Matthew Donaldson asked:


If you play poker then you’ve probably had poker nights with your friends, where you and the gang sit around the dinner table and pretend you’re professional card sharks, playing for high stakes. But suppose you think your poker stills are good enough to compete with real professional poker players? Well, then you log on to the Poker Stars web-site and set up an account in order to try your playing expertise.

Pocker Stars is the world’s largest online poker site, where you can play ten varieties of the game, including Texas Hold’Em, Five Card Draw and Omaha. You can hone your skills at the free play-only site before logging in to the main site, where you play for real money. Pocker Stars hosts weekly tournaments, which attract thousands of online players and are open to everybody as long as they can afford the buy-in. Pocker Stars also hosts the World Championship of Online Poker, the largest online poker competition on the planet.

But before you set your sights that high, you need to develop a strategy. What is the best strategy for winning at online poker?

One problem with playing online poker is that you can’t see your opponents’ faces. Poker is as much about bluffing as it is who has the best hand and thus, being able to read the other players’ expressions and body language is a vital part of a winning strategy. But you can’t do this in an online game, so you have to rely on other clues, or “tells”, as to how strong or weak your opponent’s hand is. One way you can do this is to use “betting tells” or reading how your opponent bets.

There are three types of such tells: how long your opponent takes to make his bet, how much he bets, and his use of the ‘in-turn’ box (used by players playing more than one game at a time). For example, if he pauses before he makes his bet, he may possess a weak hand. If you play with particular opponents long enough, you can detect patterns in their tells that you can exploit.

The most significant of these tells is said to be the use of the ‘in-turn’ box. There are three boxes he can pick: the check box, the check/fold box or the check/call box. Which of these boxes he uses reveals information about him which you can exploit. Your opponent also reveals information through his insta-bets and insta-raises when he is not in the blinds (forced bets placed in the pot to begin bidding).

Of course, experienced players are aware of this and will try to manipulate you by giving false tells, so you should also be wary. Study each player’s style carefully and eventually idiosyncrasies in their playing styles will emerge that will alert you if an opponent is trying to trick you.

Learning how to read tells online may be one of the most important tools in your strategy box apart from mastering pot odds. Perfecting the skill of reading tells is a big step towards guaranteeing that you will do well in online poker games and tournaments like those on the Pocker Stars site.

Mike T Johnston asked:


Poker hands are always five cards. They are the first thing you have to learn if you want to play poker. They fall into one of several categories, such as flush, straight, or two pair. Poker hands win or lose according to their strength (assuming you get to the showdown) so knowing where various poker hands appear in the official poker rankings is essential.

The winning hand take all the pot. According to those who are knowledgeable about poker, poker hand rankings may affect the position of players in a game. Their strategies may also be based or dependent on the cards that they have so it is advantageous for players if they are well-informed about poker hand rankings. According to the strict hierarchy of card’s value we differentiate the ranks of poker. Only five cards make a poker hand, it always consists of 5 cards.

Ace is the highest ranked, followed by K, Q, and J down to two, which is the lowest, ranked. Single cards play an important role in deciding the winner among players when no deciding combinations are possible. Aces are always a ‘low’ card when considering a low hand. Please also note that the value of a five-card low hand starts with the top card, and goes down from there.

If two players have Two Pair, the hand with the highest Pair wins. If they have the same high Pair, whoever has the second highest Pair in their hand wins. Since suits have no relative value in poker, two hands can be considered identical if one hand can be transformed into the other by swapping suits.

Poker hands fall into one of several categories, such as flush, straight, or two pair. The player whose hand is in the higher category wins. Poker hands decide who wins and who loses. Poker hands are the first thing you have to learn if you want to play poker.

Debbie Fletcher asked:


Poker Chip Sets – The Poker Chip and Challenge to Counterfeiters

Poker is a popular card game across the world with the excitement of gambling and potential for huge payoffs. Almost integral to the poker game are the poker chips, and indeed poker does not feel like poker without poker chip sets.

The chips are small discs of various colors representing different denominations, meant as substitutes for real money, which is instead stored in a more secure place. The use of money substitutes, or token money, can be traced back through the 13th to 17th centuries in Europe. Today poker chips are often made according to themes and formats that unite a particular set of chips. This is useful in avoiding counterfeiters, even for games at home or in private.

Casino chips use many different anti-counterfeiting measures, with the most basic being chip coloration and embossed or molded patterning. Holographic inlays, distinctive colored markings on the edges and ultraviolet markings on the inlays further deter potential counterfeiters. Lastly, Radio Frequency Identification or RFID tags are used by some establishments. The latter method can be quite costly, but the establishments that use them feel the cost is justified. Given the difficulty in counterfeiting chips, poker chip frauds in casinos are rare.

If you plan to play in private though, you should be careful of frauds, especially if you are using mass-produced chips. Another reason for these security measures is to identify which casinos they came from. This is usually not a problem, since casinos usually honor only their own chips and it is more of a matter of branding. In Nevada however, casinos are permitted to honor chips from other casinos, and these identifiers make returning chips to the casinos they belong to easier.

Poker Chip Sets – Composition and Coloration

Authentic casino poker chips are made of clay, though not pure clay which is too soft. Special composite mixtures have been made, using trade-secret techniques, the confidential nature of which is yet another speed bump on the counterfeiter’s path. Sometimes, special edition poker chip sets may be bought from casinos, though generally poker chips stay in the casinos. Poker chips made for home use on the other hand may or may not be of the same quality as their casino counterparts.

For home use poker chips, ceramic and ABS plastic are the most common materials. When ceramic is used, special compositions allow them to approximate the feel of real clay while maintaining a lower price profile. Ceramic chips are also used in some casinos. ABS plastic chips on the other hand may be molded with a metal disk or slug inside, to give them some heft. For those in Europe, poker chips may come in mother of pearl, which gives them an incomparable sheen and luster. Coloration is standard for different denominations in one set, but may differ across sets. For example, in some places there are standard coloration schemes for chips, while in others there are none. Of note is the US State of Nevada, where casinos are given free rein on their chip designs and colors.

Poker Chip Sets – Sets and Themes

Since poker games often involve large amounts of money, a large number of chips are needed. Standard sets have 300 pieces, while others can have 500 pieces, and yet others reaching a stunning 1000 pieces. Some casinos sell poker chips similar to those used on the floor but with a few differences for identification purposes. This is great for those who want to emulate the feel of their favorite places of gambling at home games. Limited edition sets can be highly collectible, and there is a thriving community of poker chip collectors.

Many of the poker chips are traded via eBay, and the most special ones can go for thousands of US dollars, regardless of face value. Whole sets of these special poker chips can cost even more than the individual pieces. What really ties the members of all poker chip sets together is the design of the chips. Poker chips in one set are often of identical sizes, of consistent coloration, and having similar inlays. Colors and inlays vary according to denomination, but the idea is that chips from one set are identifiably from the very same set.

The edges and rims may also be embossed with characteristic patterns and even have colored sections made via special multi stage molding techniques. The designs may be simple and straight forward, just simple chips with numbers. They could just as well be whimsical, like having humorous or otherwise interesting prints on the inlays. A set of poker chips will often be packaged in a poker chip case or some such container such as an acrylic poker chip carrier or humidor style wooden poker chip case, in the tradition followed in casinos worldwide. One would suppose that if you are going for the authentic feel, then there’s no point skimping on the little details.

Poker Chip Sets – Elements of Authenticity

Poker chips are essential to playing poker. One can “play” poker without them, but it will not feel like poker without the chips would it? It is the feel of these poker chips that gives a tactile sense of authenticity. The clink of these poker chips as they hit the table and trade hands adds to the ambiance. The nature of these poker chips ensures that no one can weasel out of the bet that they placed, so it ensures a fair game as far as bets are concerned. Speaking of amounts, the printed or inlaid values may vary depending on where you buy your poker chip sets.

It is even possible to find manufacturers that make poker chips that reflect your country’s currency and useful denominations, though generic chips are also available. With the popularity of televised poker and TV series set in casinos, the mystique of poker chip sets has increased, and many people feel that poker chips are the only way with which to play poker. If you are the kind of person who likes taking souvenirs, then chips from the casinos you have visited make fine reminders of good and bad times alike. Poker chips are definitely the elements of authenticity in poker games.

Matthew Donaldson asked:


Poker sportsbook offers a lot of free Poker games, which are regularly held at different game rooms and have enlisted at least millions of subscribers to play in their site. It also offers free poker tournaments which has no hidden fees and money requirements. In this way, beginners are spared of being exposed to the pressure of playing poker since no money is risked or put in danger.

Many experts who play in poker sportsbook online view this game as a means and livelihood to earn money by tipping the odds to their favor. Most people could label poker only when the person playing is blindly betting his money without considering the consequences of his actions. Winning is not necessarily assured for veteran players but they have the virtue to establish dominance through a simple rule they follow. Patience and timing are the two rules, which champion poker players adhere to whenever they compete. That is why many of the poker players coming from poker sportsbook frequently win other site tournaments.

The beauty of the poker sportsbook website is that it has a chat and messaging system which allows any one to communicate and share their experiences to others. Champion online players usually are the moderators so that they could easily put up quotes and reminders for other players to follow whenever they play.

The poker sportsbook online competition has a lot to offer compared to other gaming sites. This includes a variety of tournament formats to choose from. This includes a table by table elimination format which is the hardest but offers the biggest price possible. The other format is called the Sit and Go, which is easier and has a rapid gaming environment ideal for people who are looking to kill time. Unlike the table for table tournament, which requires at least 24 hours of playing, the Sit and Go can be played minutes at a time. Many players could earn money in a single table and transfer to another table which makes his strategy less obvious and reusable.

The poker gaming rooms in the poker sportsbook online site is a very easy source of money since it contains all the necessary information and guide that allows players to contemplate and reflect on the weaknesses and positive aspects of their strategies. The main teachings of the guide revolve around how to control one’s impulse and turn it into a viable source of motivation. By betting and putting all your resources at the right time, one could easily triple his money. This is what the poker sportsbook champions call as tight betting. “Tight” means holding your cards and money until the best possible moment when you could manipulate other players.

Long term betting is another good way to succeed in the poker sportsbook competitions where in winning at small amounts could accumulate the player thousands of dollars after several rounds. This is possible by playing in a low profile. This would remove suspicion and unwanted attention. When the player has the right cards, he could appear to be harmless which he could use to his advantage.

Della Franklin asked:


It is always important to conduct yourself in a professional manner when playing the game of Poker. And to be able to do just this, you have to be familiar with the rules and equally important is that you are familiar with the Poker lingo. Talking the talk will help make you look more like a professional!

Remember that playing Poker is indeed a form of gambling since you are playing for money. When you have “tapped out” or being “tapped out” simply means that you have managed to loose everything after betting all that you have.

The game of poker is usually played with 52 cards where each card belongs to one of four different suits, namely the hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades. Some Poker variations will make use of the Joker as a “wild card.” Wild cards can be played as if they were any of the 52 cards in the standard card deck used for Poker. There is no need to be worried and confused about these house rules since they should all be determined and explained before the actual game begins.

When playing on a Poker table one would think that Poker players have their own set of codes to describe the hand that they are playing. Poker usually involves words used by players to declare betting status and these words are most often used to describe their “hand.” The “hand” pertains to the combination formed by the set of cards that a Poker player holds during game play.

Starting with an Ace, combinations can be called “Ace high” or “Ace low.” Players state this phrase depending on how the Ace will be used in the hand. When you declare an “Ace full”, it means that you have a full house containing Aces. This is one of the better hands that you should expect during game play.

A game is “in action” when the pace is relatively more aggressive than usual where there is a lot of activity on the Poker table. This may include “betting”, “raising” and of course “checking”. When you decide to “check”, it only means that you are betting but you are not increasing the pot amount.

When you say you are “betting everything” it means that you are very comfortable with your hand and you will add it to the pot for a bigger payout. Be careful when you say “bet everything” since meaning what you say is one of the major Poker guidelines.

When you say “up the ante” you are referring to putting additional money to further fill up the winning pot. “Raising” an opponent means that you are responding to a previously declared bet by the particular opponent and that you would like to increase the pot.

A broke player on a poker table is usually called a “broomcorn uncle”. “Broomcorn uncles” happen when a particular player overplays his or her hand.

Playing Poker in casinos usually involves “a buy” which only pertains to the amount of money that you need to carry in order to get into the game. It is up to you to make sure that your betting total does not exceed the amount required in the buy.

Mark R. Holland asked:


The beauty of poker is that it is easy to learn but almost impossible to fully master. A player who has learned the basics of poker strategy including starting hand selection, the various kinds of odds and table position looking at advanced poker strategy tips and information needs to cover many areas. This article suggests 5 advanced poker strategy areas that can improve any player’s poker skills.

Advanced Poker Strategy Area #1 – Game Theory

Game theory is actually a branch of mathematics which looks at situations where 2 or more people have conflicting interests. It can be applied to poker in many ways. The most common example is ‘Optimal Bluffing Strategy’ in which you aim to randomize your bluffs in a way that is ‘unexploitable’ by opponents. This advanced poker strategy involves making your bluff frequency exactly the same as the odds your opponent receives to call the final bet.

Advanced Poker Strategy Area #2 – The Independent Chip Model (ICM)

ICM is a model which gives a tournament player’s chip stack a dollar value based on prize pool distribution and the stacks of remaining players. It is then used to calculate your true risk – in terms of dollars not chips – when making a decision during play. This advanced poker strategy is commonly used in Sit and Go tournaments but can be equally useful in multi-table poker tournaments.

Advanced Poker Strategy Area #3 – Heads-Up Poker Play

There are actually 2 advanced poker strategies designed for heads-up play. Both are used at the end of tournaments and rely on math to ensure that an opponent has no numerical way to exploit you. The first is known as the SAGE system and the second ‘Nash-Equilibrium’. Becoming an expert in these systems will help you reach that number one spot – where the big payout is!

Advanced Poker Strategy Area #4 – Stack Size Flexibility and Inflection Points

Made famous by Dan Harrington the concept of ‘M’, zones and inflection points is a must for players learning advanced poker strategy for tournaments. You can calculate your ‘M’ score at any point during a tournament by dividing your chips by the blinds and antes. This score is then used to assign a ‘zone’ which dictates your strategy as you travel through inflection points (changes between zones).

Advanced Poker Strategy Area #5 – Rail-Birding The Online Pros

Watching the professional online tournament players at work is a great way to pick up advanced poker strategy tips. Effective rail-birding involves analyzing the hand as a whole rather than just the cards in play. Stack-sizes and reads are just two of the many things to watch out for.

Anne Clarke asked:


Everyone knows that bridge cards are smaller than poker cards. In general, bridge cards are about ¼ inch (or about 5 millimeters) slimmer than poker cards. The question is: why? A person could very easily play a game of poker with bridge cards and vice versa. And other card games like euchre, pitch, hearts, and spades can be played with either size deck (an additional question might be: why is there not a different size deck for each of these card games, as well?)

Clearly, size does not matter!

There are many different theories as to why these playing cards are sized differently.

· One of my favorite theories is a feminist theory – bridge is a game for women and poker is a game for men. Women have delicate, small hands while men have big, burly hands, and this is why bridge cards are smaller than poker cards – how can a wee woman handle such manly cards as poker cards? To break free of this playing-card-oppression, women ought to (1) encourage men to admit their femininity by playing bridge (2) encourage men to renounce their manhood by playing poker with bridge cards (3) start playing more poker, or (4) start playing with jumbo-sized cards to show that women are not just as good as men, but better!

Perhaps the question should not be, “Why are bridge cards so small,” but, rather, “Why are poker cards so darn big?”

· The Texas theory – Texas is a big state, right? And Texas Hold ‘Em, perhaps the premier poker game, is named for this big state, right? Well, it only makes sense that poker cards are as big as Texas!

· The American theory – Americans are generally wider than the rest of the world, it only make sense that their poker cards are, as well! (In many countries, the standard size deck is a bridge size).

· Poker is a gambling game, and there are some people that try to win by cheating. Therefore, to discourage cheating, poker cards are larger, making sleights of hand more difficult (of course, at the same time, it is slightly harder to conceal larger cards).

The most likely reason that bridge cards are narrower than poker cards:

· In bridge, you generally have to hold more cards in your hand – around 13 compared to just 5 for poker. It is easier to hold the smaller cards and to keep them concealed. In poker, on the other hand, it is easier to hold the larger cards, since you have so few to hold onto.

Further information on playing cards:

· Magicians generally prefer bridge cards – because they are smaller, they are easier to manage for many different magic tricks and sleights of hand.

· Most licensed cards, like a deck of Coca Cola playing cards, are poker-sized.

· Jumbo index cards are not cards that are even bigger than poker cards – rather, they have large print in the corners so that the numbers are easier to read.

· In many casino poker games, bridge-sized cards are used!

Matthew Donaldson asked:


Poker Stars is considered the largest online poker room website, having the most traffic and visitors among other online poker sites. With all this traffic, Poker Stars get great advertisements, promotions, different types of poker games and even the prime poker tournaments there are. Literally, there is a poker tournament that starts every single second in the Stars website. You need not wait too long for a new game. The website also hosts the biggest weekly tournament with a $1.5 million pot Sunday Million. This is just one of the many tournaments that the site holds. They also have a massive player base that gets more and more players joining their poker games. If you are one who loves poker and looking for the right online poker room, then Poker Stars should definitely be included in your options.

But if you are one who loves your bonuses, you will be disappointed to know that the Stars site does not offer the largest bonuses unlike others. However, they do provide the longest time period wherein you can earn your bonus and increase it. For those who play during the weekends, this definitely means the difference between earning all of the bonuses and earning 25% of it.

The Poker Stars website is presently offering to its players a 100% deposit bonus that reaches up to $50. This only goes for your first deposit, which means that if you want to big possible bonuses, you would need to enlarge the amount of your first deposit. If your initial deposit is only at $50, you are only eligible to receive $50 bonus. Likewise, if you make an initial deposit of $20, you are only entitled to a $20 bonus.

The Poker Stars website lets their players earn their bonuses for a full six months. This is the longest that any other online poker card room can give. Normally, online poker rooms only give their poker players 3 to 4 months before their unearned bonus becomes forfeited. Poker recognizes that the new players will usually play at small stakes. This is the reason why they give this additional time extension for these players to earn the bonus they provide.

If a player wants to fully earn his bonus, he must earn the size of their bonus times ten in base FPPs. Earning these “base FPPs” can be attained by playing on real money game tables, playing real money in MTTs and playing real money in SNGs. If you want to earn more bonuses, you need to play more.

For you to totally qualify for the bonus, you would have to take a 2-step process. First of all, when you are undergoing the sign-up process, you will need to enter the word POKER-KING when you are asked for the marketing code. Next, when you are going to make a deposit, input the Poker Stars Bonus Code “STARS50″ when asked for the bonus code. This Poker Stars Bonus Code is necessary if you want to get your bonus.

These are the two steps you need to take and you are done. After this process, you may well be on the right track into earning 100% Poker Stars bonuses.

Sean Moranse asked:


Internet poker is everywhere. Especially playing on poker stars net. Poker stars net is where everyone likes to start playing on. On poker stars net you can win a seat into the poker tour world or poker series world. Some people even start on poker yahoo or think with mathematics poker brains. There is a poker theory to winning online poker and if you play smart you can make some great money.

The one poker theory you should agree with is to play with bonus poker. What do I mean by that? Many poker sites offer a 100% deposit bonus when you sign up with them. The poker sites that offer a 100% bonus are as follows: Full tilt poker, poker stars, and bodog poker all over a 100% deposit for first time depositers. If you download poker on your computer and deposit into one of these sites you can sleep easy at night knowing that you just got the most for your money. You can get up to 600 bucks on your first deposit for doing nothing. That is an extra 600 bucks you have to play with to jump right into the poker tables. You can watch free poker video or take a look at card poker which will help you increase your odds of winning also.

Once you learn all the poker rules and try out advance advanced holdem player player poker, you will be ready to jump right into real money poker. Playing for real money is unlike any kind of poker game. When you play for play money people just absolutely don’t care. They will go all in with anything and play absolutely like a maniac. It’s depressing watching your aces or kings getting crushed by some idiot going all in with 34. It happens, with poker you need to accept it. Luckily you didn’t lose any real money if this happened to you at the play money tables. It happens all the time at the real money tables also, which is why I have retired from playing cash games and I make a great living now playing only sit and go’s. I have deposited 1 time in the last year and I have never looked back. Soon as I started strictly playing sit n go’s is when I was finally able to quit my day job, buy a new house, car, etc…

It has truly been a blessing waking up whenever I want and spending at least 4-5 hours a day playing sit and go’s. The breakdown is as follows for sit and go’s

1st place = 50% of the total prize pool

2nd place = 30% of the total prize pool

3rd place = 20% of the total overall prize pool

Now when I play sit and go’s I have one thing in mind every time I play. I go after first place every time no matter what. I do not play scared and do not think about getting knocked out and placing in the money. To be profitable you need to play like this also.

Michael Hanna asked:


Poker has been around for centuries, so how come the sudden boom that has recently taken the Internet by storm?

I’m a big poker fan, and have been for years. I played poker regularly with my friends and family years before the advent of poker online. There were some things that I didn’t like about playing with my friends: the first thing was that I had to wait till we got some folk together before we could play, so I usually had to wait till a Wednesday or Sunday evening; second of all, when it started getting late people started dropping off to go home, which left little enough people to play, until within a few hours it was over; thirdly , and sometimes most annoyingly was that if you went all in and went out early in a game you had to sit and watch everyone else play for maybe an hour or more – how frustrating!

These, I believe, are the reasons for the boom in poker popularity. These reasons were the biggest reasons not to play poker, but now when you play poker online you have full control over when you play; when you stop playing, and when you go out you can simply start another game. Because of these features added by the power of the internet, a great game has been allowed to flourish.

The only difficult part about making the progression into the online world of poker is finding out where the best places are to play, and where to stay away from. When I started playing poker online this was the most daunting stage for me. If I’d have known then what I know now I would have been a lot more at ease when I was starting out.

What I have learned along the way is that there are sites out there to help the online poker beginner find out where the best places are to play; which places to stay away from, and which poker rooms are suitable to play in when the poker player fancies a change of scenery. One such site is the poker review site Poker Online UK. This site gives a number out of ten (a poker rank) of the top poker websites on the internet; and gives a description of the sites that it has ranked. This site also provides bonus codes and links from which the poker beginner will get bonus cash when they make a deposit using the code, or signing up through the link.

Another poker review site I found out about is Poker Websites. This site is similar to Poker Online UK, but in a different style. Poker Websites has a number that has been mathematically calculated to rank all of the top poker websites. The last time I was on the Poker Websites site I found out about the new site Poker News that’s associated with Poker Websites. Poker News is a new website dedicated to providing online poker players with the best poker news that they want to know about.

Poker has been around for a long time, but it’s only now that we enthusiasts have the freedom to play it whenever we want. God bless the Internet!