Simon’s Notes

For those of you that don’t know, gambling can also be a great way to make some extra money. Cool, lets all run off to the casino. Hang on, the casino is also the best place to lose all your money, so you have to know what you’re doing. The first thing to keep in mind is that you must stay away from the slot machines, 80% of casino revenue comes from there (and 90% of “statistics” are made up on the spot :), but seriously, stay clear). But if you know what you’re doing, there is some serious money to be made at the tables.

But in this post I’m just going to talk about poker, Texas Holdem to be more exact. If you don’t know what Texas Holdem is thats fine, cause I’m going to tell you. Texas Holdem is a variation of poker where each player is dealt only two cards, then there is a round of betting, then 3 cards are laid down on the table for each player to see, another round of betting follows, then 1 card is placed for all to see and another one is placed with a round of betting in between, and everything ends with a last round of betting. Each player uses the 2 cards in his hand and the 5 cards on the table to make his hand, and the winner takes all. Things can get pretty complicated so I let you find out more by reading this article.

Poker is not an easy game, and I will definitely not be able to tell you how to win the world series, that stuff is for the pro’s. The good news is that not everyone that plays poker is a pro, in fact, chances are that they won’t be, and when they are you should be able to spot them and leave the table. If you follow the few tips that I’m going to give you, you should be able to stick out a little amongst the crowd of amateur poker players.

There are many ways that you can get a good poker game, you can go to a casino, join a club, or start your own. But my favorite place to play poker is on the Net. One of the reasons for that is the vast quantity of variables that you get out of the way when playing online, for one, you don’t have to be constantly analysing each others tells. The other reason is that you have many more options for people to play with, you’re sure to find someone worse than you. So I’m going to focus mainly on online poker here.

Ok, the first thing you do is find a poker playing site that appeals to you (I know a great one), then you have to register with them. Most poker sites allow you to play with play money until you feel confident enough to play with real money, this is obviously a great advantage. Once you’re registered, just start playing around.

Here’s a few tips:

• Play on the no-limit games. This is more risky, but its the only way you’ll make any money as it allows you more freedom to leverage your hands. In no-limit, you can take it easy and wait for that great hand to come along where you take the table to the cleaners.
• Decide how much money you’re going to play with, and make a commitment to stop if that money runs out.
• Also decide how much you want to make, and make a commitment to stop once you reach that amount. This is very important, curiosity killed the cat, and it can just as easily kill your entire bankroll in minutes if you don’t follow this suggestion.
• If you’re not a pro, don’t try to play like one. If you get a crappy hand, fold. A crappy hand would be anything less than a face card and a high kicker. For example, an ace and a 10, if you get an ace and a 5, fold immediately.
• Never hope. If you got 2 good cards, but then nothing happened in the flop, don’t hope that your third 10 will come in the turn, or maybe the river, just do the smart thing and fold.
• Be attentive to the common cards (flop, turn, and river), they can tell you a lot about the other players hands. If you’re new to poker, practice with play money, eventually you’ll learn the things to watch out for.
• When your perfect hand comes along, don’t get too exited, remember that if everyone folds, you’re left with nothing. Play it cool, and try to lure them in. There are a lot of simple tricks for doing this, and I suggest you read a few good books.

There’s still quite a lot to learn if you want to be a serious poker player, but these tips should get you started.

There’s one poker site that I’m quite fond off is Poker Room. Poker Room is very simple and user friendly, you just sign up free, download the software, and you’re ready to go. You can play for as long as you like with play money, and there is also a lot of fun tornaments that you can take part in. So check them out.

If you’d like some more information, here’s some books that might help you:

Have fun.

Simon

Filed under: Blah Blah, Make Money Online by Simon Rodrigues