Poker is a game of skill, and every decision you make is about maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The word “EV” will 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 is not gambling and the next explains why.
Most gambling games have a poor EV for you, and a positive EV (5.49% in this instance) for the casino. In the short run you could win, but in the long term, in the event that you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always find yourself winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these kinds of gambling games come in favor of the house. Poker pits you against other players rather than the house. In a full ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the goal is to make the best EV decisions against the many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.
A simple example would be in the event that you were dealt KK before the flop came (preflop), which everyone understands is an excellent hand preflop. This hand includes a high chance to win against all the hands preflop. If 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, rendering it a +EV decision. That is an exaggerated example and playing one hand wouldn’t normally be the smartest idea. What you will do is play say the very best 20% of hands because against someone who plays maybe 70% of these hands, you again, will undoubtedly be making a +EV decision each time you play with him. It’s likely your starting hands will have a lot higher probability to win. This is just scraping the top, and there’s an EV mounted on every decision and every situation. Many online poker sites provide starting hand charts for beginners to use, which would function as simplest way to improve your EV.
In addition, there’s always variance and in the short term weaker players could easily get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them to come back and keep playing. In the long run, a good player who always makes +EV decisions will always find yourself a winner. That is why poker is not gambling but a game of skill and finding out how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.
Is it 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 the TV and the web and are even listed on the currency markets. They enable you to play poker online free of charge or real money. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often provide the best customer service. Keeping your password secure can be your responsibility and if you do that, your money will undoubtedly be safe. Online poker sites haven’t any incentive to cheat when dealing hands given that they wish to be extremely fair so you continue to play, which allows them to earn their income in the form of “rake.” poker99 is usually a really small percent of the pot (usually less than 1%). In poker, you’re playing contrary to the other players, and not the house.
Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you haven’t heard of it, they don’t really advertise on TV or the net and there aren’t members playing regularly – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, the majority of the major poker sites have become safe and reputable.
What are the best online poker rooms?
You can find 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 very good customer support. If you’re 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 form 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 get another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the website. Some sites offer you a very small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that’s rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and then after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will give you the full $600. This is to ensure depositing players may also be active. With internet poker sites such as for example Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.
Websites on the internet will publish poker bonus codes which should be entered upon account creation. From then on, the amount you earn depends upon the time you spend playing and the stakes you play at. When a player reaches 400NL limit, which means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and also have an excellent percent of wins, they are able to make up to 5K a month. This is of course in the event that you treat playing such as a job and dedicate a long time each day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that is just a click away, is what draws a lot of people to online poker.