5. Another jackpot rule I don’t like is the requirement that a certain minimum number of players, usually four, be dealt in the hand to qualify for the jackpot. Why can’t two or three players play for the jackpot? This rule is based on management’s ignorance of the jackpot odds; I’ll explain why shortly. It’s completely arbitrary and not based on anything substantial.

6. There’s also the rule that says the winner’s hole cards must both play. This means that in the case of four aces, the winner’s kicker must be higher than any other card on the board. It’s a bad rule that probably wouldn’t withstand a Gaming Commission challenge, because it requires you to play six cards to make up your poker hand.
Why does the rule exist? To make it harder to hit the jackpot, and therefore to keep the jackpot big, so the poker room can use it to attract more players to play in games that they can rake.

7. The last rule that I have a problem with is the one that says that if the game is a little short-handed, and the players want a reduced rake, they then can’t play for the jackpot. In other words, the poker room manager will say, “Yes, you can play with a reduced rake (usually just $1 maximum), but then you’re ineligible for the jackpot.”
Of all the rules related to jackpots, this one’s the worst. In my opinion, it’s nothing but a scam that the poker room knowingly perpetrates upon the players. Why? Because there’s absolutely no relationship between the amount of money that the house rakes to meet its expenses and the side bet that the players make among themselves to put into a jackpot pool.
The jackpot money comes from the players and belongs to the players. It’s held in trust by the poker room for the players, and only a player can win any of that money. It is not related to anything else that goes on in the poker room.
So why does the poker room management tell you that the rake and the jackpot are connected? Again, it’s because they’re greedy. They know that most players will want to play for a jackpot if there is one. online bet

Most players, when told that they can’t play for that jackpot if the rake is reduced, will change their minds and say, “Go ahead and leave the rake where it is. We don’t want to hit the jackpot and not win it just because we’re a little short-handed.”

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Over the course of several years, they took thousands of dollars from the players, before the Mississippi Gaming Commission ruled that they could not continue to operate that way. In actuality, this money probably helped defray the costs of running the poker room, which is what the rake is designed to do. So, the way I see it, those players were getting raked twice.

Another incident happened when the Bayou Caddy Jubilee, in Lakeshore, Mississippi, closed its poker room while there were still tens of thousands of dollars in the poker jackpot. They took that money from the poker players and used it to inflate the size of some jackpots on selected slot machines. In other words, they took the poker players' money and gave it to the slot players. A group of poker players sued them over this incident; I don't know how the case was decided.

3. Some poker rooms make the jackpot exceedingly difficult to hit. They require that four-of-a-kind or better be beaten by a higher four-of-a-kind or better. The odds against this happening, especially if both players have to use both of their hole cards, are astronomical. So why do they do it?

Because they're greedy, that's why. When the requirements to hit the jackpot are ridiculously out of sight, it takes years for the jackpot to get hit. Meanwhile, the jackpot grows steadily, and the poker room management uses its size to attract more players. This way, they ensure that they have plenty of games to rake, which in turn ensures that the poker room makes a profit for management.

The poker room manager looks good to his bosses, and he's using your money to do so. When a jackpot takes several years to go over $100,000, who do you think is collecting the bank interest on that money? I promise you it's not you.

4. Some poker rooms have a rule that says they can take the $1 jackpot drop when the pot reaches $20, but the players are not eligible to hit the jackpot until the pot reaches $30. This means that if there is between $20 and $29 in the pot, you can't win the jackpot if it's hit even though you've already paid the $1.

Why does this rule exist? I've asked around and no one will give me a good answer. Logic tells me, therefore, that it's a device that poker room management uses to keep a jackpot from being hit as often.

It probably works, too, because at the lower limits a big portion of the pots are going to be between $20 and $29. It keeps the jackpot amount big, so they can use it to attract players. I believe it's probably an illegal rule, because it requires you to pay for something that you can't get. Imagine playing a slot machine with a progressive jackpot, always playing the maximum number of coins so you qualify for the jackpot, and when you finally hit it, having management tell you that you can't have the jackpot because it's not big enough yet!

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There are two ways that the average low limit hold 'em player can score a big win in the game. One way is to win or place high in a hold 'em tournament. The other way is to hit a jackpot. You hit a jackpot by making a very good hand, such as A^A^AVJ^J*, and then losing with it! Actually, it will look like this:

You hold The board is Another player holds J*J* A4A*AV945* A*Q?

You have a full house (aces full of jacks), and your opponent has four aces. You also must fulfill six other criteria with this hand:

1. You made the minimum high hand required, which is aces full of jacks or better (so this would also work if you held pocket queens or kings).

2. There were four or more players dealt into the hand.
3. There was a minimum of $20 or $30 in the pot, depending on the poker room rules.
4. You, as the loser of the hand, are playing both of your hole cards.
5. The winner of the hand has made four-of-a-kind, or better.
6. The winner's kicker beats the board.

Before I go any further, I want to make a few comments about jackpots that I find very important. Any time there is money involved in something, there's the possibility of its misuse, abuse and plain of outright theft. Here are a few things that I want you to know about jackpots:

1. The money that goes into a jackpot pool comes from the players. $1 from every hand played that reaches a certain threshold is taken out of the pot and set aside for the jackpot. It's your money! It does not belong to the casino or the poker room. It is not the property of the poker room manager. Casino management cannot touch it. The money in the jackpot is a side bet among the players, collected $ 1 at a time.

2. Jackpot money has, all too often, been very mismanaged. When the Grand Casinos opened in Biloxi

nd Gulfport, Mississippi, they had jackpots. They also had a notice on the poker room wall that they were taking a "15% administrative fee" out of the jackpot for the costs of administering it (including counting the jackpot money, physically protecting it, and doing the paperwork associated with it).

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Spread limit is a betting structure that allows you to bet any amount between a preset minimum and maximum. The most common spread limit hold em game is $ l-$5. Sometimes you'll see a $2-$ 10 hold 'em game, although $2-$ 10 is more often used in a 7-Card Stud game.

Here's a list of things you need to know if you're going to play in a spread limit game:
1. Most of the hands you play will be short-handed, and there will be more folding after the flop than in a structured game. Players know that they're not getting the good implied odds they need to chase draws.

2. If it's a passive game (one without much raising), you can limp in for $1 quite often with weak and speculative hands to see if you hit the flop. If you miss, it costs you only $ 1. If you hit, you'll make more than enough to make up for your misses.
3. There are no free cards to buy, and semi-bluffing isn't very common, since bets don't double on the turn.

4. You should raise more to protect big pairs and big cards. Use the tactic of check-raising if you can.

5. It's harder to chase players out as the pots get bigger. Since the maximum bet is only $5, each $5 that goes into the pot after that is a smaller fraction of the pot than the previous bet was.

For example, calling a $5 bet when the pot contains $ 15 means you are getting pot odds of 3-1. You might fold your hand with odds that low. Calling that same $5 bet when there's $50 in the pot means you're getting pot odds of 10-1. Now you're almost trapped into calling because of the pot odds.

6. If you have a weak or speculative hand, and it's raised behind you, you should usually fold if you have only $1 invested in the hand.

7. There are a lot of bad players in spread limit games. What makes them bad is that they don't understand game theory. One of the most glaring mistakes that they routinely make is to bet less than the maximum with good hands. This error gives their opponents the right odds to run them down, where the opponents couldn't even call if they'd bet the maximum.

8. There's another popular mistake that these bad players make. When they raise before the flop, they often choose an amount to raise that they think is indicative of the value of their hand. In other words, such an opponent might raise only $ 1 with pocket 2s, 3s, and 4s. He might raise $2 with pocket 5s, 6s and 7s. He might raise $3 with 8s, 9s, and 10s, and $5 with his highest pairs. These players give away too much information without charging the maximum amount they can for it.

The next time you have to play in a spread limit game, prepare yourself by rereading this chapter. If you play in a public poker room, you probably have the option of playing 7-Card Stud while you're waiting to get in the hold 'em game, and it's probably a $l-$5 stud game. Think about what you learned in this chapter that can be applied to stud. It can only help.

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This chapter is mainly just for your information. You probably don't play in too many games where you have to worry about straddles, kills and overs. You probably see a straddle more than any of the others, and I want you to be able to analyze the situation objectively when necessary.

However, when you feel that you are a good enough hold 'em player, I want you to seek out aggressively and play in a kill game or an overs game where you can agree on an overs limit that satisfies you. If you have to, work it out in advance away from the poker room with a fellow hold 'em player who would also like to play the overs. There's nothing wrong with telling anyone why you're doing this, which is to play occasionally and safely in a higher limit game in an effort to improve. Don't forget to record your results in your record book. Good luck!

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Playing the overs is the term for an agreement made between certain players at the table to play for a higher limit when only they are in the hand. Overs players get a button from the dealer identifying them as such. They have to keep this button in front of them, and if they change their minds about wanting to play the overs, they flip it to its second side, where it says, "No."

Here's how this situation works: Assume you're playing $l-$5 hold 'em and there are a few players in the game who'd like to play $ l-$20. Those players get overs buttons, and when the last non-overs player drops out of the hand, the limit immediately goes up to $20 for the overs players still left in the hand.

If you don't want to play the overs, this rule will never affect you. You'll never have to play anything except the $l-$5 game you sat down in. So you really shouldn't object when other players in your game want. to play the overs.

If you do decide to become an overs player, here are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Play a little tighter than usual. If you're new at overs play, the other players are obviously more experienced at it than you are. Limit the number of hands you call with to see the flop. This will reduce your exposure to the better players while you're learning the game.
2. Remember that you're really playing a higher limit game. Drawing hands, low suited connectors and low pocket pairs go down in value in an overs game.
3. Don't unnecessarily drive out the last non-overs player if you don't want to play the rest of the hand for the higher stakes. Think ahead.

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