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October 7th, 2011 by admin

This Texas Holdem game began to become quite popular after the game began to be televised. Suddenly the biggest tournaments in Texas Holdem were being shown on mainstream television stations such as ESPN. As the general public began to watch the game, they decided that they liked it more and more and wanted to know more about how this game was played.

Texas Holdem is just a variation of the other poker games that came before it. The rules themselves are rather simple to learn once you get the hang of it. It is the strategy that keeps people playing the game every day.

In online poker you start with between 2 and 9 people playing at a single table. Each of the players is dealt two cards from the deck face down. These cards are their cards alone and they do not share what these cards are with any other players. Before they are even dealt these cards though, each player is required to put in a small amount of their chips or money into the pot. Typically this is done in the form of a small blind and a big blind. The small blind requires the player to put in less money than the big blind, but the blinds rotate to each player around the table at the end of each hand.

If you are going to continue to play your hand, then you must put in at least the amount of the big blind into the pot. If you want to put in more this is called a raise. Once you have done this, then all other players who want to continue to play their hands must put in the amount that you have raised to. If you feel that you do not have good cards, then you do not have to continue to play and you put no money in the pot. This process is called folding.

Once all players have decided if they are going to continue playing and have put in the proper amount into the pot, then the dealer puts three cards in the middle of the table face up. These cards are known as community cards and all players at the table use these cards to try to form the best hand. If you are holding a King in your hand and another King is now one of the community cards, then you have a pair of Kings.

After those three cards have been dealt, then another round of betting opens up. You follow the same procedures that you did in the opening round of betting only with the players that have not already folded. If all players but one fold, then there is no need to go any farther at that point. If that happens, then the one remaining player has won the pot.

These steps are followed through two more community cards played out one at a time unless all but one players folds. If at least two players play out all the way through all five community cards, then those remaining players are required to show their cards. The player with the best hand wins the pot at that point. The game plays on like this the same way for as long as the players have predetermined (amount of time or until one player has all the money/chips.

September 25th, 2011 by admin

There are a number of products available that rather boldly advertise their effectiveness as online poker cheating software. You can perform an online search for ‘poker cheating software’ to see what I mean.

However, I do not condone any attempt to know an opponent’s hole cards, or to know the community cards before my opponents. That would be cheating. Consequently, I am not affiliated with, nor do I own, or use, any of the poker cheating software products.

I, and everyone I know, play the game of poker solely for the challenge, the satisfaction of achievement, and for whatever rewards that may accrue on account of our personal effort. However, I felt a discussion of the subject could be helpful for anyone wanting to weigh the cons against the presumed pros.

So, here are some of the potential problems with poker cheating software that come to my mind:

1. While most software products offer a free trial, I have not noticed any of the cheating software products that offer a free trial. Free trials have become a somewhat standard way for a purchaser to assure that the product will meet expectations before investing their money.

2. In their End User License Agreement (EULA), perhaps every one of the 600-plus online poker rooms explicitly prohibit the use of software that confers an unfair advantage. Particularly, as would be obtained by cheating. You should know with certainty that if you are caught using prohibited software, your poker room account is subject to forfeiture. For an example, you can visit this page, http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/prohibited_programs.php, to view one popular poker room’s warnings regarding prohibited software.

3. While some of the subject products claim to be undetectable, and assuming that at the moment they are, poker rooms are continuously upgrading their programs. Each poker room upgrade poses an opportunity for online poker software to be detected. Consequently, to maintain undetectability would require a rigorous, ongoing software upgrading effort in response to each and every poker room upgrade.

4. Like they say, there is no honor among thieves. So, be concerned about software that likely will not meet any of your expectations, is possibly loaded with trojans, and could jeopardize your poker room account.

Granted, there are ongoing debates, and huge differences of opinion, about whether certain types of online poker software should be prohibited or not. In my opinion, a few poker rooms have erroneously prohibited certain tracking and analysis software.

Nevertheless, I think that everyone is in agreement that the intent of poker cheating software serves only to undermine the spirit of a great competitive sport.