Ability to Read Opponents’ Behaviour

There are numerous useful and effective strategies to make a poker tournament successful but it is necessary to know how to use them at the right time and in the good situations. If you want to get ready for a poker tournament, in this article, you will go to be able to clarify some points in order to elaborate a good plan.

You have to know above all that poker is a game of situation. To be a good player is to know how to determine which weapon you need to overcome your opponent in every situation happening. Often, articles which think giving advice about the good strategies to adopt in poker game or the books making reference in tournaments of poker speak about the capacity to read opponents’ physical signs and behaviour as a redoubtable weapon. Nevertheless, it is not always the case. Remember that due to relying on the readings of the opponent’s hands frequently, it becomes a very fast custom in you and can even force you to take bad decisions.

If for example, you manage to gain several shots against a player by thinking that it is thanks to your good reading of him, if you see the player curling up his lips and moving them from the right to the left, you will be tempted to read this gesture as a sign of weakness. You raise by thinking that he is going to fold quickly. It’s only after seeing him sending a massive raising at first with most of his chips in the pot (thing that you when you found a good three of a kind) then you perceive that this time, he found a better hand.

Judging your opponent by the expression of his face, by his gestures and his behaviours, is enough to know his hands if you know well your opponent or if you had the opportunity to play with him often.

Choosing Coin Flip or Not

With the progression of a poker game, after raising and re-raising more and more the pot, there are moments when we have to choose to continue or not the game by betting on them only on "coin flips", these shots which we have to toss up. Even if everybody tries to avoid this dilemma, this delicate choice often happens in a poker game leading sometimes to involvement stack in stake. But even if coin flips is an inescapable stage in poker and what everybody cannot gain each time, the fact that great players of poker often achieve on the top of classification of poker tournaments can be explained thus by other matter: a style of poker game dictated by the position and the control of the pot. Indeed, the word "edge", the advantage of a big player against the others is often advanced by especially their experience.

Purely mathematical approach which dictates the fact of choosing coin flips according to a particular hand is indeed banished from big players’ vocabulary, reading of the situations instead of the preflop and post-flop is more important for them. Indeed, mathematical approach does not take into account the dynamics of the tournament.

In practice, theory of great authors as David Slansky or Dan Harrington allows to wander from these choices dictated by coin flips. According to them, "the chips I lose have more value than the chips I gain". If the mathematical arguments give you a chance by 2 to gain a shot where you have already bet 10,000 in the pot, great players do not see it like this. Adding 50,000 to your stack would not really change the dynamics of the game. On the other hand, loosing 50,000 would change absolutely everything. Indeed, if you try to increase your pot into 150,000 by tempting coin flips, you can very well fall again in 50,000. Indeed, you depend strictly on chance. At a moment of the poker tournament, your survival depends on a decision heads or tails, but a talented player owes maintain his advantage and leave aside this desire to gain.

The initial hands in Razz

Mastering well Razz and knowing the initial hands which can be led up to the end or not is essential in this variant. As for Seven-Card Stud, but the only one difference is that the highest hand wins in this variant, the third and the fourth cards are the decisive points in Razz. The third street is an essential indication determining your first decision which can be either to go to play the hand, that is to fold and to leave your ante. Online poker game is also enough to understand and win money easily.

Given that ante theft is the main objective of Razz, the good situations which allow achieving it are there essential to know. Even if you have a low card, if no player spoke after you in spite of your low card face-up, then you should steal antes especially if you have a good face down card. But such situation should not however be repeated too often. Aggressiveness at the beginning of shots could also awaken players’ suspicion in case of disposition of such card what can entail re-raise on behalf of those who have better hands. In case you have the best hand in the game, your theft of ante establishes a value bet.

In Razz, the board which is presented against your opponent must be used also at most, every time you have the opportunity to frighten your opponent. In case if nobody entered the shot and in case it is your turn to speak, you can adopt diverse strategies as the case allow. Instead of stealing antes every time, entering the set with three low cards height 8 is already rather ideal. By receiving better cards in poker game, it is also necessary to wonder how many available cards, not yet dealt to my opponents could I improve my hand? How many cards could give a pair onto my board? These cards duplicated in your opponents’ hands give a rather global outline of the strength of your hands.

The strategy of Razz

Razz a form of stud poker with seven cards played in low ace to five is a variant of poker rarely played either online or in gaming rooms but which remains however interesting. Moreover, players who are found of this game in those places always exist. In big tournaments, Razz is often proposed within the framework of mixed games, especially the H.O.R.S.E. With fewer players participating in this variant of poker in big tournaments of world championship, pretending a title in this variant thus offer greater chances.

As basic principle, the lower hand or the bring-in is made by the player having the highest card. During the second betting round, it is the turn of the lowest hand to speak at first. In this variant, colours and flushes do not count as high hands. The lowest card is the Ace and the highest is the King and the best hand is formed by the Wheel which is A, 2,3,4,5.

With regard to Texas Hold' Em, Razz is easier to play, making the application of theoretical concepts of poker in Razz more well-to-do than in other variants of poker as Seven-Card Stud or Hold' em.

Thanks to your opponent’s face-up cards, to determine the best hand is almost possible, thus a good follow-up of these cards is always necessary. A player has thus to play his best poker at any time, as soon as he has a game. Facing specialists of this game, developing a real edge against them is rather difficult. On the other hand, in front of two bad players or “fish”, take an easy gain by avoiding the kind of variance and the level of risk as in Hold'em is possible. In Razz, raising when you are outside position or trying to take the control of the game with marginal hands or intimidating the tightest players of the table during a whole session, are just as much of tactics where the rate of success is close to zero in Razz.

Straight Flush, Full House and Four of a Kind

The Royal Flush is as any flush, that is a combination of five cards of the same colour but this time beginning with one Ace, followed at once by King, then a Queen, a Jack and one Ten. It is the highest ranking standard poker hand because it is constitute by King that’s why its name. Its combination is very difficult to establish. If the flush begins with one Ace and followed by 2, then 3, 4 and 5, this one is called "white flush" or “Quinte Blanche” in french. It is the weakest value in flush where from its name. And if, for example, the flush consists of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of club; we call it flush to 9.

A player has in hand a full house when he possesses at the same time a “Three of a kind” and a “Pair”. The Three of a kind is a combination of three cards of the same rank, three 8 form a Three of a Kind of eight for example; the card of stronger value determines the strongest Three of a Kind. A Pair is always formed by two cards of the same rank, two 8 form a Pair of eight for example; the card of stronger value determines the strongest Pair. Generally, a full house hand intervenes after improvement of a “Double Pair”, or a “Simple Pair” if we demand to exchange three cards, or of a Three of a Kind served automatically if we demand two cards. It is the good combination which you should not neglect.

We obtain a “Four of a Kind” or “Quads” when we have in hand four cards of identical rank accompanied by any other card. For example, we have a combination of four Jack accompanied of a 9 of Diamond; in that case we call it a Quad of Jacks. If the poker game player has from the first dealing a Four of a Kind straight draw, it is advised to him to exchange one card in order to ameliorate his hand.

The Four of a Kind or the Quads is an important and a major combination. At the first drawing, it can appear rarely, only at 10% of all cases.

How to Adopt a Winning Strategy Short Stack in a Cash Game

In front of various factors which influence gains and losses in Texas Hold'em, considering well the value of your stakes in a tournament of cash game is important. In long term, the various losses and gains which you realize will indeed have consequences on your behaviour. According to observations made, to play "short stack”, that is to bet a lower buy-in than the authorized entails, make fewer decisions to take. Therefore, you stop often in preflop and flop, and much more rarely on turn or on river. On the other hand, for players who are used to bet high stacks, 100xBB (Big blinds) for example, as soon as they have fewer chips, even in front of other players who arrange fewer chips than themselves, they feel at once ill at ease.

The advantage of playing short stack (10xBB or 20xBB) is to have only a single decision to make, the "push / fold". Therefore, either you bet or you push, it does not change anything. But such strategy does not mean either pushing your stack in any hand. In the book "No Limit Hold'em" written by David Sklansky, a calculation of the number of the proportional stack in every hand is proposed by the author.

By opting for a short stack game, it is also necessary for you to adapt your play. On a table of six players, you have to play aggressive, entailing a "light" poker game on behalf of your opponents assuring you of this fact payment more numerous. Each time a player raises, you have to tighten even more your game. And in front of other players making small blinds, you can send or pay even if your hand is limited enough.

If you want to adapt yourself to short stacks, you have to learn a real habit. It is necessary for you to know how to raise at any situation. In front of a player who raises in 3x or 4xBB, you should give up it in most of cases. A big raise means a big pot at the end; on the other hand, you will not win often more than blinds. Therefore, it is essential to consider well all these factors in order to get a positive balance at the end.

Usual Terms in Poker

Knowing technical terms used often is really important in poker. This is one of the first rules to become a good poker player. These are some key terms that you have to remember and which are usually used in every sets or poker tournaments:

- To fold: allows player to put cards in the box and to not pursue the game by leaving at the same occasion chips that he invested at the beginning, in order to save more money.
- Showdown : which is the comparison of the seven cards of players
- Ante: It is the first sum that each player has to put on the table. We talk about initial stake in Stud poker. But, in Texas Hold’em and Omaha, the blind is used. The difference is that Ante doesn’t have the value of a bet in poker.
- Blind: It is a forced bet required in certain variants of poker. There are two blinds, the small and the big one. At the beginning, player who is at the left of the dealer pay this forced bet in Hold’em and in Omaha. Moreover, big blind is made by player having seat at the left of the player making blind. Blinds are rotated clockwise turn by turn and every player has to make a forced bet during the set.
- Bluff: It is a strategy which allows player to cheat his opponents by doing paradoxical bets more than his cards allow him to do.
- Buy-in: It is the minimal sum required to participate in a game table. The buy-in depends on each set. If the value of the bet-in is high, then gains are important.
- Flop: is the three first cards face up of the community cards on the board dealt at the same time in Texas Hold'em.

Hands Which can Bring the Most

With the combination and the probability of cards in poker which are more or less known, hands can return rather often. Draw of certain combinations can indeed appear more often than others. If a player is used to recognize these hands or trained for their identification, they have a bigger chance to win. On the other hand, the failure of distinguishing these classifications can also bring players to invest thoroughly in some hands which are not nevertheless worth.

- The Top pair/top kicker: it is the maximum pair of the board with the kicker as high as possible. It’s also known under the abbreviation "TPTK". Even though this hand is rather interesting, it is moreover necessary to be watchful when you have it. In case the pot increases and in case all the players are active, better hands than the TPTK can be in opponents’ hands. To know the custom of every player is important too. Indeed, passive players can raise only by having nuts in hands while the most aggressive players make it with a check-raise and draw.

- Two pairs: two pairs also establish a very good game in poker. Even in flop, this kind of hand is completely interesting because it beats a top pair. In micro-limits, players who hold little lower cards widely prefer to fold.

- Three of a kind: such hand is completely competitive especially if it is about a Three of a kind "Sets" that is a Three of a kind with a pair served in hand. If it is a pair of 2 that accompanies it, the only arrival of a set to the flop makes it interesting. But in front of the weakness of the probability that it arrives, raise preflop which has to accompany it shouldn’t exceed 5% to 10 % of your stack.

- AA and KK: with this hand, you are the favourite at 80 %. You should not thus sub-play it but to try to finish in a pot "multi -way". In every raise preflop, it is thus necessary to re-raise at any time.

Micro-Limit Sets: How to Begin Well in The Set With small stakes

The micro-limit sets, poker games up to $10 of buy-in, are mostly played by novice players who begin their entrance onto online poker. Some good players can be rarely observed there, in case if they had lost their bankroll. The behaviour of these novices players present in these sets are rather easy to get down: they like seeing flops, they often pay and rarely raises and they maintain the biggest part of their concentration on their cards but not in the rounds. But other players can also play in a very aggressive way and raise with all the hands.

Given that aiming at big pot and by losing only small ones are the main objective in poker, the flop is often decisive in a process of reflection. It is indeed necessary to decide at this precise moment if you will go to pay or not an opponent’s stake with a hand more or less doubtful. If you call, you will often have to pay twice furthermore, making decisions which cost too much in the turn and in the river. So, given that many of other situations can happen to you, it is not recommended to involve you in situations if small gains are concerned. In this way, folding, even though you consider that your opponent maybe bluffs, will be a more profitable decision in the long term during these micro-limit sets.

On the other hand, players in micro-limits also tend to enter the poker game by making "limps" preflop that is by making do with paying big blind to allow them seeing at once three cards. To avoid that many players can arrive with you at the flop, four or five players (called also "multi-way" pot), you always have to raise as soon as you do an action. More and more players will fold with this strategy. Indeed, with 3-4 opponents in the flop, there will be more chances than one of them finds a good game in the flop.

Doyle Brunson: A basketball champion turned into a legend of poker

If it is necessary to choose one of the biggest names of poker players in the world, Doyle Brunson nicknamed “Texas Dolly” is unquestionably a choice which would make unanimity. Born in Texas in 1933, Doyle plays poker for more than 50 years. Twice world champion in 1976 and 1977, 10 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, he continues to swipe tournaments and to win cash games. His route path which is rather particular made him a real legend and his style of game still continues to impress all biggest poker players.
When he was young, Doyle Brunson already launched into a career of professional basketball player before a wound to his knee definitively puts an end to it. He tried then to move into a "normal” jobs as salesmen of agricultural machines before realizing that poker could bring him much more money. The legend tells that during his working hours by waiting for customers, he played poker and won one month of salary in some hours only. He decided then to leave his job and participated in tournaments through all States of the country to support his family, with other legends of poker as Amarillo Slim who became his fellow traveller. Doyle Brunson also likes betting, the most famous is the one he had done with his friend that he would manage to lose 50 kilos. He won this bet of million dollars.
Doyle Brunson wrote a book entitled “System High-octane gasoline” dedicated to poker published in 1979. The work which unveils some secrets of his style of game is recognized as the Bible of poker. A new version entitled "Great system II" was published in 2004. But in spite of his numerous articles and the craftiness which they give in his book, Doyle’s style of game on table of still continues surprising his opponents.

Seven Card Stud: Seven individual cards for each player

Like most of poker games, Seven Card Stud is played around a table with eight players at most. Seven hole cards among which two face-down cards, four face-up cards and the final card (the river) face-down distinguish this variant of poker played on most of online poker websites and in gaming room. An ante, a compulsory stake, is paid before the first three cards, two face down ' hole cards ' and a face-up card or ' door card ' for each participant are dealt. This last card indicates the one who has to launch the stake. Indeed, the one who receives the lowest face-up card has to begin the betting by starting from the ' bring-in ' with an amount equivalent with at least the half of the lowest limit. This round is so announced by the dealer saying "the Low Card Must Bet ". For the following rounds, after each new face-up card is dealt, it will always be the player having the highest hand who will open the betting.

The betting rounds can so continue. The dealer distributes then a second face-up card to all players still in game before a new betting round, then, a third face-up card is dealt , followed by another betting round. The latest card (the river) is dealt face down and opens the way to the latest betting round which becomes more exciting in poker games. But in the case there are not enough cards to be dealt, a card from the clog will be used as a common card for the river. Time for showdown, each player has to form a hand with five cards among the seven cards at his disposal. It will be the one who has the highest hand who will be the winner.

WSOP: 40 years of history in the poker world

The World Series of poker (WSOP) during its creation in 1969 was only a kind of marathon of poker dominated by two big players, Nicholas “Nick the Greek" Dandolos and Johnny Moss. It was organized by Benny Binion with two millions of dollars of stake during this launch. Moss was the winner after five months during which 39 tournaments succeeded one after the other. After this first successful attempt, Binion decided to structure better the organization of the WSOP and transforms the event in a more and more popular tournament with the help of media. Then the participation in the WSOP became the obliged passage to enter the closed circle of biggest players of poker in the world. Legendaries players such as Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan or Phil Helmuth, with 10 titles each, are some of those who succeeded their examination in the WSOP.

The WSOP didn’t stop winning fame during the 70s. In 1971, they were tournaments “freeze out” won by Jhonny Moss, then, by Thomas “Amarillo Slim Preston” in 1972. It reached the summit of its popularity in 1980 when qualifications by satellite tournaments started. The WSOP allowed average players to have an access in qualifications at a lower cost. It is the case of Chris Moneymaker, simple amateur player who became famous when he won 2,500,000 US dollars in 2003. After Chris Moneymaker, the WSOP became definitively a wonderful industry.

The 40th WSOP in 2009 marks a particular event in the history of poker. 57 tournaments were in the program allowing the best players of poker of the world to conquer the championship and a bracelet, the tournament Champions Invitational, the charitable tournament Ante up for Africa. The WSOP definitively became an annual meeting for all the community of poker in the world.

Omaha: The poker variant the closest to Texas Hold'Em

In general, enthusiasts of poker and those who are keen on gaming tables are fond of playing Texas Hold' Em, the most played variant of poker. The easy reading of his opponent’s game thanks to the existence of a lot of common cards are among its advantages because it reduces so the probability of the availability of cards in the hands of another player. Similar to Hold'Em, Omaha is different, simply because of 5 common cards face-up on the board and the distribution of 4 private or hole cards. On online games portals and in big poker tournaments worldwide, Omaha is also a game well played. But a different strategy is necessary for this game.

Four hole cards are distributed at first to every poker layer before the Flop, the first three community cards. After that, the first betting round can begin immediately. Then, the player who distributes (or the donor) opens the flop. The second betting round can then continue if players are still in the round. Then, the turn or fourth street is turned over before the 3rd betting round starts. The person who distributes card shows the River before the fourth and the last betting round closes the set and before the final showdown. The series of card showed by every player should be formed by 2 cards of his hand and by 3 cards of the board.

In spite of its similitude with Hold' Em, the strategy to play Omaha is a little bit different. In Omaha High, it is necessary to form more powerful high hand than in Texas Hold'Em. At all time, it is a question of forming the strongest hand possible, a double pair or a weak flush having a value rather average. The intermediate combinations will be beaten thus easily. In Omaha, it is then necessary to select scrupulously the hand at the beginning, to make a color (2 cards of the same color with one Ace or King), a full (a pair), a suite (strong cards which follow each other). 3 identical cards are to be avoid or 4 different colors. In Omaha High/Low, the strongest hands and the weakest hands can be simultaneously played.

The beginning of EPT tournaments

It is surprising to know that the place which gave birth to the pinhole was the place where takes place the biggest tournament of poker, European Poker Tour (EPT). The idea was launched in 1997 by an English TV station and spread beyond the Atlantic Ocean and became a major event of poker, as Poker Millions, World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. The idea was arranged for European criteria by the English production and was animated and commented by the winner of WSOP, John Duthie of the TV station Sunrise and Vin in Europe. Duthie and his team of production set up a program similar to the World Poker Tour, with some differences.

History
The EPT was launched in 2004 as a direct competitor to the WPT. In order to entice numerous participants to this game, prizes were the half of those proposed by WPT. At present, the Tour goes to 10 countries per season. These countries include Denmark, Spain, England, Australia, Ireland, Czech Republic, the Bahamas, Germany, Poland, and Monaco.
Differences between EPT and WPT
Some points distinguish these two big tournaments of poker which invite thousands of players, every year.

1). The EPT takes place in diverse countries of Europe, while the WPT is played around the world and mainly in the United States, apart from a stage of the tournament
2). This difference of geographical zone makes the numbers of stars present in the event varying. The biggest players of the United States appear in the EPT tournament, except the famous Phil Ivey. In a general way, the American players are always beaten by players native to other countries. Then: what country does play poker the better?
3). The EPT final table is played by eight players, while that of the WTP with six.

The best strategies to play poker

Advices and tactics in poker

Manage to master one of poker games is an objective at the same time funny and a real challenge. The base of a sure strategy of poker includes numerous concepts which you have to combine to become a regularly winner. The following concepts are to be remembered.
• Use tight style
• Play with aggressive way
• Playing at random
• Take advantage of your opponents’ mistakes

Keep these concepts in your mind during your progress in poker. These concepts also are to be associated with several basic rules, which don’t have any true correlation with the game but allows all the same getting ready well:
- You have to decide if you above all wish to play for the pleasure or to win. Reaching a level of game which allows to win regularly requires at the same time, time and efforts
- Make the best decisions and results will come after.
- Even the best players of poker in the world lose. Never think: you will win at every time. Your objective has to be to play as best you can do and show the best game possible each time.

Mathematics of poker
Poker is a mathematical game the information of which is incomplete. In a very basic way, a winning poker starts with the choice of the first hands to be played. If you enter the pot with the best hand more often than your opponents, then you will win more often than your opponents.

Be aware of Tilt
In the player’s strategy of winning poker, it is necessary to master another essential aspect of the game, to avoid the tilt. Your opponents will use your feelings against you, but only if you let them do. The tilt and the lost of control can happen to everybody and sometimes, the only remedy is to make a break in the game. The game will always be there in after ten minutes.

Richard Marcus: The biggest cheater in poker

During a quarter of century, certain Richard Marcus used ruse to win a fortune in all casinos of the world. With his doubtful talents, Marcus became a legend and by it, he became famous all around the world - or maybe rather disreputable... Indeed, Richard Marcus was an excellent player before beginning a cheater. Convinced by a man named Classon, this last one made him an offer and became the professor, the leader, the mentor and almost as the father for Marcus. Classon taught Marcus all the possibilities on the cheating in casinos. So in a bar of striptease Marcus gave by bluffing the name of the stripper who sat on his knees. The bluff of Savannah was created. And that allowed him during his career to steal 5 millions dollars.

Savannah aims at putting three red 5-dollar chips in a grindstone on the table of roulette. The purpose of this cheating is obviously that the croupier does not see the brown chips under the red chips - and the croupier does not see them because of the small movement between chips. The cheating led Marcus far off. Several casinos in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, London and Monte Carlo paid their parts to the profits of Marcus. Casinos are aware of the fact that when there are poker games, there are also cheaters. Thus they spend big amounts in the installation of systems against cheating. There are two systems:

- Identifying the cheaters by a photo
- Installing a mechanism in the chips which gives signal to the croupier what is the number of chips bet by every player and the value of chips.

Playing in multi-tables: A strategy to be done step by step

One of the advantages of online poker, and which differentiates it of poker live is the possibility of being able to play on several tables simultaneously. Thanks to this option, adepts in online poker find sometimes tables a little boring. By playing in multi-tables, the possibility of increasing your gains with the same duration of attendance in front of your PC, because multiplied by the number of tables, is also a reality. Depending to the level of every player in online poker, playing up to 6 tables or more at the same time can be done without problem. However, to choose to play on a large number of tables at the same time requires a good self-control because you are hurt with regard to your opponents. Indeed, you won’t have enough time to analyze each hand and you will be less concentrated on the game than your opponents. Thus, it might be more profitable to play fewer tables, but you can control each hand. In this way you can improve your play at poker and you can win easily.

A well arranged environment, which may not be perturbed all the day long, is needed. Instantaneous messages like Skype or MSN must be deactivated in order to have a total concentration. Then, your computer has to have a rather wide screen (19 inch at least) with a high resolution of image to perceive well every table. The perfect control of the various features of the software of game on which you play is also essential to collect all the information on your opponents and their styles of game. Then, it is necessary to re-size tables on your screen, according to their number for you to be indeed able to discern cards, amounts of the stakes and stacks. Other options must be deactivated.

As regards the strategy of game, it is necessary to increase step by step the number of opened tables. It is also necessary to play on every table your best poker. A break after two or three hours of set is advised for you to be able to strengthen yourself and get back your concentration.

Techniques to Bluff at poker

To bluff is an important element in poker: a good player who never bluffs will win less than a good player who often bluffs. It consists in making your opponents folding when they have better hand than you. There are many kinds of bluff in poker:

- Pure Bluff: when you bluff with an extremely weak hand and without possibility of considerable improvement.
- Semi-Bluff: when you raise with a worthless hand but with a strong potential of improvement.

How to bluff?
The first error to be avoided is to bluff too often. Do not always bluff the same players, and do not try to fight for small unimportant pots: take advantage of it to persuade your opponents that you are a lock by checking / folding, your future bluffs on big pots will be more credible.
Second thing, be exactly as if you had a better hand. Do not forget that your opponents always keep an eye on you, if they notice an unusual action, they could indeed pay you with an average game: we call it a "Nice call".

Some basic principles too are to be kept in mind: in the flop, the total bluff is misadvised because if after you raise and a player “calls”, the bluff is certainly lost. On the other hand, the pure bluff is more recommended than the semi-bluff at river. To succeed your bluff, errors which risk revealing your strategy are to be avoided as:

1) to bluff too often
2) to bluff players who call all the time for anything
3) to bluff more than 3 players
4) to bluff when the pot is not worth
5) to continue to bluff against the same person while he already get you once
6) to bluff when we feel that the opponent has a strong hand.

To get ready for a first big poker tournament

To be able to participate in an international poker tournament is a thing but winning is another one. When stake and pressure are there so enormous, knowledge of the techniques of game is not anymore enough for you to win. Theories are often already established but a single base is to be remembered: resist as long as possible. Big international tournaments are played during several days, it is necessary to be thus ready mentally and physically to claim realizing the exploit. International tournaments are appointments where player has to be patient. It is necessary to know how to be the hunter which is waiting for its prey rather than the game which undergoes pursues. First actions are extremely important; they will be decisive for all the result of your tournament. You have to do your best there in order to not make errors on the first played hands.

It is necessary to be selective and not to hesitate to raise when your hand allows you. Do not forget that the table where you play at a beginning of a poker tournament will be the one where we shall spend a lot of time before shifting to another one. It will include the maximal number of players, what increases the height of "point". Explanation: an Ace in a table with five players will have a certain value, but it will not cost much in front of 4 committed players.
Winning the pot without showdown would be a proof of the quality of your play. The beginning of a tournament is very long and only few players will take mindless risks, so take advantage of it. Winning the first exchanges to evolve in good conditions is an obligation. Whatever is the size of game, you should not lose sight of this psychological factor. The advance taken in the beginning of a tournament gives serenity and self-confidence.

The origin of video poker

Video poker is a game of casino which is played on a mechanism similar to that of slot machine. The first Video poker was introduced on the market in 1970, when the ancestors of desktop computers having closer forms to those of the current models of the year 90s also made their apparition in the world of electronic. Video poker became more known when "Si Redd’s Coin Machines" which developed in International Game Technology, introduced Draw Poker in 1979. Throughout 1980s, video poker became more and more popular in casinos. Absence of direct opponents around a table encouraged more and more players to play with this machine. Today, video poker occupies a special place in casinos of the whole world, particularly in Las Vegas because a similar fun than playing in a poker table can be get.

Generally speaking, video poker is a mixture of poker and a gambling machine, the game is accessible to everybody. The game begins by placing a bet or money in the machine, and then by pressing on a button "Deal" to read cards. The player has then the opportunity to keep or discard one or some of his cards in exchange of a new card drawn from the same virtual deck machine. After the edition, the machine estimates the hand and offers a payment if the hand corresponds to one of the shown winning hands. On a usual machine of video poker, payments begin with a hand minimum of a pair of J. The machine calculates payments by basing itself partially on the frequency of hands and on the rate of payment which the operator chooses to offer. Some machines offer jackpot by which the amount can increase for the royal flush. It is the technique which incites the player to bet more.

Poker: The most popular card game in the world

The attendance numbers of big poker live tournaments, which still increase year by year, continue confirming the popularity of online poker games. This game of strategy using 52 cards alternated by distribution of cards and by tours of bids where the best players can always lead remains indeed very different from other gambles which depend on chance. Controlling the game, having the capacity to read in his opponents’ emotion and the risk that the player takes according to the cards at his disposal, indeed make that online poker requires a real particular capacity. In several countries, poker is so classified in sports category.
Poker Games has a main objective to form the best 5 cards and player had to hide its emotion to his opponent. At the beginning, each player has to invest at first a sum of departure before being able to play a hand. It is only according to the various variants of poker, Texas Hold' Em No Limit, Omaha Hi Lo, Seven Card Stud… that the number of individual cards and the cards to be discovered are different. Also, it is as well according to these variant of poker that the high hand or the low hand wins.

The system of bid at poker game, the way of betting chips and the way of moving during the set, are one of the key points of online poker. Players around a table have the right to outbid alternately according to the sense of the needle of a watch. Each player has the right to call and to stay in the game, to raise by betting a higher amount or to fold if he does not want to call anymore the bids and to abandon. When the tour of bid ends and when there are still players who are not still folded, the remaining players pass in the showdown. And the pot accumulated since the beginning of the hand returns to the player who has formed the best 5 cards

Draw poker: Poker played with individual cards only

The board and the common cards face-up in the center of the table do not exist necessarily in other variants of poker. Variants called « draw poker » can be played in some sets; this variant was moreover the most played in France and in Europe before. In this variety which is especially used to initiate beginners and played also in private tournaments, 3 to 8 players can play. Five private cards are distributed to each player. And this type of online poker games can be played in a “play with pot ", a play in which each player has to give a forced stake defined in advance, or a "play with blind". With this last kind of poker game, the first player on the left of the dealer bets at the same time the initial pot and the opening. Each player can follow with a same minimal amount of blind or can raise.

The betting round can so begin. If no betting was made yet in the round, a player can say «check» and give the turn to the next player, without betting anything. Betting is finished as soon as everybody bet the same stake. In pot game, betting is opened by the first player on the left of the dealer. For those who are still at stake, before turning back cards, the dealer asks to each remaining player for the number of cards they want to exchange. Each player announces alternately the number of cards that they don’t need, by throwing them face on the table, before receiving new ones. A player who didn’t exchange any card announces "served". Then a second betting round can continue with the same rules. At the end of this round, the remaining players pass to the showdown. The “Lowball”, the “Deuce to seven” or “Kansas City Lowball” and “Badugi” (four cards) are among the variants of draw poker games.

Common cards: Principle of nine variants of poker

If the majority of the card games have for principle to let players competing by having all hidden individual cards, some variants of poker have for base to break this foundation by proposing common cards, which has moreover made their success on casino tables. The main advantage is to reduce the probability and the possible combination of card games and to offer to each player a bigger capacity to estimate his opponent’s cards. This system offers also a more interesting raise of bid. Texas Hold' Em, the variant of poker the most played is one of these poker games played with common cards. In this game, each player is endowed with 2 “private cards” and 5 common cards which form the board, among which 3 cards are face-up called "flop”, then the another card from the board "the turn", dealt before the fourth betting round and the showdown.

Double Hold' Em is similar to Texas Hold' Em but instead of five face-up cards on the board, there are two lines of five cards. In this variant, the player always has two individual cards then he has to form the best possible game by combining his two private cards with the first row of five cards, then with the second row of the board. The Omaha, a game in which four private cards and a board of five cards and which exists in high fashion or high/lo, the Aviation which is more or less similar to Omaha in term of distribution of cards, Courchevel (5 private cards and a board of 5 cards), Irish (4 private cards and 5 community cards) Pineapple, Crazy Pineapple and Royal Hold' Em are all in this category.

Texas Hold’Em : Two private cards, flop, turn and river make its particular

Texas Hold' Em (either Hold' Em or Vegas) is the variant of poker the most played and the most famous. Whether it is in gaming rooms, in big tournaments as World Series of poker (WSOP), in World Poker Tour (WPT), online sit&go… it’s this variant which is played at most of time. As basic rule, two to ten players can play around a table. Texas Hold' Em is characterized by the distribution of cards: each player has 2 private cards (hidden up to the showdown) and 5 cards are revealed on the board. So, it is necessary to form the best possible game, to go further at each turn financing which is made in clockwise rotation to try to win the pot.

In Texas Hold' em, the dealer distributes at first private cards before "burning" a card, that is removing a card of the poker game, before displaying the flop. The flop is defined as the simultaneous reversal of the first three common cards, after the first betting round. Another betting round can continue after that. Then the dealer burns again another card before the “turn” or the “fourth street” which is the fourth card turned back after the flop. The third betting round continues if players are still in the game and have not abandoned the set yet. Then, the third card is burned by the dealer before showing the “river”, the fifth card of the board. Then, the last betting round is played.

All players who are still in the poker game will have to pass to the showdown after this last bid. Every player has to present his 5 best cards formed among his two private cards and three cards from the board. It is the player having the highest hand who wins the pot.