Champion of Poker

Actually the structure of this article and the style of it is deliberate. I receive an awful lot of praise from people regarding my poker magazine articles who say that they enjoy my chatty conversational style of writing. Well this is just as well because this is the style that I enjoy doing the most, in fact it is the only style that I know. So if at times it seems that I am digressing away from the point in question, just try to imagine that we are in a room together having a chat about all things poker and you are listening to me waffle on.

As we already know, game selection is critical in all forms of poker but in limit Texas Holdem it can literally be he difference between life and death. You will be presented with numerous problems in limit hold’em. If you play too low then the rake can be your most formidable opponent on the table and if you play too high then you are going to be locking horns with some of the very best players in the world.

If you are going to be serious about your poker and want to treat it more like a business than anything else then you are going to have to look very carefully at just what costs you are incurring as a result of operating that business. The primary cost for an online player of course is the rake. With online limit poker games getting tougher and tighter all the time then it is common knowledge that you could be the best player on the table in many games and yet you are still in the negative expectation camp.

It is really beyond the scope of this article to delve too deeply into anyone subject but take it from me, please do your research as to how much rake you are paying in an average hour. Many sites have game statistics which allow you to see how many hands you are playing per hour or have played, what the average pot is and how many hands you have won. You can use these stats to find out how much rake you are paying. Simply go to the section of the site that explains the rake and this will inform you how much you are paying based on the limits, number of players and pot size. Based on your own individual style, you can then calculate how much rake you are paying per hour.

But the cheapest sites are not always the best to play on as bonuses and rakeback and various other things can greatly impact what is the best site. At this moment in time, many poker sites pay good rakeback and bonuses which are a very nice cushion and one that is vital for low stakes limit players. But these rakeback deals and bonuses change on a daily basis so telling you what are the best deals now would be silly as this will have surely changed by the time you are reading this. Look out for part two of this mini series coming shortly.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Author – “Winning Cash Game Poker”