The Truth About Online Poker Networks

March 24, 2010

The  “poker network” concept was initially developed in the early days of online poker. Rooms thought that if they rented their software out to other companies and shared players it would cause the network to grow very quickly. For a time this seemed to work well but as with everything, money is the bringer of corruption. This is why I stick to the independent poker rooms that accept U.S. players.

The Cake Poker network is a good example of what happens when a online poker network goes wrong. Cake Poker started off as an independent poker room that was struggling with traffic issues. They decided create a network and open it upo to a wide variety of well known casinos and sportsbooks, so far so good!

With the influx of inexperienced, but well bankrolled, sports bettors at the Hold’em tables…. things got pretty crazy. Many players migrated to the Cake Poker network to take advantage of the easy money.  So far it looks like their strategy worked out well.

The  problems started a few years back when the people who owned the network got greedy. Greed has ruined many businesses, which is pretty apparent these days  (the bailouts..ect).

Their standards on who they leased their software to dwindled away to nothingness. This lead to skins like Cardspike popping up. They basically took off with everyone’s money. Everyone thought that the Cake Network would step in and compensate players/affiliates/partners….which did not happen.

My rules of thumb with online poker networks is always stick to the flagship room. Cake Poker is obviously the flagship room on the Cake network.

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Fixed Limit Seven Card Stud Rules

March 22, 2010

Since the days of the Old West, seven stud poker has been a favorite among poker players all over the world.  In online poker rooms, seven card stud remains one of the most-played games on the lineup - and nearly every poker room “worth its salt” will have a few versions of seven card stud, including fixed limit seven card stud. To become a decent player of fixed limit seven card stud, players certainly need to understand and learn the Stud rules governing play in this exciting old standby poker game.   Using the TAG poker strategy is best for 7 card stud.  I tend to play at UB Poker mostly because they offer 70+ casino games.

The Bring In

Fixed limit seven card stud is an ante game, which means that there is mandatory bidding before the action starts. Before the first card is dealt to the players, everyone must ante.  After the ante, the dealer will deal two cards face up and one card faced down to each player on the table.  The player with the lowest card of the two facing up must make the first bet; this first bet is referred to as the “bring in.”  If two or more players have the same value card face up on the table, then the suit rank will take precedence.  The rank in order is:  Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades.  Spades is the highest value, and Clubs is the lowest.

Once the “bring in” bet is placed, each player to the left of the player who made the “bring in” bet can call, fold, or raise.  The “bring in” amount is typically one half of the lower stakes in the game.  For example, if you are playing at a $2/$4 table, and you are the one that must place the “bring in” bet, the “bring in” will be $1.  This round is also known as Third Street.

During the next round (Fourth Street), each player at the table will be dealt one card face up.  Betting will then commence.  The person that has the highest hand made out of the cards that are facing up (also called the porch cards) will bet first.  As in the previous round, the player to the left of the player who began the betting process will commence with folding, raising, or calling their hand.

The Increased Stakes

When Fifth Street rolls around, all players will be dealt another card face up, and will then make bets that are at the higher stake.  In the example above of $2/$4 stakes, $4 will be the bet.  Betting will stay at these limits during Sixth Street and Seventh Street play.  On Sixth Street, players will be dealt another card face up, and finally on Seventh Street the remaining players will be each dealt a card face down.

When betting on Seventh Street is finished, the last player who either raised the pot or bet, must show their cards first.  Once that player has shown his hand, the player to the left shows their hand and continues in a clockwise direction.   Once all cards have been shown, the winner will be determined as being the player with the best five out of seven cards using traditional poker hand rank values.  If during play the deck should become exhausted, the dealer may place one card in the center of the table as a community card that can be used by all players around the table to make their best fixed limit seven card stud hand.

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Online Rummy Guide

August 13, 2009

This guide is going to teach you about playing rummy online for money and for fun. I will start off with playing free rummy online because that is how I suggest you start off. The first thing I want to bring up is that playing rummy at Rummy Royal is 1000X better than playing it at a cheap game site. This rummy room offers their own software so you won’t have to waste time waiting for applets to load and stuff like that. You can also win money without investing anything when you play for free here. The major reason why you should play for free first is to learn how the system works. Rummy can be complicated and there are several different variants so you don’t want to jump right into the real money play and end up losing it quickly.

Playing online rummy for money is very easy to do at Rummy Royal. The first thing you should know is that even though its classified as a skill game and its legal in most areas there are some states that do not allow it. I think around 13 states in the United States have banned real money skill game play online. For the lucky people in the other states making deposits and withdrawals couldn’t be easier at Rummy Royal.

Online rummy is sure to grow in the coming years and there is a lot of money to be won for those who know the best online rummy strategies.

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