Do you own a beautiful deck of playing cards? Is it sitting – quietly and safely – on your display shelf? Do you feel fuzzy when you touch the cards? Do they remind you of the excitement and thrill the games bring to you?
Online Card games have always been much more than a regular past time activity. It has been a recreational pleasure for people of all ages. If you are a fan of card games and a routine visitor to card rooms and clubs, you must experience the adrenaline-rush of playing games with real money. As higher the risk, as higher is the level of excitement.
Many games played in the live card rooms involve luck but there is one unique card game which requires skill instead of luck to win – and that is Poker game. Did you know poker has received the status of a skill game/sport in many countries around the world which makes it stand out from other card games?
If you want to test your mettle in this classic game, you first need to understand how it is different from other card games –
It is a game of skills
This is the pivotal difference between Poker and other card games like bridge, Blackjack, 3 Patti, etc. Have you ever thought why Poker pros like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Nikita Luther, Kunal Patni, Tarun Goyal, etc are so famous? How they are able to achieve ongoing success at the highly competitive poker tables? Is it because of luck? Of course not! Like chess, Poker is a professional sport; and to become a Poker champion, a player has to study the dynamics of the game and learn how to implement critical thinking and strategies at the tables. All successful Poker players pursued Poker as a career and began playing live/online Poker tournaments with real money after studying and practicing the game for a very long time.
You play against other players, not the house
House edge is a basic source from which card rooms make money for the services they provide. That’s one key reason; the games like Blackjack, roulette and even slots are called “rigged” because one has to beat the house edge to achieve success in these games. On the contrary, Poker does not involve house edge. The game is played against other players instead of the house. The ability of a player to outplay his opponents on the Poker table is one of the main deciding factors, and the Poker room only takes a small portion (ante) from each pot that is created. In Poker, the player with the best five-card hand combination wins. Moreover, in Blackjack, the dealer is your only opponent whereas a Poker player loses the hand to his opponents who are holding better hands than him.
It is less risky
Most card games involve a risk of uncertainty as there are equal possibilities of losing all money or making a big win. But the financial risk is not involved with the same intensity in online Poker. The game is not based on blind chance but on skills like logical reasoning, mathematics, tilt control, etc. It is not possible to guarantee the hands that are dealt to a player, but it is possible to change the underlying strategy being applied to the game to increase the possibility of winning the hand.
It requires strategic planning
If you are a Blackjack fan and treat Poker as just another card game, then first play a few hands to realize the difference. Before you start playing poker, you need to learn it. And once you learn how to play Poker, you will realize how challenging the game is. It is a competitive game in which a player requires a lot of critical thinking and strategic planning to beat the opponents. On the other hand, a card game like Blackjack is a fast-paced game where hitting 21 is equivalent to the win. That is, a Blackjack player can have multiple wins in one casino night if dealt the right cards. But, in Poker, you need to carefully implement the strategies on the basis of the dynamic situation on the game table. Moreover, you can win from a weak hand in Poker if you follow the basic rules and skillfully apply the strategies. Thus, it is a skill, not the luck that determines the winner in Poker games. According to the report published by the University of Denver in 2012, approximately 82 percent of online Poker games are decided without a showdown; it depends on how you play the hands and handle the bets.
Hence, there are numerous factors that set apart Poker from other casino games. Though all the games played with a deck of cards involve an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, but winning in Poker comes from constant practice and hands-on experience rather than fortune’s smile.
