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Reason #1 like Bodog:

Excellent Customer Support

Customer support at most online casinos is a joke. Let me count the ways:

  • No support phone number. Some casinos don't even let you call them! That's unacceptable for any place that is taking your money. In fact, some years ago I used to promote Captain Cooks as my casino of choice, but then CC took their phone number off their website. And so I took them off my website and started looking for another casino to recommend, and that's when I found Bodog.
  • Phone number is hard to find. Even casinos that have a support phone number make you go clicking around through their website to get it. But Bodog puts their number prominently at the top of every single page. If you can't find their phone number, you're not looking.
  • Lengthy hold. Even when a casino has a phone and you're able to find it, you may get the pleasure of waiting on hold forever before you can talk to someone. But I've called Bodog several times and more often than not, they pick up instantly. The phone menu is short, too. I hit #2 for Customer Support, and then without any hold time, it's "Bodog Customer Service, how can I help you?"
  • Support staff stretched thin. Many casinos employ a call center that takes calls for a bunch of different casinos. I don't know how many times I'd call a casino and tell them I was having trouble depositing or ask for details of their bonus offer, and they'd respond, "What casino are you calling about?" Man, that was never a good feeling. And you can see where I'm going with this: Bodog takes calls only for Bodog.
  • Clueless reps. The support reps at many casinos don't even understand the games. Sometimes when I've inquired about something like whether double down in blackjack or double-up in video poker counts towards the wagering requirement, it became clear that the rep didn't even know how the games were played, and couldn't answer my question. (They'd always give me an answer anyway, which I'd clearly be a fool to trust.) At Bodog the reps understand the games. And if you get a rep who doesn't know the answer, they'll check with someone else to find out for sure, rather than giving you some made-up B.S.

Oh, and did I mention that Bodog reps are all fluent in English?

Visit Bodog

 

Name of Hand

Example

Royal Flush

10♦ J♦ Q♦ K♦ A♦

Straight Flush

7♦ 8♦ 9♦ 10♦ J♦

Four of a Kind

3♦ 3♠ J♦ 3♣ 3♥

Full House

9♣ 9♥ 4♣ 4♥ 4♦

Flush

9♣ Q♣ 10♣ 4♣ 6♣

Straight

6♣ 7♥ 8♣ 9♦ 10♠

Three of a Kind

5♣ 5♥ 5♠ 9♦ 8♠

Two Pair

4♣ 4♥ 7♣ 7♦ Q♠

Pair

9♣ 9♥ 5♣ 4♦ 3♠
Poker Hand Rankings

How to figure which hand wins in poker

In each of the examples below we'll compare just two hands at a time to keep things simple. But in real poker there are often three or more players left standing at the end of the round who compare hands to see who won.

The cards can be in any order. It doesn't matter what order the cards are dealt. A pair of nines dealt as (9 3 8 5 9) is just as good as a pair dealt as (9 9 3 8 5).

 

1. Card Ranks. Two is the lowest card, Ace is the highest. The face cards from lowest to highest are Jack, Queen, and King, which we abbreviate J, Q, K. When each hand has the same high card, you look at the next-high card. If both hands have the same top two cards then you look at the third card, etc.

Queen beats Jack

       

       

K9 beats K7

       

       

2. Pair. A pair is two cards of the same rank. If multiple players have pairs, the high pair wins. If two players each have the same pair (e.g., 5,5 and 5,5), then you look at the highest card in each hand, as we saw above with Card Ranks.

Pair beats a single card, even if the pair is ranked lower.

       

       

High pair wins

       

       

3. Two Pair. If one pair is good, two pair is better.

Two pairs are better than one

       

       

This is a tie.

       

Both hands are equal.

       

4. Three of a Kind.

Three of a Kind beats two pair.

       

       

5. Straight. Consecutive cards. An Ace can count as either the lowest card (A-2-3-4-5) or the highest card (10-J-Q-K-A). If both hands have straights, the higher straight wins. Remember that the order of the cards doesn't matter. We showed them in order below just to make it easier to see.

Straight beats three of a kind. When comparing multiple straights, the highest straight wins.

       

       

5. Flush. All cards of the same suit. If both hands are flushes then you look at card ranks, as usual.

Flush beats a straight

       

       

6. Full House. A three of a kind plus a pair. When multiple players have full houses, the highest rank wins.

Full House beats a flush.

       

       

7. Four of a Kind. Just what it says. With competing four of a kinds, the highest one wins.

Four of a Kind beats a full house.

       

       

8. Straight Flush. Hand is both a straight and a flush..Very rare. Ranks break ties, yada yada yada.

Straight Flush beats four of a kind.

       

       

9. Royal Flush. A straight flush composed of the very highest cards. Extremely rare. If you got this on a video poker machine you'd win the jackpot, usually 4000 coins.

Royal House beats everything on the planet.

       

More Poker Resources

That's the basics. Here are some more resources to continue your study.

Charles Bloom's Beginner's Guide. Mr. Bloom has an excellent introduction to Texas Holdem which picks up where this guide left off.

PokerTips.org. A plethora of articles for beginning, intermediate, and advanced players. Good stuff.

Full Tilt Poker. The best way to learn is to play. At Full Tilt you can play for free so you don't have to risk your own money while you're still getting the hang of it. When you're ready to graduate to real money play, they have cheap $0.10/$0.20 limit games that just about anyone can afford. On the software works on both Mac & Windows.

Poker Listings. All the online poker rooms analyzed, reviewed, and compared. Highly recommended.

The Wizard's tips. There is no more respected authority on gambling strategy than the Wizard of Odds. Check out the Wizard's excellent advice for beginning players.

Strategy for 6-person Holdem. Beat6Max.com offers a wealth of strategies for playing six-person Holdem games. They sorely need a good editor, but hey, it's extensive, and it's free.

See also how to play:

 

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