7 Winning Poker Strategies for Texas Holdem

The tips and strategies below will increase your chances at winning Texas Holdem poker.

Play Tight

One winning poker strategy is if everyone at the Texas Holdem poker table plays loose, then no one can win. The players will trade pots back and forth while the casino slowly rakes all their money. The better Texas Holdem players will lose less, but in the long run, no one can win. It’s also true that no one can win if everyone plays tight. The tight players will trade smaller pots back and forth while the casino rakes all their money. The better Texas Holdem players will lose less, but no one can win.

Position

Another winning poker strategy is that most Texas Holdem poker players agree that more hole cards can be played profitably in late position than in early position. Any Texas Holdem hole cards that win money in early position will certainly win more money in late postion. Any hole cards that lose money in early position are probably not worth playing in any position.

Rakes

Casinos and poker rooms either rake each pot or charge the players on a time basis. It’s part of the poker player’s overhead. There are various methods of collecting from the players, but it really boils down to just two ways. If the money is taken from the pot, it’s a rake. If the money is collected from the players equally, it’s a time charge although it might be called something else.

Tokes

Tokes are an important part of the dealers’ income and part of the poker player’s overhead. You want the dealers to make their money, but keep your toking affordable.

Play Records

A fifth winning poker strategy is if you don’t keep records of your Texas Holdem poker playing, start now. Make a form on your computer and print some copies. If you have the software, set up a database on your hard drive. At least get a notebook and a calculator. If you need to make notes in the casino, write on the back of a keno ticket and copy the information to your play records when you get home. Accurate play records will tell you a lot about yourself, your strategy and your opponents.

Strategy Variations

Another winning poker strategy is Texas Holdem poker players and Texas Holdem experts know that you should vary your play to confuse and bewilder the other players. If you play every hand the same way, you risk being labeled a robot by your fellow players and you won’t get any respect at the poker table. Not only that, you’ll have to endure all the poker articles and player remarks about how easy you are to beat in Texas Holdem poker because you’re so predictable.

Practice

The most important winning poker strategy is that every serious poker player should practice on a regular basis. They must practice if they want to win. Poker is a very competitive arena, and you should practice your strategy if you want to play winning Texas Holdem poker.

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Casino Stocks On The Rise

On Friday the stocks of major operators in the casino industry rose, surprising many analysts who have looked on as live casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas have suffered over recent months. However, the rise wasn't due to a boom in Las Vegas casino revenues. The rise in stock prices can be attributed to Macau, the Chinese gambling hotspot.

One of the world's foremost gambling hubs, Macau is known as the "Monte Carlo of the Orient." Over the past year it has been home to a host of gambling and casino related events including the Asian Poker Tour and other events hosted by online casino and online poker sites. Macau is home to twenty-eight casinos, which are government-franchised and regulated. The most popular game in Macau casinos is casino baccarat and other popular games include roulette, casino blackjack, keno, Sic bo and Fan-Tan.

As the Macau casino industry grows, so do homeland casino operators with real estate in Macau. Las Vegas Sands, for instance, has projects underway in both Singapore and Macau so even if they aren't showing huge profits in Las Vegas they can make up for it with big casino profits in the Far East.

Analyst David Bain, of Sterne, Agee & Leach, says that now is the time to buy. Growth in the casino industry, thanks to Macau, will be too big to ignore. Analyst Rachael Rothman, of Wedbush Morgan, raised her revenue expectations for Las Vegas Sands, as well as Wynn Resorts as well.

Macau isn't the only place where the casino industry is booming. Online casinos are also doing well, especially considering the economic situation. Many players that once visited the live casino cities of Las Vegas and Atlantic City have now found a home online.

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R

Rack - A tray that holds 100 poker chips in five stacks of twenty chips each.

Rail - The rim of a poker table or a barrier outside a poker area.

Railbird - Someone who hangs around a poker room who watches the games and/or is looking to get into action.

Raise - To increase the previous bet.

Rake - Chips taken from the pot by the cardroom for compensation for hosting the game.

Rank - The value of each card and hand.

Rap - When a player knocks on the table indicating that he/she has checked.

Razz - Seven Card Stud where the lowest five cards win the pot.

Re-buy - The amount of money a player pays to add a fixed number of chips to his/her stack in a tournament.

Re-raise - To raise a raise.

Ring Game - A "live" game that is not a tournament.

River - This is the last card given in all games. In Hold'em and Omaha, it is also known as 5th street. In Stud games, it is also known as 7th street.

Round of Betting - This is when players have the opportunity to bet, check or raise. Each round of betting ends when the last bet or raise has been called.

Rounders - Guys who hustle for a living. This is also the name of a popular poker movie starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton.

Royal Flush - This is an Ace high straight (A-K-Q-J-10) of the same suit. It is the best possible hand in poker.

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Poker Players Alliance Drops the Ball

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has wasted way too much time focusing on individual state cases and arguing whether poker is a “game of skill”.

Most of us already believe poker is a “game of skill” even though the British courts has declared poker a “game of chance”. Great Britain fully embraces online poker and sports betting, even though they want to tax operators to death.

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide (nearly 10,000 in South Carolina), today lauded the ruling of a South Carolina court that confirmed that poker is a game of skill, and thus should not be considered gambling under the law.

The problem with the PPA’s approach is that they are failing to prioritize.

If you’ve been reading a few of the poker forums in recent days, you know the single most pressing issue right now is with the banking institutions being pressured to cut off transactions to and from payment processors that work with online poker rooms.

It’s a very real concern. There is one bank that has cut off ties to one such processor and others are likely to follow.

In the end, it won’t matter if poker is considered a “game of skill” or “chance” if none of us can play the game online.

The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association had tried unsuccessfully to challenge the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which holds financial institutions responsible for policing online gambling transactions.

The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, rejecting arguments that the law was vague and intruded on individual privacy rights.

Now both iMEGA and the PPA must work (together) to try and solve the banking dilemma. Unfortunately, while iMEGA has shown a willingness to work with the PPA, the Poker Players Alliance wants nothing to do with any groups whose members include Internet bookmakers.

Meanwhile, the US Attorneys Office out of the Southern District of New York is reportedly beefing up its investigation into two of online poker’s biggest companies.

Costigan Media, which owns the Gambling911.com website, won a landmark decision in August when the Honorable Judge Laura Taylor Swain granted the electronic news site access to previously sealed seizure warrants issued by the New York US Attorney’s office. Costigan Media filed a Motion to Intervene in order to learn about and report more accurately on current online poker related investigations. Former acting deputy general counsel at Homeland Security, Baruch Weiss, represented Costigan Media.

Assistant US Attorney Arlin Devlin-Brown was permitted by the Court to redact certain names of individuals and companies that are part of an ongoing investigation. The decision requires that the US Attorney’s Office notify the Court of upcoming indictments.

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