In Seven Card Stud Poker the cards are worth the typical amounts with 1-10 being worth their numerical value and Jack, Queen, King and Ace being high cards. During bring-in bets the suits of the cards also have a value Clubs being the lowest then Diamonds, then Hearts with Spades being the highest.
Seven Card Stud begins with every player placing his or her ante into the pot. The amount of the initial bet will vary depending on the house rules. Each player is then dealt three cards, one face up, two face-down. If you happen to be the player with the lowest ranked face up card you will then be required to place the bring-in bet. Bring-in bet rates are also pre-determined with a minimum and a maximum amount that can be bet. Once this bet has been made everyone else at the table can place their bets.
Once this round of betting is complete a fourth card, is dealt face up. This time around the player with the highest face up card gives the bring-in bet. This player will typically be asked if he or she wants to bet or check while the rest will then be offered the options of folding, betting or raising.
In the third round yet another card is dealt to each person at the table face up. The player with the highest card will take the bring-in bet, the maximum bet is usually raised for this round.
Finally each player is dealt a seventh card this time face down. Everyone can then turn their face down cards over and build the best hands out of the cards they have been dealt. The player with the highest hand wins.
Online Gambling in the US has gotten considerably more difficult since the International Gambling Enforcement Act was passed which forbade US banks and credit cards from being used on online gambling websites effectively putting a stop to online gambling in the US. The US government sees online gambling as too tough to police as the programs used to run the online slots, roulette and craps could possibly be hacked and thus their fairness could be called into question by either the casinos themselves or unscrupulous players. This hasn’t deterred determined US gamblers though and there are ways to get around the UIGEA.
One of those is the Bodog casino. Based out of the small island country of Malta, Bodog still accepts US players and goes to great lengths to payout their winnings. This is done through a complicated system of wire transfers to other companies and banks that also operate outside of the US and that then issue the winners checks which are accepted by US banks because they are not actually from a registered internet gambling casino company. While Bodog has faced some problems with the US government because of this it hasn’t been enough to deter them from allowing US players.
How do you win a multi-table poker tournament? For both online and real time poker games there are many different strategies and most will not work at every game but there are some universal basics that when applied correctly should always help you in bringing home the pot. Having a strategy is definitely a step in the right direction as so many players don’t ever bother to think of a plan so you’ll already be ahead of most of your opponents.
In the first few hands of the poker tournament play only your best cards, this may mean you fold a lot in the early games but this strategy will keep you from being thrown out of the tournament by being overconfident in your hands. Bet low to begin with, you don’t want to run out of cash halfway through the game. Some experts might even suggest only going all in if playing with Aces, Kings or Queens. This is up to you to decide but be very careful in any respect.
Once you’re all warmed up and you’ve got a better idea of what your fellow players are like you can get a little more comfortable and open up your betting. Bet higher, take a few risks and hopefully start raking in the chips.
Don’t bet against the ‘big dogs’ on the playing field though, the ones with the largest stacks of chips as you can tell at this point that these are the people who really know what they’re doing and will be able to smell a bluff a mile away. Be careful in all your choices after all we want to see this right through to the end.
Assuming you make it all the way to the final table, we know now you’ve got the focus and the discipline to beat the other players at the table as you’ve outlasted all the others. At this point you don’t want to get over confident though, focus your attention on taking out the players with the smaller stacks of chips. Stay aggressive however you don’t want your opponents to pressure you into folding early. You want to put the pressure on your opponents as most rounds are won by the aggressor at this point.
When playing Poker and Blackjack it’s important for a player to be able to decide logically whether to hit or to stand. Some players may rely solely on gut instinct and their luck might be so that they are always right however knowing when to stand logically means you actually will always make the right decision.
For Poker being able to read the other players, being able to guess what cards they hold and what their next likely move is, is key to knowing what you should do. Standing in cases like these can also be beneficial as if you hold a weak hand but stand on it, it may make other players think your hand is a strong one if you’re willing to stand on it and they may in turn make mistakes. This is a bluff that works well and often.
In Blackjack the best way to know when to stand is to count the cards in the deck, keep an idea of what sorts of cards have been all played out. If the higher cards have mostly been dealt out and the majority of the cards in the deck should be low cards then this is a time for hitting but if the reverse is true and there are mostly high cards left in the un-dealt deck and you have a mid-level hand then you should stand and hope that the dealer hits and busts his hand.
Always think about what you’re doing and how your next move will appear to the other players and what consequences this may have later on in the game whether you’re playing online or at a land based casino. This is true strategy and is important to learn both in cards and in life.
Kenny Rogers says you gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away but he forgot the most important part of poker - knowing when to bluff! Now bluffing may not be the most universal skill as it’s not useful in a lot of gambling games besides poker and brag and a lot of people are actually horrible at it because they’re just unable to tell a believable lie. However most people can be taught to be reasonably good at bluffing, especially when playing with people who don’t know them well.
The first step to bluffing then is actually to develop a poker face, the idea is to keep your fellow players always guessing as to what kind of hand you might have. If you’re always fake frowning when you have a good hand and smiling when you have a bad hand they’re going to pick up on that. So you want to remain as neutral as possible regardless of the type of hand you have. Once you’ve developed your ‘poker’ or neutral face you want to become aware of any ‘tells’ you may have, like one gambler I know habitually scratched the left side of his nose when he had a good hand, tapping your fingers on the table when you have a bad hand etcetera. These are all ‘tells’ that you need to get rid of before you can bluff successfully.
Bluffing is tantamount in situations where you may have a hand that most likely isn’t a winning hand but you need the other players at the table to believe it is. You want them to think your hand is so great they have no choice but to fold. However if you do this every round and keep showing average or even bad hands then someone’s going to call your bluff for sure. You need to bluff sparingly so that people don’t pick up on the fact that you’re bluffing. You want to bluff subtly so people don’t realize you’re faking them out. So don’t all of a sudden start smiling over how great your cards are, you want to maybe grin a little and then stop, say something really positive unrelated to your hand like you’re all of a sudden in a good mood. But remember whatever you do has to be something you might normally do otherwise people will get suspicious and think you’re bluffing.
Of course the ideal time to bluff is when you’ve read your fellow players body language and know that they have bad hands so be sure to pay attention to their tells also. Knowing when to bluff and how to decipher body language is useful both in real time poker and poker via webcam.
In gambling, as in most areas in life, if you have an idea of what the people around you are thinking you’re more likely to come out on top in any given situation. If you can make an educated guess as to what an opponent is likely to do then you’re can think of ways to counter their move. This is where learning to read body language comes in.
Being able to read body language of course comes in handiest in multiplayer card games like poker. Your body language reading skills here can be the difference between taking the pot or walking away with an empty wallet.
For example most people when they are lying find it hard to look others in the eye, while others may find themselves giving more detail to a story than necessary. The legs are the farthest away from the brain and thus are hardest to control unconsciously, someone with fidgety feet could be expressing nervousness, stress or general discomfort.
On the reverse you also need to be aware of your own body movements and the tells you may be giving away. A good way to become aware of this is to play in a room with a mirror so you can observe yourself or play with a friend who will afterwards tell you what they’ve observed about your tells. The term ‘Poker face’ comes from players of this game who always maintain a blank expression that tells their opponents nothing about the hand of cards they have been dealt. All poker players strive to perfect this sort of face.
If you wish to project confidence holding your head level both horizontally and vertically is a good way to start. Be sure not to cross your arms over your chest as this shows nervousness or can come across as protecting yourself. However if you wish to put up a false front then you can of course reverse all these positions to trick your opponents into thinking your hand is worse than it is. However be aware that this can become a tell on its own if used too frequently.
In this age of video streaming and high speed internet online casinos with webcam enabled gambling is becoming more and more popular. Be aware before you log into one of these casinos that sometimes having the other players able to see your reactions can make a game tougher than if they were just reading your commentary through a chat window. But if you’re set on taking advantage of your new crystal clear webcam then go right ahead, but keep in mind that if you have a webcam then people can see you too including that really ugly picture of your aunt Carol hung on the wall directly behind your computer so you won’t have to look at it. Or those dirty dishes piled up in your sink that no one wants to wash. And that hole in your shirt that you’re only wearing because it’s laundry day and you weren’t planning on leaving the house anyway. Yes these are things people don’t think about.
Now that you’ve double checked that both you and your environment are presentable here’s another tip - be sure you check out the casino before you sign up as you can’t be too careful nowadays. Now I’ll admit it’s pretty hard to pick a casino just by reading up on the specs so what I’d advise you to do is have a look at reviews written by real players at the different casinos and use their expertise to help me decide on which one to sign up with. Then comes the real hard part – picking your game. Any game will most certainly not do in this case. The game you choose has to be something that appeals to you and more importantly something you feel you have the skill to win at. Be sure and read all the rules posted at the casino even for games you’re familiar with as some casinos have casino-specific rules for their games.
Now the benefits to playing at Casinos with webcams are that you can see exactly what the dealer’s doing and can hopefully read enough of the body language of the people you’re playing against to gain some sort of advantage in the game. So be sure and use that advantage by brushing up on your body language interpreting skills. And remember, be aware of the ‘tells’ that you’re putting out there as well.
So maybe you’re in the Valentine mood and you’ve got a few moments to spare before going out with your sweetheart or maybe you’re sitting at home having a quiet valentines because you haven’t got the money to go out somewhere expensive. Well, here’s a Valentines themed gambling tournament for you! With a Ninety-Nine cent entrance fee (yes $0.99) you have the chance to with $75,000 at the Valentines themed tournament at Golden Casino and OnlineVegas.com Casino. The tournament started yesterday Friday February 13th and runs until next Friday February 20th.
Even if you don’t hit the big win, there are still payouts for the first one hundred and twenty five players. Imagine what you could with that sort of money for next Valentine’s day though, or even a late Valentines celebration this year. Never underestimate online gambling for bailing you out of those tricky holiday situations.
A lot of gamblers have the problem where they are never sure when to go ‘all in’ on their bets and for the most part this is a good sign. It means you’re not addicted to gambling and that you’re keeping a good hold on your common sense. Sometimes though, going ‘all in’ and betting large is exactly the right thing to do to double or even triple your chips. So how do you know when the time is right? How do you know when betting large is the right thing to do? Some traditionalist gamblers will tell you that you just know, deep in your gut. Other more practical gamblers will only bet large in predictable games where they feel they are likely to hit a large payout next for example card counters in blackjack will bet large when they have a fairly good idea of what their next card will be. Some Poker players can tell when the right time to bet large is based on the ‘tells’ their opponents give away about their hands.
Really the only person who can tell you which of the three different ways to tell when it’s time to bet big is you. You must decide for yourself how much you’re willing to wager and how much you’re willing to lose so consider carefully when betting.
The number one absolute worst hand you can come across in Texas Hold ‘Em is a 7-2, especially if they are not of the same suit where best case scenario you may end up with a low pair or a low flush but you can’t even make a straight with them as there are four cards between. The same goes for an 8-2. Both of these hands are hands you should fold on. 8-3 and 7-3 off suit are probably just as bad also for the same reasons.
If you’re dealt a 2 and a 6 hopefully they’ll be of the same suit and maybe just maybe you’ll get the miraculous deal of 3, 4 and 5 all in the same suit which could give you a straight however someone with astraight that goes to 7 could top you. This hand has bad odds.
If you get handed a face card and a low card (especially if they’re off suit) don’t make the beginners mistake of thinking you have a chance here just because you have a face card. More often than not this is a losing hand and overconfidence will only make you lose more.
If by chance an Ace should happen into your hands paired with a low card and they’re unsuited this can only lead to trouble. The low card can easily be beat if someone should happen to have an Ace of their own so don’t bet high on hands like these.
Be careful when learning the ways of Texas Hold ‘Em you should play with friends or don’t play for cash until you’ve had at least a few months practice beforehand. It’s a tricky game and we wouldn’t want to see you get discouraged before you get the hang of it.
