By Jerry Whittaker
You have been playing online poker for a while and you have had some success and some failure. Sometimes you don’t even what went wrong with a hand. You had the odds but you couldn’t get a good read off of one player. Where they bluffing? There are tips for those who enjoy moving to the next level in their poker game. 

Bonuses
The first tip is to never pass up free money. You may need this money if you lose a hand. It can be the difference in your betting and can affect your bottom line. Most online poker room offer sign-up bonuses for new players. Find out if your poker room has any incentives for existing or long-term players. 

Location
The most important thing in poker can be location. That is also true for online poker. When you sign into the poker room lobby, you will see the stats of several tables. There are many indicators here that should influence which poker table you want to be at. The stats include such critical information such as the average pot size, the amount of hands played per hour and the percentage of player hitting the flop. Determine which table is best for your playing style whether you are tight/ loose, passive/aggressive, analyst/ chameleon, professional/laid back or loudmouth/hibernator. Take the time to analyze the tables to find the best fit for you which is a table that you can win at. As with poker, don’t rush into any game without thinking through the odds and your strategy. 

Analyze your Style
Take stock of your one style of playing. Have you taken the time to record your poker games in terms of wins, losses, bluffs, hands, etc? Just as a baseball player will look at footage of yesterday’s game to see what went right and what went wrong, you should do the same with your online poker playing. A common mistake made by players is call-off their stacks with marginal hands. They assume that opponents are bluffing. Wait to call their bluff when you have a hand to catch them. 

Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself
Another common mistake seen in online poker room is to move to levels that you really don’t have the skill or the bankroll for. The rooms will entice players to go beyond their normal playing experience. The only problem is that a player will lose everything. For example, if you play low limit Holdem sit and go tournaments, stay within that tournament.  Do not join a medium-sized buy-in PLO tournament. It is suicide. Once you have won enough money in your current tournaments and are at a comfort level that you are willing to risk some of your bankroll, by all means try other avenues.  The best poker players win because they stay with what they know.

By Jerry Whittaker
Playing poker with a video screen first became economically feasible when technology allowed for combination of a solid-state CPU (central processing unit) and a monitor. A primitive type of video poker machine first came into production in the 1970s. Evolution of the equipment with the SIRCOMA and the International Game Technology allowed for the introduction of the game of Draw Poker. Many casinos today use poker machines to attract players who might be intimidated by the regular poker table game play. Video style games are popular with locals in Las Vegas casinos that offer better odds for winning or lower denomination plays.

What is it?
Video poker games begin with a bet, varying with the casino location and the setting on the machine. Payment can be in the form of coins, currency or a paper ticket containing a barcode. The player presses a button to deal a poker hand. Cards in the hand can be kept or discarded in favor of new cards in the virtual deck. The hand is then evaluated and the payoff occurs according to the specific pay schedule on the machine. Usually the minimum hand that must be held in order to get a payout is a pair of jacks. Payouts go up from there, according to the rarity of the hands and upon the return rate offered by the game operator. Video poker machines may offer progressive payouts for such rare hands as a royal flush.

Regulation
Video poker games may come under the regulations of the state in which the casino is set, or in the case of Indian casinos, under the regulations of the tribe that owns the casino. Gaming regulations state that video game deals must be as random as those of a live dealer. Regulations are meant to protect the players from misrepresentation of potential earnings or risks, but also build trust in the gaming industry as a whole and video poker games in particular.

Popularity
Because the consistency of wins and payout percentages in video poker machines can be assured, they are popular with casinos. Players are attracted by the simplicity of play with no need for reading the tell signs of another player or keeping track of which hands have been played around the poker table. The machine even calculates your amount of payout based on pre-posted rates. The low cost of many of the games makes them an easy and inexpensive gambling variant to slot machines.

Kinds of Games
Most types of video poker games are usually variants of the popular five-card draw game. The payouts may be sweetened by jackpots for the rare Royal Flush or other hands. Top payouts may only happen when full bets are made. The most popular game is Jacks or Better or variants such as All American and Tens or Better. Deuces Wild games allow all 2’s as wild cards. Bonus games are usually part of the basic Jacks or Better game rules. These games, such as Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker or Double Double Bonus Poker, offer increased payouts for specific hands.