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Being a Professional Card Dealer

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

Casino – the epicenter of emotions, excitement and unstoppable activity. It’s a place that never sleeps and more often than not, your entire experience (irrespective of whether you win or lose) hangs on that one person who assists you through this entire brouhaha; your card dealer. His interaction with you and your counterparts at the table can swing your opinion to either extremes and this is what makes the job of a card dealer all the more important and at the same time challenging. In this post we will have a look at the reasons that can entice you to this profession.

 

Money – Awesome!: Believe it or not, but some dealers make over $1,00,000 annually, a big chunk of which is based on tips from the customers. In most casinos, dealers get to keep all tips as their own, thus simplifying the money making matra. Be nice, delight your customer and get rewarded for being the reason behind a good experience.

Educational requirement – Minimum: To be a professional card dealer does not require any specific certifications or degrees as such. In fact many casinos train their dealers on job over a period of few days. However, there are a few schools in USA and UK that offer courses in this field e.g. National Gaming Academy, UK.(Note: Even though there are no mandatory requirements of education, it is absolutely crucial to have good people-skills).

Work Conditions – Excellent: This is a profession in the entertainment industry which is strongly based on the quality of service provided and maintained for its customers. It is not surprising that as a thumb rule all casinos go out of their way to make the casino environment as comfortable and pleasurable as possible for their customers. A dealer at all times surrounded by customers who are in a happy mood and are there just to have some fun. More over in a chic environment! Almost all casinos allow flexible shifts, lots of benefits and generous breaks to their card dealers.

Experience – Vibrant: Being a professional card dealer exposes you to an array of experiences both on personal and professional levels. The opportunity to interact with innumerable people from different backgrounds, places and cultures is not something everyone gets to do daily. Sharing experiences with comrades not only gives you an insight into the intricacies of the profession but also helps you to learn and to add to  it, once you have made your mark as a competent card dealer, you can also opt for transfers within the same company but different locations or even departments.

If these reasons have already piqued your interest in this profession, you may want to consider a couple of suggestions

Game of Choice: With the number of card games being played daily, you might want to choose a game that you look forward to work with may it be Texas hold’em or Black Jack.  It’s best to choose a single card game to begin with. Once you have decided your game, try and learn as much as you can about the game, rules, the dealers role and his responsibilities, where it is played, which casinos have tables (and vacancies) for dealers etc. If possible meet dealers in your area for more information and guidance.

Card shuffling: Though no formal education is required it’ll be an added advantage to know a few shuffling tricks, (USPs to attract customers to your table!) after all, who doesn’t like to be entertained?

Legality: Like all professions, being a card dealer also comes with some mandatory legalities. Make sure you know all of them or at least those that can directly affect you like licenses and related documents.  Depending on the country you wish to work in, you may have to provide some documents such as age proof and acquire various licenses required by their governments.

20.09.2012 Poker Tournaments Comments Off

Omaha 8 – General Tournament Strategy

Monday, May 21st, 2012

If you are going to play in an Omaha Hi/Lo (also known as Omaha 8 or better) online poker tournament, you will have to make some adjustments from typical ring game strategy and play. Unlike a cash game, you can’t refill your chip stack when you run out in a tournament. Add in the fact that the blinds continue to increase, and the strategy for a tournament can be significantly different. It doesn’t mean the fundamentals of the game change however, it just means that you need to account for the changing dynamics that a tournament creates.

Online Poker

Online Poker

One thing you should be doing in a tournament is seeing more flops early. The main reason for this is because the blinds are low and your stack size is deep in comparison (usually). Your goal during these stages is to accumulate as many chips as possible so that you can handle the quick swings of the later stages. Seeing as many flops as possible and playing a smart post-flop game is a good way of doing this. When you are in position, it is often correct to speculate in multi-way raised pots with what would be a very marginal hand in a cash game. You’ll more than likely lose a few bets here and there seeing a lot of flops, but your primary objective is to be scooping the big pots that more than make up for those small losses.

Later in the tournament, the exact opposite is true. You want to see fewer flops and will need to tighten up your game considerably as the blinds increase. It is not uncommon in the later stages of a tournament for the average stack to be somewhere between 10-20 big blinds. Seeing two hands to the river and losing at this stage can cripple you, if not eliminate you completely. At this stage, it’s best to stick with premium hands. It’s also important when the stacks are shallow like this to be aggressive pre-flop. Players are much more likely to fold to a pre-flop raise at this stage because the raise amount actually can damage their stack.

One last thing that is important to consider is the adjustments that need to be made in a tournament, especially in the later stages. You should know where you stand in relation to the rest of the field at all times. If you’re getting close to making the money, it is a good idea to know where your stack size shapes up in relation to the remaining players. If you are in danger of not making the money, you have two choices – wait and hope people bust out, or be aggressive and try and accumulate chips while people are playing ultra tight. This Writer is more in the latter camp…I’d rather take my chances to put myself in a position to win the big money than to just squeak into the money and barely make a profit. That choice, however, is ultimately yours.

In addition, knowing how to adjust to short-handed play is important in tournaments. You will often be playing five to seven handed in the later stages of a online poker tournament and will need to adjust the hands you play. A hand like A-3-x-x that would be unplayable at a full table is often a very big hand at a six handed table.


21.05.2012 Poker Strategy, Poker Tournaments Comments Off

Strategies and Tips to win at Freeroll Tournaments

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Any reputable online poker room offers freeroll tournaments to its poker players in order to engage them with the site for long time. These freeroll tournaments are hugely popular because of a good opportunity to earn thousand of Euros without investing single penny from your pocket. It’s really interesting as more than a thousand participants defy you to win a slice of the exciting prizes offered in freeroll tournaments. For some players, playing freeroll tournaments is the way to build some bankroll and some play this just for sake of earning few bucks. It may then be useful to know some strategy to approach the freeroll tournaments. And if you are playing freeroll tournaments, then play it to win!

Dynamics of playing Freeroll Tournaments

First, we analyze the free component as it comes to freeroll tournaments that have no enrollment fee and you can be sure that the dynamics are completely different from normal poker tournaments. You are not so scared about your actions while playing freeroll tournaments because it won’t cost you anything. And this is what makes you free while playing any of the freeroll tournaments.

Many players will also play cards without any qualms and embark on risky all-in. It means crazy hands, where your AK could be beaten by two six of the player who has followed you all-in pre-flop. In short: the luck in freeroll tournaments has a high weight.

The Initial Phase of Freeroll Tournaments

This is an approach; however, you may turn in your favor simply by adopting it yourself. At the early stages of freeroll tournaments, do not be afraid to make risky moves, indeed play a lot of dishes (the goal is to embed good points on the flop) or be more aggressive and go with all-in .The reason is very simple, if you play tight the other players at the table (plus rash) will soon have many more chips than you and you would have no chance to beat on equal terms later.

On the other hand, if you do not mind an all-in on the first or second hand, your stack will increase exponentially , and so the opportunity to get to the bottom. But if you have saved precious time, you need them for other freeroll tournaments.

The Second half of Freeroll Tournaments

After the first stage of the freeroll tournaments pass, most of the players have now been eliminated from the game. This is the time when remaining players begin to feel the scent of money and the game becomes more interesting. Players keep on watching each other moves and start playing so seriously by forgetting that they have not paid anything to register. And this is where you actually start playing real game to win freeroll tournaments. If you can straighten your game throughout this stage of freeroll tournaments, you should be able to get in the money (in the prize). But do not settle for any position and try to steal the blinds as quickly as you can. After all, playing hours and hours to find just a few cents in your hand is not very pleasant, even if you have not paid any buy-in registration. Always do remember that we have dedicated a good portion of our time and time is money. So why to invest so much time just to get few cents but not the real prize? So play it and win it all the way.

There are thousands of freeroll tournaments offered by many online poker sites everyday and if you are good enough with time management and play few tournaments smartly, you can make some serious money at poker. Hope this poker tips will help you to improve your game and you will make some good amount of money freeroll tournaments.

27.02.2012 Poker Strategy, Poker Tips, Poker Tournaments Comments Off

Different Stages of MTT Tournament

Monday, February 13th, 2012

MTT tournament are the poker tournaments where the number of participants exceeds the maximum number of players per table, so you play on multiple tables. These MTT poker tournaments are generally the most interesting in terms of money invested / reward potential. Often compared to an expense in the buy-in of a few Euros, you can put into play to win awards for thousands of dollars by winning MTT tournament. But MTT tournament involves hours and hours of play against a large number of participants experienced and determined to go all the way.
It can be daunting to decide on playing MTT Tournament as it requires too much patience to play such poker tournaments. This question might come to your mind “How to play MTT tournaments?” There is no miraculous strategy for MTT tournament. The only theory exists here is “the more you practice it, the more the chances of winning MTT Tournament”, but there is some good advice that can help us to do the best at MTT Tournament. Here are a few.

Dealing with Different Stages in MTT Tournament

Initial Stage of MTT Tournament

At the beginning phase of MTT tournament, it is recommended to play safe game and only to push really big hands like- (AA, KK…). The early stages of MTT Tournament are, in fact, important to consolidate and increase the stack and to steal the blinds. The magnitude of the dark, on the other hand, allows you to go see the flop cards with small / medium – as long as the call remains of small entities.
In fact, especially if the bet is called by many players at the table, it is “easier” to play hands with low cards. Same thing goes for pairs and small suited cards while the low level of the call must be played, but never enough to justify big raise, or even all-in.
For the same reason you must withdraw without hesitation when you have your stack in danger, not to pursue projects and not improbable peg against a particular opponent. Because a small investment is good to see the flop but a big loss would undermine the whole MTT tournament.
The only golden rule is to keep in mind in the first hours of MTT tournament is: you cannot win, lose, however, is easy.

Intermediate Stage of MTT tournament

In intermediate stages of MTT tournament, when approximately 30% of the players went out, we have increased our stack or at least kept it intact. From this moment on, the blinds are becoming more “interesting” and it’s time to play seriously.
It is worth exploiting your reputation and make occasional bluffs at this moment of MTT tournament. The other player, believing that your bids are the result of high cards, fold gladly. The advice is to have the best position (button, big blind and small blind) at this stage of MTT tournament. As the final table comes closer, you will notice many players trying to avoid the risk of being eliminated just before you get to winning positions. So, always try to avoid clashes with the chip leader unless you have a strong hand. For them it is much easier to see your raise and could follow without too much fear. Try to play more solid with some occasional bluffs and take advantage of the position, and this is how you can approach the final table.

Final Table stage of MTT tournament

Final table is a very crucial stage of MTT tournament where you have to play with fair amount of chips that you have collected after playing hours and hours. At this stage of MTT tournament, the strength of the stack is more important than the strength of the cards. Make a better use of the chips and try to steal the blinds from those who haven’t large amount of chips.
If you do not have the opportunity to raise or you are not in a great location, or a big stack has raised before you, and avoid clashes with folding high cards or pairs would be too expensive to handle one of the chip leaders. Of course, if you have your AA or KK, then it is a different kettle of fish.
And if you arrive at the final table with a low-stack, probably means you are in dormant mode and you need to wait/hope that other players get out before you. Or you have another option of playing more aggressive with the first pair or high cards. It’s a risky tactic, of course, but remember that at this stage of the game, antes and blinds will bleed to death in a short-term and going all-in could be almost the only choice.

Heads up stage of MTT Tournament

Heads up is the final moment of MTT tournament. Try to stay focused and to manage the psychological decline that inevitably will try to get hold of you. Remember, this is a phase in which most of the hand is won by those who are active in pre-flop attacks. Be aggressive, sustained your opponent (who will raise against very often) and push on the accelerator with any high card that has passed through the hands, especially by exploiting the favorable position (when you have the button). Even a single ace could be a boon (by going all-in) from heaven.
The only cards that you can afford not to “push” are big pairs AA, KK, QQ. You may not believe but these cards in heads up stage of MTT tournament can be used to tend a trap your opponent. Try t come and see the dish and make him believe that you can conduct the hand up to push him to declare all-in. And then punish him.
As always, these are just some of the many possible strategies that can help you to win MTT tournament. The advice is to take this into account but use them wisely to build your own your game. Because ultimately, it all about your experience. The more you play poker, the more you get used to various poker tips and strategies to win at poker games.

13.02.2012 Poker Strategy, Poker Tips, Poker Tournaments Comments Off

Playing against Online Poker bots?

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

Playing against online poker bots has been a common experience for many online poker players. For years online casinos have been fighting to make their reputation for fairness to make sure that players are not playing against online poker bots but real players. As online poker bots have been strongly active in online poker, the only question arises here for several poker players. Is it game over for real poker players? I must say No, It’s not over. Even if the online poker bots have improved massively and registering continuous winning over the real human players, you can beat them. You might not be agree on this statement but online poker bots can’t win all the time, there are some weakness of online poker bots we can take as advantage to win over them.

Fortunately, Poker is actually difficult and not easy for online poker bots to manage the game properly as real poker player do it. If you have ever played against online poker bots, you must have experienced the difficulties for online poker bots to play it optimally. There are some useful Poker tips that you will find effective while playing against online poker bots, are mentioned below:

Some useful tips to deal with Online Poker bots

1) Try to play more at NL (No Limit) games. Generally, you will find most of the online poker bots playing at Fixed Limit Poker tables. And you will find very few online poker bots that are capable enough to play NL games, so try to play more at NL games.

2) Online poker bots are mainly designed to take advantage over weak poker players at several micro tables. At these games, a straight and solid playing style will enable a poker robot to take down several pots. As stakes will increase, the level of play increase too and this will be the right time to get over these online poker bots.

3) The game play standard of online poker bots is generally weak. It will be better to first study their game play and then you can act accordingly. You can also try some books which will surely help you to know more about online poker bots game play. And going through several experiences will actually help you to tackle against these online poker bots.

4) One more thing that you can do is- try to play on the sites which are really against of these online poker bots and continuously trying to take them off.

5) Don’t think that you can’t beat them. Whenever you find online poker bots at any poker site, join them and try yourself to get over them.

It is fact that online poker bots are on the poker sites to stay long and are regularly improving day by day.There is no specific Poker strategy or Poker tips for online poker bots, but you can develop your own strategy to deal with online poker bots. Beating online poker bots is never easy, but it’s surely possible.

15.10.2011 Poker Game, Poker Tips, Poker Tournaments Comments Off