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Poker Versus other Casino Games

It is likely to win at other casino games. Blackjack can be a winning game if you count cards. Progressive jackpot slot machines are worth when jackpots get large.

Poker is a preferable gambling game for a few reasons. The first reason is the winning poker player has a large statistical edge. A counting blackjack player can achieve the advantage over the casino but poker gives a larger edge than blackjack. It can be about 5 percent (or more) for poker players, while blackjack players play with an edge of about 1 percent (or less). Winning poker players profit from huge mistakes which are frequently made by rivals. The only mistake the casino makes is allowing the winning blackjack player to play and they can correct that mistake by simply throwing out the player from the casino.

Because of the large edge, winning poker players experience smaller fluctuations in their results than do blackjack players or players of progressive slots. We will later discuss the risk in more detail. There are two characteristics of the games that involve risk. One is even money bets. Statistical variance reaches its maximum even money propositions. The other is when the range of possible results is very large. Blackjack is quite close to an even-money game, thus it has large risk. Progressive jackpot slots have low potential but very high dollar payoffs, hence a large risk. Poker is depended on neither even-money bets nor low potential.

Keeping Scores with Money

There are other games where bets are made directly among players golf, pool, tennis, backgammon and gin but these are the games without having any bets and they are not really dealt with money. Poker is about money without money is just wouldn't exist. It is also said sometimes that poker is a not a game of cards played with money it is a game of money played with the cards.

Only because poker is a game of money doesn't really mean money is always the point. Winning means money but for some reason the money often becomes a secondary aspect of your motivation. A known poker player San Antonio said it best, "The worst thing about losing isn't the money it's the embarrassment."

The idea that poker is a game of money but isn't always about money is another topic which shall discussed later. As said earlier, the game attracts many players not because of the opportunity to win money itself but because they enjoy the risk associated with an opportunity to win money. This concept is very important.

For these players it is the game itself that is important, not the winning poker. You will find many losing players who seem to behave irrationally. If you remember that the hunt is more thrilling than the kill, you will see that their behavior is quite rational and you will do little better in reading these players.

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