn't going to shut them up.
However, refusing to ever slow play means that you're going to pass up great opportunities to win big pots. The key is to know when it's optimal to slow play, and when you should come out guns blazing.
The first thing to consider when deciding whether or not to slow play is your own table image. If you've been very aggressive recently, making lots of bets, reraising, etc, then perhaps now isn't the best time to slow play. You could take advantage of your recent activity by over-betting your hand in fact, hoping that someone picks this spot to put you to the test. If on the other hand you've been quiet passive recently, or made a few weak bets and been reraised off pots, then slow playing may be a good idea, hoping someone thinks they can just run over you again.
The strength of your hand is vital to slow playing, and only particularly strong hands should be played pre-flop in this way. Hands like 1010, JJ, AQ, AK usually aren't strong enough to warrant slow playing, and the same is often true of top pair or bottom 2 pair on the flop. When slow playing on the flop, take into account the texture of the flop - slow playing 1010 on a 10 5 2 rainbow flop is obviously a much better plan than doing it on a 2h10cJc flop.
Next, look at your opponents remaining in the hand. Do you have a decent amount of information on them? Have you been at the table long enough and paying enough attention to how they've been playing? If you're in early position then just a general idea of how the table is playing is a good start. If people have been raising a lot pre flop, or have they just been limping? Has anyone being trying to impose their self on the table, raising every hand? If you're in a later position, with fewer opponents in the hand, then you can focus on them individually, and whether they've been raising a lot or limp-folding.
There are two main ways to slow play preflop, either entering a pot with a limp with the express intention of getting more people into the pot and reraising if you get the chance, or flat calling a raise from a position where you are fairly sure the pot will be heads up or 3-way at most.
The former is obviously achieved by limping in from early position, hoping that a few more people will do so, and that at least one person will raise, allowing you to reraise and isolate. The idea here is to slow play only until someone raises, at which point you reraise, making sure you don't find yourself with more than one opponent on the flop, if any. The trouble here is letting more people into the pot, and not being able to reraise if nobody raises. For this reason it makes sense to only do this if your table has been quite active, with lots of raising preflop. It also helps if you've limped a lot recently, so it won't seem suspicious.
This plan's perfect outcome is when you limp 1st position with AA, and a player 2nd or 3rd to act makes a small raise. A few people call, the more the merrier, and when it comes back round you make a sizeable reraise. Keep in mind here that this can look a bit obvious, and it actually looks more obvious with a weaker reraise, and everyone will have more value to call, so it makes sense to make a bigger bet. As a rule, the more people who are still in when it gets to you, the bigger your reraise needs to be.
For example - with blinds at say 50/100, on a very active table, you limp with AA from a 4k stack, and 2nd to act with 3k raises to 250. 3 players call, all with 4-5k, and its back on you. There's now 950 in the pot, a decent amount, but 4 other players in the pot. Depending on who the players are and how they've been playing, I'd recommend a reraise from 1000 upwards. The last thing you want really is 2 or more callers, especially out of position. If you do get called, then you can either shove the flop, or possibly make a smaller bet depending on the texture of the flop.
The second way relies a bit more on individual knowledge of a player who has already made a raise. The raise and your position need to such that you're either virtually last to enter the pot, or everyone else remaining is likely to fold. You flat call hoping for a heads up pot in which your opponent has no idea how strong your hole cards really are.
Opponents who have been continuation betting a lot are the best people to make this play against, out of position you can check to them with a decent likelihood of them betting out, or in position you can see what they do first. Either way the slow play can be carried further, depending again on the flop texture.
Against a tight opponent you are often better off putting in a reraise preflop for 2 reasons - firstly they are less likely to continue their aggression on the flop without hitting, but also because they must have a better hand in the first place for them to be raising, giving you more chance of getting paid off for a reraise pre.
The main thing to note with the slow play is that it will inevitably lead to you getting in situations where it's prudent to fold your big hand on the flop. Ability to get away from a hand and not fall in love with your big pair is vital here, and if you can't put down AsAc on a multi-way 9h10dJd flop with lots of action, then I don't advise trying to slow play in the first place, especially not the limping from early position method. If you're going to slow play, occasionally you're going to have to fold if it goes wrong.
Overall it's about picking the right table or opponent, the right time and position, and being able to get away if it all goes wrong. Don't be tempted to slow play just because you've been card dead for ages until now, make sure you consider all the angles first. It's not a move that should be overused, but timed well it can be an important part of your poker arsenal.

Read More

Poker Strategy of Three Bet Pushing

Poker Strategy of Three Bet Pushing
When you are in the blinds in poker tournaments you are in a vulnerable position. Before the flop you are last to act, so you have seen what the intent is of the opposition, and you are partially invested giving you better odds to play. The problem off-course is that you will be playing out of position, being first to act on each consecutive round of betting from the flop to the river.
In this article we are looking at the aggressive route of defense. Instead of accepting the play out of position you will be three bet pushing when faced with someone's steal attempt. There is however three factors that you want to take into consideration before you before making this move:


 Your chip stack, optimally 12-20 big blinds

 The cards you have been dealt, in relation to the range of cards of your opponent.

 How loose your opponent is who is attempting to steal


The stack of 12-20 blinds is often called the reship stack; the reason is that this is the optimal chip stack for you to push into a stealer. With this type of poker chip stack, you will be looking for the best opportunity to present itself for you to reraise and push against your opponent.
Next you have to look at your hole cards. You do not really want to push a hand like 95o, which will be killed if you run into one of the better hands. Against the stronger hands some of the weaker you can play that do quite well are: Pocket pairs like 22-77, suited high cards JTs, QJs, QTs and KJs. With aces you want to avoid hands that easily are dominated like A9o and ATo, and then it is better to add something like A5s as the second card does not matter much if you run into some premium hand. For instance if you run into hands like AK and AQ, hands like A5s although not good will still be better than ATo.
The perhaps most important factor to consider before three bet pushing or reshoving is to determine how loose your opponent is playing. When you push you mostly hope that your opponent will fold and you simply pick up the pot without a fight. For this to occur your opponent will have to have a weaker hand, so if you have a hand like AJ and carefully tight Mr. Nitty has raised from early position, then you can be sure your hand will be worse than his. If on the other hand we have Mr. Aggressor who likes to steal and are opening yet another hand from the dealer button, then it is more likely that he might have anything. In that instance a hand as weak as A2o might be enough to reraise all in.
All in all the reason you want to push from the blinds against a stealer is often to pick up the chips in the middle of the table. With a stack of say 15 blinds and someone raising say 2.5 blinds, then you could pick up those plus the initial pot, giving at least 5 extra to your pot. This is an increase of about 35% without much risk. That is what make this strategy so strong.

Read More

Texas Hold'em - A Guide to a Game to Fit Your Style

Texas Hold'em - A Guide to a Game to Fit Your Style
When I first started playing Texas Hold'em I thought all games were created equal. I figured that if I could win at a single table Sit-N-Go that I could win a tournament, but I was wrong. There are many forms of Texas Hold'em and nowhere could I find a simple Texas Hold'em guide to explain the difference. I found out, quickly, that playing a physical game with people actually sitting at the same table was completely different from playing poker online. In the same way, a cash game was a different animal than a tournament.
First let's look at online poker, since that's where most people start out when playing. Playing online is easy and convenient, but can be very frustrating. You are very limited when it comes to reading your opponents. After all, when's the last time you saw a player's avatar flinch when you hit them with a big bet. Getting tells from a player online is much more difficult and subtle. Regardless of the kind of game you are playing, the only tells you can get online is from their betting patterns. It is possible to get a little information if the player is stupid enough to use the online chat feature, but most are smarter than that and never communicate online.
If you are playing a live game, tells are much easier to come by. One trick I learned from Annie Duke is to talk to the other players as much as possible BEFORE the game begins. Ask them about themselves. Get them to talk about the things they like outside of the game. Don't talk about poker. Getting the player to open up about their other interests will give you a good baseline to determine when the player is bluffing during the game. What they say is unimportant. It's how they say it that you want to make mental notes about.
Whether you are playing online or live, the format of the game will change the way you approach it. In a multi-table tournament you'll want to slow play the first third of the game. It's not a good idea to be wild and loose in the early stages of a tournament. Take your time and let the other players eliminate each other while you study how the survivors play. A single table Sit-N-Go should be approached as if it is a mini tournament. Start out by folding a lot of hands and watching the action around you. You can learn a lot about the other players that will be invaluable in the later stages.
Cash games are completely different. The blinds never increase, so there's no pressure to build a big stack to survive the game later on. All you need to do here is stay ahead of the blinds and antes, making sure that you leave with more than you had when you sat down. While tournaments and Sit-N-Gos are built around a series of hands to eliminate players, cash games are more a hand to hand game. This doesn't mean you ignore how the other players handle themselves in certain situations, but each hand is a new game, unlike tournament play.
The most important thing to get from this Texas Hold'em guide is that each type of game needs to be approached differently. The strategies you use to win in a cash game could eliminate you in a tournament and visa versa.

Read More

Playing Casino on the Internet, What to Be Aware Of

Most gamblers prefer to play online casino games than playing in a real setting. They find it a little bit convenient due to the fact that they will just sit down and never get out of their comfort zone. Nevertheless, there are disadvantages in playing Internet casino. There are some risks that you need to face, deal with and, of course, avoid. Let's identify the most common realities you need to prevent when playing online casino games.
Websites Full of Scams
Everybody knows that Internet has full of bogus insights, dishonest people and hackers. Online casino is not exempted to this reality. There are online casino sites that defraud players wherein they steal your money and identity. In fact, most scams are found in Internet casino games. Instead of giving you a chance to win and earn money, they would deceive you with so much offers and promises that are not actually earned. They will tell you to pay, give information, etc. but once they get all they need, they do not give back that they are promising.
Therefore, it is very vital that you check the website first before you play some online casino games. You have to ensure its authenticity and reputation. The website must be a trusted Internet casino site. Payment options must be checked and verified. If possible, you just pay through Paypal so your credit card is well secured.
The Rates of Payouts and Bets
Let's say the casino website is legitimate. However, the problem is that the amount or rates of bets are very high. You may find it very expensive to place bets yet the possible winning amount is great. Ratings of payouts are either high or low. If the payout is high, then the percentage of bets is probably high too. You need to check if you can afford those amounts before registering and playing any online casino games.
Things to Do to Avoid Fraud
Every time you play online casino games it is essential that you do some things that can help you avoid being scammed and defrauded. You better check the website before deciding to give your information and account numbers. The website must be verified if it is a trusted and legitimate casino site. Read some testimonials, reviews and forums to determine the reputation and authenticity of the web-based casino. For assurance and security, you search a list of top casino websites. There are results of leading casino sites you can find which you may consider in choosing. You also make sure the payment options are secured. Aside from PayPal, there are Internet casino gaming sites that allow payment through prepaid cards, wire transfers, bank deposits and e-wallet services. As much as possible you avoid paying using your credit card.
The most general rule in playing casino on the Internet is to spend less and earn more money. If you are losing most of the time, you must quit playing or decrease the amount of bets you are placing. It would be very helpful too if you set a budget for the bets. This can help you avoid exceeding amount of money when betting. Always remember that you need to have fun when playing Internet casino games. This should give you a reason to relax and smile but not to feel stressed due to scams and other issues.

Read More