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Pick a card. Any card.
Okay, now pick another, but don’t look at it.
Now, bet me that the card you haven’t looked at is better than the card you have looked at. Oh, and you can make a side bet that the next card in the deck will be a face card.
Guess what. We just invented a new poker game. What’s it called? Um, how about “Up and Down the River Snake”? That name work for you?
Seriously, sometimes it seems like there are more games of poker than there are cards in an 8-deck shoe. Even online, the many faces of poker abound, from Casino Hold’em to 3-card Poker to Caribbean Stud. There seems to be a poker game tailormade for each one of us.
Okay, maybe that’s not entirely accurate, but you are certain to find your flavor of poker among the many live poker tables online. Here’s a list of some of our favorites:
Why Live Poker?
First of all, let’s define what we mean when we say “live poker.” In fact, let’s look at the word “poker” itself.
A contemporary definition of poker would be that it is a game played with a single 52-card deck, and a group of players (from two to eight or nine) bet one another that they have (or will have) the best hand, with “best” being pretty consistent with standard poker hands.
Live poker is a special subset of that definition. When people say “live poker” they’re generally talking about the table games found at a casino—poker as it might be played heads-up against a single opponent: The dealer. And the dealer is “live” as opposed to being “on tape” or “pre-recorded.” The Revolution may not be televised, but your next Caribbean Stud hand will be.
Anyone who has ever played Texas Hold’em heads-up knows the adrenaline never stops flowing. Every hand is the very epitome of excitement as it somehow simultaneously promises to reduce you to penury or to make your fortune.
Casinos liked the idea of customers looking for a thrill ride, and table games featuring streamlined versions of popular poker games began to appear in the pits. Games with oddly familiar names like Casino Hold’em and Caribbean Stud began to gain in popularity.
Convenience
And then the Internet happened. In just a couple decades, gambling on the Internet proliferated until it was hard to find a corner of the earth where someone was not crowing about the time they were dealt a natural royal at the 3-Card Poker table, or sadly musing that they should have paid more attention to the dealer’s outs before they made that disastrous raise.
And then—just when you thought it couldn’t get much better—live streaming hit the streets.
It was simple, really. Anyone could have predicted it. All it took was a combination of the higher transmission speeds afforded by DSL and fiber networks, along with a significant reduction in the price of professional quality video cameras, and the development of even tighter compression algorithms used in data streaming.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t all that simple, but the effect was still delightful, and now all of us can have a pretty lady with a delightful accent dealing Casino Hold’em to us at 3 o’clock in the morning while we eat cheesy-poofs and sip another Red Bull.
Before we get into the various differences you will find between a specific live poker game at an online casino and its counterpart at a table inside a brick and mortar casino, let’s talk about the interface.
The interface is that part of the online live poker game you actually see on your screen, and which you interact with in order to ante, place a bet, call, stand, or fold. You also use it to deposit more money, tip the dealer, and chat with the dealer as well as other players who may be at the table.
Yes, there may be other players.
Depending on the game, they may be sitting at the table with you (meaning their cards and betting actions are visible to you), or they may be “play-behind” players, meaning they are actually playing the same hand you are playing.
It’s important to be aware of “play-behind” because it can be disconcerting to see a folded hand you deemed a losing proposition draw another card. No, you didn’t accidentally raise with a 7-2 offsuit, but somebody doing play-behind did.
In any case, the onscreen interface changes only slightly between the various live poker games for the simple reason that after all is said and done, all live poker games involve a 52-card deck, some chips, a dealer, and lastly, you.
The camera’s perspective is usually what a relatively tall person would see sitting directly in front of the dealer at a casino gaming table. The dealer facing you is almost always a woman for the very simple reason that the vast majority of online live poker players are men. Sorry, we don’t make the rules; that’s just how it works out.
On the right side of the table is a shoe containing a recently-shuffled deck of cards, while the left side is either a card-shuffling machine or a second pretty lady manually shuffling decks of cards for later use. We personally favor the second pretty lady to the shuffling machine. But that’s just us.
The table itself will be marked with the various bets and side bets that can be made, and sometimes with the payouts for various winning hands.
Along the bottom of the screen will be your chips (your bankroll is broken up into various denominations) as well as a few icons you can click to read the rules of the game, adjust the sound volume, or set various options that may pertain to that specific game. Additionally, the total amount you’ve bet this hand should be displayed, along with your winnings (when they happen).
Elsewhere, but most likely to the bottom left, you’ll find a chat window. Now, while the dealer will speak during the play (which is good, since this contributes greatly to the “live” feel of the experience), you and the other players are limited to typing comments via the chat window.
Also on the screen will be a timer, which shows how long you have left to place a bet or make some other wagering decision.
During play, you’ll often see text superimposed over the image citing your hand’s current value (“One Pair,” for example). You might imagine the production studio streaming this particular game has employed someone whose sole job is to evaluate and text you what the hand’s value is, but you would be wrong.
Next to the one-deck shoe that the dealer draws cards from is a slot in the table’s surface. As each card is drawn from the shoe, an optical scanner reads it through the slot and records it. A computer takes note of all the cards, then—after it does some calculations—generates an image alerting you to the best value of your hand.
This can be helpful if for some reason you noticed your pair of aces but failed to see your flush.
One important note: Live streaming poker (or anything else live streamed, for that matter) is expensive to produce. Bandwidth costs alone are huge and represent a significant expense to the production company. To that, we can add the expense of professional-grade video cameras, top quality sound equipment, stage lighting arrays, and electricity to keep it all running, 24 hours a day, every day.
From a Jack to a King
Online casinos, at one time, were basically niche software developers. Instead of designing a word processor or a spreadsheeting program, they instead fine-tuned random number generation algorithms and designed graphic representations of the king of hearts.
Live streaming of actual dealers at real tables playing real-time games (with nary an RNG in sight) changed all that. It gave the online casino an entirely new way to generate revenue—er, to serve more honored guests, we mean—but at a price. To offset this price, the online casinos turned to other software developers, who quickly set up entire studios filled with nothing but dealers and tables and cameras and lights and—well, you get the idea.
Long story short: It ain’t cheap to stream live poker, so don’t expect to find much nickel-dime-quarter action out in cyberspace.
At least spare a moment to admire the majesty of such a magnificent, complex system representing the continuing efforts of thousands of people—and all so we can enjoy the aforementioned cheesy-poofs and Red Bull at three in the morning while being dealt Casino Hold’em by the aforementioned pretty lady in an evening gown.
There are a few different poker games featured live online, and most of them are variations on the galactically popular Texas Hold’em.
Live Casino Hold’em
This modified version of Texas Hold’em is not quite indistinguishable from the three players/one dealer version that first appeared in actual brick and mortar casinos a couple of decades ago. It’s you (not counting play-behind) versus the dealer.
It requires the dealer to have a qualifying hand of at least a pair of 4s; otherwise your ante is pushed, and a new hand is dealt.
Additionally, there is typically a side bet on the screen for [a pair of] “aces or better.” The other two betting areas are “call” and “ante.” No opportunity to bet is offered after the turn or the river.
This is similar to Casino Hold’em, except that the dealer’s hand qualifies with any pair, and betting at the turn is permitted. There’s also a side bet for trips, which can be won irrespective of the dealer’s hand. In fact, the bet is settled as soon as the dealer’s hand is revealed.
One streaming producer calls their version Ultimate Texas Hold’em, while another may call theirs Texas Hold’em Bonus or even Single Texas Hold’em Bonus. But in most cases, the differences are cosmetic. Still, read the rules carefully.
Generally, there will be four betting circles or areas on the screen: One for the side bet “trips,” one for “ante”—which is usually paired with “blind” because both bets are made at the same time (prior to the deal) and are of equal amounts.
The final circle is “play,” which is, ironically enough, used to raise at various times during the play (you’re only permitted one “play” bet per hand, but it’s a big one: four times your ante bet).
Live Caribbean Stud Poker
Live Caribbean Stud Poker may not be the spitting image of Casino Hold’em, but they’re probably second cousins. In live dealer Caribbean Stud poker, the dealer needs an ace-king or better to have a qualifying hand. As with all forms of live dealer hold’em, an ante bet is required prior to the deal.
After the ante, you and the dealer are dealt five cards each. Yours are all face-up, while the dealer’s are all face down—except for the fifth card, which is dealt face up.
The rest of the play proceeds almost like a regular game of poker. You are afforded the opportunity to bet or fold after the deal. Once you’ve raised (this is confusingly called a call bet, although it is usually required to be double your ante), all cards are turned face up, and a winner is determined.
Online Poker With Live Dealer
Live Caribbean Stud poker’s distinguishing feature is the 5+1 side bet, which requires you to build a five-card hand of your five cards and that one card the dealer dealt to herself face-up. As with the trips bet in live Texas Hold’em, winning the 5+1 side bet is irrespective of the dealer’s hand. It is won simply by having trips or better, and the win is paid in accordance with a chart of payouts that should be printed on the table itself, or immediately available via an icon.
The layout of the live Caribbean Stud poker screen is similar to all the others, with the three betting areas marked as “5+1 bonus,” “call,” and “ante.” You’ll typically be afforded the opportunity to call or fold with a pop-up once the cards have all been dealt.
3-Card Poker is actually a recent invention, but its acceptance into the hallowed halls of poker fame has been nothing short of phenomenal. Created and patented by Derek Webb in the mid-90s, 3-Card Poker is a clever combination of the familiar with the novel.
3-Card Poker features two (two!) side bets: The pair plus bonus bet, which pays even money when you draw a pair, and the 6-card bonus bet, which uses both the dealer’s three cards and your three cards to make the best five-card poker hand possible.
The live 3-Card Poker layout onscreen should be pretty familiar by now, with the three betting areas marked as “5+1 bonus,” “call,” and “ante.”
Four Tips for the Live Dealer Poker Player
Some of the live poker games offered by online casinos are proprietary to specific software developers. While the game itself may appear to be identical to another, that often isn’t the case. For example, one form of Texas Hold’em requires you to ante, while another requires the dealer to do so, as well. Seems minor, but it changes your RTP (Return to Player).
Watch Live Poker Online
Some identical-looking games may offer jackpots others do not. These jackpots are usually progressive and can be quite impressive—but you must place a specific bet prior to each hand to qualify for it. Some games may even feature a bad beat bonus—just another good reason to always read and understand the rules of each game before playing.
All reputable online casinos will post the rules of each of their games prominently. Read’em or weep.
Tip #2: Bonuses Are Forever
Every online casino that plans to be around more than a month or two offers many bonuses to gamblers who will play at their tables, and, —more importantly—keep returning to play at their tables. That’s why you can actually get paid to sit down at one of their live poker tables and play a few hands.
Welcome (or sign-up) bonuses can range from 50% to 200% (and sometimes even more) of your initial deposit amount and reload bonuses (which are exactly what you think they are) can also be quite generous. Always remember, however, that the online casino will expect playthrough from you equal to a multiple of your deposit as well as the bonus before you can consider the bonus truly yours.
A typical formula used by the online casinos is 30x your deposit plus bonus. Always check the online casinos special “promotional terms and conditions” for specific rules governing payout of bonuses.
If you started out playing Caribbean Stud poker in a brick and mortar casino, you might be taken aback by how much faster the live game is at an online casino. It seems counter-intuitive. After all, both versions feature a live dealer, the same 52-card deck dealt from the same plexiglass shoe, and the same sequence of card-bet-card-stand-showdown.
You forget that a significant portion of the game is the evaluation of the cards at each stage of the game. This is all handled online by a computer, which is even faster at spotting a winning hand, mostly because the computer hasn’t downed four margaritas prior to sitting down to play.
It’s also because there’s a timer run at each stage of the hand’s progress. Time is money to the online casino.
Tip #4: In Cyberspace, No One Can Hear You Bluff
Live Poker News
The biggest surprise to players who have experience with regular Texas Hold’em and other communal poker games is that bluffing has absolutely no part in live dealer poker games. It’s you versus the dealer. The dealer’s actions are limited and permit no variations, and your choices are restricted to anteing, calling, raising, or folding.
Ditto for bullying. You can’t bully the dealer with a series of aggressive bets. Frankly, the dealer couldn’t care less.
While this may be disconcerting at first, it can also free you to pay more attention to other aspects of the game, such as the actual odds each hand might have for winning, or even the number of outs the dealer might have. As with the rules, you should prepare yourself for online live poker by learning the odds. Also, knowing your outs—and the dealer’s possible outs and how they affect your hand—can sometimes make all the difference.
Free Live Poker Online
There are many companies producing live dealer poker software as well as actually streaming video, and each company has its own take on odds, payouts, and side bets. Be sure you have educated yourself thoroughly before anteing up. A good start would be to tour the top live dealer poker tables at any of the top casino sites we listed earlier.
Good luck!