There are a number of things that a player sitting down at a table for a session of poker can do to enamour themselves better to their competitors. The first is to make sure that they are clean before the sit down – poker halls can often be tense, sweaty and hot environments and it immediately makes a player more popular if they had a shower before heading to the venue. Keeping a can of deodorant to hand, just in case it is needed, is also often appreciated. Secondly, players sitting down for a game of poker should generally try not to antagonise their fellow competitors as a sense of good fun always leads to a more enjoyable game.  It is also considered very bad form to react badly to losing a hand, no matter how unlucky the loss may have been.

While sat at a table, players should ensure that their chips and cards are always in view. Moving cards behind a chip stack, which in some poker rooms is viewed as an all-in move, can make other players not realise that a player is still live. Chip stacks too should be kept in clear piles with high value chips in easy view, as knowing a competitors chip count affects how a player bets.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The biggest difference is the subtle but important change in competitive emphasis that occurs when switching between live and online play. While playing poker via the internet, the game is more reliant on mathematical analysis and players’ ability to decipher their opponents playing style and preferred hands. While playing live, though, there are many more factors which players need to take into account, including the body language of their opponents.

Because of this, poker players playing the game live have to take into account the mathematical aspects of the game while still concentrating on reading their opponents. Some online players, though, try to offset this difference by using the chat boxes and time banks, where they can request extra time to make decisions, in virtual poker rooms to influence their opponents.

Players who predominately play poker online also tend to be more aggressive in both their style of play and table demeanour than those who mainly play poker live. Trademarks of players who learned the game online often include frequent bluffs and aggressive betting patterns.

Players who predominately play online are also generally better at multi-tabling, where they will be playing on multiple virtual poker tables simultaneously. Some highly skilled online players have been known to play in excess of 16 tables at a time.

Action Card – Used in Texas Hold’em and other community card games. This refers to a card which improves betting action because it helps two or more players.

All In – Betting all your chips in a hand.

Bank or banker – The person responsible for distributing the chips, keeping track of the buy-ins, and paying winners at the end of the game.

Bankroll – This has three definitions: money that a player has to wager; a chip or money rich player, or to fund someone’s participation in a game.

Betting Structure – Complete set of rules regarding forced bets, limits, raise caps, and so on for a particular game.

Bully – A player who continually raises to force a weaker player to play less cautiously.

Buy-in – The minimum amount of chips that must be bought in order to play.

Cap – A limit on the number raises allowed in a betting round.

Cap Game – Similar to cap but it describes a no-limit or pot limit game with a cap on the amount that a player can bet during the course of a hand.

Check – When a poker player bets nothing.

Chip Leader – The player currently with the most chips in a game.

Connectors – Two or more cards of consecutive rank.

Downcard – A card dealt face down.

Exposed Card – A card whose face has been deliberately or accidentally revealed to players normally not entitled to that information during the play of the game.