Poker is a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The term “EV” will undoubtedly be used throughout this article and will be seen in two ways. A player can have +EV, that is positive Expected Value or – EV, which is negative Expected Value. Poker isn’t gambling and the next explains why.
Most gambling games have a poor EV for you, and a positive EV (5.49% in this instance) for the casino. In the short run you can win, but in the long term, if you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always end up winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these types of gambling games come in favor of the house. Poker pits you against other players rather than the house. In a full ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the goal is to make the very best EV decisions against the many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.
A simple example would be in the event that you were dealt KK before the flop came (preflop), which everyone knows is an effective hand preflop. This hand includes a high possiblity to win against all the hands preflop. In the event that you played and raised “all in” with this particular hand against a player who played and called every all in, you’ll have a huge advantage as you’ll be a favorite every time, making it a +EV decision. This is an exaggerated example and playing one hand wouldn’t normally be the smartest idea. What you will do is play say the most notable 20% of hands because against someone who plays maybe 70% of their hands, you again, will undoubtedly be making a +EV decision each time you play with him. It’s likely that your starting hands will have a lot higher probability to win. This is just scraping the surface, and there is an EV mounted on every decision and every situation. Many internet poker sites provide starting hand charts for beginners to use, which would be the simplest way to improve your EV.
In addition, there’s always variance and in the short term weaker players could easily get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them to come back and keep playing. In the long term, a good player who makes +EV decisions will always end up a winner. This is the reason poker is not gambling but a game of skill and finding out how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.
Could it be safe to play internet poker?
Absolutely, some sites have over 50,000 people playing at one time. poker88 like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on it and the web and are even listed on the currency markets. They permit you to play poker online for free or real cash. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often provide the best customer service. Maintaining your password secure can be your responsibility and if you do this, your money will be safe. Online poker sites haven’t any incentive to cheat when dealing hands given that they want to be extremely fair so you continue to play, that allows them to earn their income in the form of “rake.” This can be a very small percent of the pot (usually significantly less than 1%). In poker, you’re playing against the other players, and not the home.
Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you have never heard of it, they don’t advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing regularly – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, most of the major poker sites have become safe and reputable.
What are the best online poker rooms?
You can find three major sites for playing online poker. Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Party Poker have plenty of traffic, play money tables, plenty of freeroll tournaments and have excellent customer support. If you’re a beginner you need to play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you begin. Other sites like Party Poker call you up after you sign up and require some type of id verification to activate your account. Some people may like this extra security, and will certainly go that route. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars do not require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and well known.
Many sites state “Deposit and obtain another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the website. Some sites offer you a really small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that is rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will provide you with the full $600. This is to ensure depositing players may also be active. With online poker sites such as for example Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved rapidly.
Online sites will publish poker bonus codes which must be entered upon account creation. After that, the amount you earn depends upon the time you spend playing and the stakes you play at. Whenever a player reaches 400NL limit, this means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and also have a good percent of wins, they are able to make up to 5K a month. This is of course if you treat playing like a job and dedicate several hours each day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that is just a click away, is what draws so many people to online poker.