While internet texas hold em poker is readily available to practically anyone, a lot of us don’t have easy access to an actual casino. Unfortunately, the concept of “distance” in our 3d world often prevents a lot of people from playing in a casino regularly. People like me who love Texas Holdem with a passion will eventually overcome the distance and play poker in a real Casino at some point in their lives. Trust me, it’s worth the trip! When you do make that trip, here are a few things you should know.

Sign up for the free membership card

All casinos offer some sort of reward program, and this program is offered at no cost to you. When ever you gamble at a machine, you slid your card in it it keeps track of how much you put in. When ever you sit at a table to play poker, blackjack, or any game, someone will take your card and keep track of how much cash you put down on the table. Overtime, you accumulate points that can be traded in for a surprisingly wide range of goods and services such as discount/free hotel rooms, free food, free limo service, tickets for shows, etc. Often, just by signing up, you get a discount on your room for your next visit, regardless of how much money you actually gambled. Casinos don’t make piles of money with hotel rooms, they make it when you gamble. Free or discounted rooms are a common strategy used by casinos to lure you back at a future date.

Even if you don’t plan and spending much on gambling, get the card. You never know how lucky you’ll get. If you do win a jackpot, then guess what: The casino will roll out the red carpet just for you because they’ll want you to come back regularly now that you have all of this money to spend.

Take the time to get familiar with current and upcoming promotions

Casinos regularly run various promotions at their tables. For Texas Holdem, this can include a bad beat bonus, a strong hand bonus, satellites, etc.

I was in Las Vegas this summer where I faced a bad beat at the Bellagio. I had A-A-A-J-J with 3 aces on the board and got beat by 4 aces (That was like 1% chance of getting beat… Grrrrrr!). All I could do then was to get up and leave. Had I been playing elsewhere, somewhere that offered a bad beat bonus, I would have left with a lot of cash in my pockets. Note however that it is normally a little more expensive to play at a table where a bad beat bonus is offered. A bonus amount is usually taken out of each pot, in addition to the regular casino rake. Still, this amount is generally low and not really significant. You just never know when you’ll get unlucky… And there’s nothing like turning that bad luck into thousands of dollars!

Other casinos will simply pay you straight up for making specific hands. For example, at a 5-10 table, a casino could offer $750 for anyone who makes quads. Sometimes, they have specific amount for specific quads where 4 aces pay more than 4 deuces. Sometimes they have conditions that the quad must be achieved using your two hole cards. Every place is different. Take the time to ask about promotions before you pick a spot to play at. Often, promotions change on specific days of the week so ask about the upcoming promotions as well so you can better plan your gambling activities.

Buy Enough Chips

If you’ll be playing holdem, there will be a minimum buy in for each table. The buy in amount is based on the game type (limit vs no limit) and on the blind values ($1-$2, $5-$10, etc). If you show up with the minimum buy in you’ll struggle. This is especially true for no limit holdem. Let’s say you are playing $1-$2 no limit, with a minimum buy in of $100 and you show up with just $100 in chips. You’ll note a few things:

First off, when the stakes are that low and people get hands, they rarely do standard raises (3 times the big blind). They’ll often raise by $10 to start. Considering that there are subsequent bets to come, you won’t get far with $100.

You’ll note that most players will buy in for at least $200, and more. So when you start off, you’re already a small stack and you haven’t even played a hand yet. Guess who’s going to do the bluffing at this table? Not the small stack, that’s for sure. Oh, you can try, but you’ll likely get caught. By the time you’ll want to make a move and go all in, you won’t have much chips left to begin with, and your opponents are probably going to call you simply because of pot odds. If you read my poker articles, you should know that putting a pot committed opponent all in on a bluff is your ticket to self destruction.

So how much chips should you get? Figure out what the minimum buy in is, and multiply it by 2 for limit holdem, and by 3 for no limit. That will also help you decide what stakes you should be playing. Start by determining how much money you are willing to wager on that day. Let’s say $600 as an example. Then you are looking to play at a table where the buy in is about $200 for no limit, and about $300 for limit.

Don’t learn the hard way… It’s really important that you should up with enough chips in order to have an effective poker strategy. Good luck at the tables!