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Reason #1 like
Bodog:
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Excellent
Customer Support
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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?
U.S. players should note that it currently takes about six weeks to get a payout by check. Of course, if you just play the free games like I recommend then you won't have to worry about this.
Visit Bodog
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Name of Hand
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Example
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Royal Flush
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10♦ J♦ Q♦ K♦ A♦
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Straight Flush
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7♦ 8♦ 9♦ 10♦ J♦
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Four of a Kind
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3♦ 3♠ J♦ 3♣ 3♥
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Full House
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9♣ 9♥ 4♣ 4♥ 4♦
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Flush
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9♣ Q♣ 10♣ 4♣ 6♣
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Straight
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6♣ 7♥ 8♣ 9♦ 10♠
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Three of a Kind
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5♣ 5♥ 5♠ 9♦ 8♠
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Two Pair
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4♣ 4♥ 7♣ 7♦ Q♠
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Pair
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9♣ 9♥ 5♣ 4♦ 3♠
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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.
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.
3. Two Pair. If one pair is good, two pair is
better.
4. Three of a Kind.
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.
5. Flush. All cards of the same suit. If both hands
are flushes then you look at card ranks, as usual.
6. Full House. A three of a kind plus a pair. When
multiple players have full houses, the highest rank
wins.
7. Four of a Kind. Just what it says. With competing
four of a kinds, the highest one wins.
8. Straight Flush. Hand is both a straight and
a flush..Very rare. Ranks break ties, yada yada yada.
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.
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:
|
| a d v e r t i s e m e n t s |
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Online Casino Guide
Guide to gambling online features casino reviews, game guides, payout percentage information and a guide to online casino bonus offers
CasinoChecklist.com
|
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Online Slot Games
Best Vegas-style online casino slots. $50 casino bonus with the first deposit, along with a loyalty program that gives you bonuses monthly. Best comps, best reputation, and fast payouts.
HotPepperCasino.com
|
|
Online Poker
The complete directory of online poker rooms: detailed reviews, bonus codes,
player comments and up to date poker tournaments and freerolls.
Online-Poker-Explorer.com
|
|
Online Poker
The complete directory of online poker rooms: detailed reviews, bonus codes,
player comments and up to date poker tournaments and freerolls.
Online-Poker-Explorer.com
|
|
