Giving beginners tips on playing poker is something every poker player has done, regardless of their own skill level. Sometimes the advice is sage, solid, and necessary. Other times, it’s foolish, weak, and ridiculous.

In poker, a Multi-table tournament (MTT) is a tournament that involves multiple tables. A table generally sits 9 or 10 players, and MTT tournaments can incorporate up to 200 or more tables, for a total of 2000 entrants. MTTs are attractive because the payouts are rather large near the top. For a small investment (and a lot of time) one can win a large monetary prize if they finish In the Money.

Etiquette in a public cardroom is fairly simple.

• A simple faux pas is to not act in accordance with the cardroom’s rules. For example, to raise, one typically places all the chips, those to call (if any) and the raise in one motion; you cannot do two hand gestures (this is called a string raise), unless you state your intentions prior to placing chips.
• Cards are to be face-down to other players until showdown. If you fold, you hand in your cards face-down. If you are in the hand until showdown, you turn up your cards if either you are first to show (last person to raise shows first) or if your hand is superior to the hands previously exposed. Do not expose cards prior to showdown; depending on local rules, this may mean a comittment to check all raises or you may forfeit the hand.
• If you are requested to cease an activity by a dealer or any other representative of the cardroom, cease that activity.
• Damaging cards is both fairly difficult (because most places use cellulose-acetate cards which are hard to mark, scratch, and bend, and last approximately five years in daily play) and forbidden.
• Don’t blame the dealer for a string of bad hands. Don’t ask the dealer to “switch decks”. This may annoy the other players and it will slow down gameplay.
• Speak only English in an American cardroom. If they can’t understand you, they may assume you are in collusion with someone.
• Turn off your cell phone, or set it to vibrate mode. Do not pick it up during game play. If you pick it up, there’s the possibility you are receiving information that may provide a clue to the other players’ hands, and are therefore cheating.
• Keep your food and drinks off the table. The table is for playing cards and poker chips, not soda pop and potato chips. You have small stands around the tables to hold beverages and food. Food at the table, though, is not recommended if it leaves a residue on your hands. Sandwiches OK, BBQ ribs and fried chicken, no.
• Cheating is right out. Having said that, do not accuse other players of being cheaters. If you are wrong (most likely), you will make an unnecessary scene and end up tossed from the room. If you’re right, the cameras above you will catch the guy in the act for you.
• You cannot buy more chips while a round is in progress.
• Failing to call out, “all-in” when you are is a minor issue.
• All your chips must remain on the table during play. You may not remove chips from the table to your pockets, or vice versa.
• Remember when you must pay forced bets, such as blinds in Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha Hold ‘em.
• Keep the game play flowing. By the time the bet comes round to you, you should know what your course of action is. Calling for “time” when you have a difficult decision to make is acceptable as long as you don’t take excessively long or do this very often.
• Remember, the cards speak for themselves. When the hand is over, don’t overstate your hand in an effort to cause an opponent to throw away a better hand. Also, don’t throw away your own hand until your opponent shows a better hand; he might not have read this etiquette page, and could be lying about having a straight flush. The dealer is the adjudicator of each round.
• Knocking the table is a check, tossing your cards is a fold. Saying “Check” or knocking the table is the same thing. Placing your chips down without a spoken amount commits you to the full value of the laid chips or the table maximum, whichever applies. Calling a raise means following through.
• The most important thing: NEVER EVER PLAY WITH MONEY YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Reaction in Harrisburg has been dicey so far to a brash, budget-related plan from Gov. Ed Rendell to legalize video poker to pay for college tuition breaks.

MAYS LANDING – Two men have been sentenced in a sports gambling ring operated out of an Atlantic City casino’s poker room.

“Bottom dealing” is a form of cheating in poker and other card games. It consists of placing high cards on the bottom of the deck while shuffling and dealing those cards to yourself or your teammates. Bottom dealing is both easier to commit and easier to detect than second dealing.

Reaction in Harrisburg has been dicey so far to a brash, budget-related plan from Gov. Ed Rendell to legalize video poker to pay for college tuition breaks.

Sandbagging (also called slow play) is deceptive play in poker that is roughly the opposite of bluffing: betting weakly with a strong holding rather than betting strongly with a weak one. The check-raise is one such play.

This might involve a check or call with a hand that you might otherwise raise with, to lure other players into the pot who might fold to a raise, or to lure them into betting more strongly than they would if you had bet or raised. This is often dangerous because it sacrifices the protection that a bet or raise would give you, and it also risks losing the pot-building value of a bet if your opponents also check. It can nonetheless be profitable to do this under circumstances that include the following:

• Your hand is so strong that protection isn’t needed.
• An opponent is likely to bet when you don’t.
• Opponents are likely to fold or just call if you bet.

Here’s an example from a four-handed draw poker game among Alice, Bob, Carol, and David: After anteing, Alice looks at her hand to find a pair of aces, and opens the betting for $2. Bob raises an additional $2, bringing the bet to $4. Carol folds. David calls the $4, and Alice puts in an additional $2 to match the raise. Drawing three cards, she receives another ace, and a pair of fives. Since her aces-full is almost certain to be unbeatable, it does not need the protection of a bet (and this is the last betting round, where protection applies less anyway). Also, Bob earlier raised, and David called a raise, so they likely have strong hands and one of them will bet if Alice doesn’t. Finally, since Bob and David earlier showed strength, and they know that Alice knows this, Alice betting into them would be seen as a bold move likely to scare one or both of them off, especially if they weren’t as strong as they seem. This is a perfect place for a check-raise. Alice checks. As she hoped, Bob bets $2. David thinks for a minute, then calls the $2. Alice now springs the trap and raises $2. Bob calls the additional $2, and David (who now realizes that he is probably beaten) folds. Bob reveals three sixes, and surrenders the pot to Alice. If Alice had just bet her hand on the second round, it is likely that Bob would just have called and David may or may not have called, earning Alice $2 to $4 on the second round. But with the check-raise play, she earned $6.

Even in games (such as California lowball) where the check-raise is not allowed, one can make other sandbagging plays such as just calling (“flat calling”) instead of raising with a very strong hand and then later raising.

In games with many betting rounds, such as stud poker and community card poker games, one can make multiple-round sandbagging plays. Let’s say, for example, you are playing Seven-card stud and your first three cards are all fours. An opponent with a king showing bets first, and you raise, getting two callers. On the next round, the first bettor catches another king, and you miraculously catch the last four. You suspect he has two pair or three kings, and he suspects that you have two pair or three fours (four of a kind is so unlikely that he will probably ignore the possibility, just as you can probably ignore the possibility that he has four kings). He bets again, and you just call. You should probably just call for next round or two, and maybe even check if no one bets, rather than raising, for several reasons. Your hand is so strong that the chance of getting beaten is negligible, so you don’t need protection. If the bettor just has two pair and you act strongly, he may think you have three fours and fold if he doesn’t improve. Allowing other players to continue for smaller stakes might allow one of them to catch a hand such as a straight, flush, or full house that will call your final bets or possibly even raise you back, building a very big pot. Finally, keeping as many players in the game as possible will make a bigger pot. At some point, though, you will have to “come out of the woodwork” and bet strongly; after all, the point of the exercise is to get more money in the pot, and you can’t do that by continuing to check on every round.

Another common sandbagging play that occurs only on the last betting round is called “fishing for the overcall”. This occurs when the last card you are dealt makes you a very strong hand, a player in front of you bets, and there are more players to act behind you. While you might normally raise with your hand, just calling may encourage the players behind you to overcall when they would have folded to a raise. This play is best when there are several players behind you, and they are the kind of player likely to call one bet but not a raise. If there is only one player behind you, for example, then getting the overcall gains no more money than raising and having the initial bettor call (at least in a fixed limit game). This play also sacrifices the profit you might have made from players who would have overcalled even the raise.

Link

• ‘Theory Of Poker’ section on check raising by David Sklansky from the books official site.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

MOUNT PLEASANT — After seeing video of poker championships and hearing testimony from a professional poker player, a town judge said Friday that he believes Texas Hold ‘em poker is a game of skill — a decision that could affect how the card game is treated in South Carolina. South Carolina law outlaws gambling on games of chance played with cards or dice and Municipal Judge Larry Duffy’s …

Online poker is a huge business. And easy, players are told. You don’t even have to get dressed to play, just sit there in your front room. And, of course, the poker player’s dictum of “if you can’t see the mark, it’s you” (that is, if you can’t see a weaker player, you’re the one who’ll be cleaned out) doesn’t apply; you can’t actually see anyone else. They could be dressed, undressed – or …

Ace-to-six low is a method for evaluating low hands in poker. It is not as commonly used as the ace-to-five low method, but it is common among home games in the eastern United States, and also common in the United Kingdom (it is the traditional ranking of London lowball, a stud poker variant).

As in all lowball games, pairs and trips are bad: that is, any hand with no pair defeats any hand with a pair; one pair hands defeat two pair or trips, etc. No-pair hands are compared starting with the highest ranking card, just as in high poker, except that the high hand loses. In ace-to-six low, straights and flushes count for high (and are therefore bad), and aces play as the lowest card.

For example, the hand -5-4-3-2 defeats -7-6-4-3, because eight-high is lower than nine-high. The hand -6-5-4-2 defeats both, because seven-high is lower still. The hand -6-5-4-3 would lose, because it is a straight. Aces are low, so -5-4-3-A defeats -5-4-3-2. Also, A-A-9-5-3 (a pair of aces) defeats -2-5-4-3 (a pair of deuces), but both of those would lose to any no-pair hand such as K-J-8-6-4. In the rare event that hands with pairs tie, kickers are used just as in high poker (but reversed): -3-6-4-2 defeats -3-6-5-A.

It is called ace-to-six low because the best possible hand is -4-3-2-A, followed by -5-3-2-A, -5-4-2-A, -5-4-3-A, -4-3-2-A, -5-3-2-A, etc.

When speaking, low hands are referred to by their highest ranking card or cards. Any nine-high hand can be called “a nine”, and is defeated by any “eight”. Two cards are frequently used: the hand -6-5-4-2 can be called “an eight-six” and will defeat “an eight-seven” such as -7-5-4-A.

A wild card plays as whatever rank would make the lowest hand. Thus, in 6-5-Joker-2-A, the joker plays as a , while in Joker-5-4-3-2 it would play as a (an ace or six would make a straight).

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

A staff worker shows Poker printed with labor laws on a job fair in Longquan Township in Haikou, capital of south China’s Hainan Province, Feb. 11, 2009. With over 20 companies supplying more than 1500 vacancies for migrant workers, the job fair is a series of actions implemented by Haikou city to promote the migrant workers’ employment.

Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet (online). It has been responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide, and as of December 2003, revenues from online poker were estimated at US$34 million per month.

Traditional (or “brick and mortar”, B&M) venues for playing poker, such as casinos and poker rooms, may be intimidating for novice players and are located in geographically disparate locations. Brick and mortar casinos are also reticent to promote poker because it is very difficult for them to profit from the activity. Though the rake, or time charge, of traditional casinos is often very high, the opportunity costs of running a poker room are even higher. Brick and mortar casinos often make much more money by removing poker rooms and adding more slot machines.

Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms tend to be viewed as more player-friendly. For example, the software may prompt the player when it is his or her turn to act. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for very low stakes (as low as 1¢) and often offer poker freerolls (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners.

Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they also have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos. For example, online poker room security employees can look at the “hand history” of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check player’s IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables.

The major online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain entry to real-life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event causing shock in the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured triple the number of players over the 2003 turnout. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg “Fossilman” Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.

In December 2003 it was reported that online poker revenues stood at around $34m (€ 40m) per month and were growing by 27% per month. By March 2005, at peak times approximately 100,000 people were playing for real money at the various cardrooms with a like number playing free games.

In October 2004, Sportingbet Plc, the world’s largest publicly traded online gaming company (SBT.L), announced the acquisition of ParadisePoker.com, one of the online poker industry’s first and largest cardrooms. The acquisition marked the first time an online cardroom was owned by a public company. Since then, several other cardroom parent companies have gone public.

In June 2005, PartyGaming, the parent company of the largest online cardroom, went public on the London Stock Exchange, achieving an initial public offering market value in excess of $8 billion dollars. At the time of the IPO, ninety-two percent of Party Gaming’s income came from poker operations.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Late Night Poker is a British television show in which Poker players, mostly professionals or strong amateurs, compete in a short series of No-Limit Texas hold ‘em tournament games for a prize of approximately £50,000.

Six series of the show were created between 1999 and 2002. Produced in Cardiff, Wales, by TV company Presentable, they aired on Channel 4.

In 2005 an all-amateur tournament by the name of PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Ace was broadcast, following a qualification round on the aforementioned website. A second tournament is planned for 2006.

A celebrity version of the show was produced on 12 October 2000, featuring (in finishing order from 1st to 7th place) Anthony Holden, Al Alvarez, Martin Amis, Victoria Coren, Patrick Marber, Stephen Fry and Ricky Gervais. This led into the creation of Celebrity Poker Club.

Crew

• Jesse May – commentator; also appeared in a season 1 episode under the pseudonym “Mickey Dane.”
• Nic Szeremeta – creator (uncredited), commentator (seasons 1-3)
• Lucy “Golden Ovaries” Rokach – commentator (season 4)
• “Barmy” Barny Boatman – commentator (seasons 5-6)
• Thomas Kremser – floorman and referee
• “Quickdraw” Peter Schmid – dealer
• “52-Fingered” Marinda Rado – dealer

Format

A series of Late Night Poker consists of 9 programmes – 7 heats, one semi-final, and the final. Each heat has 7 players. The 7 winners of the heats progress straight to the final, and the runners-up go to the semi-final, where one additional player progresses, for a final table of 8 players.

(NB: The first series featured 5 heats, with the players finishing 1st and 2nd in each progressing to the final. The players who qualified by finishing first in their heat started the final with twice as many chips as the heat runner-ups.)

Although the precise sums of money involved have varied, the typical buy-in has been in the region of £1,500, with a first prize of between £40,000 and £60,000.

The shows lasted 60 minutes when broadcast, with the season finals lasting 90 minutes. When shown in America on FSN, the shows were cut to 30 minutes each.

Under-the-table cameras

Late Night Poker’s success is largely attributable to its “under-the-table” cameras which allow the viewers and commentators to see the players’ cards through the transparent table. It is doubtful Poker could succeed as a spectator sport otherwise, and American broadcasters have subsequently used a similar technique in programmes such as World Poker Tour.

Nevertheless, in contrast to most Poker shows, Late Night Poker tends to use these cameras in a rather minimalist way. For example, in a two-way pot, often only one player’s cards are shown, with the commentators trying to infer from the other player’s actions what cards he or she holds, and how the first player should act. Because of this, the commentary often mirrors the actual decision-making process of a Poker player. Only late in the hand, at the time of a critical decision, would the other player’s cards be shown, possibly revealing a startling bluff or an unexpectedly strong hand.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

If you’re playing small ball poker, you’ll be entering a lot of pots, and in most of them, you’ll be coming in for a 2 1/2 times the big blind raise.