The Online Casino Gambling Blog

1. Don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose. This applies to all gambling games really. Afterall if you lose your rent money there’s no certainty anyone else in the homeless shelter will know how to play Texas Hold ‘Em.

2. Don’t even sit down at the table if you don’t feel like a winner. To win a game of poker you need your confidence.

3. If you’re distracted or upset, don’t play. To win a game of poker you need to concentrate on the game.

3. Keep a record of your game play - wins, losses and hours played so that you have an idea of  your strengths and weaknesses.

4. If you’re approaching full tilt, stop. Don’t ever go for tilt.

5. If you find yourself losing badly start making smaller bets, there’s no need to throw your money away to save face.

6. If you feel you’re having a bad game quit, even if you’re winning still quit, don’t risk your entire pot when you don’t feel the confidence or have the concentration or the luck to win the game.

7. If you’re losing but your gut tells you you can turn the game around then stay in it, keep playing you never know luck might be right around the corner or in the next hand rather.

So you’re off on the vacation you’ve been planning for ages now, you’ve got the time off from work and are finally in a place where financially you can afford a vacation and not have to eat ramen for two months after to make up for it. The question is - where are you going?

Well if you’re a gambling enthusiast who loves the sand, the sea, and beautifully warm weather then you’re obviously headed to the St James Club in Antigua. It’s a gorgeous 100 acre resort/casino on an isolated peninsula of the island which might leave you feeling like you’re at the end of the world. And what more can you ask for in your vacation from the real world than soft white caribbean sand underfoot, a tropical rum punch in your hand and the roulette wheel of a good casino spinning before you on those golden lit days.

The St James Club has blackjack tables, poker, stud poker and of course over fifty of everyone’s favorite - slot machines! The decadence of the resort is what makes it feel like a Casino Royale and will definitely make you feel like you’re in a James Bond film and Bond himself is liable to bust through the doors or roar past you in a motorboat chase at any moment.

Of course, if you can’t get away to Antigua quite just yet there are tons of online casinos, some of which have an island theme that are waiting for you to indulge the fantasy there. Who knows you might hit it big and be able to finance your vacation playing at one of them.

With the wide spread of online gambling casinos and poker recently the Municipal Court of Denmark has overturned the Justice Ministry’s ruling that made poker tournaments tournaments illegal in Denmark . The Municipal Court ruled that upon further considering that poker tournaments do in fact fall within the parameters of Danish gambling legislations. This ruling has propelled Danish Poker lovers into a frenzy of glee, as their favourite game can now be played openly, in public places. Expert poker players can finally find the challenge of playing against others of their degree of skill.

The Danish court ruled that illegal gambling consists of games which provide monetary or commercial gain to the organizers at the expense of the players which poker, as a game of skill rather than chance does not fall under as long as there isn’t an overhead charge to the players to enter the tournaments.

Danish newspapers report there are upwards of five hundred thousand Danish citizens who play poker daily.

Hal Lubarky is a very good poker player, he placed 118th out of 335 players in the World Series of Poker in 2007 with a chip count of over four hundred thousand dollars at the end of it. Hal is special in his poker playing abilities even more so due to the fact that he is is legally blind. A poker enthusiast from a young age Hal found himself struck with a serious eye disease in the late nineties that left him unable to read the cards.

Hal fell into a great depression when he was forced to give up the game he loved but eventually was coaxed into trying an online poker game with a friend over his shoulder reading the cards to him. Soon Hal had discovered a new way to play the game he had loved. Hal progressed to live poker games and finally started entering tournaments. It was a red letter day for Lubarky when the gaming officials finally altered the rules so as to allow handicapped people to play in professional tournaments. To most players at last year’s tournament Hal is an inspiration. Hal is just happy to be able to enjoy his game again.

Five Card Stud is easier than most forms of poker because your opponents only have one face down card. It’s won not by straights or flushes but mostly by high cards and pairs so keep an eye out for those. You should definitely fold if you don’t have a pair in your first three cards or at least a live card that beats everyone else’s hands. Here are some more strategy tips for playing this game both at online casinos and physical gambling arenas.

•    Pay attention to the players hands that have folded so you know which cards are out of the deck.

•    Pay attention to the players themselves, study their hands, try to predict their moves.

•    Don’t get overconfident if you’ve got a high card, it won’t mean anything if put against someone with a stronger pair of cards than you.

•    Bluff badly every now and then so you get called on it, people won’t be able to predict when you’re actually bluffing for real and it will make you a harder opponent to beat.

•    If your hand (including the facedown card) is beaten by someone else’s face up cards you should fold.

•    Trust your instincts.

•    And above all don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose.

The last two are good advice to follow both in poker and in real life!

5 Card Stud Poker is one of the simplest forms of poker to play, with logical rules and straightforward game play. Each player puts up their ante and then is dealt one card face up and one card face down. The lowest face-up card must put in either half the minimum bet or the full bet to start the game. At this point in the game the cards are ranked according to their face value as well as their suits – Clubs being the lowest with Diamonds and Hearts higher than that and Spades ranking the highest. (After this round cards are only ranked according to face value.) Then in a clockwise direction the other players either call or raise or fold their own hands. Round two begins when the players are dealt another card face up leaving them with three cards total now. The player with the highest card from here on out will be the first person to check or bet. Once all the players have finished calling or betting in a clockwise order once more a fourth card is dealt face up. The minimum bet is doubled in this round.

The fifth and final card is dealt after all the players have finished calling or betting, followed by another round of betting on their hands with the minimum bet doubled. The cards are turned over at this point and the best hand wins the pot. And there you have it now you know how to play Five card stud poker.

Five Card Stud poker is ideal for online casinos as it’s fast (over a hundred hands can be played in an hour!) and easy to grasp the concept of. It’s lost popularity over the years thanks to Texas Hold ‘Em but we foresee a resurgence for this game as online casinos become more established on the internet.

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.

Sounds simple enough right? Great! Go out there and get em champ!

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.

So remember bet smart and good luck!

Alright so gambling’s not just a pastime for you, it’s a hobby and you enjoy it and maybe you’ve brought it home from the casinos with you. You’ve gone online and played at a few casinos and seen how fun it is. Well now you can make your online gaming experience even more true to life with a poker table mouse pad like this one that I found on www.pokerpadz.com. I think it’s a really neat idea. It’s made out of the same felt poker tables are made of and is excellent for mousing around. 

  I particularly like the ’signature poker pad’, the manufacturer suggests you take it with you to your next big poker tournament and have your favourite poker players autograph. The world poker tournament one is a great one too, while the ‘pokerpadz’ logo doesn’t really do much for me. What do you think?

Picking up from yesterday here are a few more tips for the intermediate player.

A good player is an unpredictable player
A player you can predict is a player you can beat, don’t be that player. Shake up your betting style or act like you’re bluffing when you’re not, keep the other players on their toes so they can’t tell what you’re going to do.

Use your position.
The best position to hold in a poker game is the button – as the last player to bet you have the most advantage as you can observe everyone else’s actions and consider them carefully before making your own.

Practice makes perfect
And online poker is perfect for practice as it tests your basic skills and gives you a chance to practice your strategy. Use it as the advantage it can be for when you play at real casinos.

Greed is the greatest hindrance a player can have.
Don’t try and win every single hand at the highest profit you can, be realistic both in your bets and your expectations.

A Good Player never stops learning
In addition to these tips there are dozens of good books out there than can teach you different types of poker strategy. Learn from your opponents as to what works in a bluff and what doesn’t. Learn your own preferences, learn your bad habits and cut them out of your game, learn what you like to do as a player and make that work for you.

Most importantly if you’re not having fun you’re not playing the game right.