Full Tilt Poker Expands Online Rivalry from Two to Three

For a long time now, there has been an online high stakes cash game poker rivalry between Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan, two of the members of Team Full Tilt. In a move that recently gave him some media points over his rival, Patrik Antonius took down the largest pot in online poker history when he won nearly $880,000 in a single pot. Even though Tom Dwan has certainly been the media darling for the last little while, Antonius appears to have the media attention to himself this week with that particular achievement.

What probably makes the win even sweeter from the point of view of Antonius is that the win actually came against player isildur1. Many people reading this article may not recognize the screen name, but people that regularly follow the high stakes cash game action at Full Tilt Poker definitely know that screen name when they see it.

It is the name of a player that has been able to take both Antonius and Dwan for hundreds of thousands of dollars at the cash games that all three have played against each other. In fact, there was one week during which Dwan lost $5 million to isildur1 over the course of just those seven days. The third of the trio of online cash game poker doom at Full Tilt Poker is starting to up his media recognition even more since he has agreed to face Dwan heads-up in a poker challenge that will take place live at a casino in London to be determined shortly.

Full Tilt Poker players are still warming up to the 500,000 hands of poker duelling taking place between Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan. The two players have been at it for a long time now and the excitement over their battling just seems to grow with each passing day. Now, with a third prolific online cash game player being added into the rivalry, things appear to be lining up for Full Tilt Poker to hog most of the online cash game poker media attention for the near future.

Titan Poker ECOOP V Start Date Approaching

When it comes to the Titan Poker franchise, the European Championship of Online Poker is something that has long been a tradition. Since Titan Poker is the largest website in the world for online poker that does not allow players from the United States, it has only been natural for them to host this exceptional event.

While not as large as the World Championship of Online Poker that Poker Stars holds regularly, the ECOOP is definitely a place to go if you’d like the chance to win some large prize pools. The fifth instalment of this tournament is going to start on November 23rd and ends on December 6th inclusively. With one tournament running on each successive day, that gives players 14 different opportunities to leave their mark on the championship before all has been said and done.

November 23rd will see a $200 + $16 tournament for No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em being run. That event actually has a guaranteed prize pool of $250,000 attached to it, giving people some serious cash to play towards. The other bookend of the tournament is a $1500 + $80 tournament for No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em taking place on the final day of December 6th. That tournament has a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million attached to it and is effectively the flagship finale of the entire championship.

In between, there are excellent events for Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo and Seven Card Stud. With rule structures allowing for normal events, turbo events, rebuy events and events with six-handed tables, there can be no complaints about a lack of choice as players start to consider which tournaments they will participate in.

The largest buy-in for the event will be on November 30th. It is an event for high rollers with a buy-in of $2500 and a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000. The average roller will likely be far more comfortable with the tournament taking place the previous day that has the same guaranteed prize pool but a much smaller $500 buy-in to its name.

As is always the case with big online tournaments, satellites are always available. In fact, they have already started running for most events on Titan Poker.

Poker Stars Creates Third Big Sunday Tournament

Just in case anyone doubted the ability of Poker Stars to create new tournaments on a regular basis, they have come through with yet another monster tournament for their already impressive line up of Sunday tournaments.

The newest one is called the Turbo Takedown and it is good enough to offer a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Furthermore, since the Turbo Takedown and the Sunday Million are scheduled to occur consecutively, players can actually play in both tournaments on the same day and have a crack at a total guaranteed prize pool of $2 million between those two particular tournaments.

The catch with the Turbo Takedown however is that you can’t get into the tournament with a cash buy-in. Instead, you have to collect Frequent Player Points (FPPs) through generating take and tournament registration fees at other events at Poker Stars. The buy-in for the Turbo Takedown is 3000 FPPs and of course it does occur every week so a player wanting to play in all of them will need to be quite busy during the week collecting the necessary FPPs to make their way into the tournament.

Of course, one point that is worth noting is that the direct 3000 FPP buy-in is not the only way for you to get into this tournament. Because Poker Stars cannot deny their nature, they will offer excellent satellite tournament opportunities that will allow them to populate the 25,000 player tournament every single week. The satellites naturally come with a much smaller buy-in attached so players wanting to get into the Turbo Takedown without paying the huge buy-in can always try their luck with a satellite tournament.

To sweeten the pot, Poker Stars has offered much more than the $1 million guaranteed prize pool in this tournament. There are going to be $100 bounties on each of the Poker Stars Pro players in the tournament and the player with the biggest cash at the end of the month will get a car or its cash equivalent as an added bonus prize. With this tournament, Poker Stars is definitely doling out the rewards.

Let Us Entertain You at Cool Hand Poker

If the name sounds familiar, it certainly should. Cool Hand Poker is modeled after Cool Hand Luke, one of the most iconic characters in American cinema. He was a man that was known for being a loose cannon, but he was also a man that most definitely knew how to have fun. It is in that spirit that Cool Hand Poker operates and for this reason many of the prizes that they offer in tournaments are a bit unorthodox.

A good example of this is “Let Us Entertain You,” a tournament that is part of the November 2009 promotional offerings from the Cool Hand Poker website.

The tournament finale for this promotion takes place on November 25th and is currently in place for a start time of 1900 GMT. You can buy into the tournament for $5 + $0.50 and during the first hour of play you have as many $1 rebuys as you would like to make. With levels increasing every five minutes however, those rebuys will not be worth a whole lot before too long, forcing you to buy more of them each time you decide you’d like to enter the fray again.

The winner of the tournament will end up with a voucher for $500. This voucher is good for any entertainment event that they would like to attend. You can go see the band of your choice or attend any other live event that falls into the price range of the voucher that you can win.

The best part of this is that throughout the rest of November, satellite tournaments will be available two times a day up until the finale begins. You can get into a satellite for $0.50 and you can purchase rebuys during satellite events as well.

Due to the unorthodox nature of the top prize being offered in this tournament, there are many at Cool Hand Poker that feel that this particular promotion will put them on the map. They are a minor website right now, but if promotions like this become really popular, that could certainly change in a hurry.

Strategy for Online Cash Games

While playing online poker the cash game tips enhance the live poker play and online cash as well.

There are two kinds of poker players. One kind of poker player’s play within limits and the other type does not. One of the theories of Poker clearly states that every time a poker player adopts a different style in his game his chances of losing are higher than if he plays in his unique style most of the times. Excessive experimentation results in loss of concentration on the game and the strategy adopted by the opponents.

This is one of the oldest strategies of Poker and helps in demarcating between good and bad players. The strategy lies in reading the opponents and his cards. This will help him in making fewer mistakes.

The beginners should avoid playing at multiple tables. Ensure that you are conducive to the environment. It is advised that players should indulge in a few games which would help them earn bonuses before starting the game on a particular table. When players are playing with bonuses they have a complacent feeling that they are playing to use the bonus on the poker table. This thought should be eliminated from their minds. Playing efficiently and methodical thinking patterns should be adopted while playing as these strategies would help in earning cash. The bonus can be soon over if the players indulge on multi-tables.

Calculations help tremendously while playing poker. Players should appropriately choose the tables which have large average pots. You should remember that most bonuses are washed away even if the players are not engrossed with the pot. The subscription of Poker and Lobby edge can be your saving grace as their computerized database would help you with choosing the right table.

Playing at multi-tables can be very advantageous as it drives the feeling of boredom which occurs when you play at a single table. It also helps in cleansing bonuses in an adequate manner. Playing at various tables has its own advantages and disadvantages.

One of the most important cash game strategy tip is to memorize all the hand rankings before playing the game.

Poker for Beginners

Are you new to the game of Poker? Don’t worry. This article will help you with all the answers to your questions. Before playing the game you should be aware of all the basic rules of Poker.

There are various kinds of Poker like seven card stud, Omaha and Texas hold’em Poker and so on. You should be well versed with poker terminology or you would feel like a fish out of water. This would help you to succeed in the game as well. The word action refers to a move made by a player in the game. The term all-in refers to betting all the chips a player has. The term bad beat indicates that a particular hand was beaten by another player. Betting refers to putting money in the pot and flop is the initial three community cards which are to be dealt. The highest unpaired card is called a kicker and raise refers to increasing the bets in the pot.

Once you are acquainted with the glossary of poker you should move ahead and learn the various strategies used in poker. You should be educated about all the variations that the game has to offer so that you can win against all odds.

Poker is one of the most popular games and players play in loose and reckless way or they stick to a conservative method of playing. Some players adopt the technique of playing in a vigilant and aggressive manner. Sit and go’s are profitable and are a great way to experiment new styles and techniques of playing poker. You should initially start with a single table and then graduate to multi-tables.

Poker players should have a keen eye and should be able to analyze and judge opponents in a crisp manner. Beginners can learn and experiment myriad strategies by playing poker online. Invest reasonable time to learn the tricks and methods of the game before playing with professionals where large stakes are involved. Methodical thinking and systematic observation of the opponents helps in shaping the game in a concrete way. Familiarize yourself with the different aspects of the game before you realize that you have lost a big amount of money on the poker table.

Texas Holdem Party is great for a Beer Party

Beer parties are all about having fun. A group of guys and gals get together and loose themselves to the entertainment which flows with the mood. And a great ingredient to be added to this confluence of at-home fun is Texas Hold-em poker. With chances to win and chances to loose, with nail biting moments and moments of victory roars poker is a spicy ingredient, great for any beer party.

The game can be given a lighter mood by making only light bets of pennies or maybe even beers. This may just avoid your friends from drooping into drunken sadness. Light bets give players a chance to enjoy, free from the worries of losing everything in their pockets. Just make every player put on colored paper caps and have them play with the smallest form of cash they can find in their pockets. Guys and gals can team up for cheering to make the affair more exciting.

What are beer parties just about guys and gals? No, they are also about the mood and the setting. It’s always to make the parties feel more jolly and with prizes to be won and decorations matching the poker mood. Maybe you could get some décor items to give your venue, the casino look or maybe the Texas look. Have hand lights, glow stick, caps, hats and other party stuff laid out. There is a lot of party material available at stores to make your party a big hit.

Music is definitely a great idea. Why an idea? Music is indeed a necessity. Western, country style music can create a great atmosphere for the party. And what’s a party without food. Have poker themed food. Stuff like Mexican fingers, sausage fingers, potato skins, Chile dips can make great theme foods. Clubbed with home made ice cream, pecan pralines, cheesecakes and varieties of beer poker parties can be fun.

Much about the setting, now let’s talk about the poker. You can give out chips to every player of a pre decided amount. Let them play with those chips and amass their winnings. At the end of the game, the winning players can exchange these chips for prizes. These prizes can be themed like Texan hats, badges, card packs, cups etc. As the people in the party are more and tend to be in couples, more fun is added by having teams playing against each other. You can divide the players into groups by calling out names or picking chits from a glass bowl. These teams can then compete for the winnings. Having the scores kept and the excitement maintained through the party all the things going together can make up for a party that moves around the game for hours.

Understanding Texas Holdem Poker

Despite of all the interest that Texas hold-em poker creates on the table, it’s very easy to learn. And perhaps that’s the reason of its lofty popularity. The game starts with the dealer giving 2 faces down cards to each player on the table. After that, the community are cards are dealt faced up, which are 5 in number. The motive of the game is to make the best hand by using the 7 cards, 2 with the player and 5 on the table.

Rounds of betting come at all stages of the game, players can call or rise whenever they feel like it. Now let’s look at the stages of the game step by step. The first round starts with dealing of 2 faces down cards to the players. These are also called pocket cards. Then 3 community cards are dealt on the table. Using the five cards that the players have, they try to make their hands stronger. At this point, players can bet.

The next round comes with the dealing of the forth community card called the turn card. Betting can be made at this point too. The next round comes with the dealing of the 5th and final community card, popularly known as the river card. At this point, players can either bet, check, raise or fold.

Players are categorized according to their position in relation to the dealer. Players sitting immediately left of the dealer are called small blind and the players sitting at positions farthest from the dealer are called big blind. New players, looking to make an entry into the game, may call the big blind to stay in the game, other wise they have to fold.

The player who ends up making the best hand is the winner. The winner gets the prize which is which is a sum of the money bet on the table and is called the pot. The pot may also be split into two in case of a tie.

Texas hold-em poker is further categorised into variants according to the types of betting involved. The first variety is the limit hold em. In this, the amount that a player can bet or raise will be limited to a pre-decided amount. The bets are raised over the course of the game in specified increments, for instance 4 dollar increments. Betting is more expensive in the later parts, namely turn and river, of the game.

Next is the spread limit poker. In this variant the bets are limited, but the raising of bets can be increased within a certain range, which is referred to as the spread. Next and the most popular variant of poker is the pot limit hold-em. In this variant, the size of the bet that a player can make is limited by the size of the pot. Another form of the Texas hold em is the no limit. Here, there are no limits to the bets made and to also to the raise. As there are no limits, most players don’t feel comfortable with this version and so, it is not very popular.

Well, this is all about the basics of poker. There are numerous skills, strategies and practices to learn in this game but I think that this article may have given you an introduction for understanding Texas Hold-em poker.

Playing Loose In Online Poker

Playing loose in Holdem isn’t easy. But if you do it right, you can make lots of money from it. Loose players can often control the game, tilt the table, and have every player follow them. The pots will also be much bigger since the players pay they respect to the hand you make.

There are various ways to play loose in online poker. The initial step should be loosening up your game and incorporate these tricks gradually. In time, you will figure out which of the tips work best for you.

Your Hand is Irrelevant if Nobody Makes a Call

Most hands do not usually reach the showdown. Usually, an online poker player would know his stand during the River. A showdown – therefore – isn’t necessary to find out how your hand was. If your rival does not hold strong hands and you haven’t made a combination, you can simply represent a much better hand by wagering like you would in a strong card combination.

Be Familiar with Your Opponents

It often takes a lot more effort to play loose than to play tight. You need to keep an eye on all of your rivals so you would know who is capable of calling you down or playing back at you. You will also know who is waiting to mark a great flop if you keep a close watch on other online poker players.

Expand the Pot

Instead of calling, try to raise and bet more often in Holdem. When your opponents get scared to play against you without a quality hand, you can easily put them on hand. You have to force your opponents to make hasty decisions so you can acquire information about the cards they’re holding.

Semi-Bluffing and Drawing

A great way to open up your hand compilation would be through suited connecters. If you are on a draw, you know the cards you need to hit to come up with the best hand. If you do not have the chance, simply lay down your cards.

Through semi-bluffing, you can get your rivals to lay down much better hands. Just be sure that you’re doing the bluff correctly to convince the online poker player.

Realizing a Beat

You are going to hit up more marginal hands if you open up your hand selection.

The Bankroll

An average bankroll has to be kept for aggressive plays. You will definitely need extra padding to save you since the swings are much larger. You also have to protect yourself emotionally and financially. A great way to implement this would be organizing a bankroll that’s made solely for playing online poker.

Although discipline takes much time to develop, you will surely benefit from this in the end. Holdem requires every player to have full control over their finances. If you fail to do so, this can result to various consequences.

Playing Loose is Sometimes Wrong

Loose is not always the right decision to make when playing online poker. You have to mix up your style depending on the players and the table you are in. If you get stuck at one approach, you can easily become exploitable to other Holdem players.

Are Women Taking Over the World of Poker?

Poker was once considered a game for men, but this is no longer the case. Even though men continue to dominate this game, women are definitely making quick inroads onto professional levels. It may be true that women have never won in main no-limit events of Texas Hold’em; however, Annie Duke was able to beat her brother and several other legends of poker to win two million dollars at the Tournament of Champions in World Series Poker in 2005.

Considered as one of the best professional women players in poker tournaments, Jennifer Harman from Las Vegas is an animalistic and widely-feared high-stakes competitor. As a matter of fact, Daniel Negreanu, one of the top players, has once stated that Jennifer Harman was considered as one of the best players in the world by her peers. “She is deadly,” Daniel said. “A real pit bull within the body of a Chihuahua.”

For the very first time within the 35 years that the Poker World Series has been around, some women have become recognized as completely equal competitors with top male players. Jennifer Tilly, the actress who was nominated for an Academy Award for her “Bullets over Broadway” performance – the comedy by Woody Allen, surprised everybody with her cool determination and skills in playing high-stakes. Jennifer recently won the event of Ladies No-limit Hold’em event, bagging the prize money worth $158,625. There is also Cathy Liebert, who is an expert at completely confusing her opponents with quizzical expressions. Cathy also happens to be the very first woman to win a million dollars in competitions of poker tournaments. People also need to look out for a woman named Cyndy Violette. She oftentimes wins some good money, like when she came in second among more than a thousand players within a $2,000 showdown of No-limit Hold’em, winning her $295,970.

The main event of the Poker World Series in 2005 required a buy-in of $10,000 and had 2,576 entrees in total; 130 of these were female. Within this tournament, the person that ranked as number 21 in the entire field was female, as well: Suzanne Carpenter.

One great example of the speed that women are now taking to high-stakes poker tournaments is unprecedented. 600 women took part at the event of Ladies No-limit Texas Hold’em event in 2006, where Jennifer Tilly won. This is almost thrice as many women compared to the amount that played within the exact same tournament two years before that.

Women are entering high-stakes poker tournaments in amounts that are quickly increasing, showing tenacity and skills that have thrown several veteran male poker players, a lot of which believed that female players are easy to intimidate and disrupt with their strategies. At the same time, a lot of women played far too aggressively against men as their defense mechanism. Men and women are still learning how to respect each other as equals, while a lot of male high profile players start to appreciate and even publicly praise the playing skills that top women competitors have exhibited so far.

Pitbull Poker Shuts Down Strangely

For a long time now, there have been rumours circulating around the internet regarding the impending demise of Flash Poker Network site Pitbull Poker. Now, those rumours have been confirmed straight from the horse’s mouth.

Players attempting to log into their Pitbull Poker accounts will receive a message on their browser screen stating that Pitbull Poker has shut down. They will also receive instructions that cashing out can be done by sending an e-mail to support@pitbullpoker.com.

In a strange twist however, it appears as though Pitbull Poker has become an affiliate of several other online gaming sites. There are affiliate banners appearing for Poker Stars, Cake Poker and several other online gaming institutions. These affiliate banners presumably net Pitbull Poker money, especially since they will be seen by many people trying to get their money out of the insolvent Pitbull Poker website.

Why these banners are present is unknown at the moment, although there has been speculation that Pitbull Poker is attempting to use these affiliate links in order to get commissions that will allow them to pay out all of the requests for cashing out that they are likely to receive over the short term. However, some have suggested more sinister motives such as a desire for personal enrichment through this particular ploy. Either way, analysts agree that we must wait and see in order to understand exactly what Pitbull Poker is doing in terms of this strange type of affiliate marketing.

Pitbull Poker’s shutdown could have ramifications beyond the Pitbull Poker operation however. Their shutdown comes at a particularly bad time for the Flash Poker Network, the parent server for traffic for Pitbull Poker. The departure of this site leaves the network empty of any kind of recognizable and reputable sites. The problem has gotten so bad that Poker Scout, the leading online source of poker traffic information, has removed the Flash Poker Network from their list of online poker networks. Presumably, this was due to a lack of accurate reporting on the traffic numbers from the Flash Poker Network.

The upcoming days should be very interesting indeed as analysts follow the future of the Flash Poker Network and the affiliate marketing efforts of the remains of the Pitbull Poker operation.

Party Poker Brings Back Million Dollar Hand

Party Poker announcing return of an exciting promotion Million Dollar Hand promotion.
It began running and will continue through October 30. You might wondering how it works, well players have to collect cards. For example every 15 party poker points you earn, you will get 1 playing card. You can easily view your cards by looking your account information. However, once you get 5 cards, they will tell if you have won or lost. Cash prize will be awarded by simply making a pair, and each day play can reveal 2 separate 5 cards hands. Total you can earn up to 52 five cards during the month.

If you be fortunate enough to have made a royal flush, you will win the grand prize of a cool million dollars.

Party Poker Million Dollar Hand prizes:

Straight flush pays $10,000 Four of a kind pays $1,000 Full house pays $150 Flush pays $100 Straight pays $50 Three of a kind pays $20 Two pair pays $10 One pair pays $3.

Poker Stars Giving Away A Porsche

If you ever dream to drive a Porsche or Want to win a Porsche Then go to Poker Stars, because they are giving away a Porsche Car to a lucky player. You can be the lucky player if you living in USA or Canada, they going to have a Porsche Freeroll Tournament, and its free to enter.

How can you get in the freeroll? All you have to do is Deposit into pokerStars real money account or make a reload deposit between October 1 to October 17. Once you deposit and reload your account, Pokerstars will give you a seat in the Porsche tournament which will take place on Sunday, October 18 at 1PM EST.

When you make a deposit make sure you put the promotional code to reserve a seat for you. If you are first time deposit then put code NEWCAR. If you are reloaded your account then put code WINCAR.

If you are first time Depositors then 100% deposit bonus up to $600 still will work for you. you can use marketing code PSP5924 for $600 bonus.

Sports Legends Challenge to be postponed until 2010

Atlantis Resort and Casino was supposed to be the proving ground this year from September 14th to 17th as some of the best names in the world battled it out for glory in poker, gambling and general sporting fun.

However, the organizers of the event came to a point where they felt the best thing to do would be to postpone the event until 2010 and run it at that point. The organizers of the event are Bruce Bibbero and Larry Lubin, both of whom were looking forward to seeing people rub shoulders with the best in the poker and sporting business. According to the organizers, they were disappointed at having to reach the decision they reached. However, the difficulty for domestic US citizens to travel abroad at this point combined with the poor weather the Bahamas has been experiencing forced the decision on them.

A lot of the people that had won Absolute Poker satellite tournaments or even shelled out the $10,000 that was the running cost for a single seat at the tournament were also disappointed with the decision. They were looking forward to meeting some of the best poker players in the world such as Johnny Chan, Mike Sexton, Gavin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari and Annie Duke. They were also looking forward to meeting legendary sports personalities like Herschel Walker, Randy Couture, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tony Hawk and Troy Aikman.

Even though many people were disappointed at the decision, most of those same people understood the need for making it. The fact of the matter is that most people would rather play in 2010 in good conditions than play in 2009 under conditions that could make them feel really miserable really quickly.

Part of the reason that many people were placated after the announcement was that Bibbero and Lubin promised to take things to the next level with the postponement. It is now expected that they will add multiple new elements to the challenge during the downtime, making it an even more exciting event in the end as a result. That is something that everyone can certainly get behind.

Online Poker Strategy

No matter how many poker strategy articles you have read, there is one skill which every player must learn, and that is calculating pot odds. Some of the greatest poker players are also the smartest mathematically which some people suggest is the reason for their great success.

Firstly, to calculate your pot odds you must calculate how many ‘outs’ you have. An ‘out’ is a card which will help your hand, or make it stronger. For example, let’s say you were dealt Queen-Jack both of hearts; and a rainbow flop came, King, 7, 10. In this example your outs would be Aces and Eights, so four Aces and four Eights equal eight outs in total (four cards which will help you make a straight). To calculate your pot odds of hitting one of your outs on the turn you must multiply your number of outs by two, and then add on one. So our example would give you a 17% chance of hitting an out on the turn. Chasing draws like this isn’t always recommended and many beginners’ waste chips chasing draws, this is why pot odds are an essential poker strategy to help you make the right decision.

When playing poker, your pot odds should determine whether you call a bet or not. If you have 6 outs and your opponent bets $10 into a $90 pot (making it $100), this is giving you around a 15% chance meaning you should call since you have more than a 10% chance ($10/$100=10). If the bet was $20 however, a fold would have been the correct decision since the pot odds weren’t in your favour.

Take your time and calculate pot odds every hand because it could decide whether you are a winning player or a losing player.

August 21st Marks Next Online Poker Showdown

The Poker Players Alliance, or PPA for short, has certainly been in the thick of things recently. Not only have they been responsible for presenting the President with a petition regarding online poker, but they have also been responsible for raising a lot of awareness regarding the game of poker through their National Poker Week. Now, it looks as though they are set for yet another showdown against the US government over the issue of the legality of online poker within the United States of America.

August 21st is scheduled to be the day in court and PPA lawyers will be representing the case of Account Services, a payment processor that had around $14 million in funds seized by the government under the auspices of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. PPA lawyers will be challenging this particular perception and the battleground for this legal battle will be the Southern District Court of California.

While details are sketchy at best at the moment, it appears to be a strong possibility that the Poker Players Alliance will adopt a strategy of attempting to prove that online poker is predominantly a game of skill rather than a game of luck. If they are able to do this to the satisfaction of the court, it is quite possible that it could set the groundwork for a national poker definition that legally ends up exempting it from the UIGEA.

The focal point for their argument will be a study that was done last year regarding hands that had been played at Poker Stars. The study took a close look at 103 million hands at the cash game tables and came to the conclusion that 3 out of 4 hands never ended up going to the last betting street. Furthermore, the hands that did go to that last street ended up largely not going to the player with the best hand because of betting and bluffing.

This is important because it shows that less than 15% of the time does the best five-card poker hand actually win the pot. In other words, luck determines less than 15% of the hands while skill determines the other 85%+.

PPA and Howard Stern now Allies

One of the most interesting online advocacy groups in recent history and one of the most controversial talk show hosts in all of history are now allies in the fight to make sure that law-abiding American citizens are allowed the full right to play poker that should come with the freedom of choice enshrined in the American constitution.

Alfonse D’Amato, the current chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA for short), surprised many with a Monday morning visit to Howard Stern’s radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. At the same time, Howard Stern announced his intention to join PPA and support the right of the people of the United States to play online poker where and when they chose to. He is now a member of the PPA and is involved in their political struggle.

One particularly interesting aspect of this was the timing of the overall announcement. Howard Stern’s decision to join the PPA came about at the same time that the PPA’s National Poker Week is going on. This particular week of awareness, set to go on until July 25th, is a week that has been gaining a lot of attention for poker and the Stern-D’Amato alliance is just one more feather in their cap when it comes to these issues.

At the center of their National Poker Week is what is best referred to as The Petition. There are many petitions out there, but the PPA petition has really become known as The Petition to those that follow the online poker industry. With 355,000 signatures on it already, the petition is going strong in an attempt to help the members of Congress see the light on this issue. With the main online poker sites having thrown their full weight behind helping people get a chance to sign this petition, there are many in the industry that have a sincere belief that this particular petition might actually be one that makes a difference.

Only time will tell though, with members of the online poker media eagerly awaiting the next development in order to see exactly what happens.

Apple iPhone Applications Get Upgraded

Apple has always been at the forefront of the mobile industry. In fact, part of the reason that they were able to basically resurrect from the dead earlier was because of the fact that the Apple iPhone and other mobile applications allowed them to steal a march on their competitors within the electronics industry. A large part of the march will be turned over to the iPhone 3G S, the newest product to be released in that line.

A lot of people are very excited about the Apple iPhone 3G S for the simple reason that it is coming to market with the force of a number of different applications behind it. In fact, as far as the world of poker is concerned, any player will be able to get some of the best poker applications around through this particular iPhone product.

A good example is a piece of software known as the Poker Tournament Manager. This is basically a piece of software that you can use to track your home games and keep statistics of all kinds. No longer do you have to walk around with a pen and paper. Instead, you can just use your iPhone as the headquarters for your home poker game with nobody being the wiser.

Another good example of a poker utility program would have to be Hold ‘Em Odds Quizzer. This game does exactly what the name implies. Because of that, it will allow you to brush up on your knowledge of Hold ‘Em while at the same time really enjoying everything that the game has to offer.

These are not the only types of applications available however, as the iPhone offers serious poker gaming as well. Zynga’s Live Poker 40k is a good example of that. It is a poker game that you can play on your new iPhone. Because of its overall excellence however, it is perhaps not at all surprising that it happens to be one of the most popular iPhone applications right now. As far as the Apple iPhone 3G S is concerned, this is a sweet time to be interested in playing poker games.

Heads Up Poker Strategy

Thousands of online poker players have started playing heads-up tournaments over the past year and there are numerous reasons as to why players have been starting to play these types of tournaments. One of the reasons why these tournaments are so popular is because you only need to beat one player in order to win the tournament. Another reason why players like these tournaments is because they are typically quick to play so you will be able to play a lot more of them then if you were playing nine player sit and go tournaments. One thing that you will need to do in order to be successful is change your strategy because your regular tournament strategy isn’t going to work when you’re playing heads-up tournaments. If you have never played heads-up tournaments in the past then make sure you read the tips below to assist your poker game.

Aggression is going to be a huge factor in how well you do in heads-up tournaments. You need to be able to apply pressure in the right situations, but you also need to know when to back off a little bit and slow down. From the very beginning of a heads-up tournament you want to let your opponent know that you won’t back down from raises or else they will end up taking advantage of you.

Position remains a key factor in heads-up play although it isn’t as big a factor when compared to playing a nine player tournament. When you get to act last you will be able to see how the other player acts before you which should give you some insight on where you stand in the hand. If they check to you then it’s also an open invitation to try and take the pot down with a bet, but don’t bet too much in case they are trapping you.

Pot control is vital when you’re playing in heads-up tournaments because you both only start with 1500 chips and the blinds don’t take that long to go up. It’s important that you keep the pots you lose to a minimum and that you get the most out of your opponent when you have a winning hand. You can also use pot control in order to keep the pots low when you’re on a draw. Often this can be achieved by throwing out a small bet on the flop and then checking the turn if you don’t hit so you can see the river for free.

Starting hand selection isn’t as important when you’re playing heads-up poker because you’re playing your opponent more then your own cards pre-flop. Any two cards can win the pot pre-flop so don’t limit yourself to only playing strong hands especially when you can limp into the pot. Almost any suited connectors are worth playing in heads-up poker and most pocket pairs.

Take notes on your opponent so that you can learn how they play and keep the notes so that if you play them again you have notes on them already. Often when you play heads-up poker tournaments you will end up playing the same group of players over time so you need to take notes and keep them to have the upper edge on your opponent.

One of the best online poker sites for playing heads-up poker tournaments is by far PokerStars as they have plenty of players actively competing in these types of events at all of the buy-ins.

Tips for Setting up a Home Poker Game

One of the best ways for poker players to gain some playing experience is by setting up a home game and playing with friends and family. It shouldn’t be hard nowadays to find a few friends who enjoy playing poker as almost everyone plays the game. If you want to set-up a successful home poker game, then make sure you read through the tips below that I’ve compiled for you. If you’re able to set-up poker games at your house with friends, then it’s highly recommended as you will be able to learn a lot about the game by playing with friends since you’ll be more prone to showing each other your hands, after the hand is over.

• You want to ensure that you let everyone know ahead of time when the poker game will take place so that you can confirm everyone can make it to the game. It really doesn’t look very good on you if only a couple of your friends show up for the game because it isn’t very fun playing with just three players.

• Make sure that you have a proper table that can accommodate all of the players you have invited to play. Also make sure that you have enough chairs for each of the players so that nobody needs to stand as that wouldn’t be very good.

• You will need to have chips, but if you don’t have chips you can also use any alternative such as coins if you want. You just need to make sure you have something that you can use for chips so that you can play once everyone arrives.

• Having drinks and snacks is always a good idea if you’re going to be hosting a home poker game with friends. Make sure that you keep the snacks to a minimum around the poker table though and ensure none of the foods can damage the cards.

• If you and your friends decide that you’re going to play for real money make sure that you all decide on a reasonable amount to play for. You don’t want to have your friends lose to much money in a single night playing poker because you’ll find the night could turn from a friendly poker game into a big argument.

Online Poker Rooms with Casinos

Online poker has been booming ever since about 2004, as thousands of people sign up to play online poker for real money everyday. It seems there are new online poker rooms being launched almost every week under one of the poker networks, but many of them are missing a main 'ingredient'. Did you know that at some of the top online poker rooms you can also play casino games for real money with your account? Many online poker players are unaware that some poker rooms include a casino where you can play your favorite casino game at, for real cash. These online poker rooms allow you to play your favorite casino game like you would in a real live casino. If you are a fan of roulette you can play roulette, or if you are a fan of blackjack you can play blackjack at these online casinos.

A lot of the poker rooms allow you to play the casino games right in the poker software, while with others you have to download a casino software if you are interested in playing casino games. Either way you can use the same account and banking options that you use with your online poker account, which makes it very easy to enjoy both poker and casino games. My absolute favorite online poker room that also allows you to play casino games is Party Poker. If you sign up for a Party Poker account you can also choose to download the PartyCasino software to play a variety of different casino games for real money. Don't have an account at PartyCasino? Make sure you use the PartyCasino bonus code HUGE200 when you are signing up for a bonus of up to $200! Although Party Poker and PartyCasino are my favorite one two punch for online poker and online casino games, there are a few other good ones out there. Poker rooms that allow you to play casino games for real money as well include Carbon Poker, Aced, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker to name a few.

If the poker room you are playing at doesn't have an online casino and you are interested in signing up for Party Poker or one of the others, make sure you search for a poker bonus. You will find more details about poker bonuses in this blog, but basically you can receive free money when signing up for a new account at a poker room. The poker rooms usually match your deposit up to a certain amount. So for example, if you were to deposit $300 at one of the poker rooms, they would likely award you with $300 free in bonus money. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for one of the great online poker rooms that have a casino and start having some fun!

Learn How to Make Money Playing Poker

Making money playing online poker isn’t rocket science and it doesn’t take a genius in order to figure out the numerous ways of earning money. Most poker players sit down at the online poker tables for one reason and one reason only which is to simply make as much money as they possibly can. You should follow the tips below if you’re trying to learn the numerous ways of making sure you’re in the green and not the red.

• The first thing that you’re going to want to do is make sure that you’re taking advantage of the bonuses and promotions offered by the poker room. Most of the poker rooms will offer sign-up bonuses, reload bonuses and lots of other cool promotions which will help your grow your bankroll.

• Don’t multi-table until you have lots of experience playing poker because more often then not when a new player starts to multi-table they lose money quickly because they can’t concentrate. You don’t want to do anything that is going to take away from your focus when you’re playing poker because often that translates to losing money.

• Learn what starting hands are good to play and try to stick to them because this will help you keep out of trouble from losing chips that you shouldn’t be losing. There are lots of hands that new players will play when they shouldn’t and it takes away from the overall profits of the player, so don’t let this happen too you.

• Play on tables where you’re comfortable with the stakes and not on tables where you’re just trying to make extra money. If you don’t play where you’re comfortable then you will find that you lose more money then you make because you’re scared to make the big call.

• Look for tables with weak players on it so that you can take advantage of the fish. Table selection is a huge part in making sure you’re setting yourself up with the best shot at making money during your session. There are several tools for online poker which will help you find tables that are weak and I suggest trying one of them out if you haven’t already.

No Limit hold em Poker Profit Secrets

Texas Hold’em Poker is the most popular game of poker. The game is a very easy, fast paced game with one lots of things going on at once. Honestly, when I start playing, the basic rules of poker had me baffled at first time. As time past by and I learned how to play the game, I started getting into strategy and tricks.

When you first start playing poker, you will have no idea what is going on. You may think you know the game, but there is so much going on that you really can not tell unless you have played a lots of hands. I will tell you the 10 most important tips of the game you MUST look out for.

We will go over the 5 poker secret tips which will help you to win a lots of hands.
These tips are top secret and will only be found here in this blog. To fully understand the poker game and win by paying attention to every single tip and make sure to read it.

1. The first tip is, you must play only top strong hands. The fact that this is NO LIMIT means that you can lose all your chips in one hand. This is very important because you can lose if you make a simple mistake. Remember that you can lose everything in one turn so make sure you can handle the bets.

2. Betting is a very important aspect of no limit hold em. When you bet make sure that you do not bet before the flop. This means that you have a strong hand and will give it away. What you want to do is bet after the flop once you hit. Anything to keep you’re opponents guessing is a great way to win a table. Try to bet..

3. Try to bet at least two thirds of the pot. This is the minimum size bet you should make. Many people think that betting the size of the pot is a good size bet, but that is not correct. Make sure that you understand that there is no rules for betting.

4. Try to bet more what is normally being bet at the table. When Everyone is betting a same amount, most likely they do not want to throw away all there chips in one hand, try to bet a little more than that amount, while making sure everyone will call. This will allow you to bet as much money as possible which will help you to hit the top spot and win the money on the table.

5. Finally, lets talk a little about bluffing. This is a very important and in many cases over used tactic. It is very important to limit you are buffing. This massively risks your bankroll. You do not want to risk your bankroll because you will be losing the only thing keeping you in the game. Now lets talk about the “all - in” bet. This is a amazingly risky move because it will cause you to lose if you’re hand does not win. It is a way to hurt some peoples bankrolls while causing yours to strengthen immensely. This is something you will want to stay away from when you have strong hands. A strong hand is not meant to be played by throwing all you’re money in.

That concludes the secret tips and strategy, which will help you to skyrocket your profits while playing Texas Hold’em. Please use these tips to win every game you play. I guarantee; you will win more games with these tips!

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Poker Strategy And Tips For Winning Hands

One of the most famous forms of the game of poker is no limit texas hold em poker. It has gained very popularity in the recent times because of all the T. V. coverage as well as from other forms of media publicity and internet. To be successful at playing no limit hold em poker you have to follow few strategy. There is a large selection of books available, which will teach you how to play poker. These books are based basically on the principle that you are going to play the game against powerful opponents. Nevertheless, you should also be aware of the fact that you may come across opponents who are new.

There are different ways that you can make some money playing no limit hold em poker. Trapping hands in one such way. This is when you have a strong hand and your opponent has a weaker hand. Big pair over big pair, small pots, betting in the back, drawing hands, bluffing –these are the various ways you can win money playing this game.

In a game of no limit hold em poker if you confuse people it could be very profitable. You can do this by making your opponent think that you have a hand but you do not, which is called bluffing, if you can do this then there is a chance of you making money. You can also confuse people by over betting. Betting a high and unreasonable amount of money in regards to pot can confuse your opponent big time.

Limit hold em poker is in many ways different from no limit hold em. One of the nice things about no limit hold em poker is that, the more experienced players can play lucratively for more hands than in limit hold em poker.

You can also play no limit hold em poker online and have fun. There are several sites where you can play the game. If you want to earn some real money then you will have to put in real money. However, if you are a novice at the game, then you will want to stay in a room where you don’t have to pay any cash to play. Once you get a firm grasp of the game, then you may move to those rooms that have actual cash prizes. When you think you are ready to play no limit hold em poker, its time to search for sites where you can play. You should always keep in mind that even no limit hold em requires good playing skills, so get good practice before you start playing with actual cash.

Poker Game Etiquette

Regardless if you play poker live or online, etiquette matters. Unfortunately many online players think they can get away with an obnoxious or crass personality, simply because they don’t have to look other players in the face. There is no excuse for rudeness. Having respect for yourself and other players is essential when you play online.

How you are perceived for a poker entertainer should matter to you, and is not something you should brush aside. If you feature other players to respect you, you have to display them the twin courtesy. Consequently, make your extensive majestic and preserve these tips in sanity when engaging in online conversation with the man members of the site:

Sanity your P’s and Q’s
Pocket watch your speaking when you’re online. Don’t applicability profanity or vulgar conversation that other players may acquisition abusive. Not lone is this plenty immature, but you’ll pronto grow into unpopular and disliked by others.

Management your pride
No one wants to hear amassed entertainer bargain about their ice, or whine about their loss.

Garner your comments to yourself
Don’t spawn snide remarks about other players or shape boisterous of how they play.

Arguing gets you nowhere
There is no point in arguing with deeper trouper. Valid will unique frustrate you, and won’t copper what has happened. Contract embodied starch, stir on and save your center on the sport.

Benefit your daily cast
Stay same headed at all times, and alter to the players and the sustenance you are playing at. Avoid arguments, and arrange your bit to fabricate the amusement fall smoothly. Don’t become a complication.

Relax and have Convivial
Don’t ig that seeing much through you fancy to gain, indubitable is signal that you also have enjoyable when you play. Therefrom relax, appreciate yourself, whip out friends and respect the other

Sit and Go Poker Tournaments

Sit and go tournaments are a great way to pass time and play poker through tournaments on the internet. These tournaments are commonly found on poker website and can include a variety of skill levels, from beginners to novice players looking to increase their bank roll, or even play for fun.

Sit and go poker tournaments are popular for poker players looking to try their luck without waiting hours for a poker tournament to begin, as the name suggests, these tournaments can be played immediately from the time that the player joins the table. In most cases, there are usually around ten players that are involved in the sit and go tournament, through popular poker websites.

Sit and go tournaments include anywhere from six to twenty-five players usually and can include winners for the first one to ten places within the poker tournament, depending on how many people have entered the tournament. The prizes that are included in the tournament will depend on the amount that each player has paid to enter the tournament. The higher the entry fee for the specific tournament, the higher the pay for the people that place within the tournament.

Each player within the tournament has their own particular strategy when it comes to the sit and go tournaments; some of these common strategies include:

Playing Loose: Playing loose through the first couple of rounds of the tournament is a way fo the player to land hands that may have been folded in the first round if the bets were higher. This strategy is common for low-risk and low-bet sit and go tournaments and can help to establish yourself at the table and become the chip-leader. Once the player is cheap leader or one of the top chip holders, many players will tighten up their playing style and play this way until the end of the tournament.

Texas holdem online

Texas hold em is very popular game. There are several website that allows you to sign up for free or with some charges and then you can start playing this beautiful game. This is one of the online popular games that are playing online from the most of users from North America and Europe as well as from many different countries where it is getting fame. Once, you would know it, it will take you few time to become master of this game and you do not have to bother to remember the rules and regulations for a long period. You would remain master once you stabilize in this game.

You can play Texas hold em game cheaply and anonymously through online. That has been credited because of the increasing fame of this game. There are few easy rules you have to understand before begin the game. These rules are very simple and easy to understand. This game allows you to play either to try out or you can go for a big tournament that is called satellite in the term of poker. It also provides you avenue for entry into the large game as tournaments. You can see it as a world series through winning small tournament. However, it is normally played using small and big bets. There are two cash games are available in the Texas holdem online game. The no-limit and fixed-limit cash games are the two almost playing cash game. But both of them are strategically quite different from each other. Both types of game has no ranking services due to some occasions but many no-limit players move down for limit, while fixed- limit players often feel discourage while playing the game.

The limit games are always restricted with the size of bets and bluffing is hardened in the fixed-limit games. Since, people find fixed-limit game as not a risky game because they have a certain amount to play with they like to go on to play it rather than no-limit games. Players in both games are always promptly advice to take more chances than are available.

There are also other games to play like community card games in which some cards are available for use by all the players. Few games use five community cards that are to addition to the some private cards are available for the players. Royal holdem has the same structure as Texas holdem games. Because of the game level is highly complex, it has been taking attention by the academics. Developing a single model of Texas holdem online game has received much success. Most websites that offer Texas holdem online games allow the players to the left of big blind to post an optically. Seeing the success of Texas holdem online games, now the outcome has shown a great result and the number of people who are interested taking a great part. A huge number of online players are growing in numbers, so, do the Texas holdem rules.

Beginner Tips Playing Texas Hold'em Poker

If you are a new to Texas hold em, do not worry it is very to understand and play. Even if you are a beginner but it will not take to learn how to play Texas hold em games. These games take only few minutes to learn and once you have gone trough the easy steps to learn. You would be proficient playing it if you are practicing for it. This is not a game that needs to remember some rules and regulations; it allows you to be master once you have been trying out it for several times of play.


The minimum number of player required to play this interesting game is two and the combination can be taken using two hole cards and five community cards. Dealer will be sitting in the middle and one player has to sit left to him, who put out blind bets and another player has to sit right to him, who put out big blind. After three cards s are faced up, flops on and betting will be begin with player left to dealer, he also can check and bet. Finally, when the fourth card is face up, another round of betting will be begin. Final card that was dealt will be face up and all the players need to show their cards. The person who made the best five cards will be winner. After all, all players reveal their hands and will showdown as per the game rule. The player who has shown the best card will be announced winner. This is the normal steps that one can easily understand how to play Texas hold em games. The basic structure is easy to understand and one can play it through variant that are available with this game.

The popularity of Texas hold em has now growing widely with the huge number of player’s everyday. The one of the good reason why it is getting so popularity and very interesting is that it is ease to play and with which players can pick the rules. This is a game that needs time to go through and once you know the basis structure of the game, you would become masters for lifetime.

The most interesting game is no limit Texas hold em, the most dramatic of all poker games are available, where any player, anytime can declare to bet everything. Almost websites that offer Texas holdem online games allow the players to the left of big blind to post. Looking to the success of Texas holdem online games, now the outcome has shown a great result and the number of people who are interested taking a great part for playing this game. It is very easy to learn and most interesting games that offer you to play anonymously on several websites. If you keep playing this game you can also play some live tournament with a huge winning amount. Websites also offers you to play with variant that allows you to understand every trick and tips that leads to the success in Texas game playing.

How to play Texas hold em

This Texas hold em fame has recently growing with a huge number of people. People really start like this game and playing in certain rooms that are available and also having fun with their friends, family and relatives. It is very easy and convenient to play. People find it more interesting game. The one of the good reason of Texas hold em is that it is very ease to play with.

Look! You do not have to remember some hard rule and somehow if you lost it from your mind, you will be defeated. No, this is a quite simple game to understand and takes almost two minutes. This is the game that takes less time to understand and once you understand you would become masters for lifetime. Texas hold em is the most dramatic of the three, where any of the player, anytime can declare to bet everything. Minimum two players required to start the Texas hold em game and the combination can be taken using two hole cards and five community cards. Let’s see, between dealer one players to sit left to him, who put out blind bets and another player sit right to him, who put out big blind. Face down the card is called holes and every player does it. Now, they start betting on.

After three cards s are faced up in the center of the table, which is called the board. Now, flops on and betting begin with player left to dealer, who can check or bet. When the fourth card is face up then another round of betting can begins. The final card that was dealt will be face up. And the all players will show their cards they are playing with and the person who made the best five cards has won.

You have seen how easy it is to play Texas hold em, simply follow the certain rules and even you do not have to bother to remember them. And once you have learned how to play you would remember it for along time. Few things one has to remember. Make sure you learn the best starting hands in Texas hold em poker to play. It’s always good to have etiquette while playing. Practice reading the beats and try to remember the cards you are playing with and perceive it what others have. This is a simple game to play with and it is really sound very interesting as it is being played in every home and also there are also some places that create room for the Texas hold em poker playing game. This is the game for enjoyment and neither have you to involve a huge amount for playing. This is very next door game now.

Playing the Tournament bubble

The bubble can be one of the most uncomfortable situations in a poker tournament. People become very serious, play tightens up, and all the players realize that they do not want to be the one to bust the bubble. In a poker tournament, the bubble is what is known as the point at which the last player gets knocked out before prizes are awarded. If twenty people get paid, then the player that goes out 21st would be considered to have “bubbled” the tournament. You will see play change drastically at times when on the bubble and approaching it with some specific strategies will have you staying around well into the money.

What you need to decide as a player is if your goal is going to be to simply make the money in the tournament, or if you are going to play to win. While you always want to cash in the tournaments you play in, you also want to make the ones you cash in count. Due to the high variance and structure of tournaments, playing for first prize once is going to be more profitable than playing to barely cash in several others. One thing to consider is the monetary size of the tournament you are playing in. Playing in a $100 poker tournament and finishing just inside the bubble may only net you a small profit, however winning that tournament can gain you thousands. Playing in a $1000 tournament and finishing inside the bubble may earn the same profit.

If you are coming into the bubble with one of the bigger stacks in the tournament, you want to kick up your aggression level. Take every opportunity you can when in position to steal the antes and blinds. Attack the medium stacks holding on for dear life, and force them into tough situations. While it will be worth to call some short stack all-ins, making them your prime target is not what you want to focus on. Short stacks are dying to double up, and you don’t need to be the one giving them that courtesy. When you are close to the bubble though, you will find the medium stacks playing very tight, and folding all but premium hands to you. Short stacks will call your raises a lot more often than a medium stack will.

If you find yourself on the bubble with a short stack, you are probably just looking to get that cash, unless you have just suffered a bad beat in which you lost most of your chips. If you want to advance up the payout chart, then you need to get aggressive here. If you are satisfied with just trying to make it past the bubble, then you need to protect your chips, as even the blinds will dent you greatly. If you feel like you are going to get blinded out, you need to pick a spot and make a move, and hopefully you can double up. Your hand range here cannot be to selective, as you are short on time and money. Hopefully you can double up, and wait for another short stack to burst the bubble for you.

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Internet Play Money Games

If you're not ready for cash stakes, you can play in mock games for play- money on the Internet. Your opponents may be anywhere in the world. They won't be in the same room with you, but they're real folks looking for a game.

You'll have to make a few adjustments when you move into online playing. Internet poker games take place in cyberspace, the universe of electronic connections that is at once everywhere and nowhere. At first it's a little disconcerting to hear a disembodied voice ask for your blind, or to have your cards yanked away by invisible hands instead of folding them yourself!

The Internet game designers have done all they can to simulate the sights and sounds of a real poker game:

• You see yourself represented in pictogram form, seated at a virtual table with other pictogram players, whose real counterparts may be anywhere in the world.
• Your player name or "handle" and the amount you have in play are listed above or beneath your virtual representative.
• Vibrantly colored cards, tables, chips, and player costumes mimic the visual elements of real casino poker.
• An invisible dealer announces bets and raises and declares winning hands. (However, he doesn't accept tokes.)
• You hear the sounds of cards being shuffled and dealt, and chips clacking when the pot is pushed to the winner.
• You "converse" with other players in the "chat window" by typing messages back and forth on your keyboards.
• To check, bet, or raise, you click on-screen choices with your mouse. Help and hand history are easily summoned by clicking other options. Want to leave the game or go to another? Click!

To play online poker is quite good and for practice also it good finally enhances your skills to play on real game.

The Importance Of Live Cards

Stud poker is a game of live cards. If the cards you need to improve your hand are visible in the hands of your opponents or have been discarded by other players who have folded, then the cards you need are said to be dead. But if those cards are not visible, then your hand is live.

Many beginning Seven-Card Stud players are overjoyed to find a starting hand that contains three suited cards. But before you blithely call a bet on Third Street, look around and see how many cards of your suit are showing. If you don't see any at all, you're certainly entitled to jump for joy.

But if you see three or more of your suit cavorting in your opponents' hands, then folding your hand and patiently waiting for a better opportunity may be the only logical course of action.

Even when the next card you are dealt is the fourth of your suit and no other cards of your suit are exposed, the odds are still 1.12-to-1 against completing your flush. Of course if you complete your flush, the pot will certainly return more than 1.12-tel, so it pays to continue on with your draw. But remember: Even when you begin with four suited cards, you'll make a flush only 47 percent of the time. (The sidebar "Consider the odds" offers more statistics.)

If you don't make your flush on Fifth Street, the odds against making it increase to 1.9-tel -which means you'll get lucky only 35 percent of the time. And if you miss your flush on Sixth Street, the odds against making your flush increase t o 4.1-tel. With only one more card to come you can count on getting lucky about only 20 percent of the time.

This also holds true for straight draws. If your first four cards are 9-10-J-Q, there are four kings and an equal number of eights that will complete your straight. But if three kings and an eight have already been exposed, the odds against completing a straight are substantially higher and the deck is now stacked against you, and even the prettiest looking hands have to be released.

How Much Does A Casino Night Cost in the USA?

Casino rental services in the United States range from cheap, to ridiculously expensive. Largely, the price of the service reflects quite accurately on the quality of the product you’ll receive. American casino rental services are often general party rental services- few of them specialize in casino party events. That said, the large rental agencies, despite not being casino specialists, generally do quite a good job at setting up wonderful casino nights for all occasions.

Here is a brief rundown of popular games offered at American casino rental services, and an estimate of how much each game would cost for a 3-4 hour event.

1. Craps Table

Renting a craps table, with a dealer, from an American casino rental service will cost around $595 for three hours. For a four-hour event, prices average around $795. Craps is by far the most expensive table game to rent because it is the largest and most dealer-intensive casino game offered by most agencies.

2. Poker Table

Renting one poker table, with a dealer, from an American casino rental service will cost around $395 for three hours. For a four-hour event, prices average around $445.

3. Roulette Table

Renting a roulette table, with a dealer, from an American casino rental service will cost around $395 for three hours. For a four-hour event, you’re looking at about $545. The price of renting a roulette table and dealer is a bit higher than the price of renting basic card game tables. This is due to the size and amount of equipment required to successfully run a game of roulette.

4. Blackjack Table

Renting a blackjack table, with a dealer, from an American casino rental service will cost around $325 for three hours. For a four-hour event, you can expect to pay around $395. Blackjack is the cheapest to rent of all casino games, since the equipment is very compact.

5. Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune is a game offered by some, but not all, American casino rental services. The game involves a player spinning a wheel, which is divided into sections representing prizes to be won. The aim of the game is to spin the wheel, and have the “money arrow” land on a high-payout section of the wheel. For a three-hour Wheel of Fortune rental, you will pay around $395. For a four-hour rental, expect to shell out around $595.

Heads Up Sit and Go Strategy

Heads up sit and go tournaments are by far one of the most profitable sit and go style tournaments available to a player who knows how to apply the correct strategy. Use our sit and go tips and you will be on the right track. A lot of players suffer a common misconception when it comes to a heads up sit and go tournament. Most players register for these tournaments thinking they're easier to win as there's only yourself and the person you are playing against. However, this is not true and an experienced player in heads up sit and go tournaments can win a lot of money from people with that mind frame.


One of the most important factors in heads up sit and go tournaments is position. This is the deciding factor in almost any heads up tournament and knowing when and how to use it to your advantage is a key to winning. If you are the dealer while playing heads up you will often want to raise provided you have at least a somewhat decent hand. This places the opposing player in a bad position and they will generally fold unless they feel they have a hand that is capable of beating yours. What this allows you to do is to show strength when the flop is shown and puts you in a better position to bluff if you do not have a good hand at the flop. If you are the big blind you should probably check unless you've been dealt a rather strong hand. This will force the opposing player to bet at the flop and if you're happen to catch something on the flop, it puts you in a better position to slow play them and take their money. If you are raised pre-flop and you do not have a good hand, you should probably fold.


Another important aspect in playing a heads up sit and go is knowing about hand strength. Knowing which cards to play and how to play them is a crucial step to winning a heads up sit and go. Card selection in a heads up sit and go differs from playing against multiple opponents. You generally want to be holding high suited cards, pocket pairs or unsuited high cards if you're wanting to bet and play pre-flop. If you are holding a relatively decent pocket pre-flop and play comes to you unraised, don't be afraid to play the hand. Also, regardless of the hand dealt, you should always try not to fold if you are the dealer as being in this position offers you a greater advantage and prime position when the flop shows up as the opposing player will always be forced to make the first move, and this gives you the opportunity to trap them and place them in a position where they're rendered helpless.


Regardless of how you choose to play your cards while playing heads up, always remember to play smart and use our sit and go strategy tips. If your hand is weak and you're not in a position to check it's often in your best interest to fold. If you're sitting as the dealer and you have a relatively strong hand you should raise and give yourself position after the flop. Playing smart while heads up, knowing how to control your position and selecting the proper cards to play is the difference between a first place victory and coming close to winning.

Dream Team Poker Draws Huge Response

The Dream Team Poker tournament is scheduled to start from the 27th of March. The number of entries received so far have exceeded all expectations. This is surprising because for one the tournament is not televised and also the event has a low buy in of only $500 + $50.

What atrracts the poker professionals to this tournament is the unique structure of the event and the fact that it is team based. Players compete as individuals but get scored as a team. In the end there are both individual and team prizes. Dream Team Poker have applied for a patent for this system. The system provides incentives for busted out players to stay on till the end of the tournament and this generates greater side revenues on hotel reservations and meals. Daniel Delshad, the CEO of Dream Team Gaming had this to say, “The overwhelming interest from top poker pros to participate in a non-televised, five-hundred dollar game proves that the Dream Team Poker concept provides a needed, new experience to players.”

It is expected that the team count will cross 100 and the individual player count will cross 300. The favorite team is “Team Favorites”. Only Phil Hellmuth could give his team that name, the man recently in a weird hand malfunction at the USA online poker site, Ultimatebet. The hand was more than just a poker bad beat, it rewarded the winning losing player, Helmuth, the pot.

The others in the team are Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss. The dark horse is an all women’s team named “Team Yo Mama” consisting of Tiffany Michele, Maria Ho and Lacey Jones. There is also a veterans team of T.J. Cloutier, Tom McEvoy and Kathy Liebert called Pro Team 1. Other poker pros who will be participating are Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Justin Bonomo, Dennis Phillips, Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Joe Sebok, Liz Liu and Erica Schoenberg. Mekhi Phifer the actor Chris Mills the NBA star will be having their own team, The Sole Survivors.

Dream Team Poker was founded in 2007 by Dream Team Gaming, a privately held company headquartered in Beverly Hills. It has licensed its unique tournament structure to many of the largest and most popular casinos in the United States. The inaugural tornament took place in November 2008 at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The Bluff Magazine Team consisting of Eric Morris, Justin Bonomo and Matthew Parvis won. The Super Tilt team was second. Jason Lilly of Team Flop won the first prize. The placements of some prominent pros were as follows. Jamie Gold was 12th, Erica Schoenberg was 30th and Maria Ho was 75th. The competition is stiffer this time.The tournament is being held at Caesar’s Palace this time in the Poker Room. This room is steeped in history as Jim Pedulla the Director of the Poker Room said, “… we are proud to host this event in the World Series of Poker tournament room, which is also the site of NBC Heads Up Poker …”

Which Poker Pros Play at PokerStars.com

Harboring some of the biggest names in poker, PokerStars continues to add to their ever growing list of pro poker players and celebrity friends. They currently have 29 Pros and 5 Friends that can be found playing on online at any given time. We are sure you are familiar with Jason Alexander from Seinfeld and Orel Hershiser who is known as a retired pitcher from the L.A Dodgers. Although it was very difficult, we have compiled a list of our top 4 pros to try and catch on PokerStars. If you would like to try and catch up with a member of TeamPokerStars, we suggest you use the PokerStars Bonus Code to receive a great bonus as well.

Barry Greenstein

aka barryg1

Born December 30, 1954 in Chicago

Barry Greenstein has been playing poker most of his life. After graduating with a bachelors degree in computer science, he went to work for Symantec until he retired in 1991. Since then, his focus has been on poker. He is a master at mixed games and has personal preference for as many mixed games to be involved when playing their high stakes ring games. Barry Greenstein is also known as "The Bear" and more popularly known as "The Robin Hood of Poker" for his massively generous donations to various charities. He currently works on PokerRoad, a website created with stepson Joe Sebok, whom is also a poker pro. They have a radio show and various blogs from other poker pros. Some of his current winnings include cashing in 6 events in the 2008 WSOP for a total of $768,461. He also has won 3 bracelets, one in 2004 for 2-7 Draw NL, 2005 for Pot Limit Omaha, and 1 in 2008 for a $1,500 Razz tournament. If you would like to play with Barry, sign up at PokerStars and look for his screen name, barryg1.

Daniel Negreanu

aka KidPoker

Born July 26, 1974

Daniel Negreanu was simply born to gamble, not to mention play poker. After dropping out of high school with only a few credits to go, Negreanu headed over to Vegas to give it a shot playing poker. That didn't last long however as he made his way back to his hometown of Toronto to rebuild his bankroll. A couple years later, Daniel Negreanu is doing excellent and operating his site, Full Contact Poker, where he contributes daily to his blog and forum. He has an interesting challenge currently, trying to take $10 and turn it into $100,000 through proper bankroll management strategies. He simply states it was because he wanted a challenge. As of recent, he has placed in 5th place at the NBC Heads Up Event for a total of $75,000. His last 1st place finish was in 11/08 at the B.C Poker Championship. A fan of the "small ball" strategy, you can find tips from Daniel in Doyle Brunsons revised version of Super System II or you can pick up Daniels very own book, "more Holdem Wisdom For All Players." He can be found on PokerStars using the screen name KidPoker.

Chris Moneymaker

aka Money800

Born November 21, 1975

The man who started it all, Chris Moneymaker gave everyone hope when he turned a $39 satellite into a World Series Main Event win of over $2.5 million dollars. Prior to his big win, he an accountant and 9 months later quit his day job to play poker full time. He currently has a book out, "Moneymaker: How An Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker." As of 2008, his total earning are over $2.8 million. Some of his notable cash finishes include his 6th place finish at the WCOOP event 5, which was the NLHE event and he walked away with $139,000. He also finished in 5th place for event 16, earning $28,000. Chris Moneymaker currently has 2 companies with one being a poker school and the other is "Moneymaker Gaming," where they make poker chips. You can find Chris Moneymaker at PokerStars using the screen name Money800.

Vanessa Rousso

aka LadyMaverick

Born February 5, 1983

After graduating early in 2003 from Duke University with a major in Economics and a minor in Political Science, Vanessa Rousso decided to play poker full time. She has a number of cash finishes under her belt including, 7th place at the WPT championship, 8th place at the 2006 WSOP 5k HLHE event, and 2006 she cashed for $285,450 at the Borgata Open. She currently has her own site where she writes on her blog and has recently done a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated. 2009 has been a great year for Vanessa as she made it to the semi finals in the NBC Heads Up Event and finished in 7th place for $80,000 in the 7th season of WPT. You can find Vanessa Rousso using the screen name "LadyMaverick" over at PokerStars.

The short stack strategy – Pros and Cons

Usually you can buy in for 20 – 100 Big Blinds in No-Limit Cash Games. If you buy in for 20 Big Blinds your stack is one fifth of a big stack that buys-in for 100 Big Blinds. That's a big difference and sometimes a disadvantage. But some poker players buy-in for this minimum and playing the short stack strategy (SSS).

Pros of SSS

A big advantage is that the risk is small because you're only playing with a minimum buy-in. Especially in No-Limit Hold'em one mistake can be very expensive. If you're playing SSS and making a mistake it only costs your small buy-in. The damage is only one fifth compared to the big stack if he happens to go broke.

Furthermore SSS is easy to learn. You're just waiting for the right hands take a look at the flop and move all-in if it's the right one or move in pre-flop after a raise. For novice players SSS is an option because they are looking for easy-to-learn strategies with minimal risk.

Cons of SSS

But there are also disadvantages that should be considered. First of all there is the belief SSS has nothing to do with playing poker. This is understandable because you need no skills to wait for the right hand and move all-in then. You don't need any post-flop skills and this is the most interesting part of poker.

So we're already at the second disadvantage: You don't learn to play properly. You don't have to deal with poker strategy, you're decision is either go all-in fold. You're playing like a robot always with the same program running. There's no need to read poker books or talk with other players about hands. So you'll always be a machine rather than a poker player.

There are two good reasons for novice poker players to start with SSS: small risk and easy-to-learn strategy. But the two disadvantages are also powerful. I highly recommend playing SSS only at the beginning and switch to big stack strategy as soon as possible.

Virtual Poker For Real Money

Using state-of-the-art computer technology, thousands of people play poker online for real money. By linking their computers to the Internet, players living as far apart as New York, London, and Tokyo are able to play together simultaneously in computer-generated poker games - for real cash.

Until recently, such games weren't feasible. The challenge was to invent poker software that would enable strangers to play against each other in live games from different locations -and with enough confidence to back their mouse clicks with cash.

Without real money at stake, online casinos cannot make profits. (They take a rake - a fixed percentage of each pot -just as a real casino poker room does. The only difference is that it's taken electronically rather than by a human dealer.)

Milestone advances in computer graphics, sound, and programming made Internet cash games possible. On January 1, 1998, Planet Poker was the first Internet poker casino to offer poker for cash stakes. Others followed.

But is it legal?

The answer as to whether such games are legal depends on which side of the business you're on - supplier side or client side - and also on where you live.

If you're thinking of starting an online poker casino, you'd better get out of Dodge! In the United States, you may be prosecuted for operating such a business, since federal law likely prohibits them.

Seeing a potential gold rush of almost unlimited client demand, foreign entrepreneurs rushed in to fill the void. Internet poker casinos are based in countries where laws are more lenient, such as Costa Rica.

The clients, however, may live anywhere. In some areas, it is against the law to place bets on the Internet. Depending on where you live, it may be illegal to play poker for cash stakes online.

Easier to achieve monthly VIP Levels at PokerStars

PokerStars lowered the amount of VIP Player Points (VPPs) required to achieve SilverStar, GoldStar and PlatinumStar status. Starting with March, the new amounts of VPPs required are:

Requirement lowered to 1,200 VPPs per month
(from 1,500)

Requirement lowered to 3,000 VPPs per month
(from 4,000)

Requirement lowered to 7,500 VPPs per month
(from 10,000)

Are You a Responsible Gambler

Responsible gambling is good gambling. Below is a 20-item questionnaire published by gamblers anonymous regarding gambling addiction.

Answer these twenty questions honestly and carefully. If you answer, “yes” to seven or more questions, you may have a gambling problem.

This is strongly recommend that you pass this page questionnaire to the fellow poker players as well who you may think is in danger of having a problem.

1. Did you lose time from work or school due to gambling?
2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
3. Did gambling affect your reputation?
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
9. Did you often gamble until your last penny was gone?
10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
12. Were you reluctant to use “gambling money” for normal expenditures?
13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself and your family?
14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
20. Have you ever considered self-destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?

Please answer all the questions honestly as this is for self-assessment and you can easily judge yourself that what are you actually in or up to.

An Overview Of Online Gambling

Like any commercial business, online gambling also took its chance of having to saturate a broader area of gaming via Internet. Every kind of gambling has to face their online counter parts on the Web.

Most believe that online gambling is just safe as gambling is done is well known casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Before engaging for online gambling you need to have license and permits just as you do in normal casino gambling

This is though necessary to make the environment more professional and to protect users from any fraud or scam from unauthorized entries

Another bonus of online gambling is they tend to offer you some free money on your initial deposit. This is the foremost reason that most people believe that they have a better chance to win in online gambling then real life gambling, but also to consider that risk appetite is same in all.

For playing online people can deposit money through credit card or pre-paid cards as this is the safest way and mostly preferred in by wider group of users.

Further online casinos can be classified into two groups but that is most change in their playing interface. Web based and download based online casinos are the two types.

Web based casinos can be directly played from the Internet Browser only but you just need to check that you have the plugins like Macromedia Flash, Shockwave, or Java.

And for the download-based casinos there is piece of software that you have to download in your computer or laptop before initiate playing. Thus because of its local presence most people tend to believe that they are faster to initiate casinos games as compared with the web based casinos.

Online gambling is considered to be highly interactive game, like while playing online player can make their own choices based on prerogatives. Therefore before playing online gambling players must know their own dispositions so that they should not be deceived

How I built my poker bankroll $100 to $4700

Last week, i have deposit $100 into PKR Poker. so i played few hours in $0.50-$1 blind and get up with $400. Then next day, i felt like i should try $1-$2 blind, so i sat with $200 and played about 3 hours and get up with $865. so i was happy the way it hold my AA, KK and AK. it usually does not. i always lose with big hand. However, as my bankroll reach $1065 then i have decided to give a shot at $2-$4 blind. so i sat with $400.

I got some lucky river and i was surprised that i did not lose any hand with AA or KK. so i get up with $1400. then next day i feel lucky and tried $5-$10. sat with $800. and i was playing good and fortune favor the brave, and get up with $2200.

my Bankroll reach $100 to $4700 within 3 days. i felt it is time to withdraw 50% of my bankroll before i lose. so i have withdraw $2700.

The next day i sat at $2-$4 with $800. then i was playing good. but in a hand i had KK. i raised $16, guy called Flop 6, 2, 10 so i bet $32. he raised on me $75. i was like WTF, so i push all in $800. and guess what he had? 62 yes he held his 2 pair and won $1600 pot. i was like hmm may be my luck running out and next day i lost rest of my bankroll with AA, KK, AK, AQ, as i always play big hand. i lost them all.

so i want to say, even though you are good at poker, you have to be lucky. if your luck run out you will keep losing. so when you play high blind poker be careful, as people call with junk and catch and bust you. that's my last week story.

Basic Rules To Playing Winning Texas Holdem Poker

There are some basic rules that you need to follow that can help you winning. Some of these steps are really cool and could actually help you in getting through with tournaments also. Basically in online poker games you need to confuse the opponent player that what are you actually doing.

This can also be described, as when you are playing online poker the opponent player mind should be more in your game than in his play then only your tricks succeed because if you make the opponent busy in your tricks you actually confuse and then you can easily take any advantage.

Play only games you are comfortable with the stakes. If you feel you have too much money at risk, you won’t play your hands correctly, or aggressively.

Play only good starting hands.

Raise your good stating hands pre-flop.

Limp-in with bad, or mediocre hands ONLY at the low blinds and ONLY play the hand if you get trips, 2-pair, or a 4-card flush or straight draw.

Play your position. It is much smarter to raise pre-flop from a late position than from an early position. From a late position or, even better, the button, you can play worse hands and get away from them with less expense.

Know your hand groupings, but also keep an eye out for small suited connectors. You can win BIG pots with the connectors.

ALWAYS beware of a flush. Especially if playing at Party Poker. If 5 or more people are in to see the flop, odds are ONE of them will be drawing to the flush.

Bet aggressively with good hands. BET YOUR HANDS!

Try to win most hands after the flop.

With only 4 or 5 players at the table, start playing the END GAME. Raise, and play, everything quicker and consistently.