Economy
The Best Strategies for Crypto Poker
Poker is not only an incredibly popular game these days but it can also be quite difficult to get into. Sure it’s gambling but it’s based more on skill than on luck and getting those wins when you’ve just begun playing is certainly not easy. It’s of course expected to lose more games than you win when you’re just starting out but considering that you’re playing with money it’s still best to try and win. That’s why we’ll be covering some of the best strategies for winning in crypto poker. Of course these strategies will work pretty similarly both on bitcoin poker sites and in casinos so even if you go to play poker in person they should still be useful to you.
Play only the strongest hands
While it may be obvious not to play awful hands, a lot of players tend to play their hand even if it’s of middling strength. Generally, you’ll see the most success if you play only a small percentage of hands and of course only the strongest ones. This limits your losses and if you’re playing a poker type that has penalties for too many played hands then it allows you to avoid those repercussions.
The exact place where you should draw the line between playing the hand and folding is up for debate and depends on a lot of factors, but where the line is drawn isn’t nearly as important as just drawing it and playing with only very good hands. If you watch high-tier poker players you’ll notice that unless they’re going for some specific strategy they’ll generally fold if they don’t have a hand that statistically has a high win chance.
Know when to bluff
This isn’t exactly a strategy but it’s necessary for many actual strategies to be viable at a decent level of play. It’s important to understand that bluffing with nothing is a horrible idea most of the time and that bad bluffs can certainly lose you games. That’s why knowing what hands are good for bluffs and which aren’t is so important.
Being able to quickly make the choice of whether bluffing is worth it or not is invaluable for more complex strategies, so if you wish to dive deeper into poker and learn such things then you’ll definitely need to start with learning when to bluff and when to simply fold with a mediocre hand. Believe us, you’ll thank yourself for it down the line.
Skip bluffing altogether
If you’re bad at bluffing or simply don’t know when to do it then there’s a perfectly viable strategy for you, just don’t do it, ever. Playing poker without bluffing is a surprisingly effective strategy and we recommend that everyone tries it at least once because it can be a nice change of pace if you’re used to bluffing often.
It is a low-risk strategy that can often lead to people trying to call your bluffs when there is none and getting burned because of it. Oftentimes people think that because you haven’t bluffed the last 5 times that you may do it the 6th so this strategy can be a passive trap to catch people who are used to the usual way that people play poker. It’s a strategy that newer players can utilize to great effect simply by not trying bluffing which is what you should do anyway if you don’t fully understand it yet.
Always look at the odds
This is something that may take a while to get used to but it’s important to look at the odds of certain things happening. For example, if you need a specific card to complete a powerful hand and they make up about a quarter of the remaining cards then you have about a one in four chance of getting it which may be worth the risk depending on the situation.
Understanding some of these things and the probability that makes up poker is incredibly important, and while it may not be easy to learn it’s something that you will be using for as long as you keep playing. It will never be useless knowledge to you so it’s definitely worth trying to figure out and making use of it if you intend to play the game for an extended period of time.
Economy
Financial Stocks Account for 79.48% of Total Weekly Trading Volume on NGX
By Dipo Olowookere
On the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited last week, investors transacted 3.648 billion shares worth N220.568 billion in 251,861 deals compared with the 3.821 billion shares valued at N154.393 billion traded in 258,567 deals a week earlier.
Analysis showed that financial stocks led the activity chart with 2.899 billion units sold for N147.360 billion in 106,603 deals, accounting for 79.48 per cent and 66.81 per cent of the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Services equities recorded a turnover of 164.914 million units valued at N3.615 billion in 16,375 deals, and the consumer goods shares exchanged 157.451 million units worth N7.777 billion in 27,950 deals.
First Holdco, Zenith Bank, and Fidelity Bank were the busiest stocks for the five-day trading week, trading 1.745 billion units valued at N121.828 billion in 31,053 deals, contributing 47.85 per cent and 55.23 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Business Post reports that 60 equities appreciated during the week versus 22 equities in the previous week, 28 shares depreciated versus 57 shares of the preceding week, and 58 stocks closed flat versus 67 stocks of the previous week.
International Breweries gained 40.00 per cent to trade at N13.30, RT Briscoe expanded by 32.02 per cent to N13.40, Livestock Feeds improved by 28.47 per cent to N9.25, First Holdco chalked up 25.82 per cent to close at N69.20, and Abbey Bank rose by 23.65 per cent to N9.15.
On the flip side, McNichols lost 28.57 per cent to finish at N5.00, Thomas Wyatt gave up 11.64 per cent to quote at N2.43, Geregu Power declined by 10.00 per cent to N825.70, CAP shed 9.99 per cent to settle at N157.60, and Guinness Nigeria also slipped by 9.99 per cent to N329.00.
Customs Street was under buying pressure last week, making the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation close higher by 6.35 per cent to 243,798.76 points and N156.445 trillion, respectively.
In the same vein, all other indices finished higher apart from the growth and sovereign bond indices, which depreciated by 7.43 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.
Economy
NASD OTC Market Gains 2.3%, Adds N58bn to Investors’ Wealth
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 2.30 per cent, spurring the NASD Security Index (NSI) to close higher by 96.61 points to 4,296.34 points from 4,199.73 points, and raising the market capitalisation by N57.99 billion to N2.578 trillion from N2.521 trillion.
The market was up yesterday despite a lower activity level, as the volume of securities traded slumped by 94.7 per cent to 1.3 million units from the previous 23.9 million units. The value of securities slipped by 57.2 per cent to N29.2 million from the preceding session’s N68.2 million, while the number of deals executed by market participants increased by 6.7 per cent to 32 deals from the 30 deals carried out on Thursday.
At the close of transactions, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion in trades, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 70.8 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
During the trading day, there were three price gainers and two price losers, led by Afriland Properties Plc, which shed N1.48 to sell at N15.17 per share compared with the previous session’s N16.65 per share, and Food Concepts Plc, which slid by 7 Kobo to close at N2.69 per unit versus N2.76 per unit.
Conversely, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by N9.50 to trade at N150.00 per share compared with Thursday’s closing price of N140.50 per share, CSCS Plc went up by N7.95 to N89.65 per unit from N81.70 per unit, and 11 Plc soared by N6.94 to N206.95 per share from N200.01 per share.
Economy
Guinness Nigeria, Others Drown Stock Exchange by 0.07%
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited lost its footing by 0.07 per cent on Friday as a result of renewed profit-taking by investors.
The fall happened after Thomas Wyatt and Guinness Nigeria led other price losers group comprising 27 stocks at the market yesterday due to selling pressure.
Thomas Wyatt Nigeria shed 10.00 per cent to quote at N2.70, Guinness Nigeria drowned by 9.99 per cent to close at N329.00, Ikeja Hotel slipped by 9.96 per cent to N42.50, Zichis shed 9.94 per cent to trade at N26.37, and McNichols depreciated by 9.91 per cent to N5.00.
On the flip side, International Breweries gained 9.92 per cent to finish at N13.30, NEM Insurance appreciated by 9.61 per cent to N27.95, Jaiz Bank grew by 6.36 per cent to N9.20, UPDC expanded by 6.33 per cent to N4.20, and Livestock Feeds increased by 6.32 per cent to N9.25.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained bullish despite the loss recorded during the session, as there were 27 price decliners and 30 price advancers, representing a positive market breadth index.
Yesterday, market participants transacted 441.3 million equities for N19.4 billion in 44,938 deals compared with the 1.7 billion equities worth N112.0 billion traded in 44,780 deals a day earlier. This showed that the trading volume contracted by 74.04 per cent, the trading value declined by 82.68 per cent, and an uptick in the number of deals by 0.35 per cent.
Access Holdings led the activity chart on Friday after selling 40.2 million shares valued at N1.0 billion, Sterling Holdco traded 30.3 million stocks worth N228.8 million, Fidelity Bank sold 26.3 million equities for N505.6 million, Zenith Bank transacted 22.3 million shares valued at N2.5 billion, and First Holdco exchanged 19.0 million stocks worth N1.3 billion.
During the last trading session of the week, the consumer goods sector rose by 0.49 per cent, the insurance counter increased by 0.06 per cent, and the industrial goods index closed flat, while the banking and energy indices lost 0.78 per cent and 0.52 per cent, respectively.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 159.97 points to 243,798.76 points from 243,958.73 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N103 billion to N156.445 trillion from N156.548 trillion.


