I am a part of a few other forums where "ask me" threads have become popular.  I have little to offer to the world, but outside of real pro poker players, few people know what it is really about to play online poker for real money and I do.  So ask any and all questions you want.  I can give you the inside scoop on being a degenerate gambler [not] or anything else related, losing/winning hundreds of dollars a day.  I have been playing for about 3 years at this point so I have a good bit of knowledge.  Fire away!

p.s.  I know what most people's preconcieved notions are about gambling and poker so I will not be offended by anyone's questions.  My parents know and at this point and accept it so ask anything your little heart desires without fear.

ewwww poker sucks... play Black Jack

You can play online poker from Mexico? And get your money via PayPal?

ewww, I like to play to win money. BJ is for gamblers who like negative expected value situations. blah!

@fazz

Um, I suppose you could play from Mexico. I know in the USA you are currently restricted to certain sites because of recent laws passed, but I am not sure about Mexico. Paypal does not work much for poker though. Neteller used to be the ultimate standard, but they are also more restricted lately and I think that some their main players got arrested for trying to run operations in America after those laws passed. I currently use ePassporte.

Does a straight beat a flush?

Is it appropriate to kick someone in the nuts after trying to bring tournament rules into a casual 5 dollar buy in fun game?

i used to play poker online... stopped after those laws got passed. could you be more explicit how and which sites you can still play poker?

and i'm wondering, now that the more "casual" poker players (i.e. the fishes) are gone, do you find it harder to make money from online poker?

actually, i forgot to ask if you're a US resident. since that would make a pretty big difference.

i don't think there's as much of a stigma these days regarding poker. it's about as mainstream as card games go.

 Blackjack is easy to win...assuming you have infinite money to begin with (or at least a good stock to cover a losing stream).

To win at Blackjack, here is what you do:

1. Never buy insurance.
2. Find a table with a low minimum like $1 if possible.
3. Bet the minimum.
4. If you lose, double your previous bet.
5. If you win, start back at the original bet.

Why this works:

Lets just pretend we're at $1 tables.  You play the first game, bet $1, and lose.  Next game you play again and bet $2, and lose.  You have now lost a total of $3.  The next game you bet double again for $4 and just for grins and giggles lets say you lose again.  You have now lost a total of $7.  The next game you bet $8 and you finally win.  You win a total of $16.  Add it all together and you have $8 bet that round plus the $7 you lost that's a total of $15.  With your $16 winning you win your original bet and this works no matter how many times you lose, the only catch is that you need enough money to cover several lost games.

Oh, and of course always double down on a 10 and 11 and don't hit if you have over 11 and the dealer is showing something less than a 5. 

 uh, no.  this strategy is called a "martingale".  a major result of probability theory is that you do not make money on any gambling strategies (the martingale stopping time theorem).

 that aside, most casinos have upper limits on bets anyway.