4 Poker Tips The Pros Won't Tell You

In the past few years, professional poker playing has exploded in popularity. The biggest players are winning substantial amounts of money. However, none of the professional poker players are sharing their secrets. In reality, the best players in the world aren’t doing anything really spectacular other than following basic poker tips. What makes the best players so amazing is their ability to utilize all of their strengths and capitalize on the weaknesses of others. Anyone can significantly improve his or her poker game by following these four easy tips. 1. Observe your opponents. This is probably the most crucial part of poker. When playing against someone, the more you know about them, the easier it will be for you to take advantage of their weaknesses. It is always a good idea to observe an opponent's betting habits. Some players bet extremely high when they have a good hand. Other players will attempt to make several seemingly small raises. Anyone who consistently raises after each flop might have a good hand. However, some players will try to bluff. Noticing patterns can help you adjust to the moves of your opponents. This will help you save money, and possibly have great gains. 2. Bet wisely and watch your money. Every poker player should set limits when going into the casino. The pros don’t have to worry about money so much, but the average player definitely does. Set a limit and do not exceed it. Being money conscious can help ensure that if you have a bad day at the tables, you don’t put yourself in debt. Along with managing money is managing bets. Some players like to bet high (high rollers), but this can lead to drastic losses. Some of the best players bet moderately, and increase their bets slightly when they have a good hand. The best advice for betting is “avoid the extremes.” Don’t bet too little, because you will end up losing money in the long run. At the same time, don’t bet too much because you might lose a lot of money on only one hand, and that is never good. 3. Take your time. The pros seem to think very fast, but that is because they are pros! You don’t have to make decisions too rashly. Take time to look at your hand and figure out what you have and bet accordingly. Also, take the time to survey your opponents and surmise what hands they might have. The pros are always thinking and are simply faster than the average player. It is important to realize that every poker player has to think logically and make educated guesses. 4. Know when to fold, and when to stay in. Many players do not understand the best solutions for folding or staying in. The best players understand their chances and only stay in when they have at least one type of hand. Having two face cards is a good reason to stay in, but having two different low number cards might not be such a strong hand. When observing other players, if you notice high bets from a player who does not bluff, then you should probably fold. Knowing when to take risks and when to be conservative is a very important element to being a solid poker player. The pros may seem like they are doing impossible things, but they are really just following basic tips. Poker is a game of chance, but you can always tip the odds in your favor by studying your opponents, being smart with money and betting, and thinking through your decisions. Play smart and you will notice a great increase in your poker winnings. Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker About the Author:Paul Runyan enjoys writing about all things poker, including news and commentary. Learn more at http://www.geniuspoker.comRead more articles by: Paul Runyan Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Depositing Funds To Your Online Casino & Poker Room Account

Ways To Deposit When I first wanted to start playing in online casinos and poker rooms, I thought it would be as easy as 123 to start playing – surely all you need to do is to download the software enter your credit card details and away you go? Well yes kind of, but you may already have seen there are a multitude of different payment and deposit methods available ranging from credit and debit cards right the way through to the good old snail mail check! There are a range of options but it is vitally important that you choose the right one otherwise your casino and poker play may not be as rewarding as you first think. Credit Cards Historically credit cards have always been the first thing people think of when looking to deposit money – and why not – these days most of the major banks offer internet fraud protection and depositing via credit card is pretty instantaneous – so what is the problem – well there could be a few. 1, A lot of US credit card issuers now will not allow you to use their cards for gambling transactions, this is also now starting to hit the rest of the world with other big issuers. 2, Mastercard now prohibit winnings from being re deposited back onto cards bearing their logo. 3, Some banks both in the US and UK who do allow their credit cards to be used to deposit money, account for these transactions slightly differently and as a result charge interest differently usually with no interest free period and certainly in the UK with interest rates in excess of 21% AER. 4, There may also be limits with some online casinos and online poker rooms on the amount of money you can deposit and have re deposited back onto your card so if you win big you may not get it all back! Debit Cards Now becoming more standardised around the world but used heavily in the UK and Europe, don’t tend to suffer the same restrictions as credit cards and of course because the money is coming directly out of your bank account – unless you have an overdraft facility you are not exposed to the excessive interest rates associated with credit cards. Bank Transfers Still used a lot to make payments for bills etc, one of the biggest issues with bank transfers is the time – funds are not moved immediately so you often have to wait before you can use your gaming account for anything upto five days – during which lets be honest the banks will be earning some interest off your money, and at the same time the banks will charge you for the privilege of transferring your money this way. Online Payment Services I guess Paypal may well have started this trend off but now there are a whole host of online payment services to choose from (Paypal incidentally not being one of them as when they were took over by Ebay they stopped allowing Paypal to be used for casino transactions) The best known ones are Neteller, Moneybookers, Western Union & Stormpay but there are others such as Citadel. All pretty much offer a similar service in that you open an account with them – for free and you can then deposit money into them using either a credit or debit card or by wire transfer etc, once you have deposited money into them you can then use this account to deposit and withdraw funds from your online casino or poker room account – in most cases immediately. All have a range of different services attached to them and, obviously they have to make there money somewhere, a range of different charges – as an example I deposited £25 into my Neteller account from my UK credit card and was charged a 98p handling fee by Neteller – which was taken directly off the credit card – approx 4% charge which is quite a lot especially if you are depositing large amounts into the account. However one of the main advantages of using services such as this is that you can accept money and deposit money in different currencies – all converted at the payment services conversion rates and you can use one account to fund a range of different casino and poker accounts – and of course one account to receive all of your winnings! One final word of caution on this though – when using your credit card to deposit funds into your payment service account just check with your card issuer that they do not treat these deposits in the same way as they would treat a deposit to a casino and sting you with high rates of interest on the transaction. Snail Mail Methods Need I say anything – if you really don’t want to use any of the above or you are scared about leaving your details on the internet then you can always send a good old cheque (check!) and wait for it to clear – some (not all) online casinos and poker rooms accept this method. Conclusion There are a myriad of different ways for you to enjoy your online gaming and deposit and withdraw money safely, if you do struggle to use your credit card then one piece of advice which the banks would kill me for saying is to balance transfer the money off your credit card into your bank account then use your debit card to deposit the funds (thus avoiding the hefty interest charges) – be careful though for balance transfer fees but this is a whole different article! Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker