By Samantha Williams
The game of Poker fascinates us, and it is the most amazing game in the world, providing a perfect balanced combination of your luck and skill. Anyone who has been going to casinos will tell you that, Poker is the best game where you can put your money on. Poker is not a game where you play against the house. You play against the other players, who are playing the game with you. The Casino has house has their interest in other games that it offers, where-as, in Poker, the advantage is that, the game eliminates Casinos interest in the deals that you make.
The large diverse origin of Poker makes the game that much fun to play, with all its complexity. This game has been developed by taking the best of features from several games through out the history, and this what makes the game the most finest of all gambling games, for the experienced, or just a clever novice gambler.
There are several Poker variations in the world. You must know this if you are interested in the game of Poker. Each of these variations has their own style, rules, and class. The five card stud, which you have possibly seen in movies, is the most well known form of Poker game. You will not find Poker being played this way in any of the casinos or in any tournament.
As you play a game of Poker with a group of other people, there are ways to know from the faces of others about how they feel about the cards that they are holding. Their facial expressions change which you need to read and you can piece together the information that you get from those expressions. Even to the extent, the body language of each of the players, and the way they speak reveal a lot of their thoughts, which are ofcourse related to the cards that they hold. On the other hand, if you play Poker online, it becomes quite difficult to know what the others have in their hands, for you cannot see their faces, nor can you understand their body languages. Chatting does not convey the emotions of others well enough, and therefore, you need to make your judgement on how the others putting their bets, and how quickly the other players react. At the same time, you should remember that the speed with which one bets is not always an indicator, since the person might be playing several tables at once.
If you can get an undivided attention from the other players, you can often guess or get an idea of what cards they hold. There are a few thumb rules which you may like to follow.
If the player pauses and then places a bet, it could mean that he has strong cards in his hand. This player may intend you to think that he is unsure, and hence he may pause. He may be holding a strong set of cards. An instantaneous bet may mean strong cards in hand. There are times when a player wants to intimidate you into calling by playing instantly. You should be careful not to give-in for such actions. You would need to consider the player’s position regarding the way they are responding, or putting in a raised bet. Those who take time to raise the bet may have strong cards, or may just be bullying one of the other players.
There will be occasions when you will find a player pressing the check/fold button, indicating that they might fold his hand to any bet. This happens especially if the player is playing more than one table at a given time. This could be advantageous to you. If the player checks and all others do the same, you may try a bluff against the player who checked first. There, may be times when the player checks but has a good hand. This is to create confusion in you to try and get you to bet.
The above are few of the points that you could note and apply them when you are playing your next game of Poker. As you play game after game, you would acquire a kind of sixth sense to notice the others behaving in an odd manner, which could easily give away their strength of their card holding. Always vary the speed of the way you bet, or keep the same speed at all the time no matter what card you have. You should always bear in mind that others are reading you as you are trying to read the other players.
