POKER AS A BUSINESS
or
The Road to the "Million Dollar Pot"
at the World Series of Poker
or
The Road to the "Million Dollar Pot"
at the World Series of Poker
Thank you for visiting the Road To Wealth and "Poker As A Business."
All of our sites are created by professionals in their field. This site is a
result of several people who love the game of poker.
Many people who gamble in casinos today are losing money. Probably 98% of them lose consistently. There is a small elite who make their living gambling and make money consistently. These are people who studied the game they chose to play. Unfortunately the majority of the people visiting casinos never read any book on the game and never took the time to learn how to play. The result is they lose money. "Poker As A Business" and our site, Hit the Jackpot with Casino Gambling, will help the recreational gambler enjoy their money much longer and have more fun gambling.
Poker is the only game where you see your cards before you invest your money. In all other games you must first place your bet. You decide whether to play the cards or pass the hand. You decide whether to raise,call or fold. You decide the table, the stakes, and, sometimes, even the players. And if you don't like a particular dealer, you can take a walk for a few minutes and wait for the next dealer. There is no other game which offers all of these advantages. It is the only game where all the playing decisions are made totally by you.
Of course, their is a nominal cost to play the game. In Texas Hold'em and Omaha there are "blinds" to be paid on a rotating basis. In Stud the ante will vary with the casino or card room: some by low card, high card, and some have no ante at all! Theoretically, you could sit and wait for superior cards and never pay any money if you don't like your cards.
Poker is the game of kings. Almost every U.S. President in the last 100 years played poker. It is played by some of the richest people in the world. Many of America's wealthiest used poker, at one time or another, to give them start-up capital for their businesses or, sometimes, to pay their bills.
The richest man in the world today, Bill Gates, states in his book, "The
Road Ahead,"
referring to the beginning of Microsoft this way: "From the start, Paul
(Allen) and I funded everything ourselves..........And some of the money I
had came from late night poker games in the dorm." Needless to say, they
started Microsoft on a shoestring two-man operation and built it into a
company worth over $10 billion with more than 17,000 employees.
The Basics of Poker
We will review the basics of poker as a refresher to those who may not have played in a long time and to educate those who may never have played but may start playing in the future.
Ranking of Hands
ROYAL FLUSH: Five cards 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace all of the same suit.
STRAIGHT FLUSH: Five consecutive cards all of the same suit. Example: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen.
FOUR OF A KIND: Four cards of the same value. Also called "quads."
FULL HOUSE: Five cards consisting of three cards of the same value and two cards of the same value. Also called a "boat." Example: Ace, Ace, Ace, Ten, Ten = a Full House, Aces full of Ten's. Should there be another Full House in the hand, the winner is determined by the highest set of three cards.
FLUSH: Five cards of the same suit. If there is more than one Flush in the hand, the highest ranking card(s) is the winner.
STRAIGHT: Five consecutive cards regardless of the suit. The highest valued card determines the winner if there are more Straights than one in the hand.
THREE OF A KIND: Three cards of the same value. Also called "trips" or a "set". The highest valued cards win. Example: 3 Kings beats 3 Jacks.
TWO PAIR: Two cards of the same value create one pair. Two pairs are two cards of the same value and another two cards of the same value. Example: King, King and Seven, Seven. The highest pair determines the winner. If two players have the same pairs, the fifth card of highest value, also called a "kicker", determines the winner.
ONE PAIR: Two cards of the same value. Again, the higher kicker wins if both players have the same hand.
HIGH CARD: The highest card in the player's hand.
Here is what we believe how often you should expect to have
these hands if you are going to play poker as a business:
ROYAL FLUSH: Once or twice in a lifetime
STRAIGHT FLUSH: Once a year or better
FOUR OF A KIND: At least twice a year
FULL HOUSE: Once a week or better
FLUSH: Once a day or better
STRAIGHT: Once a day or better
THREE OF A KIND: Twice a day or better
TWO PAIR: Five times a day or better
ONE PAIR: Ten times a day or better
This gives you an idea that the very best hands don't occur very often and the main action is between one pair and a full house.