Poker is really a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The term “EV” will undoubtedly 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 isn’t gambling and the next 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, if you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always find yourself winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these kinds of gambling games come in favor of the house. Poker pits you against other players rather than the house. In a full 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 before the flop came (preflop), which everyone knows is a good hand preflop. poker88 has a high chance to win against all the 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 a huge advantage as you will be a favorite every time, rendering it a +EV decision. That 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 each time you play with him. It’s likely that your starting hands will have a lot higher probability to win. That is just scraping the top, and there’s an EV mounted on every decision and every situation. Many online poker sites provide starting hand charts for beginners to use, which would function as simplest way to improve your EV.

In addition, there is 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. In the long run, a good player who makes +EV decisions will always find yourself a winner. That is why poker is not gambling but a casino game of skill and understanding how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.

Is it safe to play internet 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 can be your responsibility and if you do this, your money will be safe. Online poker sites haven’t any incentive to cheat when dealing hands since they wish to be extremely fair so you continue steadily to play, that allows them to earn their income by means of “rake.” This is the very small percent of the pot (usually significantly less than 1%). In poker, you are playing against the other players, and not the house.

Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you haven’t heard of it, they don’t really advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing regularly – 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 online 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 start. 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 such as this extra security, and will 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 website. Some sites provide you with a really small portion (around 10%) of your deposit instantly, but that is rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and then after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will provide you with the full $600. This is to ensure depositing players are also active. With online poker sites such as for example 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 may spend playing and the stakes you play at. When a player reaches 400NL limit, which means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and also have an excellent percent of wins, they can make up to 5K a month. This is of course if you treat playing such as a job and dedicate a long time every day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that is only a click away, is what draws a lot of people to online poker.