Travelers to Tunica tend to want the odds in their favor. With a wide variety of gaming spread across six different first-class casinos, some folks may wonder if certain poker games are more winnable than others. Spending money with plans of making a profit is an investment, but like all investments, profit isn’t guaranteed. That’s part of what makes a trip to Tunica so exciting; for some, it’s all about planning and strategizing. Gamblers want to identify a game’s return on investment (ROI) so that they can play with better odds of success. Things to know before you go to Tunica include whether or not certain poker games are easier, and if it is better to play live/table poker versus video poker.
Types of Poker Games
When it comes to card games, poker exceeds all others in popularity, with Texas Hold’em being the most commonly played. This is the game you’ll see on TV, being the standard choice of major tournaments and the World Series of Poker. Here, you create the superior five-card hand by utilizing the best of your five community cards and two hole cards.
Omaha is similar in betting rounds and hands, but players receive four hole cards instead of two. They must use three community cards in addition to two of their hole cards to create a hand. A variant of Omaha is Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, where the pot is split between the two players who have the best low or high five-card hand using three community cards and two hole cards.
Seven Card Stud was once the superior poker choice by players worldwide. Although it has since been overtaken, many card players still love to play. In this five-round game, all participants get seven cards. Three are hole cards, meaning face-up, and four are door cards (face-down). The best five-card hand wins. Another fun game, Razz, is a lowball alternative to Seven Card Stud. Here, the player with the lowest hand wins the pot. The best hand in Razz is called the wheel, in which a player has A-2-3-4-5.
Triple Draw Lowball features three draws before the best low five-card hand wins. Players get five facedown cards, and the goal remains the lowest hand without flushes or straights. Another lowball variant is Badugi, where players aim for the best four-card low hand without cards of the same rank or suit. A Badugi hand has four different suits and no pairs, meaning the ideal hand is A-2-3-4, and each card has a different suit.
These games are just some of the more popular options; many other fun poker variants exist. Try these and more on your next trip to Tunica.
Understanding Poker Odds
Poker odds refer to either the likelihood that you can expect to win or lose or the price on offer. Odds also specify how frequently you need to have the best hand to call a bet. It is important to pay attention to pot odds, considering both what you are offering and what is being offered by your opponent. In other words, look at the ratio of money you may win in comparison to the size of your foe’s bet.
Texas Hold’em odds can be determined by looking at the outs. There are 52 cards in a deck, including two in your hand and four that are seen. You can narrow things down even more once the four cards from the flop and turn are removed, leaving forty-six unseen cards. Within the deck, there are thirty-seven remaining cards that can cause you to lose and nine cards that can lead to a win. This simplifies down to four-to-one odds, meaning you are four more times likely to lose than win. When taking into account video poker versus table poker, video poker returns 1-2% better than table games found at casinos but the bet denominations can be much lower.
Live/Table Poker vs. Video Poker
Video poker and table poker are similar games with very different player experiences. Regarding benefits, each form of poker has advantages that the other does not.
Video poker, which combines the technology of slots with five-card poker, is easily accessible to anyone and allows players of all skill sets to enter a game without the added social pressures that come with live poker. In this setting, a player does not have to consider other players’ strategies at a table. The game moves fast in this draw poker scenario, so you don’t have to wait around on other players’ moves. In addition, the rules and strategies are a bit less strict, and players are less likely to place emotional bets while playing alone as opposed to playing in front of an audience. Tunica’s casinos offer a number of video poker games in addition to table play.
Table poker, which takes place live, requires immense patience and skill. There is an element of bluffing and manipulation, making the game more tense and exhilarating than video poker. Players play in different styles, some social and others completely silent. You may be sitting next to someone significantly better than you, so the stakes constantly seem staggering. The game moves slower due to player strategies and decision-making, further ramping up excitement as you wait for them to fold. You can be a part of this action at Horseshoe Tunica’s live poker room.
Play Some Poker in Tunica
While odds may vary based on skill level, Tunica is the place to win big in poker. Visit today and see why this casino-oriented town is the royal flush.
