29/04/2009 In Poker, Strategy

If you’ve ever taken part in any poker discussions online, you’ve probably seen mention of EV. If you want to get in on the discussion but don’t know how, here is a basic explanation regarding what poker players mean when they refer to EV.

Expected Value

EV stands for expected value, and players usually speak in terms of positive EV (+EV) or negative EV (-EV). This simply refers to the value of a certain play in a poker game. If you call a $20 bet to win a $100 pot and you are better than 5-to-1 to win the hand, you have made a +EV play. If you are worse than 5-to-1 to win the hand, you have made a –EV play.

The Importance of EV in Poker

Put simply, expected value is what poker is all about. If you make more positive EV plays then negative EV ones over the course of your playing career, you will be a winning player in the online poker rooms. If you make more negative EV plays, you will be a losing player.

Calculating EV

Calculating expected value is not always easy and how you will do it will vary given the situation. For example, some players will refer to a decision to sit in a game at higher stakes than you are ready for as “-EV.” Even though this is not as clearly quantifiable as putting $50 into a pot that is only really worth $20 to you, it is still meaningful. If that game has stakes so high that the variance will wipe out your bankroll before you have a chance for your +EV plays to work, you are in a –EV situation. If you are in a game where most of the other players are making more +EV plays than you, you are in a –EV situation. Of course, more simply, calling bets when you don’t have the correct odds to do so is –EV.

Using EV
EV is a helpful analysis tool because it will alert you as to what the correct play will be should a similar situation arise again. Your goal as a poker player should be to identify common –EV moves that you make and replace them with +EV moves.

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22/04/2009 In Casino, Online Betting, Poker

For many years there has been a debate on whether gambling should be considered legal or not. This topic with regards to the legality of gambling and online casinos is a serious matter and must be thought through properly before making a statement. This is also one of the reasons why there should be legal advice for online casino players to ensure that what they are doing is not breaking the law.

We can not deny the fact that gambling has already become a part of our everyday lives and daily routine. Online gambling, whether legal or not, should be done with great care. Many have engaged in online casino games, so if you want to get involved in online gambling, it is important for you to check the local laws of where you live, to ensure that gambling online is not illegal. If you can not get any information with regards to the legality of gambling, then the right thing for you to do is to get in touch with the local authorities and discuss with them the rules to make sure that it is indeed safe to gamble online. There are many places where gambling is legal, but you still have to check if the casino has a proper license to operate.

Online casino and gambling online is considered legal only to those people who are above eighteen years of age, so another thing to consider would be the age requirement. There are also many online casino websites in the internet that are readily available, so you also have to make sure that these online casinos are legal. But you have to be careful, before you actually play at an online casino, be sure to take legal advice just to be sure.

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20/04/2009 In Poker, Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News, Strategy

Are you on the lookout for added value? If you’re not, you’re probably not thinking about poker the right way. In any form of gambling, where money is wagered on random outcomes, the successful player is the one who can find an edge. An edge means that the player has managed to create an arrangement where they will get paid for their outcome at a rate that is disproportionate to (and better than) the true odds of the event happening. In other words, they overcome the randomness of the event. The ability to gain such an edge is built into poker, which is what distinguishes it from most other forms of gambling. If you have a better understanding of pot odds and situational factors than your opponents, you will win in the long term. To maximize your winning opportunities, it’s important to press every single edge you can get, and one of these edges is in the area of added value.

What Is Added Value?

Added value simply means that something is worth more than you are paying for it. If someone sells you a seat at the main event of the World Series of Poker for $5000, you have gained value, since it is worth $10,000. On the other hand, if Phil Hellmuth offers to sell you half of his World Series of Poker main event winnings for $6000, you are probably gaining value, even though the face value of such a proposition would be $5000, because he is such a strong player.

How Can You Take Advantage of Added Value?

The most common situation you will find yourself in where you can gain added value is in a tournament with a large guarantee. A guarantee means a certain amount of money will be paid out no matter how many entries they get. Generally, the buy-ins are enough to cover the guarantee but if not, you have added value. For example, with a $100 buy-in tournament with a $200,000 guarantee, the tournament would need to get 2000 players to make their guarantee. If they do not, you get added value, because there is more money available than has been contributed per person. Be on the lookout for these opportunities.

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17/04/2009 In Online Betting

The 54th Eurovision Song Contest is on in mid-May, fancy a bet?

This year the contest is is held in Moscow and you can see all the entrants and their videos on the official Eurovision website. Each European country contest to see who can write and perform the best original pop song in three minutes or less. A few other countries seem to join in, like Israel.

The final is televised and becomes a must-see for the entertainment industry. 42 countries will be competing from the 12-16 May 2009.

Not sure if you are into this sort of thing, but if you are and fancy betting on the outcome then most of the online bookmakers are offering odds for the Eurovision betting. Take a look at their videos, you will get an idea of who has a chance of winning.

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14/04/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Strategy

What is rakeback and what can it do for you? Rakeback is a promotion that provides an alternative to the traditional online poker bonus. Why would you want an alternative? If you plan on playing a lot at one particular site, rakeback can be to your advantage. For every hand you play, money is raked out of the pot for the casino. With rakeback, some of that money is returned to you. Over the course of many hours of play, that rake money can really add up.

Rakeback Do’s and Don’ts

When looking for rakeback deals, do:

Go to a rakeback affiliate. You won’t find rakeback directly at your poker site. You will need to go to a site that is specifically designed to direct poker traffic to sign up with various online poker sites through offering rakeback.

Find the best rakeback deal you can. Not all rakeback deals are created equal. You may be offered 10 percent, 20 percent or even 30 percent rakeback. The amount of rakeback may depend on how popular the site is to begin with and how badly they need traffic, but even if you have a specific site in mind, it can’t hurt to sniff out the best deals.

Prepare to sign up with some of the less well-known sites. If you have to play on a major site like PartyPoker or PokerStars, you’re out of luck when it comes to rakeback. These sites are big enough that they don’t need to offer this kind of promotion. If you don’t mind playing on one of the less popular sites though, you can find all sorts of great deals.

When looking for rakeback deals, don’t:

Don’t try to get a sign up bonus and a rakeback deal with the same site. You cannot do both, so if you’ve already signed up with a site using an online poker bonus (or signed up without any kind of promotion), you will have no chance of getting rakeback for that site.

Don’t sign up through a rakeback deal if you don’t plan to play on the site long term. Rakeback really pays when you put in many hours at a given site. If you’re planning a “hit and run,” you’re much better off seeking out a lucrative sign up bonus.

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07/04/2009 In Casino

Bingo online has become big.

Many online casino sites are now offering online bingo to their customers. I had a look at casino review sites last night and Rushmore casino online is offering bingo online, together with an impressive array of other online casino games… some of them I have never even heard of before! So if you are interested in bingo online, why not take a look and give it a go.

Gala bingo is another one… and I have to admit I didn’t know there was so much to playing bingo. I just thought you sat there with a bingo sheet full of numbers. You waited for the numbers to be called out and if you had the numbers that they called out, then you crossed them off your bingo sheet. When you had crossed out all the numbers on your sheet you are finished. The first bingo player to cross out all their numbers, shouts out “Bingo” and is the winner…

But there is a whole lot more, have a look. You get bingo jackpots, bingo sign up and deposit bonuses and the catch phrase that I really like is bingo online – know your “bingo lingo”!!!!

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06/04/2009 In Poker

Did you know there is something called internet poker tv? Jim was complaining at the poker table, about how he keeps missing the good episodes and poker games on tv. I always hear about them afterwards and forget to record them… sometimes I can see clips on YouTube, but its not the same.

Sound familiar?

Then young Billy (Billy junior) chips in (excuse the pun…) with “why dont you watch internet poker tv?”, with that durrr look on his face, like I cant believe you “old folk” dont know about this… you can watch it any time it suits you, no fuss all you have to do is go to the site… durr…

Got some good poker hands this weekend, was very pleased with how things worked out. I stayed at home and mostly played poker online, which was a good decision because it paid off nicely. I also got a good tip off about Poker Central, a great poker portal for poker bonuses, freerolls, a choice of poker rooms and reviews to help you make that choice – thats if you are looking for new deals. With their bonus code you are entitled to special promotions, its worth a look…

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02/04/2009 In Poker

I was watching High Stakes poker on YouTube last night. I think it is one of the more recent episodes, its episode 5 and they have a mix of new and old poker players, together with different nationalities.

Peter Eastgate the 2008 World Series of Poker champion from Denmark is playing and he reaches for the chip stack and grabs the wrong color chip thinking it is a lessor value. Daniel Negreanu notices and tells everyone, and Eastgate admits to his mistake – it kind of gives it all away the players still in the hand realize that his hand is not that strong, they out play him and he loses the hand.

I wonder if the poker game would have played out differently if Negreanu had kept quiet and if Eastgate had made it look like that is what he wanted to do. The other poker players may have thought wow, he has a serious hand to bet that much and they may have folded if he had kept applying pressure, by increasing the raise by a lot.

It ends up costing Eastgate $25,000 because he threw the wrong color chip into the pot – phew!!! What an expensive mistake!!! Bet he won’t do that again in a hurry!

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31/03/2009 In Casino, Poker

I just don’t understand some guys. Moaning on about tough times and how hard their life is… bla, bla… they get no sympathy from me!

Because they do nothing about trying to improve their situation. Change jobs, get a second job or just get a job in the first place. Start a business, look for opportunities don’t just sit around and complain!

Then again you can look for ways of making your money last longer. You could look for promotions, shop around a bit and compare deals. Poker players should be looking at online poker review sites, weighing up the best casino bonus options, so that they can get that better bonus.

The casino bonuses allow you to play poker or other casino games for longer, giving you a better chance of winning the jackpot. Its all sitting there waiting to be exploited, you just have to get off your rear-end and do something about it.

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30/03/2009 In Poker

I played some online poker on the weekend. Things were pretty slow, spent hours grinding it out for little return – must be the hard times – people dont want to take chances and are playing extra tight.

Don’t know if it was just the tables I happened to be playing at, but they were quite happy to fold when I applied the pressure. Maybe I came across as an extra aggressive player… who knows? But as soon as I put in a really huge raise, these guys just gave in. Most of the time they were just giving away the blinds, but still it was so defensive and tight.

Wonder if people are getting afraid of losing money because of the harder times?

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30/03/2009 In Rakeback Advice

Do you know who your best friend in poker is? Well actually it is not your Uncle Randy, it is rakeback. Now let me tell you why rakeback is your best friend in poker.

Rakeback Is Rich

Okay, so almost every Christmas your good old Uncle Randy finds a shiny silver dollar behind your ear — just as you are opening the yard-sale sweater he had helped your Aunt Eunice find for you. Rakeback is not a cheapskate, but it does “re-gift” you money every time that you play poker.

Rakeback Is Consistent

You are understanding when some years later your good old slightly senile Uncle Randy sneezes a roll of pennies in place of that silver dollar. Rakeback never comes up short. Every dime that you hand over in rake is calculated, and the money you collect in rakeback is refunded to your account every month.

Rakeback Is Always Ready to Play

Sometimes Uncle Randy has to join Aunt Eunice when she combs local yard sales for hidden treasures and canned food, leaving you one player short of a poker game. Rakeback is always an available bonus option, and all you have to do is play for rakeback to pay.

Rakeback Can Aid in Your Victory

Most players measure their success in terms of their win rate. If you are playing without rakeback, the rake is already present in your current figures, but you are neglecting the potential for a 30 percent jump in your win rate. If you are already a winning player, rakeback can significantly increase your bankroll. If you are on the fringe of playing in the red, rakeback can provide the bankroll buffer that keeps you going. In the course of a month, if you are paying $100 in rake, you could receive $25 or $30 back at the end of the month simply by playing on a poker site that offers rakeback.

Just remember that there are restrictions on having multiple accounts with the same poker site. An attempt to open a second account with your present poker site will result in you being kicked off the site and potentially suffering further penalties. In order to start getting a 30 percent return on your rake dues, all that you have to do is switch to a new online poker site that provides a rakeback incentive.

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26/03/2009 In Casino, Poker

I was chatting in a casino forum the other day, and we got into a debate on marginal hands and whether its worth taking the risk. Phew some people got really heated about what to do and what not to do.

Poker strategy depends on so many things, its hard to say exactly what you will do in a certain situation. Ask a poker pro what they will do and they will probably tell you a different answer each time… Sometimes you don’t even know why you stick with a certain hand, maybe its just a feeling you get or a slight sign of weakness…

A casino forum or poker chat rooms are good places to exchange ideas and winning poker strategies online. You have to apply the filter to what some guys say, because there will always be the ones that are full of themselves – the know it alls!

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26/03/2009 In Casino, Poker

I’ve just been catching up on the “Durrrr Challenge”, reading the latest in online casino news and reviews, so that I can keep up with what is going on in the world of poker and online casinos.

Dwan and Antonius resumed their match this week but they still have 43,000 hands to play! I enjoy railbirding but I like to see a result… I’m going to grow old waiting for these two to finish! It looks pretty even at this stage, both are neck and neck, sparring away at each other…

I think I’ll glance at the online casino news and poker news once in a while just to keep an eye on whats happening in the Durrrr Challenge, but I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over this one… waiting for a result.

Why didn’t they make it over say 10,000 or 20,000 hands of poker, thats enough surely to see who is the poker champion?

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24/03/2009 In Poker

Everyone knows that the economy has been struggling for some time, and may continue to struggle in the months ahead. This begs the question, are people still playing poker? Should you continue to play poker? What are the effects of the crisis on poker? Playing Poker in the Financial Crisis for Amateurs A lot of it depends on why you play poker. If you play poker for recreation/entertainment, you should only stop if your income prohibits you from setting aside a playing bankroll. If you can still put aside a certain amount each week or month for play without affecting your household finances, and that amount is sufficient for playing the games you like to play, you should by all means continue. If your bankroll is by necessity smaller than it used to be, you should consider switching to lower stakes games. If you have no bankroll at all, you’ll have to limit yourself to free games or microstakes games until things turn around. Playing Poker in the Financial Crisis for Pros Professionals may be concerned that there will not be good enough games in the wake of the financial crisis. The reality is that as more and more people have become educated about poker, good games have been more challenging to find. However, they are still, have always been and will always be out there. There will always be players whose jobs are not affected by the financial crisis, or who still have a sizeable bankroll. The only wrinkle is that pros will need to be more selective about their games. However, if they are, the good games are out there to find. Future of Poker and the Financial Crisis As the economy improves, there may be an influx of new money and both skilled amateurs and pros can take advantage. However, this may not happen for some time. In the meantime, poker players should rely on the same kind of patience and self-discipline that got them to where they are in poker in the first place. As always, this should produce good long-term results.

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20/03/2009 In Casino

I often get asked, “Where can I find USA online casinos that I can trust?”

Well the answer is that there are many, but if it’s a US online casino site that you want, then its best to dig deeper in the site to check that it really is a US registered and operated site – because you know the internet… there can be anything online!

Or make contact with them to see where they operate from and where the poker site is registered. There is no harm in asking, just to make sure.

I’m sure you must know the well known online poker sites like Full Tilt, but for the best online casinos you can have a look on a search engine like Google. I typed in “Online Casinos USA” and found this site – its a poker portal offering you all the usual casino informaion and poker rooms. Does that answer your question? Now how easy was that? … it took me 5 minutes… not even.

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18/03/2009 In Casino

Having good casino software can make all the difference to your casino gaming experience.

I visited my friend Gary on the weekend and he showed me what casino games he is playing at the moment.

Gary, sorry to say this, but you are about 2 years out of date and when it comes to software, thats like 10 or 20 years behind – like listening to 80′s music… nothing wrong with that!! At least you can hear what they are singing about and it makes sense (now I’m not that old, I just like 80′s classics ok…).

But music and casino software are not the same – Thank Goodness!!!!

Gary, please do yourself a favor and get some top online casino software – upgrade this old stuff, it sucks!!!

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17/03/2009 In Strategy

A large part of online poker is the online poker promotions that come with it. Online poker is big business and online poker sites want you playing with them and not with some other site. This is the impetus behind large signup bonuses and promotional freerolls.

The Frequent Player Points Concept

It’s also the idea behind frequent player points. Frequent player points may go by different names on different sites, but they all mean the same thing. They are credits you earn by playing on a site that can be exchanged for rewards. Some sites offer advanced FPP programs instead of rakeback. Taking advantage of these frequent player points can enhance your online poker experience.

Earning Frequent Player Points

Remember what you had to do to clear your online poker sign up bonus? Frequent player points are earned the same way, with the distinction being that you can use them at any time. You earn frequent player points with every raked hand and tournament you play. There was a time where you could only earn points by playing in cash games, but tournaments are so wildly popular that most sites have relented and allowed tournament players to earn points to, albeit often at a much slower rate than their cash-playing counterparts.

What Can You Do with Frequent Player Points?

There are two main options for your frequent player points. You can exchange them for merchandise or you can use them for tournament entries. When you use them for tournament entries you are essentially “buying” a freeroll, playing in a tournament with a cash prize without putting up any money. Frequent player points are also popular for buying into satellites, small tournaments which can earn you an entry in a bigger tournament. If you don’t feel the need to use points for tournaments, the online poker site will have its own store where you can shop using your frequent player points. Depending on the amount of points you have, you can buy anything from a deck of cards emblazoned with the site’s logo, or on the other end of the spectrum, you might even be able to buy a car. You’ll have to put in some serious hours for that though.

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11/03/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Strategy

Rakeback doesn’t coach you on how the game is played, but it does allow you to have an increased win rate. This doesn’t mean that you actually win more hands, it means that you retain or regain more money over time if you take advantage of rakeback offers.

What’s Rake?

The rake is the means by which online sites make money for providing tables for poker. Since poker games are not played against the house, poker rooms need another form of the house advantage, so they created the rake. The rake is an amount between five and ten percent that is taken from each pot. In most cases any player who receives cards gets credit for participating in the rake. Some online poker rooms give grace by declining the rake when a hand ends before the flop.

How Does a Rakeback Offer Work?

When you sign up with a rakeback affiliate site, you begin accumulating rakeback as soon as you start to play. The web site will offer a percentage of rakeback to be awarded to your account at the end of each month. So if you pay $100 in rake over the course of a month and the rakeback rate is 26 percent, then you will receive $26 dollars back into your poker account at the end of the month.

Typically, when you calculate win rate, the rake is already factored in. So consider the increase with a rakeback return. If you generally maintain a win rate of $15 an hour playing in raked games, then your win rate stands to become $17 or $18 after collecting rakeback.

Consider Rakeback

If a large sign-up bonus already drew you to a specific site, you will not be able to sign up for rakeback on that particular site. If you are still weighing your options between a sign-up bonus and rakeback, consider your own attention span. Are you someone who prefers a new poker site every few weeks? Then hefty sign-up bonuses might be the better choice for you. If you are a player who likes to stick with familiar tables and return adversaries, then the rakeback is probably a wise move.

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02/03/2009 In Casino

Oh dear it looks like I have upset the Italian community… again… it wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve managed to step on a few Italian toes… touchy bunch!! they don’t like fun being made of them, that’s for sure. We had better call in the United Nations peace keepers to patch up the international relations here.

I had better watch out just now I’ll be waking up with a horse’s head in my bed!

Sorry Giovanni.. sorry Alfredo didn’t mean any harm, I was just having a little fun…pulling your leg…

So, what did you get up to this weekend?

I spent most of mine playing casino games at one of the top rated online casinos, won some lost some, just as usual… although I always play online casino games…cos I think one day I’m a gonna get lucky… I always just break even, never win big… suppose thats better than losing everything I own!

I make much more money playing online poker, even though you’ve gotta grind it out.

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27/02/2009 In Rakeback News

Whoa boy the blog posts are coming thick and fast today!!!

Before I forget, I just wanted to tell you about my great Italian friend called Giovanni. He still lives with his mamma, like all good Italian boys…

His mamma runs a tight ship, cooks a mean pasta and has a huge pair of lungs on her…

Anyway you know when Giovanni pulls you aside and whispers, “heh… do you know about this rakeback thing? It canna make ya some money on da side, you know what-a I mean…”

So I play along a bit… because Giovanni is usually the last one to catch on to anything… but the funny thing is that he thinks he is the first one to find out stuff… we find it quite funny!

I reply, “What you mean Giovanni, you joined the mafia or what?”

He didn’t like that reply and I had to fend him off for a bit.

But you know that even when Giovanni knows about rakeback and the best online poker rakeback deals available, then you know that this is starting to catch on everywhere and people are waking up to the fact that they can get a great income on the side, just by playing poker. Even in Italy!! So if you know Italian and can get a good rakeback deal at this site, then go for it.

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27/02/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Strategy

Many of the most well known online poker rooms sprang into existence before the poker boom and indeed contributed to the explosion of poker in the 21st Century. Full Tilt Poker is one of the first online poker rooms created in response to the newfound popularity of poker.

Full Tilt, whose name is a play on both the idea of doing something with maximum effort (“going at it full tilt”) and the concept of tilt in poker, which means to lose emotional control and play badly as a result, was founded in 2004. The concept was a players’ poker site, created by players for players, and the initial founders included such poker celebrities as Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow and Jennifer Harman.

Team Full Tilt

The team of poker pros affiliated with Full Tilt Poker has now expanded to become the most massive field of pros in online poker. These pros not only play on the site, they also offer tips and advice that can be accessed by Full Tilt Poker members. Full Tilt players even have the opportunity to ask these pros questions at certain times.

Games on Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt Poker offers a wide variety of poker games. They have Texas hold’em of course, and Omaha and Omaha hi/lo. They also have Razz, seven card stud, seven card stud hi/lo and mixed games like H.O.R.S.E. Full Tilt has cash games and tournaments and even has a large tournament series with a huge prize pool known as FTOPS (The Full Tilt Online Poker Series). Full Tilt Poker accepts U.S. players.

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27/02/2009 In Rakeback Advice

The only way to efficiently battle the effects the poker rake has on your bankroll is through rakeback. Rakeback is usually offered by special sites called rakeback providers, who strike deals with the poker rooms to give them the right to offer rakeback in exchange for player traffic. The setup is OK for the rooms, as they give up a part of their revenues to attract much needed active players, and it’s good for the rakeback provider too who can come up with an attractive offer this way. He too however will have to settle for much reduced commission percentages.

The biggest winners in this whole setup are the players who get 30-135% of their rake back, and may even end up being paid to play (if they sign up for a prop deal).

Rakeback works just like a first deposit bonus. I’m sure you know what a first deposit bonus is. Whenever you sign up to a poker room you get such a bonus, which usually comes in the shape of a percentage match on your first deposit. The bonus doesn’t land in your real money account right away. It needs to be unlocked/redeemed first. Some poker rooms do transfer money to your real money account right away, but this money needs to be redeemed as well: you won’t be able to cash it out till you fulfill the turn-over requirements.

In order to unlock your bonus money, you need to play in real money cash games and tournaments and generate revenue for the poker room either in the form of the rake (at cash tables) or the tournament fees in tourneys. For every dollar of the rake you generate, you unlock a certain percentage of your bonus money. In other words, every time you generate $1 of rake, some of it comes right back to you in the shape of the bonus money you unlock. What is this if it isn’t rake reduction?

Rakeback works in a similar fashion, however there’s one essential difference between sign-up bonuses and rakeback: rakeback never expires. While sign-up bonuses are unlocked completely after a while (or they simply expire), rakeback stays with you for the entire time you play at the poker room which gave you the deal. Even if they stop offering rakeback, you’ll still enjoy your rake rebate for as long as you play there.

Most rakeback deals give you around 30% of your rake back. Special deals called poker prop deals, offer much higher percentages. Many of these prop deals give you over 100% rake back, which means that you are actually getting paid to play at such poker rooms.

There are certain restrictions though that all prop players have to live by, but generally speaking, a prop deal is still an extremely profitable setup for most online players.

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26/02/2009 In Rakeback Advice

The poker rake is a huge hurdle in every new player’s path as soon as he/she moves on from the play money tables to the real money ones. While most people do know about the rake, most of them fail to correctly assess the impact it’ll have on their play. Most people consider the rake a minor setback and reckon that by playing well they’ll beat it anyways. Some of them believe that it is the winner who pays the rake, and therefore they do not worry about it too much.

The idea that it is the winner who pays the rake probably stems from the fact that the rake comes off the pot which eventually finds its way to the winner of the hand.

The problem however is, that the pot is raked before it is awarded to the winner, which means that it is not the winner who really pays the rake. Who is it then? Is it possible that you pay rake even as you lose a hand? Unfortunately, that’s exactly how things work.

Before it is awarded to the winner, the pot is a stand-alone entity at the table. If you take a closer look at how the pot came to be, you’ll realize who it really belongs to.

All players who put money into the pot, either via the compulsory bets (blinds) or by their own free will, have an equity in it, which means they pay a percentage of the rake as well.

How much rake a player pays depends on how much money he puts into the pot. Poker rakeback is just about the only way to recover a part of the rake that you pay. The standard rakeback deal offers around 30% rake rebate, but there are more generous deals as well, like the PowerPoker rakeback deal which gives players 33%.

The fact that everyone at the table has a direct influence over the amount of rake paid can be illustrated through a simple yet enlightening example: player A and B are both tight rocks and they play against each other heads-up twice every week. The dealer of the poker room where they play is already familiar with the amount of rake which results from the action the two generate.

One day, player C joins their table. Unlike A and B, C is a loose aggressive player, who is a beginner though and thus unfamiliar with the subtle aspects of poker strategy. C flings his stack around and at the end of the session walks away felted.

He wins nothing, yet at the end of the day, the dealer is surprised to see that the three have generated far more rake than A and B usually do.

C’s aggressiveness created much bigger pots than what A and B usually do battle over and that explains the increased rake production.

Make no mistake: whether you’re a winning or a losing player, you need rakeback. If you’re a winner, it’ll increase your winnings. If you’re a loser, it’ll limit your losses.

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25/02/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Strategy

If you play online poker or know someone else who plays, you have most likely heard of rakeback. Many online poker players regard rakeback as a way to get paid to play and numerous sites offer rakeback as an attractive incentive to sign up. If you are considering finding a rakeback offer to boost your bankroll, here are a few details to keep in mind.
Stop Giving Money Away!

Every time that you play a hand of online poker, you are paying for the privilege. Poker sites do not charge players outright. Instead, they take a percentage of the pot called the rake. The rake is five to ten percent of the entire pot. Sites offering rakeback refund up to 30 percent of each player’s rake contribution back to the player. So essentially, if you are not taking advantage of rakeback, you are just giving your money away.

Two Types of Player, Two Ways to Collect Rakeback

Before deciding on which rakeback method to go with, you need to consider your own style of play. Are you a conservative or tight player who waits patiently for the perfect hand to play? If this sounds like you, the dealt rakeback method is probably your best choice. With the dealt rakeback, players are given equal credit for contributing to the rake even if they do not contribute to the pot. Do you prefer to take risks and stay in the action for as many hands as you can? Then you will make more money by choosing the contributed method. The contributed rakeback method pays players back in congruence with the amount that they individually contribute to the rake.

Boost Your Bankroll and Upgrade Your Win Rate

After you choose the appropriate rakeback method for your style of play, you can immediately begin earning rakeback. Once the new income hits your bankroll, your hourly earnings will rise and your win rate will increase. In fact, with rakeback your average return per hand can increase by 30 percent, and if you are a player who likes to multi-table, the combined rakeback might surpass the amount that you contribute to rake altogether. If you play two tables at once on a regular basis, and end up paying $300 per table to rake over the course of a month, then you can bring home $180 in rakeback alone. All you need to do is sign up with a poker site that offers rakeback.

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23/02/2009 In Casino

I just love sniffing out a great bargain. I can’t help myself… when I see prices slashed to ridiculous levels, I start getting this nervous twitch… a compulsive urge to reach for my credit card and go out and spend! Afterwards I feel great taking home my purchase that I have now managed to “save” so much on, and after a week I look at this thing I have bought and wonder why the heck did I buy this load of ….

But its not just bargains that I need to be careful of, its also unbelievable bonuses that just lure me in and hook me! I enjoy my online casino games and right at the moment I’ve been winning a bit at online bingo. Cash bingo is the way to go and you can get very good bonus funds and once again I find myself signing up because of the bonuses…

Just can’t help myself…

Maybe its time to get some help????

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20/02/2009 In Strategy

Everything has its place in life, somae people prefer playing poker in real life, others prefer online poker and some like video poker. Some don’t even like poker and they prefer casino games. It doesn’t matter what others think, if you like to play online poker, then that’s your thing and I say good for you… go for it. Everyone’s different, I know what I like and it don’t matter what other people think…

The other day someone was saying, “You don’t need a strategy to play video poker… you’re just playing against a machine… you just choose your cards and wait to see what you get… there’s nothing to it… anyone can play it!

But there is a video poker strategy and if you master it then you could win a lot of money. Just like normal poker you have to know your odds, what are the chances of getting a winning hand and what is the value of each hand.

Probably one of the most important things to know is the payout structure of each machine to ensure that you are getting enough back for the risk that you are taking. You have to get the payout to make it worth it.

You have to have a strategy to play video poker, if you go in there with no idea what you are doing you’ll get beat every time. Sure there aren’t all the human aspects that come into play when you are sitting around the table with other poker players, but that doesn’t mean that you can switch off and just hope for the best!

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19/02/2009 In Online Betting

All sportsbook’s need clients in order to make money. In the effort to find and retain players, new sportsbook’s need to give players an incentive to give them a try. They establish themselves and entice players to join by offering deposit bonuses. This can often lead to a business that seems to be built like a ponzi scheme. An example would be an offer of a 25% cash bonus on a deposit, but with some restrictions such as a five time rollover and a one month minimum period before making a withdrawal. A five time rollover in sports means that whatever it is that you bet on, whether its Football Lines, Basketball Lines,etc. the player must bet their balance five times over before they are eligible to take a withdrawal.

On the surface, this makes sense from the sportsbook’s point of view, because it is guaranteeing that they get some minimum action from the player. On the player’s side, he is thrilled to get 25% of his deposit as a bonus for just signing up and depositing. Their rationale is that since they are going to play anyway, why not get a bonus as an extra kick. As the sportsbook’s signs up more players, they start to get a reputation through the sports gambling forums and word of mouth. With deposits from new players, the sportsbook’s have a steady stream of incoming cash flow, which means they will have plenty of funds to pay anyone that requests a withdrawal.

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18/02/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Strategy

Ultimate Bet is notable for sponsoring high profile professional poker stars Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. Hellmuth is the all-time Texas hold’em tournament champion, with 11 World Series of Poker bracelets and a WSOP main event championship under his belt. Duke was the winner of the first WSOP tournament of champions and is a WSOP bracelet winner as well.
Ultimate Bet Advantages

Ultimate Bet prides itself on offering more poker games than any other site. If there’s a poker game played at a live casino, it’s probably played at Ultimate Bet. Games offered at Ultimate Bet include the ever-popular Texas hold’em, Omaha and seven card stud, as well as mixed games like H.O.R.S.E., H.O.S.E. and half hold’em half Omaha. Ultimate Bet even offers more esoteric games like deuce to seven triple draw lowball, where the objective is to make the worst hand possible, razz, a seven card stud all low game, and crazy pineapple, a Texas hold’em variant where players get three cards instead of two in the hole and must discard one after the flop. Ultimate Bet is also host to a major live poker tournament, the Aruba Poker Classic.

Ultimate Bet Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage that Ultimate Bet is currently addressing is its affiliation with Absolute Poker. Absolute Poker has recently been exposed as being the victim of possibly the biggest cheating scandal experienced by a major site. Although these are two different sites, the same parent company, Tokwiro Enterprises, owns both, causing some players to have some trepidation about Ultimate Bet.

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12/02/2009 In Strategy

This post is my opinions on what you need to know about poker strategy and tactics to beat the
house edge and your opponent poker hands to the casino pot prize. First thing is that you should have a bankroll set up for yourself so you know which limits to play on. In poker you will have swings either way!!! Not even the pros win all the time, they have bad months where they loose large sums of money. Having a bankroll and playing at the right limit for you will help you get through those swings smoothly and end up on top in the long run…

Second is you have to be able to play your position for it is a very important part of poker. Being in early position should make a major difference in the way you play out your hand as it should when you are on the button in last position. Also learn how to play your opponents and not their cards. Try to catch some things which you notice are similar in their behavior every time they pick up a big hand or every time they go for a bluff.

Last thing for me is PATIENCE…I think this is the most important concept of the game, especially in tournament poker. You should only end up playing a small percentage of hands out of all the hands which you are dealt. People that play very lose most of the time end up loosing their money. Thats about it from me so hope you guys found it helpfull…

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12/02/2009 In Poker Parties

For your poker party included in a list of party supplies should be casino equipment. A specialty event like a casino theme renting poker tables will most likely be necessary. How can you get great rentals without paying an arm and a leg? Outlined below are some tips to help keep costs lower.

1. Try to get all your party rental equipment from one rental place. This will help lower costs because they can typically work a package deal. Be up front with the rental company. Let them know you will need more than one item and would like to get it from one place. The company that shows the best offer will get the business. This especially works great with larger events needing more card tables. The more leverage you have, the more money you will save.

2. Look at their price list on all the casino rentals. This can help avoid missing anything thing like chips, card holders, etc. If you are on a budget, go to dollar stores to pick up party favors, cards and chips.

3. Do not rent something you can buy for cheaper or close to the same value! Pay attention to rental prices. You can always resell it afterwards on Ebay or Craiglists!

4. Shop around: the biggest tip to getting the best deal is to shop around and compare prices. This can be done easy on the internet or over the phone.

Take all these tips and run with it to have a sucessful poker theme party. You will be able to save a lot of money if you are thorough and assertive. Saving as little as twenty dollars on the budget can help in a lot of cases when planning a party.

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11/02/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News

Paradise Poker was one of the first online poker rooms to spring into existence, first arriving on the scene in 1999. For many players who got a jump on the 21st Century poker boom, Paradise Poker was the site of choice. As online poker has evolved over the last decade, Paradise has evolved as well.

Paradise Poker History

As soon as the software allowing realistic online poker play became viable, Paradise Poker jumped in, and the idea of online poker became popular almost immediately. Other sites like Party Poker and Poker Stars quickly popped up to compete with Paradise. In the early days, there were plenty of customers to go around for everyone, and Paradise enjoyed a peaceful coexistence with these other sites.

Paradise Poker in the 21st Century

After the poker world exploded in 2003, poker rooms began to advertise more widely and promote more aggressively and it became tougher to keep up. In 2005, Sportingbet, Plc, a large online betting company that services the global marketplace bought Paradise Poker.

Boss Media and Paradise Poker

After the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in 2006, Sportingbet divested entirely from the U.S. market, which meant Paradise Poker could no longer accept U.S. players. To rebuild their player base, Paradise Poker joined Boss Media’s International Network. This has allowed them to create an environment with plenty of action games for skilled players to profit from. Paradise offers a number of games, with Texas hold’em being the most popular, and features cash games as well as tournaments.

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29/01/2009 In Casino, Strategy

An online poker bonus is extra money offered to you, the player, for choosing that site over another online poker site. Poker bonus stands as a platform giving a chance to the players to earn fetch money apart from what they invest in playing poker games. What’s the best way to clear an Online Poker Bonus? How do you optimize the task of getting that extra money out of the bonus account? For all the latest and the greatest poker bonuses please check our online poker reviews.

Currently, many sites do allow you to clear your bonus by playing poker in tournaments. But before you start trying out find out if the site allows this practice. Some players see bonus clearing as an opportunity to move up in limits. They figure even if they go on a losing streak that the bonus will make up for it. However, you really should only move up in limits if you are ready to do so.

Clearing a poker bonus in online poker means playing a certain amount of time on the site before they release the bonus into your account. This is to avoid players getting the sign up bonus and immediately withdrawing the sign-up money without ever playing. You can clear the bonus just as quickly by playing your current limit. What you don’t want is to reduce your bankroll at a higher limit before you clear the bonus.

Once you succeed in clearing your online poker bonus, you can use it for whatever you want, whether that means continuing to play with the money on your site, or withdrawing it for your own personal use. The whole point is to clear your bonus so that you can make some profit. Remember that you had to actually earn this money and that it’s not free money. So take your time and earn the bonus while trying to make some extra money at the tables.

Play your favorite online casino games including Blackjack, Roulette, Slot Machines, Video Poker and much more at Joga Casino.

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28/01/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News

Rake is how online poker rooms make their money. In online poker, the players play against each other, but the poker room does not make money off individual players’ wins and losses. Thus, in order to make money for providing the website, the online poker room takes a percentage of the pot. This percentage of the pot is called the rake. The rake is most often five to ten percent and amounts to a few dollars per pot. Rake is comparable to a table tax, and rakeback is the tax return.

What is Rakeback?

Affiliates employing rakeback incentive offer a percentage of rakeback to new players when they first sign up to play on a poker website. The affiliate website then calculates the amount of rake that a player contributes over the course of each month, and at the end of the month, the rakeback percentage is returned to the player’s account.

Because each player does not contribute an equal amount to each rake, it is up to the site to decide how the rakeback will be calculated. This is why there are multiple rakeback methods.

Rakeback: The Contributed Method

The contributed method is based on calculating the percentage of rake according to the amount that each individual player places in the pot. The amount of rakeback you receive is directly correlated to the amount of money that you add to the pot. So if you are playing with a $20 pot, and you personally contribute $5 to the pot, your contribution is 25 percent of the pot. Using a 10 percent rake, $2 is taken from the pot. Because you contributed 25 percent of the pot, you receive 25 percent of the rake, which is 50 cents.

Contributed Rake: The Loose Players Method

The contributed rake method is the perfect rakeback option for players who love to get in on the action and play a lot of hands. This is because you are compensated fairly for your increased contribution to the rake. Tight players who play minimal hands and wait for the big one will not benefit as greatly from contributed rakeback.

Most players weigh their success or failure by the size of their bankroll, and with rakeback, you can feel better about your monthly performance whether you win or lose.

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23/01/2009 In Rakeback Advice

Some online poker sites offer promotions in the form of rakeback. Rakeback is a sort of reward for being a regular player at the site offering the deal. Taking advantage of a rakeback offer is a good idea because it helps you beef up your bankroll.

If you are interested in signing up with a poker site that offers rakeback, it is a good idea to gain an understanding of how rake works and what rakeback methods mean to you as a player.

Rake and Rakeback

Rake is what online poker sites employ to make the process of hosting poker games profitable. Unlike casinos games, which provide the house with a considerable edge to make money, poker does not provide this angle for the establishment. Thus, in poker games the poker room simply takes a portion of each pot called the rake. The rake is usually limited to five or ten percent and it can add up to three or four dollars a pot. Most sites refrain from collecting a rake if the hand ends before the flop.

What Is the Dealt Rake Method?

The dealt rake method is one of the ways that online poker sites calculate the individual rakes. Following the deal, all players receive equal credit for the rake regardless of whether they have contributed to the pot or even if they play out the hand. All it takes to enjoy equal credit for the rake is throwing in the blinds when it is your turn. This means that if you are playing with four other people, everyone gets credit for 20 percent of the rake.

How Is the Dealt Rake Method Beneficial?

Players prone to greater selectivity find the dealt rake method to be the most profitable rakeback option to play with, because they are cautious with choosing the hands in which they play. Therefore these reserved poker players are receiving rakeback credit on hands in which they do not even play.

The contributed rake method awards rakeback to players according to their individual contributions to the pot. Thus, for poker players who believe in actually playing as few hands as possible, the dealt rake method is the easy choice.

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14/01/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News

As we all know, online casino always wins. In every game, the house enjoys the house advantage and feigns player compensation with free drinks. Online poker sites do not have this option because the “house” does not play a hand. Instead, the poker room takes a small portion of every played pot, this is called rake. The rake is the money that the house extracts from each pot in order to turn a profit.

What Is the Rake?

Online poker sites do not charge players individually for the privilege of playing. They just collect the rake from each pot. The rake is a percentage of the pot that ranges from five to ten percent, or three or four dollars a hand. This percentage is systematically claimed and removed after each hand. This either detracts from your winnings, or adds to your losses. Fortunately, there are now options for poker players to reduce the amount that they are losing to the rake.

Rakeback Options

As you probably are aware, poker websites often offer sign up bonuses to attract players with what appears at first to be free money. Once the initial sign up bonus has been claimed, the poker site continues raking in the dough with few additional player incentives.

Well, now there is another option that sites are offering called rakeback. Rakeback is exactly what the name suggests. It’s a return on the money that players put into the rake. Rakeback is a bonus that you collect on every dime that you put into the rake, thus it is like an ongoing bonus.

Find the Promise land

Not every online poker site offers rakeback. When shopping for a new poker site, be sure to look for affiliate sites that provide rakeback offers. Once you have signed up with a poker site without signing up for rakeback, you cannot switch to the rakeback option. If you attempt to open a second account on the same site, you will find yourself booted from the site, and possibly subject to additional penalties. So be sure to find a site that offers the rakeback option.

With a return on the money that you are invariably dumping into the rake, taking advantage of rakeback really makes sense.

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08/01/2009 In Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News

As we all know, online casino always wins. In every game, the house enjoys the house advantage and feigns player compensation with free drinks. Online poker sites do not have this option because the

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30/12/2008 In Rakeback Advice

If you’ve been playing online poker for a while and heard people talk about rakeback programs, you may have heard the term “dealt rake method.” The dealt rake method is an important part of determining a player’s rakeback. If you’re interested in getting rakeback for your online poker play, it will be important for you to understand the dealt rake method.

Why Methods for Calculating Rake Are Needed

The way a rakeback program works is simply that every time you play, your rake is calculated and kept on record. That rake tabulates tab at the end of the month according to the agreed percentage. That percentage returns to your account in the form of additional funds.

However, during an online poker game, rake is not taken from each player individually, rather it is siphoned out of the pot. A player cannot get credit for the entire amount raked from each pot, since all players contribute to that rake.

The Dealt Rake Method

One way to calculate individual rake that is quick and simple is the dealt rake method. This awards an equal amount of rake to everyone dealt in. Use a rakeback calculator to see how much this adds up to every month.

If the rake is $2 and there are five players, each earns credit for 40 cents of rake. This is true whether the player actually played the hand or not. As long as he has posted his blinds and was dealt into the hand, he gets rake credit.

Pros and Cons of the Dealt Rake Method

The dealt rake method is a good one for tight players who like to pick their spots before entering a pot. They will get credit for every hand even if they play only a small percentage of pots.

Loose action players who play a lot of pots may prefer a contributed rake method which credits rake according to each player’s actual participation in the pot. While this is a more direct method, it rewards loose play and punishes tight play. Visit rakeback blog sites and see what method poker players prefer. Good poker players who feel that tight play is preferable in order to come out ahead will probably prefer the dealt rake method.

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19/12/2008 In Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News

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11/12/2008 In Rakeback News

Poker players are always looking for an edge. Internet poker sites are always looking for ways to induce new players to join their online poker room as opposed to the many others that are out there. Some ways that online poker sites drum up business include free online poker play areas to get you started, poker bonuses, and the latest in online poker promotion, the rake back promotion.
Rake back is the idea of returning to the players a percentage of the amount taken out of every pot, called the rake. The World Sports Exchange has taken this idea to a new level, offering rake free poker through their World Poker Exchange online poker site.

How can the World Poker Exchange offer free online poker with no rake at all? They are able to do it because they are part of a larger operation, the World Sports Exchange, and derive tremendous revenue from their sports book operation. Hayden Ware, the founder of the World Sports Exchange, theorizes that the World Poker Exchange’s no rake poker, by offering the opportunity to play poker without a rake, will drive traffic to their site, generating more profits for their sports book operations.

How does it work? When you start playing at a poker table on the World Poker Exchange, you may get a little confused. You will in fact see a rake being dragged from each pot. However, you will see the amount of the rake be credited to your account every Monday. The site does this to show how much you would save playing at the World Poker Exchange as opposed to another Internet poker site that charges a typical rake, at the assumed rate of five percent up to a maximum of $3.

It is certain that the idea of playing poker at an Internet casino without any kind of rake will be of interest to poker players. All that remains to be seen is if it will be profitable. If no rake sites like the World Poker Exchange pull enough business from heavily trafficked online poker sites that do take rake, those other sites may find themselves forced to find other ways to make their online poker dollars. If this should happen, it is certain that all Internet poker players, be they amateur or professional, casual, once a week players or diehard’s who never miss a day at the virtual table, will benefit.

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03/12/2008 In Rakeback Advice

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04/09/2008 In Strategy

One of the highlights of online poker is the ability to use statistics to give yourself an edge. What you may give away in not being able to observe physical tells is often more than made up for in the data you can collect and use in online play. One easy way to take advantage of statistics is by using table statistics to find good games.

What Are Table Statistics?

Table statistics are the information provide for you in your poker menu when you are selecting a game. Table selection is a key element in successful poker, even more so in online poker in which you may have a wide number of tables from which to choose. Table statistics will help you find the right table to give you an edge.

How Can You Use Table Statistics to Find Good Games?

The most important statistic you are going to want to look at is average pot size. The larger the average pot size, the better. When this is a big number, you know that you are going to be involved in a juicy, high action game. If you are a tight, solid player and can wait for a big opportunity to pounce, this can mean big profits.

Taking Advantage of a Good Game

Once you’ve found your good game, try to stay alert to how long it stays good. If you enter a high action game and start playing tight, it may encourage other players to follow suit. Furthermore, one or two maniacs may drive the looseness of the game. If they leave, your game may dry up. Always reevaluate the game you are in and move to a better one when things take an unfavorable turn, and if you play on Full Tilt make sure to get Full tilt rake back.

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25/08/2008 In Rakeback Advice, Rakeback News

To become a winning online-poker player you only need to be above average. If you beat more than 50 % of those you’re up against, you make money in the long run. This goes without saying … or?

Unfortunately it’s pretty far from the truth. In reality, about 90% of those who play online are long-term losing players. The reason is the rake – the cut poker sites take from every pot.

When you win a $100 pot, you will not get the full amount. Usually you’ll get around $97 and the rest is placed in the poker site’s bank vault.

Consequently, money is constantly leaving the game and all players’ collective bankroll. So if you want to become a winning player, you must beat you opponents AND the rake.

There’s a way, however, to lower this edge. It’s called rakeback. When you sign up with a rakeback deal you’ll get a percentage of your rake refunded every month. All serious players know that this is far superior any bonus deal poker sites offer. Sometimes, especially at the lower limits, rakeback is almost necessary to make a profit.

Here, I’ll teach you the finer details of rakeback and provide useful tips on how to become a winning player. Find best real money poker sites and start playing poker.

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