Public Poker Rooms

A public poker room is a great source for those who like to play poker. You can always find a game, and the drinks are delivered to your table. While the rules of the tables can change from casino to casino, several customs should not escape the attention of the ardent poker player.

Fewer and fewer casinos offer poker because of the relatively slim profit margin on the game of the poker room. The game is space and employee intensive and casinos can make more money per square inch with slot machines than with poker. Whereas slot machines provide a substantial house percentage, poker tables require dealers, waitresses, cigarette girls, and a manager to keep everything running smoothly. The house supports this with a "rake" (a percentage taken from every pot).

Some casinos require their players to check in and out of their tables. This is to keep a record of how many players they have and to manage limited table space of the poker room. During peak periods (Friday night) there may be a waiting list for poker seats. In this case it is advised to get on multiple lists (be waiting for both 7-stud, and hold'em) and not go too far.

As far as chips go, this differs from place to place and from poker room from poker room. Some will have you buy-in at the table, while others require you to have them already exchanged from the cashier. The best policy is to ask if you are uncertain.

Once at your table you may realize that not everyone antes every hand, thus making it possible to fold early for "free". The betting system used by most casinos is what is commonly called "blind tiger". In hold'em, the player to the left of the imaginary dealer at poker room table (signified by a button) places a small blind bet regardless of his hand the player to the left of the small blind places a big blind or blind raise. In Stud, the low exposed card usually has a forced initial bet. In this way everyone eventually antes a much smaller amount (about 40% of a betting unit) for one hand.

Casino Poker Rooms

Casinos with Card Rooms will either have charged house dealt games or charged private games. Some may even allow games to carry on for free. The house dealt games will be formal and should adhere to basic international rules. The private games can agree to their own set of games and rules. In the past people have played standard flop, stud and draw poker games in both the formats. In modern times however the search for high anxiety gambling combined with traditional poker has led to the emergence of many wild poker variants with highly specialised rules. New players should stick to the games they know until they are very experienced.

At casino Poker Rooms, the house run games usually deal Texas Hold'em as their main game. Forward thinking casinos are now spreading Omaha, Irish, 7-Card Stud and even some Hi-Lo games. These are the main stay of world tournament and cash poker.

If you have been playing in a Home Game for some time, try and venture to a casino poker room where a game is being dealt around a full size kidney shaped poker table. It's a completely different feeling and one necessary to learn about if you want to experience all that poker has to offer.

Once you have understood and adjusted to the fact that casino Poker rooms are far from how you find playing poker at home it can be both challenging and fun. Until this hits home, it can prove stressful. If you are content to break even, or to lose no more than you would at another leisure activity, you are well on the way to the enjoyment of casino Poker rooms. You may as well face the fact that unless you are willing to take on the commitment, discipline and tactics of the Poker professional, along with making the game a major part of you life, you are not likely to do much better than break even in the long run.

This will mean winning some of the time, but losing just as frequently. You realistically ought to be satisfied when you reach the point of being able to beat most of the tourists. It is at this level you can enjoy yourself, and lose neither more money than you can afford, nor your self-respect. The following is a list of basic guidelines which, if followed, should result in making casino Poker rooms and casino poker game a pleasurable activity rather than a money draining and frustrating activity.

1. Choose a game you can afford.
2. Understand the game you choose.
3. Budget your playing time i.e., resist the temptation to play around the clock.
4. Take frequent breaks during a Poker session.
5. Remind yourself to play more conservatively at casino poker rooms than you do at home.
6. Use your time away from the table to study other players.
7. Don't drink alcohol (it's free for a reason).
8. If you feel something is wrong i.e., cheating, walk away immediately.

 

Poker Room Behavior

Don't expect to play with all manner of wild cards in that poker room. No Christmas tree, big elbows, zigzags, criss-cross, not even dealer's choice ( although some poker rooms do let you play dealer's choice, they limit the versions of poker you can play to the common casino poker games.) No deuces wild, no one-eyed jacks count as anything but the symbol on the card. Expect nothing fancy at all, just basic poker at different betting limits.

Don't expect to have Aunt Martha to bring you sandwiches (few poker rooms allow you to eat at the table.) Expect a cocktail waitress, usually in a skimpy dress, to offer free drinks (for which you should tip her). If you do get a drink, don't set it on the green felt where it can easily spill (use the plastic holders provided by the casino.)

Don't expect to shuffle, cut or deal the cards. The house provides a professional dealer to handle that (it's customary to tip the dealer when you win a pot.) In fact, the only time you should touch the cards is to look at your hole cards. DON'T take them off the table.

Don't expect to play for free like with online poker rooms. This is Las Vegas, after all, and somebody has to help pay for the chandeliers and the people who dust them. The house will take a "fee" (called the rake) from every pot. There's a house maximum, depending on the limits you're playing.

Don't expect a party atmosphere. Most people who play casino poker are very serious. You might get some joking and laughing from time to time, but generally, you'll get very little conversation at all.

Don't manhandle the cards. Squeeze them if you like, but bending, throwing or scraping them with nail polish are all forbidden. Count on a gentle warning for a first offense, but a possible barring for a subsequent one.

Don't expect to be facing all amateurs and tourists like yourself. Las Vegas is loaded with regular poker players ? from "kids" to "cronies." Some of them are shrewd enough to hide in their solitude and silence, then pounce when they have a killer hand. Others will play only the very best cards (they're called "rocks.")

Then again, you might come up against two of these nasty characters who, recognizing the rube in you, will gang up on you. It's rare, but it does happen. You're sitting between them. One of them bets, you call, and the second one raises. The first one might reraise to hurry you out of the pot immediately, or might just call in hopes that you'll stay in for one more round at least.

Eventually, they might try raising you out completely. Or one of them might say something like, "You guys better have a pretty high flush to beat my powerhouse," implying that he has a full house. Don't believe him.

This is one of the few "cheating" moves you're likely to encounter in a Las Vegas card room. If you suspect it's happening, leave the game, report it to the floorman, but by no means should you contribute another chip to the table.

Poker Table

Finding the best table to play at is a skill in itself. Normally, table selection doesn't come into play if you're accustomed to playing in anything but big casinos, where you might be able to select your table. Most of the time however, the floorman directs you to a table to be seated at and that's it. Internet poker is very different in this aspect, because you can come and go as you choose.

If too many sharks sit at your table, no problem, get up and go. If too many people are drawing on you, same thing - leave. Nothing keeps you at a table except for your own will to continue.

I can't stress enough that if you are losing at a table, it's time to go. Even if you know you are better than the rest of the players at the table, when you no longer have table image, you can no longer play at the top of your game.

When selecting a table, the biggest thing to notice of course is the average pot size listed for the table. Most people automatically select the table with the biggest average pot, but this is usually the wrong move.

Example: In a rowdy 3/6 game with 10 players, the average pot is shown to be $80 while the other 3/6 tables show average pots around the $45 range. It's true that the $80 table will be getting the most action, but that is a double-edged sword.

In the arsenal of the strong player, bluffing and deception are two main weapons. On purely theoretical odds, you should only win your fair share of hands. So in a ten person game, if everyone plays each hand and calls to the river, you should win 1 out of 10 hands.

If poker was played this way, no one would play poker because no one would ever win money. In order to win then, you must win more than your fair share of cards. However, if everyone draws to the river, this will be impossible to do in the long run because only the best hand wins.

To win 1 out of 9 times, you need to win with the non-best hands- which means other people need to fold what would have been the winning hands. In a heavy action game with people drawing with everything, it really does come down to a 1/10 game, because many of your opponents will simply not fold.

Poker Table Plan

The poker table plan tells you that no matter how skilled you are, you cannot win other than showing down the best hand. The only way to win in games like these are to know how to juice the pot when you're winning and when to get out when you're the loser. This however, is much much easier said than done.

So, what should you look for in table selection? That's also part of the poker table plan. From players experiences, we find that tables in the range of 8-10 times the BB (big bet) are usually the most ideal tables. So in a 3/6 game, you want the average pot to be 48-60. In these games, you will usually find a good variety of players that actually improve your game if you are playing at a skilled level.

What you always want in a game is one or two people who see every flop. These people contribute to the pot immensely by constantly fueling odds while usually playing weak hands.

At the same time, you want 2-3 tight players who are the type to fold any hand unless they make top pair. The rest of the players you want to be more or less average joes who play mediocre hands and mostly call raises instead of doing them. This is an ideal table because it gives you a wide range of angles to work.

When up against callers, your poker table plan is that you can be confident in betting out your top pair or even mid pairs for the most part. Getting raised back of course is a warning sign from someone who usually just calls.

But for the most part, it's straight forward betting to the river until they fold out or call. When you showdown your hands against these players with your top pair and hopefully good kicker, you will also develop strong table image from the tight and mediocre players. This gives you room to bluff them out when it's just them in the game.

You will find that as pot averages go down, bluffing becomes more viable as less people are calling the flop- which also means less people are hitting their cards.

The best types of poker tables, thus, aren't necessarily games where people are betting out anything, but games where people will fold to you more often than not. In both cases, you are playing against bad players: those who play too much and those who play too little. It's your duty to find a good balance between the two that suits your style of play.

Choosing Poker Tables

Choosing the best poker tables is a tough job, that's why Absolute Poker gives you advices and clues so you can choose properly. You can use this information to choose a table that will be the most fun or profitable.

Hands per hour

Tables vary in the speed of the game. The higher limit games tend to play faster, both because players fold earlier and play more quickly. In general, a fast game is more fun to play at but can also indicate tougher competition.

Percentage of players seeing the flop

This is a very useful measure. It tells you how loose or tight the game is. If only 20% of the players are seeing the flop, it means that in a 10-handed game the average flop is heads-up. Since some flops are multi-way, this means that many hands are finished even before the flop.

This is a very tight game. In holdem, look for a game where at least 40% of players are seeing the flop. This indicates a weaker field of players. In omaha, you would like an even looser game.

Average pot size

This statistic is an average over the most recent dozen or so hands. It gives you an idea of whether the game is quiet and tight without much raising (small pots) or loose and crazy with several maniacs (big pots). Most players prefer the games with large pots and the waiting list for these games tends to be longer.

A game with large pots isn't intrinsically better, but many players associate large pots with the unskilled play of beginners or wild gamblers.

In a $3-$6 game, an average pot size of $30 is rather small and $60 is large.

Table Game - Choosing Poker Tables

Poker Table Game-Player names and bankrolls

When you single-click on a table in the lobby, most sites show you a list of players seated at the table. Once you have become familiar with some of the regulars at the site, you might recognize some of the names. This can help you decide whether the table looks like a good game or not.

Even if you don't know any of the players, seeing how many chips the players have on the table can also be helpful. Some people say that tables where most of the players have huge stacks are not very good games, because the professional players tend to buy in for larger amounts.

Poker Table Game-Playing multiple tables at a time

One of the pleasures of internet poker is being able to play at more than one table at the same time. Once you get the hang of the game, most of your time is spent sitting around waiting for the other players to finish the current hand and get on to the next one.

Being in a second game means less waiting. Of course, it also means that from time to time you will be busy making poker decisions on two tables at the same time! This is a distraction that is sure to degrade the quality of your play somewhat, so be careful.

Screen real estate is an issue. You don't want the tables overlapping too much because there is a risk you'll click the Raise button in one table when you meant to click it in another. Ouch!

Your best choice is to use a large monitor that can display 1600x1200 pixels without making you go blind. This lets you display up to 4 tables without any overlap. An alternative is to use two separate flat-panel displays, each turned vertically and showing two tables.