Poker is really a game of skill, and every decision you make is about maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. gocengqq “EV” will undoubtedly be used throughout this article and you will be seen in two ways. A player can have +EV, that is positive Expected Value or – EV, which is negative Expected Value. Poker isn’t gambling and the next explains why.
Most gambling games have a poor EV for you, and a confident EV (5.49% in cases like this) for the casino. In the short run you could win, but in the long term, if you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always end up winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these kind of gambling games are in favor of the house. Poker pits you against other players and not the house. In a complete ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the goal is to make the very best EV decisions against the many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.
A simple example would be if you were dealt KK before the flop came (preflop), which everyone knows is a superb hand preflop. This hand includes a high chance to win against all the hands preflop. In the event that you played and raised “all in” with this particular hand against a new player who played and called every all in, you’ll have an enormous advantage as you will be a favorite every time, making it a +EV decision. That is an exaggerated example and playing one hand would not be the smartest idea. What you would do is play say the top 20% of hands because against a person who plays maybe 70% of their hands, you again, will undoubtedly be making a +EV decision every time you play with him. It’s likely your starting hands will have a whole lot higher probability to win. This is just scraping the surface, and there’s an EV mounted on every decision and every situation. Many online poker sites provide starting hand charts for novices to use, which would be the simplest way to improve your EV.
In addition, there’s always variance and in the short term weaker players might get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them another and keep playing. In the long run, a good player who makes +EV decisions will always find yourself a winner. This is the reason poker is not gambling but a casino game of skill and finding out how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.
Could it be safe to play online poker?
Absolutely, some sites have over 50,000 people playing at once. Major sites like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on it and the web and are even listed on the stock market. They let you play poker online for free or real cash. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often supply the best customer service. Keeping your password secure can be your responsibility and if you do this, your money will be safe. Online poker sites have no incentive to cheat when dealing hands since they want to be extremely fair so you continue steadily to play, which allows them to earn their income by means of “rake.” That is a really small percent of the pot (usually less than 1%). In poker, you are playing against the other players, and not the home.
Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you haven’t heard of it, they don’t advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing frequently – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, almost all of the major poker sites have become safe and reputable.
What are the best online poker rooms?
There are three major sites for playing online poker. Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Party Poker have lots of traffic, play money tables, plenty of freeroll tournaments and have excellent customer support. If you are a beginner you need to play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you start. Other sites like Party Poker call you up once you sign up and require some type of id verification to activate your account. Some people may such as this extra security, and will certainly go that route. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars do not require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and well known.
Many sites state “Deposit and obtain another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the site. Some sites offer you a very small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that is rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate some player points, they will give you the full $600. This is to make sure depositing players may also be active. With internet poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.
Online sites will publish poker bonus codes which should be entered upon account creation. After that, the amount you earn depends on the time you spend playing and the stakes you play at. When a player reaches 400NL limit, this means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and also have a good percent of wins, they are able to make up to 5K per month. This is of course in the event that you treat playing like a job and dedicate several hours every day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that’s only a click away, is what draws a lot of people to online poker.