Las Vegas casinos are full of “crazy” video poker players. These players love the game-and why wouldn’t they-but somewhere along the way they came up with some thought on how to win that’s just plain false.

Today, we’ll look at a few myths and see if there’s any truth to them. If you’re a sociologist in the making, spending hours in a Vegas casino might turn out to be an interesting study.

Myth: If I slam the buttons hard, the machine will respond.

Yes, you’ll see this often-sometimes from frustrated players. It’s just a machine and it has no sensors built in that tell it how hard something was pressed. The button was either pressed or it wasn’t-that’s it.

You might even see people who will only slam a button when they’re about to receive cards. Others slam them when holding a card. Either way, it makes no difference. Of course, if you beat up the machine too much, security might come over to talk to you.

Myth: Cold Currency Works

I don’t know where this started, but for decades many video poker players have put quarters, nickels and whatever in the freezer prior to coming to the casino-or they feel the change before accepting it from the change person.

The myth says that cold currency somehow tricks the machine into paying out. What?

This doesn’t even make sense. The machine simply counts your currency and gives you the appropriate credits. It doesn’t measure the temperature of your change. You could put hot or cold coins in the machine and your result will be the same.

Myth: Don’t play credits or currency

This myth goes hand in hand with the previous one. There’s a group of video poker players that believes you should only play credits-another group says only currency.

The thought is that the machine plays differently based on whether you’re using credits or currency. As a player, you’re always using credits. Even if you put money in, it’s transferred to credits.

The machine doesn’t care what you do and the casino has no preference. It’s all money to them. Machines aren’t set up to give “preference” to certain types of players.

In future articles, we’ll tackle more Video Poker myths. Some of these myths are fun, but others can be detrimental to your bankroll. As a Video Poker player, you’re first goal should be to have fun.

Educating yourself about how Video Poker machines work is a great first-step. Most, and I mean most, Video Poker players haven’t a clue about the how the game works internally. They simply get all of these myths in their head and assume them to be accurate.

Once you get these out of the way, you can have a blast playing Video Poker and you can attack the game and seize your winnings.

Badugi is a poker variant that has grown increasingly popular during the last few years. It originates from Asia, but has not spread to the rest of the world until recently. It is today played online as well as offline by poker enthusiasts all over the world. Learning Badugi is very easy if you already master other poker games, such as Holdem Poker.

Badugi is a four card game with three draws. The players with the lowest hand will win the pot. Unlike other poke variants, getting one pair, two pairs, three of a kind or four of a kind is undesirable in Badugi. Getting two or more cards from the same suit is also bad. The best hand is therefore containing cards from four different suits, and no cards should have the same rank. Such a hand where all the cards are of different suit and rank is called a Badugi!

When playing Badugi, you will be dealt four cards. The first card will be dealt to the player on the small blind, and the dealing will then proceed clockwise. Only one card is dealt to each player at a time. The betting will depend on which type of Badugi you are playing. There exist three different variants: Limit Badugi, Pot Limit Badugi and Half Pot Limit Badugi.

In Limit Badugi, all the bets are made in incremental units. During the first and second round, each player is allowed to bet the lower level bet. If you for instance play 4 8 Badugi, you will be allowed to bet 4 during the first and second round. During the third and fourth round, you can be the higher level, i.e. 8. Just as in the other Limit Poker variants, betting will be capped at four bets per round in Limit Badugi.

In Pot Limit Badugi, bets are not made in incremental units. You can instead raise your bet any amount as long as you bet no lower than the minimum bet and no higher than the amount of money currently found in the pot. The minimum bet is determined by the big blind. Lets say that the small blind is 4 and the big blind 8. One caller has already bet 8. The next player can then choose to bet as low as 8. The total value of the current pot is 4 +8 + 8. The player can therefore also choose to bet 4 +8 + 8 + 8, since the maximum bet is based on the current pot on top of the initial call. The maximum bet in this situation is therefore 28.

Half Pot Limit Badugi is very similar to Pot Limit Badugi, but a player is only allowed to raise the value of half the current pot. Lets say the pot contains 2 + 4 + 4. Half of 2 + 4 + 4+ 4 is 7. The next player can therefore raise 7+ 4 = 11. The lowest allowed bet is determined by the big blind, just as in Pot Limit Badugi.

There are many important things to learn about Texas HoldEm before you play the game. One of the most crucial things you need to learn is a good basic strategy for betting. This is also a learning necessity with most other poker games and variations as well.

Fixed limit games are the most common types of Texas HoldEm games. In fixed limit games, there are two different betting amounts, the low and the high betting amounts. For example, if you were playing Texas HoldEm at a 10-20 table, the first betting rounds all the bets would have to be made in 10 increments. So if the bet is currently at 10, you could only raise it to 20 or call. Dependent upon the game you are playing, at some point in the game the betting limit would double, so that all the bets would then be made at 20.

One basic strategy that can be used for betting in Texas HoldEm is to try to focus on what cards you think the other players are holding in their hands. It will be important to watch the other players to get clues on what they may have or may be planning. One of the most important keys to betting successfully is to understand the other players at the table and try to place bets without them being able to guess your next move.

Most casinos limit the number of max raises to three or four a round. The number of allowed raises in each betting round should be a crucial element in planning your betting strategy.

A bet that is called a check is a nothing bet. Players make these bets when they dont want to up the amount of their bet, but still want to remain in the game. If there have been no bets made during the round and play comes to you, you can check and pass play to the next player. A round of checks can be good for your poker play, assuming you have developed a good strategy. As always, you will need to study your hand well, and decide on the strength of the other players hands.

Sometimes using bluffs can be a boost to your poker betting strategy for Texas HoldEm. It is important to remember that bluffs will work best when they are unexpected, if you bluff too often no one will fall for your tricks. On the flip side, if you never use bluffs and bet on a good hand, other players are more likely to pick up on the hand and fold rather than bet against you.

As with any poker game, you should remember that there will always be the element of luck involved, and that play may never go as you expect it to. Having a good betting strategy can tremendously help you in game play, but it is not the only part of the game you need to learn. The more you play the game, the better you should become at developing an effective strategy. Keep in mind that it is crucial to your success that you dont become predictable in your play, as other players will be fast to pick up on it. Becoming a predictable player will make you lose far more often than you will win.

Live Poker: Pros and Cons of Participating in a Tournament

If you have had enough of playing poker with friends or with playing it online and winning some money and then losing some money to only win that money back again, then you have reached the stage in your poker playing experience where you need to start entering live tournaments. That is the real deal. No more long hours in front of the computer, no more feeling guilty for taking your friends’ money: you are now ready to turn pro.

But, before you do, here are a few things you must consider:
1) One of the big differences of playing in a tournament is that you need to pick you hands carefully. Spend most of your time throwing your cards away at the right beginning. If you see that your cards won’t amount to much, fight the urge to exchange most of them, and just hand them all in. This is what most tournament players do anyway. If you don’t believe me, watch the others play.

2) Money you take with you to tournaments lasts for a much lengthier period than when playing with friends or online. This is one of the advantages of not playing every hand you are dealt. (Hint: You should do the same thing when playing with friends even though that then becomes boring.)

3) Do not sit to the left of the dealer. Ensure that there are at least two players between the dealer and the players to the left. Why? Only the first 2 players seated on the left of the dealer have to place the ante. Since, most of the tournaments involve ten players on each table, you save this much each time you play. This also means that each hand that you fold will mean that you have spent only half that of the lower limit. This amounts to three pounds in a two to four pound rake tournament.

4) Take into consideration that the mere fact that you are away from home means that you will spend money on food and drinks. Try and get your own, but in any case keep it light.

5) Tournament dealers are not paid much, and so it’ general practice to give them about three percent of whatever you win. Consider that all gambling halls and poker rooms also take a certain percentage but at least this comes from the money you win and so you don’t feel it.

6) One of the other advantages of playing in a tournament is that you can use more money than you had. For instance, for a hundred pound sit-in, many www.gambling-portal.comonline-gambling-casino-reviews.htmlcasinos and poker rooms will give you about five hundred in tournament chips to bet with.

7) If high odds and high risk is not what you are looking for you can take advantage of the late night satellite tournaments. These generally begin at one in the morning and since the number of players won’t be high, you stand a bigger chance of winning.

Conclusion:
Playing poker requires tremendous skill as well as come luck. While you cannot depend on luck, improve your skills and your online casino or other kind of betting account will show a profit.