Archive for September 19th, 2005

Win playing Roulette – The System

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By Adel Awwad

Roulette is considered t be one of the most popular casino games in the world. It tends to draw players from all types of backgrounds. Being a relatively simple game to understand while offering a diverse range of betting options and payout outcomes is what makes Roulette such a big hit with the players. Roulette is also considered to be one of the casino’s biggest money makers because it tends to place the odds in favor of the casino. Whether one is placing bets on an American Roulette Wheel which has 38 numbers (0, 00, 1-36), or on a European Roulette Wheel which has 37 numbers (0, 1-36), the odds are usually in favor of the casino, especially if one places bets such as a straight up bet (a bet covering one single number) or a split bet (a bet covering two numbers). Of course there are other types of bets which will increase the odds in the player’s favor such as a dozen bet (a bet covering twelve numbers), or an odd or even bet (a bet covering eighteen numbers), but covering eighteen numbers out of a possible 37 or 38 still places the odds in favor of the casino.

Having tried many different betting systems, I finally found one that places the odds in favor of the player, is very simple to understand and does not carry a large degree of risk as far as losing one’s money is concerned. If the aim of the player is to cover as many outcomes as possible while increasing the chances of winning, then this may be one Roulette system that is worth a try. Being a low risk system, the payout from a win is only 3 to 1, but the odds are 63.16% in favor of the player in an American Roulette game and 64.86% in favor of the player in a European Roulette game.

The logic of the system is as follows: By placing two Dozen bets of equal amounts, the player is essentially covering 24 numbers which is over 60% of the total numbers on the wheel. The chances of losing the bet are between 35.13 % and 36.84% which is far lower than a Column bet or Colored bet. If the winning number falls in one of the two Dozen bets, then the player will receive three credits for the two credits wagered.

For example, let us assume that you have placed a bet of $10 on the numbers 13 – 24 and another $10 bet on the numbers 25 – 36. Now you have covered over 60% of all the numbers and if you win, you will be ahead by $10. As mentioned earlier, the returns may not be high (depending on how much money is wagered), but the chances of winning each bet tend to be higher than usual.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Hold’em Strategy

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Real Players, real time, real Poker!

Celebrity Poker Showdown’s co-host, Phil Gordon, can really hustle. He has books coming out, business interests to watch out for, and his TV show to shoot. He’ll be making so many personal appearances during the rest of 2005 that he’ll have time to play only a few poker tournaments.

But Gordon misses playing big-time poker tournaments! I know the feeling. It’s hard to be a businessman, promoter and writer, and still maintain your poker schedule, which, is, after all, how we made our names.

Gordon and I, along with all of the other top poker players in the world, share a love for the World Series of Poker (WSOP). All the great players, in fact, keep that six-week stretch open each year, so as to focus on winning gold bracelets and making additional poker history. During that six-week stretch, you can play in a meaningful event almost every day. The rest of the year, you have to fly to Reno, Paris, Atlantic City, Connecticut, Mississippi or somewhere else far away just to play in one meaningful tournament; and no matter how good you are, you’re a long shot to win it, because the tournament will be fielding 800 players.

Gordon made two final tables at the 2005 WSOP (losing at one of them when his pocket aces were beaten by an opponent’s pocket eights, all-in before the flop), and came awfully close to winning the following tournament. With 27 players remaining in the $3,000 buy-in pot-limit Hold ‘Em tournament, and the blinds at $400-$800, Gordon picked up A-10 in the small blind, and after everyone else folded, he made it $2,400 to go.

In the big blind sat Marco Traniello, previously best known for being married to Jennifer Harmon Traniello, the celebrated poker player, but after his amazing eight-times-in-the-money performance at the 2005 WSOP, Traniello is now known as a very good poker player in his own right.

In any case, Traniello called the $1,600 raise, and the flop came down Q-10-8 rainbow (”rainbow” meaning that the three flop cards were of three different suits). It was a decent flop for Gordon, who now bet out $4,000 of his $43,000 in chips (Marco had $55,000 in chips), and Traniello called.

After a five came off, Gordon bet $10,000 into the pot, and Traniello again called. On the river, a 10 came off, making Gordon ”thirty miles of railroad” (slang for trip 10s), with a board of Q-10-8-5-10.

Gordon, having hit his best card in the deck, bet out $20,000 into the $34,000 pot.

Traniello now moved all-in, effectively raising Gordon his last $9,000. Gordon called, and Traniello showed him a queen-high straight — the Q-10-8 on the board combined with his J-9 in the hole. The last card, the 10, which had looked so promising for Gordon, especially with an ace kicker, was actually the one card that guaranteed he would go broke.

It was a tough break for Gordon, set up partially by the expert way that Traniello played his hand.

Marco had twice succeeded in trapping Gordon by smooth calling with the best possible hand. The old ”I call, I call” play with a super-strong hand, instead of the more conventional “I raise, I raise.”

If Traniello had raised Gordon on the flop, or on fourth street, he would most likely have forced Gordon to fold his hand — Gordon had only second pair — right then and there. Because Traniello opted to slow play his hand, he reaped huge benefits.

Did Gordon do anything wrong here? His pre-flop raise was very good; his bet on the flop was also fine; his bet on fourth street was a little aggressive, but not bad; and finally, there was nothing he could do on the end, short of making a great ”out of his mind” read on Traniello and losing a bit less by folding, but even had he done so, he would still have lost a ton of chips.

Reflecting on the bad luck he endured during this hand, Gordon now says, “That’s poker.”

Phil Hellmuth is a nine-time World Series of Poker champion and the author of Play Poker like the Pros and Bad Beats and Lucky Draws (both published by HarperCollins). His column appears Sundays in Tropical Life.

Source : The Herald

Poker: Danger is all arund you

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The trick to becoming a successful player is learning how to avoid these dangerous traps while striking fear into your opponents by playing tricky hands.

Some hands are dangerous to play. The worst type of hand you can be dealt when playing Texas Hold ‘em is one that seems to be too good to fold but isn’t good enough to raise with. Sure, it’s easy to know that you should raise with pocket aces and fold a 7-2 offsuit, but hands like KJ offsuit can often cause you real problems.

While high cards are better than low cards, in most No Limit Hold ‘em situations the lows often have a better risk/reward ratio.

The potential problem with trouble hands like KJ, AJ, QJ or even KQ is that when you flop a pair with them you’ll often have kicker trouble.

Too often when you call a raise with a hand like KQ, you’ll be up against AK, or maybe AA or KK.

If you’re in there with KQ and the flop comes Q-6-2, you’ll have what appears to be a really strong hand.

The problem, though, is that if someone decides to play against you after the flop, there is a good chance you’re going to get beat.

Stay clear of traps
The bottom line is clear: If you are to play a big pot on that flop, for all of your money, chances are that you are walking into a set (trip 2s, 6s, or Q’s), an AQ, a pair of kings or a pair of aces.

Generally, these trouble hands often win small pots when no one else hits the flop and lose monster pots when they run into a better hand. Why? Because it’s really difficult to fold such a seemingly strong hand after a flop like that.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not recommending that you never play a hand like KQ or AJ.

But always remember that when you do, you need to proceed cautiously.

Don’t get married to your top pair if a quality opponent is pushing the betting hard.

Now compare the previous examples to playing a hand like a pocket pair of 4s, a dangerous hand to own.

This hand is much easier to work with. Either you hit the flop big, by landing three of a kind, or you have a hand with little value.

Let’s look at another example. You call a raise with 4-4 from late position, from a player who you suspect has a strong hand, maybe even AA. You aren’t calling because you think your little pair is the best hand, but you are doing so because of the potential to win a big pot.

Let’s say the flop now comes Js-4c-2d. Or, in other words, Gin, baby!

If your opponent did in fact start with a hand like AA, KK, or QQ, chances are you’ll be able to win his whole stack if you bet it right. Had the flop come something like J-9-8, then you can safely fold your pair of 4s without risking another chip. It’s a minor risk in relation to the big payday a small pair might offer you.

Look for connectors
There is one last group of hands you might want to add to your repertoire playing small suited connectors like 6-7. These hands can be a little trickier than small pairs, but you’ll be able to connect with them more often. The same principle holds true with these little cards. Get to the flop cheaply if you can and get out if you don’t improve.

For example, you call a raise with 6-7 of hearts and the flop comes 6-6-2. If your opponent has a big overpair, you might be able to win all of his chips because he might not believe you would call a raise with a 6 in your hand.

The key difference between dangerous hands to play and dangerous hands to own is that it’s easy to get away from the latter, but it’s often difficult to avoid getting trapped with a risky hand like top pair.

Be the dangerous player — not the player in danger.
By DANIEL NEGREANU




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