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 …”