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 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, that is negative Expected Value. Poker isn’t gambling and the following explains why.
Most gambling games have a poor EV for you, and a confident 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 find yourself winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these kind of gambling games come in favor of the house. Poker pits you against other players rather than the house. In a complete ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the goal is to make the very 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 knows is a superb hand preflop. This hand includes a high chance to win against all the hands preflop. If you played and raised “all in” with this hand against a new player who played and called every all in, you’ll have a huge advantage as you’ll 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 these hands, you again, will 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. That is just scraping the surface, and there is an EV attached to every decision and every situation. Many online poker sites provide starting hand charts for beginners to use, which would be the simplest way to enhance your EV.
In addition, there’s 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 long term, a good player who always makes +EV decisions will always end up a winner. This is the reason 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 once. Major sites like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on it and the web and are even listed on the currency markets. dewa poker let you 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 have no incentive to cheat when dealing hands given that they want to be extremely fair so you continue to play, that allows them to earn their income by means of “rake.” That is a really small percent of the pot (usually significantly less than 1%). In poker, you are playing against the other players, and not the house.
Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you have never heard of it, they don’t really advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing regularly – you wouldn’t be depositing your money there!!! With that said, a lot of the major poker sites are very safe and reputable.
What are the best online poker rooms?
There are three major sites for playing online poker. Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Party Poker have lots of traffic, play money tables, a lot of freeroll tournaments and have excellent customer support. If you’re a beginner you should play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you begin. Other sites like Party Poker call you up after you sign up and require some type 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 popular.
Many sites state “Deposit and obtain another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the site. Some sites provide you with a really small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that’s rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate some 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 Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.
Online sites will publish poker bonus codes which must 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. Whenever a player reaches 400NL limit, which means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and have an excellent percent of wins, they can make up to 5K a month. This is of course in the event that you treat playing just like a job and dedicate a long time 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.
alexjames