RoyalCardRoom is part of the B2B network of poker rooms and is currently the 11th largest network online. This means that there are always plenty of players so you don’t have to worry about finding a game. The one area that sets them above much of their competition is their customer service. I had to contact them by email and had a response that actually took care of the problem in less than 15 minutes. If you haven’t played online before you may wonder why this is such a big deal, but you will quickly learn that most rooms aren’t nearly this efficient. Some of the games offered are Texas Holdem, Omaha and Omaha/8, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud high/low, 5 Card Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw and Soko. All of my dealings with them have been highly professional and I highly recommend them.

RoyalCardRoom is a European poker players dream, it is full of European poker player’s consisting mainly of Swedish and Norwegian players. It’s a very well know poker site in Scandinavia as its one of few poker rooms based in the EU. It targets European players using the € Euro sign; this it is a lot easier for them to monitor their finances with regards to exchange rates and cash outs. Americans and anyone in the world can play here as well, but it’s nice to have a site aimed at European’s.

RoyalCardRoom also is fantastic for Scandinavian’s as they don’t have to pay any tax on their winnings as RoyalCardRoom is within the EU. I didn’t know this but according to Swedish law you have to pay 30% tax on any winnings over 100 Krowns that has been won in another country. Thus, if a Swedish player wins something from a English company for example the winning’s should be taxed in England but not in Sweden. Since England has no tax on poker winnings there’ll be no tax at all, this is just an example but as RoyalCardRoom is based in the EU the same applies. This is very good for many Scandinavian poker player’s as they don’t have to pay any tax on their wins at this site. It makes a lot of sense to play here if you don’t want to pay taxes.

RoyalCardRoom also offers cash back to it’s player’s. When they play a raked hand they are awarded VIP points. At the end of the month they are calculated and cash is credited back to your account, the more VIP points that you earn the more money you get back. A player reward like this is a great idea, that is why so many people play at RoyalCardRoom.

Online Poker Tells do exist as they do in live poker, many people don’t think that they do as you cant see the persons face that you are playing against. This couldn’t be further from the truth and I will explain them in this article.

A tell is something that a player does that gives away the strength of their hand. In a live game a player may shuffle his chips nervously, whistle, look away, stare at you, cough and so forth but all of these actions say something about the strength of their hand. When it comes to online play you can’t see any of these actions but there are gestures and acts online that can help you in reading your opponent.

Hand History’s, this is not so much a tell but in online poker you can request every hand you played. From this you can see the action that took place from the last hand, because any hand in online poker that has been called at the end, the winning hand will be shown but a lot of times the losing hand wont. This is a very powerful tool to use as you can see how a person best with particular hands, if he chases flush draws etc. From this you can make notes on players on how they play so you can judge what type of player they are.

Raise any button, if a player makes a bet on the end and another player raises instantaneously its obvious that he has pressed the raise any button, this shows that the player has a very strong hand.

Instant Call, when a player calls straight away after you bet it usually means that they have a marginal hand like a draw or middle pair.

Delayed Check, players who take their time to check usually has missed their draw or has a very weak hand and is trying to represent strength by taking their time. This is also done to try and see the next card for free.

Delayed Bet, when a player takes a while to bet this usually means that he has a strong hand, they are trying to put across that they are weak to trap you so you call or raise.

Check/Fold button, when it is folded to a player and he instantaneously checks this usually means he has pressed the check/fold button. Usually a bet here can win the pot if they are in late position.

As you can see from above most of the tells are related to the speed in which your opponent acts, it is something that you must become aware of to help you read people better. You will win more often after mastering these online poker tells.

Return on Investment (ROI) at poker is very important to any players wanting to be successful. It’s calculated by taking your return (the amount of money that you have won) and dividing it by your investment (the amount of money that you have spent)

I primarily play sit and go tournaments (SNG’S) and I use this calculation to find out how well I am doing and I if it’s profitable for me to play these. For example if you play $20 +2 SNG’s at PartyPoker:

1st) $100
2nd) $60
3rd) $40

Say you play 10 sngs that is a total investment of $220 dollars, say you win two, come second three times, come third once and you didn’t make the money in four.

ROI is worked out like this:

RETURN/BUYIN = ROI

(100×2 + 60×3 + 40×1)/220 = 1.90909090*

So from this example we can see that for every dollar I invested I made $1.9 back, as a percentage this works out that my ROI is 90.9%

This is extremely high due to the small sample of sngs that I have used, in the long run you want to shoot for a 25% ROI. Also you want to play 400/500 sngs before you can see the results balance out.

Bankroll Management comes up a lot in the world of poker; many people have different views and opinions on it. Here I will explain how I manage it and offer advice to players.

Firstly you must treat poker like a business and keep records of all your games, you shouldn’t play poker for the perks (travelling, no boss, getting up when you want) this can lead to disaster. Treat it like a business not a vacation. Also make sure you have adequate skills and bankroll to give yourself a fighting chance of being successful, after all you shouldn’t play with money you can’t afford to lose.

Another main thing with poker is you have to decide what role poker will take in your life, many people think they can quit their job and become a Millionaire by playing poker, all though this is true only a small percentage do. I strongly believe that poker should be played for fun.

To start with you should keep your poker bankroll and your personal economy separate. If you lose your whole bankroll at poker you will want to try and win it back straight away, this is bad as your mindset is negative and under stress. Poker games are going 24 hours a day whether it is on the internet or in a casino, why not come back when you are at your sharpest and relaxed.

The difference between a winning and losing player in my opinion is knowing when to stop when you are losing. When starting a session online or at a casino set yourself a limit, if you lose X amount you stop, if you win X amount you stop, this will bring discipline to your game.

When I started playing poker I had no idea how to manage my poker money, I learned the hard way. The main thing I learned was to play within a level where I wouldn’t care if I lost. You have to detach yourself emotionally from the game; play at a level where the money is almost meaningless to lose but at the same time is nice when you win. You have to become numb and realize that results are stupid, it’s all about your play not the end result. If you make the right plays and correct decisions, why does it matter what cards fell? You lost? Big deal. It happens and that’s poker, there is always a percentage that the best hand will lose, and that percentage came through. Today I play to improve and make the best decisions I can, if I do that the money will inevitably come if I do that.