Poker is a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The term “EV” will be used throughout this article and will be seen in two ways. A player can have +EV, that is positive Expected Value or – EV, that is negative Expected Value. Poker is not gambling and the following explains why.
Most gambling games have a poor EV for you, and a confident EV (5.49% in cases like this) for the casino. In the short run you can win, but in the long run, if you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always end up winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these types of gambling games are in favor of the home. 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 many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.
A simple example would be in the event that you were dealt KK prior to the flop came (preflop), which everyone understands is a wonderful hand preflop. This hand has a high chance to win against all the hands preflop. In the event that you played and raised “all in” with this particular hand against a player who played and called every all in, you’ll have a huge advantage as you will be a favorite every time, rendering it a +EV decision. This is an exaggerated example and playing one hand would not be the smartest idea. What you would do is play say the top 20% of hands because against someone who plays maybe 70% of these hands, you again, will be making a +EV decision every time you play with him. It’s likely your starting hands will have a lot higher probability to win. That is just scraping the top, and there is 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 enhance your EV.
In addition, there’s always variance and in the short term weaker players could easily get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them another and keep playing. In the long run, a good player who always makes +EV decisions will always find yourself a winner. This is exactly why poker is not gambling but a casino game of skill and understanding how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.
Could it be 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 the TV and the web and are even listed on the currency markets. They permit you to play poker online free of charge or real cash. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often supply the best customer service. Maintaining your password secure is your responsibility and if you do this, your money will undoubtedly be safe. Online poker sites have no incentive to cheat when dealing hands given that they want to be extremely fair so you continue to play, which allows them to earn their income in the form of “rake.” This can be a very small percent of the pot (usually less than 1%). In poker, you’re playing against the other players, and not the house.
Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you have never heard of it, they don’t really advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing frequently – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, most of the major poker sites are very safe and reputable.
What are the best internet poker rooms?
There are three major sites for playing internet poker. Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Party Poker have lots of traffic, play money tables, a lot of freeroll tournaments and have very good customer support. If you’re a beginner you should play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you begin. Other sites like Party Poker call you up after you sign up and require some form 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 do not require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and popular.
Many sites state “Deposit and obtain another $600!” Do megapoker99 double your deposit amount after depositing?
That depends on the site. Some sites offer you a really small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that’s rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will give you the full $600. This is to make sure depositing players may also be active. With internet poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.
Websites on the internet will publish poker bonus codes which should be entered upon account creation. After that, the amount you earn depends upon the time you spend playing and the stakes you play at. Whenever a player reaches 400NL limit, this means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and have a good percent of wins, they can make up to 5K per month. This is of course if you treat playing like a job and dedicate a long time each day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that’s just a click away, is what draws so many people to online poker.