Video Poker Machines Machine Overview

With the increase in the popularity of poker over the last few years, more and more players are turning to video poker machines to satisfy their poker playing sweet tooth. Players have found that not only is video poker relatively easy to learn to play, but it is also a great way to hone real life poker skills. As a result, the video poker machine has been placed in an ever increasing number of establishments.

One of the most appealing aspects of the video poker machine is that the odds of winning are some of the best you’ll find in a game of chance. Video poker comes in just below Craps and Blackjack in the odds-of-winning department. Along with good odds, the video poker machine gives players the chance to take their time in making decisions, which allows the player to develop a strategy on the fly.

At a glance, the video poker machine could be mistaken for a slot machine, for they tend to have the same basic shape. Slot machines are a game based solely on chance, while with a video poker machine player skill comes into the mix. Although the slot machine and the poker machine both use the element of random display of images, the poker machine allows the player to keep and throw away chosen cards.

One of the first things a player should do is to look at the payout schedule of each machine considered for play. Look to see which machine pays out the best for each combination of winning hands. Just because the machines are located in the same area doesn’t mean they all payout the same.

In order to play video poker, the player must know how to play the regular game of Five Card Draw Poker. If you already know how to play Five Card Draw Poker at the poker table, then you will be quite at home on the video poker machine.

Video poker machines accept varying amounts of coins, with the general range being between one to five coins. The machine pays out on a winning hand based on the amount of coins used. More coins equal a higher payout on a win. Therefore, it pays to always use the maximum coin allowed on your chosen machine.

After coins are inserted into the machine, and the player hits the ‘deal’ button, cards are dealt out in a random fashion, just as if the player were in a real poker game. The player is dealt out five cards on the screen. The player then uses either a ‘hold’ button to choose the cards to keep, or uses a ‘discard’ button to throw away unwanted cards.

Most video poker machines make use of the ‘hold’ button, but always be sure which button your current machine uses. It only takes a second to glance at the controls, and it might save you from losing your first hand due to a mistake.

Once the choice has been made of which cards to keep, the player then hits the ‘deal’ button again. The player is then dealt out a number of cards equal to those that were discarded. If the player winds up holding a winning hand, then the video poker machine pays out relative to the payout schedule.

About the author:

Check our online poker review list, Poker.com bonus codes, and our Poker Room review.

College Poker Tournaments

College Poker Tournaments

Poker is sweeping the nation. Poker has always been popular, but with televised celebrity poker tournaments and large professional tournaments being played for millions of dollars, poker has grown in popularity.

One of the biggest areas of growth in poker popularity is college students. Poker is a great game but also is a great way to socialize. Many college students love to play poker because they get to be competitive, but also, they enjoy meeting and talking to others. College poker is so popular that college students are now having fund raisers playing poker and giving their proceeds to charity. There are even organizations that give away college scholarships to students who win poker tournaments.

Many college students learn and play poker on the internet as well. There are plenty of poker sites on the internet that will not only teach you how to play poker, but also allow simulation play. Simulation poker play is a great way to learn poker, playing actual games but you don’t have to worry about losing money.

Many poker sites have now realized how much of an impact college students are having on their play and are now catering to college students offering them better resources for better play.

About the author:

Jay is the web owner of http://www.poker-in.com Online Poker Tournaments, that provides information and resources about poker. Also visit http://www.on-line-gambling.info On Line Gambling for gambling info or http://www.sports-tickets.biz Sports Tickets for front row tickets.

Poker Strategy Poker Tournaments Overview

Poker Strategy - Poker Tournaments Overview Tournament poker is one of the world’s hottest fads. While poker has been consistently played for over 100 years, the tournament circuit is still a relatively new thing. In 1972, the grand prize at the World Series of Poker (a $10k buyin) was only $80,000. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker took home a cool $2.5 million. The reason for this drastic increase in prize money is the number of players that have entered tournaments. In 1972, only 8 players entered the world series of poker, while 839 entered in 2003.

I am not a fan of tournament poker. Television has made tournament poker look glamorous- a competition where skill prevails. However, the truth of the matter is that luck plays a much larger factor in tournaments than ring games. Think about it this way: if you started with $2,000, what is the chance that you would end up with $2 million dollars before the night was over at a regular no-limit game? Zero. However, to win a tournament where each player has 2k starting chips and 1,000 people enter, you would need to win two million in chips to win the tournament. Not an easy feat to do unless lady luck truly smiled upon you that day!

In short, the reasons I prefer to make money at ring games rather than tournaments are:

I can consistently win at a ring game, whereas a tournament is feast or famine. Luck plays a much smaller role in having a winning session at a ring game than at a tournament. It is much easier to tell if you are a good ring game player than a good tournament player. Since the best tournament player can easily go ten sessions winning nothing, it is very difficult to tell if you are ‘doing the right thing.’ Nevertheless, I play tournaments because they are fun, and because I hope to make some money at them. Winning at tournaments still requires sound poker strategy, but emphasizes several factors more so than ring games:

Your chips have a different relative value. In a standard poker game, you should view each dollar as having equal value. This is not the case in a tournament. When you start off with an initial thousand in chips, that thousand is worth a lot more than the next thousand you make. Since you cannot buy back in, you always need to have chips in order to survive. At the beginning of the tournament, you should be more reluctant to go all-in because even if you win you are not in much better of a position. However, later in the tournament you must gamble, or else you risk just losing by being blinded away. Domination plays a much bigger factor. Later in the tournament, the blinds will be so high that most players in contested hands will be all-in preflop. Thus, you want hands that dominate other hands. High pocket pairs are good because they dominate lower pocket pairs, and ace with a good kicker is a good hand because it dominates many other hands. Many players make the mistake of betting very hard with a low pocket pair such as 55. In truth, these low pockets are only good for stealing blinds. If someone calls you, you are at best a 50-50, while you are a 4.5:1 underdog if they have a higher pocket pair.

About the author:

Mark Rossi plays poker fulltime. Additionally he is webmaster of: http://BigDawgPoker.com http://FreePokerTraining.com

Freeroll poker tournaments the greatest deal of all

Freeroll poker tournaments are daily events that happen on a lot of the best online poker websites. Freerolls are much loved by the poker playing community as they offer the poker players the chance to win some real money without losing any. The entry to these freerolls is ? as the name suggests ? free and prize money can range from a few dollars for a placing to hundreds of dollars for winning the big freeroll Texas Holdem poker tournaments.

So why do the poker sites have freerolls? Is it because of their extremely generous nature and the fact that they make vast sums of money so they feel a moral obligation to give some of it back?

What do you think!

No of course it isn?t, the reason that the big poker websites offer freerolls is to attract people to their site.

Here?s the theory in a nutshell ? You hear that a site has a great freeroll, it costs you nothing to enter and you can win $100. You think ?Great!? and you go along to the site and get registered as a member so that you can play the freeroll. You play and finish early and are annoyed because you feel you should have done better, or you go close to winning and so you?re looking for some more action. What do you do? You spend some money at the site and play another poker game!

Always check the freerolls for cash-out requirements, you will nearly always need to play some hands for real money before they let you take the money out. Often this is on a 1=1 basis, so if you win $20 at the freeroll poker tournament you will need to have played for $20 in real money in order for you to be able to withdraw the money.

About the Author
Article by Ian McIntosh of www.Love-Texas-Holdem.com. Check out the site for all the latest information on Texas Holdem tournaments and poker freerolls.
Please feel free to use this poker article on your website, newsletter or blog as long as this resource box is left intact and there’s a live link to the site.

Basic Jacks or Better Video Poker Strategy

Video Poker is a game of skill - and using the simple combination of playing strategy and mathematical know-how, can be beat. Take note of the “pay schedule” shown on the front of each
machine, and look particularly at the most important information - how much the machine
will pay out for a Full-House versus a Flush.

An advanced video poker player will also realise that a “Jacks-or-Better” machine - classed as a 9/6 machine for paying out 9 coins : 1 for every Full House and 6 : 1 for every Flush, can be beaten using perfect Basic Video Poker Strategy.

Another machine offering the advanced video poker player an edge is the 10/6 Deuces Wild machine. These odds have been proven as
a result of computer modelling. For the other machines - even if a player plays the Perfect Video Poker Strategy game, he will still not win, though will have fun playing!

There are set rules defining Basic Video Poker Srategy whether playing online or in a casino - much like the Basic Strategy for Blackjack,?

Jacks-or-Better Video Poker Strategy

• In any hand holding a Jack, unless the hand is already a winner! - 4 to an open-ended Straight,
  4 to a Flush or 3 to a Straight
  Flush or Royal Flush - reject all cards only keeping the Jack
• In any hand holding only 1 card Jack or above, keep the single high card
  and reject all other cards and redraw.
• In any hand holding 1 pair lower than Jacks, keep the pair and reject all
  other cards - unless the hand is 4 to a Straight or 4 to a Flush
• In any hand holding a 2-pair, keep both pair and reject the odd-card.
• In any hand holding 3-of-a-kind keep the 3-of-a-kind and reject the other
  2 cards.
• In any hand holding 4 to a Straight, keep all 4 Straight cards and re-draw -
  unless the Straight draw is NOT open-ended and the hand is holding a
  Jack)
• In any hand holding 4 to a Flush, keep the 4 Flush - unless the hand holds 3 to the Royal in which case you would draw to the Royal
  Flush
• In any hand holding 4-of-a-kind, hold everything since a 1-card
  draw will not improve the cards.
• In any hand holding 3 to a Royal Flush, reject everything else and
  go for the Royal - unless the hand is already a Straight Flush!

Practice these strategies whist playing - perhaps even print this page out to
refer to the Basic Video Poker strategies until they become 2nd nature. Go on…get the skill and hit those machine!

About the Author
You can read Ryan’s general musings about online gambling at http://www.online-gambling-insider.com

Poker Tournaments Can Reap Huge Rewards

If you play poker online, then you know what a rush it is to “pull up a seat”. The advantage of playing online is you can register with any poker room and be playing a tournament within minutes, whether it’s for pin money or high stakes.

There are a number of freeroll tournaments that you can participate in on a daily basis to get some important tournament-related experience without spending a penny. Sometimes it is possible to add to your real money bankroll by slowly building it from your freeroll winnings.

These “free” to enter tournaments are also a fantastic way of winning a place at some of the largest in-person tournaments around, so you need to know how to take advantage of them. If you play your cards right you could turn a small entry fee (or even a free one) into a seat at the World Series of Poker!

The greatest thing about playing tournaments is everyone starts with the same amount of chips and you don’t have a player coming into a ring game with $500 to your $25. All players start on a level playing field with the same bankroll, it can be anything from 1000-1500 in tournament chips.

In tournaments the pot looks a little sweeter because once someone is eliminated, he or she is out. Not only will your carefully concealed A-A win you a stack of chips, it will also dump guy to your left out of the tournament!

Whatever tournaments you choose to play online, make sure you understand the prize structure. Who knows, you could be one of the lucky ones and actually win one of the satellite tournaments. What better way to become a high roller than to win a tournament that sends you to the World Series of Poker?

About the author:

The advantage of playing online is you can register with any poker room and be playing a tournament within minutes, whether it’s for pin money or high stakes.

Winning Video Poker Hands

Video Poker combines both the luck of the draw and the skill of the player. Luck comes into play when the video poker machine randomly deals out the player’s cards. Skill on the part of the player is needed to know which cards to keep and which cards to discard. Although luck is a big factor in the game, the likelihood of winning increases based on the amount of skill the player possesses.

No matter what the skill level the player has, it’s important to know what to keep and what to discard if you want to end up with a winning hand. It’s essential to know the types of winning hands that are available in video poker if the player is playing to win.

The smart player knows the patterns to look for, which will make the difference between them winning big and losing it all. Here is a listing of the most common combination of video poker hands ranked from the highest possible to the lowest.

Sequential Royal Flush: This is a hand which occurs when the cards fall in exact order and suit, like 10 Spades, J Spades, Q Spades, K Spades, and A Spades. Remember this is video poker, and that the Sequential Royal Flush is different from the Royal Flush.

Royal Flush: This is when you get a same suit flush with the cards 10 Hearts, Q Hearts, J Hearts, A Hearts, and K Hearts in any order. As long as all the cards are there, the order is not an issue.

Straight Flush: The Straight Flush occurs when all five cards are in sequence, and all five cards are of the same suit 4 Spades, 5 Spades, 6 Spades, 7 Spades, and 8 Spades.

Four of a Kind: Four of a Kind is when there are four cards which all possess the same rank 5 Diamonds, 5 Spades, 5 Clubs, and 5 Hearts.

Full House: The Full House is three of a kind plus a pair. Suit does not come into play with a Full House. A good example of a Full house would be 5 Diamonds, 5 Clubs, 5 Hearts, 7 Clubs, and 7 Spades.

Flush: The Flush is when the player gets five cards with all having the same suit. Rank makes no difference with this hand. It’s the suit that is featured in the Flush. For an example; 2 Hearts, 4 Hearts, 5 Hearts, 7 Hearts, 10 Hearts.

Straight: A player holds a Straight when all five cards held are in rank sequence. With the following hand, the player would have a Straight; 2 Hearts, 3 Clubs, 4 Spades, 5 Hearts, 6 Diamonds.

Three of a Kind: When a player is dealt three cards all of which have the same rank, they have Three of a Kind. The remaining two cards do not count as anything in the hand. The suit of the cards does not matter with this hand. An example of this hand is 4 Hearts, 4 Clubs, and 4 Spades.

Two Pair: Two Pair is when the player has two pairs of cards, each set of a different rank. An example of this hand is 3 Diamonds, 3 Clubs, 5 Hearts and 5 Spades.

One Pair: One Pair is two cards of the same rank, regardless of the suit. An example of this hand is 7 Diamonds and 7 Hearts.

About the author:

If you’re searching for local poker home games or local poker tournaments, visit http://www.localpokersearch.com/ today.

Charity Poker Tournament

The card game of poker, often associated with Old West saloons and gunslingers, has recently seen an explosive upsurge in popularity in the United States. The televised big-money tournament World Series of Poker and World Poker Open games have created poker celebrities and millions of poker fans. Naturally, the next step in the evolution of a sport is charity games. Though the idea is a new one, some organizations are embracing the idea of charity poker tournaments as a new and exciting way to raise money for good causes.

There are many venues jumping on to the charity poker bandwagon, and the events are attracting fans, celebrities, and millions in funds for non-profit organizations. In October of 2005, Pulver Enterprises hosted the ?Best Bet for the Cure: Charity Poker No-Limit Texas Hold?Em Tournament? at their Voice on Net conference in Boston. The tournament raised thousands for the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation and The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, and attracted celebrity participants such as John Ratzenberger and poker star Phil Hellmuth. Since Boston does not allow gambling, the fund-raising took place in the form of a raffle. Ofer Gneezy, President and CEO of iBasis won the top raffle prize - a $10,000 buy-in seat to the World Series of Poker Tournament. Winners of the poker games received the coveted bronze Pulver cup.

Another recent charity poker tournament was held in Las Vegas. The Cory Lidle Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament boasted 103 entrants, several of them celebrities, and raised over $20,000 that was donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the tsunami relief effort. Celebrity participants included baseball players Cory Lidle, Adam Dunn, Mike Lieberthal, Ron McKinnon, and Eric Chavez, actor William August, MLB free agents Tom Wilson and Scott Erickson, and rising poker star Thomas Keller. The winner of the event, Kelly Flynn, took home $30,000.

In addition to live charity poker tournaments, many Internet casinos hold charity poker tournaments with the proceeds being donated to various causes. If you love to play poker and like to make a difference in the world through charity, you might consider signing on to play in a charity poker tournament. You will get to interact with other players, do something good, and who knows - maybe you?ll meet a poker celebrity or two! Visit your favorite Internet casino or type in ?charity poker tournament? in a search engine to find one starting up near you today.

About the Author :

This article is the property of Free Casinos

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Video Poker Play Maximum Coins

The arguments are almost endless about whether or not to play the maximum number of
coins on each hand in video poker. We’ll attempt to make some sense of it for you.

In almost video poker machines, the payout is proportionally the same regardless of the
number of coins bet. In other words, if you have a winning hand that pays 10 for one
coin bet, it will pay 20 for two coins bet, 30 for three coins bet, etc.

As a result, there is no advantage to playing more than one coin - WITH ONE
EXCEPTION: A ROYAL FLUSH! If you hit a royal flush, you are almost always paid
five times the normal odds if you bet the maximum coins.

For example, assume you’re playing a machine that pays 200 for a royal flush with one
coin bet. It will then typically pay 400 for two coins, 600 for three coins, and 800 for
four coins. There is no advantage to playing, say, four coins instead of one because the
payout is exactly four times the one coin payout.

However, if you bet the maximum of five coins, the royal flush will usually pay 5,000
instead of the proportional odds payout of 1,000. This is a huge advantage if you do hit a
royal flush and you will certainly kick yourself all the way home if you only have one
coin bet.

However, the odds of hitting a royal flush are over 600,000 to one! So do you feel lucky?
You’re essentially faced with the decision of whether to spend your money at the much
faster rate of five coins per hand in order to collect a large payday if you do beat the odds
and draw a royal.

Only you can decide how much risk you want to assume.

Good luck!

About the Author
Tom is the webmaster at BlackjackForEveryone.com,
which is a website dedicated to turning beginning Blackjack
players into serious recreational players.

Play By Play The 2005 myVirtualCard Poker Tournament

(Montreal) May 12, 2005 - Webmaster Access East had many reasons to justify its motto ?Back Where We Belong? at this year?s Montreal edition, not the least of which was the first adult-industry live Poker Tournament held by myVirtualCard.com.

Shrimp cocktail and rum & cokes, live industrial rock and a touch of the adult biz in the form of a pair of curvy d?cor girls, thus the atmosphere was set for a no-limit Texas Hold?em tournament.

The billing company?s many clients, unanimous in their praise of services and support provided by multi-method processing platforms and innovations, indirectly recruited a good quota of registered players glad to fork over a little bit of cash for the chance to participate in the tournament.

Though prizes were the final pay out, participants numbered at least four dozen and included the inexperienced and those less obviously so.

Open bar helped early registration and tournament play take off as myVirtualCard CEO Howard Cohen made the opening address. ?I wouldn?t hire him for my kid?s bar-mitzvah,? said myVirtualCard VP Joshua Ungar. ?But he actually did a pretty good job, and this wasn?t a kid?s event.?

The tournament advanced with eminent adult personalities dropping like flies as eliminations accumulated. Mantas from Rabbit?s Reviews, Ron from PlugInFeeds ? all called and folded and bet and dropped, with Raja from SexSearch and Ramos of GoFuckYourself struggling to keep straight faces.

As the tournament screws tightened, MVC programmers Jason Lotito and Richard Rondeau each grabbed a girl and took to the dance floor in a scene somewhat reminiscent of a hardcore-techie ball.

?I didn?t know they had it in them,? said Ungar. ?I?ve never seen programmers move like that. They were each given a raise after the tournament.?

?There was one common complaint,? Ungar said. Apparently, one of the shuttle-bus drivers moonlighted as a tour-guide. ?Players anxious to get to the tournament were taken on the scenic route and given an extensive Montreal History crash-course.?

?We also had a visit from the police,? said Ungar. ?The tournament took place at Le Sanctuaire Health and Sporting club, which is connected to several prestigious condominium buildings. Since the club was in sort of a residential zone, the band, thankfully, was asked to stop playing.?

In the end the tournament played an organic poker that ended with Raffi, of AdultLounge, winning out over first-runner up Ramos of GoFuckYourself.

First prizes included free content from AdultContent.ca, and $1500 cash from the myVirtualCard crew. Also included in the package was a complete $12,000 live video chat site package from 2much.net, LiveCamNetwork 1.9, which included full support and, ?everything from webdesign to back-end administration,? said 2much MediaGuy Greg Jones.

?We had a great time at the tournament,? Cohen said. ?Many of our guys were quite inebriated, some of them probably for the first time in their lives. For others the same cannot be said.?

?Raffi and Ramster played a hell of a tournament,? Ungar said. ?The Adult.com crew also put together a hell of a show.?

?The myVirtualCard team did a great job,? said Jones. ?Pulling together to make the tournament a great success.?

Explained Ungar: ?I really have a great team at myVirtualCard, which in my view is the key to longevity in any business. It?s going to be bigger and better next year.?

At which point he bit and ate a thousand dollar chip.

###

About the Author
Zombay edits and writes for iSN News - The Link To Live Video Chat(www.internetsexnetwork.com), as well as blogging the adult industry via his Porn Zombie blog ( http://pornzombie.blogspot.com )

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