Online Poker Archives - Page 2 of 2

To Fish, Or Not To Fish – That Is the Poker Question

Sometimes winning hands of poker isn’t about the cards themselves, but the people at the table. Given this fact, shouldn’t you aim for the easiest competition out there? The new and fairly unskilled players of poker are referred to as fish, and they aren’t going to cause you too much trouble. If you’re willing to challenge them, they’ll pretty much barrel into just about any hand, giving you easy money…if you choose to accept it.

Listen: some people really like to avoid the fish altogether. They feel that if they’re going to play poker, they should play against people that are just as skilled as they are, if not more so. But if you have a limited bankroll and you really want to make the most of it, you should try to catch some fish as much as possible. It can help you pad your bankroll so that you can go after more serious competition later on.

Don’t be fooled though: fish can be challenging if you’re not fully prepared to engage them. Every fish has at least one lucky day. Poker isn’t just about mental prowess, but the luck of the cards. You might try to bully a fish, only to find that he really isn’t one to be pushed around. He will shove you back and go all in, leaving you to figure out if he’s seriously got something good or not. If the flop isn’t in your favor and the fish is shoving all his chips in, it might be time to cut loose and run.

Finding fish doesn’t have to be as hard as you think. Did you know that the more well established the casino, the easier it is to find fish players? If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. New players flock to where the action is hottest. They’re not thinking logically at all. Instead of logic, they’re thinking purely of all of the money that they could win. They don’t want to find that they’ve been pushed out by stronger players. The allure of winning big poker hands like the players on TV is too strong to resist.

Online poker is indeed what you make of it, and you aren’t guaranteed anything. But if you want to hunt fish, make money, and really capture the spirit of poker…why not take a chance and play today? You just never know how much you can win until you play!

Try New Video Poker Variants

By Greg

Boredom at home is something that we can all relate to. If you’re ready to break out of the rut and really have some fun, you have to check out stuff that’s going to make you feel better. Why not look at video poker?

A lot of people assume that video poker is only something that you would get at a land based casino, but that’s not true at all. There’s more than just one type of video poker out there, and playing good strategy can yield some big bonuses. It’s up to you to see what type of game that you’re really interested in playing.

Here’s a few choices to look at.

All Aces Video Poker

This is a great video poker variant for beginners. There’s a lot of action here, with some choices that you have to make. If you get 4 Aces, you’re looking at a huge payout. The only thing that’s going to pay out more is a Royal Flush!

Like most video poker versions, it’s easy to play. You get five cards, and then you choose which ones you would like to hold on to. The discarded cards go out, and the new cards step in. That’s when you look at what you win based on the different combinations made. If you manage to get two aces on the first turn and then the other two aces on the second, that’s where you can win big!

Joker Video Poker

Joker Poker is one of our favorites. The joker really comes in handy and can make the difference between a pair and a three of a kind, or move you up to a four of a kind from a three of a kind. Since Jokers are wild, anything is possible.

Oh, don’t forget that you can get an extra joker instead of just one. You’re playing against the machine rather than other players, which takes a lot of the confusion and frustration out of the process. You won’t have other players blocking you from those high payouts.

There’s a 5,000 coin jackpot at stake as well, which means winning could set you up very nicely for a while. Only one way to find out, you know!

Aces and Faces Video Poker

Do you want to play a video poker game where you can double your winnings? If so, then you’ve come to the right game. Aces and Faces is played with one standard deck of cards, but absolutely no wilds.

Even though it’s low on frills, it’s big on fun. You can win with just a pair of jacks, giving you plenty of time to build up your winnings. The double your winnings feature is worth checking out.

These are just a few of our favorites, but feel free to let us know about others that you come across. As always, if you’re going to be a new player at a casino, you might as well get a bonus for it. It’s a great token of appreciation for putting your heard earned cash on the line at a casino. Most casinos realize that without the players constantly coming back, they would be out of business in short order. That’s why they do so many promotions. Not only do they want you to come in, but they want you to become a loyal player. Looking up casino bonus codes for video poker rooms would be a wise move. Not a high roller? It’s not a big deal. There’s room at the casino for everyone, not just the high roller people.

Either way, good luck and enjoy yourself! That’s the real point of the casino, you know! 🙂

Exploring New Poker Variations for Bigger Money

By Greg

You want to play more than Texas Hold’Em? No problem. In fact, if you have dreams of winning big time poker money, you need to make sure that you are trying to get more variants under your belt. The World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour are two poker tournaments that combine multiple types of poker so players win big. You could win a lot of money in the side poker games, like Omaha or Caribbean Stud. There’s also a H.O.R.S.E tournament that combines a bunch of poker variants at once.

But bigger money isn’t the only reason that you should be thinking about this. If you want to sharpen your skills, new poker variants give you the ability to do that as well.

Let’s go over the top variations, shall we?

1. Omaha Hi-Lo

Do you want large pots? Then you definitely want to play Omaha Hi-Lo.

Here’s how it works: every player at the table gets four hole cards. Those are cards unique to you. There’s also five community cards.

Here’s where it gets interesting: even though all the players at the table will use just two cards from the four they were dealt with three from the board, the pot is split. You have to make a high hand and a low hand. That’s where it gets interesting because you need to know not only your poker hands and their rankings, but you need to also think about the lowest. Suddenly, those trash cards from Hold’Em look mighty appealing, wouldn’t you say?

2. Caribbean Stud

Caribbean Stud is one of our favorite variants. It’s pretty easy to remember how to play it, and casinos like it. The odds are traditionally a bit in the casino’s favor than yours, but hey — you wanted a challenge, right?

Here’s how it works: before the cards are dealt to each player, you make your bet. That’s the “ante”. You also have a progressive jackpot that you can bet into. The dealer will wait for the betting round to end, then give you five cards. You look at your cards. Like Hold’Em, youíre either in or out at this point.

If you want to stay in, you have to put down double the ante bet, for the “call”. Once this round is finished, the dealer reveals the four hole cards dealt to him.

If he or she has an A-K (ace-king) or higher, then the dealer will compete with the players. If he or she doesn’t, then the bettors get their money back.

But if he is going to compete, then your hand has to be better than the dealer’s in order to win.

The jackpot game might not be your cup of tea, but it’s fun to see if you get to win it or not. A flush or higher wins the pot!Continue Reading

Impatient – Check Out Instant iPhone Poker

By Greg

The impatient gambler is a smart gambler. So if you’re someone that everyone has labeled as being very impatient, there’s good news — you don’t have to try to learn patience in the world of gambling at all. The truth is that you have every right to demand entertainment on your terms, and we agree with that statement wholeheartedly. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get exactly what you’re seeking as soon as possible.

The good news is that if you own an iPhone you already have the key to your entertainment needs right there in the palm of your hand. After all, the iPhone hasn’t earned the title of being one of the world’s most popular smartphones for nothing. You can actually enjoy plenty of gaming entertainment without even having to sit in front of a laptop. If you want to hang out with your friends or even just get out of the house there’s nothing wrong with still playing for real money right on your iPhone, right?

Getting instant iPhone poker entertainment is just a matter of knowing where you go. We truly liked the experience from Carbon Poker, because sign-up is quick, and getting into the action is even quicker. Unlike other portals and spaces that can’t seem to deliver a great experience for the mobile crowd, Carbon really went out of their way to make it downright fun to play for a long time.

If you’re stuck at the doc tor’s with nothing to do or even worse — stuck in a busy airport with nothing to do, you can actually go play poker. Putting entertainment on your schedule and on your own terms is the name of the game for any gambler. Why should you feel locked down to your laptop when you can make the entire world your stage? Well, this is true as long as you have a good signal. Try to pick areas where you know that you’re going to have a good signal. It would be absolutely awful if you lost signal in the middle of a critical poker game where you’re actually winning, right?

Losing money is definitely not the name of the game here. Playing till your heart’s content is definitely what we’re after, and you can have it with ease. Why not play today, while it’s still on your mind?

Heads Up Poker Play Can Be Wonderful – You’ll See!

By Greg

Heads up poker play is something that really scares off a lot of would be awesome poker players. They think that heads up is going to be their weakness, so they tell themselves that. They tell themselves not to get too excited about heads up play, because they’re going to lose. Well folks, I hate to break it to you but if you keep telling yourself that you aren’t going to be good at something…you’re not going to be good at it at all. So this means that you must make sure that you are completely and utterly focused on the road ahead of you. Otherwise you’re going to have big trouble and that’s not a good thing. You just need to think carefully about what you have to achieve.

Heads up play really isn’t impossible once you think about it. Yes, it’s a battle of wills between you and your opponent. Your opponent wants to knock you out, because there’s a lot of difference between first and second place. You could be leaving a lot of money on the table if you’re not careful. I think that you really need to start looking at how to get into first place.

Keep in mind that a lot of players bluff the daylights out of you when it’s head up play. They don’t want you to know that, of course. So they’re going to hit you with a big play so that you aren’t going to do anything else but fold. You could be folding a really good hand and not think twice about it. Watch how they play before you get too rash though. They could catch you off guard. But if you have any suspicion that all they’re really doing is playing trash, you need to step it up. Don’t be hesitant in shoving them back. They will usually fold or re-raise. If they re-raise when you know that they have a pattern of playing trash, make sure that you call them out. They will expect you to back down. Try seeing what they do when you put another re-raise on the board. That could change everything. Just letting them see what you’re going to do can make the difference as well. If you present yourself as a very strong player, then you will look like a strong player.

The truth is that heads up play is really what you make of it. Don’t bring your doubts into that final table. You have all of the ability in the world to take home that first prize. If you want to really sharpen your skills before you do a lot of tournaments, that would be a good thing. But the truth is that if you really want to get better at tournaments, you just have to keep entering them. You have to keep playing tournaments. This is something that’s hard to deal with, but it definitely makes sense. All you need it to from here is to play. Let yourself go, and let yourself play. That’s really all there is to it. The more that you focus on this, the better off you will honestly and openly be.

From here, everything is really up to you. Do you want to enroll in a tournament to practice, or do you need to work on the emotional side? Don’t feel embarrassed if you say that you need to work on not taking poker personally. A lot of people actually find that they take the game personally, which keeps them from the big wins that they deserve. Once a paler has gotten you to connect mentally to the game, they know that they have you trapped. They know that they have you right where they want you. The more that they can unbalance you emotionally, the more likely it is that you’ll just make weird decisions for the sake of reacting. In order to play your best poker, you have to be pretty calm.Continue Reading

Dip a Toe or Two Into the Poker Waters – If You Dare…

By Greg

My regular readers can look at another guide — I’m not talking to them. The seasoned poker player online already knows why they’re playing, and this guide wouldn’t be of interest to them. But if you’re someone that’s truly thinking about striking out on the right foot? It’s definitely time to look into everything you can look into when it comes to the right poker game of your choice.

Look, being a newbie isn’t bad. You’ve probably lurked on a few forums where people trash talk newbies and say all manners of carp about them. The reality is that we’ve all been the newbie once. You will have to get used to the fact that people will try to go for your chips first. As a group, newbies really don’t know enough strategy to survive very well, so they are easy targets. That’s not to say that you’re going to be an easy target. Nope. You just need to make sure that you’re always looking carefully at the table.

Study poker position. This shows you how strong everyone is, and positions determine strength. If you’re doing with someone that’s the dealer, then they get to see everyone’s actions before they take their actions. Isn’t that powerful? Knowing action can determine what the best course of action would be.

Make sure that you count your outs. A lot of people don’t, and it ends up costing them big time. They assume that they have the nut hand, which means that they have the best possible hand…until they’re beaten.

A lot of players will tell you all day long about bingo players. This isn’t something that you need to get worked up about. Simply put, bingo players go all in and an attempt to lock up your chips. They’re teasing you. If I got mad every time I was teased, I’d have one crazy temper!

So where does that leave you? Playing the best poker that you can. That might mean that your poker game’s a little crazy for a little while. That’s perfectly okay. What you need to do here is make sure that you’re not playing such wild poker that you don’t know what you’re doing. You have to concentrate. I write a lot about concentration but the truth is that poker players don’t do it enough. The multi-tabling guys? I don’t even know where to begin on that. You will not see me multi-tabling. I’m a bit old school like that. I like to make sure that my attention is on one table. Sure, you might make sure more money if you were to MT, but at what cost? You could end up missing key information because you’re constantly having to flip back and forth. Yes, I am very aware that you can get software that does all of this for you. But the truth remains: you have to program that software. You have to make sure that you’re in charge of the robot instead of the other way around. You don’t want to rely on too much technology either.Continue Reading

Video Poker Could Be Our Fall Crush But We’re Still Torn

By Greg

There’s something about video poker that definitely gets our attention. It’s a game that looks easy but it’s more challenging than it appears. If you’re going to get into video poker, there are a few things you should know right up front.

There are tons of variations for video poker. And when I say tons, I mean that. You have Jacks or Better, Aces and Eights, Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe, All American Poker… the list goes on and on. Every time I turn around, there’s another casino offering yet another variation. Some people are going to love that, but others aren’t. If you want a classic style, play Jacks or Better. This means that you’re going to have to make sure that you get better than a two pair, because it doesn’t pay out much at all.

Thinking about odds can be hard, so we suggest looking up guides before you play. It helps you get used to the type of strategy you should be using. Believe it or not there are strategizes that minimize the overall house edge on the game. This is convenient when you start playing a lot of video poker. Sometimes it can be difficult to really make sure that you’re watching all of the variables right but that’s okay. As you play more video poker, you’ll start catching on to things in a different way.

Where you go from here is completely up to you. There are plenty of casinos that offer video poker. If you want to make sure that you know which ones are going to beat the top of the list and which ones to avoid, you should always be looking up a casino review guide or two first. Going where the action is can pay off, but not if the support is lousy. Think that you’ll never need support? We promise you that it’s not as true as you think it is. You might find that your credits aren’t all in your account. This means that you’re going to have to file a support ticket for them to look it up. It could also mean that you don’t get to transfer your credits to your bank the way that you intended.

This is something that you need to hold someone down before you tell them, buy you don’t have to worry too much. Most casinos that attract top players aren’t going to be dealing with subpart support too long. This is one area where the players really do have a lot of say. They know that it’s totally in their power to make demands. They are the ones that go to the casino and spend their hard earned money, so it really does just make perfect sense when you think about it.

What about you? Are you going to play some good video poker? We certainly hope so. And just remember who got you thinking about video poker…you know, if you happen to hit it big on a win!

Be Secure: Tips for Online Poker Safety

By Greg

There is little feeling worse in the world than being hacked and having a stranger gain access to all of your personal information and even worse – your money. But that’s what could potentially happen to your poker account if you access a dodgy website on an unsecured computer.

It’s a worrying thought but never fear! Follow these simple steps and make sure that you are protected online.

Choose a reliable poker room

This is a big one. Don’t just play poker with any random site that you find online – and especially don’t enter your card details unless you trust the website.

The PKR poker domain is one of the best established gaming websites that there is in all of the UK. Their world class security is second to none in the online poker world.

After the Heart Bleed problem that many internet companies suffered, and the eBay hacking, customers are understandably wary about entering credit card information or other personal details online.

All of the information on the PKR website is completely encrypted, using the internationally sound SSL/https process, which is above industry standard.

Officially, PKR say; “It is a requirement of the Alderney Gambling Control Commission that an independent testing house evaluates a licensee’s RNG, operating procedures, systems architecture, technical infrastructure, site security and the veracity of the games themselves. PKR Ltd has been evaluated by Gaming Associates, an Australian based testing company and we have met their requirements.”

Protect your password

It’s one of the oldest pieces of internet advice out there. Always be vigilant with your password and never use the same password for different sites. Even if you just change one letter or number in the password, it is more secure than using a universal one.

Sites where you use card or bank details, are best left to a completely separate password altogether. And make sure to not use anything too obvious as your secret answer either!

Because the problem is, one leak and the whole of your online life is in jeopardy. Credit card numbers, addresses, family’s names etc. are all snippets of information that your average hacker can potentially find.

Don’t skimp on the protection

Anti-virus software is an essential part of any device that wants to browse the internet safely. Sadly, people mistakenly believe that an anti-malware program is all that they need, and this is where they run into problems.

Perhaps if you are just researching and lightly browsing the internet, an antivirus program may be sufficient to protect you. However, when playing poker and with lots of money at stake, it is vital that you always choose a well-known and reliable company.

All it takes is a few extra steps to ensure that you are at the top of your game.

How PKR stay secure

Sometimes, websites such as PKR Poker may ask you to send in documents for final verification. So you can enjoy your poker games safe in the knowledge you are secure to play.

Any items that you send will be stored in a secure folder, with only the top staff members allowed access.

If we do ask you to send the required documents (and we will never do this over email), then all of your details will be encrypted including the first and last four digits of your credit card, and also the security number on the back.

PKR are also the only online poker developer that is licenced and regulated by the UK Government.

Recent Posts