Today in this, the first of the “Betfanatic on Poker” articles, the Team wish to introduce our readers to the latest way the thinking gambler can make a steady stream of income, Online Poker at PKR. Before we move into the operation of the PKR software we first would like to dispel some of the poker myths non-players seem to hold true.
Isn’t poker just a game of luck? No, of course simple luck plays a part in poker – but poker is a thinking man’s game of odds, strategy and sometimes outright determination. Making sure that you are only in the hands that you are likely to be ahead in, and folding out some fairly strong hands when it appears you are behind will generally make you money in the long term.
Isn’t online poker fixed, the computers decide who wins, not the skill or luck of the player? It’s true that in the early days of online poker there were some dubious companies in the mix, these have now gone the way of the past, and the top ten big players in this exciting market use random number generators to “shuffle” and then deal the cards – and have to live within very strict rules to ensure their gaming licence remains valid – today’s online hands are as unpredictable as a real deck of cards.
It’s impossible to play poker online as you can’t see your opposition. In the PKR poker rooms every person has a 3D avatar that can be used to add expression to your game. Want to intimidate a player that you are going heads up against with a poor hand, make your avatar cheer and clap to throw your opponent off their game.
Online Poker At PKR: Betfanatic’s Performance
Over at the lower stakes limits at the PKR poker room, there are many, many novice, recreational or just flat out bad players – this is a place that the beginner poker player who employs some basic poker strategy can not only improve their game to take on the higher levels of play found at PKR – but also make some nice side money to boot.
We have only been playing online poker at PKR for the last two months, when we started we were one of the fish, a total new comer to the game of poker who just loved to give our chips away to the table on a pair of 6′s because “I’ve got a pair” we didn’t understand the game, and the strategy so started off making about a $50 loss.
We have now, after studying the optimum online MTT strategy won several Multi Table Tournaments (MTT), won several tickets to big prize fund tournaments (by playing cheap satellite qualifying games) and now stand ranked 1500th out of 65,000 MTT players. We are also about $1000 up, with 38 tournament cashes and a few good runs on the cash tables at the $0.25/$0.50 levels.
Online Poker At PKR: How It Works
Online Poker at PKR is played generally on one of two tables, the ten seater, and the six seater, and you will need to adjust your strategy depending on how many players are at your table – but we’ll come to this in later articles. You will be dealt two cards (which only you ever see), and over several rounds of betting an additional five cards are revealed – your goal is to make the best possible hand of 5 cards from any of the seven you have access to. If you do, you win the pot of money on the table if you don’t you lose – simple right?
Yes and no, if you know what you are doing it gets easier but as a new player you need to play cautious and sensible poker until you better at judging if you are ahead, or behind in the hand. A hand of poker would progress something like this.
Everyone is dealt their two hole cards (the cards only you can see) and then starting with the player to the left of the dealer button players either place their opening bet depending on how good they think their two cards are, or fold the hand if they do not think the hand is good.
Once all players have bet, raised, or folded the dealer reveals the first three cards community cards that players may use to improve their hand. (This is called the flop) Players now either bet, raise or fold their hand using as many cards as necessary from the flop to make the best hand they can.
Once all players have bet or folded the next community card is drawn by the dealer (the turn) and another round of betting takes place. This process takes place once more until the fifth card (the river) is dealt on the table. Players then have a final round of betting before showing their cards (the showdown) to see who has won the hand, and the pot of chips in the middle of the table.
Not all hands reach the showdown however, if all players fold, the last player standing wins the pot – so sometimes, not having the best hand, but betting like you did, can win you the money on the table this is bluffing and is very effective when used at the right time.
Online Poker At PKR: How can poker make me money?
There are three kinds of poker game available at PKR, the Multi Table Tournament (MTT) the sit and go (SnG) and the ring (cash) games. I am a big fan of the MTT format of games as the buy-ins (the money you pay to play) can start very small (as little as $0.30) and you stand to win money in the $1000′s with first place often paying hundreds or in some big tournaments thousands of times the buy in amount.
The ring games (cash games) are where the big and quick money resides, but so does the risk. Cash games let you top up as much cash as you want, as many times as you want (so a bad run of cards can wipe out your entire bank roll) but if you play well, in an hour you can earn a lot of money. I don’t advise a beginner to take on any cash tables above the micro stakes ($0.02 / $0.04) level as the more skilled poker players reside in the bigger cash tables and won’t hesitate to bust you and spit you out.
The sit and go format is like a combination of the two above, for a fixed buy-in you get a fixed number of chips and when they are gone you are out. The top three players (in a ten man sit and go) usually take the entire prize fund in the ratio 50% 30% 20% so they are a good way to practice your cash game with a more manageable risk.
The first step to playing Online Poker at PKR is to download the PKR poker room software from the PKR Website and sign up for an account, if you use our special bonus code BF01 you will qualify for a totally free $10 boost to your bankroll.
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