Pogo

This is a great place to start learning the game of poker. If you go onto Pogo and and click on casino games on the right hand side. Then all you have to do is scroll down to poker. I mainly play Texas Hold'em so you will find that this site is mainly geared towards that.

The value of playing Texas Hold'em on Pogo is that it will show you the value of your hand plus the value of the best hand possible. Being that the tables are only 4 player tables will allow you to play hands you would not normally play.

Hand's you should feel comfortable playing with: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, AK, AQ, AJ, AT, A9, A8, A7, A6, KQ, KJ, KT, K9, QJ, QT, Q9, Q8, JT, J9, J8, T9, T8 and 98.

If you follow these starting hands in this 4 player game you should do alright.

Keep in mind what you have and how the other players are playing. If you have the best possible hand then don't be afraid to try to raise the pot.

A good exercise is to log onto Pogo and only playing those cards listed above and win a match. When you are in the big blind just check if you do not have a hand and see the flop. Also, when you get down to the last 2 players feel free to play anything.

Poker Hands and Value

Straight Flush = Any 5 cards in number order of the same suit. The highest number is the greatest hand. Royal Flush is the highest.

Four of a Kind = Any 4 cards with the same face value. The 5Th card doesn't matter. With 4 A's being the highest and 4 2's being the lowest.

Full House = Any 3 cards of the same value with any 2 cards of the same value. The better Full House is the one with the higher 3 card value.

Flush = Any 5 cards that are the same suit. It doesn't matter what the value of the cards are. The highest value card in the flush wins.

Straight = Any 5 cards in value order (A,2,3,4,5). The Straight with the highest value card wins.

Three of a Kind = Any 3 cards with the same value. The other 2 cards in this hand are meaningless. The 3 with the highest value wins.

Two pair = Any 2 cards with the same value with any other 2 cards with the same value (A,A,2,2,5). The highest pair wins. In rare cases where 2 players have the same 2 pair the highest left over card value wins.

One Pair = Any 2 cards with the same value. The highest Pair wins. It is common for 2 players to have the same pair so than the next card in the hand plays the highest card wins.

High card = The worst hand you can have in poker (Q,7,5,4,2). The highest value card wins if there is a tie then you move to the next highest card and so on.

A good exercise for this is to take a deck of cards and take the top 5 cards off the top and see what hand you get. Lay the best hand to the side and keep trying to bet it. Don't get to discouraged if you can only get a flush. The odds are pretty hard in getting something better.

Freeroll to Daily Dollar July 19th

Just recording my first attempt into the Daily Dollar. The odds of placing are pretty tight at only .027%. There are a lot of things on Full Tilt that seem very good for the just starting poker player.

I don't like the fact that you only start out with 300 chips. Blinds are at 15/30 10% of your stack to see the flop ouch.

Currently I am above the chip average or 534 I have 660 and there is 3,914 players left out of the starting 7,500.

I ended up in 3,229th place these turbo tournaments are quick that's for sure.