Are citizens of the United States aloud to exchange in real money poker games online?

Answer…

Currently you’re aloud to play for real money online if you’re a US citizen as long as you don’t reside in one of the eleven states which currently has it banned. The eleven states that have banned online gambling are as followed.

• Illinois
• Indiana
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oregon
• South Dakota
• Washington
• Wisconsin

There was a law which passed in 2006 banning US financial institutions from accepting US citizen’s deposits and withdrawls on online gambling sites.

It also made it illegal for online casinos to accept money from US financial institutions which caused most online casinos to leave the US market. Some online casinos still do allow US players but you’ll need to use a unique method of making payments and withdrawls.

My question is a percentages question that deals with calculations. I’m wondering what the percentage is of at least one player holding an ace pre-flop based on a ten player table.

Answer…

Although the answer may seem high to you, the actual percentage of at least one player holding an ace pre-flop is 86.7%. The fact is with ten players on a table basically 40% of the cards are dealt out and with four aces being in the deck it means there is an excellent chance someone is holding an ace.

This doesn’t mean much though because although someone may be holding an ace there kicker may not be great which means the ace isn’t overly powerful. The percentages drop tremendously when you start looking at the chances of someone receiving an ace and face card for instance.

My friends and I and were playing poker tonight and we came across a new problem to us which we weren’t sure how to settle so we just decided to call it a push pot and split the chips.

The situation was as followed…

The board had all hearts and the following cards were there – A, 10, 7, 6, 3

My friend has the 2 of hearts and I had the jack of hearts in my hand.

Should I have won this pot because my jack was higher then his 2 or was splitting the pot the correct thing to do?

Answer…

This is a great question that often confuses new players to the game. To answer your question though you should have won the hand because simply put in Texas Hold’em the goal is to produce the best five card hand you possibly can.

In this instance you would have had the higher straight because your Jack of hearts would have replaced the three of hearts meaning this.

Your hand – A, J, 10, 7, 6

Your friends hand – A, 10, 7, 6, 3

As you can see by using the best possible five cards in play you would have finished with the better hand and should have won the pot.

My friends were playing a real money game last night and when we were down to three players one player kept on hiding his chips under the table out of sight, is this legal?

Answer…

It’s absolutely against poker rules to hide your chips from your opponents as it plays a huge role in how betting takes place. Next time your friend hides his chips you can kindly ask him to place them back on the table so you can view them all. Also you should try keeping your chips in order from highest to lowest so that other players have an idea of how many chips you’re playing with.

I was wondering if you’re aloud to check raise in Texas Hold’em?

If you can could you also specify some of the times you would predominately check raise?

Answer

One of the best ways to hide the fact that you have a good hand is to do something called check raising. When you have a good hand you don’t always want to lead out and bet your cards as often times everyone around the table will fold. To mask the fact you’re holding a good hand you should check and wait until someone else bets. Once someone bets and its back around to you on the table you should put in a raise. This will help draw people in as they’ve already invested money into the pot.

Check raising is used in other parts of the game as well including when you’re trying to find out if someone is bluffing you or when you’re trying to bluff someone else. You can get caught doing this but you can also scare your opponent into folding which is what you’re aiming to do here.

My question for you today is do you know if you can play online poker for free anywhere?

Answer…

The majority of all online poker rooms offer a free to play section where you can use free chips to practise your game. The free areas on the online poker rooms are often separated from the pay areas so that it’s not easily confused. You never have to spend any money in the free area and it’s ideal to build your skills in this area before moving up to the money tables.

Older generations of poker player did not actually grew up with Texas Hold’Em as the favored game on poker table. Seven-Card Stud was then the staple game on the table. But due to some radical changes in the poker scene, Texas Hold’Em rose from its humble beginnings to become one of the most played and most revered poker game of them all.

More Than Luck

The fame and greatness of Texas Hold’Em was first attributed to the very nature that the game was played. Most poker games are actually favored due the lesser influence that luck imposes on the game. Poker has always and will always be a game of skill more than a game of luck. Luck will always play its part, although the lesser its part the better for the game. Texas Hold’Em was greatly favored on poker tables and tournaments because of this very reason.

Secondly, Texas Hold’Em is a community card game, meaning there are cards shared by the whole table. This feature of Texas Hold’Em gives a lot of space for analysis and cunning that makes better players win due to their skill and not because they have the right cards.

And being a community game that it is, Texas Hold’Em did not jeopardize the mystery behind a poker game. Mind games skill rules the game to the extent that most poker players learn to read their opponents as well as they read the probability of the cards.

Right Publicity

Aside from the very nature of the game, Texas Hold’Em has also enjoyed the best publicity imaginable. Famous poker events like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT) has always highlighted the event. Since the 1970s when the World Series of Poker came into being, the events has been thoroughly televised which readily escalated the fame of Hold’Em.

It could also be assumed that Texas Hold’Em seemed to have come at the right place at the right time. At the height of its grandeur, the Internet came into being. The Internet opened Texas Hold’Em and poker itself to opportunities that was never even imagined before.

Texas Hold’Em became a great game, far greater than its predecessors would have ever imagined. It produced great and gifted players. Playing poker was never a profession before, but today it has not only become a profession but a very profitable one.