Archive for the Online Poker category.
August 31, 2010
The origin of poker is the subject of a lot of debate. One of the first known games to include bluffing, betting and hand rankings was the 15th century game of Pochspiel, from Germany. Poker also is similar to the Persian game called As Nas. In more recent years evidence has come to light that a French game called poque was the true origin of the modern day game. However, it is more likely to have come from the Irish Poca game, although the historians are still debating it.
There is a current school of thought which says these origins are wrong too. Their focus is on the card play, which these historians consider trivial and which could have come from any number of games. These scholars believe the unique aspect of poker is betting and this does not appear in any of the older games. In their opinion poker as we know it today originated in the early 1800’s.
It was reported by the British actor Joseph Crowell that they were playing the game in New Orleans in 1829 with a deck of 20 cards. There were four players and they were betting on which player’s hand was the best. The game was reported to have been spread along the Mississippi and to the rest of the country by the riverboats.
There were different winning hands introduced, such as the flush, and the draw was introduced prior to 1850. It was during the American Civil War that more additions were made, including the game of stud poker and the straight. The game and jargon of poker have now become an important part of our culture. We use many of the phrases common to poker in our every day conversations.
August 21, 2010
These can range from a single “heads up” pair of players to many hundreds of players all competing for the prize resulting from being the last poker player standing. To enter a tournament players pay a “buy-in” for which they receive a certain number of chips. Prize money is awarded on a placement basis; where you finish determines how much you win. The point at which players start earning money is called ‘the bubble’ and is agreed on before play starts.
Major Poker Tournaments
World Series of Poker: The oldest existing poker tournament, the WSOP started in 1970 and is considered to be the premier poker event worldwide.
World Poker Tour: This began in the USA in 2002 and although events are mainly held there, it occasionally features events outside the country. Since 2005 the WPT has also held a five-event ladies tournament.
Aussie Millions: This is the first poker event of the year, held each January in Melbourne, and is the Pacific region’s largest event.
Caribbean Poker Adventure: This is an early annual match that is played at various locations around the Bahamas, and occasionally even on a cruise ship.
European Poker Tour: This started in 2004 and travels across the continent visiting as many countries as possible.
Asian Pacific Poker Tour: This began in 2007 and visits Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand and Macau, China.
Latin American Poker Tour: This was first held in 2008 and tours the countries of South America.
UK & Ireland Poker Tournament: This is the latest tour, started in 2010, and calls in around the towns of the UK and Ireland.
August 19, 2010
If you fancy a trip over the pond for the prestigious DoylesRoom English poker open, you can give yourself the chance to win an attractive package including a buy in and assistance with travel and accommodation.
Poker’s next big tournament, the English Poker Open, takes place in London, from September 11 to 14 and DoylesRoom wants the Mayfair Casino, Piccadilly Circus and London’s busiest pubs to look like a DoylesRoom.com convention. So DoylesRoom has launched satellites from as low as $3 to help as many DoylesRoom players as possible jump across the pond and into the tournament.
The English Poker Package includes: One $5,350 seat ($5,000 + $350 Euro EPO Main Event buy-in) and $1,650 cash allowance to cover travel and accommodations. For every 28 players in the final online poker tournament, one $7,000 English Poker Open package will be awarded.
August 10, 2010
Legislation which could affect thousands of online poker players in the U.S. may, or may not be nearer. With news over the last week regarding the latest legislative victory for Barney Frank’s pro-online poker legislation, a lot of players are wondering how close the US actually is to regulating online poker. It is now believed that the short answer to the question is, yes it could be closer than many people think.
But there could be a long answer which may or may not please and that is that a variety of developments this summer have left us feeling that online poker has the best shot of getting regulated in the US that the industry has had in quite some time. Most sober-minded people had a fairly tame reaction to the news last week that Frank’s bill got out of committee. This was a crucial step of course but a long and difficult legislative road lies ahead, possibly as long as a year.
July 31, 2010
Online Poker seems to be a phenomenon that has taken over the internet. Everywhere you go you can see advertising for the game with each provider offering you different stakes, graphics and prizes. Although it appears to have been around for years it is only since the early 2000’s that it has really taken off and this was due to live poker games being shown on TV.
We could have been playing poker online many years ago when the internet was first introduced but at that time it was only played by a very select group of people, most of them computer geeks. The graphics certainly weren’t up to scratch then and were quite laughable by today’s standards. Early online poker games were played in Internet Relay Chat rooms and were text only. When you consider what you can do now it seems very archaic.
Even when the software became available to make the graphics better there wasn’t a rush to improve them on poker games, as there just wasn’t the public interest. In 1998 it was PlanetPoker that became the first online poker room with virtual tables, and it wasn’t until six months after they launched that they started attracting customers.
Now online poker has millions of players and many different sites. Poker has really taken off and it is now readily accessible to players all over the world. You are able to play this game from the comfort of your living room without having to go out to a casino and play. If you want you can play in your pyjamas and slippers and no one will know the difference.
July 21, 2010
While some luck is needed to win at poker, experts and psychologists say that skill reigns supreme. Skills can overcome almost any streak of luck, good or bad, they say. The article, “Poker is a Skill,” written by Douglas Detterman, details these findings.
When playing games of Texas Hold’em as a virtual poker game at rapid speed, college students participating in a study performed poorly without any strategy. Those who were given basic instructions and strategy did better on average, proving that skill plays a factor. Strategies, the researcher claims, would have no impact if the game was solely based on luck.
What does this mean for poker players? That’s easy – practice improves your skills, skills improve your game. Whether you choose to practice your skills with online poker or a live game of Texas Hold’em, any exposure to real game play can help to increase your chances of winning. Learning how to strategize effectively will help you, ultimately, to beat the odds.
The study also found that students reduced the number of hands they played once given basic strategy instructions. This finding reinforces the popular poker tip to choose the hands played wisely. Being selective about which hands of poker you ante into comes with experience and will lead to improved results.
For all players of poker at any level, this discovery is important to note. Confidence and a sense of control could help you to outlast that unlucky streak in your next Texas Hold’em game.
July 15, 2010
Both online and in casinos, one style of poker is the most popular. Televised events, such as PokerStars, have made Texas Hold’em a household name. Many varieties exist, but it’s important to understand the basic rules.
In this unique form of poker, each player is dealt two cards to keep in his or her hand. These are called the ‘hole cards’. Then five community cards are dealt face up on the table. This is the ‘board’, from which the players of the game must make the best hand. Only five of the total seven cards can be used to form a player’s official hand. Traditional poker hands, such as straights or flushes, are the same in Texas Hold’em as in other games.
Four main varieties of this game are used in the professional circuits. Limit Texas Hold’em is very basic, but players are limited to a pre-determined amount for each round of betting. Conversely, No Limit Texas Hold’em allows players to bet any amount they choose, including their full stack of chips. In Pot Limit Texas Hold’em, players are allowed to bet any amount, provided it does not exceed the full amount of the pot. Finally, in Mixed Texas Hold’em, rounds of Limit and No Limit online poker alternate.
Within these games, the blind amounts may also change. In No Limit, the blinds will increase with time. In Limit, the big blind is the same amount as the minimum bet and the small blind is half that amount. The different types of Texas Hold’em will affect poker players’ strategies.
July 10, 2010
If you are searching for the free poker games to play online, you have to decide which game to play. However, simply have to choose from any of these five, there are lots of others but these ones are among the more popular online poker games any one can easily and comfortably play no matter where you are located. Seven Card Stud, Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Omaha and Foldpoker are some of the most popular poker games that could be played free or for cash online.
Looking for a free online poker game is a good idea as this will give you an insight into the online casino and also if you are new to online poker, an idea of how the system operates, without subjecting your hard earned money to any risk. You are not risking any money simply because you are not required to pay a penny piece before playing the free versions of the poker games online. You will have a kind of no-holds-barred experience with the free poker games because you will be able to throw all caution to wind and explore all the probable ways of playing and winning the online poker games. It can also be a good medium you can use to spend quality time with your friends.
June 30, 2010
Poker has become synonymous with betting. Whether you are betting chips purely for fun, or in high stakes games for big money, betting is a major part of the poker playing experience.
There are different rules for how many rounds of the game bets will be accepted in, and how high the betting is allowed to go. All of these rules vary from game to game and player to player, but the majority of contemporary poker games all begin with a round of betting. Proceeding from left to right, all players in the game must either place a bet, one that exceeds or equals the amount placed by the previous player, or ‘fold’. To fold essentially means the player is excluding themselves from the current round of the game. Most players who make this choice usually take this action should they feel confident that their cards will not win them the round in question.
A player who has folded after having already bet a certain amount in that particular round will lose the money they have bet. The betting round finishes when all players have either folded or matched the highest bet.
Should all the players except one choose to fold, the one remaining player will claim all of the ‘pot’ that has been raised during the betting rounds. In the event that more than one player remains in contention, the round must be played between these remaining players. The player with the highest ranking hand takes the pot.
June 22, 2010
A big advantage of online poker tournaments is that you can play them from your own home. While the convenience of playing from home is great, it can be especially important in an online poker tournament. Poker tournaments, if you play well enough to finish in the money, can take five hours or more to complete. In a live tournament, you will be spending all of that time in the casino. Because at a live poker tournament at a casino, you will be spending all that time there and, let’s face it, some players may not have the endurance to spend hours and hours at a casino. For these players the online poker tournament is ideal when you have all the comforts of home at your fingertips. With online poker you can keep constant track of your standing in the tournament, not always possible at a live tournament.
You can always find a free poker tournament online. Most casinos run at most one or two poker tournaments a day, but online poker tournaments are run around the clock, so you can get tournament experience as often as you like.