Poker is a game of skill, and every decision you make is about maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The word “EV” will be used throughout this article and you will be seen in two ways. A new player can have +EV, that is positive Expected Value or – EV, which is negative Expected Value. Poker isn’t gambling and the following explains why.

Most gambling games have a negative EV for you, and a confident EV (5.49% in this case) for the casino. In the short run you could win, but in the long term, if you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always end up winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these kinds of gambling games come in favor of the home. Poker pits you against other players rather than the house. In a complete ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the target is to make the very best EV decisions against the a great many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.

A simple example would be in the event that you were dealt KK prior to the flop came (preflop), which everyone knows is a good hand preflop. This hand includes a high chance to win against all the hands preflop. In the event that you played and raised “all in” with this hand against a new player who played and called every all in, you’ll have a huge advantage as you will be a favorite every time, making it a +EV decision. This is an exaggerated example and playing one hand would not be the smartest idea. What you would do is play say the top 20% of hands because against a person who plays maybe 70% of these hands, you again, will be making a +EV decision each time you play with him. It’s likely that your starting hands will have a lot higher probability to win. This is just scraping the top, and there is an EV mounted on every decision and every situation. Many internet poker sites provide starting hand charts for beginners to use, which would be the simplest way to improve your EV.

In poker88 , there’s always variance and in the short term weaker players could easily get lucky, but that’s also what attracts them another and keep playing. In the end, a good player who always makes +EV decisions will always end up a winner. That is why poker isn’t gambling but a casino game of skill and finding out how to exploit your opponent’s mistakes.

Is it safe to play online poker?

Absolutely, some sites have over 50,000 people playing at one time. Major sites like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on it and the web and so are even listed on the currency markets. They enable you to play poker online for free or real cash. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often provide the best customer service. Maintaining your password secure is your responsibility and if you do this, your money will undoubtedly be safe. Online poker sites have no incentive to cheat when dealing hands since they wish to be extremely fair so you continue to play, which allows them to earn their income in the form of “rake.” This is usually a really small percent of the pot (usually significantly less than 1%). In poker, you are playing against the other players, and not the home.

Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you haven’t heard of it, they don’t really advertise on TV or the web and there aren’t members playing regularly – you wouldn’t be depositing your cash there!!! With that said, a lot of the major poker sites are very safe and reputable.

What are the best internet poker rooms?
There are three major sites for playing internet poker. Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Party Poker have lots of traffic, play money tables, plenty of freeroll tournaments and have very good customer support. If you’re a beginner you need to play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars when you start. Other sites like Party Poker call you up once you sign up and require some type of id verification to activate your account. Some people may such as this extra security, and may certainly go that route. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars usually do not require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and popular.

Many sites state “Deposit and get another $600!” Do they really double your deposit amount after depositing?

That depends on the site. Some sites provide you with a very small portion (around 10%) of one’s deposit instantly, but that is rare. What typically happens is you deposit $600, and after you accumulate a certain amount of player points, they will give you the full $600. This is to ensure depositing players are also active. With online poker sites such as for example Full Tilt Poker these points are achieved very quickly.

Online sites will publish poker bonus codes which should be entered upon account creation. From then on, the amount you earn depends on the time you spend playing and the stakes you play at. Whenever a player reaches 400NL limit, which means 2 to 4 dollar blinds and have a good percent of wins, they are able to make up to 5K a month. This is of course if you treat playing like a job and dedicate several hours each day to playing. Ultimately job freedom and the lure of easy money that’s just a click away, is what draws so many people to online poker.