In most competitive games including sports, position is critical to success. In baseball for example, the home team gets to bat last and this is seen as a big advantage. By batting last, the home team knows exactly how many runs that they need in order to win the game when they are in the final inning. There is no uncertainty because all of the information is already available. If they are tied then they only need one run in order to win or if they are down by one then they need at least two to win. For the visitors, however, they do not know what will happen when the home team bats so they lack that knowledge and are at an inherent disadvantage because they are not in the best position. The value of position is true for other sports and games as well from golf – being the last person to play giving you knowledge of the scores of everyone else who has played – to games like Texas Hold’em.

In Texas Hold’em, the value of position at the table should be obvious to the vast majority of players. As a game of information, you want as much information as possible so having your opponents make their decisions before you are required to will give you the option to make a decision last with the most information available. It is also true of Texas Hold’em that often, there is not much in play in terms of quality hands which means players are feeling each other out and playing the players more than they are playing the cards in the hole which makes having position even more important. Having a good position in poker does not mean that you are always going to win the pot but it gives you the opportunity to make better informed decisions on whether to bet or fold which will give you more opportunity to win and easier opportunities to get away from hands cheaply.

When playing Texas Hold’em the basic thought behind position is pretty easy to understand. Essentially, the later you are to act the better off you are and the fewer the number of people in the pot the more important your position is. For example, if you are last to act in a pot of 5 that is very good but if you are last to act with just one other opponent that is phenomenal. Other positions can be advantageous depending on how players around you play. Overall, however, the later that you get to act the better off you are going to be. In fact, being last to act is such an advantage that you can play much more hands as last to act than you would in any other position at the table because of the benefit you gain from having all the knowledge of the actions taken by the other players sitting in front of you.

In other poker variations like Seven Card Stud and Stud Hi-Lo, the value of position is quite different than in Texas Hold’em. In Hold’em, the later your position the better off you are but in Stud varieties, this is not always the case. The value of position is much more variable. In these games, the player with the highest showing acts first from fourth street on meaning that the person who acts first will change depending on who is showing the best hand. Typically you will have an advantage over the person who is sitting to your right but determining your positional advantages in Stud games is significantly more difficult than in games like Texas Hold’em. Some hands are better when you are not the high hand and representing certain hands is more important when you are the first person to act. You can play some hands more aggressively when an opponent is showing a high card because it means they will be more likely to act first throughout the hand giving you a probable late action advantage.

The game with the most complex position based advantages when compared to Texas Hold’em is definitely Omaha Hi-Lo. Omaha already has extremely confusing position-based advantages but in the game of Hi-Lo, the added complexities make it even more difficult. Late position has advantages in Hi-Lo but instead of being all advantage there are also some disadvantages to late position. Bluffing from a late position is almost impossible if you are playing against players with any skill and attempts to do so can cost you dearly. When compared to Hold’em where being in a middle position offers nothing in terms of an advantage, a middle position in Omaha is the perfect spot to make a bluff.

That is not to say, however, that middle position in Omaha Hi-Lo is purely advantageous as it has a number of disadvantages as well due to the fact that the pot is shared. For example, if you have the nut low – opposite of nut high – and you are in a middle position and a player in front of you bets the nuts your hand becomes much more difficult to play. Typically, the best choice in this scenario is to smooth call and hope other players behind will call in order to sweeten the pot so you are not splitting with the opposite nut hand. With that said, there are situations where you can bet and get the pot even bigger like when you expect a later player to have a nut hand as well and you can get them to reraise and have two of the other nut hands when compared to your one.

Because positional advantages are very fluid in Omaha, the conceptual last-is-best approach in Hold’em does not hold a lot of water. In general, if you have a low hand in Hi-Lo, betting first is advantageous but if you are sitting on the nut high, you would want to be in last position instead. For example, if you have the nut flush in a game of Hi-Lo betting first could kill any action that you might receive and will result in – at best – a call. If you are last to act though, you might get someone to bet in front of you or someone thinking you are using late position to bluff and get a checkraise. Betting the low hand, however, from an early position can result in opponents in later positions trying to push out other high-hand players.

When moving from Texas Hold’em to other poker variations, positional consideration becomes much different and, in most cases, much more complex. In Hold’em the later your position the better it is; whereas, in games like Omaha and Stud the value of position can vary depending on what sort of hand you are holding. Regardless, position is always important and knowing how it is important, what you can do in each position, and when you are at an advantage will help to improve your poker performance whether you are playing Texas Hold’em or Omaha Hi-Lo.

When playing Texas Hold’em, there are a nearly infinite number of hands that you can be dealt and some of those are better than others. Most of the time, it is fairly easy to decide what you want to do with your hand but for others, it is not quite so easy. One such set of hands that is extremely difficult and dangerous to play are weak aces. A weak ace is a hand that has an ace and a weak kicker which is usually considered a kicker below a nine or ten. The problem with weak aces is that they can really get you into trouble with many different flops. Being able to play weak aces properly and knowing when you should actually be playing a weak ace and when you should be folding one is an extremely important skill for any Texas Hold’em play to know. Without knowing how to play a weak ace properly, it is often the type of hand that does the most damage to a player’s stack and it can be the difference between winning money and losing money. Alternatively, you can research casino game websites or blogs like pokerblog.com, which will give you tips and advice, helping you improve your technique and strategy.

The first and largest problem with weak aces is that even if you manage to hit an ace on the flop, you will often be a massive dog. It is not uncommon for you to run into a stronger ace and flopping top pair can be a tough hand to get away from. Unfortunately, when you have a weak ace and another player flops top pair as well, they are not going to let you off free of charge and it will often cost you a bunch of chips before you can get away from the hand. You can also walk into a trap if you are not careful or if you are out of position.
Being out of position with a weak ace can present a certain dilemma when deciding what to do. The options that are available are extremely limited and it can often get you into trouble. If, for example, you decide to raise with your weak ace and there is a better ace behind you, you will often get a call which can set yourself up for another bet on the turn which, also, might be smooth called which can lead to you losing even more chips. If, however, you decide to check, you are giving the players that follow the opportunity to hit their outs if they do not happen to have the ace or the option for them to bet and force to you make another decision on whether to call or fold.
With all the dangers that are associated with playing a weak ace, you might think that it is not worth it to play the hands and just fold them outright. For the extremely new Texas Hold’em player, I would completely agree and say that folding weak aces is a very good idea. For other players, however, being able to play the weak ace will add a great deal of variety to your range and it can create opportunities to bust out your opponent. When you are playing with a weak ace, the hand that you should not be looking for is top pair but, rather, hands like flushes, two pair, straights if you have something like an ace four, and other hands of that variety. Many of these hands can be real sleepers and you can end up getting all of your opponents chips if you hit a full-house or other hand that is hard to place.

Another great thing about weak aces is the fact that they have at least 25% equity if you are all-in pre flop against any other hand without aces. This makes it a good choice for making a stand when you are extremely short stacked and looking for a double up. Even with a call you are still looking fairly good against most hands that aren’t holding an ace. Even against a weaker pair you are looking at a coin flip and for most other hands you are looking at, at least, 25%. It is important to remember, however, that you approach playing weak aces with caution as it can be an extremely dangerous hand to find yourself holding. There are many times where you can cost you massive amounts of chips if you over play them or if you get too committed to a hand that is not very good. It is always important to remember that it is just an ace and you should never be afraid to fold it.

For those of you who are not familiar with some of the more intense poker formats, the Super Turbo Sit-and-Go formant is one of the craziest. The Super Turbo SNG is a 9-player single table tournament with extremely short stacks and blinds that go up after only a few minutes. If you happen to play on Full Tilt Poker, the blind levels are three minutes with stacks of 10 big blinds. As you can tell, you do not really have too much room to breathe in terms of playability. The vast majority of players will push all-in with almost any moderately playable hand.

Despite the fact that you are playing for chances to double up, you do have a relatively short amount of time where you can get away waiting for a bit of a hand. You are not forced to push with any ace that you look down at. Chances are good that you should be able to get at least one round of blinds before you have to start thinking about pushing with any decent hand. Hands worth waiting for are, in my opinion, are pocket tens or better or an A-J on the low end for unpaired cards. Depending on the feeling at the table, you may feel comfortable with playing them or you may not. In super turbos, however, you are looking to be a favorite to win. With that said, you can get through two rounds of blinds with being a bit more selective. Chances are good that after that, you are not going to be able to count on 2:1 odds to carry you to too many more pots. Because your stack only starts at 10 big blinds, any hand where you commit chips you are going to have to go all in.

Super turbos really amount to nothing more than short stacked sit-and-go bubble play. If you can make it past the bubble as a short stack in standard sit-and-go tournaments, you can play super turbo tournaments pretty well. With that said, on the first two or so big blinds you should not be pushing with any coin-flip and should have a slightly higher selection in order to push. Despite the fact that you have plenty of fold equity, many players will be extremely likely to call because many people in super turbo SNGs are gamblers.

In a standard sit-and-go, you are typically playing the early game trying to take pots that will keep you ahead of the blinds and building your stack conservatively. The stacks are large enough that there is not a rush to push your stack. In super turbos, you need to be doubling up. As such, you really do not have the luxury of waiting around and trying to steal blinds to keep you in the game. In a super turbo, unless you are planning on pushing all-in on a flop or calling an all in, you cannot be limping into pots. Because you are only starting with 10 big blinds, every chip you commit to the pot is precious. You do not have the luxury of spewing any chips away.

Of course, because the action is so quick, by the time you get through one or rounds of blinds there should be at least a couple people who have already busted out of the tournament. At this point, you are looking to find a hand where you can have some sort of advantage and push with it. If you happen to have a big stack, you can start using your stack to bully short stacks into committing to the pot with less than optimal hands and pushing to win. Growing your stack early is great but unless you use it to win it is not going to do you any good.

As you might imagine, super turbos do have a larger element of luck than other forms of poker. Regardless of how good a player you may be, there are going to be many instances where you simply do not have the luxury of waiting for a hand where you can really make a move. You are often forced into having to settle for slightly weighted coin flips. Of course, the fact that the duration of the super turbos is around ten to fifteen minutes means that you can play a great deal of tournaments in a short amount of time. Take into account the fact that there doesn’t have to be

The founders of three of the largest online poker sites operating in the United States were indicted by federal authorities Friday with charges including: bank fraud, money laundering and charges for illegal gambling activities.

The United States Attorney’s Office of Southern New York also filed a multi-billion dollar civil money laundering and forfeiture complaint against the indicted poker companies, their assets and the assets of “several payment processors” for the poker companies.
In connection with the charges, restraining orders were issued for more than 75 bank accounts, and five Internet domain names were seized.   All together eleven people in the US were charged on Friday.

The online poker companies impacted by the charges are PokerStars.com, FullTilt.com and AbsolutePoker.com. Among the individuals named in the indictments are Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate of PokerStars; Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick of Full Tilt Poker; and Scott Tom and Brent Beckley of Absolute Poker.

“As charged, these defendants concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, in a statement. “Moreover, as we allege, in their zeal to circumvent the gambling laws, the defendants also engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud.
Bharara continued: “Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits.”

The indictments allege the defendants disguised money from gamblers in the United States as “payments to hundreds of non-existent online merchants purporting to sell merchandise such as jewelry and golf balls.”

It appears the global financial crisis may have also played a role in the alleged schemes as well.  According to the scenario laid out by federal authorities, Scheinberg of PokerStars and Bitar of Full Tilt Poker in late 2009 “persuaded the principals of a few small, local banks facing financial difficulties” to process gambling transactions in exchange for “multi-million dollar investments in the banks.”

All told, the indictments and related civil complaint are seeking a minimum of $3 billion in penalties and asset forfeiture from the companies and individuals.

In January, Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, filed HB 77, which proposed intrastate online poker for Florida, with horse and dog tracks offering portals to online poker rooms.  The state was to receive 10 percent of the revenues.
But the companion bill, sponsored by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee Tuesday, via a 2-2 vote.

At this time, it is not illegal to play Internet poker, but it’s against federal law for a U.S. company to run an online poker room for money, as declared in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Many in the United States play on poker sites through offshore accounts, and other countries have many regulations and fees.

Online poker confined to inside the boundaries of a single state wouldn’t produce enough players, Pappas said.
The Florida Sheriff’s Association also voiced opposition to the bill during Tuesday’s hearing, calling it “internet crack.”
Two other states had serious talks about intrastate online poker, but those efforts also have hit snags. According to media reports, Nevada officials amended a bill to suggest that the federal government approve online poker, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had a bill to add a variety of online gambling, vetoed it. Christie said legislative approval would constitute an expansion of gambling, which can be approved only by New Jersey voters.
Iowa, California and South Carolina legislators also have proposed intrastate online poker but efforts have failed.

All kinds of gambling has been discussed this year in Tallahassee. A bill allowing dog tracks to operate poker rooms without having live racing is still alive, while a proposal to add five large destination casinos across the state has stalled because the bill’s sponsor objected to an amendment that lowered the tax rates for pari-mutuels.

Abruzzo noted that his version of the bill also has stalled because Rep. Steve Bovo, chairman of the House Business and Consumer Affairs Committee, resigned to run for Miami-Dade County Commission. That has put his committee in limbo.
“All the bills in that committee are stuck,” he said.

Many of you may have heard the term fold equity being bandied about by experienced players and poker commentators but most people are unaware of what the concept actually is. You may be thinking that you would need a degree in finance to understand the term but it is actually quite understandable by most poker players. It is also an extremely important concept to understand if you are looking to take your poker play to a new level. Fold equity is, in its most basic form, the chance that your opponent will fold his or her hand.
As is probably obvious to most poker players, there are only two different ways that you can win a hand. You can get all of the other players to fold which makes you the winner by default or you can hold the best hand when it is time for the showdown. While winning at the showdown requires you to be holding the best hand, you do not need to be holding the best hand in order to force everyone to fold. In fact, you only need to make the rest of your opponents think that your hand is better than theirs is and that it is a mistake to continue to play. This may sound easy but it can actually be quite challenging.
In order to make use of fold equity, you are required to be able to do a number of different things. The first and most important requirement for proper usage of fold equity is that you need to be able to read your opponents. If you cannot put your opponent on a range of hands, it is impossible to make decisions based on what they are holding as you do not know what that actually is. With that said, you do not need to be a psychic and name the two cards they are holding but you do need to be able to have a reasonable idea of the strength of what they are likely holding. This knowledge allows you to determine how likely it is your opponent will fold which is vital in knowing what sort of fold equity you have.
Fold equity should not be used as the sole reason to stay in a hand. Using fold equity as a justification for making a bluff without any outs is dangerous and has an extremely negative expected value. With that said, fold equity can be an extremely important factor when you are considering making a semi-bluff. Taking fold equity into account can make your semi-bluffs much more successful over the course of your play and help to improve your EV.
For example, let us assume that you raise pre-flop with AQ of spades on the button and you get a call from someone in an early position who limped in. You have been playing at the table for a while and know that the person who called is not the tightest player in the world so there is a large range of hands that he might be playing. The flop comes Ks, 9c, 4s. Your opponent makes a bet that is about half the size of the pot. In this scenario, making the call would be a mistake but it would be a good decision to raise. There are a number of reasons why raising in this scenario is good. The first is the fact that your opponent is weak and you can probably push him off a middling pair or a draw without too much trouble. Even if your opponent does call your raise, you still have a bunch of outs that can make your hand.
One of the downsides to using fold equity is that it is much more predictable with better players. For example, you cannot factor fold equity into account when you are playing against a call station because he is going to call regardless of what you end up doing so trying to get him to fold is a fool’s errand. If your opponent is not going to fold, you do not have any fold equity. If you can apply the concept of fold equity to your poker play, you will be able to improve your return at the table and you will be able to get away with playing more marginal hands as it gives you an additional advantage over your opponents. Being able to calculate and use fold equity will result in taking down pots that, under normal circumstances, you would not be able to take down.

One thing that seems to happen with far too much regularity is players willing to throw away their entire stack of chips on an overpair. Many players from novices to moderately successful players will overplay an overpair and will often end up with nothing but a short stack and tilting rage. What they do not realize, however, is that most of these situations can be easily avoided with a little bit of observation and understanding of what is going on.

In order to illustrate the point, let’s look at a perfect example of how getting rid of an overpair can be the right decision. I am playing in a full-ring $1/$2 game and I am sitting on an average sized stack, let’s say $200. I am dealt pocket queens while sitting in the small blind. Always a nice hand and a particular good hand when there are only two people limping in in front of me. Naturally, I am looking to raise here and hopefully get into a heads up pot with one other person. In a heads up situation, a large pocket pair is much better than in a multi-way pot where it has an easier chance of being beaten. As such, I make a big raise, $12, and hope to get one person to call. Unfortunately for me, however, I get both people calling and I am not out of position with my pair.

The flop comes 7♠ – 8♠ – 4♣.

Obviously, this is not the greatest flop for a hand like mine. Sure, I happen to have an overpair but there are a lot of drawing hands that could be looking pretty good right here. There are numerous straight draws and a flush draw sitting on the table as well making things more difficult. The chances that the players who called might be holding suited connectors or a small or medium pocket pair are pretty good as those are hands that would be played in that sort of situation.

Despite the fact that there are a good number of drawing hands that they could be holding there is still a possibility that my pair of queens is best. There is no doubt that I am not playing against pocket kings or pocket aces as they would almost certainly have reraised pre flop to push out any marginal hands that might get a flop like this. I make a bet of $16 which is a decent sized bet – a little under half the size of the pot – which is a small enough bet but not so small as to make the other two players want to get their money in the middle to see the turn. Unless, of course, they are holding something with some possible action. Of course, both players call the bet.

Unfortunately, the fact that both players call reveals very little information about what they might be holding. They could both be on drawing hands or it is also quite possible that either one of them could be holding a set and slow playing the set in hopes to trap an overpair or get a hand like ace king to hit on something.

A 5♦ falls on the turn. Despite the fact that it adds another card to the straight possibility, it is not as big an issue as one might assume right off the bat. First, it means that if either of them are flush draws they have gotten a dead card and it would require that they had been holding an inside straight draw at the very least in order to have made their hand. Regardless, it does not bode well for my hand because if my queens aren’t good, I am looking at 2 outs which may or may not even win the hand for me if I am currently beat.

As I am out of position and do not really have any strong information about what my opponents are holding. I really do not have much of a choice except to check. There are many hands that beat mine and making a bet here could end up being costly and since I am not committed to the pot I can get away if I put on the brakes. So I decide to check and the player behind me bets $32 into the pot and the player behind him calls.

My decision to check is starting to look pretty good right here and I have to weigh my options on whether I want to fold or not. There are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration when you are thinking about whether or not to fold an overpair.

Since I am playing a cash game and not a tournament, there is no need to play a more risky game of poker since I am not in any danger of falling behind the curve due to the constantly increasing blinds. I have the option to play conservatively and wait for the best opportunities to build my stack instead of making moves in questionable positions.

I also look at the information that I am getting from my opponent. In this case, the bet of $32 is not a bet that was made as an overbet in an attempt to push a superior hand out of the pot and take it down right then and there but a bet that was just big enough to try and push the odds in favor of a call. Additionally, he is betting into the original aggressor – me – and I have shown signs of willingness to raise. Chances are, he probably has a pretty good hand and considering my hand, the chances of his hand being worse than mine, him holding a hand like pocket jacks, is very slim.

I also look at the fact that a player behind him has also called. One player raising could mean that he is trying to push the other two players out of the hand but the fact that the guy behind him calls as well means that, at the very least, one of them has a hand and if either of them have a hand, chances are good that my hand isn’t. Another thing that is important to look at is whether or not I am pot committed. Thankfully, because I decided to check the turn I am not pot committed and can get away from the hand while following sound statistics. In addition to all of these problems, I am still out of position like I have been from the start which is still a big disadvantage especially if I call and have to act first on the river.

Taking all of that into consideration, there is really no other choice but to fold my hand. The river comes and is a 2♣ and the raiser on the turn shows a set of sevens with the caller behind him flipping over an ace-high straight draw. If you were following my reasoning throughout the hand that this makes perfect sense and my analysis of the hand and what they were holding was pretty good. I wasn’t blinded by my overpair and was able to walk through the hand and fold my hand when it was no longer the probable winner. I got out of the hand and saved myself a good bit of money in addition to feeling good about my decision. Had I stayed in the hand hoping my overpair was good, I would have ended up looking at a much shorter stack and probably feeling really unintelligent to boot.

Whether you are a beginner or pro at playing poker you will quickly learn the better you are at math and by learning new tricks along the way the better your chances are of winning more often. Having the ability to quickly calculate pot odds and the pot equity can be imperative to how you play out a hand. Many poker players firmly believe that they win or lose by how well they know poker and can read other opponents and while there is some truth to this it’s not makes the pros the best. There are very few hands that you will play that will require no odd calculations such as calling an all in if you obviously have the best hand or if you are playing with someone that you are able to tell when they are bluffing. Other than plays made strictly by a read on another player all poker making decisions are made through some type of evaluation of the odds.

For a player who only plays by their gut and never makes a calculation while at the table is still playing specific odds. They just are not aware of the numbers that makes a decision feel right or wrong. To correctly use the numbers in order to determine the quality of your choices you will need to calculate the pot odds and your equity and then compare the two of them. If the odds are less than your equity you are more than likely losing money versus if your odds are higher than your equity, you will make money.

Regardless of which number you start with including the hand equity or pot odds they are separate numbers from one another and will remain useless until you have evaluated both.

Pot Odds

Counting the pot is imperative to evaluation your odds which can become difficult as the pot grows so keeping track of it as new chips are added is the smartest move. Keeping track of the pot if there are a variety of chip amounts in the stack will be difficult so practice counting and familiarize yourself with the different chip amounts which will make counting in real games easier.
As you will learn when playing poker games that the blinds will vary from one type of poker to another. Let’s go with a $2/$5 game…Player A raises to $15, folded to the next player who calls, and was also called by the player on the button and small blind while the big blind folds.

What would the pot currently be at if each of these players called? Trying to count the current amount in the pot by this point could be a bit confusing so again this is why keeping a total as you go would be the best option. If you start with the first player who raised $15, the next player calls $30, the button calls $45, and the small blind will call $60, while the big blind will fold $65.

Creating a Ratio

In the same scenario that was just described the first player raises to $50. What will the pot odds be for the next player?

You will need to add this bet to the total pot amount which would equal $115. The next player will have to call $50 for a pot of equal to $115. This will allow you to post your first ratio for your calculations. The ratio will be $115-$50. To make things easier to calculate you will make the right side of the ratio a 1.

115-50: Since you will need to turn the right side of the ration into 1 it should be divided by itself at (50/50=1). Always remember anything you do to one side of the ratio should also be done to the other side of the ratio as well. With that being said you will need to divide 115/50 = 2.3 giving you your new ratio which is 2.3-1. This will be considered the ratio for the first person to call the preflop raise.

For future reference a good way to do the calculation quickly inside your head is to take out the largest portion that the divisor goes into with a fraction and divide it by two. You know that 100 divided by 50 is 2 and that 150 divided by 50 is 3. You know that your first number will be 2 and that leaves you with 1 which gives you (115-100).

So think about how many times you can equally divide 15 into 50. The answer is 3 so another way to view it is 15×3 which = 45. Now you may not always get the exact amount that is in the pot but by being as close as possible that will work just as well. Now that we have the total 45 we are as closest to 50 as possible since 60 is farther way. This gives us our second number which is 3. When you place the two numbers together you will get 2.3.

For example if the second player calls. What are the pot odds for the player on the button? You can try to do the calculations in your head before reading the example below. For those who are just learning here is a run through for you;

Pot = One hundred fifteen + fifty ($115+$50)
Total Pot = One hundred sixty five ($165)
Odds = One hundred sixty five/Fifty ($165/$50)
50 x 3 = 150 (The 1st number is 3)
165 minus 150 = 15
50/15 = relatively close to 3
Final Odds = 3.3:1

Once the calculations for the second player was established and he calls the odds butt will be specifically higher by one so 2.3 + 1 = 3.3. There will be no need for you to attempt to recalculate if another player calls because you can simply just add one. You will only need to recalculate if at any time during the hand a player chooses to reraise.

This gives you a better understanding of how the odds work and how to calculate them but where does equity come into play? As stated earlier that calculating the pot odds is only a portion of where you need to be. Once you have calculated your pot odds you will now need to calculate the equity in the pot in order to compare the two and get your ending results. We have discussed how to calculate the pot odds during table play quickly by using simple math and keeping up with the total as the pot grows but now you need to learn and understand the next concept in the piece of the puzzle that is just as important. However, understanding how equity works is much simpler for most people allowing them to catch on much quicker.

Hand Equity

You will need to first count your odds for winning the pot. You will need to calculate the equity for the hand meaning you need to tally up how many outs you have in order to make the hand you are seeking. After just a bit of practice you will catch on and memorizing things will become much easier.

Something to always remember is there are four cards that hold the same value and that there are 13 of each poker suit including spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs. While most poker players know this by heart beginners have a bit of learning to do before knowing all of the suits and terms.
For example if you are currently in a hand and have what’s known as an open ended straight draw, there will be 2 different values of cards that will give you the hand you need: 2×4 = 8 outs for you. If you are hoping for a flush draw there are 13 cards of each suit. If you are holding two of the 13 and there are currently 2 on the board; 13 – 2 -2 which will give you 9 outs.

Always remember to always remove the outs of the cards that you know and never to count duplicates for example if you are hoping for an open ended straight flush draw that you will have a total of 15 outs. When you count your outs you will need to keep in mind anti-outs and possibly blockers. If once you make your straight your opponent gets the flush they were hoping for those straight cards are not considered outs to your hand and cannot be counted. The possibility of having a flush draw on the table can turn your profitable 8 out straight draw into a 6 out straight draw which will render the odds insufficient.

If for some reason you can not accurately assume the value of the other player’s hands then think the worst which would assume they have the better hand. Play as though their hand may crush yours and be cautious. If there is a straight draw then assume they have exactly that. If there is a flush draw then again assume they are on a draw. If the board is paired assume they have trips or possibly a full house. By keeping this logical thinking it will be less expensive for you in the long run. It’s better to fold a possible winning hand versus making a bad call and losing most of your stack.

Equity Shortcut

The simplest way to get your equity is to memorize the following rules:

On the flop always multiply your outs by 4. If on the turn, make sure to multiply your outs by 2.
This means if you have an open ended straight draw and 8 outs you will then have a 32% chance of getting the straight with 2 cards left to come. For hands on the board that have a higher amount of outs (higher than the earlier shortcut may give an incorrect answer. The following example will give you a more accurate figure for higher odds.

Amount of outs x 4 – Amount of outs – 8 = Your Equity

This would mean that your equity of an open ended straight flush draw (Fifteen outs) would be the following;

15×5 – 15-8 = Gives you 53%
If you were not using this formula your percentage may be higher by 7 points giving a false higher result. If the equity calculations are incorrect you be incapable to make correct decisions.

Putting your Pot Odds & Equity Together

Now that you are able to calculate your odds and know your equity you will have to determine if the call is good or not. The odds as a ratio ended for the second player at 2.3-1 odds and the player after that having the odds of 3.3-1.

You cannot compare water to oil so you will need to convert your equity percentage from a % into a determined ratio. By doing this you will be required to use some of the similar techniques as earlier.

For example 32% is also simply referred to as having 32 out of 100 which would give you 100 – 32 which equals 68. With that being said and the fact that you are looking at the odds you will need your pot odd ratios to be higher than this ratio. If you are currently sitting with a open ended straight draw (2.1-1 or 32%) the odds example from earlier gave the second player the odds of 2.3-1 which means the second players pot odds would be just enough in order for them to make the call.
If you are on the button with the same hand and the player who is now in the same seat that you were previously in your odds will change to 3.3-1. You will only need odds of 2.1-1 in order to earn money so the call will be profitable in the long run.

While the ending result is accurate again it’s only a percentage of the odds spectrum and will want to take other factors into consideration when playing since you have not determined your implied odds.

While playing poker seems just like any other game there are many things to consider and understand in order to profit long term. You have just learned how to quickly determine your pot odds and equity which can change the overall game for you.

In a New York federal court, more than 13 million dollars was forfeited by Ahmad Khawaja who is the owner of two payment processors, Allied Wallet and Allied Systems which both have ties to Pokerstars and was seized by federal authorities in June of last year.

Based on information obtained through court documents, Pokerstars and a number of other internet gambling companies deposited more than $13.3 million into a bank account owned by Allied wallet between January and May of 2009 at the Goldwater Bank. Court documents stated that “Some of the funds deposited in the Goldwater Bank account were transferred, directly or indirectly, into seven different bank accounts held, or otherwise controlled, by Allied Wallet Inc., Allied Systems Inc., and Ahmad Khawaja,” and that “Other funds were credited to the bank accounts of online gamblers, often as winnings from their online gambling.”

This case is just one of the more prominent cases involving online gambling payment processors in an effort by the United States federal government to crack down on online gambling which is currently illegal in the U.S. At least a portion of the funds contained in the account were “from the bank accounts of online gamblers who were using the Pokerstars.com website, and other websites, to engage in online gambling.”

Despite the crack down on companies involved in payment processing related to online gambling, the industry continues to grow both in the United States and across the world.

Just when the pro-gambling part of the world were looking forward to the new legislation that was going to legalize intrastate poker in the US, a move considered by many the beginning of a new era in online gambling for the country, – the DOJ shut down the websites, frozen accounts and issued arrest warrants for the staff of the largest online poker rooms – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet. And that indeed was just a beginning of a large-scale crackdown on the US facing gambling operations. More charges followed. This time the list of affected sites included sportsbooks alongside with poker rooms. It doesn’t take an expert to see that this might not be the end of it.

As the news about PokerStars and Full Tilt appeared, some of the US facing operators voluntarily pulled out from the country. Others, quite on the contrary, launched advertising campaigns aimed at picking up the players fleeing from the shut down poker sites. Were those campaigns successful? Partially yes, the sites managed to get some of the disgruntled players on board, but most of them were too shocked by the sudden crackdown to just move on and deposit at another poker room. So let’s see what the future holds for the gambling part of the nation and operators that are still not losing hopes to profit on one of the largest yet most risky gaming markets in the world.

One thing is pretty certain – those who love playing poker will continue to do so whether the government likes it or not. The game is just too addictive to give up. But there will be fewer players willing to deposit large amounts of money because of the risk of their assets being locked up anytime because of another DOJ indictment. People will most likely move on to smaller sites, playing lower stakes. Many will opt for free poker games playing for fun money. This will certainly be a hard time for the professional poker players earning their living off the game. With no fish to feed on the sharks will be left all to themselves. And playing against equally skilled players is no fun for the pros, because its much harder to win.

With the big guys gone the market will be left with a number of smaller networks with low liquidity. That means the operators will find it hard to attract new players without sufficient funds for large-scale ad campaigns, there will be no mind-blowing bonuses and promotions, a smaller variety of tables and game options and a growing sense of poker being illegal. When put together all these factors can pretty much be the end of online poker.

But there are also reassuring signs. In the times of bad economy the government (especially the state governments who can’t simply switch on the printing machine whenever they have a budget deficit) begin to realize that online gambling and poker in particular is a huge market that if regulated would result in new jobs and tax incomes. The lobby groups backed by large gambling operators are adding to the economic pressure pushing for poker regulations. If just one state passes the long awaited poker law, more states will follow. But there’s still a long way to go before we’ll see a regulated online poker market in the US.