Poker has quickly emerged as one of the worlds favorite card games.  From online Texas Hold’em poker to local 5 card stud games at your local casino poker room.  The game of poker is both skill and luck.

Many will argue that poker is not a form of gambling – but a pure skill game.  While others tend to still consider it gambling. Either way, poker is as widespread as any other game ever has been.  You can find online poker rooms with thousands of live poker players nearly any time of the day.

Guys and gals all over the world are forming local poker nights and poker groups so they can enjoy the home game of poker.  Casinos in the big cities have jumped on the poker bandwagon and now have poker rooms with anywhere from 2 to 50 tables.

Online Poker

Let’s first take a look at probably the most popular form of poker – Online Poker.  Large sites such as Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars turned online poker into a mega-money game for many.  Poker players from all over the world turned the game of poker into their profession thanks to online poker sites.  Others just enjoyed the occasional side game or tournament.

Many online poker sites also offer large tournaments where players can win a chance into the large live poker games such as the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Online poker has completely changed the way that people think about the word “poker”.  One of the biggest downfalls for professional poker players was the fact that they could only play one hand at a time, at one table.  Players could get around 30-50 hands per hour typically at a normal poker game, making it a bit hard to maximize their profits.

Online poker has made incredible strides over the past few years and saw a huge jump in online poker traffic after the World Series of Poker became an overnight hit on ESPN.  Online poker allows players to play any game they want, for almost any buy-in that they want as well.  Sites offer cash games, sit-n-go tournaments (6 to 180 players), heads-up tournaments, and multi-table tournaments as well.

One of the perks of online poker for players is that there are games and tournaments that run all day, every day, allowing players to get as much action as they want.  Players can play multiple tables at one time as well, which has been a huge factor in making some of the top online poker players become as profitable as they are.

Poker Tournaments

While all online poker sites will offer tons of poker tournaments each day, they also offer guaranteed tournaments and satellites.  Guaranteed tournaments will have a guaranteed prize pool, meaning that even all of the players’ buy-ins to the tournament doesn’t add up to the guarantee, you’ll still have the larger amount of money in the prize pool!

Satellites are fan favorites of a lot of poker players, as they offer you the chance to be able to win your way into huge poker tournaments, whether it be online tournaments or even big tournaments like the World Series of Poker.  Many professional poker players make a living playing online poker tournaments as well.

Online poker tournaments have quickly grown into one of the most popular forms of online and live poker.  Poker tournaments give players the chance to buy in for a certain amount of money, and get the same starting chips as every other player in the tournament.  Every players buy-in then goes into the prize pool and, once registration closes, is sorted into a payout scale, which pays a certain percentage of players out of the field.  Online poker tournaments will normally pay out the top 10% of players, meaning that if the tournament has 100 players, 10 players will normally cash.  The larger the field is, the more players will make the cash.  Payouts will range by how you finish, so if you were to finish just inside of the cash, you’ll make your money back plus a little, and the longer you can survive, the more money you will make.  There are quite a few different types of online poker tournaments, as well as different buy-ins and games played for poker tournaments.  We are here to explain the different types of games offered in tournament play, as well as the different tournaments offered, and some strategy and thoughts about the game play.

Guarantee Tournaments

Guarantee tournaments are most players’ favorite type of poker tournament.  The online poker site will put guaranteed money into the prize pool, regardless of if that number is hit or not.  So if there is a tournament that guarantees $5,000 in the prize pool, that money is there no matter how many players actually register.  If a large number of players buy-in and it goes beyond that $5,000, then the prize pool would just grow from there.  Online poker site’s guarantee tournaments range in buy-ins, and also range in the amount of money that is put into the pool.

Satellite Tournaments

Satellites are a great way for players to qualify for the big time tournaments for a small buy-in.  Basically all the players will enter a satellite with a small percentage of the large tournament’s buy in that they are trying to get into.  From there, the final number of players will decide how many seats will be awarded to the bigger tournament.  So if you buy-in to a $5 satellite to try to make a $50 tournament, and there are 100 entrants, for every 10 entrants there will be one seat given.  So this would mean that 10 seats would be given away to that event.  Some websites will even add seats to the satellites in order to draw in more players.

Freeroll Tournaments

Freeroll tournaments are basically offering players the chance to play for free money.  They are normally offered to players who just deposit, or hit a certain VIP level.  These poker tournaments are free to enter, and give away either money or prizes for cashing in the event.  While most freerolls are fairly small, some sites have pretty large freerolls for their VIP players.

Tournament Games

Most poker tournaments are either Texas Hold’em or Omaha.  The Hold’em tournaments are normally no-limit, with some limit and pot limit mixed in.  The Omaha tournaments are typically pot-limit or just limit.  The types of tournaments offered will depend on the site, and also how what types of games are offered and popular on the site.  A few select sites will even offer stud and razz tournaments, but that is pretty uncommon in the online poker world.

Poker Tournament Play

Playing in poker tournaments is a completely different type of play than cash games.  Cash games typically are a lot looser play, with more bluffing; while poker tournaments are a grind, and most players tend to play tight.  The idea behind a poker tournament isn’t to win every pot, but instead to win pots, and add to chip your stack as much as possible.  While bluffing is still important in poker tournament play, some of the best tournament poker players in the game are incredibly tight, and play their position.  Remember, you just want to outlast the other players and get as many chips as possible in order to make the money.  One of the most important things in poker tournaments is to not get too crazy or go on tilt.  The more you can outlast players and build your chip stack, the more likely you are to consistently cash poker tournaments!

Cash Games

Probably even bigger than tournaments, cash games are a huge part of the online poker world.  Players can buy into cash games at whichever blind levels they want.  Of course, each poker site does it differently as far as what levels they offer, but most range from $0.01/$0.02 to $100/$200 and sometimes even higher.

Sites will offer games from Limit and No-Limit Texas Hold’em, as well as Limit and Pot-Limit Omaha, and multiple other games such as Stud and Razz.  Multi-tabling is probably even bigger in cash games than it is in multi-table tournament play, and is the most popular form of online poker for most poker professionals.

Professional Poker Players

We’re not going to tell you that becoming a professional poker player is an easy task by any means, but there are quite a few players out there who make a living off of playing online poker.  The two most popular games for professional poker players to play are No-Limit Hold’em, and Pot-Limit Omaha.

It’s no surprise that those two games are the biggest games out there for professional players, as the World Series of Poker currently offers a “No-Limit Hold’em Championship” and a “Pot-Limit Omaha Championship” each year.  Most online poker players do hours and hours of research and poker training, and start the same way that most new players start; at the low limit tables, grinding it out.  A lot of professional poker players offer online poker training as well.

Poker Training

Poker training is one of the most important and best services offered to online poker players.  The last thing that you want to do is head to the tables with no knowledge or strategy of the game that you are about to play.  This can be the easiest way to drop some money very quickly.  There are multiple different types of training offered for multiple different games, ranging from live poker, to online poker, and games from cash, to different tournaments.

Some of the best poker players in the world offer their services to help young poker players improve their game, and even new online poker players will give opinions all over the internet as well.  Poker training can be done in multiple different ways, whether it be through videos of online or live play, forums with people asking questions on how to play hands, and even strategy websites that give you general thoughts on training in general.  We are here to describe the different types of poker training, and how they can help your game as well.

Live Game Poker Training

Live game poker training is basically to teach new poker players how to play the game live.  Playing online poker and playing live poker are two different worlds, and need two different types of poker training.  The live training will focus more on how to read other players, how to play your hands, and much more.  Live poker training consists of both cash games, and tournaments as well.

Online Poker Training

Playing online poker is different than live poker, mainly because there is no way to read your opponents’ faces, or see if they have any tells.   Online poker training focuses more on when to be aggressive, and how to read the plays of your opponents.  It teaches you how to focus on whether a player is aggressive or tight.  Online poker training has become the most popular type of training, mainly because it is offered by a ton of people and services, all across the internet.

Cash Game Poker Training

Cash games are the most profitable type of poker play if you can be successful at them.  The poker training that is given for cash games is tough, and definitely isn’t for everyone.  Players need to know how to play a wider range of hands, and need to focus a lot more on their opponents’ play.  There is a lot of bluffing and three-betting when it comes to cash games, which are other traits that players need to pick up from cash game poker training.  Always remember that cash game play is completely different than tournament play!

Tournament Poker Training

When a player begins to play online poker or live poker, this is typically the type of game that they prefer to start with.  The World Series of Poker drew a ton of attention and a lot of new poker players to the world, and people love to learn the game that they see the pros play.  Well, if you hop into a poker tournament with no training, you’ll be hopping on out of that tournament pretty quickly most of the time.  Some of the best tournament players in the world know how to grind out the tournament for hours (and even days sometimes), and this is a trait that you need to learn as well.

As previously mentioned there are quite a few different ways to receive poker training, and we’ll break those down for you as well.

Poker Videos

Poker videos are the most popular type of online poker training.  Poker players will record their play on one of their online poker sites, and go back and record over the play explaining what they did throughout.  It is a great way for new players to learn how the pros play, and hear for themselves exactly what player is thinking while he plays.  Most new online poker players take to poker videos for their poker training.

Poker Forums

Poker forums are a great way for players to talk about their play and also “what to do” in certain situations.  All players run into tough spots where they aren’t sure exactly what to do, and are curious for other players’ opinions after the tournament.  Players can go on and post different hands and questions that they have, and get feedback from other poker players.

Strategy Websites

These are basically websites that offer a “how to” on playing both live poker and online poker.  They will give you a general idea behind how to play, when to raise, when to check, and when to fold.  Strategy websites are great for all new poker players who are trying to get a feel for how to play specific hands, how much to raise, and when to give up on a hand.  A lot of poker pros even offer sites like these, giving their specific insight on how or why the played a hand the way that they did.

Poker Deposit Methods for US Players

There are quite a few different ways to deposit money onto your online poker site, and it can get a bit confusing as well.  We’ll explain more in-depth the multiple different options that online poker sites offer for depositing money onto their sites.  One key thing to remember is that there are quite a few more deposit options for players outside of the United States.  The United States only offers a few select deposit methods onto online poker sites.  We’ll explain the options for both US players, and also International players.

Prepaid Card

Prepaid cards are new form of deposit method offered to US players.  You will use a debit or credit card to purchase a prepaid card, and with that card you receive a personal pin number.  This number will be used in the poker cashier in order to transfer the funds to the online poker room from the prepaid card.  This has been found to be incredibly successful when depositing onto an online poker site.

Click2Pay

Click2Pay ranks near the top as one of the most popular and common types of deposit methods for both US players and International players as well.  You fund your Click2Pay account with a bank account, credit card, debit card, or bank deposit over the counter.  The funds go straight into your account, and can be used to deposit onto the online poker site of your choice from there.

E-Check

E-Checks are just checks that can be used online.  E-Checks aren’t used often, but are a great way to fund your online poker account, and most online poker sits will still allow a player to use the E-Check method to deposit.

MoneyBookers

MoneyBookers is an E-Wallet poker deposit method which most online poker websites do allow.  Funds are deposited into MoneyBookers and from there you can deposit from the site into your poker account.  In order to use MoneyBookers, players must have a bank account to verify and open up a MoneyBookers account.

Poker Reviews

Poker reviews offer online poker players some of the most in-depth information about the online poker world.  Whether it be poker reviews of online poker rooms, reviews of online poker tournaments, reviews of cash games, or even just reviews of online poker in general, poker reviews help give players all of the information that they need.  The most common type of poker review is a review of an online poker room, as well as their deposit bonuses.  While there are so many poker reviews out there, we’ll highlight some of the most common ones that you will find online.

Poker Room Reviews

Again, poker room reviews are the most common and most popular forms of poker reviews.  All online poker players, new and old players alike, are interesting in reading up on the different online poker sites that are offered out there.  Reviews of online poker rooms give information about their software, the layout of the site, ease of use, customer service, deposit and withdrawal methods, and much more.  The most popular review of an online poker room though, is a review of their bonus structures, specifically deposit bonuses.  Deposit bonuses are additional bonuses that online poker sites give you for signing up on their site.  Almost every site offers these, and that explains exactly why poker reviews are typically about deposit bonuses; to help players find the best deposit bonuses online.

Online Poker Tournament Reviews

Another type of popular review is the review of online poker tournaments.  These reviews will basically to help online poker players find the best online poker tournaments throughout each week.  Each online poker site does their poker tournaments differently, so if you are a big online tournament player, finding poker reviews of online poker tournaments is a great idea to help narrow down which site will benefit you the most.  These reviews will also sometimes talk about the level of player that plays in the tournaments on the site, which can help factor into your decision too.

Online Cash Game Poker Reviews

Of course there is an online poker review of cash games offered throughout the sites, to go with the tournament reviews.  There are a ton of strictly cash game players who play online poker, and want to find the sites that offer the highest limits, the lowest limits, and even a websites opinion on the level of play for cash games as well.  Poker reviews for the types of play are very important as each site may seem to offer the same games and levels, but some sites don’t fill up the high limits nearly as often as other sites do, mainly due to one sites lower traffic.

Deposit and Withdrawal Reviews

This one could fall under the “Poker Room Reviews” section, but will get its own because it’s one of the most important things to look into when it comes to an online poker room.  One of the worst things that can happen when you sign up at a site, is if the site gives you a hard time depositing money on.  The absolute worst thing that can ever happen though, is if a site gives you a hard time withdrawing money.  No site wants to see a player take money off of their site, and no player wants to deal with a site that makes withdrawing money impossible.  A lot of places will write specific poker reviews based around finding an online poker room that has an incredibly easy deposit and withdrawal system set up.

As you can see, there are a ton of different poker reviews out there for players, and they can all be a huge help for both new and experienced online poker players.

How to Find the Best Online Poker Rooms

Finding the best online poker site isn’t exactly as simple as finding which deposit bonus is the best, signing up, and getting rolling unfortunately.  There are a lot of things that go into finding a top online poker site, one of which is the deposit bonuses.  But when you are searching for a top notch online poker site, you need a site that takes care of you from the word go.  You always want to make sure that a site makes depositing and withdrawing as easy as possible.  That’s the first step to finding the best online poker site out there, let’s take a look at a few other things that you need to be sure to factor in when you’re making your decision.

Software

Looking at the reviews of the poker software is incredibly important as well.  A lot of sites will offer screen shots and things like that so that players can get a feel for what the site looks like when they play.  But we also recommend playing on the site with play money to begin with, so that you can get a feel for the game play before having to deposit any real money on.  The worst thing that could happen would be if you were to deposit money on, you didn’t like the site, and then had trouble getting money off of the site.  The worry over an online poker sites software is an easy fix though thankfully.

Traffic

Checking out the sites traffic is another important thing to factor in when it comes to an online poker site.  If you like to multi-table, or even if you like to play at different times throughout the day, you should always make sure that the site gets a good number of traffic so that they can support the amount of games, number of players, etc, that you are looking for.  Most of the sites that do a lot of advertising and such will be able to support multi-tabling and such, but it’s always safe to check before you deposit money on to the site.

Games Offered

This one will sneak right by you.  If you play mainly Texas Hold’em, but like to dabble in a little Seven Card Stud here and there, you need to check each site in terms of their games right off the bat.  Not every site offers games like Seven Card Stud.  While all sites offer Texas Hold’em and Omaha (that we’ve ever seen), always check when it comes to any other game that you’re interested in playing before you get rolling with a site.

Withdrawing Money

Yep, this one was mentioned above, but it’s going to be mentioned once again because of it’s level of importance.  When you are looking to find the best online poker sites out there, the ones who make withdrawing money easy will typically find the top of any list.  The worst thing that can happen is if you win a big tournament, or are looking to cash off some of the money you won at the cash game tables, and the site makes it a pain to get the money off.  Always research which sites are the easiest to cash money off, and which sites get the money paid out the fastest as well.

Finding the best online poker room is as simple as doing some research, but be sure to research the topics above; as they are all key factors in finding the best poker room on the internet today.  From what we’ve found in terms of online poker, these sites all come through for their online poker players, and offer excellent deposit bonuses; so check out one of the sites below and see what you think.

General Poker

Poker has come along way from way back when.  There have been quite a few different forms of poker played over the years, dating all the way back to the 1800’s.  The game of poker is said to have began in the early 1800’s with players each being dealt five cards out of a pack of 20, and players then betting on who’s hand was the best.  The original popular form of poker coming into the more recent years, was the game of 7-card Stud.  We’ll explain 7-card Stud more in-depth, but the game is actually still played to this day as well.  Today, Texas Hold’em Poker is definitely the leader in terms of popularity, as it is played in multiple live games and tournaments, as well as online.

Tournament play is considered by some to be the most popular form of poker play currently.  Tournament play became popular originally back when the World Series of Poker began in 1970.  A bit later in the 70’s, poker strategy books began coming out from big time players like Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro, and David Sklansky.  In 1998 came the first online poker site, Planet Poker, which allowed players to play their favorite poker games on the internet.

Basics of Poker

The game of poker is immensely popular among groups and individuals, being played by millions of people all over the world in friendly and competitive environments. Poker can provide a little harmless fun and excitement for gatherings of friends, while the game is also played in casinos and over the Internet for profit. Online poker tournaments have become especially popular in recent years.

Knowing that poker is played by countless millions every year is no substitute for learning the game – and learning the game is no substitute for playing it. Although poker involves a great deal of strategy and statistical analysis, the theoretical aspects of the game cannot be fully appreciated until beginners become acquainted with poker`s most basic rules and idiosyncrasies.

The first point to learn about poker is that players do not need to bet in every game. The dealer chip passes from right to left, meaning that the person seated immediately to the left of the player with the dealer chip pays the small blind. The person to the left of the small blind pays the big blind, which is twice as much as the small blind.

Unless an ante – a typically incremental value to be paid by all players in every game regardless of whether or not they bet – applies to a game, only the big blind and small blind need pay anything – all other players can elect to fold without placing a bet.

Of course, placing bets is what poker is all about; no player can win by checking and folding every turn. At some point, even the tightest, most careful of players must indulge in risk to gather the chips. In No-Limit Texas Hold `em, the most commonly played variant of poker, players can place a bet if others have checked or folded.

Players can also call a bet, which simply means that the value of the bet is matched by other players, or raise it, which involves increasing the bet value even more. Players also retain the option of folding or going all-in (a sometimes necessary move in which a player risks everything in a single game.) A player whose bet is raised can call the raise, fold or re-raise as appropriate.

It is essential for beginners of the game to play with a free currency or only very small amounts of real cash before going head to head with experienced players. Although poker is predominantly about luck and strategy, poor technique can also send players home with nothing.

A common failing of beginners is `tilting`, which refers to rash, an emotional play that usually follows a heavy defeat or instance of poor luck. A player might tilt, for example, by going all-in with K-J pre-flop after losing the previous hand with pocket aces. If another player happens to have a strong hand (JJ, QQ, KK, AA, etc.), it is likely that K-J would come up short.

Playing online is arguably the best way to learn poker!

Poker Games

As previously mentioned, the game of poker has come a long way since back in the 1800’s.  Games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, and even 7-card Stud weren’t around then, and are all growing in popularity currently.  The currently World Series of Poker features all different types of games, ranging from No Limit Texas Hold’em, to Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, even to games like Deuce to Seven Draw games.  Online poker sites offer almost all of these games as well, giving players a great opportunity to play and learn as many games as they’d like.

Whether you are in a casino, a card room, or an online poker room, you’ll have typically had a few different options when it comes to poker games.  Casino’s and card rooms typically run No-Limit Hold’em and Omaha games throughout the day, and the larger ones will mix in some of the other games as well at points.

Online poker rooms are where you can really find a wide array of games though.  A lot of the larger online poker rooms will offer anything from No-Limit Hold’em to Omaha Hi/Lo, to games like Razz and Deuce to Seven Low Triple Draw.  While all of the games can be a bit confusing (as the game you typically watch on TV is No-Limit Hold’em), we are here to explain what each game is, as well as get a little bit more in-depth with each as well.

No-Limit Texas Hold’em

No-Limit Texas Hold’em is one of the key reasons why poker is where it is today.  The World Series of Poker Main Event is a No-Limit Texas Hold’em event and is nationally televised on ESPN, drawing some incredible TV ratings.

No-Limit Hold’em is a game where each player is dealt two cards face down, and there is a flop (3 cards), turn (1 card), and river (1 card) and players go through rounds of betting and attempt to make the best five-card hand that they can between their two cards and the five on the board.  The idea behind “no limit” is that players can bet as much as they want at any time during a hand.

Limit Texas Hold’em

Limit Texas Hold’em is almost exactly like No-Limit Texas Hold’em, except for the fact that you can only bet a certain amount each time.  So basically, there is no option to go “all-in” typically, unless you are short on chips, or it is late in the hand.  Limit Texas Hold’em has grown in popularity over the past few years.

Pot-Limit Omaha

Another one of the more popular games in the world currently.  A lot of the professional poker players play Pot Limit Omaha cash games as their primary games.  The idea behind Omaha, is that you are dealt four cards instead of two, and there is still a flop, turn, and river just like Hold’em.

But with the four cards that you are dealt, you MUST use two of them; no more, no less.  The “pot-limit” aspect of it means that players can only bet at most the size of the pot at any point during the hand.  Again, there are no “all-in’s” unless the pot is larger than the player’s stack.

Seven Card Stud

Seven-card stud was one of the originals when it came to playing poker.  Each player is dealt two cards face down, and one face up for the table to see.  There are rounds of betting after each card after that, and the last card is dealt face down.  The idea is to make the best five-card poker hand that you can, out of the seven cards that you are dealt.

Razz

Razz Poker is one of the games that is growing in popularity lately.  It is essentially the opposite of seven-card stud, as the rounds of betting are similar, but the idea behind the game is to make the LOWEST hand possible.  Straights and flushes don’t count, so the best hand you can get in Razz is A-2-3-4-5.

2-7 Triple Draw Lowball

This is a fairly new game in terms of popularity, but one that will continue to grow.  Personally, it’s a fan favorite of mine.  The idea behind 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, is that each player is dealt five cards, and can draw cards after each round of betting.

You can draw up to three times, and you are trying to make the lowest hand possible with aces counted as being high.  Straights and flushes do count, which is why it is 2-7 because five cards between 2 and 7 (2-3-4-5-7) are the best hands possible.

There are multiple types of games out there, but these are the six most popular types of poker currently; and also the types that you will find on most online poker sites.  Not all sites include games like Razz and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, but they are games that are growing in terms of popularity.

Poker Strategy

While poker strategy is something that could go on for a long time, and we will get more in-depth with it on our “Poker Strategy” page, but there are some basics for all new poker players to remember.  Whether you play online or live poker, it’s always important to remember to manage your bankroll.  If you have $200, it’s not the best idea to buy in to a $200 tournament.  Use your money on multiple smaller tournaments or smaller cash games.  Poker tournaments have a lot of ups and downs, and players can go on downswings of not cashing for a while; and that’s why it’s always important to manage your money.  One other very important thing to remember is that if you are going to play for real money (especially higher limits), stick to the games that you know the best.  If you are a No Limit Texas Hold’em player who usually plays cash games at the $0.25/$0.50 limits, I would not recommend jumping to Omaha on the same limits right away.  Start off smaller, or even in the free games in order to learn the game right off the bat.

Playing poker can be fun, but it can also leave you with all kinds of those head scratching moments where you aren’t sure what to do in certain situations.  There are so many different hands, in so many different spots, in a ton of different situations, and we understand that even the more advanced poker players sometimes have to ask the question of “what would you have done in this spot?”.  And sometimes it’s not nearly as easy as “how to play pocket aces” (although we will give you a breakdown on that as well).  Here are a few of the topics that we will be covering under the poker strategy here at Betting Blogger.

Texas Hold’em Tournament Strategy

This will cover both early in tournaments, and late in tournaments; as well as cover situations of when you have a short stack and when you have a big stack.  Tournaments can be a great way to make money, and also enjoyable if you know how to make the correct plays.

Sit-N-Go Poker Tournament Strategy

Sit-N-Go’s are between 6 and 180 players, and feature specific types of strategy for the different limits.  The most common type of sit-n-go that players play are either 6 or 9 player sit-n-go’s.  We’ll give you advice on how to focus on making the money, and also how to focus on the number of blinds that you have.

Cash Game Strategy

There is a lot of different strategy behind cash game poker, a lot of which includes bluffing and knowing how to play your hands and when to raise.  We also cover the types of limits that poker sites will offer, as well as where to start and how to judge your bankroll for cash games.

Basic Texas Hold’em Strategy

This is a basic guide for anyone who is new to playing Texas Hold’em poker.  It’ll give you the run down of what beats what, how to play your basic hands, bet sizing, and much more.  This is the go to page for any new poker player who has questions on how to play something in a standard situation.

Omaha Poker Strategy

Omaha is very similar to Texas Hold’em poker, but you are dealt four starting cards instead of two, and MUST use two of the four starting cards to make your hand.  Our strategy section will cover good starting hands, as well as how to read the board.  It also covers what hands are typically strong in Omaha, as it does vary against Texas Hold’em.

How To Play From Early Position

This section covers when you are one of the first players to act in either a tournament or cash game.  Position is huge in any type of poker, and we’ll explain in full how to play specific hands in early position.

How To Play From Middle Position

Very similar to how to play from early position, except that it’s how to play when you are one of the middle players to act at the table.

How To Play From Late Position

Playing from late position can make you one of the scariest hands at the table, and we’ll explain more in-depth as to why.  Having position on the rest of the table is a huge advantage.

How To Play Pocket Aces

General strategy on how to play pocket aces from all over the table.  We’ll explain how to disguise your hand, and to get the most value out as well.

How To Get The Most Value From Your Hand

Getting value from your hand, can be the difference between being a profitable player, or just a break even, or just above average player.  When you have the best hand, you always want to make sure that you get the most money in the pot against your opponent as you can.

Razz Basic Strategy

The game of Razz is one of the most interesting games of poker out there, and also one of the easiest to learn in a lot of players’ minds.  The idea behind Razz is to get the lowest hand possible with straights and flushes not counting, meaning that A-2-3-4-5 is the best possible hand.

Seven Card Stud Basic Strategy

Seven Card Stud is one of the originals when it comes to poker.  It was one of the first poker games played, and still is featured in big time tournaments and played in most online poker rooms as well.

There are a ton of different games and a ton of different strategies for each game as well.  The most important thing to remember is the find the game that suits you best, and that you enjoy the most; and read up, and learn as much as you possibly can about it.  After you learn the games, hop onto your favorite online poker site, or head over to your favorite local casino and hop into a game.  If you have anymore questions about a game, just come back to Betting Blogger for all your poker needs!

Playing Poker

There are multiple different places for players to play poker.  Whether it be playing online poker, or live poker; there are quite a few options available to all players.  While players in the United States are limited a bit more on their options currently after Black Friday, they still have options as well for online poker sites.  For those players who prefer live poker, there are places all throughout different countries who offer live games and casinos.  In the United States there is of course the incredible Las Vegas, and Atlantic City.  On top of that though, there are places for playing poker all through Mississippi, Florida, California, and multiple other destinations as well.

We assume that if you are doing your research here on the multiple different types of poker games, poker strategies, and poker sites; that you are interested in actually PLAYING poker.  Well, if you are like most poker fans, you’d love to get into the game and start playing poker.  There are quite a few different routes to go if you were interested and playing, but the one we recommend the most is to start playing online.  If you jump right into a casino setting it could be tough for you to adjust, and there are a lot of very good players as well.  Most casinos offer games that are a bit above what most beginners want to start playing at also, and online poker sites offer many different levels of game buy-ins.  So whether you want to start playing cash game poker or tournament poker, check out our top online poker rooms for their currently deposit bonuses that they are offering.  But we’ll start off by comparing the two different options of playing in a live poker room, or playing in an online poker room.

Play Poker In a Casino

Playing poker in a casino can be very profitable…if you are ready to play the higher limits.  Most casinos will only offer a minimum No Limit Hold’em game of around $1/$2 blinds.  And I’ll tell you, if you aren’t prepared for that, it can be a quick way to drop some money.  But granted, a lot of new poker players have done a ton of research and know the ins and the outs of the poker world, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea if you have a local casino near you that you wanted to go try your luck at.  Casino’s also run a lot of tournaments as well, and playing in a tournament in a casino is definitely much more recommended than a cash game.  So check out your local casino or local poker room and see what they have going on currently, and get out there and play some poker.

Play Poker Online

As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, there are a ton of online poker rooms with a lot to choose from.  The best thing to do if you are interested in starting your online poker career, is to check out the deposit bonuses, and read the poker room reviews before making a decision.  Once you do that, you’ll be on your way to be playing.  One of the biggest perks that playing in an online poker room will offer you as a new player, is that you can select what you want to play.  Whether you want to start with a tournament, a small cash game, large cash game, sit-n-go, or even if you want to play a game like Razz or Seven Card Stud, most sites offer all of these options.  If you are interested in playing cash games, almost all online poker sites will let you play poker for blind levels of $0.01/$0.02 and up.  Another thing to remember about playing online is that as you start to get a feel for the game; you can take your time making decisions and figuring out the poker room, etc.

Most sites will also run tournaments throughout the day, everyday as well.  So if you were more interested in getting into tournament poker play, just scroll through the tournaments that are currently registering and find one that interests you.  This is another perk of online poker, while casinos will offer a tournament every once in a while; online poker rooms will offer multiple tournaments throughout the day.

If you do like playing poker online you would have had a host of experience in the internet from the basic poker games, but there are a wide variety of cards games that you can play to have a break after you play poker online for quite a long time in cases where you will need variety. There are some games that you can play for some money and entertainment while some others are those that are meant purely for money.

The strategies that you use when you are playing poker online can range from tight-passive, loose-passive, tight-aggressive and loose aggressive. The victory and the amount of money you can expect to make when you play poker online are based on the constituent strategies that you use for these games.

In tight passive table when you play poker online you will be able to notice that there is not lot of money in the table because tight players are usually very conscious of money and they just play in low limit games. And they are always trying to guard their chips and they put their money in the pot when they have a scope to make it to the showdown. In many cases you might not be able to win more money than what is there in the table. In cases where you play poker online for money and you come across a table with more than a couple of tight-passive players you might have to consider to quit the table and try your luck in the next table. The amount of profit you can make in tight-passive tables is limited and unattractive if you are typically looking for something nice.

Tight-aggressive method is the most preferred kind of poker for those who like playing poker as a profession. The tight-aggressive table is the favorite for anyone that is requiring playing a challenging game and also making enough money. When you play poker online in a table of tight aggressive then you should better think that the heads up players is have a good card, they might not have a good card sometimes, but it is a safe way to think they probably might be better and you have to employ odds to verify them. Every action of a tight-aggressive player is based with a solid reason, the more skilled you are in cracking out the motives behind their moves with your reading abilities, the better you are going to be in position in the play.

So now that you’ve done your research and are ready to go, get into the game and let us know if our advice was helpful!

Take a look below at some of the general poker details:

Poker News

Poker news can be huge when it comes to the world of online poker.  Online poker news constantly updates big names in the world of online poker, and also gives tips and tricks on strategies of how to play hands.  A lot of poker news articles that are posted include detailed looks at hands, as well as in-depth analysis of how the hands were played by the professional poker players.  On top of just the strategy aspect of it, poker news will also inform players of big tournaments that are going on, and even ways to satellite into the big tournaments on your favorite online poker sites.

While there are tons of poker news sites across the entire internet, we’ve narrowed it down to a few of our favorites that give you up to date information on everything relating to both live poker and online poker as well.  Keeping up with online poker news is one of the best ways to stay up to speed with what is going on in the online poker world.  And for new online poker players?  Different poker news websites even give players the heads up on what types of promotions that online poker sites are running for new players!