Caribbean Stud Poker Rules

All the games we have looked so far involved betting against other players. But this game is different; here everyone plays against the casino or room which acts as a bank (dealer), paying out all winning bets. To win you have to beat the dealer’s hand, other player’s hands don’t make a difference.

First each player makes an ante (initial blind bet) and is dealt 5 cards face down. The dealer receives 4 cards face down and 1 card face up. Now each player decides whether to fold or play by looking at their cards, if they fold then their ante is lost but if they continue, they have to double their ante-bet.

Now the dealer reveals his hand, but he must have an A-k or higher in order to play his hand, if not the player is paid even money on the ante and also the additional bet is not lost (See the table for odds). If the player’s hand beats the dealer’s, the ante is paid at evens. However, if the dealer’s hand beats the player’s hand then both bets are lost.

Additional Bet Payout odds:

One pair or High card ---> 1/1 (Even)  Two pair ---> 2/1  Three of a kind ---> 3/1  Straight ---> 4/1 Flush ---> 5/1 Full House ---> 7/1 Four of a kind ---> 20/1 Straight flush ---> 50/1 Royal flush ---> 100/1

 If the dealer and player play the same poker hand, then remaining cards are taken in to consideration. If all five cards are equal, the hand is void. Neither the ante nor the additional bet is lost. The ranking of suits makes no difference to the hand.

Here the odds are poor; a normal game of poker with seven players will have odds of at least 6/1 which is a great deal better when compared to the minimum odds in this game which is 1/1. Also the odds paid for additional bet are poor. Again there is no skill required and you rely too much on luck. Finally remember you have much better odds of winning money when you are playing for the pot. Good Luck :)

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Party Poker Review

Party Poker is one of the world's largest online poker rooms with over 70,000 players. They cover almost 60% of the online poker market. Now what this means to you as a poker player is that with the large number of players and rooms you will never have to wait for a game, the player quality is relatively poor compared to rooms like Ultimate Bet and Poker Stars. As mentioned earlier start playing with play money and once you get hold of the game you may jump to the real money game. They have around 18,500 - 19,200 ring game players and 26,700 - 28,000 tournaments players live during peak hours.

Party Poker has some great signup bonus offers, $25 extra, 20% extra up to $100 and free entry to the partypoker.com million qualifying tournaments ($34 value) with your first deposit. The requirements to clear the bonus is pretty simple, you have to play 5 times the raked hands of the bonus amount i.e. if the bonus value is $25 you need to play 125 raked hands. The time period to finish the raked hands is 30 days. Party Poker offers standard game variety like Texas holdem, omaha hi and hi/lo and 7 card stud hi and hi/lo but does not offer 5 card draw poker and 1-on-1 tournaments. Limit Texas holdem game is the major traffic puller at party poker. Remember these are only real money player statistics.

They also have beginners live game tables reserved for new real money players only. New real money players can play on these tables for 45 days after they have set up a real money account. Where to go? Just log in to your account, go to the main lobby, click on the real money heading and then select beginners. Then choose a table and start playing. Following games and stakes are offered for beginners.

1. Game: Texas Hold'em

2. Limits: $.5/$1, $1/$2, $2/$4 and $3/$6

They also have good round the clock customer service, including both text and voice based. Party Poker also has a fairly good retention program and they recently started the Player's club and we expect them to come up with more programs soon. Good luck and play safe. :-)

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Poker - Working the lobby

Though the rules are generally the same for both offline and online Poker but the way the games are played varies and the primary reason for this is that there is a complete lack of visual tells online. This holds true even when working with the lobby. Conventional Card Rooms allow you to walk around the room, to look at all the games and limits being played, and study what type of game each one is similarly you can get the information from the online lobby just by clicking buttons that will display information on average pot size, how many hands played per hour, names of the participants in each game, number of players seeing the flop who is on the waiting list, and number of games of a particular limit that are underway.

This information is very important for you because it aids you to choose the right game and limit. Selection of game and table is a significant part of casino poker and it is even more significant online as it has already been mentioned that there is a complete lack of visual tells online. Moving from one game to another very easily will give you the impression of not to take table selection seriously but in reality it is not true. This is because there are great chances for a bad game to turn into a good one or it can happen otherwise and this happens just because the players usually come and go. Therefore it is very significant for you to keep constant watch on lobby. Look for the best game and be prepared to make table changes when apposite and get yourself rewarded.

Signing up for games is also an important part in playing poker. Usually games that are full and have a waiting list will offer you with either sign up for a specific game, or to sign up for the first available seating at a given limit. It is better that go for the first option since selecting the second options will simply restrict you to your loss. It will also remove you from the waiting list for all the games. Choosing the first options will give you more suppleness and game assortment options, which will permit you to make better planned choices about the games that you will play in.

It is essential to keep several card rooms software on your PC that will provide you with lot of information regarding the steps and the point that should be emphasized while making the table selection and game limit at the popular online card rooms. The more you gain knowledge the more you can play well. Try not to restrict yourself instead educate yourself to become more watchful about the game texture so that you can act rightly.

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Pai Gow Poker Rules

Let’s learn some different type of poker other than Texas holdem, 7 card stud, 5 card draw and Omaha. Yes, pai gow poker. Now you must be wondering that pai gow sounds little Chinese; yes you are right this game is a mixture of the Chinese game pai gow and our very own American poker. Definitely this is not one of the most popular forms of poker but still widely played. It can be played by up to seven players.

It is played with one deck of 52 cards, plus a joker. Interestingly, joker can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush, or a royal flush. The important thing here to remember is other than the usual ranking of hands we have one more winning hand that is “Five Aces” (five aces including the joker). Surprisingly, five aces beat all other hands including royal flush.

Each player is dealt seven cards. The cards are arranged to make two hands; a two card hand and a five card hand. The five card hand must rank higher or be equal to the two card hand. Finally both of your hands must rank higher than both of your opponents hands (both five and two card hands). Further the two card hand can only have two combinations; one pair and high card.

After the cards are arranged in to two hands, they are placed on the table face down. Once you put them down, you can no longer touch them. The dealer will turn over his cards and make his hands. Each players hand is compared to the dealer’s hands. If the player wins one hand and loses the other, this is known as “push” and no money is exchanged. If dealer wins both hands then he/she wins the players stake and vice versa. Now what if there is a tie, the only advantage with the dealer here is he/she wins all ties.

After the hand is played, the next person clock-wise becomes the dealer and the next hand is played. The major disadvantage to this game is that there is no skill involved and you rely too much on luck. Also the odds are poor compared to playing with a pot.

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