Casino Games and Betting - Still a Favorite

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | Sunday 7 June 2020 | Published in

Casino Games and Betting - Still a Favorite
Throughout history, there has been a fond support of most games involving some skill and luck for wagering. Several cultures having developed distinct rules and common grounds over various kinds of sports and games, the typical casino games might include Blackjack, Poker, Craps and very familiar to most anybody, the slot machines, as popular games to feature mostly.
Over the years several versions or sets of rules had developed for some games like Poker, being a family of games played with the classic fifty-two-card deck of cards, with variations in play ranging from betting structures, how the cards are dealt to the players and then also different strategies with players archetypes you may come across.
Some of the games pits a player against the rest of the players in that round of play for a prize, which is the collective amount or common pot of bets for that hand of the game. As in the case of poker, betting in successive rounds, each player in turn has the opportunity to make a play or bet,A� based on their current hand and any information gathered from game play about the rest of player's hands.
In other games, you only need to match your hand against a dealer's hand of cards, in order to win the hand and the bet you placed. Blackjack, commonly known as Twenty-One, is an example of such single play style betting in casino card games.
Thousands of individuals each year, spends millions of dollars on gambling and this is still a growing figure amongst the worlds top casino's, now enjoying world class championships and annual tournaments that features the top players around the world as well as millions of dollars in cash prizes and winnings.
Casino games, gambling and lady luck, all still very famous, has become a world stage featuring the all too popular combination of luck and skill, and to this day remains a favorite with people from across the globe going all in, for that magic big win.

How to Use the Rush Poker Strategy

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | Friday 27 September 2019 | Published in

How to Use the Rush Poker Strategy
If you have played poker on Full Tilt you have probably seen, heard about, or played Rush Poker. It came out first in No Limit Holdem only, but now you can find it in Omaha as well as other games in tournament form as well as cash ring. It is fun and rather addictive because the action comes so incredibly fast; you can a new hand at a new table as soon as you fold your cards. There are a couple of simple strategic adjustments you can make to compensate for this.
First of all, most players that you will be playing against will only play very premium hands. Their outlook is simple: why play risky hands if the next hand is only a split second away? You can just fold until you hit A-A or A-K.
Knowing this, you can then make raises pretty much at will in Rush poker. If you encounter a re-raise or any kind of resistance, just fold your hand. By making raises from all positions 70%-80% of the time you are just trying to take the blinds. If someone calls your bluff, you know he has a good hand because it is Rush poker, so let it go. Plus, you have the advantage of being at a new table each hand. Nobody knows that you have just raised 10 hands in a row!
The next strategy that works well with Rush poker is to limp in with your big hands. Again, most player's tendencies will be to wait for big hands and then raise. If you limp in with your big hands, you will likely get both blinds in the hand and could slow play your way to a big pot.
For example, if you limp in with A-A and get the Small Blind and Big Blind to stay in the hand, one of them might hit the flop. A flop like 9-4-2 could hit a hand like K-9 for your opponent. He thinks he has high pair, and you have him dominated with your Aces. Remember too, everything happens very quickly with Rush poker so there is less time for him to analyze what is going on. A play like this may not work as well at a regular table where players have more time to consider.
Another strategy I like to employ in Rush is to ALWAYS raise if you are in late position. Players are not nearly as predisposed to defend their blinds in a game where the next hand is just a second away. They figure they can just steal from the next guy. So, if I am past middle position, on the button, etc. I will make a pretty good size raise to try and take down the blinds nearly every time. If a player in a blind position re-raises me, I know he has a big hand and I fold. I will end up taking down far more pots than I have to give up with this method.
Overall, Rush poker is fun to play, but you cannot treat it the same as regular No Limit Texas Holdem. The strategy is very different and you must adjust accordingly.

Playing Video Poker at a Higher Level

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | | Published in

Playing Video Poker at a Higher Level
To take video poker from playing just for fun to a level where want to win, you must do things differently. You cannot think the same and you definitely must change the way you play compared to the average player. If you are prepared to do this, this article will give you tips to start the process.
Bare Bones Casino Tactics
Casinos have spent millions of dollars having machines designed to attract players and take their money. You can spend a hundred dollars at Disneyland and ride all day, this is entertainment. At the casino you can lose thousands of dollars, pretend it was entertainment and kick yourself for losing.
Lets look at a few gambling realities:
Casinos pay good money for human nature studies. They know how we tick.

They're after your money (it's only entertainment)

The odds are always in their favor

Video poker machines is software designed to keep you playing and losing

They're programmed

They are programmed to make a lot of money for the casinos
The question is, how do  you deal with this?
You need a plan, this is what we call a strategy. You have to overcome two things, the emotional factors and the house  odds. The average player has no clue how to do this.
Watch how people play, they talk to the machines like there human. This provokes chasing money, this increases the casinos edge by 10 fold, a tactic they love to see players fall for.
A strategy has to have three things...
Money Management

Time Management

Discipline
We are taking for granted that you already know how to play basic video poker, if not you must learn this before implementing a more advanced strategy.
Be Realistic
For any strategy to work you must be realistic about its possibilities. We are talking about gambling here, the elements of chance and the odds built into the games favor the house. If you think you can win all the time, you will be disappointed, it just won't happen.
If a strategy will overcome tactics deployed by the casino and balance the house odds, then you will increase your winning ways. There is no law against having fun and winning too!

Poker Training on Showing Your Hand - When to Show Or Not Show Your Poker Hand

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | | Published in

Poker Training on Showing Your Hand - When to Show Or Not Show Your Poker Hand
Showing your hand can be a helpful strategy at the poker table, but you should know why you're showing it, who you're showing it to and when it makes sense to show your cards. Want a good rule of thumb on showing your cards? Don't do it!
Anytime you unnecessarily show your hand to your opponents, one thing that you absolutely accomplish is giving them information on your poker game. Depending on the players at the table, they could potentially use that information against you. Keep them guessing, never knowing for sure what you had, and that will more often be to your advantage at the table.
Now for some playing styles, showing your hands can be a good strategy. Take for example an aggressive player that likes to steal a lot of pots. The times when he actually has a (strong) hand, showing his cards can help the table from fighting back during all the other times he's just robbing the pot blind. He shows top pair here, bottom set there... "Ok, this player is just getting some good hands today. Keep foldin'!"
On the flip side, take a very conservative player that 90% of the time plays very tight. But when she finds an opportunity to pull off a bluff, she may want to show her bluff, getting the table thinking she plays loose. Then a few hands later when she's got the nuts, the table might just double her up.
If you incorporate different styles in your poker game, showing your hands can be a way of giving the table the "wrong" impression of your style. Get them thinking one way, and you later beat them with a play they weren't expecting at all.
The other reason why you may consider showing your hands (particularly on a big bluff) is to get a player on "tilt". You can see the steam start to come off the top of their head when you just made them lay down their top set, and you show them rags. Still, you need to be careful who you show your hands to. Show your bluff to a solid poker player that does not go on tilt; well, you simply just gave them information they may use to put you on tilt the next hand.
One final thought, if you call the final bet and you go to showdown, throw a losing hand into the muck. Do not show it. There's just never a good reason to do it, and again, you simply are giving free information on your way of playing.

Why Play at Small Poker Sites?

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | | Published in

Why Play at Small Poker Sites?
When you're choosing which poker site to play at, you must consider if you wish to play at one of the larger sites like PokerHost or a smaller poker site such as BetOnline.
Each style of poker site has their plus and minuses, but we actually prefer to play at the smaller poker sites. But why play at smaller smaller sites? Read on.
Knowing Your Opponents
Do you do well at your local home game? That is probably because you know how the players play and act. At the smaller poker sites obviously there is a smaller player base. With that said, if you play higher stakes or more obscure games or tournament types, chances are you will run into the same players very often. We play a lot of head's up, and at the smaller sites we can recognize the players name and know we have played them before. Just like our home games.
Using the software's "Notes" feature we can add little things we notice about a particular player, such as the player "folds if you re-raise him", or if he "comes over the top he has it". At worse we can rate the player as aggressive or tight. This can be invaluable information knowing what type of player you are playing with straight away. At the larger sites (unless you play $1000 tourney's or $50/$100 blinds) its rare you will run into the same player that often - reason #1 we like smaller poker sites.
We always assume our competition is doing the same thing we are, and if we have notes on a player we assume he has notes on us (in reality this is probably true maybe 50% of the time - players just don't use notes - especially the casual player). So if we notice we have notes on a player we assume he does on us as well.
Since this player has notes on us we must switch up our play. He may have us labeled as "loose" and try to bully us around. Or if he has us rated as "tight" we may never get a good pot out of him. As a result we must switch up our play from how we played him last time. But how do we know how we played him?
The notes feature can be valuable for information on yourself as well. We always play aggressive, so if we have no notes on the player we assume we haven't played him and stick to our regular style of play. During the game however we will add a note on him however so small, that way we know when he comes up again we played him aggressive.
When he play him the second time we will note a number 2 in the notes feature, so when he comes around again we know we have now played him twice aggressively. The third time a number 3 and so on. At some point, when we feel he may know our aggressive play we will switch over and play tighter and trap him for some nice pots.
First impressions are the biggest, so when we do switch our play we will make a note on his profile saying "us tight" so we know we played him tight the last game. Chances are he still views us as aggressive and we will play tight again, this time noting "us tight 2", meaning its the second time we played him tight.
At some point we will go back to aggressive play starting the notation process all over again - "us aggressive 1" and so on. Get it? At some point this poor guy is going to have no idea how to play us and we will have our way with him, plus we have our notes on him knowing how he plays.
You can use the number notation on him as well, so you can track whether he is switching up his style of play.
By using the above system you can be at a great advantage over your competition. You have information and information is key!
This system would never work at the large poker sites because you would never run into the same players enough to make it worth while. At some of the medium sized sites if you play long enough it can work, but it could take months to even get a decent player notes base started.

Short-Stacker Prodding Bet - An Easy Cost-Saving Hold'em Read

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | | Published in

Short-Stacker Prodding Bet - An Easy Cost-Saving Hold'em Read
Short-stackers are everywhere. They sit waiting and suddenly go all in. Some call them a plague and detest their presence at the table. Others simply laugh and take their money. How could one hate them? Their strategy is so basic that it leaves virtually nothing to the imagination. If they have an all in hand then they engage, otherwise they fold. But how do you know when they'll shove?
A bit of observation
The short-stacker is a player who brings the minimum buy-in to the table with intents to simply go all in whenever they hit a premium hand. Some are pretty open about it and do nothing to hide. Others try to be clever and do a minimum buy-in plus change misleading some into thinking their stack is simply depleted.
In Texas Hold'em there are a lot of playable pre-flop hands, some with high value, some with marginal value. Often a player would like to limp in, or simply push a small 2-4BB bet. It is only a limited set of hands for the 2-bet, and even less for an all-in move. Short-stackers pose no danger to the limping hands or to the premium hands. A shove can simply be answered with a fold or a call.
All those hands in between are typically how a short-stacker makes their money. Either they push out the already posted bets or they win with a better hand at showdown. Blocking their stack growth is simply a matter of not donating money and getting pushed out, or going all-in with the better hand.
A trap setup
In a micro limits game it is quite normal that the short-stacker will simply push all in immediately any time they get their premium hand. Usually there are enough gullible people around whom call and ensure the strategy makes money. As the limits creep up the short-stacker needs to setup a trap; a sudden all-in move will do nothing but make other players fold.
There are a few tactics used at this point. Which one is used is dictated heavily by position, but sometimes a player only has one of them in their arsenal. Simply pay close attention to how they have played previously to decide which it is.
Limping from early position
As short-stackers don't play a lot of hands, and indeed play very few hands, they don't actually play limping quality hands. That is, a limp from early position should immediately send up a warning flag. A player that ignores this warning and makes a moderate bet will likely find themselves facing a shove from the limper.
Enrico looks down at J Hearts T Hearts in middle position. Nicole under the gun limps in. Enrico recalls that Nicole has played just a handful of the last 50 hands and is a notorious short-stacker. He suspects any bet will be shoved, and though he likes his cards, he doesn't like them that much. He limps in to see the flop cheaply.
This time Enrico is looking at pocket aces. Nicole has limped in again. Rather than his standard 4-5BB on premiums he puts in a smaller 3BB bet, trying to represent a good, but not great hand. Nicole, thinking she's closing the trap, shoves and is immediately called by Enrico, who is the favourite to win.
High lead from any position
These players aren't normally interested in winning small pots, they wish only to get all their chips in and double up. So with a 3-5BB lead out they aren't hoping to be called. They are hoping for a raise which gives them an excuse to shove. The action now goes back to the raiser who is now being offered decent pot odds and makes the crying call.
Enrico has pocket tens and again has position on Nicole. He's positive now that Nicole plays at a minimum pocket tens thus her 4xBB lead is troublesome. Despite what all his books say about pocket tens he knows his current expected value is negative versus Nicole. He makes a very disciplined lay down.
Late position shove This tactic is really the most obvious of the three, simply being a shortened form of the lead out. Here when any player out of position has put in a bet the short stacker will simply shove. Since there is a good chance of getting folds here they can do this move with less than premium hands. Taking notes on the short-stacker here is very useful. Some crazies will actually pull this stunt with Ace-anything or small pocket pairs!
Melanie has pocket tens and leads out with 3BB. She gets one caller from a tight player in mid position and an all in from Rogan in late position. Rogan is a short-stacker who has been pushing all in for what seems like every second time on the button. She's seen him go to showndown with cards like AQs so she feels comfortable calling this bet. The tight player folds as expected.
A Bit of Practice
While playing at any table take a quick moment to note all those players which have a stack exactly at, or near the minimum buy in for the table. Count how often they make any type of move and what type of followup action they have. Compare it to what we've discussed here and you will likely find a match on at least a couple of those players.
The biggest value in this information is saving money. You don't want to be entering pots which are guaranteed to be shoved and be stuck with inferior hands. Raising hands preflop may warrant just a call on the hopes you hit the flop. Calling hands can then just be folded to a short-stacker tactic. If you feel you have a hand that would normally win against the short stack you can also be brave and call them. You will lose sometimes, but if you've watched carefully you'll win more often than not.

The Importance of Online Casino Software

Posted by : Gambling Blogs | Monday 23 September 2019 | Published in

To ensure that their guests have an enjoyable experience, online casinos rely on gaming software to power their selection of games. This software is developed by third-party software companies like Playtech, Rival Gaming, Cryptologic, Vegas Technology, and Realtime Gaming, who are the "big five" in web casino software.
Software developers have to create online casino games that look and sound as much like the games in land casinos as possible. The games must also function reliably, and they must be fair and honest. Internet gambling sites typically sign multi-year licenses with software developers, and the developer is required to maintain and upgrade the games and is usually required to introduce new games periodically.
Right now there are three basic types of software used by casinos online: Flash-based instant games, downloadable games, and apps for handheld mobile devices.
Flash based games allow you to play directly from your internet browser. The big advantage to these games is that you don't have to download anything, and you can basically play immediately once you have an account at the online casino.
Downloadable games require you to download the game onto your own computer. While there is a time factor involved in the download depending on the type of internet connection you have, downloadable software generally has better quality graphics and are more stable. There are large numbers of downloadable games to choose from.
Game apps for mobile devices like smart phones are the newest type of games that online casinos are getting into. These allow people to gamble from pretty much anywhere, freeing them from having to have a fixed internet connection in order to play.
The software and online gambling industries are currently undergoing a period of consolidation, with many mergers and acquisitions taking place. Casinos say that this will improve the player experience and make for bigger jackpots. In one case, one of the casino software giants, Playtech, is getting into the casino business itself, by purchasing Intelligent Gaming Solutions Ltd., a UK casino management systems company.
Playtech is an extremely successful casino online software company, experiencing gains of 26% in revenue in 2010 versus 2009. They recently introduced a number of very popular slots games, including Ironman 2 Slots, which looks like it will become iconic in the online slots world. They have also begun developing online sports betting software.
When you choose online casinos to play at, be sure that you check to see that they use one of the highly regarded sources for the software that powers the site. This information should be fairly prominently displayed on the home page of the website.
Software is the engine that drives the games on gambling websites, and it is what determines how well you enjoy your experience. Always ensure that the casino you visit uses reputable software providers and that the software is regularly audited by well-regarded third party auditing firms. This will give you the reassurance you need to have a great time, with confidence that the games are fair and that the payouts advertised on the site are accurate.