Poker Etiquette

The main reason we play poker is to have fun. Some players argue that money is the actual motivation. I disagree because most people don't actually make money playing poker. Most people lose money. There are also other ways to make money, so why did we choose a risky game like poker to earn it? The answer is because poker is an enjoyable game.
Most of the time.

Every once in a while someone does something ignorant in a game that makes you want to pull your hair out. For instance, one of my pet peeves is when players don't put their highest-denomination chips in the front of their pile. Even worse though is when the guy to my right whispers, "You know what I had that last hand and actually folded?" Surprisingly, I still don't care after all the times it's been said. I used to think that was useful insight into a players pre-flop hand selection, but now I just cringe whenever a flop has a pair of twos and that guy shoots me that quick look of anticipation to let me know that he wants to tell me something after the hand is over. You had a two, huh? And folded it? Wow.

Here's TH-P's "Poker Etiquette" checklist. Please, everyone memorize it.

TOP FIVE NO-NO's

1. Do not reveal your cards while a hand is going on. While it's not against the rules (some places may give a penalty), it is at least a horrible breach of etiquette. If you were not folding, you're hand will be ruled dead. The problem is that it can give one player an advantage over another and potentially ruin a pot for someone. Even if it is an accident, you should be apologizing your ass off.

2. If you folded and your cards would have made a great hand on the flop, don't reel back in your chair or bang your hand off of the table or let your stupid jaw hang open, letting everyone know that you would have hit that flop. In fact, don't react to the cards on the board at all. Again, it can potentially ruin a pot by giving some players an advantage.

3. Don't be mean by criticizing an opponent's play, being verbally abusive to another player, or by being cocky about how good you are (or think you are). On the flip side, if someone has met those qualifications by talking directly to you, the best thing to do is just smile and agree. "Ya, I got lucky there", "I can see how I might've played that wrong", and "Oh ya, I've heard of you before, I was told to look out" are all acceptable comments that will hopefully end the discussion. Don't let the sarcasm show though.

4. Don't blame the dealer. Also, don't wing your cards at the dealer or not tip him as a result of previous bad beat. They really, actually, and truly have no control over what cards are dealt. They are just there to do their job and they deserve respect.

5. Do not talk about a hand when you aren't in it. Giving advice to a live player is actually against the rules in most places. Simply talking about the hand is also in very bad taste though. The players who are still in the hand don't want to have to listen to your noise pollution when they're trying to focus on the other live opponents. So shut yer mouth.

There are situations where a player who isn't in the hand can talk about the hand and it's universally okay.

One is in no limit when players go all-in and they are having problems counting chips and so is the dealer. Often players are flustered, having just made the biggest bet they could make and something goes wrong in the counting section of the brain. A player who doesn't have all their money at stake can often count much faster, so it is acceptable to speak up and declare their all-in.

Another instance is when a player does something like toss in an oversized chip and say "raise" but the nobody hears it and a few players call the previous bet before the bettor realizes that something went wrong. Before people start yelling, the dealer gets pissed, and the floor is called over, YOU should be the one to say that the bettor declared a raise. People are already angry at the bettor for not saying it loud enough, so they don't want to believe he actually said it. You as an unbiased third party seem a much more valid candidate to determine if the word "raise" was said than the person who said it.

Identifying a Cheater in Household Games

article by Texas Holdem Poker

First off, if you are playing against a true "mechanic", you're doomed. True card handlers' illegal movements are invisible to any but the trained eye, and you need to have been a part of this craft before you can identify it. Many kitchen table gamblers sometimes choose to falsify a deck of cards because of the glorified image of a "mechanic". They can deceive anyone who isn't looking and that makes them feel like a master trickster. Mastering the art of card handling is like a full-time job that has a training period of decades, though. That devotion is not something that appeals to everyone. Most cheaters depend upon some very, very basic moves that are easy to spot. Below are some basic things to look out for...

Holding-Out
This involves keep a card in your sleeve, on your lap, or anywhere that it isn't visible to other players. The card is acquired from a previous game by throwing one card directly into the muck and keeping the other one. This gives the cheating player an extra card to swap with either of his existing pocket cards. The best defense is to watch a player who keeps his pocket cards under the table, and count the deck in between games.

False Shuffles
If one knows the top or bottom card of the deck, it's not too difficult to shuffle a deck so that either or both of those cards stays at the top or bottom, while mixing up the cards in between. The easiest two types of shuffles that can be used to set the top/bottom card are the riffle shuffle (or dovetail shuffle) and the overhand shuffle. Cheaters will use these shuffles in combination, along with some false dealing to give any player certain cards. A simple way to prevent it is to make sure that another party cuts the deck before the deal. This will still give the dealer only the slight advantage of approximately knowing where the card(s) are in the deck, but this usually isn't a large enough advantage to amount to anything. After the set deck is cut, the dealer also has the advantage of knowing that the former top card of the deck is directly beneath the former bottom card after the cut. That's why we have burn cards.

Riffle Shuffle
A riffle shuffle is when one cuts a deck in twain and flutters the two sections together by applying pressure to the back of the cards while pulling up on the front with your thumb. The thumbs simultaneously release the pressure to make the cards flutter together. Then the two sections are pushed together. The way to cheat, to put it simply (because it is), is to note which half of the deck was the bottom half and which was the top half after you cut it. A handler will make sure the bottom half releases first, putting the bottom card on the bottom. One can also make the bottom half stop fluttering before the top half to make sure the top card stays on top.

Overhand Shuffle
This is the most common type of shuffling. It is when the shuffler holds the entire deck in one hand and throws or pulls part of the top of the deck into the other hand. This is done several times till the deck is completely in the opposite hand. The way to cheat involves a "transfer". In this case, the cheater will be putting the top card on the bottom of the deck, or vice versa, or both. With the first motion, they will pull away only the top card, and make sure that the rest of the cards fall on top of that card, putting the top card on the bottom. With the last few pulls, they will make sure to minimize the cards in a manner so that only the bottom card of the deck remains in the original hand. Then they'll simply throw that card (previously the bottom card) on top of the deck (now the top card).

False Deals
This is a deal where a card besides the top card is dealt. It takes a lot of practice to make it look clean and convincing, though. By practicing these deals yourself for a while, you'll become familiar with the difficulties of doing them. This will make a false deal stand out when you watch a potential cheater deal cards. We'll discuss two types, the bottom deal and the second deal.

Bottom Deal
This is the most prized trick of a gambler. It is simply dealing the bottom card of a deck instead of the top one. The term "Mechanic's Grip" refers to the particular way a deck is held when performing the bottom deal. That's when the left hand holds the left side of the deck between the heel of the hand and the tip of the second finger. The left thumb pushes out the top card in an attempt to disguise the trick deal, while the right hand makes the motions to toss out the bottom card. There are two good indicators that a card handler might be dealing from the bottom. One is that some bottom dealers use a swaying vertical motion to try and cover up the fake deal. The other is that the act of releasing the bottom card can give off a particular snapping sound. If you see or hear one of those indicators, start watching the dealer very closely.

Second Deal
This is usually used when the dealer wants to give himself the top card, so he deals the second card in the deck out to everyone else so as to not lose it. Since this requires the dealer to pull off several second deals in a row, it is not as desirable as the bottom deal. There are several ways to do it, but all of them use a telltale rocking motion with both hands to help disguise the act. Watch for it.

All of the above things are pretty basic. In fact, the false shuffles described above are so easy that even an untrained card handler could pull them off if nobody was really watching (check out this false shuffling video for a video of a non-professional doing exactly that). Always keep in mind the following rules of defense against cheating...

1. Watch the dealer habitually, just as you should be ritualistically watching players when they look at their hole cards. Make sure to watch the hands more than the cards.
2. Anyone who can do card tricks has the potential to do them in a game while dealing. If a card handler shows off some fancy tricks with the deck at any point (which they usually can't resist), then look out!
3. If a player consistently gets great hands when they deal, alarm bells should be going off in your head. Don't label a player with good luck as a cheater immediately though. Watch them. I can't say that enough

Playing Short Handed Texas Hold'em

poker article by Jonny Vincent

We've all seen it a hundred times. That annoying player who, whenever the game gets short-handed, turns into what appears to be a maniac. He's betting, he's raising, he's re-raising - and completely dominating the game. To the beginner, or to those inexperienced in short-handed play, he appears to have no idea of how to play. You wonder, 'What's he doing raising with K7 offsuit - he must have no idea!' But yet he wins - and wins well. What's his secret then?

The secret lies in one word: aggression. The short-handed player must - absolutely must - be able to play a solid aggressive game. Whilst you can do well playing passively in a full ring game, where others do the betting for you, when the game gets short-handed (five or less runners), you must be able to change your playing style and be able to bet aggressively hands you wouldn't even have considered playing in a full game. Unfortunately, if you don't, the aggressive players will run roughshod over you, controlling the betting to their advantage, and you will find your stack diminishing rapidly.

This is often bad news to poker players, as it takes them out of their comfort zone. However, it is also exciting, fun, full of action and - if one develops and hones the unique skills of short-handed play - can be extremely rewarding. Short-handed games have more variance, which means they have more risk - but with increased risks, come increased rewards.

Playing aggressively encompasses more than simply betting or raising more than you would in a full ring game. It's about knowing when you have the best hand (remember, in short-handed play, you must lower both your starting hand requirements and the hands you would take to a showdown) - and about taking advantage of those who play too conservatively. You want - through your aggressive betting - to make these people fold at incorrect times and, in doing so, incorrectly give up their equity in the pot. Roughly two out of three times, the flop won't even give you a pair. The skilled aggressive player realises this, and takes advantage of players who don't. Skilled aggressive players also know how to determine whether they are in front of their opponents, and thus when to speed up and slow down in their betting.

Russ Georgiev, one of the most skilled short-handed players I have ever had the opportunity to converse with, once gave me this piece of advice:

"Realize that anyone that waits for a hand in a short-handed situation will lose many blinds while waiting. Also, when they get involved in betting, the opposition will know they have something and will be waiting to check-raise them and trap them, or let them win the minimum. Short-handed players that win bet their own hands, they don't bet yours. You have to learn to do this yourself. The object of the game is to get the money called when you have the best of it and have free cards given to you with the worse of it. Short-handed is not a game for callers."

"Not having the opposition able to read your style is the difference between winning and losing. The key is being able to have so many different styles that the opposition doesn't know how to combat it. All shorthanded players are aggressive. But in a horse race, the speed of the speed is the one to fear. However, do you always want to be the speed, if the pace of the game is fast enough? The answer is no. The name of the game is knowing how to bet to get the most information about a players hand. Sometimes it is best to lay off the pace and punish him in the last quarter of a mile, meaning the river."

The kinds of skills Russ is talking about here can only come with practice. I can't tell you to raise with K9o from late position without knowing the texture of the game, and the styles of your opponents. Knowing when to raise, which hands to start with and which hands to stay with is something only you can learn with time. The trick to starting out is to not underestimate your hands. Simply start betting, raising and check-raising more, even occasionally when you have nothing. Don't take it too far, especially when you're just starting out, but take yourself out of your comfort zone - you might be surprised at how much fun you have whilst you are learning. And you also might be surprised at how quickly you do, indeed, learn.

If you have had any experience in short-handed play, you will already be starting to comprehend the point's I am trying make here, if not yet understanding them fully. If you don't, that's ok. As I stated before, it takes time and plenty of practice to hone your skills. I like to think I know what I'm doing in a short-handed game, but the more I play, the more I realise how many talented players there are out there and how much better I can, and must, become - it just takes dedication, hard work and confidence in yourself. Just between you and me, really excellent short-handed players absolutely carve me up. I can't compete with them!

Games of Poker: HORSE Tournaments

article by Nicole Gordon

Within the last year, H.O.R.S.E. tournaments have exploded in popularity, both live and online. The World Series of Poker added $2,500 and $5,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. events to their 2007 schedule in addition to the return of the $50K H.O.R.S.E. World Championship that debuted last summer to much success. $1,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tourneys were spread at nearly every stop on the WSOP Circuit tour this year, and top online rooms Full Tilt and Poker Stars offer over a dozen daily H.O.R.S.E. tournaments and multi-table satellites between them. Standing for Hold'em, Omaha 8 or better, Razz, Stud, and Stud 8 or better, H.O.R.S.E. is a true test of poker skill as it requires players to excel at multiple poker games in order to be successful.

Basic Strategy

The first step in becoming a successful H.O.R.S.E. player is to evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the five different games. In today's poker climate, players will tend to have the most experience with hold'em and the least experience with the three stud games. In the early stages of play it's important to identify which games the players at your table are uncomfortable with and adjust accordingly. Are they folding their way through Omaha 8? Limp-calling too many pots in razz with weak hands? Can I steal relatively easily against their bring-in from late position in stud? These are the tools you'll need to survive the later rounds of the tournament when the blinds and antes are higher. Conversely, remember that the stronger players at your table will be taking the same kind of notes on you. Also, pay close attention to when the stud games change.

H: Hold em:
Many players will come out fast and immediately start raising pots in the first hold'em round. Typically these are the ones that are looking to get some chips in their best game so they can fold their way through their weaker ones. Pots in that first hold'em level will often be large and multi-way relative to the blinds. Of course if you flop a big hand or a big draw early, by all means, take advantage of the situation, but don't go to war against three guys with one pair just because it's limit and it's early. Save those chips... you're going to need them.

O: Omaha 8:
Omaha 8 or better is a game of playing starting hands that have a lot of potential to develop into the nuts. Look to hit a flop hard or aggressively play a big combination draw with outs to scoop both halves of the pot. There's no reason to get fancy this early. Watch for weaker opponents without much O8 experience hitchhiking along for the ride on hands with only one-way draws– they're the ones who are going to pay you off in a big way later on.

R: Razz:
Though the very mention of razz induces nausea in many a poker player, it is perhaps the most straight-forward game in the H.O.R.S.E. lineup and should be played in the same manner. Start with three cards below an eight, keep track of which low cards have been folded, and let your up-cards do the talking. If you have the best hand or the best draw, bet. If you brick and your opponent catches good, fold. Again, don't get fancy in these early rounds–just focus on accumulating chips. The first round of razz is also a good spot in the tournament to start some serious stealing. Don't forget the power of position and a low up-card even if the two you have in the hole leave something to be desired.

S: Stud:
Again, this is a round where players need to recognize their steal opportunities. The low card brings in the action in stud high, so if it's folded to you and you're sitting on a king up with a ten behind you and a 4 stuck with the bring-in, raise away. Play a good, solid game on this round and the next (stud 8). Accumulate, accumulate, accumulate. Because after that, things are going to get a little funky.

E: Stud 8:
Due to its position in the lineup, this game always comes around well into the tournament and some players will be approaching short-stack status by the time the first stud 8 round hits. Hitting the stud 8 round is also a signal that the game is about to change from the low-volatility of a split-pot game with an ante back to the high cost per round and quick pace of limit hold'em. If a player hasn't yet added significantly to his stack, this is pretty much the last level he can wait to hit a big hand.

Practice your weaker games at low limits, then think about giving a tournament a whirl. I can personally recommend the $24+2 $4,000 Guarantees that run each night on Full Tilt and the $11 H.O.R.S.E. MTTs on Poker Stars as great places to start.

Going Back to Basics in Poker

I have recently been playing Texas Hold'Em with a lot of new players. This is great as it gives me the opportunity to play with new people, and its enjoyable for me to be able to teach them how to play and realise how much fun poker really is! With this in mind, I thought it a good idea to create a series of posts that are essentially a beginners guide for new players (or those wishing to brush up) that goes over poker terms, how to play, when to bet and how the game is played.

Fun Facts About Poker

So you play poker... Whether you are good or bad, win or lose, I am sure you do not know all of the following fun facts. These facts are pretty interesting to know, even for any type of player.

• Playing cards were invented in China.
• A fifth suit was added in 1937 but never caught on because people had to buy all new decks.
• At least 65,000,000 Americans regularly play poker, and more are playing every day.
• Dead mans hand is Ace's and Eights
• Getting dealt 10, 2 is referred to as Doyle Brunson because he won back to back World Series with the hand.
• In the 1800's, 2,000 to 2,500 riverboat gamblers played poker on American Waterways, By contemporary accounts, no more than four of these poker players were honest all the time. A straight beat a flush at this time.
• Las Vegas Casinos are not legally obligated to pay off there gambling debts.
• Due to French Influence, Spades represent Royalty, Diamonds represent Merchants, Clubs represent the peasants, and hearts represent the clergy.
• Edmond Hoyle lived to be 97, but died 150 years before Poker was invented.
• Playing cards were introduced in Europe in the 1300's.
• When Columbus landed in 1492 in North America, his men plucked wide leaves from trees, drew pictures on them and played cards.
• Historians generally agree that Bill Hickock was a lousy poker player.
• Groucho Marx got his name from carrying his poker money in a "grouch bag."
• Former President Richard Nixon won $6,000 playing poker in his first two months in the U.S. Navy during WWll. That's equal to roughly $42,640 in 2004 dollars. He used that money as well as more poker winnings to finance his run for the U.S. Congress in 1946, for which he won.
  

Life Lessons From Poker

Whereas in blackjack most of my observations came from watching other players play their hands, in poker I've learned the most by observing myself, partly due to the nature of the game (I can't see every decision other people make as I can in blackjack).

Here are some observations I've make from playing poker over the years:

1. You can learn a lot about other people by studying yourself.

Simply by observing myself and watching my own tells, like seeing my hands shake when I looked down and saw pocket aces on the button, I learned to look for those same tells in other players. In low-limit games, virtually anytime you see a players hands shaking as they try to place their bet, it means they have a monster hand. I've thrown away many solid hands after reading this tell, and so far every single time it was the right decision. By observing my own behavior, I could watch for it in other people.

How does this apply to life itself? If you know how you behave when experiencing certain emotional states, you can watch for that behavior in others to gain information (hich can be extremely helpful in certain situations).

For example, if I'm watching someone give a speech, I can observe how I behave when I'm really bored or really interested. Then when I'm the one giving the speech, I can watch for those reactions in the audience. If I see people leaning forward, smiling, and nodding, I know I have a captive audience because that's what I do when I'm captivated.

If you're a salesperson, how do you behave when you watch someone else give a good/bad presentation? If you're a manager, how do you behave when someone tries to delegate something to you and you don't intend to do it? If you're married, how do you behave when you aren't really listening to your spouse?

Observe how your own behaviors reflect various internal states, and then watch for those behaviors in others to gain information. You may be surprised to find that emotional states produce a physiological response that is extremely similar from person to person.

2. You can learn a lot about yourself by studying other people.

This is the reverse of #1. By observing how others behave in poker, and then seeing what kind of hand they have, I can connect their behaviors to information. Then when I see these physiological tells again, I can more easily put that player on a hand.

Many poker players do this. No big whoop.

But how many poker players take what they learn about other players and then apply it to themselves? This means watching for the tells you pick up from other players in yourself, especially when you're heads-up against the player you saw express those tells. So if you see someone looking away from the table when they have a monster hand, make sure you don't look away when you've got a monster.

You can also take this concept a step further and use it even more proactively. If you see other people behave a certain way when they have a great hand, you may find it beneficial to exert that same behavior on purpose when you're heads-up against that player and want to bluff him/her out. It's a sneaky way of using that personas own physiological response to feed them false information. Just make sure you aren't too obvious about it, or the other player will catch you. I find it works best as a subconscious signal that alters their intuitive feeling about the hand.

So what's the life lesson here? The lesson is that this kind of manipulation also works outside the game of poker. By learning someones tells, you can consciously exhibit a certain behavior to activate the response you want. Certainly this sounds manipulative, and it is. But by being aware of this tactic, you can reduce your susceptibility to it.

TV commercials use this kind of manipulation all the time. They know all the tells for various emotional states, and they use them to attempt to manipulate your emotional response. This is one reason so many commercials appear logically stupid, but they can still be effective if they include the proper signals that bypass your mind and drive their message into your subconscious.

Think of those drug commercials where they read the side effects (which often sound worse than the symptoms the drug is supposed to treat), but the visual imagery suggests the exact opposite. The characters exhibit the tells of the emotional states the advertiser wants you to associate to their product or service. But those signals often have nothing to do with the product itself. In other words, you aren't being shown the real emotional states the product will induce in you, but far more pleasurable states that probably won't occur by using the product at all.

How many beer commercials show drunk people behaving stupidly?

3. Both intellect and intuition can provide input for making correct decisions.
In poker sometimes logic is correct, and other times intuition is correct. Sometimes they agree; sometimes they don't.

In life, however, you generally have more options than check, bet, call, raise, or fold. Life is more open-ended, and when logic and intuition disagree, sometimes it's best not to choose sides but to listen to both and seek out a third alternative.

When my logic and intuition seem to disagree, I try to step back and see the situation from other perspectives. In the past I'd usually favor my logic, only to find that my intuition was right. Then I'd slide too far the other way, and pay the price of ignoring my intellect. Now I know that both inputs provide information, but they do so by acting upon imperfect data.

In poker you're limited in how much data you can gather. But life offers other extra opportunities for peaking at the cards. You can ask for expert advice while you play. You can take in new information to augment the data your logic and intuition are processing. You can wait for clarity before acting. You can even dive in with your best decision, see what the next card looks like, and adjust course afterwards.

4. Don't be a fish.

Fish are bad poker players who are essentially there to give away their money. They don't bother to develop much skill at the game, so they just play badly. And the longer they play, the more they lose.

Isn't life the same? If you play badly long enough, eventually you lose. Abuse your health, your relationships, or your finances, and you can kiss them goodbye.

Good players learn the rules of the game and build their skills. They eliminate negative habits that would otherwise bring them down.

5. You can make no mistakes and still lose.

In poker you can expect to take bad beats again and again. Eventually you'll take one in a heartbreaking situation when someone draws highly improbable runner-runner cards to beat your made hand.

Life is the same. You can play perfectly and still lose.

There's no security in the cards. The only true security lies in knowing you did your best. Focus on making correct decisions, and let the cards fall as they may.

6. No single hand will kick you out of the game for life.
When you take a bad beat, just take a deep breath and brush it off. It's in the past, and there's nothing you can do about it now.

Stay focused on the present. There's another hand to be played.

7. Do not play J8s UTG no matter how seductive it looks and how certain you are of achieving a multiway pot.
The life lesson here is left as an exercise for the reader. :)

If you're a poker player yourself, I invite you to share your own life lessons from the game by posting a comment

Don't Second Guess Yourself

You should never outguess yourself when you are at the poker table. I will give you an example; consider the following hand:

You hold: 6c, 6d,

Your opponent in early position raises 4x to 5x bb and you place him on AK.

Flop: Kc, 6h, 7d

Now you have flopped a set, and your opponent is first to act. He sets out and bets just like you expected him to. You play back at him and re-raise. He immediately re-raises you all-in. At this point you have to call. You can't try to outguess your self in this situation and put him on 77 or KK for a higher set. You had originally put him on AK, and if he has a higher set, you are just going to have to pay them off. At the point where he his re-raising you all-in, you are already pot committed and have to call. There is also a possibility that you misread him and he only holds AA in which case you are dominating that hand as well.

Methods of Improving Your Poker Profits

I was reading through various poker articles on the net today, and came across one that I found quite interesting. This articles examines methods that can be used to improve your poker game for the new year.
You can find this article at Poker Dynasty

Managing Your Bankroll in Poker

In this poker article I will talk about money management, bankrolls, and minimising loses. These are all important concepts when playing poker but they all revolve around the same principals. You must limit your loses, hold on to your winnings, and most importantly always leave your self outs.

You should only play games that your bankroll will allow. If you have 200 dollars to play with for a month you don't want to lose it all in the first week playing a 5-10 no-limit game. The average pot in these games would be about the size of your bankroll. You should play lower limit games that match your bankroll.

Minimise your losses.
I have seen players loose a big hand, go on tilt and loose their whole bankroll in one night. If you ever get angry because of a bad beat or loose a lot of money quickly you should take a break. A lot of mental energy will be used up worrying about your bad luck, this will effect your game in a negative way. I recommend going for a walk or even quit playing for the day. There will always be another game tomorrow.

Protect your bankroll.
Not every player needs a bankroll. If you only play on occasion with extra money you probably don't need to worry about this. But if you are a player who wants to make a good income from poker your bankroll is an asset. Lets say you start with a bankroll of 500 dollars at a poker site. Now after a week of winning you are up to 2000 in your account. You take out 1500 and go buy a new TV. That is fine but if you get on a bad streak you can easily loose the 500 you still have. Then you will have no bankroll and wont be able to play. This happens to a lot of good player, and if they cant play they cant win anymore. This can put an end to your poker profits.

So just remember that poker is a game of swings. You can win a lot but you can also get on a bad luck streak and lose a lot. Just watch your bankroll, manage your money, and always leave yourself outs.

Remember to think about your bankroll before each time you play. Think about what will happen if you loose all your money in your account. Will you want to deposit more money you cant afford to lose? Are the stakes of the game so high it you loose a big hand you will be out of chips? Just think before you start to play about the worst case scenario and you should have less bankroll problems.

For more articles visit - Poker Articles at Hustle Cards