Poker is really a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The term “EV” will undoubtedly be used throughout this article and will be seen in two ways. A player can have +EV, which 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 can win, but in the long run, if you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always end up winning by about 5.49%. As you can plainly see these kind of gambling games are in favor of the home. Poker pits you against other players and not the house. In a complete ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the target is to make the very best EV decisions against the a great many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.
A simple example would be if you were dealt KK prior to the flop came (preflop), which everyone knows is an excellent hand preflop. This hand includes a high possiblity to win against all the hands preflop. If you played and raised “all in” with this hand against a player who played and called every all in, you would have a huge advantage as you will be a favorite every time, rendering it a +EV decision. This is an exaggerated example and playing one hand wouldn’t normally be the smartest idea. What you would do is play say the very best 20% of hands because against a person who plays maybe 70% of their hands, you again, will undoubtedly be making a +EV decision each and 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 is an EV attached to every decision and every situation. Many internet poker sites provide starting hand charts for beginners to use, which would function as simplest way to improve your EV.
In addition, there is always variance and in the short term weaker players might get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them to come back and keep playing. In the end, a good player who makes +EV decisions will always end up a winner. That is why poker is not gambling but a casino game of skill and understanding how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.
Is it safe to play internet poker?
Absolutely, some sites have over 50,000 people playing at one time. Major sites like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on it and the web and are even listed on the currency markets. They enable you to play poker online for free or real money. 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 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 steadily to play, which allows them to earn their income in the form of “rake.” It is a really small percent of the pot (usually significantly less than 1%). In poker, you’re 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 really advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing frequently – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, a lot of the major poker sites are very safe and reputable.
What are the best online poker rooms?
You can find three major sites for playing internet 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’re a beginner you should play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you start. Other sites like Party Poker call you up after you sign up and require some form of id verification to activate your account. Some individuals may like this extra security, and may certainly go that route. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars do not require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and popular.
Many sites state “Deposit and get another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the website. Some sites give you a really small portion (around 10%) of one’s deposit instantly, but that’s rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will provide you with the full $600. This is to make sure depositing players may also be active. With hatipoker as for example Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.
Online sites will publish poker bonus codes which should be entered upon account creation. From then on, the amount you earn depends on the time you may spend playing and the stakes you play at. Whenever a player reaches 400NL limit, this 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 if you treat playing such as a job and dedicate several hours each day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that’s only a click away, is what draws so many people to online poker.