Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
The free card is any card that players receive without having to put any chips into the middle of the table. It is a round of betting that goes by without any actual betting. Players essentially pass on wagering so that they can see one more card for free.
There are two sides to the free card: getting and giving. Depending on your hand and your strategy, either of these strategies can be effective. If you have a marginal hand, you will want to get a free card. This can be accomplished by betting in an earlier round of betting, when the amounts wagered are smaller. Usually you must be in last position for this to work. Having opponents check around the poker table to you will give you the opportunity to check yourself and see one more card; hopefully a card that will take your have from marginal to competitive.
Giving the free card is a much different story. This is done to create a false sense of security amongst your opponents. By setting the trap of the free card, you are trying to establish the thought that your hand is not worth betting. This is generally not to your advantage if you have a great hand. If you have a great hand, you will want to get as many bets as possible into the middle so that you can win a greater amount with your monster hands. Giving a free card then is hardly ever a sound strategy, except when you have a hand slightly better than marginal and wish to confuse your opponents.
Tags: Confuse opponents, Free card strategy
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Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
Your style of play should not be static. In other words, depending on the type of game you are playing, you need to alter your poker strategy in order to play most effectively against your opponents. If players are participating in almost every hand, you too can play more hands since the starting requirements for hands have been lowered by the other players. Players who do this are generally weaker players and can be exploited. A weak table can also be beaten also by only playing your strong hands. Because you will have many callers when you have a legitimate hand, you are going to be able to take chips from those other players.
If players are stronger and are playing fewer hands, they are generally going to be harder to beat because of the fact that the few hands that they do play will be much better. When you are caught in a heads up situation with one of these players, you can sometimes take advantage of their tight play by bluffing. This will only work if you have created an image for yourself that says you only play the best hands as well. In this case, you can create the illusion that the hand you are playing is better than these players’ own good hands. If you are going to bluff, remember that bluffs will not work regularly against these players. Because they are better players, they will be able to quickly catch on to the fact that you are playing less than stellar hands. Masking your play is important, but bluffs will certainly not take the place of sound fundamentals within your play.
Tags: making aggressive plays, playing tight poker
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Monday, November 29th, 2010
It is much easier to manipulate the pot odds that others are receiving in no limit or pot limit Texas Hold ‘Em than it is in the limit version of the same game. This is because you can easily make the pot odds so poor for your opponent, that unless they have a monster hand, they should immediately fold. For example, if someone is chasing a fifth flush card on the river, they have a 5.1-1 chance of making their hand. If you realize they are chasing a flush draw, you can instantly make their bet a losing proposition by doubling the size of the pot: a $50 bet into a $50 pot will make your opponents pot odds 2-1 ($100 in the pot with the opponent having to call an additional $50). Since the effective odds they are receiving from the pot are large than the odds of their making the hand, they will lose 5.1 times for every time that they win. Again, this does not guarantee that they will lose every hand. There is always a roughly 16 percent chance that they will win (1 / 6.1 = .163). But the times that you win will greatly outweigh the times that your opponent wins over the long term, thus ensuring a profit over a large enough sample.
The big bet into a big pot can backfire, though. Oftentimes people will employ this strategy as a bluff. If you have no hand, this can be disastrous since you will most certainly lose if you are called. If your opponent suspects that you are bluffing or will bluff, they can set this up to trap you if they have a strong hand. Remember that bluffs work best on small pots since there is less incentive for others to stay in the hand if their investment and return will be minimal.
The semi-bluff is an important distinction. If you have a realistic chance of improving your hand to the winning one, sometimes a large bet can pay off. Be careful that you have a good read on your opponents, though. You most certainly do not want to hit the hand you were hoping for only to lose to a better one.
Tags: Big pot hands, Pot odds in your favor, strong poker hands
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Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
The term “pot odds” refers to the odds you are getting with your calling a hand. For example, if you are involved in a hand where there is $50 in the pot already and it is $10 for you to stay in the hand, your pot odds are 5-1. This is what is called your effective odds. In addition to your effective odds, you will need to know the odds of hitting the hand you are trying to make. If in Texas Hold ‘Em you have a four card flush after the flop and the turn, there are nine outs for you to hit your hand within the remaining 46 cards that you do not know. 46-9 breaks down to roughly 5.1-1 odds for hitting the flush on the river. If the pot odds were 5-1 as in the example above, you should fold this hand assuming there is no other way for you to win the hand since your effective pot odds are paying less than the amount of times you will actually complete your hand. Over the long term, folding such hands will save you money.
What about instances where there are more rounds of betting ahead of you? Effective odds are great, but how do you use them to predict the future? This is where your “implied odds” come into play. Implied odds take into account future rounds of betting and are vital in determining whether or not you should stay in the hand. Let’s go back to the example above. There is $50 in the pot after the turn and it is up to you to call a $10 bet. You are chasing that fifth card for a flush again and you know that you have a 5.1-1 chance of making the hand. If you call the $10 bet, your play is incorrect—for now. If the pot has the promise of growing larger, it might actually be a good idea to play the current hand. If you suspect that your opponent will bet another $10 the next round of wagering, and at least three others will call besides yourself, your implied odds are actually 110-20, meaning that by risking $20 (two rounds of $10 bets), you are standing to win an additional $110. This breaks down to 5.5-1, meaning that your implied odds warrant a call. In other words, one of your nine outs will hit often enough to make you money over the long term.
Tags: chances of winning, how many outs, pot odds
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Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
PokerStars.com boasts that it is the world’s largest poker site and there is good reason for this. PokerStars offers many promotions, including some live events such as entries to the United States Poker Championship in Atlantic City, the EPT London Charity Event, and even a seat in the Big Game. The Big Game is a live nationally televised cash game that you can qualify to be a “loose cannon” on. The round one qualifiers took place starting in March of this year, and go all the way up to December 20th. There are three rounds for qualification into the main event. If you finish in the top 300 of a round one qualifier, you advance to round two, which is held each Saturday up until the end of the tournament qualifiers. A top 1,000 finish in round two gets you into round three on Sunday, where you need to finish in the top 200. These 200 players will be put into a casting pool, where they must submit a video outlining why they should be featured as a loose cannon on the show. Not only do you need poker skills, then, but charisma and a camera-friendly attitude to win the loose cannon spot on the show. PokerStars will stake you the $100,00 necessary to play on the show, anything you win beyond that is yours to keep. You must however, survive the minimum 150 hands in order to keep your winnings.
If you are not currently a member at PokerStars.com, you can sign up today and earn a 100 percent bonus, doubling the money you put into your poker account with as little as $10 or as much as $600. The choice is up to you and your bankroll requirements. Because PokerStars is such a popular site, you are sure to find a game in which you can make money. And with PokerStars frequent player program, you are sure to be rewarded for the countless hours that you will play on the site. The more you play, the more points you earn. These points can be redeemed for tournament entries, apparel, and electronic equipment.
Tags: Poker Stars Tournaments, PokerStars Big Game, pokerstars.com
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Thursday, November 11th, 2010
In a tournament setting, your chips change value as the game progresses. This might not make sense at first, but it is true. Let’s use the World Series of Poker as an example. When you first buy in to the tournament for $10,000, the chips you are given are worth $10,000. However, as you advance through the tournament and your chips wax and wane, the monetary value of them fluctuates. If you have $10,000 in chips and you are the second to last player left in the tournament, those chips are now worth almost $1 million since this is the prize money that is won with a second place finish.
The chips that you gain early in a tournament are not worth as much as the chips you lose. Think about this in terms of proportions. If there is $100,000 in prize money available, and there are ten players starting out with $10,000 each, chips start out being 1/10th of the total prize money, holding their true value of $10,000. As people leave the tournament, the chips will change in value. With five people left, $10,000 is now worth only $5,000 in chip value. Because the average amount of chips held by each player is now $20,000, or 1/5th of the total amount up for grabs, your $10,000 is now worth only half of what it once was.
The true value of your chips is related to the prize value that you are immediately capable of earning. If you have only $1 in chips remaining and you are the second to last player in a tournament with a second place payout of $500,000, that one dollar is worth just a shade more than $500,000. This is because of the fact that there is an extremely small chance that you could still win the tournament and take home the bigger prize. Remember the saying “all you need is a chip and a chair”? The implications of this statement are that given enough winning hands in a row, all you need to win a tournament is to be still alive in it. So if someone wanted to buy your seat for some odd reason, in order to get the true value of your chip, you would need to charge a minuscule amount more than half a million.
Tags: poker chips, poker tournaments, pokerstars tournaments
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Thursday, November 4th, 2010
FullTiltPoker.com has some great promotions going on right now, the newest one being the Take 2. This offer allows poker players to earn up to $25 in real cash and double the Full Tilt Points you can earn between October 15th and the 24th. When you earn 500 Full Tilt Points, you become eligible for the Full Tilt Black Card. This VIP card allows you to earn rewards back based upon your poker playing. The more you play, the better the rewards. The Black Card Store is a place where you can exchange the points that you have earned like cash in exchange for items such as cash bonuses, clothing, and electronic devices like HD televisions and Blu-Ray players. The Black Card also gives you access to tailored customer support and VIP treatment at live poker events like the World Series of Poker. This is a great incentive for serious poker players to be treated like the VIP clients they are.
Another great offer from Full Tilt Poker is the Little Big Tournament. For just $2.20, you can enter a tournament to win a guaranteed $100,000 in prize money. These tournaments occur every other Sunday; the next taking place on October 24th. There are many satellite opportunities that will give you the opportunity to enter this tournament as well, starting at even less: $0.35. You can also exchange Full Tilt points to gain entry to a satellite. If you want to win big but don’t want to risk much of your bankroll, these tournaments are especially designed for you.
If you do not currently have a Full Tilt account, you can sign up today and receive a 100 percent bonus of up to $600. If you are operating with a smaller bankroll, you can deposit as little as $10 and start playing right away with their quick deposit options. FullTiltPoker.net offers a variety of games and variations of poker so you are sure to find exactly what you are looking for.
Tags: full tilt, Full Tilt Account, world series of poker
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Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
The slow play is a type of deception that is oftentimes very effective for creating a big pot. In order to maximize the slow play you should have a very strong hand. You will want to do this in the early rounds of betting as well, because the slow play works best when there is the allure of a potentially big pot. The idea here is to lure people into a hand where they will continuously put money into the pot, only to be surprised by the strength of your hand at the end and ultimately pay you when their hands end up being losers.
The slow play works like this: you do not bet the true value of your hand. Instead, you let others do the betting for you. Passively, you wait until the pot is large, calling other people’s bets. Only when you know that they will pay you do you start to raise yourself. This is mostly done on the final round of betting where you will win the pot right away if they do end up folding. The idea with the slow play is to get your opponents to put in as much money as possible because they think that they have the best hand. But, if you slow play only your strong hands, they will hardly ever have the best hand, causing you to win large pots.
Like all poker strategies, you do not want to overplay this one. Too much slow playing on your part will cause opponents to freeze up and just check through all of their hands. This, obviously, does not get any money in the pot for you to win.
Another factor to consider is when you have the absolute nuts. In this case, you will not want to slow play because there is a possibility that your opponent may have a strong hand as well. When you have the nuts, you will want to bet that hand for value because there are no ways you can lose, and thus you want your opponent to call as much as possible. This is a rare but important exception to the slow play routine.
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Thursday, October 21st, 2010
The bluff is perhaps the most famous element of poker. Only in a game like poker can you have absolutely no chance of winning, yet still pull out a victory just because you acted confident. Still, there are some rules that need to be abide by when it comes to bluffing. For one, you cannot bluff on a regular basis; if you do your opponents will recognize that you are bluffing and will be able to beat you with extremely weak hands. Obviously, the bluff, if overused, loses its entire efficacy.
Another situation that you will not want to use a bluff in is when there are several people in the pot. A bluff might scare one of two people away, but if there is a large pot, the odds are that at least one of the people active in the hand will have a hand that they will not fold. A true bluff cannot beat this type of hand, and if they are not going to be folding, a bluff is simply throwing your money away.
Deception should always be an element of your game. This does not mean that it should always be at the forefront of your playing repertoire, though. A big bet will sometimes scare a weak hand away, causing you to win a hand that you otherwise would not have. The more often your opponents make mistakes, the more money you will make. This is most true when there is only one other person in the pot. It is also most effective with small pots. The bigger the pot in question, the less likely people are to fold at the end—even with weak hands. The thinking behind this is that they have already invested a lot of money into the hand, why should they fold when they have even the slightest chance of scoring big? Therefore, deception is less valuable in big pots because it will not work nearly as often as it would against a solo opponent over a small pot.
Sometimes people will bluff as a sort of false advertising. If they get “caught” bluffing in one situation, perhaps their opponents will suspect that they are bluffing during a later hand where they are actually playing a good strong hand. This is something that should be done rarely, and only against players observant enough to notice that you are not playing the hand correctly.
Tags: Bluffing, Poker Face
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Friday, October 15th, 2010
UB.com’s “Seven Deuce” tables are turning poker upside down. The way it works is pretty simple: if you win a hand with a seven and a two, you win an additional side pot. But, as top poker players know, this is much easier said than done. 7-2 is the worst hand in poker and it will take a lot to win with these hands. The craziness begins when people start bluffing to try and scare others out of the hand so that their weak hand can take down the pot and the side bet. This starts a psychological war; is the person bluffing because they want the side pot? Or are they playing like they are bluffing so that I will call and they really have a strong hand that they are trapping me with? These tables promise to deliver more action than normal tables because of this.
When you join a Seven Deuce table, you put a portion of your money into a side pot. If you leave the table before there is a winner, your side bet is returned to you. If however, someone wins with a 7-2, they are awarded the entire side pot, and the process starts over again.
UB.com has become one of the top online gaming rooms because of attractions like Seven Deuce. Their Rai$e program is also top-notch. For players that spend a lot of time playing poker online, this is something you do not want to miss. With items like free tournament entries, play against professionals, and VIP treatment, Rai$e is another revolutionary feature from UB. Although it takes quite a while to reach the top of the five levels of play, it is worth it for the serious poker player. You can even start earning interest on the money in your poker account, a thing almost unheard of in the vast majority of poker rooms.
Every Sunday, there is an opportunity to play in one of the biggest tournaments out there. With the $200,000 guaranteed payout tournament, you can play against some of the best online players out there. There are daily satellite tournaments to enter this big one starting with as little as $1.10.
Tags: Cash Games, UB tournaments, ub.com
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Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
The size of the pot up for grabs should play a definite role in your poker playing. There are several reasons for this, one of which has to do with the fact that it is better to win one extremely large hand rather than a bunch of small ones. Think about it this way, would you rather win $100 one time or $10 nine times? Sure with the latter you would be winning more hands and probably be a bit less frustrated, but the $100 is a larger amount. We play poker to win money, not to win hands.
So if the pot is large, you need to try harder to win it. This does not mean chasing bad hands all the way to the end of a hand. It means intelligently strategizing so that if you do have a strong hand, you are maximizing the amount that goes into that pot. A big pot should be played aggressively, if only for the reason that others will be playing aggressively as well.
If the pot is very big, you will want to try and win it immediately. The more chances you give your opponents to outdraw you the more times over the course of your playing career you will lose those big pots. So even if you think you have the second best hand, you will want to play more aggressively to try and win the pot right away.
If you have the absolute nuts, meaning there is no possibility that your hand can lose, you may want to contemplate slow playing. This is strategy is the exact opposite of the one outlined above. You will want to mask the strength of your hand so that your opponent thinks that they have you beat. This will encourage them to play their hands too aggressively and put even more money into the pot. It does need to be reiterated that this play only will be successful over the long term if you cannot be beaten. If you have any possibility of losing the hand, you will want to win big pots as quickly as possible.
Tags: pot size
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Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
You hear all about the poker players at PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com, but you rarely here about players from other online poker rooms, such as Bodog. Bodog.com has two players that stand out from the pack. Evelyn Ng and Amanda Musumeci.
Evelyn Ng – Lives in Las Vegas and is very striking when you see her up close. She has some big wins to her name and you can always find her playing cash games and tournaments at Bodog.com
Amanda Musumeci – Also lives in Las Vegas and is a professional poker player. She is a player who has been recently added to the Bodog team, but shows a lot of potential for sure. She is known as the BodogMander at the online tables. At the age of 25 she has a long way to go, but you may see her name on TV one of these days.
Poker promotions going on right now
1. 110% Bonus on your first deposit.
2. Earn double points on your play once you get started.
3. You always have the Sunday $100k with a very nice Overlay
4. Daily Freerolls for all our newbies and seasoned players
You have plenty of options when you play online, but Bodog also gives you access to their online sportsbook and casino. These combined with their awesome customer service gives you several great reasons to play there.
Tags: evelyn ng, poker babes, poker pros
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Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
Become a Sponsored Poker Player Live your Poker Dream
Wouldn’t it be great to have someone to pay your deposit money so you can play your favorite game of poker? How would you like to have a rich sponsor pay your tournament entry fees so you don’t spend your own funds? Seems too good to be true, but the explosion of numerous websites cropping up all over the internet may well turn your desire into reality. Several sites claim to give away free poker sponsorships but you need to find one that is legitimate and not just a marketing gimmick.
Rest assured, there are genuine websites that really have poker sponsorships on offer for the serious poker player. If you have set your heart on playing poker without spending a dime out of your pocket, it would certainly be worth your while to scout around a bit to find one such site that offers exactly what you are looking for. There’s a catch, though – you need to be a winning poker player; websites typically prefer to sponsor quality poker players that turn out to be a good value for their money.
Most of these sites would like to watch your game while you play with your own money before offering to back you up. There are others that may test your knowledge about poker by quizzing you while yet others may just offer you money upfront to play poker. As expected, there are conditions to any sponsorship deal. You might be required to share your winnings with the sponsor or promote their site. Earlier, I mentioned sites that offer real money upfront to play poker, without expecting anything in return. These are affiliate sites – they are paid by the poker room for bringing in new customers that generate rake.
So, as a poker player, how do you capitalize on this idea of a “free sponsorship”? Well, you could play exceptional poker and make a lot of money, in fact, you can even think of poker as a full time career. There are various types of poker sponsorships available nowadays. For example, buyinbank.com is one such site offering a unique sponsorship program. If you see yourself as an aspiring tournament player, take a look at what Buy-in bank has in store for you.
Buyinbank.com is a new site that lets you exchange reward points for buy-ins for live tournaments and sponsored poker package deals. The conditions are simple – all you do is play poker for real money at any of the poker rooms that Buy-in bank has tied up with. You earn points for playing raked hands which can be exchanged at the site’s Poker Tour Store. If interested, you can choose to promote the site at the live tournament and you will be given a kit containing their clothing gear to wear at the event.
To become a member and participate in the rewards program, you can sign up for a free account at buyinbank.com. The more raked hands you play at the poker room, the more points you earn. Also, if you perform well at the tournament and bring home the title, you can look forward to a sponsorship deal with Buy-in Bank. Visit buyinbank.com to find out more about their amazing offers.
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Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Right now, Absolute Poker and UB.com have a bad beat jackpot that stands at $197,000. Now we know the odds are pretty slim on winning this bad beat jackpot but if you do, the payout is substantial. Please consider before you playing these tables that you have to pay extra into the rake every hand to be eligible to win this prize.
You can join the thousands of players at UB.com and absolutepoker.com and play some of the greatest tournaments online. On September 12th Absolute Poker is hosting a super satellite where they’re guaranteeing free top prizes to the main event at the WSOPE. These packages are valued at over $18,000. You can start satellite play for the low price of $.10.
Also on September 12th, Absolute Poker is hosting an event to raise money for the Vincent Lacavalier pediatric cancer center. This hockey player is hosting the tournament in St. Petersburg on September 10th and over $2100 in tournament entry fees will be given away.
Some current promotions at UB.com and absolute poker include 111% bonus with a minimum of $10 deposit and up to $1100 free. For over 10 years UB.com and absolute poker have been shuffling cards for online poker players just like you.
One other thing to consider when playing online is the in game points you receive for playing the cash games or poker tournaments. All these points add up in which you can earn special prizes including poker tables, iPads and everything in between. AP offers special power hours which will allow you to double your points the day your playing. Good luck at the tables and we’ll see you at the final table.
Tags: absolutepoker events, poker news
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Party poker is one of the original online poker rooms to offer players live poker action. Players from around the world are able to play cash games and poker tournaments throughout the day 24 hours a day seven days a week. Recently French players have been disabled from playing at PartyPoker.com. Now, with the resurrection of PartyPoker.fr players from France can start playing poker again online. Players who sign up between September 3rd and September 7th will receive a FREE five dollar bonus. This is a huge offer for new players to the game of poker. This promotion has been seen on French TV’s for a the past few weeks, so you might want to jump on board before time runs out.
There are 25 packages for the WPT Amnéville poker tournament still available from PartyPoker.fr with satellites going on right now. This offer is exclusive to all French players. Each package is worth €5000, which will include the event buy-in, €500 in spending money, hotel accommodations and excellent hospitality. What are you waiting for?
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Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
You can start qualifying now with the numerous satellites FullTilt is offering for the Mini Tops XVII. These are the same 34 events as the FTOPS, but the price is 1/10th the cost. Starting Wednesday, Septemeber 8th, the Mini FTOPS kicks in to high gear with over $6 million in guaranteed money. Too get things going is Event #1, $20 + 2 NL Hold’em event. A great way to start.
If big tournaments is not your thing, then maybe you’re into Sit and Go’s. Another Sit and Go madness begins on August 27th and runs through the 29th at FullTilt. This is a great weekend for the sit and go grinders as well as players looking to get more involved in tournament play. To learn more about this future promotion, you can see it at Full Tilt.
Keep in mind when signing up with a new poker rooms, you may want to take advantage of our poker rakeback deals. It is pretty simple to get started and it’s free cash back in your pocket. Just make sure you follow the steps when you sign up so everything is tracked properly. If you have any questions please contact us. We look forward to seeing every one at the tables whether it’s at FullTilt, UB.com or Doyles Room.
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
What is happening at Bodog this month? Beside being our poker room of the month, BodogPoker.com is offering it’s UK players 25 FREE pounds for a sports bet, 100% casino match and up to 50 pounds in Poker Bonuses. For a period of time Bodog players will also get another 10% on top of everything else. Just so we are clear, this is for players from the UK.
Some other things happening at Bodog is the Exclusive New Slot Machine. Witches and Wizards slot machine is now ready for your gaming pleasure. You can download the game as well as use the instant play feature Bodog offers it’s players.
The NFL season is right around the corner and the betting will be strong going into the first week. Make sure you take advantage of our exclusive bonus options.
Of course there are plenty of poker promotions going on. Besides the nice bonus upgrades, the VIP status, and daily freerolls, there are some other cool things happening. The Sunday 100k is always a great poker tournament. Let’s not forget the badbeat jackpot bonus. Someone at Feltstars.com just hit it and cleared over $90k. That is a great way to win some money, by being beat with a monster hand by another monster hand.
As we always say, you have to be in it to win it.
Tags: bodogpoker.com, nfl betting, slots
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Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
This past weeks PokerStars Sunday million had some great action giving BarneyR2005 a nice top prize of $244,749. Not a bad day at the office for this gentleman. With a buy-in of $215, 8319 entrants and a cash pool of $1,663,800, it only makes sense this game lasted over 11 hours. That is a long time of playing a single poker tournament with only a five minute break on the hour. Winning top prize
definitely took some commitment.
When it finally got to heads up action, it came down to BarneyR2005 with 43 million chips and B Buddy with 39 million chips. This was a pretty tight heads up match chip wise. Aggressive style paid off in the end for Barney. Barney is now added to the history books of big winners at the Sunday Million.
Have you ever been in a Lamborghini before? How about owning one? Now is your chance to get in on this huge PokerStars.net event. You can win this amazing car for free. That’s right FREE!!! A $200,000 car could be yours if you take down the qualifiers and the main event. This event runs from July 25th through October 3rd. The final day is when the Lamborghini Gallardo will be rewarded, not to mention a $250,000 prize pool will be given out to the top 5000 finishers. Remember, there will be a lot of competition, so bring your best poker game.
Tags: Lamborghini Freeroll
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Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
After two weeks of non stop battling, the 2010 WSOP November 9 is all set. We’ve seen the fanfare, the Poker Pros get crushed and the lonely amatuer donk off their stack. This is nothing new when it comes to a WSOP main event.
Some Significant WSOP Stats
Entrants: 7,319
Total Prize Pool: $68,798,600 – Sick
Number of player reaching the money : 747
First Place $8,944,138
Lowest Payout at the final Table: $811,823
Countries Represented: USA, Canada, Italy
Except for the one Sales Manager at the age of 37, the rest of the players are Poker Pros and the average age is around 25. This is one of those years where most likely a poker pro will win a bracelet. There will be a lot of FullTiltPoker.net hats floating around for sure. Coming into the event in November a Canadian has a commanding lead on the rest of the crew. This really doesn’t matter, since it only takes one hand to change things in a big fashion.
Of course, the favorite at this final table is Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. This guy is truly on fire. He has taken down a bracelet this year already and several big cashes in the past. Although he is a bit short-stacked, he will make a run for first place by the end of the day.
All the magic will happen on Novemeber 6th. I’m sure ESPN is excited to bring you all the action to their viewers coming soon. Enjoy!
Tags: November nine, wsop november 9
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Mark is the name, and I’m the owner and one of the main writers of Poker Bankroll Blog. The people behind Tips4poker.com have been nice enough to give me the chance to write a guest post for their site.
Before starting on the central topic for this article, I want to give a short introduction to my blog. Currently it has more than 350 articles covering topics like poker bankroll management, poker mathematics, poker strategy and much more. My ultimate goal is to become one of the top online poker article databases. I have in total 6 years of online poker experience which gives me plenty to write about. But since I run my blog on a hobby basis I don’t have enough time to write about everything myself. As a result, I have decided to give fellow poker writers the opportunity to contribute to my blog in order to build my article database and get different point of views on the many aspects of poker.
As far as I know, all poker players experience bad beats on a regular basis. The reason for this is that poker is in essence a game of probabilities (some critics will state it’s a game of luck but that’s because they don’t know better). Even if you’re ahead of your opponent with a J10 on a KAQ rainbow flop, there’s always the possibility she catches a Q on the river for a full house. The element of chance is the primary source of variance in poker. Variance combined with your poker abilities is what makes your stack size vary from hand to hand, and your bankroll fluctuate on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. If you’re a poker beginner, negative variance will most likely be due to your lack of experience, but even poker pros have bad runs.
Sound bankroll management is your top weapon against variance and the associated risk of ruin. Clearly you’re much more likely to lose a 200$ bankroll playing two 100$ DON SNGs compared to playing 5$ SNGs. With sound bankroll management you will always have enough SNG buyins in your bankroll to survive bad runs. When it comes to SNGs, most experts recommend a bankroll around 50 buyins on the level you’re playing to minimize the risk of going broke in the long run. However, since the variance in DON SNGs is lower compared to regular SNGs it suffices to have 25 buyins.
Before you make your bankroll deposit, make sure you realize the consequences of your bankroll management choice. If your deposit is intended for quick thrills and the possibility of building a bankroll in no time, by all means go ahead and risk your entire bankroll on one DON SNG. Just be prepared for a low success rate. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to maintain your bankroll over a longer period of time then stick to the 25 buyin rule of thumb. By doing so you also make the choice to grind it out in small buyin SNGs until your bankroll is large enough to move up to the next level.
If you’re new to poker your chances of sustaining a bankroll will increase a great deal by learning all the poker rules. I’ve put together a series of articles describing all the knowledge you’ll need to start playing poker. You might also be interested to know there’s a new poker site available with freerolls every 15 minutes. I’ve written a review of High Pulse poker site where you can find more information.
Tags: Bankroll, Proper Bankroll Management
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Monday, July 12th, 2010
We started with 7319 entrants on Day 1 and we are now down to 2557. Still a long way to go, but we are definitely making some progress. We felt obligated to show some of the Ladies still remaining in the tournament as well as show some of the ladies that have been eliminated. This does not mean they are all hot. This is just a shout out to the women of poker. This tournament is more than likely 95% male, however women have played really strong in the past main events. It is just a matter of time until we see a women at the final table of the WSOP main event.
Current Standings. These will change by the end of the day 2B.
8th Place – Vanessa Selbst
12th Place – JJ Liu
20th Place – Khamsy Nuanmanee
33rd Place – Karina Jett
53rd Place – Vanessa Rousso
115th Place – Lisa Parsons
123rd Place – Barbara Enright
125th Place – Erica Schoenberg
126th Place – Kara Scott
129th Place – Jennifer Harman
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Eliminated Honorable Mentions
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Trishelle Cannatella
Nichoel Peppe
Melanie Weisner
Shannon Elizabeth
Cyndy Violette
Tags: poker ladies, wsop babes
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Thursday, July 8th, 2010
The World Series of Poker 2010 started on May 28th with the $500 buy-in Casino Employees Event. Although most of us have never heard of these guys, this was the start of a huge WSOP event taking place in Las Vegas, NV. The 41st World Series is now winding down and after 56 events have already been fought to the end, with millions of cash prizes being given out we are down to the MAIN EVENT.
July 4th has already come and gone, and that means it’s main event time. Day 1a began on July 5th and today will conclude the final day 1 entrants. With so many people at this event, the need for multiple starts is the only way to accommodate this many people. Of course, the more people the better, which also means bigger cash prizes as well as bigger competition. If you have never been out to Las Vegas for the main event, it is worth checking out if you are a poker player or just a fan.
The $10,000 buy-in definitely doesn’t scare too many people off. After today we will have a full count of players. All the big names are here including all the pros and sponsored pros. You will see FullTilt hats and PokerStars shirts everywhere. People get really amped up for this event, and for good reason. Top place finisher will win more than $6 million. Your odds of winning this event are pretty slim, but compared to other games like the lottery, you actually have a fighting chance.
We’ll keep you posted on how things progress and we may even have some pictures for you. Look for the big name pros to move up early, but you can always count on the amateurs to make there move as well. This event will finish up with 9 players on July 17th. These nine players will battle for the bracelet and cash in November. Either way, we are really excited about the turnout and the cards will be flying big time over the next two weeks. Good luck luck if you are a participant and have fun.
Updated July 9, 2010
The actual player numbers are in.
ENTRANTS: 7,319
PRIZE POOL: $68,798,600
1st PLACE PRIZE: $8,944,138
Tags: wsop, wsop 2010 10000, wsop main event poker tournament
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Sunday, July 4th, 2010
Playing poker online is one of the best places to bluff. Everyone is in a virtual space and they can’t really tap into your physical behavior to call your bluff.
Online Poker Tips to Call a Bluff
1. Size of the bet: Since you can’t see the player you will have to base your call on the
amount of money they are betting. If you are aware of a player’s reputation and know that
they may be bluffing given the size of the bet from the very first round, do not call the bluff
yet. Wait for a round or two and then call the bluff if you are extremely certain.
2. Table Limit: Even players who are known to bluff will not bluff when the limit at
the table is low. So if you have a strong inkling that players may be bluffing, resist your
urge. It does not make sense bluffing on a small pot and smart players know that. Let
the game slide even if you think they are bluffing because in all likeliness they are not.
3. Your hand: The best way to call a bet is by being absolutely sure of what cards you have.
If you have a great pair and know for sure that there is no chance that the player who is
constantly raising the bets can match your hand, it is likely that he is bluffing. Stick around
for a round or two though. Allow for everyone to fold and then call the bluff.
4. Veterans: If you have a new player at your table, it is likely that he will not bluff. New
players want to understand the game in its true nature before they start bluffing. Calling a
bluff on a player that is new could cost your bankroll. Be sure of the player’s history
before you start making random accusations.
Calling a bluff needs a lot of practice. You have to be extremely proficient with the game and
understand your cards extremely well to call a bluff. It is indeed difficult to spot a genuine
player from one who is bluffing, but with practice one tends to learn. Poker is a great game to
play and often people bluff for the sake of it.
Tags: online bluffing, poker bluffing
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Friday, June 25th, 2010
Your poker game can depend on one of two things, how good your cards are or how good you are at bluffing. You
could have the worse set of cards and still win a huge pot if you know how to work your way
around a good bluff.
It may take beginners a while to get used to the ways of the game. But once you have learned
how to read your cards and play them according to the hand rankings, you are on your way
to becoming a poker pro. Listed below are a few tips you could use to make lots of money
online through poker.
Online Poker Tips
1. Know the odds: Often you may be 75% sure that you will win, however there is a high
possibility that there is someone out there who has a better hand. Check in your mind if the
hand ranking you have is high enough to keep you in the game. You have to be able to judge
whether your cards are good enough or not. If you have the slightest doubt that someone else
may have a bigger hand you should fold immediately.
2. Hand Rankings: Before you start playing poker online you should memorize the hand
rankings. It is essential that you know which set of cards are capable of winning. For
beginners it can be a little tough to memorize but as time goes by and you keep playing you
will learn the weight each set of cards carries.
3. Patience: It’s important that you observe patience. Do not get too excited if you have a set
of cards that look good. Start low and take your time to observe how people are betting. After
one round check the scene, observe people and make your move accordingly.
4. Out means out: Unless you are a master at bluffing and are absolutely sure that the other
players do not have a winning hand, get out. If you have a bad hand get out. This is one of the
best ways to save money and keep playing.
5. Change is good: It’s not good to be predictable, especially when you are playing with the
same people. Change your strategies, change your habits and change your playing pattern. A
true poker player will never let you know what his hand is like.
If you are a beginner and want to learn the game of poker, it is essential that you read up on
these online poker tips. They could indeed be of great help when you have a hand of cards
that is a sure winner. Be careful and be wise, get out when you have to and stay in when your
cards are good. Start low and go higher as the game progresses all the time keeping track of
what the other people on the table are doing.
Tags: becoming a better poker player, poker tips online
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Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Staring on June 28th, PartyPoker.com will start it’s Card Rush instant win promotion. With over 1.8 million cards to be given out, you are sure to be a winner. This is a huge promotion for all players at Party Poker and the rules are fairly simple. All you have to do is have an account at PartyPoker. You can get your bonus cash here if you aren’t already a member of this elite crowd.
Earn a Rush Card every time you earn 15 party points. The more points you earn the more prizes you have a chance at winning. Every single card earned has a prize. These prizes include, Cash, Party Points, Freeroll entries and the biggest prize of all is the leader board competition. The top three people on the leaderboard have a choice of $10,000 luxury package. After the top 3 prizes are given out, you have tons of cash prizes available.
1. Luxury package for two to the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales, from 1st to 3rd October, 2010
2. Luxury package for two to the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander in Monza, Italy, from 11th to 12th September, 2010
3. Luxury package for two to the 2010 World Series of Baseball in the USA in October, 2010
With thousand’s of dollars to be given out and plenty of freerolls to play in, you will find yourself winning more often. Earn a card, earn a prize.
Go big with PartyPoker.com
Tags: card frerolls, card rush, Card Rush Prizes
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Friday, June 18th, 2010
The cool thing about being a new poker player are the numerous amounts of FreeRolls that are offered to you. Once you’ve made that first Poker Desposit you are eligible for a sizable freeroll with other new players. FeltStars.com is a great site to play a freeroll. You have a lot of juicy games, so if you play a tight aggressive game against other newbies, you have a shot at making the final table. Free Cash Baby!
At Feltstars you have 14 days to take on this challenge. A $500 freeroll is offered at the times below.
* Monday – 19:15
* Tuesday – 13:15
* Wednesday – 19:15
* Thursday – 13:15
* Friday – 19:15
* Saturday – 13:15
* Sunday – 13:15
A lot times freerolls can be a bit boring since you are playing for small stakes. However, a $500 freeroll offered daily vs. other new depositors means the field will not be that large. Felt Stars is not the biggest poker room online and if you have any skill you can take this tournament down and bring a boost to your bankroll. Either way you have nothing to lose in a freeroll. This promotion by Feltstars is one of the many things they do for their players. You can sign up today and start playing for free at FeltStars.net or you can get on the cash games. More information and a Felt Stars Review can be found within our site.
Tags: feltstars freerolls, new player freerolls
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Monday, June 14th, 2010
If you don’t know what a hi/lo poker game is, it’s basically a game where high hands and really crappy hands both have a chance at winning a pot. On the high side, the rules are just like they would be for any poker game. On the low side, disconnected cards of 8 or lower can be considered. That means that you can’t have any pairs, trips or quads and your cards have to be valued at 8 or lower. Aces count. The rules in this case are similar to Razz, but the cap on the cards being 8 does make it so that there isn’t always a low hand in play.
Working with a hi/lo situation does have its advantages. Of course, the most obvious one is that you have a chance to win a pot, even if you have a crappy hand. If you get dealt crap, you still have a chance to play it and win half of a pot. You can’t win the whole thing unless the other person is going for a low hand, but you can split what’s out there.
The down side to playing like this is that monster hands often only collect half pots because of the low hands on the table. Quad kings only get half the money if the wheel (A2345) is in someone else’s hand. If you’ve put a ton of effort into winning a big pot and find out you’ll have to split it with someone else, the result can be shear frustration. That’s just the art of h/lo though. Take it with a grain of salt and try to kick ass in the next hand.
Tags: hi/lo, omaha hilo, razz
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Thursday, June 10th, 2010
What is this Super Turbo weekend all about at FullTilt.com? It’s your chance to get in on the super fast poker Sit and go’s this weekend and earn your tickets to the $100k Super Step Freeroll.
These games are much different than the turbo poker tournaments you are used too. Instead of the 1500 normal stack size you would start with, you begin the game with only 300 chips. Although there is a lot of luck involved a super turbo tournament can be completed in under 20 minutes. We’ve all played a standard SNG, where people sit around for the blinds to take them out an hour later. You won’t have that chance with the super turbo tournaments.
By playing in just a few of these events you will unlock your ticket into the $100k Super Turbo Step Freeroll. You can see all the rules on the Full Tilt site. The cool thing is, this all leads up to the main packages, which is a step ticket to the $12k WSOP Main Event Prize.
It doesn’t take much to get in on the action and within a couple of hours you can be on your way to the WSOP.
Tags: poker freerolls, sng, turbo tournament strategy
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Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Easy Ways to Make Money If You Can Pull It off
A lot of people see a professional playing in a tournament on FullTilt and run the other direction for fear that the pro will annihilate the tables. While that may be true with some of the pros, many of them are just regular people who happen to know what they’re doing online. With that in mind, those people make mistakes…a lot. They win a lot, of course, but they also have their losing moments. With FullTilt, you can take advantage of this…
Any time you knockout a pro in a tournament, you get their buyin amount credited to your account. This is called the Pro Knockout Bounty. In essence, it allows you to knockout a pro on a table and then play out the tournament for free. This is similar to playing knockout tournaments to win your buyin back, but you get it all with one person.
The key is to play with a pro just like you would any other player because that is exactly what he or she is. Don’t get intimidated by the red name and the special avatar. Unless Gus Hansen or Phil Ivey happen to pop on your table, chances are you will be playing with a regular Joe or Jane who happens to have hit it big on the site. That person started out just like you. If you get a good hand and can trap the pro, do so. If not, don’t worry about it and just play to win the tournament like you would anyways. Just know that another opportunity to make money is out there.
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Sunday, June 6th, 2010
With most internet poker sites, you’ll find a convenient little option that allows you to check/fold in a hand or to automatically bet or raise a person if you happen to be playing limit. While those buttons do make it very easy to get through the game quickly, they aren’t exactly ideal for your playing strategy. You could be really hurting your chances of winning by jumping into bets, raises and folds. How? Let’s find out…
When you check/fold a hand, you end up losing the ability to bluff later on. Even if you want out of the hand, there is always a chance that you could win with just a minimum bet because the other person also doesn’t have a hand. You can’t bluff if you just check it through. As much as it may hurt you to wait an extra five seconds to check, it could help your game out a lot. Otherwise you might be the one who gets bluffed.
If you are going to bet in a hand, wait for the clock to start going before you do so. This makes it seem like you had to think a second, and it’s about the only way you can put on a poker face in internet poker. If insta-betting is part of your strategy (perhaps for a bluff) then that’s fine, but don’t make it a habit just because you want to jump the gun and get the game rolling.
Take a second to fold too if it comes around to you. Again, you want to make it seem like you are thinking about something. That allows a bit of time for your opponents to sweat out the time wondering what in the world you might do next.
Tags: bet pot, half pot bet, quick fold
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