Online Poker 101
The
Secret To Breaking The Bank
by
Tim Beachum
www.MyOnlinePokerTips.com
SMASHWORDS
EDITION
* * * * *
PUBLISHED
BY:
Tim Beachum on Smashwords
Online
Poker 101
The Secret To Breaking The Bank
Copyright 2011 by Tim Beachum
Smashwords
Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your
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to other people. If you would like to share this book with another
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the author’s work.
* * * * *
Foreword
Online
Poker 101 - The Secret To Breaking The Bank is an excellent book for
anyone interested in winning in poker. This book takes you from the
history of poker all the way to secret strategies for breaking the
online poker bank. Many poker professionals have discovered that by
playing poker online the odds are in their favor.
I was
inspired to write this book, by many of my friends who have been
creating a full time living playing poker online for years. To sit
there and watch them is truly amazing to say the least. I watched one
friend turn $50 into $10,000 in a matter of hours.
Although
there are no guarantees whenever you play any game of chance, the
secret is to leverage the odds in your favor. The only way you can
possibly do this is by understanding the game better than your
opponent, and by reading this book you are well on your way to doing
exactly that.
I highly recommend that you go right now and
join the online poker tips newsletter: www.MyOnlinePokerTips.com The
information you will discover comes from some of the worlds best
online poker players. You will gain first hand knowledge of how they
rake in the big bucks without breaking a sweat.
* * * * *
Special
Thanks
Thanks goes to Michael Cheney (Super Bike Mike)
thanks for all of the motivation and encouragement over the years
that has lead to many incredible successes. If the world had more
people like you what a wonderful place it would be.
I also
want to thank Erica Martin for editing and putting together this
book. Maybe together we can encourage your husband to finally share
some of the brilliant books that he has in his head with the rest of
the world :-) ericaristi@aol.com
Genia
Rowles thanks for all the support that you have given me over the
years. Friends like you do not come by everyday, I am fortunate to
have you in my life. I know you are going through a lot right now,
keep your head up - there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Hey Shannon Roadcap?
How many books do I have to write before you start on yours? Nothing
is stopping you but you. All you have to do is put one word after the
other and before you know it you will have a book ;-)
I always
save the best for last, my mom - Mary Jane Beachum. Thank you for
always telling me that I could do anything that I put my mind to.
* * * * *
Table of Content
Chapter
1: History of Poker
Chapter
2: History of Online Poker
Chapter
3: Poker 101
Chapter
4: Poker Vocabulary
Chapter
5: Playing Texas Hold ‘Em
Chapter
6: Position
Chapter
7: Pot Odds and “OUTS”
Chapter
8: Playing the Flop
Chapter
9: Playing the River
Chapter
10: Betting
Chapter
11: Strategies
Chapter
12: Tells
Chapter
13: Bluffing
Chapter
14: Playing Multi-Table Tournaments
Chapter
15: Playing Sit and Go’s
Chapter
16: Limit Games
Chapter
17: Some Things to Keep in Mind
Chapter
18: A Word About Addiction
Chapter
19: Conclusion
Introduction
It’s
becoming almost as big as baseball, football, hockey and other
sporting events and television has only increased its popularity.
With the Internet it’s coming into our homes at a lightning fast
rate. It's the rage that’s sweeping the nation – poker!
Although the game has been around for years played in family
recreation rooms, smoky bars, casinos and even retirement homes,
these days poker has become the game of choice for hundreds of
thousands of people.
Family game night used to mean getting
out the Monopoly board and battling over Park Place and Boardwalk.
Now, family game night is more likely to be characterized by breaking
out the poker chips and battling each other for the best hands. More
and more people are talking about their bad beats, their great hands
and their prowess for play. Popular on college campuses, fraternal
clubs and even retirement homes, poker has become our new game of
chance and our new game of choice.
What has led to the rise of
this game? Most likely it has been the extensive television time and
the media surrounding it. On any given evening, the average person
can flip on the TV set and find a poker game being aired. The World
Series of Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown and Ultimate Poker Showdown
are rising in the ratings as we tune in to see professionals battle
it out and compare our play to theirs.
Nearly every home these
days has at least one computer. The Internet has become our
lifeline, in ways, for information, contact with the outside world
and – yes – our portal to the world of poker beyond our kitchen
table. Now ordinary people can log on and play poker with people
other than our parents, kids and friends. Many professional players
sponsor online websites where they are required to play allowing
Average Joe to match his poker skills with the likes of Howard
Lederer and Chris Ferguson.
Perhaps the biggest rise in poker
popularity, specifically online poker, stems from one man’s $40
online buy-in leading to the Cinderella story of the industry. Chris
Moneymaker qualified for The World Series of Poker main event through
a small buy-in satellite event at Poker Stars. At the Series he
outlasted a field of 839 entrants – the largest in World Series of
Poker history at the time. He pitted heads against some of the most
well-known poker professionals in the world and won! Moneymaker’s
first-place finish netted him $2.5 million dollars which, for his
first live tournament, was not all that bad. Many people looked at
Moneymaker’s win as monumental. After all, he was just an average
guy. He could be anyone’s next door neighbor or co-worker and he
went up against the pros and won. Chris Moneymaker opened the door
for everyday people to dream about being the next professional poker
player.
In fact, the 2004 World Series featured triple the
number of players over the 2003 turnout. At least four players in
the WSOP final table won their entry through an online card room.
Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg “Fossil man” Raymer also won
his entry at the Poker Stars online card room.
There are a
myriad of tips and tricks for playing the game of poker. Everyone
seems to have an opinion on the best way to play the game. True,
poker is a game of chance and many would argue that there really is
no secret to winning the game. However, there is a best way to play.
As Kenny Rogers sang, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and
know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away and know when to
run.”
There are many
variations on the game of poker but the one most popular today has
got to be Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s a relatively simple game but,
like all poker, it can change with the deal of every card.
In
this book we’ll explore different ways to play the game online to
maximize on your buy-in and we will touch on tournament play as
well.
Online poker can be fun and even profitable when you
play smart and follow the advice of those in the know. Whether
you’re playing for fun or for money, the game can easily become an
obsession so we’ve also given you information about getting help
with gambling addictions.
We won’t make you a professional –
that’s up to you - but we will try to give you some food for
thought when the cards are dealt and it’s time to bet.
So,
let’s talk poker!
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Chapter 1: History of Poker
The history of
poker is a matter of some debate. The name of the game likely
descended from the French word “Poque” which descended from the
German word “Pochen” (to knock), but it is not clear whether the
origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names. It
closely resembles the Persian game of As Nas, and may have been
taught to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors.
Poker
is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of
“Primero” and the French “Brelan”. The English game “Brag”
(earlier bragg) clearly descended from “Brelan” and incorporated
bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time).
It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the
development of poker as it exists now.
English actor Joseph
Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829 with
a deck of 20 cards and four players betting on which player's hand
was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green's book, An Exposure of the
Arts and Miseries of Gambling published in 1843, described the spread
of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi
riverboats on which gambling was a common pastime. As it spread up
the Mississippi and West during the gold rush, it is thought to have
become a general ethos of the pioneering, frontier
population.
Poker initially was played with one round of
betting. Players were dealt five cards face down and there was no
draw of cards. Professional gamblers later modified the rules to
increase the profitability of the game to them. After 1850, wild
cards and bluffing became common practices and drawing cards was
introduced as well. The addition of the draw was especially helpful
to professionals because it included another round of betting and
thus another chance to cheat their opponents. It also introduced the
necessity for more skill in playing the game.
Soon after this
spread, the full 52-card English deck was used and the flush was
introduced. During the American Civil War, many additions were made
including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant) and the
straight. Further American developments followed such as the wild
card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900) and
community card poker games (around 1925). Spread of the game to other
countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S.
military.
As we’ve already pointed out, the game and jargon
of poker have become important parts of American culture and English
culture. Such phrases as ace in the hole, ace up one's sleeve, beats
me, blue chip, call one's bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck,
poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card
and others are used in everyday conversation even by those unaware of
their origins at the poker table.
Modern tournament play
became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker
began in 1970. It was also during that decade that the first serious
strategy books appeared, notably The Theory of Poker by David
Sklansky, Super System by Doyle Brunson and The Book of Tells by Mike
Caro.
Poker’s popularity has experienced an unprecedented
spike in recent years largely due to the introduction of online
poker and the invention of the hole-card camera which finally turned
the game into a spectator sport. Viewers can now follow the action
and drama of the game and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the
World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have brought in huge
audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors.
Of course,
we’re exploring the phenomenon of online poker, so let’s look at
the history of that.
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Chapter 2: History of Online Poker
Other types of
online gambling sites were launched before the first online poker
room. Online sports books were introduced in the mid 1990’s which
was also the time of online casinos sprouting up around the web.
It wasn’t until 1998 that the first online poker
forum was launched. Planet Poker, which has since become a
relatively small poker room, enjoyed the status as the sole online
poker forum for a short period of time. Other online sites entered
the fray soon after. Paradise Poker was launched in 1999 and would
soon become the industry leader.
Today, there are
many, many sites to choose from. A search for the most popular sites
for online poker show over 1,000 matches and a Google search gives
over 50 million matches for references to online poker sites.
The
major sites include Poker Stars, Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker,
Pacific Poker and Bodog Poker. Many offer the chance to play with
“fake money” or real money. You can accumulate points at some
sites that can be redeemed for merchandise bearing the site’s name.
Another feature with most sites includes the offer of
bonus cash with a real money deposit. Often, you can receive a code
that matches the amount of your deposit up to a certain amount. For
example, make a $50 real money deposit into your Party Poker account
and you will receive $50 free making your total bankroll $100.
It’s
a matter of personal preference as to which site is best. We will
remain objective in this book and will not tell you which site to go
to. Each one has its distinct features that appeal to the everyday
player.
Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain
types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they
also have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick
and mortar casinos. For example, online poker room security
employees can look at the "hand history" of the cards
previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of
behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players
can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength
of their holding. Online poker rooms also sometimes check player's
IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at
known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables.
The
biggest challenge with online poker is you don’t have the advantage
of trying to “read” your fellow players. A basic knowledge of
the game, of course, is the first step to good play. While we would
like to assume you already know the basics, you might not, so our
next section looks at general terms used in poker as well as hand
rankings. It’s always good to have this information at hand!
* * * * *
Chapter 3: Poker 101
Following is the
ranking of general poker hands from highest to lowest.
Royal Straight Flush - 10-J-Q-K-A, all of the same suit.
Straight Flush - five cards of the same suit, in order, such as 2-3-4-5-6 all of diamonds.
Four of a Kind - four of the same card, such as K-A-A-A-A.
Full House - a set of three of a kind plus a pair, such as 8-8-Q-Q-Q.
Flush - five cards of the same suit
Straight - five running cards not necessarily of the same suit, such as 6-7-8-9-10
Three of a Kind - three cards of the same value, such as 10-10-10
Two Pair – four cards with two of the same value and the other two of the same value, such as 8-8 and A-A
One Pair – two cards of the same value, such as 2-2
High Card – any one card with the highest value
Slang for specific hands:
A-A – American Airlines, bullets, pocket rockets
A-K – Big Slick, “Walking back to Houston”
A-J – Ajax
K-K – Cowboys
K-Q – Marriage
K-J – Kojak
K-9 – Canine
Q-Q – Dames, divas, ladies, the Hilton sisters
Q-J – Maverick, Oedipus Rex