HoldemBonus Poker Blog

Believe it or not, even if you are a highly skilled poker player, you do not want to enter too many tournaments. Sure the reward is high with some tournaments such as the World Series of Poker (also known as WSOP) that is broadcasted on ESPN annually and the winner can take home more than $12 million. Although we can all dream to make that kind of money playing poker, luck is a very important factor in large tournaments. Sure skill and strategy matters, but multi-table tournaments often can have hundreds of people entering and as was said before, “As a game or tournament of poker grows larger in size, the more the game becomes about luck than skill.”

Enter tournaments because they are a blast and entertaining to play not in order to make a lot of money. One exception is however poker sit-n-go tournaments, where you can earn a lot of money by playing smart. An article about making money playing sit n go’s will soon be published.

Make sure that you also play ring games with far fewer people (6 or 5 player table) where the game becomes more about skill and strategy than luck. It’s all about risk vs. reward. Large tournaments such as the WSOP have a large risk ($10k buy in), but offer a slim chance at a huge reward, with millions of dollars in the prize pot and. Playing ring games have a far lower risk or buy in and you have a better chance of winning.

The key is to find the right balance in what type of games you enter in and this can only be done by practicing and learning the game of poker. Read poker articles, guides and various poker books in order to find the game that suits your play. Some poker players are exceptional tournament players but will immediately lose money when sitting in a ring game and vice versa.

Although you may be playing the same type of poker casually with your friends at home and at the casino; playing a version of poker at home is very different from playing that same version of poker at the casino. In the casino poker is usually a no nonsense serious game with rigid rules that must be followed. When playing at a casino there is far less interaction between players than there would be at home playing against just a few friends. After all, there is far more money up on the table than at typical casual Friday Night Poker Meeting so all players are very serious and keep their poker face on almost all the time to help give themselves the advantage.

If you have luck playing at home against friends and family, don’t build up too big of an ego when you come into a casino to play poker for serious money. Many of the players who keep winning in casual games get crushed when they first begin to play poker in casinos. In casinos the players are normally far more skilled and experienced than the players you may be used to playing against. In the casino, poker becomes a far more psychological game, where luck won’t get you that far. It is all about strategy and picking up on bluffs and fooling your opponent. These are all skills you need to win and the only way to acquire them is with a lot of practice and experience. You may end up winning at first by luck at the casino, but it will not last and if you get your hopes and expectations up too much, you could lose a lot of money so be careful how much you bet.

There are also some differences in the game themselves at home and in the casino. For example, when playing casually, some people will play all types of poker with Antes and disregard blinds. However, at casinos, unless you are playing seven card stud, there are no antes, and blinds are always used. (If you are confused or unfamiliar with these terms you should first read our glossary to familiarize yourself with poker terminology and practice a bit more to become more familiar with the game before you head into the casino to play.) There are also a few other little differences, such as no dealer button, etc. between casino and casual play.

Playing poker at home and in the casino are very different in terms of how the games are played and the mentality of the players. If you are serious about making money with poker or attempting to become a professional poker player, you need to familiarize yourself with the casino style of poker. Just make sure you have some practice before you come out of the casino and be careful how much you bet, because you don’t want to loose too much money that you most likely cannot win back.

This is just simple mathematics but it is something many people overlook: the fewer people playing at a table the higher chance you have of winning. If they are 10 people playing at a table, you have a 1/10 or 10% chance of winning while if there are only 4 people playing, you have a ¼ or 25% chance of winning. That is why sticking with tables with fewer people is better from a mathematical standpoint. However, a lot of poker is psychological and played in the mind, and table size also has a physiological effect on the game.

In games where more and more people are playing, there is a smaller chance that you have a hand that is better than the hands of all other players. That is why in many cases hands that would have won if just a few people are playing will lose in hands where many more people are playing. Once all players identify this, they will bid less and less even with good hands, and the game becomes more about luck than skill. For those who are experienced in poker, when the game becomes all about luck and strategy plays less of a factor in determining the winner of the hand, you lose your advantage and obviously, this is something that you do not want to do.

So, what is a good number to play per table? Well at most poker tournaments there is a set number of players at each table and this is kept constant throughout, but, if you are playing casually with friends or can choose table size, you should try to limit each table to 5 to 7 people. Once more than 10 players get involved in a hand, the game has become too large and should be split into two different tables if possible.

Alternatively, if you rely on luck to win poker, you still want to play with smaller tables to give yourself a better shot mathematically at winning the hand.

What do you need to play poker? We have added another poker article that explains what kind of poker equipment you will need to play poker games. If you are a complete beginner at the game of poker and wonders what equipment you need this article will provide you with just that information.

Basically all you need is:

1. A deck of cards
2. Chips
3. Dealer Button

Further you can purchase a poker table but this is not necessary to play poker but will enhance the experience. Playing poker could be done on almost any surface and this is why the game is soo popular.

Read the full Poker Equipment article.

The following article will focus on the most popular style of poker, Texas Holdem, but can also be a good resource if you are planning to play other versions of the game. Poker can be a good way to end the day and have fun with friends, and with this article we hope to guide the beginners through the very basics of what a poker card deck contains.

Read the full Basics Of Poker article.

Playing poker has one advantage compared to other various ways of competing against each other. You are allowed to bluff! In live poker games a professional poker player can quickly learn a persons tells and from there know if he/she is making a bluff. They do this by looking for signs like the voice changing, eyes, playing with chips, betting speed etc and although you probably don’t know your own tell they do.

How about online poker then, this surely eliminates having tells and reads on someone, or is there ways of knowing what your opponent have playing online? Well, the most common views of how your opponents could interpret your actions and behavior are not that difficult to understand. Here is some info about online poker tells

Fast Check – 75% of the experienced online poker players interprets a Fast Check as sign of a weak hand.

Fast Bets and Raise’s – Same 75% thinks that a fast bet or fast raise indicates of a strong hand.

Slow Check – 72% interprets a slow check as a sign of weakness

Slow Raise – 73% interprets a raise after a longer pause as a sign of strong hand

Another thing is the automatic folds, checks and raise buttons which can speed up the game. Players using these are often considered to be predictable since they follow a certain pattern.

Playing online poker is not about looking in your opponent’s eyes but it’s finding and correctly interpret the actions on the screen. Live poker offers of course more and easier ways to find tells but they do exist in online poker. We strongly recommend focusing on the games and for god sake don’t watch TV or talk in the phone when playing online, you could miss something crucial.
Almost 90% of the online poker rooms has today advanced statistics feature, which allows you to add notes of each player. This is useful and should not be ignored.

TIP: Join a table and look for the various behaviors of the players. When you have learned how your opponents play use that in order to declare your hand being strong/weak and take them down.

Greetings “Pockers”!!

We are experiencing some great summer and with it the flops are hitting, hopefully. As some of our team members are Swedish soccer fans we can only say good luck at the next championship and good luck to England for our English members!!

New poker articles have been added in the articles section. One is Introduction to Seven Card Stud which is only some beginners pointers and hints of the game and another poker article, How to play a flopped middle-pair, which we all know can be tricky and expensive.

Texas Holdem is possibly the most popular form of poker played today, and is fortunately also one of the simplest. This has led to its massive appeal worldwide, and is played everywhere from the smallest of home games to the grandest of casinos. Read the full Introduction to Texas Holdem article

Poker has a curious history, and nobody can be certain where the game originated. Many believe the game was the result of inspiration from a number of sources, including Persian, French, German and English games, though it is fairly certain that the first variations were being played around 1830 in New Orleans. Read more of the History Of Poker article

Starting to play poker should be fun and the important learning process is part of getting yourself experience, which sadly some players forget. The first mistake that is commonly made is the over play of hands. All beginners want to play and believe that playing is betting every round and equate betting with playing. So they decide to play most of the hands that are dealt. This often includes hands such as J 4 unsuited, which will more than often doom the player. Learning patience is crucial to poker. Read the full Novice Player Mistakes (1) article