Texas holdem: Bluffing

admin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:56:32 +0000

Some casino games demand skill and experience; others are based on sheer luck. Poker (and Texas holdem) is unique in that it’s a blend of skill, luck, and one other critical component, the art of the bluff. It’s a great feeling when you win not because you have the best hand, but because you make everyone else believe you have the best hand.
Familiar with the term “poker face”? Poker is a game where the flicker of an eyelid or the twitch of a lip may give away a full house — or a losing hand. Because your poker hand isn’t entirely revealed to the table — and you and the rest of the players have the opportunity to withdraw, or fold - even a poor hand has a chance of winning a big pot. Observing your opponents — trying to pick up on their unique mannerisms and weaknesses — can help you win. If you employ skill and timely bluffs, you leverage luck to create a strategy that improves your chances of walking away a winner.

Roulette: Making inside bets

admin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:52:32 +0000

Inside bets (betting on single numbers or a combination of numbers) have just the right elements for drama, nail biting, and impressing others. After all, when you set your chips down on a single number on the inside of the table, you’re basically betting that, of all the 38 (or 37 on the European wheel) slots on the roulette wheel, the ball will land in that particular number. But players typically bet on more than one number at a time to increase their chances of hitting a winner.

Although most croupiers review the layout and point out any ambiguous bets before dropping the ball in the track, make sure that the croupier properly places your bets, and watch that other players don’t accidentally knock your bet onto a different spot. You don’t want the croupier to have to eyeball an imprecisely placed wager and tell you that your winning three-number street bet (paying 11 to 1) is so far out of place that it looks like a six-number line bet (paying 5 to 1).
The following are examples of bets that players can make on the inside:
- Straight up: This bet is on an individual number, such as 21. If the ball drops on this number, the bet pays 35 to 1. For example, if you bet $1, you receive 35 times your bet, plus your original bet, for a total of $36.
- Split: This bet is on a line between two adjacent numbers, such as 29 and 32. If the ball lands on either number, the bet pays 17 to 1.
- Street: This bet is on the outside line of a row of three numbers, such as 13, 14, and 15. If the ball lands on any one of these numbers, the bet pays 11 to 1.
- Corner: This bet (also called a quarter or box bet) is on the corner of a group of four adjacent numbers, such as 7,8,10, and 11. If the ball lands on any one of these numbers, the bet pays 8 to 1.
- Line: This bet is on the end, on the intersecting lines of a group of six numbers, such as 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30. If the ball lands on any one of the six numbers, the bet pays 5 to 1.
- Five-number bet: This bet is on the end of the line of the zero, double zero, one, two, and three boxes. If the ball lands on any one of the five numbers, the bet pays 6 to 1.

These rules also work in casinos online. In online casinos you can also play slots, blackjack and craps.