Poker is really a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The word “EV” will be used throughout this article and will be seen in two ways. A new player can have +EV, which is positive Expected Value or – EV, which is negative Expected Value. Poker is not gambling and the following explains why.
Most gambling games have a negative EV for you, and a confident EV (5.49% in this case) for the casino. In the short run you could win, but in the long run, in the event that you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always end up winning by about 5.49%. As you can plainly see these kind of gambling games come in favor of the house. Poker pits you against other players and not the house. In a complete ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the goal is to make the best EV decisions against the a great many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.
A simple example would be if you were dealt KK prior to the flop came (preflop), which everyone understands is an effective hand preflop. This hand has a high chance to win against all other hands preflop. If you played and raised “all in” with this hand against a player who played and called every all in, you would have an enormous advantage as you’ll be a favorite every time, making it a +EV decision. That is an exaggerated example and playing one hand wouldn’t normally be the smartest idea. What you will do is play say the top 20% of hands because against somebody who plays maybe 70% of their hands, you again, will be making a +EV decision each time you play with him. It’s likely your starting hands will have a lot higher probability to win. That is just scraping the surface, and there’s an EV attached to every decision and every situation. Many online poker sites provide starting hand charts for novices 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 might get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them to come back and keep playing. Over time, a good player who always makes +EV decisions will always end up a winner. For this reason poker is not gambling but a game of skill and understanding how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.
Is it safe to play online poker?
Absolutely, some sites have over 50,000 people playing at one time. Major sites like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on it and the web and are even listed on the stock market. poker88 enable you to play poker online for free or real money. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often supply the best customer service. Keeping your password secure can be your responsibility and if you do that, your money will be safe. Online poker sites have no incentive to cheat when dealing hands given that they desire to be extremely fair so you continue steadily to play, that allows them to earn their income by means of “rake.” This is a very small percent of the pot (usually less than 1%). In poker, you are playing contrary to the other players, and not the home.
Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you haven’t heard of it, they don’t advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing on a regular basis – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, a lot of the major poker sites are very safe and reputable.
What are the best internet 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, a lot of freeroll tournaments and have very good customer support. If you are a beginner you should play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you begin. Other sites like Party Poker call you up once you sign up and require some type of id verification to activate your account. Some individuals may like this extra security, and may certainly go that route. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars usually do not require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and popular.
Many sites state “Deposit and get another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the site. Some sites give you a very small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that’s rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and then after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will give you the full $600. This is to make sure depositing players are also active. With online poker sites such as for example Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.
Online sites will publish poker bonus codes which must be entered upon account creation. From then on, the amount you earn depends on the time you may spend playing and the stakes you play at. When a player reaches 400NL limit, this means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and have a good percent of wins, they are able to make up to 5K per month. This is of course if you treat playing just like a job and dedicate several hours each day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that is only a click away, is what draws so many people to online poker.