Archive for April, 2009

Understanding the basics of Triple Draw

Triple draw is a game that has been around for ages and it is arguably the most popular of the old school poker variants. The 2-7 triple draw variant was the first lowball variant to be introduced into the mainstream of poker and ever since its introduction, the 2-7 triple draw variant has been received relatively well. Even in today’s world in which the wheel lowball variants tend to dominate in many of the modern casinos, many people still have a soft spot in their heart for the triple draw way of doing lowball. In order to help facilitate that while at the same time introducing some of you readers to a new style of poker, below you will find some of the basics of the 2-7 triple draw game.

The triple draw game is very similar to the conventional triple draw with normal poker hand rankings and that means that in a strange way, you can actually form 2-7 triple draw strategy through playing opposite the way you would in normal poker. The actual elements of 2-7 triple draw strategy are the same in terms of keeping good cards and betting behind strength, but the main difference is that the good cards are the exact opposite of what they would be within the normal game. Whereas a good card might be a King or Ace in the normal game, twos and threes are the best cards that you can have in the lowball game just as long as you don’t pair them up with each other.

With that particular difference between normal and lowball triple draw out of the way, the only real thing left to mention is that the rest of the game plays out in a manner that is quite similar to the normal triple draw game. Each player is dealt five cards face down, forming the start of their hand. After a round of betting has passed, each player is given a chance to trade in some of their cards and draw new ones are replacements. This is the first draw phase. Once the first draw phase is over, a second betting round takes place which is then followed by a second draw phase. That phase is followed by a third betting round and a third draw phase at which point the final round of betting takes place. If there are still two or more people left after the final round of betting, the showdown occurs and the lowest hand closest to 2-3-4-5-7 takes the pot.

As far as strategy is concerned, the thing to understand about triple draw is that it is all in the starting hand selection. Remember that you get three different draw phases to attain your hand, so you should be a little less discriminating about which starting hands you choose. Any hand that has two nut-low cards or three decent low cards (i.e. 9 or lower) is a good candidate and you can then go from there in order to refine your triple draw strategy.

Can a Poker Strategy Guide help your game?

No matter where you go online nowadays, it seems as though people are talking about poker strategy guides. A lot of people are claiming that reading a guide helped them with their game while there are others that claim that the poker game guides are completely useless. It is an interesting debate if you can follow one that doesn’t involve a large amount of flaming and intrinsically it is a debate in which the answer is very personal. Different people might get great uses out of poker game guides while at the same time their friend or relative finds that the poker strategy guides they have been consulting haven’t really helped them ahead. In order to wade through this intellectual problem without taking a position in the debate, let us attempt to discuss the relative merits of both positions that can be taken.

 

The first position is that poker strategy guides can help your game and on the face of it, this position is a relatively easy one to defend. All you need to do is find a particularly good online poker strategy guide, learn one specific point from it that improves your game and right away you then have proof that poker strategy guides can help you through your games. Things like poker bonus codes can also be placed in poker strategy guides to help you get extra money from online poker rooms and for that reason many people that have not really been helped by the strategic parts of the guide have still ended up finding a lot of good from the poker bonus codes included within. With this two-pronged approach to help from poker strategy guides, it is no wonder that there are so many people around that absolutely love extolling their virtues.

 

The second position is no less valid however and revolves around the idea of avoiding dependence. The argument made by these people is not necessarily that poker strategy guides are bad, but rather that they foster dependence. This means that whatever benefit you are likely to get from them is more than cancelled out by the fact that you are now dependent on that particular way of thinking. Poker is played best when it is played without mechanical thinking and the argument against poker strategy guides is that they sometimes encourage mechanical thinking.

 

Both of these points of view are valid and the best way to look at them is to consider what is best for your own situation as far as poker strategy guides are concerned. Is your situation such that a few pieces of advice from a poker strategy guide will be greatly helpful, or are you at a point where you really need to develop your independent critical thinking skills?  It is not always easy to answer that question, but within the answer to that question is also the answer to the question that forms the title of this blog post. So, in order to answer that question, you need to discover something about the stage of development at which your poker game currently is.

Poker Tips before You Sit Down

So you watched a couple rounds of Texas Holdem on TV and now you are ready to get in the game. Well, take a step back and first consider your options. Poker is a game of more than just betting and raising. It is a game of skill and having an edge in your favor is always better then playing in the dark. I want to share with you some poker tips that just may help you save a little money and avoid losing cash while playing unprepared.

Assuming you have some knowledge of the game, what is your next step? Do you go to the local casino and get in on a No Limit cash game? This is probably not a wise choice. You’ll most likely be the dead money at the table.

What should you do? To prepare yourself for a live tournament or cash game, first play online in the free games offered by all the major poker rooms like Pokerstars.com and Fulltiltpoker.com. These free games let you take a stab at some free cash games and tournaments. Play as though you had real money on the line. Within a few minutes you will learn that free online play is game of bad habits. Don’t be fooled by the free play.

The only thing you want to do is play out hands like you would if it were real. The best thing about this is, if you should fold, the odds of someone else calling are still good. You’ll be able to see what the next card is and what your opponent had. Yes, they may have had a made hand, but most likely it was junk. This will give you exposure to the speed of play online, how many hands you see an hour, and how the game works. Do this for a couple of weeks until you are ready to make a money deposit and play for real.

Where to play? If you are in the United States, you have your choice to play in two of the best rooms – Fulltiltpoker.com and Pokerstars.com. They have superior customer service and the banking is much better than the rest. Recent laws and regulations have made it difficult to deposit and withdrawal cash for online gambling site. These two sites have some excellent choices when it comes to cash management. Also, remember to get your bonus code. When you deposit $100, you get an extra $50 or $100 in your account.

Some more information while learning the basics.
1. Only play small stakes
2. Take notes on your opponents
3. Read books to increase your knowledge of the game
4. Learn Poker odds
5. Try to learn the online tells of your opponents.
6. Avoid going on tilt

If you think you are ready – then give it a shot and remember to be wise with your money. Don’t force the live game until you’re ready.

Rakeback Aid Review

Rakeback Aid is a website that is devoted to giving you the best advice possible regarding all of the rakeback opportunities that are available in the field of internet poker today. Rakeback involves a poker player getting back some of the money they contributed to the rake and for that reason essentially is a rebate on the fees you pay when you are playing online poker. Rakeback deals are very popular for this reason, with even some of the best like Full Tilt Poker Rakeback and Minted Poker Rakeback available for people that know where to look. Knowing where to look is not always an easy bit of knowledge to have however and that is precisely where Rakeback Aid comes into the picture.

Rakeback Aid tells you where to look

Rakeback Aid has one of the simplest systems in place to help its members with rakeback challenges and that system is to simply list all of the deals that they know about and then let you as the user decide which of those deals to pursue. Many online websites will cut deals out of the picture that they deem to be poor deals, but the fact of the matter is that almost every rakeback deal out there is exceptionally solid for a particular type of online poker player. Because Rakeback Aid aims to serve the entire poker community, they simply report and then let you decide.

Rakeback Aid is consistently updated

One other advantage of Rakeback Aid that is certainly worth mentioning is the fact that they update their site consistently. There are few things more frustrating than finding a great promotional offer on a website and then clicking on that offer only to find out that it expired months ago and the website in question just never bothered to let their readers know about the expiry date. You won’t get any of that with Rakeback Aid however as this website makes sure that they get right to the heart of the matter every time they do their updates, which are frequent enough to make sure that error in accuracy of reporting is quite small.

Rakeback Aid helps get better deals for you

As is the case with many of the high-powered affiliates within the poker world, Rakeback Aid is an excellent site for helping you get better deals. Because they serve such a large community, Rakeback Aid is able to press on websites in order to give better deals to their customers. If you signup for a Full Tilt Poker Rakeback or Minted Poker Rakeback through their website, there is a chance that you might end up getting a better deal as a result. This is not always the case, but it is the case often enough that Rakeback Aid has become very popular amongst people that are looking to get better than industry standard deals for everything they do.

Rakeback Aid has a lot of help to offer people that are interested in getting back some of the rake money they pay when they play in poker cash games. For this reason, it is definitely a website worth looking at.

USA Poker Websites

If you are a poker fan, you will probably be familiar with online poker rooms where players from around the world compete against each other for real money. You’ve probably seen tv ads for Full Tilt during poker tv shows. Playing in these virtual rooms will require downloading poker room software, and after you have installed it, you can start playing in minutes. Signing up is a cinch even for USA players, and you can choose to play for practice using the fun mode, or play for real money in the real player mode, showing your skills against other poker players from other parts of the globe.

USA Poker Players can pick from plenty of online poker rooms that accept players from the United States. You’ll find that some of the most popular poker sites allow USA Poker plyaers like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Bodog and Doyles Room. PokerStars is currently the largest online poker room and they make it easy for U.S. poker players to signup and deposit, so you can start playing online poker for real money within minutes. If you are looking for a great USA poker website to play poker online, choose the sites that other players are playing at. Busy online poker rooms show that they are trusted in the poker community. Also make sure you get your new player bonus when making your first deposit.
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In the online poker industry, a majority of poker rooms offer poker bonuses to their players to get the maximum amount of traffic. Just by signing up at a poker site you are entitled to a poker bonus. Most USA Poker Websites even give a 100% match bonus on your initial deposit, if you are a new player at that card room. Other poker bonuses include special promotions that allow players access to certain exclusive tournaments. Attractive promotions like these help drive player traffic to poker sites, which is good for the poker room and the poker players.


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