Poker online has a very different feel than an actual room.  But just the same the ambiance and the rules are the same.  In fact, online poker can offer a little more than real poker room gaming.  Online poker has much less extra expenses – transportation, food, drinks and tip expenses can be reduced.  The only expense would be just for the game.

There are over 200 online poker rooms that can be found in the Internet.  During peak hours, there are 50,000 players in a room.  Some of the famous poker games are Pineapple, Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, Razz, Five-Card and Triple Draw.

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There are a few things to do when playing poker online.

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1. First, have a computer with good memory and a reliable Internet connection.  This will ensure that the game will be smooth and uninterrupted with computer problems and Internet disruption.
2. Then, find several online poker rooms.  Compare these, some of the things to compare are bonuses, software programs, payout reputation and customer service. Bonuses differ among several sites, find the ones that suits you.  There are also different promotions and jackpots rolling within the day. Check the software they use, some unknown sites might be at risk for viruses.  It is also important to check the customer service capabilities of the site, this will help if any problems arise.
3. Check your playing level skills.  If you are a beginner, you should find sites that are client friendly. There are sites that have tips for beginners.  Some sites have free playing games to get you started, or just play money.  For expert players, bigger poker rooms are recommended, this is usually where highly- skilled players are hanging out.
4. Another thing to do is to make sure that the sites accept your credit cards, although there are also some that accept online money transfers and wire transfers.  Some sites have customer service representatives to assist the clients in depositing.
5. Download the software.  The download time is usually a couple of minutes.  After the download, navigate around the pages first before joining the games.

And then just play the game…  There are poker rooms that can lead you to play with other players in different poker rooms.  These are affiliate rooms, they have the same rules, just different starting sites.  It is always wise to play in the poker room that you are most used to or feels the most comfortable to you.

If you are new to poker you’ll definitely need a guide to get you through and enjoy the game more.  As a beginner you need to know the possible errors and mistakes that you might make.  Here are some of the major mistakes that players usually commit:

One of the mistakes that a lot of people make is jumping into a competition without getting ready.  Of course, what do you expect when playing without knowing what your possible weapons are and how you can win the game.  You must always bear in mind that the more prepared you are, the better your chance of winning.

Second mistake that players usually do is bluffing too much.  Too much bluffing can cost you because the good poker players will figure you out and call your bluff.  Learn the art of poker first and later you can increase your tricks.

The third error that most players usually make is thinking-they-know-it-all.  Many beginners make this mistake.  No matter how long you have been playing poker, you still need to be careful unless you want to throw away your bets.  The best thing to bear in mind when playing poker is that you are learning all the time.

As you can see there are a lot of possible errors that poker players can make.  Not only beginners but also those who have been playing the game for quite a long time.  One important tip for players to remember is to have a basic budget.  This may not sound as much fun but it is a very big help for players who don’t want to throw away all their cash and winnings.

Keeping a basic budget and good cash management will keep you away from financial troubles.  If you keep on loosing, review your moves, as well as the performance of other players.  Research and read poker strategies that help to keep your bank roll.  As they say, practice makes perfect and bear in mind the errors that you might make along the way.

Have you noticed we are suddenly starting to hear news items about the World Series of Poker (WSOP)?  Its getting to that time of year where everyone is gearing up for the biggest poker tournament.  The excitement is already building, expectations rising and speculations being cast…

What intrigues me is  – where will the top ten poker players come from this year?  Will we see a change in the mix?  Will the European poker players challenge the top American players.  Or, will we see some players from completely new places?  Asia, Russia, Pacific, more from Australia, South America, South Africa… who knows?

One thing is that poker has spread even further and wider.  The games popularity just grows and grows.  Television, access to the internet and online poker has allowed anyone to play anywhere.  I cant wait for the WSOP to start… are we in for some surprises this year, or will the usual suspects finish in the top 10?  Its so open and there are so many unknowns in a poker tournament, there is just no ways I would bet on the outcome!

Damn kicker cards got the better of me, I’m bruised and battered – I got kicked by the kicker!

It happened to me three times whilst playing poker in the casino last night, twice I got beaten by higher kickers and we are talking queen kicking my ten and the other time this guy had a jack that was too good for my ten.  Ok I admit that I was living on the edge a bit and taking chances.  And if you are going to play poker like that, then sometimes it pays off and sometimes you lose – its 50/50.

But towards the end of the evening, I had a king, nine unsuited starting hand – when a second king came on the flop, my nine kicker was paired with the turn card and by the way the others were just checking – I thought, oh yeah babe!  Here we come I’m going to take this one with my two pair.

This dude totally fools me with a slow play and takes me with trip fives… I was gutted… absolutely blown away.  The guy was sitting there with a pair of fives, just checking…then he got his five on the river and caught me out.  By the way they were betting, I just thought there was no chance of anyone having a pair or higher.  He apologized and said he didn’t mean to slow play me, because I was betting strongly, he said he thought I had a stronger hand all along.

Just got up from my seat, said good bye and went outside to cry…

Going up a level, changing gears… when playing poker is tough, but if you want to get better you have to do it!

Many beginners start playing free poker online at the freeroll games then progress to the real money games and work their way up through the different limits on the tables.

Its good to find your level and feel comfortable there and if you want to increase your bankroll then its important you feel confident at your poker table.  But where is the challenge if you continually play with poker players that are one level below yours?  Sure you may win more but who are you really fooling???

Challenge yourself… push yourself to the next level and change gears!  Your poker game will only get better.  You may lose a bit as you get into the next level but you will make that money back over time as you get better and improve your poker game.

Mark I want to change my poker room, any suggestions?  I’m sure that I can find better poker bonuses at other online casinos or online poker sites.  Can you help me?

Regards, Patsy

Well Patsy, I suggest you go to a poker portal, knock on the door and see who answers… (sorry that was a poor joke!).  Go to a poker review site and choose another poker room – its a matter of choice, find the best one that fits your needs.

Whilst you are in the poker review site then look for the best bonuses and high roller casino, it should be quite straight forward to find.  Or ask around whilst you are playing poker and see what the other poker players have to suggest.

Try that and if you still have questions, come back and ask some more.

One of the things I enjoy the most about playing poker is watching the flop, turn and river cards being dealt.  You just never know whats coming your way… are you going to have some luck on the river?

How often have you been sitting there with a good starting hand and you end up with nothing at the end – because of the community cards… or you are sitting there with nothing and suddenly a straight, a flush or three of a kind comes your way…. thank you dealer!!!  More like thank you Lady Luck!!!!

And thats why if you just hang in there, somtimes your luck can turn on the turn card, or turn on the river… and why even the best of the poker pros can be beaten by a rank outsider in poker tournaments (ok maybe the rookies have played the odd hand or two of online poker to be able to beat the pros…).

I don’t know why, but I just like to watch or listen to the news sometimes.  Its sort of a mini-compulsion not too bad, but it is still a need.  The silly thing is that most times I get really irratated watching the news, with the absolutely stupid things that happen out there in the world, that have no meaning at all sometimes.  And then sometimes the news is just plain boring… I suppose its better that it is boring then at least nothing terrible has happened!

The funny thing is that when I was younger I used to laugh at my parents and grandparents with their obsession with watching the news… now I’m doing it… damn… falling into the same pattern.

Having the latest online poker news helping you keep informed is really important, that way you can find out the best poker bonus and poker deals… or where the highest paying poker tournaments are.. and of course you can get some of the latest tips on poker strategy.  But maybe you know all this good stuff already and just want to follow what’s happening out there… like me…

I have a few feeds that come from different poker sites and poker blogs, that way I can keep informed with all the latest developments in the world of poker.  I like the short, precise and to the point news feeds, that way I don’t spend hours having to read all the rubbish.

Its worth bookmarking a good site when you find one or setting up the RSS feed, that way the poker news comes to you and you don’t have to go looking for it.

Poker rakeback is an excellent way to increase your poker winnings or limit your losses.  In order to make the most of your rakeback deal though you have to know the method your poker room uses to calculate your rake contribution.

Your rakeback is directly dependent on the amount of rake the poker room allots to you.  This is called your MGR and the more you have of it, the more rakeback you’re entitled to.

Different playing styles yield different amounts of MGRs and different poker rooms use different methods to determine individual MGRs.

Some of these methods offer advantages for certain playing styles over the others.  This is why it’s extremely important that you determine which of these rake contribution methods fit your playing style the best.

The dealt rake method takes the resulting rake in a hand and divides it equally between the players who are dealt into the hand.  That’s right, if you’re not in one of the blinds, you do not even have to commit a single cent to the pot in order to earn MGR and thus rakeback too.  This method obviously offers an edge for tight passive players, who will have loose aggressive guys generating rake back for them.

If you’re a loose player who likes to fling his stack around recklessly, signing up for a rakeback deal which uses this calculation method isn’t exactly the best choice.

The contributed rake method is an improvement in terms of fairness over the dealt one.  The software only allots MGR to players who actually put money into the pot.  Those who don’t, do not earn any credit.

The problem with this method is that the resulting rake is still distributed equally among those who do put some money into the pot.  This way, a player who puts a lot of money into the pot will still generate rakeback for the guy who only puts a little.

The weighted contributed rake method is by far the most accurate MGR calculation method there is.  The algorithm that calculates your contribution only considers players who actively contribute to the pot.  Not only that, but the MGR is determined by taking the contributed amount into account as well.  If you contribute more money to the pot, you get more MGR and you’ll be eligible for more rakeback too.

If you’re a loose aggressive player, this is definitely the MGR calculation method you want to play by.

Make sure you know these subtle aspects before you sign up for rakeback.  Rakeback will offer you an edge regardless of the rake contribution method used by the poker room, but how big an edge it gives you should also matter.  As a poker player, you are obliged to make the most out of every opportunity you encounter.

If you already know what rakeback is, it’ll be extremely easy to get your mind around the concept of poker propping.  Square rakeback deals offer you around 30-50% of your rake back.  For most players, that represents a significant addition to their bankroll as it is, but there are always people who are hungry for more.

Poker Prop deals offer players rakeback percentages between 80-135%.  That’s right.  I know over 100% rakeback means you’re actually getting paid to play poker there, but these are real deals and they are responsible for turning many a losing online poker player into long-term winners.

There are some rakeback providers out there who have a nice selection of poker prop deals slapped to their offer.

Whenever people hear about such generous rakeback percentages, they immediately become suspicious that there may be a scam in the background.  After all, why would a poker room ever pay someone to play there?  If you know a thing or two about the online poker industry though, you’ll find the answer quite self explanatory:  Poker rooms pay certain players to play there simply because they desperately need to fill up their critical player liquidity.

To have your critical player liquidity in good shape means to have plenty of players on most of the popular limits playing at all times of the day.  It should be quite obvious why a poker room cannot function without its critical player liquidity.

Newly started poker rooms have few means to attain their critical liquidity and one of the most efficient ways is through offering poker prop deals and sometimes even square rakeback.

Now then, if you access a prop deal provider’s site, you’ll see that while regular rakeback deals are listed together with a review of the site that offers them, poker prop deals don’t reveal the name of the site which “hires” the props.

Some find this too suspicious.  Again, I have to tell you there’s nothing shady about it.  Here’s the reason why the provider withholds the data regarding the poker room: most online poker rooms are not exactly proud to resort to seemingly ‘desperate” methods such as prop deals.  Prop players are generally regarded as skillful sharks by the poker community (although that is hardly the case – most props are previously losing players who have found a way to turn the tables on the action through propping).  Nobody wants to play against such “sharks” and therefore the whole setup may end up providing unwanted negative publicity for the outfit.  That’s why you won’t ever get to know the name of the site till you sign up.

All sorts of details regarding the prop deals will be available though, and you will find out about the poker room too just as soon as you sign up. Whether or not such secrecy is efficient is debatable, however the poker rooms insist on it, and therefore the providers cannot disclose these details to the public.