You usually call in the following situations:

• When you have calculated the pot odds and they are favorable for you;
• When you need other players to accept you as a loose player;
• When you have a strong hand but the game was opened by a tight player in early position;
• When you don’t want the player after you to re-raise;
• When you want to keep a player in the game who is bluffing and you want to keep it that way;
• When you have a chance to improve your combination later (with draw or free card /s);
• When there are only loose players at the table;
• When you think you have the same strong combination as your opponent, so the chances to win and to lose are equal;
• When you have a winning combination and you can raise but you want to keep the other players in the game since if you raise, they can fold;
• When you want to bluff later;
• When you figure that your opponent has a weak hand;
• When you need to convince your opponents that you call quite often, so you can make them stop bluffing

The game is played with 52 card deck and up to ten players. The main goal is to win the pot. The game usually begins with a betting round and before the cards are dealt. In some games there are forced bets called antes. In others, there are bets called Small Blinds and Big Blinds. These bets are to be placed also before the cards are dealt. The Small Blind is to be placed by the player to the left of the dealer and the Big Blind is placed by the player next to the Small blinder. In some games there can be also a voluntary bet called Bigger Blind which is placed by the player next to the Big blinder. It is called straddle. After the betting round, a player can call, check, raise, re –raise or fold. To call means that someone placed a bet before you but you want to stay in the game, so you need to place at least an equal bet (to the last player). You check when you don’t want to place a bet but you keep your hand, so you can call and raise later. You raise when you want to increase the bet someone placed before. You re –raise when you want to raise the raise. You fold, when you discard the hand.

Although online poker is fun, there is one sad and very little-known part of it that is hardly ever mentioned: cheating.

Collusion
Imagine two people chatting through AIM or talking on the telephone, telling one another which cards they are holding before raising or betting to map out bigger pots. The player with the better hand will then have a bigger chance at winning a much bigger pot, while the player with the worse hand simply folds. Although this would, in essence, make the latter lose to the better hand, they could both walk away with tons of your money if they execute things out just right.

Poker Bots
There are several bot programs that exist on the internet today and it would be highly recommended not to use one. However, a lot of people put them to use; several of them are called: Holdem Memory, WinHoldem, PokerBot Pro and PokerBot Plus. The most popular bot of all would be WinHoldEm.

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When it comes to the world of Texas Holdem, friendly poker games hardly exist. This is mainly because you cannot keep friendly games if you truly wish to win at Texas Holdem. Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to talk trash and belittle players to win. In fact, doing so would merely be rude and a display poor manners. What you have to do is have an aggressive playing strategy ready whenever you play Texas Holdem.

Friendly games of Texas Holdem on the internet mean that you never raise when it comes to the person with the shortest stack on your table. It also includes not raising prior to the flop. A lot of tactics can be put to use in order to keep games friendly; however, such friendly tactics could lead you to lose.

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