Q. Is there any reason why poker chip sets all come with dice? Is there a poker variant that uses them?

Sean
Garryowen, Ireland

A. As far as we can tell there's no reason at all to use the dice in poker. Most of the poker chip sets you buy are all made in the same Chinese Factories, and its possible that the designers intended the chips to be used for home casino games but now they are marketed as Texas hold'em sets which makes the dice redundant.

Q. What is your opinion on sitting down at the poker table and buying in for the smallest amount possible? For instance, sitting down at a 50c/$1 table with only $20?

Gordon
Glasgow, Scotland

A. Buying in with a short stack seems to make sense. You're committing very little, and players are more likely to call your all ins because they have you covered. But no serious player would recommend entering a table with the minimum amount possible. If you don't buy in for the maximum amount possible, you're not getting the most from your monster hands. When you double up you've effectively lost money by not having been sitting down with more chips.

Q. What do you do if you flop the nuts? Say for instance that you have Ac Kc and the flop comes 10c Jc Qh. Do you go all in, or just wait for others to bet? It just happened to me, I went all in but, alas, nobody called!

Liam
Manchester, England

A. You should definately bet the flop. Going all in might be a bit excessive, but you definately need to raise it. You have to hope that somebody has at least a small piece of the flop - maybe middle pair, but hopefully something strong like two pair.
How about betting 2/3 of the pot at the flop, same at the turn and then shoving all in if they are still with you at the river? If you shove all in straight away nobody will call you, and if you check you will never build the pot.

Q. I am fairly new to poker, but i'm confused about how people track their progress. I know that variance is a big factor in No Limit Hold'em, so how do you keep an accurate take on how well you are doing?

Neil
London, England

A. A great method of keeping track of your progress is to invest a little money in some tracking software. You can use a program like Poker Tracker or Poker Office, which works whether you're playing sit-and-go's, MTT's or cash games. Also, a free online diary might be good to use. One of our link partners, thehendonmob.com, has a simple online diary you can use to store all results and monitor your progress with free graphs and charts available.

Q. I've always been careful about what software I download from the internet after spending the best part of a weekend removing spyware and viruses from my PC. I'm interested in trying poker, but all the sites rewuire you to download their software first before you can play. Which are some sites that don't clutter up your hard drive with unwanted gubbins?

Mike
Sydney, Australia

A. Burn No poker sites we're aware of installs anything other than its poker software. It is simply not in their interest to sneak pop-ups, viruses, and other digital nasties into their code. After all, if your computer doesn't work, you can't play poker. If you're really paranoid, try out the no-download versions offered by Pacific Poker and PokerRoom.

Q. Whats the point of burn cards? It strikes me as such a stupid rule. Is there any logic behind it? Any time I deal in my home game and forget to burn, everybody hisses. I can't understand it and i think it must be superstition.

Koji
Tokyo, Japan

A. Burn cards are cards that are dealt face down at the beginning of a round before any other cards have been dealt. They are immediately discarded and not used during the hand. The reason for burning and turning is too prevent players gaining an advantage from recognising blemished or creased cards. Even deliberately marked cards could be at the top of the deck and it stops this form of cheating.

Q. When I play Poker with friends, theres always the same rule: no phones at the table. However, when I went to my local casino recently there were a few players talking away on their phone whilst in a game. Is this legal?

Sergio
Turin, Italy

A. As far as the rules of poker go, theres nothing against talking on your phone. However, many people are reluctant to do so, believing it to be rude, or be seen as using the technology in a way to cheat.

Q. I thought they'd changed the rule that you have to sign up to a casino at least 24 hours in advance? I see from several London casino's websites that you still have to register a day before. What's up?

Stu
Watford, England

A. You're right, the rule has been changed - its just out of date information on casino websites. If a group of you are planning a visit, its wise to register first via the internet. Theres nothing worse than missing out on a tournament just because there's a queue at the front desk.