Beginners strategy for Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is a modern game with ancient origins.  Based on the ancient Chinese domino game and the modern American version of poker, Pai Gow poker combines the east with the west in a great game for beginning level players. 

Pai Gow Poker is a poker game that pits the player against the dealer, unlike most other poker games that players play against other players.  By playing against the dealer, beginning players don’t have to worry about other, more experienced people taking their money. 

Another Pai Gow advantage is the relatively slow game play, novices can take their time and strategize without needing to make hasty decisions. 

It’s also easier to play for a long time with just a little bit of money since, to lose, both of your hands must be lower than both of the dealer’s hands. 

Pai Gow is played with 53 cards; the regular 52-card standard deck and one joker.  The player is dealt seven cards face up and the dealer receives seven cards face down.

A five card hand and a two card hand must be made from the seven cards, the five card hand must be higher than the two card hand.  To win, a player needs both of his hand values to be higher than the dealer’s.   

To read more about Pai Gow Poker rules and strategy, visit Online-Casino (http://www.online-casino.com) and browse the game tips and strategy pages.

Caribbean Stud Poker: How to Play

Caribbean Stud Poker is gradually gaining in popularity as compared to its stud twin: Texas Holdem mainly because it is an easier game to learn and you can play it face to face and still enjoy.

Originating in the Caribbean and based loosely on five card stud poker rules, this game offers a fan alternative to traditional table games with an opportunity to place a side bet and hit a big jackpot too. Some of these jackpots are progressive and you can win millions of dollars if you break those machines or tables..

What is Caribbean Stud?
It is not a traditional poker game in the sense that you play against the other players and the best player wins the pot. Caribbean stud belongs to the family of games including Pai Gow poker, Let it Ride and Three Card poker for example, where your opponent is the dealer and your goal is to form a better poker hand than the dealers hand. However, basic knowledge of traditional poker hand ranking is required.

The Rules of Playing Caribbean Stud:
1) The game begins with the players placing an ante bet at the same amount as the table minimum on the ante circle on the table.
2) At the same time, you should decide whether to place an additional side bet for the progressive jackpot.
3) Then, the dealer deals each player five face down cards plus four face down cards and one up to himself.
4) After looking at your cards, you should decide whether to fold or to call. If you decide to call, you should place an additional bet double the amount of your former ante bet.
5) After all the players have made their decisions, the dealer shows his hand. In order to qualify in a Caribbean stud poker game, the dealer must have an ace and a king or better. If he does not qualify, you will be paid back your ante bet but the call bet is a push.
6) If the dealers hand qualifies, he compares hands against each of the players individually. If his hand is better than yours is, you lose both your ante and your call bets.
7) If your hand is better than the dealers hand, you would be paid even money for your ante while for your call you would be paid according to a paytable. The paytable can vary from one casino to another. Generally, US casinos pay out 50:1 on a straight flush; 20:1 on four of a kind; 7:1 on full house; 5:1 on a flush; 4:1 on a straight; 3:1 on three of a kind; 2:1 on two pairs and even money on one pair or less.
In case your hand and the dealers hand are even, both ante and raise will push.

One of the reasons that Caribbean stud poker is so popular is the option of placing a one dollar side bet and winning a large progressive jackpot prize. In order to qualify for the bonus payout you should have a flush or better. For a flush, you would be paid a 50 dollars bonus and in order to win the jackpot that usually resets from 10,000 dollars, you must have a royal flush. However, your chances to hit a royal flush are estimated as about 650,000 to 1, therefore I would recommend skipping it.

Bad Beat Poker – It Happens

If you ever see an angry poker player carrying on and throwing a fit about a hand, you can generally assume this player has taken a bad beat. “Bad beat” is a poker term referring to having a strong dominating hand lose to a much weaker hand held by another player. If you’ve read my previous uplifting article about bad beat jackpots, you might be excited about the possibility of experiencing a large bad beat in a brick-and-mortar casino, but most players hope they can defy the laws of the universe and never have to experience bad beat poker. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing online poker or brick-and-mortar poker, players are constantly getting frustrated and complaining about bad beats. If I had a dollar for every bad beat story I’ve heard in my life, I wouldn’t be sitting here playing a $20 online multi-table tournament; I’d be vacationing at the beach. Generally it’s the better and more experienced players who are amazed at losing to large underdog hands. Newer players often don’t realize the odds of a bad beat poker hand like pushing all in with AdJc and miraculously beating AsKs by spiking a Jack on the river. Experienced and educated poker players need to take a step back and realize that bad beats will always happen when playing poker. Most decent poker players always talk about how amazed they are when they experience a bad beat, and they try to claim that it always happens to them. One thing that experienced players don’t realize is that if they are constantly playing with weaker opponents and experiencing bad beats, it’s because they always have the dominating hand. You hardly ever see an advanced poker player lay down a bad beat on a much weaker player, especially in a no-limit game. The reasoning behind this is because as the better player, he generally has the better hand going into an all-in situation, so it seems like weaker players never experience bad beats. Players have to learn to take pride in generally making the correct play with the better hand and simply brush it off when they finally experience a horrifying bad beat. Another common topic arises when talking about bad beats: how bad beats seem to happen far more often while playing online poker than when playing in a casino. For years players have spread myths and rumors that online poker is rigged. These players accuse the online card rooms of creating large action hands for the players involved in a game to drive up the size of the pot, which spikes up the casino rake. These myths and rumors are exactly that: all fake. All online poker rooms experience rigorous pattern testing and verification to provide completely random hands for all games at all times. The truth of the matter is, when playing online poker, you see far more hands than when you are playing in an actual casino. Playing brick-and-mortar poker, you might be dealt around 30 hands an hour, depending on the game, the dealer, and the other players at the table. However, while playing online poker, you are probably seeing 50+ hands an hour. You might be experiencing double the number of hands as compared to casino poker, which might make it seem like bad beats are dealt more often, when actually their occurrence is generally about the same. If you are playing two tables at once in an online poker room, you are easily seeing 40-50 more hands per hour than if you were playing one table in a brick-and-mortar casino. One last fact about online poker and bad beats is that the majority of players are more hesitant about calling large all-in situations when playing in actual casinos with actual money chips in front of them. Often online players, especially newer players, don’t have a problem pressing the “Call” button on their monitor, even in situations where they shouldn’t be calling. After all, it only takes one click of a mouse. If the same player were forced to push out $85 in chips in a $1/$2 brick-and-mortar casino no-limit game, he might think twice about his hand strength before throwing his money away. So, all in all, no player can truly avoid receiving or giving bad beats in poker. Taking a hard bad beat sticks out in your head much longer than laying a bad beat down on another player. To keep your game sharp, you must learn to simply blow off bad beats, remain focused, don’t get frustrated, and understand that other players making bad calls is exactly what you really want. These are the players who keep you in the money and make you a winning poker player. As I finish this article, I am dropped from my multi-table tournament, 6 spots before the money, when my pre-flop all-in with AK gets called by KQ, and my opponent turns a Queen. It happens, that’s poker, next tournament please. Internet Poker Betting and Casino at http://www.WagerWeb.com/Sporstbook

Classifications Of Poker Players

I've got a confession to make. I like playing poker. When you are playing online poker, you will generally notice several different types of poker players. Knowledge of different poker playing styles should lead you to an adjustment of your poker game. Generally, some players you may want to attack right off the bat, others you may want to leave alone. Here are some of the different players' styles: Loose The loose player is someone you need to watch out for. They are characterized by their inexperience and usually play a lot of hands. Seemingly, the loose player is always in the thick of the poker game. Even with a poor hand, he will play until the very end of the game hoping to get some luck with his cards. If you play very aggressive with decent cards, exploiting a loose player shouldn't be that difficult. Most likely, a loose player will likely reward your efforts. Aggressive loose An aggressive loose player raises the pot with nothing and bets no matter what card he has. He always calls bluff at every opportunity and is talkative and brimming with over-confidence. Don't get egoistical around an aggressive-loose player. And don't fall into the trap of playing his game and calling his bets just to expose the weakness of his game. When you have the cards to do so, attack them. Tight Compared to an aggressive player, a tight player folds at every hand and waits for pocket Aces. They can easily be lured by a bluff. However, when they see signs of intimidation, they fold. Be cautious, however, if they don't fold. Aggressive Tight These type of players are extremely cocky. Until the aggressive tight player gets a good hand, he will opt to fold several times. When he plays his cards, he tends to play like a loose player. He has knowledge of how to get more money for his strong cards. Likewise, he knows how to take it easy and let the other players on the table do battle when his cards are not good enough. You might be in a bit of luck if you are successful in bluffing an aggressive-tight player into a hand. Don't allow yourself to be played by an Aggressive Tight player. These are just a few examples of the general classifications of the type of poker players you may encounter at an online poker table. Remember. when you are playing poker, you are playing the personality of your opponent more than your card. Master these styles and quickly identify these players during your poker game.

How to throw a poker run

My first motorcycle was a 1957 Harley Davidson. When I found the bike for sale I had no money, but I knew I needed to have this motorcycle. So I came up with a way to raise the money and throw a great party at the same time. I threw a Poker Run. The concept of the game is easy. Each person tries to make the best 5 card poker hand. The way it is played is, each bike has to ride along a planed rout, every few miles there are checkpoints at each checkpoint along the way each bike must stop and receive a card. Along the rout there are 7 checkpoints, and at the end the rider with the best 5 card poker hand wins the prize Over the years the poker run has been adopted to lovers of many different hobbies. The poker run was originally an event bikers played on their Harley's, but over the years it has been borrowed by boaters and even runners. Throwing a poker run is fairly simple but takes time and some not to hard work. The first thing you need to do is get approval from the towns that your poker run will go thru. There may be some paperwork and fees. You will also need to make sure that at the end of the run is at a park or event hall. Depending on where you live you may also need a permit for the park. Next you will need riders. By figuring out how much you want to have for the prize money and how much the part after the poker ride will cost you can figure out how many riders you will need and how much the entrance fee will be, but it should be no more then $100 per bike. The next thing you will need to do is register riders. The best way to do this is to make a website, go to biker bars and biker events in your area. If you live in New York don’t go to Daytona Bike week to sign up riders, most people will not travel that far for a poker run. Try to get locals. After you have registered the riders you now have to plan for the party. Along with registering riders for your poker run you should also sell tickets so friends and family can join in the party after the ride is over and the poker winner is declared. The best way to advertise the party is on a local radio station and with posters around town. The more people you can get the more money you will have for a prize and for whatever cause you are trying to raise money for. You can either, buy your own food and get some friends to help cook or you can look in the phonebook for a caterer and you should be able to find a caterer who will throw you a great BBQ. Then all you need to do is wait for the big day and enjoy all the bikes, poker, beef and beer.