Posts Tagged ‘Free Poker’

Zynga Poker Real Money Games a Possiblity

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

As a poker provider for the world’s leading social networking site – Facebook -Zynga Poker is a very valuable commodity. In fact, Zynga is offering a $1 billion initial public offering to investors next week, which could push their overall value from $10 billion to between $15 and $20 billion. And just imagine how large Zynga’s valuation could climb if US poker legalization happens in 2011 as many people are expecting.

As it stands now, Zynga Poker is merely a giant waste of money since they sell people fake chips. And you can spend up to $100 a day just to play free poker against other Facebook junkies.  In short, this site is a safe-haven for those who are too scared to play in real money games – never mind the irony that people are paying for a service that’s usually free. But if online poker is legalized in the US, Zynga Poker could become a dominant force in the internet poker world.

Currently, there are 30 million Zynga Poker users, which is almost 10 million more than PokerStars. And if poker becomes totally legal, it would be very interesting to see how many of Zynga’s users would convert over to real money play. Even better is that this site could become the biggest fish pool in the world! Just imagine all of the social network fiends without poker skills running around Zynga spilling money every step of the way. Can you say pre-2002?

Of course, the biggest piece to this puzzle is Zynga making a serious effort to pursue real money games if/probably when internet poker is legal in the US. As of now, the site claims that they aren’t interested, but it’s a good bet that they’ll at least consider the possibility when it comes time.

 

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Learn To Play Texas Hold’em

Friday, February 18th, 2011

With so many tournaments right around the corner I figured it would be a great idea to brush up on a few poker rules. In doing so I came across a huge selection of free online games including one of my favorites, Texas Hold’em.

For those of you who’ve never played it, it’s a very easy game to learn. Believe me, I’m no expert and yet I managed to grasp the rules within a couple of minutes. Once you know how to play, the fun starts. An even if you’ve dabbled in Texas Hold’em before, you can always learn new things; that’s what makes the game so fascinating.

In Texas Hold’em a few of the cards are shared between the players. Each person receives two cards which are then combined with the five community cards. The goal is to come up with the ideal five card hand.

The best way to actually learn is to dive right in and play. You can find a slew of online poker rooms for beginners, where you can practice with phony money until you feel comfortable enough to get into the real action.

And since you’ll be taking advantage of free play online, you can place a cheat sheet by your side, containing all the poker hands. If you’re new to the game like I was a few years ago, you won’t always remember that a Royal Flush beats four of a kind.

Next time I’ll go over some simple rules to remember. For now, enjoy yourself and win big! There’s certainly no game like poker.

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Setting Your Poker New Years Resolutions

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Have you thought about where you want to take your poker career in 2011? Do you want to continue playing free poker online, up your stakes, start playing in tournaments, or take it to the big time and compete for a WSOP bracelet? With 2010 coming to a close, now is the perfect time to start setting your poker goals for the coming year.

When making your poker new years resolutions, the first thing you should do is look back at your performance over the past year. What limits did you play for in 2010? How much money did you win (or lose) over the past year? Do you feel like you’ve improved your poker skills? How do you feel about your understanding of odds and strategy? Write it all down.

Once you’ve got your list of your 2010 performance written down you are ready to start making your resolutions. Decide, based on your performance last year, which things you need to work on. If you feel like you need to brush up on your strategy then make the resolution to practice with free poker online. Decide what your poker bankroll will be for the year, or even break it down into a monthly, weekly or daily limit. Check out upcoming tournaments and decide which ones you are going to enter.

When you make a list of goals you can ensure that you will maximize your poker productivity and fun in 2011. Happy New Year!

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Betting Tips For Free Poker Games

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

If the title of this post caused you to raise an eyebrow, thinking to yourself, “What do betting tips have to do with free poker games?” you aren’t alone. A lot of online poker players don’t see any correlation between free and real money poker games on the web. However, playing free poker online can actually be a great way to practice and improve your poker betting skills. Keep reading for a few tips.

For starters, when you play free poker online it is important to play as if you were playing with your real money. What does that mean? Basically, don’t go raising $10,000 on a hand if that’s not something you would do in real life. You want to simulate real money play so that you will be used to the betting sizes and the idea of playing with your own money when you actually start playing with your own bankroll.

When playing free poker you should also focus on learning when you should bet and when you should fold. If you have a hand that you know isn’t good enough to win then you are better off folding. Sure, you could bluff and stay in, but if another player calls you on your bluff then you will lose more money than you have to.

When playing free poker a lot of players take betting liberties that they couldn’t afford to or wouldn’t when they were playing with their own money. Try to play as you would with your own bankroll to make free poker a great tool for improving your poker betting skills.

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The Importance Of Keeping Online Poker Records

Monday, October 4th, 2010

Playing poker online can be a lot of fun, but if you have any desire to play real money poker games then you’ll have to put in a little work on the business side as well. Keeping records of your poker games is important, whether you are playing free poker or real money games, if you want to improve your skills and maximize your earnings when you start playing for real money.

What should you be keeping records of? Most importantly you should be keeping records of how much money you are spending from your bankroll and how much you are earning. Keep track on an hourly basis so that you know how much money you are able to make playing poker online for an hour, on average. This is good because it helps you to figure out at which stakes you are able to make the most money. Keep in mind that you might make more money per hour playing at lower stakes games then you are able to make in a high stakes game, as higher stake generally mean more difficult competition.

Even if you are playing free poker, but thinking about playing for real money at some point, it would behoove you to keep records to measure your progress. Keep track of how much you are spending of your “virtual” bankroll and how much you are earning. In time you should see your earnings grow, and then you’ll know you are ready for a real money game.

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Making The Transition From Free Poker To Real Money Games

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

So you’ve been playing free poker online for a while and you’re thinking about making the upgrade to real money poker games. You are probably a little bit nervous and not sure exactly how to go about making the transition. The following tips should help you along.

For starters, it is important to find a real money poker site that meets your needs. You’ll want to choose a site that offers the poker variations you want to play. There are a lot of different poker games, from Texas Hold’em to Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Caribbean Stud and more. Make sure the site you choose offers all the variations you want to play. You should also make sure the site you choose offers limits that meet your poker bankroll. When you are starting out, a site that offers low limits is a smart move, as you won’t want to place huge bets when you are just starting out.

You can choose an online poker site that offers a welcome bonus as well, so you can start out playing with bonus money so you won’t lose any of your actual poker bankroll while getting the hang of the software and real money poker experience.

Start out playing the lowest-limit poker games. As you begin to win more and more, gradually increase the limit at which you are playing until you find a limit you are comfortable with. If you ever feel like you want to brush up on your poker skills, just go back to a free poker game.

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Easing Yourself Into Aggressive Poker Play

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

If you are new to playing poker for real money or are just a generally tight poker player it can be a little nerve wrecking when you think about playing aggressively. After all, if you play aggressively in a high stakes game and lose then you can stand to lose quite a bit of your poker bankroll. However, sometimes you have to play aggressively if you want to maximize your winnings. The following tips can help you ease yourself into playing poker aggressively so that you can maximize your poker winnings.

If you are thinking about playing more aggressively, the first thing you need to think about is your bankroll. You want to play in a game with limits that are affordable, so that even if you play aggressively and lose you won’t be left with nothing. You should try to choose a game with limits that will allow you to make between 200 to 300 big bets, or even more. For instance, if you’ve got only $80 to play with then you don’t want to play in a $2/$4 limit game. It is much better for your bankroll to choose a $0.10/$0.25 game. This way, even if you lose on an aggressive play you aren’t going to eat much of your bankroll.

Also, before you start playing aggressively you want to master strategy. Start out with a free poker game while you are learning about odds and strategy. You only want to play aggressively when you’ve got the nuts and are pretty confident you have a good chance of winning.

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Why You Shouldn’t Write Off Free Poker Games

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

A few times a month I get together with some friends to play poker. Last night, one of my buddies was totally off his game. Usually he kills the rest of us at poker, but last night he was playing worse than I’ve ever seen him play before. I asked him what was up and he told me he was out of practice. He and his wife are saving up for a nice vacation later this summer so he hasn’t been playing poker online.

My friend is a big online poker player, but he only plays for real money. He tries to get in at least an hour a night, but in order to avoid losing valuable vacation money he had taken a break from online poker and his game really suffered because of it. I asked him why he didn’t continue playing free games, just to brush up on his skills, and he said that oddly enough he hadn’t even considered that idea.

If I could only give online poker players one piece of advice it would be this: Don’t write off free online poker games! I understand that playing poker for real money is exciting, but sometimes if you are saving money like my friend, or just want to get in a little bit of free poker practice, a free game can be great.

The next time you are thinking about taking a day, or a week or a month off from your real money online poker games to save money, just switch to a free game. You’ll thank yourself for it when you get back to the real money gaming.

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How To Make More Money In Online Poker Tournaments

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

When you play in real money poker tournaments online, of course your objective is to make money. However, if you stick to playing in the low-limit sit-and-go tournaments you won’t be able to maximize your profits efficiently. Read on for some tips about how to make money when you play in sit-and-go and other tournaments online.

For starters, think about the payoff versus your time. If the first prize in a 1-hour sit-and-go is $5 it’s probably not worth you time, unless your main objective is to work on your tournament skills. You probably wouldn’t do your day job for $5 an hour so think about how much money your time is worth before you sign up to play in a online poker tournament.

It is also important to choose a tournament where you will be competing against other people who play at your same level. If you play against more experience poker players in a tournament then your chances of winning and making any money are pretty slim. Start out with lower level tournaments and work your way up as you win in order to find the perfect level for you. Usually the more experienced players play in more expensive tournaments.

If you need to brush up on your poker skills before you start in with real money tournament play then practice with a free poker game online. Once you are ready for real money play, don’t forget to have fun. Because after all, the time and money isn’t worth it if you aren’t having a good time!

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The Importance Of Environment In Online Poker Gaming

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

One of the greatest perks of playing online poker is that you can play from anywhere that you have a computer with an Internet connection. However, one thing that a lot of people don’t think about when playing online poker is the environment where they are playing. Creating a comfortable environment that will support your chances of concentrating and winning is extremely important.

You want to make sure that you are in an environment that is free of distractions. For instance, an Internet cafe or noisy coffee shop may not be the ultimate environment for poker gaming, as you will have a lot of people around you to distract you from what really matters – the poker game. The same goes for when you play at home. You shouldn’t play with the television on, or while your kids are running around the house. Especially when there’s money on the line it never pays to be distracted.

Your mental environment is just as important as your physical one, when it comes to poker. You want to make sure that you are feeling relaxed and stress free before you sit down to play online poker. If you have other things on your mind you won’t be able to concentrate and play to your full potential.

Sometimes it can be smart to play free poker for a while before you start playing with real money, to make sure that you are in a good environment, both physically and mentally.

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