SHOWDOWN, Follow this!

1. A player must show all cards in the hand face-up on the table to win any part of the pot.

2. Cards speak (cards read for themselves). The dealer assists in reading hands, but players are responsible for holding onto their cards until the winner is declared. Although verbal declarations as to the contents of a hand are not binding, deliberately miscalling a hand with the intent of causing another player to discard a winning hand is unethical and may result in forfeiture of the pot. (For more information on miscalling a hand see “Section 11 - Lowball,” Rule 15 and Rule 16.)

3. Anyone who sees an incorrect amount of chips put into the pot, or an error about to be made in awarding a pot, has an ethical obligation to point out the error. Please help us keep mistakes of this nature to a minimum.

4. All losing hands will be killed by the dealer before a pot is awarded.

5. Any player who has been dealt in may request to see any hand that has been called, even if the opponent's hand or the winning hand has been mucked. However, this is a privilege that may be revoked if abused. If a player other than the pot winner asks to see a hand that has been folded, that hand is dead. If the winning player asks to see a losing player’s hand, both hands are live, and the best hand wins.

6. If you show cards to another player during or after a deal, any player at the table has the right to see those exposed cards. Cards shown during a deal to a player not in the pot should only be shown to all players when the deal is finished.

7. If everyone checks (or is all-in) on the final betting round, the player who acted first is the first to show the hand. If there is wagering on the final betting round, the last player to take aggressive action by a bet or raise is the first to show the hand. In order to speed up the game, a player holding a probable winner is encouraged to show the hand without delay. If there is a side pot, players involved in the side pot should show their hands before anyone who is all-in for only the main pot.

11 Tips on JACKS-OR-BETTER

1. A pair of jacks or better is required to open the pot. If no player opens the pot, the button moves forward and each player must ante again, unless the limit of antes has been reached for that particular game. (Most games allow three consecutive deals before anteing stops.)

2. If the opener should show false openers before the draw, any other active player has the opportunity to declare the pot opened. However, any player who originally passed openers is not eligible to declare the pot open. The false opener has a dead hand and the opening bet stays in the pot. Any other bet placed in the pot by the opener may be withdrawn, provided the action before the draw is not completed. If no other player declares the pot open, all bets are returned except the opener’s first bet. The first bet and antes will remain in the pot, and all players who were involved in that hand are entitled to play the next hand after anteing again.

3. Any player who has legally declared the pot opened must prove openers in order to win the pot.

4. In all cases, the pot will play (even if the opener shows or declares a fouled hand) if there has been a raise, two or more players call the opening bet, or all action is completed before the draw.

5. Even if you are all in for just the ante (or part of the ante), you may declare the pot open if you have openers. If you are all in and falsely declare the pot open, you will lose the ante money and may not continue to play on any subsequent deals until a winner is determined. Even if you buy in again, you must wait until the pot has been legally opened and someone else has won it before you can resume playing.

6. Once action has been completed before the draw, the opener may not withdraw any bets, whether or not the hand contains openers.

7. An opener may be allowed to retrieve a discarded hand to prove openers, at management’s discretion.

8. Any player may request that the opener retain the opening hand and show it after the winner of the pot has been determined.

9. You may split openers, but you must declare that you are splitting and place all discards under a chip to be exposed by the dealer after the completion of the hand. If you declare that you are splitting openers, but it is determined that you could not possibly have had openers when your final hand is compared with your discards, you will lose the pot.

10. You are not splitting openers if you retain openers. If you begin with the ace, joker, king, queen of spades, and the ten of clubs, you are not splitting if you throw the ten of clubs away. You are breaking a straight to draw to a royal flush, and in doing so, you have retained openers (ace-joker for two aces).

11. After the draw, if you call the opener’s bet and cannot beat openers, you will not get your bet back. (You have received information about opener’s hand that is not free.)

Tips To Win At Craps

Craps is about more than just rolling a few dice - that's what makes it one of the most popular online casino games out there. There are plenty of simple tutorials and rule sets, and many people are willing to give you advice on strategies. If you're hoping to increase the frequency of your wins while playing craps, here are a few tips that might help you play online craps or play in a real life casino.

Place as many odds bets as you can, unless you wouldn't have placed a pass or come bet to start off with. Odds bets in craps are among the few casino bets that don't have a house advantage, and the house advantage on pass line and come line bets are only about one and a half percent. You have the best chance of winning on odds bets. That's why you should be generous in placing them. Proposition bets, on the other hand, come down significantly in favor of the casino.

If someone tells you they have a guaranteed system for winning, you should ignore them. There's no such thing, and probability isn't in your favor in almost all cases. What you have to do is be clever to keep the odds from being more in the house's favor. Don't fall prey to the idea that any throw of the dice can influence any other throw, either. They're all independent rolls, and it doesn't matter how often or infrequently a number has shown up - it has the same chance every time.

Unless you know exactly what you're doing, never try to set the dice in an in-person game. You can't control the way the dice fall once they hit the craps table wall, and almost no one is good enough to control how they hit the wall. You cannot change the laws of physics, after all. Online gaming doesn't have this temptation, which can help you avoid being blinded by the hope that you can cheat somehow.

Never depend on the casino to make you money. While it's a lot of fun to play online or offline, gaming should be something you do for entertainment, not for money. Don't develop bad habits and don't overreach your bankroll. Set a loss limit and stick to it like glue. While it can be tempting to keep going, there's no reason to believe you'll get it all back later. If you don't want to worry about things, there's one simple strategy.

If you're up by seventy-five percent to a hundred percent of your bankroll, put the initial amount you budgeted aside, and only bet your winnings. That way, you know you'll come out even, and if you're lucky, you'll even come out ahead. No matter what, however, remember to make gaming fun. Winning at craps is only worthwhile if you're having a good time, and that's what gambling is for.

The Language of Online Poker

Just as the online casinos have a language of their own so does the game of online poker. It will take no time at all for you to familiarize yourself with poker jargon, and here's a bit to add to your new vocabulary.

Once you have determined that you are going to learn about online poker then you are in for some very interesting times. Not just from the game itself but from your learning experience.

If you have never played poker of any type before, the first time you open up a book to read about it, you are going to think it is written in some type of strange language. Welcome to the world of Poker jargon.

Most of the online poker sites have good articles or instructions on how to play the various games. You will need to know the basic terminology of the game but it really won’t take very long to learn it. What you will find interesting is some of the other terms outside of the basics. They too don’t take very long to learn and in no time, at all you will become a seasoned pro at not only the game but also speaking the language.

Here are just a very few of some of the interesting terms in various types of poker and their meanings.

Action
If you are playing in a game, which is moving fast, and many pots are being played then this particular game is called an action game. There will be lots of checking, betting and raising taking place.

Belly buster
If you are going after an inside straight and you pull the draw or catch then you have a belly buster.

Broomcorn Buster
You’re just at the end of your money and it’s a do or die situation. You ante to the point of breaking your bank then you are a broomcorn buster.

Kansas City Lowball
As you are well aware, there are numerous varieties of poker. Every time you think you have heard about them all another one pops up. Kansas City lowball is a variety of poker. There’s a bit of a twist to this game though because the worst hand turns out to be the winning hand. This type of poker will keep you on your toes if you are used to playing the other varieties where the best hand is the winning hand.

Steel wheel
If you have gotten yourself a five high straight and its all the same suit then you have a steel wheel hand.

As we said these are just a very few of the types of terminology that you are going to come across when it comes to poker. There is nothing in the rules that says that you have to use them or know them if you are going to play. There are just loads of fun and like most activities have developed into a jargon. Don’t think that knowing and using them is going to paint the picture that you are a pro player. It’s what you do with those cards and the decisions that you make that will determine just how good of a poker player you are.