# Playing Poker Online - What You Really Have to Know

Online Poker vs. Online Gambling:

Poker is a game of skill, and every decision you make is approximately maximizing your Expected Value or EV for short. The term "EV" will soon be used throughout this short article and will soon be observed in two ways. A person may have +EV, which is positive Expected Value or - EV, which is negative Expected Value. Poker is not gambling and these explains why.

Most gambling games have an adverse EV for you, and a positive EV (5.49% in this case) for the casino. In the short run you may win, but in the long run, in the event that you played typical gambling games 1000 times, the casino would always wind up winning by about 5.49%. As you can see these kind of gambling games are in support of the house. Poker pits you against other players and not the house. In a full ring game (9 players) or shorthanded game (6 players), the goal is to make the best EV decisions against the many other players playing worse (making -EV decisions) than you.

A simple example will be if you had been dealt KK before the flop came (preflop), which everyone understands is a great hand preflop. This hand has a high possiblity to win against all the hands preflop. In the event that you played and raised "all in" with this specific hand against a new player who played and [dewa poker](http://dewapokerasia7.com) called every all in, you would have a huge advantage as you will be a favorite each time, which makes it a +EV decision. This is an exaggerated example and playing one hand would not be the smartest idea. What you would do is play say the utmost effective 20% of hands because against a person who plays maybe 70% of these hands, you again, will soon be making a +EV decision each time you play with him. It's likely that the starting hands will have a great deal higher probability to win. This is just scraping the outer lining, and there is an EV mounted on every decision and every situation. Many online poker sites provide starting hand charts for newbies to use, which will be the simplest way to improve your EV.

Additionally, there is always variance and in the temporary weaker players may get lucky, but that's also what attracts them ahead back and keep playing. In the long run, an excellent player who makes +EV decisions will always wind up a winner. For this reason poker is not gambling but a casino game of skill and understanding just how to exploit your opponent's mistakes.

Is it safe to play online poker?

Absolutely, some sites have over 50,000 people playing at one time. Major sites like Full Tilt Poker run advertisements on the TV and the internet and are even listed on the stock market. They permit you to play poker online free of charge or real money. Any negative publicity would affect their business so these sites often provide the most effective customer service. Maintaining your password secure can be your responsibility and should you choose this, your hard earned money will soon be safe. Online poker sites don't have any incentive to cheat when dealing hands since they want to be extremely fair so you continue to play, allowing them to earn their income in the proper execution of "rake." This is a very small percent of the pot (usually less than 1%). In poker, you're playing against another players, and not the house.

Obviously if the poker site seems shady, you have never heard about it, they don't advertise on TV or the internet and there aren't members playing on a typical basis - you wouldn't be depositing your hard earned money there!!! With that said, most of the major poker sites are very safe and reputable.

What're the most effective online poker rooms?
There are three major sites for playing online poker. Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Party Poker have a lot of traffic, play money tables, plenty of freeroll tournaments and have very good customer support. If you're a beginner you must play at Full Tilt Poker or Pokerstars once you start. Other sites like Party Poker call you up once you subscribe and require some type of id verification to activate your account. Some individuals may like this extra security, and can easily go that route. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars don't require this. Overall, all three sites are incredibly safe and well known.