One of the main parts of mastering poker and playing games like Texas Hold’em to your full potential is understanding poker odds. This consists of being able to calculate your hand odds and the pot odds.

Hand odds are the chance of a particular card or set of cards coming up to make the best hand at the table. Pot odds is the ratio between the amount of money in the pot and how much money you need to put up to call an opponent’s bet.

Hand odds give you a good idea as to whether continuing with a hand is to your advantage; they are the odds you have of making a winning hand. For example if you hold two spades and there are two spades in the flop, the chances of making a flush are 2 to 1, which means that one in every three times you play you will make a flush. Odds of 3 to 1 will give you a winning hand roughly every four chances. The odds are calculated by figuring the number of outs (cards you need to complete your hand) against the number of cards left in play.

Pot odds
Pot odds tell you how many times you will have to play in order to win and break even. If there is £100 in the pot and your call is £10, you need to win 1:11 times to break even.

Calculating the two sets of odds together gives you the percentage chance of winning and an idea of how much of a risk continuing with a certain hand will be.

Poker is not merely a game of chance and there are many different and complex strategies players can employ to tempt opponents to give up their stake in the pot. The various poker strategies employed are designed to make players deviate from their desired style of play and throw them off their game.

Deception is the main tactic used to alter an opponent’s style, either by bluffing with a poor hand or using slow play. In slow play you bet weakly with a strong hand with the hope of hiding your strength from the other players.

Position in relationship to the dealer also dictates play style; the nearer you are to the dealer the stronger your cards need to be in order to control the game. Later positions afford you the time to see what other players are doing.

Raising, unlike calling, forces a response from opponents; this will either increase the pot, scare off weaker hands, or help gain information about the other players’ hands.

‘Loose’ players will bet on any hand and therefore complete more hands; there is no point bluffing them, as they will continue to play anyway.  ‘Tight’ players, on the other hand, are cautious and finish fewer hands; bluffing may work, but they tend to only play strong hands.

Aggressive play also gives you more options to force a mistake from opponents than passive play does. Bluffs and raises are more likely to trip up the opposition.

‘Short stacking’ is a controversial tactic which is mainly found in online poker, where a player will join a table with very few chips before then trying to quickly double their money. Although the tactic is not strictly against any rules, it is hugely unpopular amongst most players, who look to enjoy a friendly, competitive and skilful game of poker. Due to the tactics involved in short stacking, the practice almost exclusively takes place in No Limit Texas Hold’em.

Whereas most players will buy into a ring game with enough big blinds to ensure that they will be able to play multiple hands without necessarily winning, short stackers will only buy in for the minimum amount of a couple of big blinds. They will then fold hand after hand until they are dealt a good starting pair of cards, such as a pocket pair or a strong ace, and then commit all of their chips to the pot. If the short stacker wins the hand, they will usually sign off from the table and take their winnings or continue to try to double up.

Short stacking takes place almost exclusively in online poker rooms for two reasons. Firstly land based poker rooms often have much higher minimum buy-in levels than virtual rooms, and secondly the tactic is so frowned upon players who short stacked in a live game would be removed from the table in most rooms. In order to combat the problem, many leading online poker rooms offer cash tables with high minimum buy-in levels.

Unbelievably a total of 7,319 who entered the WSOP Main Event and all of them, naturally were hoping to be the one to reach the very top. But after eight days of nonstop action, only nine are left to fight it out on the final table, and only one of them will be declared the champion. Still, determining the 2010 champion is still a long way off.

So who are the lucky ones counted as the 2010 November niners, some of them amateurs, some of them pros. On ninth place is Jason Senti, with 8,475,000 chips. In eight spot is Mathew Jarvis who holds 9,625,000, followed by Soi Nguyen who holds 9,800,000. A big gap in chips sees Michael Mizrachi’s stack, which is 16,800,000. Filippo Candio has 19,850,000 at 5thplace. John Racener has 21,100,000. Joseph Cheong, at 3rd place, has 23,700,000. Another significant gap, this time between second and third place, shows John Dolan with a stack of 45,300,000, but at the very top sits Jonathan Duhamel who holds a pretty sizable 55,375,000.

888.com is an online gaming company run by Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd. Cassava Enterprises is licensed by the government of Gibraltar. 888’s stated purpose is to provide quality entertainment to those who enjoy gambling by giving people the opportunity to gamble in a safe, fun, fair, regulated and secure environment.

Players are offered a variety of online casino games, online poker games, online sports betting and online bingo games by 888. Online casino games include classic blackjack, crazy blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, video poker, online classic slots, video slot machines, jackpot 15 Keno, triple card poker and online scratch cards. Players can download software to their personal computers, which simulate a real life casino scenario. Gambling is done in real-time, with the verisimilitude of the gaming experience a key objective.

Other types of access to 888’s online casino games are first time play, which can be done without actual money being placed on bets, and instant access without download. 24/7 support is offered, mostly through a frequently asked questions page.

888.com often runs new as well as established player promotions to attract and retain its customers. Particularly popular and well known promotions include roulette tournaments and video poker tournaments. The jackpots in these tournaments can reach substantial figures, as players can participate from a variety of locations and time zones.

888 sport allows players to bet live on popular sports games such as baseball, boxing, cricket, cycling, darts, football, golf, ice hockey, motor sport, rugby, snooker and tennis.

For beginners and professionals alike, playing virtual poker has tremendous benefits.  Whether you’re learning Omaha or improving your Texas Hold’em game, the unique elements of an online poker room may be just what you’re looking for.

Not only can you practice your gaming skills from the comfort of your own home, and in the comfort of your pyjamas if you so choose, but there’s no need to have a perfect poker face at all times.  This easy atmosphere allows you to focus on your strategy, odds calculation, and other techniques.  Plus, you’ll save on travel time.

Online poker can help to save money as well.  There are no travel costs, no other casino related expenses, or tips to pay the dealer.  With automatic dealing, you will also save time between hands.  Also, a set time limit keeps poker game play moving quickly, so it is possible to play even more hands of Texas Hold’em in one sitting. 

Beyond these obvious benefits, virtual poker also allows you to easily try multiple poker games.  Easily switch from Texas Hold’em to Five Card Stud or tournament play.  The best games are at your fingertips.

If you are a beginner, virtual poker is ideal because some online poker rooms allow free game play while you are learning the basics.  Get your feet wet in such a room and then move on to paid poker play when you have more confidence in your skills.  Lots of practice in these forums will prepare you for face-to-face tournaments.

Video poker is a console game, offered on a machine similar to a slot machine, which offers a game of computerised poker similar to that of the traditional game of five card draw poker. The game entered into the world in the nineteen seventies and while primitive at first, it began to explode in popularity in the nineteen eighties, particularly after the introduction of draw poker in 1979, at which time it became a regular fixture in the majority of casinos. The appeal of video poker has not diminished with time; the game is now a major feature of almost all casinos and is very popular, especially with inexperienced players who may be overwhelmed and intimidated by the “real” poker tables.

Players of the game must insert money into the machine, and then choose how much of the cash they have inserted they wish to bet on the first hand. The machine then gives the player electronic ‘cards’, which they are allowed to then change in an attempt to gain a better ranking hand. If the eventual resulting hand is a winning ranking (straight flush, four of a kind, etc) then the machine will pay out money based on both the size of the bet and the class of the hand. Gaming authorities require that the video poker machines must be set to provide a random set of ‘cards’ during the game, thus allowing the user a reasonable chance of being given a winning hand.

Omaha poker is similar to Texas Hold’em poker in that it is a game played with community cards. There are differences however, the major one being that nine cards are used allowing for higher hands.

Like all versions of poker there are variations within Omaha poker. These are called Omaha High and Omaha Hi/Lo Split. Either way, the game uses structured betting in that there is a lower and higher betting minimum such as £2 / £4. This means that in the first two rounds of betting the minimum bet is £2; in later rounds the minimum must be £4.

As in Texas Hold’em two blind bets start the game with the smallest bet being half the required minimum. So, for a £2 / £4 betting minimum mentioned above the small blind is just £1. The big blind is then placed.

Once the blinds have been placed, the button deals the cards, giving each player four cards, face down, starting with the small blind player and ending with the dealer, rotating clockwise.

Betting now begins with calling, raising or folding as the case may be, the minimum bet being £2. The dealer then flops, adding three communal cards.

Betting resumes using the minimum required bet.

After this round, the button adds the turn card to the communal cards and another betting round begins. However, this time the higher minimum required bet is used. In the £2 / £4 example this would be £4.

Once this round is finished the dealer places the river card face up and a final betting round starts. This is followed by the showdown.

One of the hardest skills to pick up in poker is one which, on the surface, should be considered a simple one – dealing with defeat. Although most styles of online poker, especially No Limit Texas Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha, are generally considered by their supporters to be games of skill rather than luck, there is still a large amount of luck involved in the game.

Sometimes, players get unlucky and end up on the losing end of a hand which they thought they had a sure chance of winning. This can be an incredibly frustrating experience; however one of the keys of being a well balanced, well liked and successful poker player is being able to handle these defeats.

If a player can’t accept a disappointing loss and decides to lash out verbally, the two phrases that they are likely to use are ‘fish’ and ‘donk’. The term ‘fish’ is used to imply that the winning player went fishing for their winning cards and that, if they had played the hand in a way which the loser deemed correct, they should have folded earlier on in proceedings. If a player calls a competitor a ‘donk’ then they are simply using an abbreviation to compare the play of their adversary to that of a donkey.

If a player claims that they were ‘bad beat’, then they often have a good reason to feel aggrieved. A ‘bad beat’ refers to an instance where a player with high odds of winning a hand ends up losing.

The act of placing the first bet by a player in any round of online poker is called the ‘opening’. There are a number of variations used depending on what house rules are being used. It is always best to check these rules beforehand.

For example, the house rule may state that when placing an opening bet a certain number or a minimum number of chips should be placed in the pot.  Similarly, the opening bet may be made by the person holding a particular card or cards, such as lowest or highest.

Once a bet is placed in the pot, each player in turn assesses his situation and makes a decision as to how he wants to play the game – in short how much he wants to bet. If he calls, this should be the same amount previously bet by the person next to him. For example, if the person on a player’s right puts in £10, he could call it by putting in £10 himself.

Alternatively, a player may decide to raise the stakes and place in more than the previous bet. For example, player first calls a bet of £10 and places another £10 in the pot. The next player would say raise and place a further £10 into the pot. This means the player has now bet £20. This process is then repeated around the table.

It is also possible for a player not to make a bet. This is called a check.