Welcome to confessions of a... rookie poker player! This webblog documents my experience with online poker starting at the beginning.
Poker Jargon
Posted June 19th, 2009 - Posted in Poker Advice |This post is mainly for Poker Beginners. Ever wonder what a Flop or a River is in terms of a Poker game? This post will deal with those poker terms and many more so without further adieu.
Poker Jargon
Board Cards: These are the cards that are placed in the middle of the poker table which are shared by all who playing.
Flop: A Flop is the 1st 3 cards in Texas Hold’em.
Preflop: This is the round after you are dealt your 2 hole cards and there aren’t any cards on the table yet.
Turn: The turn is the 4th board card that comes out in Texas Hold’em.
River: The river is the 5th & last card that comes on the board in Texas Hold’em.
Draw: A Draw basically means hoping to make your hand better with the cards that will come to play on the board. So: you are on a draw when you are wanting cards to come out on the board to give you a complete hand.
Pot Odds: The Pot Odds are the odds you are get when you are drawing.
Implied Odds: This is the same as the pot odds, but it takes into account your bets in the future. So, you could call a bet at the flop, but have implied odds of making larger bets on later games if you hit your draw.
Limit Poker: Limit Poke is with fixed size bets. In a $2 – $4 limit, all rasies & bets are $2 in the first 2 games, and all rasies & bets are $4 in the last 2 games.
Outs: Outs are cards which can make your hand better.
Position: This is where you will sit at the table. The dealer will have the best position as he bets last and so has knowledge of what the other players might have in their hand. The worst position is the small blind as that player has to act 1st.
Longhand: Longhand is a poker match with 7 or more players.
Shorthand: A shorthand is a poker match that has 6 or less players.
If you found this post on Poker Jargon useful or have any questions, please leave me a comment.
No Comments »
Poker Strategies
Posted June 19th, 2009 - Posted in Poker Advice |One of the many questions I get asked being a Rookie Poker Player, is “how do you win at poker?”. This is a question that there really isn’t a simple answer to, other than: Poker Strategies.
Poker Strategies
In the game of Poker you need to have a strategy to win. There’s beginners luck, but that won’t get you anywhere near winning the amounts of money people win who have Poker Strategies.
It’s my aim to write as many poker strategies and tips on my blog to help all you Poker Players, old and new, to win fortunes consistently. If you’d like me to write about anything specific be sure to comment on this post and I’ll see what I can do.
For now, let’s continue this post with the list of Poker Strategies articles that are coming within the next few weeks.
Poker Strategies: Poker Jargon
Poker Strategies: Poker Skills
Poker Strategies: Deception
Poker Strategies: Multiple Tables
Plus much more…! Be sure to check back for my extensive guide to Poker Strategies.
No Comments »
Are you looking for a way to mix business with poker?
Posted July 24th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized |Well now you can.
What I really mean is: now you can take your documents to a poker game without a briefcase or a USB pen, because now… there’s a USB poker chip.
Storage manufacturers have been playing about with putting USB storage drives in everything from pens to keychains but now they’ve gone and put a flash drive in a poker chip. So now you can take your work documents, family pictures or just crap you aren’t aloud to store in work on a poker chip.
So next time you throw a chip in the pot, make sure its not your USB storage chip.
The Poker Mate is available from all good outlets at a capacity of 1GB or 2GB currently. Oh and here’s another thing, being coin/chip-shaped it’s less likely to get damaged in your pocket than a standard USB pen.
No Comments »
Tonight’s games
Posted June 14th, 2008 - Posted in The Rookie Poker Player |Was able to fit in 2 hrs tonight at the tables. Happily doubling-up once or twice before being taken down for playing without thinking.
Although I’m no professional, when I start at a table I perform very well and raise my chips regularly. My trouble is that I will carry on too long without taking a break. It’s important to realise when you are tired or not thinking straight. I don’t think I ever play automatically (like when you are driving on a motorway and can’t remember the last few miles) but I will often over-stretch myself when I’m not thinking clearly. If you aren’t thinking straight then you can bleed chips and loose track of your chip count.
My advice is not to play for longer than an hour without sitting out a few hands. Make a cup of tea and stretch your legs because you won’t want to be getting nagging pains or need the loo when you are in the middle of a great hand.
By the way my nickname is “the_a98″ on A-Winning-Hand.com poker if you fancy playing a bit of heads-up poker.
No Comments »
Poker Fashion
Posted June 10th, 2008 - Posted in The Rookie Poker Player |Poker fashion or lack of it is noticeable when watching one of the many poker shows now on TV.
The most obvious part of a professionals outfit nowadays is the sponsorship on their jackets or shirts. In fact most of these shirts seem to bear the Full Tilt Poker logo.
A poker player’s accessories is where you see a more personal touch. Some players love to wear large gold jewelry like darts players of the past and others prefer a more subtle approach with a nice watch and the cut of a good suit.
The thing that bugs me the most is the players that wear sunglasses to play poker. Now I can understand the wearing of sunglasses under bright studio lights but I don’t think that’s the reason poker players wear sunglasses. Lets face it – they look daft and they are using sunglasses to hide their eyes while looking at other player’s eyes.
No Comments »
Starting out in Online Poker
Posted June 9th, 2008 - Posted in Poker Advice |Before I started playing online poker I read magazines and blogs looking for advice and tips. There are literally thousands of poker-related blogs on the Internet and many of them rehash each other and the same old content each day. Each month the magazines offer you tips and guides on the best and worst hands etc.
The thing about poker (and in fact most rule-based games) is that the rules don’t change and what hand is best doesn’t change. So if you play the odds and only the odds, then you’ll never beat the best.
I believe I was reading Poker Player magazine and they said that rookies will all too often concentrate on the odds of a hand for an indication of how to play. I sub-consciously took this on board myself. Basically since I had no interest in learning dozen of common odds before even hitting the tables I let common sense take the lead.
Starting out is fairly simple. Learn the basic rules of poker: what wins and in what order. Learn table etiquette and blinding. Then find a poker website where you can play for free (I use www.a-winning-hand.com) before depositing money.
Next steps find a table where the blinds are low and preferably table-limits too. Then start playing. If you are playing for free, having low amounts on the table will help accustom you to playing your first money hands.
Before you start looking for betting patterns and tells, simply play a few hands and get a feel for how the game flows. You’ll start to learn the hands that work and those that don’t and this is the sub-conscious learning of odds that I employ. Common sense dictates that a pair of 2s when you enter the flop is not as strong as any other pair but when you are playing against 3 people it is a lot better hand than when you are playing 7 others.
So my advice is this, learn the basics and start in the free rooms – this way you won’t be left wondering WTF after entering the flop with a pair of Kings only to loose half your stack just because you didn’t listen to your thoughts. If you made that play with real money you’d be really unhappy and it would affect your play for next few hands at least.
Once you know your plays that work and you can bet without thinking too much about how impressive your hand is you can move onto reading other people’s play. Some say that you can’t read people at online poker – but any regular player will tell you that there are still tells in online poker.
The next stage is to enter the paying rooms and don’t be afraid to take this step. What is important to remember is that the rules are the same whether you are playing for money or for free. I know this sounds obvious but it is surprising how many players change their tactics and style of play just because money is involved.
Again start low to get over the initial nervousness and watch out for players looking to take money off rookies. Try to find tables where the standard of play suits yours so you can ease yourself in. If you don’t then there is the possibility that you’ll get fed up and give up. Having spent time working on your new talent it’d be a shame to stop now wouldn’t it?
No Comments »
What has the rookie poker player been up to?
Posted June 4th, 2008 - Posted in The Rookie Poker Player |Lately as you’ll no doubt have noticed, there haven’t been any blogs, articles or content added about poker.
The reason for this is simple: I’ve recently moved house and been far too busy trying to get that part of my life sorted to think about poker. Never-the-less I’m going to be contributing to this site on a regular basis from now on.
Additionally, I recently purchased the domain www.poker-playonline.co.uk but I haven’t figured out what my plans are for it yet. I will be including more information on that in future blogs.
No Comments »
National Newspaper adverts for A-Winning-Hand.com Poker
Posted May 14th, 2008 - Posted in Poker Adverts |A-Winning-Hand.com have recently launched a national newspaper advert featuring a beautiful lass aimed at bringing in extra players to the poker website. The official web URL is: www.thesportpoker.com which is a gateway to www.a-winning-hand.com
The adverts are appearing in the Sport newspaper and feature the offer of £20 free to Sport readers who register and phone up the freephone number.
Pick up a copy of the Sport newspaper today as offers change regularly. Then goto www.thesportpoker.com and register. Be sure to claim your free £20 by phoning up too.
No Comments »
EU investigation into US DOJ actions
Posted March 11th, 2008 - Posted in Gaming Industry News |The US went crazy on Gaming back in 2006 when it enforced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). This basically knocked huge amounts of worth off Internet gaming companies overnight. The resulting aftermath saw companies swallow each other up in an effort to retain at least some of the global gaming market.
The European Union has today announced an investigation into the actions of the US Department of Justice in its own ongoing investigations into EU-based gaming sites. Eventually this could lead to a World Trade Organisation investigation and directive aimed squarely at the US. This investigation is a result of a complaint by the Remote Gaming Association (RGA) made to the European Commission in December 2007.
The basics as I understand it are that the US had commitments to allow EU-based gaming sites to operate in the US under WTO regulations. The complaint rests on the fact that the US is allegedly, selectively applying regulations to non-US gaming companies anf therefore violating WTO regulations relating to market access for internation suppliers.
In the long term this could lead to a re-opening of the US market but this is very unlikely. Let’s face it, if the US wants to restrict foreign suppliers of anything, they won’t be told what to do. A more likely outcome is a more transparent process of restriction and a cessation of DOJ investigation into non-US gaming companies.
The original press release by the European Commission can be found here: Trade Barriers Regulation
2 Comments »