Poker is really a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The word “EV” will undoubtedly be used throughout this article and will be seen in two ways. A new player can have +EV, which 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 this case) 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 poker88 can plainly see these kind of gambling games are in favor of the home. Poker pits you against other players rather than the house. In a full ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the target is to make the 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 before the flop came (preflop), which everyone understands is a wonderful hand preflop. This hand has a high chance to win against all the hands preflop. If you played and raised “all in” with this particular 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, making it a +EV decision. That is an exaggerated example and playing one hand wouldn’t normally be the smartest idea. What you would do is play say the most notable 20% of hands because against somebody who plays maybe 70% of these hands, you again, will be making a +EV decision each time you play with him. It’s likely that 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 novices to use, which would be the simplest way to improve your EV.
In addition, there’s always variance and for a while weaker players could easily get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them another and keep playing. In the end, a good player who always makes +EV decisions will always end up a winner. This is why poker is not gambling but a game of skill and understanding 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 it and the web and so are even listed on the currency markets. They allow you to play poker online free of charge 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 since they desire 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 very small percent of the pot (usually significantly 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 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 internet 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 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 type of id verification to activate your account. Some individuals 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 website. Some sites offer you a really small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that is rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will give you the full $600. This is to ensure depositing players are also active. With internet poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved rapidly.
Websites on the internet will publish poker bonus codes which must be entered upon account creation. After that, 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 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 just like a job and dedicate several hours every day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that’s just a click away, is what draws a lot of people to online poker.