Business, economic development - the unofficial Chamber of Commerce

New poker strategies are so simple to implement: find out what works, do it over and over and count your profits.

Being a member of the Church of Texas Holdem is fantastic. Like all churches, you will receive regular donations from players, using our proven poker strategies to maximise the money they’re leaving in your collection plate.

However, there’s one thing you absolutely must do: keep records.

Church of Texas Holdem Psalm #3:
Thou must record thy wins and thy loses; for it is the sum of all a man’s achievements which create his bottom line.

Allow me to refer to a heathen’s viewpoint to explain why this, of all poker strategies, is so important.

Before I found (and founded!) the Church of Texas Holdem, I was lost in the wilderness. I went years without writing down a single entry in a poker diary or spreadsheet. Poker strategy was a foreign concept. I knew I was winning overall, because I started with $100 in December 2003 and had withdrawn many thousands of dollars.

But I had no idea how much I had won, how much I had withdrawn during a week, month or year, whether my experiments in limit cash games were successful, or anything actually useful. I was blind.

A simple spreadsheet gave me eyes.

Once I began making detailed notes, it clarified my success and failure at poker, as well as keeping me more focused. It really hurt to write down a loss. But the main difference was seeing on the page a record of my wins and withdrawls.

I realised that I could win, consistently, and the best proof of that was there in black and white.
It’s very easy to keep ’score’ of your achievements. You don’t need a degree in accounting, or specialist knowledge of spreadsheets. Even a simple Word file which you update manually with a calculator applet will suffice. It’s a lot better than guesswork.

Your notes should include the type of game you play, if you play more than one type. Examples are detailed notes of the Sit-and-Go buy-ins, INCLUDING the rake (it’s a vital factor), where you finish and your total amount cashed out.

Cash game details should include the type of game you play (fixed-, pot- or no-limit), the buy-in level ($5-10 or whatever) and your daily result.

How detailed you get is up to you. I have read plenty of poker strategies from professional players, who are obsessive about your most profitable level of play, how much you take per hour and whether a certain play has positive expectation in the long run. Dry, boring stuff.

I tried keeping notes of time spent at each of the various cash games, but for me at least, that got too tedious. After all, on some days you might be content with your wins in the first half-hour, and on another day it might be a 15-hour grind. Who cares what my hourly rate is? It’s really irrelevant. I work from home. As long as I’m paying my way, that’s all that matters.

Some poker strategies can draw on successful marketing from other places. Here’s one I came up with recently.

Give yourself something tangible to shoot for. If you are familiar with the Air Miles promotional websites, their Dream Meter is a great way to incentivise. As you collect Air Miles, the meter fills up a bar based on the percentage of your dream purchase you have accumulated.

Do the same with your poker. There’s nothing like physical evidence of success to galvinise you to achieve more of it. It may be as simple as paying your mortgage every month. Or settling a long-term debt that’s been around your neck like a millstone. What floats your Ark might be a giant plasma TV, or a holiday in a dream destination.

Write a dollar value for your personal target alongside your withdrawls total. Now you can see how close you are to your target, it will make you even more determined to plug any leaks in your poker.

Strategies are all great in theory. I’d love to hear from anybody who has never kept records before, and found it works for them.

Here endeth the lesson.

Casino games are as diverse as the gambling houses themselves. Poker alone includes variations such as stud, draw, Texas Hold-em and many others. Gambling houses often feature so many games it’s hard to know where to start. Indeed, some people take their first night at a given casino as sort of an orientation tour to learn what kind of gambling is on offer.

The casino’s electronic versions of the regular games are also quirky and fun. There are serious video poker players who stake out the high-paying machines, and gamble only on them. Those who watch a serious video poker player long enough will learn some of their strategies, like the “Jacks or better” version where players favor hands, as the name implies, with a face card in it.

Casino dice games are exciting, but sometimes complicated. Variations include “street craps,” “bank craps” and what some people call “Grand Hazard”. It’s good to know what version of game is going on at the table before you lay your money down. Is the casino paying winners who roll seven or eleven? Or are you gambling, roulette style; on the numbers that come up on the dice roll?

Roulette is said to be one of the most challenging games in the casino. The roulette wheel has up to 38 numbered positions for the little ball to land in. You can start your gambling on a single number, odds or evens and other combinations. If you are a beginner, it’s best to research this one online or at your local bookstore first, as the game can be not only mesmerizing, but also expensive for a beginner.

Casino games are fun, but sometimes it’s a good idea to research first, learn the rules, and then go to the casino armed with your understanding of the rules. This insures maximum fun and a good night out. So what are you waiting for? Familiarize yourself with casino rules and get started having fun!

Adel Awwad is the webmaster of Online Casinos - Copyright © 2005 www.casinoguide.ws All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.

This is the second in the Texas Holdem Strategy Series, focusing on no limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament play and associated strategies. In the first installment, we examined a real-world tournament scenario and how to handle a particular class of difficult players – the “maniacs”, aggressive, wild players that are commonly encountered in today’s poker tournament venues.

In this article, we’ll examine the techniques that were used more closely to best these players, along with stitching a Texas Hold’em tournament poker strategy together with some good poker tournament fundamentals.

Let’s begin with some foundational elements of any winning tournament poker strategy – clearly understanding our priorities. In poker tournaments, each player’s primary objectives are:

1. Survival – first and foremost, surviving to play at the final table, and ideally to be the last surviving player (the winner!) is of paramount importance.

2. Building and Protecting that Chip Arsenal - to survive increasingly large blinds and tougher competition at the latter and final tables, a player must build up and sustain a “chip arsenal” - a substantially large stack of chips - early enough in the competition to be capable of surviving and taking various necessary, calculated risks from time to time.

This must be accomplished without risking the entire tournament and building that chip arsenal in the process. Failure to build an early chip lead is a sure ticket to being eroded away once the blinds and antes increase, chewing away at your stack until you’re cornered or dead.

3. Sustained Focus – concentrating on your game plan, attacking when the right cards and situations present themselves and converting those opportunities into “profits”, while avoiding killer momentary lapses of reason (i.e., making occasional mistakes by not paying close enough attention). Focusing like this over an extended period of time is much more difficult than it seems, requiring a constant vigil, self-awareness and self-discipline.

4. Adaptability – as the tournament progresses, it’s critical to recognize when the game dynamics change and quickly adapt to new conditions such as:

• Number of players at the table

• Style of the players

• Size of your chip stack vs. opponents’

• Odds the pot is giving you, especially as blinds and antes increase

• New players arriving that are initially unknown quantities

• New table you’ve been moved to and avoiding mistakes.

Since Texas Holdem tournament events are specifically designed to progressively eliminate players, your foremost objective must be to survive and protect your stack of chips. Taking unnecessary risks is a formula for disaster and an early trip home…someone can always get lucky against you.

Demonstrating the patience to hold back and attack at the most opportune moments, when the odds favor your success, and with a proper battle plan in mind is critical. While others are visiting and socializing, daydreaming, watching the waitresses, and otherwise taking their eyes off the ball, when you’re at a tournament table, it’s time for your focused attention on the game at hand. This kind of extended attention span becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, so rest up before playing in a tournament – do not play when tired if you can avoid it.

I also recommend against alcohol while playing, as it leads to impaired judgment and fatigue.

Here are some basic guidelines to use when playing in poker tournaments or at any table where there are many players that you don’t know well:

1. Prepare and Refine your Battle Plan – when you enter a tournament, you’re going to be fighting a “battle” for survival - against the blinds, the antes, fatigue, as well as against the other players. Would any good military commander go into battle without having first surveyed the battle field, understood the enemy and its tactics, and without having a well-conceived battle plan which takes these facts into account and ensures success? Of course not! If they did, they probably wouldn’t live to tell about it.

You shouldn’t go into a poker tournament without having completed some pre-planning for the battle ahead either. Think about your plan and several things you’ll do in each typical situation ahead of time. Refine this once you’re at the table as your battlefield unfolds before you.

2. Start out slowly. Be patient. Use the early tournament period, while the blinds are still low, to study everyone at your table, identifying the most likely prey, understanding their habits and play styles. Use this time to mentally prepare and refine your “battle plan” for transferring their chips into your stack. It’s best to formulate several strategies during your pre-tournament planning, and then refine each one as you see how the game is actually shaping up, the types of players at your table and how you’ll approach each situation.

3. Set the Stage – play a few “ugly” hands early, limping in occasionally and feeling your way around the table with the other players while the blinds are still low, playing a few hands you wouldn’t normally even consider. This prevents you from starting out with a table image as a solid or tight player; otherwise, you may not get the action you’ll need when you do get those pocket rockets (AA) and great opportunities later.

4. Know Your Own Table Image - Everyone develops a “table image”. Be aware of your own table image, and be careful to mix your game up along the way so that you can’t easily be “typed”. Once others can predict your behavior and your likely reaction to a given situation, they’ll definitely use it against you. For example, if you play mostly premium hands and fold at the first sign of trouble, other players will quickly type you as “weak” and will steal you blind, taking advantage of that knowledge by representing hands they don’t actually have so you’ll fold. If you project that image, know it, so you can trap them with a good hand – make the most of it, since that will definitely destroy your weak table image…

In the first article, I let several aggressive players push me around a little early on, then limped in and dropped out on a few draws, so they all thought I was a tight, weak player and a good target for their aggressive style of play. Letting them push me around some, while not losing much to them, conditioned these aggressive players to push me even harder when they absolutely shouldn’t have – a huge error on their part that I converted into a chip leadership position.

5. Be Careful, Protect Your Stack – You must protect your stack and survive until you get some good hands you can use, so be careful to expend that chip depot deliberately and judiciously – always with purpose. When a player raises you significantly, you must think: 1) how much of my stack can I afford to invest in this one hand, 2) can I win this hand if I play it fully, and 3) what kind of play will yield me the most chips and give me the best overall odds to win against this particular player.

6. Get a Real Hand and Extract Its Value - don’t go up against maniacs and aggressive raisers without a real hand - and definitely, do not challenge them while you’re chasing a draw! Their strength is their bravado and wild, aggressive betting style - it’s also their biggest weakness. When you do get a real hand that you believe is a winner, you must get the most value for it by extracting as many chips as possible from the other players:

• Hit aggressive players head-on, triggering their aggressive response systems, and be willing to stick it out with them, re-raising them all-in if necessary since you know you’re likely in top position, or

• Trap them with a check-raise play. You can often just let aggressive bettors take the initial lead, betting into you and thereby become pot-committed, leading them to putting many or all of their chips at risk. That’s another reason you’d better have a real hand whenever you challenge the aggressive players – they typically just will not fold or back down, and

• Bet enough to extract a significant chip “profit” from the opponents, without forcing them to fold, if you’re sure you have the winning hand.

7. Pay Attention and Focus Outwardly - watch everyone and everything that’s going on at your table. Don’t daydream, and for Pete’s sake – do not focus on your own hand! As a general rule of thumb, spend 3 times as much energy and time trying to determine what other players are holding (especially when you’re not in a hand), gauging their play and betting styles, and refining your battle plan - than you do thinking about your own hands and play. You won’t be playing that many hands if you’re a good poker player, so use this available time wisely.

8. Play the Pot Odds - most people think too much about their own hand and what they might draw next. That’s because calculating and playing the pot odds isn’t yet second nature to them. If that’s you, then you definitely need to get the poker odds ingrained into your subconscious mind, so they’re second nature and you don’t even need to think about them while you’re playing. Find yourself a good Texas Holdem poker odds calculator, practice with it, and you’ll learn the odds of drawing each type of hand and find that you don’t need to think about them.

9. Bluff for the Pot from Good Positions - as the blinds and antes increase, the size of each hand’s pot becomes substantial. Bluffing for these pots from proper positions (e.g., acting late with a big bet, acting first with a semi-bluff hand and bigger bet) is a good way to hold your own while everyone else struggles against the blinds.

10. Play the Player – the key to winning in poker is to get other players to make the wrong play, which you then profit from. To do this, knowing your opponents, understanding what kinds of hands they play, whether they’ll fold when bluffed, and knowing when it’s time to lay down your hand to simply survive and play another is crucial.

The alternative is to do what many players do - just leave most everything to chance and play the game in a random, unpredictable fashion with whatever hands you’re dealt; a.k.a. “gambling”.

They say “those who fail to plan, plan to fail”, and that “hope is not a strategy” – a couple of my favorite sayings that come to mind…have a plan, and execute it.

You must be prepared to mix up your play enough that players aren’t sure what to expect from you. It’s helpful to “shift gears” from one mode of operation to another from time to time. It’s also recommended to play the opposite from everyone at the table; e.g., if most everyone is playing tight overall, then loosen up your play and take advantage of them by overplaying some hands, going on some draws, and a few semi-bluffs. If the table becomes loose, tighten up and attack with a good hand or trap them.

Remember, aggressive players’ egos usually can’t handle being overtly raised or publicly challenged. They expect to be the preeminent raisers and dominate the game, so they’ll often re-raise or go all-in in order to leverage their aggressive position against you. Be ready! You can just about count on it. When they push you at the wrong time, sock it to ‘em! You can use these types of players to build up your chip arsenal and possibly earn yourself a seat at the final table.

There aren’t any absolutes in no-limit Texas Holdem tournament strategy, which is one of the things that make it so entertaining and challenging. These are just a few good tips and techniques that will help you get started and do reasonably well against some good players and some aggressive ones.

Finally, it’s been said “if you can’t spot the sucker at your table, it’s probably you!” I love this saying, because it’s so true. If you do your pre-planning and have confidence in your game plan, along with an ability to observe the opponents and apply the proper techniques against different kinds of players, you’ll go far in Texas Holdem poker tournaments.

So, there’s your first set of Texas Holdem poker tournament strategies. I sure wish someone had condensed things down like this for me when I first started playing. It would’ve saved me years of learning it the hard way. Enjoy.

Good luck!

Rick

Rick Braddy is an avid writer, Texas Holdem player and professional software developer and marketer for over 25 years. His websites and Texas Holdem poker software specialize in helping people become better Texas Holdem poker players. If you’re a poker player, be sure to visit his BetterHoldem.com Texas Holdem poker website today and learn how you can play better Texas Holdem, too.

Gambling has changed. With the increased popularity and accessibility of the internet, more and more people are gambling various forms. From sports betting to underground poker rooms, the general public is playing and it can be attributed largely to the internet.

The gambler is always looking for a way to gamble more easily and to do so legally. The internet provides him or her with just that. The gambling is accessible just by logging on, and since many online gambling sites are set up outside the US territory, they are actually quite legal.

The internet makes it easy to gamble in all ways. Offshore sports betting centers will allow you to see lines and odds almost as soon as they are posted at the actual sports book. In addition, a bet can be placed in any number of books while you simply sit in your chair looking at your computer screen.

The same goes for poker and other games. Casino games are available in video form online any time of day. The sites are, by and large, legal. This makes gambling in general more accessible for everyone. Long gone are the days where you met at a speakeasy to play poker and roulette.

Today, the craze is going beyond simply gambling on the internet. Now, software is downloadable to your phone so that you can see them, but also you can play the games on your phone. You can win and lose money right there on your cell phone without even leaving your car during rush hour.

Gambling is officially a mainstream sport or activity. People play at their homes, in school, at the Catholic Church, and even on cell phones. This type of exposure has made it so that gambling is the next great social activity out there.

All Catholics should know the best places to have online fun. That’s why Catholic Bets has corralled all the best gambling, bingo, and Christian/Catholic dating information into one location!

We all understand the double meaning of gambling and especially
web poker. On the one hand there is terrible gambling addiction,
as gamblers no longer need to go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City
to have a poker party. It is available today in their places.
Legalized gambling is one of the fastest growing businesses in
the United States.

Gambling’s terrific popularity is evident in the recent increase
in the number of online and offline casinos. But most of the
industry’s patrons are sure that gambling is fun and a form of
harmless leisure. But scientists show the terrible percent of
gamblers who become problem or compulsive gamblers; however, it
can be a devastating illness that harmfully affects every piece
of their lives. Compulsive gambling is a progressive disease
that destroys not only the gambler but also everyone with whom
he or she has an important relationship.

Compulsive gambling is an illness that is chronic and
progressive, but it can be established and treated. During
winning period, gamblers experience a big win or some wins that
leaves them with unreasonable hopefulness that their luck will
continue. This leads them to feel great stimulation when
gambling, and they begin rising the amounts of their bets.
During loosing period, the gamblers often begin boasting about
wins they have had, start gambling alone, think more about
gambling and have a loan of money legally or illegally. They
start lying to relatives and friends and become more
bad-tempered, restless and withdrawn. Their home life becomes
unhappier, and they are unable to pay off debts.

The gamblers begin to “hunt” their losses, believing they have
to return as soon as possible to win back their losses. At last
the period of despair is coming, there is a marked raise in the
time spent gambling. Regret, blaming others and alienating
family and friends accompany this. Finally, the gamblers may
engage in illegal acts to finance their gambling. They may
experience desperation, suicidal thoughts and efforts, arrests,
divorce or an emotional breakdown.

Compulsive gambling affects the gamblers, their families, their
employers and the society. As the gamblers go through the
terrible steps of their addiction, they spend less time with
their family and spend more of their family’s money on various
kinds of gambling until their bank accounts are exhausted. Then
they may steal money from relatives and friends.

But we have discussed the only one side of Gambling, ad as we
see it is not the best part of it. But on the other hand
gambling or web poker for example, can be defined as playing a
game of chance for stakes. And sometimes web poker can be used
as the medicine for alcohol or drug addiction.

If you or your friend want to cut down the amount you drink, why
not try web poker for free, it will take some of your time and
interest in game will help you reduce your drinking without
outside help. Alternatively look at other tips of gambling (web
poker is only one of plenty of variants), but for free only.

You may be wondering whether you should cut down or whether you
are likely to have more success with giving up completely. Take
a look at web poker before you make up your mind. Maybe it may
be used as alternative.

If you are thinking about giving up alcohol completely, you
should look at our page on extend the circle of your interests.

www.webkontora.net

Does an Eighth Seed team stand a chance in hell and I will get back to this analogy in a bit to win the Stanley Cup?

The Stanley Cup is the oldest championship team trophy in North America. It is named for Lord Stanley of Preston who represented the British monarch as governor-general in Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley purchased the trophy in 1892 for an amateur ice hockey competition. From 1910 to 1926 teams from several Canadian professional leagues and associations including the NHL vied for the cup.

In 1927 the trophy became the annual award for NHL champions only. The winning club gains possession of the cup for one year until the next champion is crowned.

The Montral Amateur Athletic Association AAA team champion of the Amateur Hockey Association in 1893 was awarded the first Stanley Cup title. The Edmonton Oilers captured the championship five times in the seven seasons from 1984 to 1990. The Stanley Cup went unclaimed last year when the NHL season was wiped out in a labour dispute.

For all the nay-sayers who say an 8th seed can not win the Cup let me point out this little nugget. An 8th seed has never won until now a Conference Championship so NEVER say NEVER! They also have a shot at being the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.

The Oilers added to the considerable franchise history with their seventh trip to the final their 34th playoff series win and 151st playoff victory in 244 post season games. They are now 7-2 in conference finals 35-15 in games in which theyve had an opportunity to clinch a series and 19-0 in series in which theyve won the first two games. Edmonton also made it 14-1 in putting teams away when leading a series three games to one. Nice numbers there. Now truth be told. I had The Oilers to win the Conference as a prop bet but did not have them pegged for the Cup. I was actually looking at Ottawa but never posted a wager as I know all about play-offs upsets and a hot goalie completely changing the landscape of the playoffs.

I said I would get back to the chance in hell bit. Hockey in June in a different kinda game in that the teams are playing in warmer and muggier stadiums then they play in all year. This can slow the games down a bit and in this case I like the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup. They have that young hungry grind it out strong legs with staying power Cinderella story air about them and I dig that. Oh to be at Blues on Whyte Its an Edmonton thing if this should come to be true.

Who will they Face? Well we will find out tonight Either Buffalo or Carolina. Head to Head in the last 20 game why 20? why not… Edmonton at home or on the road against the Buffalo on any day in any month is 12-4-4 facing Buffalo. Edmonton at home or on the road against the Carolina on any day in any month is 6-8-6. Roloson Edmonton at home or on the road against any opponent on any day in any month is 13-7-0. Miller Buffalo is 14-6-0. Ward Carolina is 13-7-0 Gerber Carolina is 9-11 Wanna Bet if Carolina makes it they start Ward?

Now these are really kinda useless stats Cause we are down to Playoff Hockey and all the rules stats and well everything really goes out the window. You have to micros-analyze just the play-offs and well without boring you with even more stats I think no matter who the Oilers Face we will see a nice hard hitting 7 game Stanley Cup Finals. See you Monday for the opener!

George Smeader is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers
League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/George_Smeader.htm

Bad bets attract the equivalent of billions of dollars in wagers
from millions of people around the world each week.

Most professional gamblers look at the promoter’s advantage over
the player to determine if a specific bet is a bad bet. If the
promoter has an advantage of 3 percent or more, it is considered
a bad bet.

Every day millions of people buy lottery tickets without the
slightest consideration of the promoter’s advantage. Between the
promoter and the Government as much as 50 percent is removed
from the prize pool either before or partly before for overheads
and after the draw as tax. If that is not bad enough, the
player’s chances of winning a prize of any description are
thousands to one against and the odds of winning the big one are
millions to one against.

Many of the players making these bets are well aware that they
have only a very slim chance of winning a serious prize but most
are amazed when shown the mathematical odds against such a win.
My wife is well aware of the odds but each week, she plays a set
number of games in ‘Gold Lotto’, a local lottery type game that
is somewhat similar to Keno.

Bingo is another classic example of a bad bet. Millions of
people play it each week. A return of 75 percent of the take to
players is considered a high return in bingo. The odds against
getting a bingo and the low return to players make this a
classic bad bet.

The Big Wheel or Wheel of Fortune gives the promoter an
advantage of about 15 percent. Fortunately most of us only ever
play this at fairs and other charity events so we know our money
is going to a good cause.

The casino has an advantage of at least 25 percent when we play
keno. I know this but whenever I have a meal at a casino I
invariably play a few games during the course of the meal.

When you place a five number line bet in roulette and select the
00 to 3 bet, you have chosen the worst possible bet in roulette.
On this one the casino’s advantage is a bit over 7 percent.

Recall hearing the stickman at the craps table constantly
extolling you to bet ‘Any craps’? It is a sucker bet as are all
the proposition bets.

Video Poker and Slot machines are all bad bets unless you read
the placards on the machines. Because of the way in which prizes
are calculated for winning combinations, you must always bet the
maximum number of coins or the casino will always win. This is
why it is better to play a lower denomination machine and bet
max than to bet the same amount as a single coin on a higher
denomination machine.

Today most people think that the casinos have a very small
advantage when you play blackjack. Wrong, unless you have
mastered at least a basic blackjack strategy. The use of this
strategy changes the house advantage from about 5 percent to
about 1 percent and this allows a skilled player to become a
regular winner.

These examples of bad bets highlight our willingness to
regularly make bad bets. Interestingly many of the people making
these bets do not consider themselves to be gamblers. This is
especially true for the buyers of lottery tickets and bingo
players. Cleaver marketing campaigns have popularized many of
the bad bets to the extent that many people place them with
about as much forethought as we give to purchasing our favorite
breakfast cereal at the supermarket. This is especially true for
the lotteries.

For the lottery ticket buyers, I believe that it is the allure
of instant riches fueled by the publicity given to the big
winners collecting their checks in exchange for what amounts to
no more than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee that induces
so many to contribute to a prize pool from which the vast
majority will never benefit.

The rest of us fall into three groups namely those who have made
these bets on a regular basis over an extended period of time
without ever questioning the wisdom of such bets, those of us
who are overtaken by a combination of the euphoria of the moment
and alcohol and lastly those who thought it seemed like a good
bet at the time.

Of course there are other more scientific explanations for this
but the afore mentioned explanations are much kinder to those of
us who make bad bets.

May Lady Luck smile upon you the next time you place your
favorite bad bet.

BlackJack, Slots, Roulette, Video Poker, Bonus Slots, Stud Poker, Texas Hold em Free Money and Freerolls, All types of sports betting. Does this interest you? Read on!

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Cindy Bellamy

Your bankroll is the amount of money you have set aside to play poker with. Some players can easily add to their bankroll from outside sources while others have no way to add if they lose theirs. If you fall into the latter category, it is very important to not play at limits that exceed your bankroll. One very important point you should know is that until you become a consistent winner it doesn’t matter how big your bankroll is. The only thing that will matter is how much you have to lose. For this reason, the information below is written for you assuming you are a winning player overall.

The first rule is to not confuse bankroll and buy-in. A buy-in is the amount you sit down in a game with or the entry fee in a tournament, not the entire amount you have available to play poker with over a period of time. For example, you may have a bankroll of $10,000 to play 15/30-limit holdem. If this were the case you would probably buy-in for between $500 and $1,000.

I have seen bankroll size suggestions ranging from 200 times the big bet at the level you are playing at ($800 at 2/4) to 300 times the big bet ($1200 at 2/4). My recommendation, particularly for holdem, is to start with 300 times the big bet. I play much better when I have this cushion. I have played at levels that I had much less than 300 times the big bet in bankroll and it sometimes hurts my play. This is a psychological hurdle but when reduced to facts it makes sense. 50 times the big bet is a common downswing, even for professional players, and nothing to become too concerned about if you are still playing well. However, if you start with only 100 times the big bet, if you are down 50 big bets you have lost 50% of your bankroll. If you had started with 300 big bets and are down 50, you have only lost roughly 17% of your bankroll.

If you are a very sound Omaha/8 player, you can play with a 200 big bet bankroll. This is because Omaha/8 is a much more mathematically direct game than holdem, or in other words there is less short-term variance or luck. Because of the short-term variance in holdem, even professional players may see a 200 big bet downswing at times. For this reason, that extra 100 big bets may keep you from being forced to drop down a level before the cards turn in your favor.

Wes Young runs a poker web site at www.pokermonger.com where you can find information about poker strategy, poker room reviews and unique poker articles. He also publishes a weekly poker column. For information visit thepokercolumn.com

Poker’s favorite game of recent, Texas Holdem, has not only
become a hit on the television screen. This game is as hot as
ever online and people of all ages are cashing in. Jordan
Berkowitz, a highly successful online player at the age of 17,
placed 7th among 843 players in the 2004 World Championship of
Online Poker. Chris Moneymaker, a 29-year-old former accountant
and online poker player, won the 2003 World Series of Poker in
Las Vegas with a jackpot worth $2.5 million. The money is out
there and you don’t even have to have a “poker face”.

People like to gamble at these sites because they’re great
places to learn the game. However, before playing online it is
suggested that you are familiar with how to
play, the hierarchy of
hand rankings, and a few playing tips
to give you better grounding.