Archive for the ‘content’ Category

3rd

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Choose your poker strategy Software below to read the review, or scroll down to read them all:

Do you have a Poker Program Program that needs to be reviewed? Contact Us!

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www.holdemmanager.com

Name: Holdem Manager
Website:
Year: 2007
Version: 1.11.01
Price: $99 or Free
Software: Poker Tracking and Analytics at its best
Size: 80MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Poker Tracking for all stakes games and tons of HUD options.
Rating: Holdem Manager


Holdem Manager Review

It all started with Poker Tracker way back in the day. Poker tracker ruled the poker stats arena, but started to fall off a bit. Then a shiny piece of software called Holdem Manager came to the rescue. Although Hold’em Manager does have it’s bugs here and there it’s by far the best poker tracking software on the market. Actually it may be the best 3rd party software out there today.

It is capable of doing many different things. This includes, a powerful HUD to get comprehensive analysis on your opponents and yourself. You can formulate all kinds of stats based on the hands you’ve played and the hand histories of others that you might of imported. The database can get extremely large if you really go after it. The coolest feature is the graphing. You can bring up multiple poker Tracker stats in graph form. This gives you a clearer understanding of where your game is at. You also have access to a replayer, which allows you to replay all hands you have in your database. You can go back and clean up the leaks and improve your overall game.

Holdem Manager Graphs

Here is another look at a Holdem Manager report.

Here are some other great features that make Holdem Manager one of the best poker tracking programs online.
1. Table Scanner – Finds the best tables at all the major poker rooms without any effort.
2. Table Ninja – Increase your hourly rate and let software help you out as multitabler. – This is huge.
3. Leak Buster – Stop the leaks in your poker game. Helps you point out what is holding you back.
4. SitNGo Wizard – Talk about becoming a better sit and go player, The Wizard will help you get to a point perfection
5. Hold’em Vision Pro – This a graphical way to exploit your opponents and take down more pots.

Holdem Manager Table Options

You can learn all about these great features .


www.holdemindicator.com

Name: Holdem Indicator
Website:
Year: 2006
Version: 1.92
Price: $79.95 or Free
Software: Poker Odds Calculator
Size: 4.8MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Real Time Opponent Statistics and betting patterns. Instant calculation of winning odds.
Rating: Tournament Indicator


Holdem Indicator Review

Holdem Indicator does more then just check pot odds. This little piece of software may make you a better poker player which leads to a bigger bankroll.

The truth about odds calculators is they provide you with a lot of information, but Holdem Indicator gives you every thing big third party software providers give you, except on a smaller scale. The quickness of the software also makes it really nice, since you don’t have to wait for it to calculate. It does it instantly. The win odds feature gives you exact odd of your given hand of winning. This is nice when you have this information calculated for you. This allows you to focus on the player you are up against.

The program gives you multiple views, so you can set it up the way you want it. The support is great as far as we can tell. We have gotten quick reponses and so far we have not seen any bugs in the program.

Another cool aspect of Holdem Indicator is the Data Tracking it provides on your opponents. This give you some solid information when it comes to making tough decisions. Bigger programs like Poker Tracker and Holdem Manager are great, but this is like a simple mini version of the two. This alone is well worth the price of FREE.

To get this product for Free .


www.CalculatemPro.com

Name: Texas Calculatem Pro
Website:
Year: 2004
Version: 5.3.68
Price: $99.85 or Free
Software: Poker Odds Calculator
Size: 4.5MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Automatic Card Reading, Odds Calculating, Suggestions & Advice.
Rating: Texas Calculatem


Texas Calculatem Review

This odds calculator has come a long way from when Tips For Poker first reviewed it. Originally, Calculatem Pro had no automatic card reading — you had to add the cards manually. Obviously, it was time consuming and most doubted this would ever be a useful tool. Then, automatic card read was finally developed and now it supports almost every online card room there is.

Since then, it has added even more features and continues to grow as a great Poker Program. After you fold your hand it keeps your hand frozen and plays out the hand as if you ‘would’ have called. Which is extremely interesting and using this feature demonstrates with accuracy 70-90% of the time what Calculatem Pro suggests is the correct move.

The one thing this program could negatively affect is your betting skills. Obviously, this is something you must develop on your own and especially playing no-limit one doesn’t want to overshoot a hand they are obvious to win. Now, with that being said — take Calculatem’s advice with a grain of salt.

This program continues to be the most valuable online odds calculator you can use today. If you don’t have it, download it right now. And, I can say with confidence that you will most likely be a return customer and purchase this product!

To get this product for Free .


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www.pokercrusher.com

Name: Poker Crusher
Website:
Year: 2007
Version: 4.7
Price: $4.95/Mo – $39.95/Mo or Free
Software: Player Tracking
Size: 12.2MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Automatically Tracks Players, Import old Hand Histories, Gives Advice How To Improve Game.
Rating: Texas Calculatem



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www.pokeroffice.com

Name: Poker Office
Website:
Year: 2003
Version: 5.0
Price: $99 or FREE
Software: Player Tracking and Player Tracker
Size: 26MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Tracks your poker stats, Hand Histories and other players actions. Improvement Device
Rating: Poker Office



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www.pokeredge.com

Name: Poker Edge
Website:
Year: 2005
Version: 5.0
Price: $4.95/month to $39.95/Month
Software: A one stop player tracker odds calculator and more
Size: 13.6MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Check stats on your opponents live, gives pot odds, and complete keeps you in control.
Rating: Poker Edge


Poker Edge Review

Poker Edge poses a valuable question, are you in POKEREDGE? to find out. Scary thing, is its true! IF your name comes up — they have stats on you. Don’t believe me? Enter a random name, PoopyPants per say and see what comes up and then enter your name. If you play at PartyPoker.net, there’s a good chance your tracked.

Being tracked isn’t that bad. Most people, given this utility couldn’t properly interpret the information that they are given. Additionally, the information that is given is often lacking.

Poker Edge Download

Example: Looking up statistics on myself, I came across approximately 200 tracked hands. Well, I’ve played probably a good 10,000 or so hands at PartyPoker. So they’re missing just a tad bit of information about me and others.

However, conversely as they grow they learn more and this is definitely not a tool to be underestimated.

Tips For Poker’s Suggestion : Try the 5 day Trial Subscription. (if you don’t like it, don’t forget to cancel) And, if you can properly wield this tool. Keep it. If not, go back to Poker Office/Calculatem mighty Duo!

One last concern, if your paying for stats – what makes you think they aren’t recording your stats or other valuable information well your paying? Its a catch 22.

Poker Edge Table Finder

Bottom line, dollar for dollar, is this program worth the money? Tips For Poker says, YES!


www.bonusbots.com

Name: Poker Bonus Bots
Website:
Year: 2006
Version: 5.07
Price: $129
Software: Poker Bot
Size: 2.6MB
E-mail: [email protected]
Features: Play poker while you’re sleeping using this one of a kind Poker Bot. Holdem, Omaha, PLO, Blackjack Bot
Rating: Poker Bot


Poker Bots – Poker Robots

I’ve always known they’ve existed, yet never found one that really worked well. Poker is a pretty emotional game and when you take the emotion out, people play different. The goal is to create a Poker Bot that can play low stakes poker games and milk the money out. Does it work? Well this Poker Bot seems to work pretty well. I got the 200 hand demo and was able to run it on FullTiltPoker.net. I was pretty impressed with this small piece of software.

A working Poker Bot

Back when WinHoldem was the only Bot around, I was thinking how difficult it would be to get this Robot up and running. It turns out, with the step by step instructions they give you with the download, I was able to get the bot rolling within 15-20 minutes. A couple of Windows changes, FullTilt changes and I was off to the races.

The standard profile it comes with is pretty conservative, so I’m sure there are better ones out there. You may have to check out their forums for those answers. After 200 hands, which is obviously not a large sample, I was able to run my $10 buy-in at a $.05/.10 table up to $12.24. For 200 hands that is not bad. With a $10 buy-in you can’t expect to get rich.

Poker Robots do exist

I do have to say with the complexity of it all, it was real easy to launch which what most of these poker bots have been unable to do in the past without running into large bugs. Of course, we are not completely sold on this Bot, but we do feel it has huge potential if you are able to make the tweaks that make it a winner. This article about poker bots back in the day opened a lot of eyes to this. A lot of players couldn’t belive that bots were actually sitting next to them. Well guess what, you are most likely seated with a bot right now as you play NL Hold’em. Other things you want to consider before using this poker bot is that most rooms don’t allow them. If you are caught your account will most likely be terminated.


free_money_no_deposit_required

Monday, May 17th, 2010

If there is one thing, that poker and casino players can’t get enough of; it’s Free Money. Here you will find deals that will give you free money, no strings attached, no deposit required, nothing, nada. Without further ado, here is the free money. Hundreds in free cash listed on this page alone!

or 1500 Free Bets at

Proof Free Money Casinos Work

A lot of people have e-mailed us asking this question. Can you REALLY make money off these no deposit casino offers? Yes! Although sometimes it might be hard to believe you can make money off these free casino dollars. How do we do it? Two-way’s — 1) High-risk bets, IE) the free $10 on single hand of no deposit blackjack or roulette spin as many times as possible, 2) Making a small deposit and doing high-risk bets. As long as you bet around 5x the amount of the comp you are good, so deposit $50 and bet it all! And finally if you’re using the poker money, enter tournaments which you can win more money for free! $10 tournament with 32 entrants is $320

More Proof Free Casino Cash exists! – This is a commission summary report of one of the leading casino rewards programs online. They work with some of the top free casino money sites online. The time frame for this graph is irrelevant. This picture is here to show you how much has been given out in comps. These particular sites have given out over $75,000 to the many visitors of tips4poker.com. Profiting from giving away the casinos money can be tough, but at the same time it is fair to say that No deposit Casino Bonuses do work. The only way to find out for sure is starting your free casino money campaign today. Good Luck!!!

If online slots is for you, then the site slots180.com will help you get a better understanding of the game. From mobile to the real thing. They break down sites to play and the games to play.

Free Casino Money

I highly encourage you to deposit money at these casinos… Why? Because, obviously this chart PROVES online casinos are FAIR and balanced. If they are giving out FREE money why wouldn’t they pay you for playing there. They ARE a great alternative to real casinos, such as Indian casinos.

Free Poker Room Money

Poker Room Free Money Offered Requirements/Catches
Bovada PokerUS Players Accepted 10% No questions asked on this free money.

Make a deposit and get it in cash instantly. No requirements to fulfill to clear this bonus. You are best off making a bigger deposit to get more free cash.

888 Poker $8 Bonus offer is good for $8. No deposit poker at it’s best. Play on the 888 Poker Network for Free

This is for anyone outside the USA. Create an account and enter you will be on your way to building your new bankroll.

No Deposit Required Casino’s

Always keep in mind, the money you see here is the free no deposit required cash. If you make a deposit at any of these online casinos, they will match a huge amount in a bonus offer. Some go up to $2000. Always read all the promotions on the individual sites for more information. For those looking to play craps online you can get a free $7 no deposit bonus at Casino Titan. This is one of the hottest online casinos right now. Playing Craps just got easier.

Casino Free Money Our Experiences How to Claim yout Free Money
Palace of ChanceUS Players Accepted $50 Pretty good casino, I won $80 on blackjack and cashed out! Please click the download now button below to request your $50 FREE. You must download Palace of Chance Casino and create a money account. You don’t need to make a deposit, you only have to create the account. This bonus is not available to the general public, only those players who have signed up through Tips4Poker.com as a registered Palace of Chance $50 Free Bonus qualifier. Palace of Chance Review
Lucky Emperor $10 Made it up to $40 then lost it all in blackjack, didn’t bother to add more money. But had fun for about 45minutes wagering free money. It is added to your player’s account as soon as you open it. You must register a credit card as proof of age, before requesting a cash-out. Pretty simple to play at Lucky Emperor without doing much at all. Lucky Emperor Casino Review
Zodiac Casino $20 Get $20 just for making a $1 deposit. Yea, it’s not totally free money, but for $1 it is worth adding. It is added to your player’s account as soon as you open it and make a $1 deposit. We want to share all the legitimate free bonus offers, and this one still makes the cut, since it is a 2000% profit on just one dollar. Not to mention a trustworthy casino backed by some great software.
Cool Cat CasinoAmerican Players Accepted $50 This one was easy as pie and US players are accepted. Cool Cat is part of the Real Time Gaming software package which has won a lot of rewards in the past. Besides the catchy software, having multiple games to play and some serious signup bonuses make Cool Cat Casino super Cool. Cool Cat Casino Review
Cirrus CasinoAmerican Players Accepted $25 A touch of class out of Cirrus Casino, which is another member of the RealTime Gaming group. This cashable bonus can go a long way. A no depost $25 reward is pretty sweet when it comes to online play. On top of all this after you use your free money you can get 40% more on a $1000 deposit. This puts you in the money big time.
Club PlayerAmerican Players Accepted $65 WOOT!!! $65 bucks into your account after signing up. This is really cool. Not the last of the RealTime Gaming crew, but one of the best online casinos. With plenty of gaming options you are also in good hands when you make that initial cash deposit. All this free money goes a long way, you just need to know how to use it.
BlackJack Ballroom Free 60 Minutes No Deposit BlackJack at it’s finest hour. Claim your Free $500 in Credits This is one of the oldest and most reliable online casinos. You can easily build a big bankroll with this 60 minute free promotion. You can literally play 70-100 hands of No Deposit Blackjack within this hour and really test the software out. If you come out a winner all you have to do is make a small deposit to claim your cash prize.
Coliseum Casino Free 60 Minutes Claim your 60 Minutes and take money from the house. FREE Another site that has a proven track record the Colosseum casino is one of the most trafficked sites online. Although you don’t get a No Deposit Cash Bonus, you do get 60 minute of free play. Whatever you earn up to a $100 is paid to your account when the hour is complete. If you decide to make a deposit, www.ColosseumCasino.com will give you up to $750 free. This is a really nice promotion.
7 Sultans Casino $15 Blew it all on Blackjack. Nothing to report. Pretty Nice casino. It is added to your player’s account as soon as you open it. They have some of the best cash bonuses in the market.
Captain Cooks Casino $500 Play some no deposit Blackjack for one hour on the house to see of the software is for you. It will only take an hour to figure out if this casino is for you, but anytime you get to play for free the better.

Free Money In General

There is the proof and then there is the truth about free money cash from these online casinos. The proof is out there and they really do give you the cash to play with. However, there will always be some kind of requirement to fulfill before you can cash out. Just check the fine print on every site. If you do end up winning, don’t be afraid to contact the customer service desk if you have any questions. Trust me, they want to help you have a good experience, because in the end they want you to make a solid deposit. We’ve seen people win and lose a lot of money so please be careful with anything you do at these top online site.

To close out we have 5 more top casino site free bonuses that you may want to check out. All five have the same $10 free bonus put right into your account when you sign-up. The key is, you have to use the bonus code: BONUSCASH

Online Casino Cash Offered at Signup Bonus Code
Club USA CasinoUS Players Accepted $10 BONUSCASH
Aladdin’s GoldUS Players Accepted $10 BONUSCASH
Lucky Red CasinoUS Players Accepted $10 BONUSCASH
All-Star SlotsUS Players Accepted $10 BONUSCASH
ManhattanSlots.comUS Players Accepted $10 BONUSCASH

All of these sites accept US players and the software is really nice and clean.

players_notes

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

One of the main strengths online poker has over casino-room poker is that you can take notes on your opponent. You have no reason to make the same mistake twice against someone. The best part about this — is that most people are oblivious to the note taking system, and their systems are quickly noticed and forever recorded in your notes! This offers you the significant advantage in play.

There are three main ways to take notes, click the links below to read about each way and choose the one that fits you best.

Of course there are other ways to take notes these are just suggestions on how most players take notes. Any combination of the systems below works as well!
1. Random Note Taking
2. Systematic Note Taking
3. Tournament Note Taking
4. Alternative Note Taking
5. Party Poker/Empire Poker Note Taking Special

After you take the notes it’s always a good idea to consult them before every call especially in a show-down situation.

HINT: Your Note File’s are stored in your poker clients main directory usually under notes .txt or similar text file. SHARE & COMPARE your note’s with your friends by e-mailing them this text file!

Poker NotesRandom Note Taking:
Random Note Taking is just what it claims to be, Random. There is no real system to it other than you write whatever you want about your opponent’s play.
Usually you start with a short something about the player himself then a note about a hand that pretty much sum’s up the way they play.

Example ::
Players Notes for : POKERMONEY69
Loose Player, Consistently Bets the Dealer Button. Played KK with ace on the board to the river after multiple raises.
Check/Raised with low pair made trips on the river. Plays under hands to the end.
Advantages are: Simple, Effective and Fast.
Disadvantages are: Not Detailed, Lacking Enough Information to make a solid call.
Situations to Use are: Players you only see every once in awhile, players you see more often you would want more detailed notes.

Poker NotesSystematic Note Taking:

Systematic Note Taking is almost the exact opposite of Random. You want every note you make to be extremely detailed and meaningful. Although your System might differ from below its a good base to start from. One key to the system is abbreviation, by simplifying the system you allow it to move faster and be more effective.

Start by noting basic information about the player such as their position (s=seat) then name the hand (flush draw, etc.), and then use this system to note their actions:

(NOTE: ONLY use the abbreviation when doing it, the real name is only for your reference so you know what it means):
Real Name:

Abbreviation:
Pre-Flop PF
Flop FP
Turn TRN
River RVR
Post-Flop PF

These simple abbreviations are going to serve several purposes. Mainly recording information about Betting Strengths and Play. Using a program such as POKER OFFICE will make recording this information much easier.

After recording this information make a small summary about the hand that sums it up. So you can refer to it for quick reference.

Example ::
Players Notes for : CheckRaZor911
S8/ 2PAIR: Ad,Kh,3s,2h,9d
* PF-BET
* FP-CHK
* TRN-CHK/RZ
* RV-BET/RZ
* PF-WON 2PAIR As/2s

Summary: Bet a bad hand preflop, Checked Flop. Made his hand on turn and check/Raised once and bet continually till end.
This example uses basic card text labeling. IE) Ad = Ace of Diamonds.
Advantages are: Good for Systematic Players, Extremely Effective when used correctly and fast.
Disadvantages are: More Information to Comprehend, Sometimes the more information the worse for random players, Might slow your game down.
Situations to Use are: Players you only see often and are seemingly predictable or make calls with some prediction.

Poker NotesTournament Note Taking:

Poker Tournament Note Taking is basically a combo of both random and systematic note taking. You need to take fast effective and detailed notes to give you good guided advice for your tournament.

Poker NotesAlternative Note Taking:
Here are several other note taking strategies by other people:
* TeamFU
* RecPoker Search Frame (Search for Note Taking)
* RecPoker Article “I Put Myself On Tilt By Taking Notes” (Ideas of what not to do)

Poker NotesParty Poker/Empire Poker Note Taking Special:

When playing (PartyPoker/EmpirePoker), Always have the hand history window up. This way when someone mucks their hand after calling/being called on the river, you can see what they have, and you can make correct notes on how the hand played out(# of people seeing flop, size of bets if NL, etc.) Most don’t even know about the hand history window, and being able to see mucked cards.

party_poker_bonus_codes

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

PartyPoker.com – 100% up to $500 Bonus Code

Start playing at the worlds largest poker site today

Get in on some of the new promotions from PartyPoker.net. They made our top weekly Poker tournament list, so for that you may want to sign up. Visit PartyPoker.com .

BONUS CODE = POKERCODES


Play at PartyPoker.net starting right now!

You will find everything you need to know about the PartyPoker Bonus code right here. Many sites may offer expired codes, but Tips4Poker makes sure you get the biggest Free Cash Bonus on the market.

Where do Players enter Sign Up Bonus Codes?

Players enter their Sign Up Bonus Code on the Open Account screen, which is the same screen where they first select their Account Name and Password to the site. Once entered, the system will automatically record the code to give the Player the Bonus Amount if any, when they make their first real money deposit to their Account. You can also read our PartyPoker.net review to see what else they offer you as a potential player.

Direct link to Party Poker Promotions for new players.
Choose Your Bonus Below.

Free Bonus CASH

With plenty of poker sites to choose from you may want to check out our other Poker Bonus Codes for more deals on Free Cash. Also FullTiltPoker.net is offering several freerolls a day to help build your bankroll. You may want to check them out as well.

freeroll

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

One way to get started online is by playing in the 1000’s of poker freerolls the poker rooms offer their clients. These freerolls occur so often that you can be playing in one the whole day and not do anything else. This is a great way for micro stakes players to build a little cash for their bankrolls. Now, you won’t find huge cash prizes and although competition is weak, you can win if you put in the time.

Poker Rooms offering the Best Poker FreeRolls
FullTiltPoker.com puts up a lot of free $100 poker tournaments
PokerStars.com gets in on the action as well with many daily freerolls.
PartyPoker.com is the leader of bigger poker freerolls and you can definitely find some nice cash prizes for a free tournament.

What do you have to do to get access to these poker tournaments. It is very easy to start playing in these tournaments. All you have to do is create an online account at any one of the poker rooms listed below. Once your account is validated you are set to go. Once your details are logged, you can check the lobby for the upcoming poker freerolls. You can even filter your poker lobby to only show the Freeroll tournaments and upcoming events. Some events have passwords, which means it is a private event and without an invite you will most likely not get in. There are freerolls that use your Frequent Player Point’s which are the points you collect for playing in cash games. More information about poker room point systems can be found on each particular site.

There are numerous methods of free roll offerings. We recommend you create accounts at multiple rooms, so you can always have a tournament running. This is this easiest way to get the free cash.

As for the competition, remember this game is free, so a lot of people just move all in early on with any two cards to build a stack. There are a lot of freeroll poker strategies out there, just find what works for you.

online_poker_tournament

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Online Poker TournamentsApril 18th, 2006
Million Dollar Poker FreeRoll

It seems like everyone is creating a million dollar Freeroll online. UltimateBet is the latest site to offer a chance at a million dollars. To qualify, you have to place in the top 100 during the several daily events or qualify during the weekly events. The first entry is free, but then it will cost you Ultimate points to enter the other daily qualifying FreeRolls. These points can be earned quite easily, so you can enter several times to qualify. Good luck.

Online Poker TournamentsApril 6th, 2006
Chip And A Chair

The late great Jack Strauss was the reason the phrase “Chip and a chair” was coined back in 1982. In the WSOP he thought he pushed all his chips into the pot and lost the hand. Once he got up from the table he realized there was one $500 chip under his cocktail napkin. It turns out he wasn’t completely committed to the pot since he never said he was allin. Two days later that 1 chip turned into the World Series of Poker Championship. Go figure. Now it is your turn to make it happen for you. All poker sites are offering WSOP qualifiers for this years events. Now is the time to start. Good luck.

Online Poker TournamentsMarch 21st, 2006
Know The Odds

How many people know the poker odds when playing those big hands? Probably a lot more than you think. All thanks to Texas Calculatem, you too can get the best odds on all your monster hands. Some people say, how can this help me? How about not wondering what your odds are and having them answered for you in seconds. Online Poker requires an edge. Don’t you think it’s time you sharpen your skills. The best part about Texas Calculatem is that it is FREE. Try Now.

Online Poker TournamentsMarch 12th, 2006
CindysPoker.com – Are You Kidding Me??

This chick thinks she runs the Internet. Cindy Margolis loves telling people how she is the number one downloaded person online. Does that really mean anything? Now that she has her own pokerroom, we’re sure her downloads will go up exponentially, yea right. Fine, she is an attractive women, but she is really annoying. Will she attract some suckers into her room, sure. Why the hell would you want to play there? You think she is going to come over and share her tips with you. Maybe she will send you a thank you downloaded picture for signing up. Have fun with that one.

Online Poker TournamentsFebruary 22nd, 2006
Bodog and Reality TV?

Well, you have to admit, Bodog definitely takes mainstream strides to be number one. Obviously this exposure must bring new action not to mention brand recognition. Could you imagine playing in a reality poker tournament. We have 10 Pros, 10 Celebrities, and 20 Bodog poker players competing for $500,000. Sounds like a dream come true for all you Reality TV lovers. Most likely it will flop, but at least they are trying something different. Have fun. For more information, check out the Bodog website.

Online Poker TournamentsFebruary 10th, 2006
What Is February All About?

It is 32 degrees outside and the wind chill is making it feel like 25. The football season is over and the NBA sucks. College basketball doesn’t HEAT up until March. What are you going to do about this uneventful month? There is only one thing that will keep you entertained and that is diving into a nice game of poker. Whether you have friends to get together with, a casino within an hour or online, there is a way to play poker. There are plenty of options, so don’t make an excuse about how cold it is outside. See you at the tables.

Online Poker TournamentsFebruary 4th, 2006
Super Bowl Sunday

After many weeks of hard playing the Steelers and Seahawks will meet in Super Bowl Forty. The money is moving toward Pittsburg, but don’t sleep on Seattle. This is going to be one of those Super Bowls where you really have no idea what is going to happen. You may be better off just sticking to a box or two in your party’s pool. While the big game is going on, you may be interested in the Lingerie Bowl hosted by Bodog. This is shaping up as a real interesting event. Keep your eyes peeled and let us know how your Super Bowl Party was.

Online Poker TournamentsJanuary 30th, 2006
Who Needs Football

This is the first Sunday in over 4 months that football isn’t on TV. What are we going to do? I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re finally going to setup that Neteller account and make a deposit to an online poker room. It is that simple. Easy as pie. Play chips will only keep you entertained for so long. Start off with a Sit and Go tournament and then try some cash games. February is upon us and the weather outside is pointing to your computer. Preview our site and try out all the different online poker rooms. There are plenty of bonuses to be found. If you have any questions come join our forums.

Online Poker TournamentsBodog poker January 23rd, 2006
UltimateBet Bonus Code

UltimateBet.com is offering one of the greatest deals on the market and you only have a few days left to take advantage. This deal gives you a 100% bonus on your money. That’s right, 100%. If you deposit $500 then you receive a $500 bonus. Come join Ultimatebet and start playing poker with some of the big names in the game. People such as Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke are frequent visitors and are always playing with the rest of the community. Our staff gives UB a big thumbs up.

Online Poker TournamentsJanuary 15th, 2006
Poker Titan = Titan Poker

If you haven’t started playing Titan Poker, then you don’t know what you’ve been missing. Starting today, you will get a first deposit bonus of 50%. This is one of the largest poker bonuses in the market. Don’t forget TitanPoker.com is hosting a $100,000,000 jackpot tournament. This is by far the biggest prize pool potential ever. It has the name World’s Largest FreeRoll. Come to Titan Poker now and see what all the hype is about.

Online Poker TournamentsJanuary 5th, 2006
Bodog Poker Tournament

Just in case you are not watching the NFL playoffs this weekend, you may want to consider the best poker tournament running. Bodog has a 2:00PM tournament that has a guaranteed prize pool of $100K every Sunday. The best part about this BodogPoker Tournament is the extra cash that gets thrown in. Lately there has been a 35% overlay, meaning about 35% of the money is entered by Bodog themselves. The less amount of people in the tournament the better chances you have. Give it a shot and let us know how it works out.

Online Poker TournamentsDecember 30th, 2005
Poker Bonus Codes

What are they? Do they have power? Put it this way, just when your bankroll is about to become zero after a bad beat, the bonus kicks in and saves you. Almost all rooms offer a bonus code or some kind of link that allows you to earn extra cash on your money. For example, Ultimatebet offers 40% on your initial deposit up to $200. So if you made a deposit of $500, you will receive an extra $200. The catch to bonuses is that you have to play a certain amount of raked hands to release these bonus dollars into your account. Make sure you check the requirements before you start calling your 7-2off. If you have any questions about bonuses or if you need a high priced poker bonus code, just send us an email. Don’t forget about Reload bonuses as well.

Online Poker TournamentsDecember 20th, 2005
Texas Calculatem

You better know your poker odds these days. As the completion gets more fierce everyday it is important to try and get a little bit of an edge. You can start with the best odds calculator on the market. Texas Calculatem is free when simple requirements are achieved. It only makes sense to find out what this product is all about. We at Tips For Poker know the power of calculating our odds, shouldn’t you? If you have any questions let us know.

Online Poker TournamentsDecember 13th, 2005
Poker Rakeback

Talk to us NOW about how you can start receiving your poker rakeback. We will go over in detail with you on how to set your account up. It only takes a few minutes so the time is well worth it. What would an extra $20, $50, $100, or even $1000’s of dollars do for you. Why not get back a piece of your own pie. To find out more select the live help icon to the left of this message. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Online Poker TournamentsDecember 7th, 2005
The World’s Best FreeRoll

How would you like to take part in a $100 million jackpot tournament? Titan Poker and Noble Poker have decided to jointly offer this event. The FreeRoll will guarantee $500,000 in cash prizes to the players and the final table will have a chance to win the jackpot. There is only one way to earn the jackpot prize. One of the players at the final table will have to hit a royal flush of spades. Obviously the odds are ridiculous, but at least you can try for free. With 7 other jackpot prizes equaling over $3 million, it only makes sense to find out more. Come to TitanPoker.com today and qualify for free.

Online Poker TournamentsDecember 1st, 2005
Let’s Talk Rakeback

Instead of starting our rakeback program in January, we decided to share this amazing program with you today. Until we have our site wide update done, the only way to receive this is by emailing us. We will then send you an invitation in which you can select from 4 different poker rooms. These are the best rakeback percentages in the industry. Email us today. If you don’t know what rakeback is, then request more information in your email. We look forward to this program and think this will be a great addition to the Tips for Poker site.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 28th, 2005
Free Bankroll

Are you afraid to make that initial deposit to an online poker room. Why waste your time learning with play money, when you can start learning for free using real money. Sign up at Royal Vegas Poker and you are guaranteed $10, for just signing up. You can play some low stakes poker until you feel comfortable with the room. You can then make your first deposit soon after you start winning and want to play higher stakes. Royal Vegas is in the fifth largest poker network, right behind Partypoker and Pokerstars. It only makes sense to start with free money. You can start today by playing poker here.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 24th, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving

Unbelievable how time flies. Another Thanksgiving and the poker industry is still booming. Tips4poker wants to thank all of it’s visitors and we appreciate you stopping by on a continuous basis. We are planning a major renovation over the next couple of months so be sure to check in for updates. Our rakeback program is going to be the best in the industry so prepare yourself for some great online poker. Enjoy your Turkey and all the other good foods and don’t be afraid to play some poker after the food is gone.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 22nd, 2005
Rakeback Rakeback Rakeback

Did someone say rakeback? Starting early December, Tips For Poker will start offering rakeback to some of the best online poker rooms. If you are unaware of what rakeback is please join our forum. Please stay tuned as we finalize our partnerships. If you can’t wait for the information, please contact us by email. We look forward to this offering and expect to have the best rakeback program on the market. See you at the tables.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 13th, 2005
PartyGaming Makes Their Move

It hasn’t even been six months since online poker company PartyGaming’s IPO. Realizing the competition is growing around them, they decided to acquire some of their competitors. The funny thing about this deal is the two companies they purchased were actual partners until a couple of months ago. Purchasing Multipoker and Intertops poker adds around 300,000 poker players to it’s large poker room. For just about 18 million dollars, this deal seems like a no brainier. The big news in this deal is what will happen to its other partner EmpirePoker. Left stranded with only there own players, Empire seems like a ghost town. This is obviously a strategic move causing Empire Poker shares to keep dropping. It’s just a matter of time until Party eats them up or spits them out. Hang on, its going to be a bumpy ride.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 10th, 2005
How To Make A Deposit?

Online poker rooms have made it easy to make deposits to your account. Almost all rooms accept credit cards however, the USA credit cards will most likely fail due to the legitimacy of the transaction. If credit cards worked, there would probably be twice as many players online today. You do have alternatives that are quite easy to setup and are very secure. Our favorites include: Neteller, FirePay, IGM-Pay, and Phone Connect Card. All have there advantages and disadvantages. They all offer immediate deposits and fairly quick withdrawals. The one that stands out the most is the IGM-Pay method. This is an electronic funds transfer (EFT) directly from your checking account. This is a 3rd party banking site, that offers you the security you are looking for and the best part is that it’s FREE. All the other forms of payments have fees attached. Research all your options and choose what is right for you. Don’t be nervous to make that first deposit. Good Luck.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 6th, 2005
TO IS A NO GO

If there is a bigger asshole than Terrell Owens, please come forward and tell us about him. The sporting news this week was about how Terrell Owens called the Philadelphia Eagles organization the pits and how he would rather be playing with Brett Farve. This is one story that will eventually die off, but until it does, Mr. Awesome is going to have center stage. The best wide receiver in the NFL has been suspended indefinitely by the Eagles. Some people see this as a great move, but deep inside we all know how much this team really needs TO. Can you imagine if TO was at your poker table. The trash talking would be almost to hard not to walk away from. Anyway, good luck Birds.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 3rd, 2005
Midnight Baseball

One of the better wild card poker games turns to reality. If you haven’t played Day or Midnight baseball poker, then you should try it at your next poker night. We at least know one major leaguer knows what it is. Maybe it’s the big lights, big city environment, but we do know Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez likes to spend some money at the poker table. Can you imagine having a piece of his millions? You know he’s not playing at a $2/$4 limit table. His tables are probably more like $500/$1000, otherwise the game won’t be worth his time. He’s been warned in the past for showing up at New York City Poker Clubs, so I guess its just a matter of time until he gets busted. Who knows, he might end up at next years World Series of Poker.

Online Poker TournamentsNovember 1st, 2005
Free College Tuition Playing Poker

How would you like to have your college tuition paid for by winning a poker tournament? Well, you just missed your chance. Absolute Poker was offering free college tuition to one lucky student. This tournament was a legit way to pay for school. It would have been nice if they offered this type of activity 10 years ago. Oh well. We would like your opinions about these type of events. Come to the Tips For Poker forum and let us know what you see happening in future poker tournaments.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 29th, 2005
Ultimate Buddy Is The Bomb

How do you increase the entertainment value in online poker? Whether you are just starting out or have played for years, poker rooms are coming up with new things to raise the fun factor. Poker is a serious game for both newbie’s and professionals. One tool that can help make online poker work for you as well as increase the entertainment value is Ultimate Buddy. UltimateBet has created a program that tracks all the players you want to watch or play with. Serious players look for fish, while casual players look for friends and sharks (AKA- Professionals). The program works similar to any Instant Messenger program, but doesn’t allow you to chat. It let’s you know who is online and what table they are playing. The UltimateBet.com network, including PokerShare and Green Tie Poker have exclusive rights to this program. Remember, poker is even more fun with the right help.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 27th, 2005
TV Poker Ratings Are Down

Why do you think the TV ratings are down across the board? Could it be like any good thing? TV has tried to make poker the next best thing to reality TV. Some people like reality TV, while others despise it. Tips For Poker loves poker on TV, but finds it below the rankings of Curb You Enthusiasm. You flip through the channels any night of the week and you’ll most likely find a poker event going on. Whether it’s the WSOP, Celebrity Poker, or The World Poker Tour there has been an obvious push to get as many programs on the air as possible. Does it get boring after a while?, YES. Why, because it’s the same thing over and over again. Should they keep airing these events?, of course. This is what is going to keep the poker industry thriving. Do we need all these events aired, NO. Poker on TV will still exist, we just don’t need to see Jeff Gordon push Joey Fatone all-in.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 23rd, 2005
PartyGaming Revenues Soar 32%

One of the most anticipated Stock IPO’s of the year proves there is still room for growth in the crowded online poker industry. Since going public in June 2005 PartyGaming (PartyPoker) shares have dropped nearly 50%. With a market cap of $5.5 billion, PartyPoker is set for a very good 2006, whether the industry slows or not. People still think it’s the number one poker room. When John Simmons, of Fort Hancock Texas was asked where he plays online, he responded “Party Poker of Course”. We asked why and John said “the volume of traffic and the security are why I keep going back.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 21st, 2005
It’s Time You Learn The Odds

Since we started working with Texas Calculatem about a year ago, we’ve noticed how our poker games have improved. Using this odds calculator at any poker room you desire, gives you an advantage that others may not have. While playing over 100 hands an hour, it is quite difficult to determine the odds of every hand. Texas Calculatem lays the odds out right in front of you, instantly. It also keeps us out of the hands that always hurt us. At this time, Texas Calculatem has decided to give it away free. That’s right, Free. Come see how you can start learning the odds and winning more pots.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 18th, 2005
AOL Offers Free Online Poker

Even AOL is jumping on the Poker bandwagon, by offering free online poker to it’s AIM users. Player’s will be allowed to create private tables and tournaments with their buddy list’s. AOL teamed up with Harrah’s Entertainment to provide this service. The most important thing about this partnership are the 12 free seats to next years World Series of Poker. Assuming they don’t run into legislation snags, AOL is guaranteeing 12 seats to it’s online users. Pretty exciting stuff from a family oriented company.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 13th, 2005
The WSOP Main Event On ESPN

We got to see a little bit of what really happened at this years World Series Of Poker. They showed two days of action and hardly enough hands to highlight the size of this event. The feature table seemed to be rigged as well, bringing in some big name players to increase TV ratings. Greg Raymer was catching all the cards just like last year. We’ll have to wait and see what the next couple of days show. This enormous field will really start to dwindle soon, so hopefully the action will intensify. If you don’t know who won, then you’re better off watching every episode to see how it plays out.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 10th, 2005
PartyPoker Says Goodbye To Their Partners

We don’t know why Party Poker decided to drop their affiliate skins, but the lobby is now half the size. Party Poker used to have well over 70,000 players during their peak hours because their affiliation with Empire Poker, Coral Eurobet, Multipoker, and others. They also came out with a new platform, which will give Partypoker players more options at the tables. The new blackjack option should give players a bit of a respite when needed. We still think Partypoker is the strongest room in the market and still think you should signup if you haven’t already.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 6th, 2005
Vote For The Next Absolute Poker Hottie

How about enjoying a nice game of poker at Absolute Poker while selecting your choice for Miss Absolute. This site rocks. Not only can you select your favorite girl, you can also earn your college tuition. If you had a chance to win a scholarship to college, would you risk a few bucks. If you think you have what it takes, then check out Absolute Poker for a chance at winning some real school dollars. Don’t forget to check out the AbsolutePoker babes. Just remember when you win your school tuition, please come back to us to say thank you.

Online Poker TournamentsOctober 3rd, 2005
CEO’s Turn To Poker

Corporate America executives are shifting some business meetings to the poker room versus the golf course. If you think about it, this totally makes sense. Instead of golf handicaps, the poker table makes everyone equal. Plus, gambling is Corporate Americas way of thinking. Could you imagine a final table with Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Michael Dell, Margaret Whitman, Jeff Bezo’s, John Chamber’s and Oprah Winfrey. If you were among this elite group, playing with other CEO’s would be quite interesting. You can figure out their tells and call their bluff’s in the board room when you get down to business. Shuffle up and deal. Join us at Fullpokertilt for some great poker action.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 29th, 2005
The Luck’O The Irish

As most of our members know, we added sections to our forums about two months ago, in an effort to strike up some banter around the NFL and College Football. My partner-in-crime, Tiptheboss, suggested a WNBA forum as well, with their “typically exciting playoffs right around the corner”. Over-ruled! A good friend of mine and forum
member, Irish, is widely considered an accomplished college football handicapper. The regulars know he’s been posting plays in the forums since the start of the college season. Though week one reaped a windfall of impressive wins (6-1-1), weeks 2 and 3 were not nearly so kind leaving Irish with an average 7-8-3 record for the season.

It was at this time that Irish made a conscious decision to regroup and get back to what makes him and all other effective handicappers great; RESEARCH! Instead of capping 8, 9, 10 games on Saturday, Irish is now effectively capping 2 or 3 on Saturday, and weekday games when time permits. “It’s definitely quality over quantity in the capping business”, Irish told me in a recent IM chat session. Irish went on to boast about his 5-0 record since changing his strategy, and is plowing head-strong in to this weekend’s matchups. If you play College Football, you simply cannot afford to not tune in daily to the Irish connection. If you need a place to make these wagers, come to Bodog for the best lines.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 27th, 2005
Celebrity Poker Relief Tournaments

Charity poker tournaments are popping up everywhere, especially online. Hollywood figures are now stepping in to the online poker arena to help the people in need. Ultimate Bet’s latest event which was a $300 buy in, with $150 going to charity and UltimateBet.net matched the rest. Online appearances by Andy Roddick, Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson and of course you had the Ultimate Bet professionals like Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, and Antonio Esfandiari. These type of events show how a little fun can bring smiles to people that have nothing. Check out UltimateBet to see if there are more events in the future.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 22nd, 2005
TO VS. MOSS

We had to write about these two guys tonight, because our fantasy football squad owns both. It should be a great game whether you like these players or not. If attitude is what you want in a football game then this is the game of the week. How about placing a prop bet on who is going to have a better game. Head over to Bodog and test your skills. We are rooting for both, but if we had to choose, we would take Randy Moss. Sorry Tim.

If you feel like playing some online poker, then head over to Tigergaming.com for some Texas Holdem.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 19th, 2005
What is Neteller?

Neteller is the easiest way to send money to online poker rooms or directly to friends. Once your account is setup, you can have money in your poker account within seconds. If you’ve been thinking about making a deposit, now is the time to setup an account with Neteller. It is nearly impossible to send money to an online poker room using your credit card in the United States, so Neteller is your answer. Good Luck at the Tables.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 16th, 2005
Online Gaming Is Here To Stay

The US Senate turned down a bill that would restrict Internet Gambling. The Republican Senator from Arizona vow’s to make this happen one day, but it is too big of an industry for the Tax Man to ignore. Eventually our gaming experience will improve when the poker room servers are located in the USA. This Senator is sick of other countries collecting all the player rake. If he were smart he would legalize it in Arizona, which would bring in millions of tax dollars and give the Arizona Cardinals a chance at a Super Bowl. Forget all this legislative hoopla, how about a nice game of Texas Holdem at Poker Room.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 13th, 2005
A Poker Tip From Tips For Poker

If you could give one poker tip, what would it be? How about playing Big Slick, otherwise known as Ace-King? If you’re in late position, it is important to raise aggressively. The trick here is to narrow the field down pre-flop (1-2 players). If the board shows junk and you decide to check after the flop, you should probably go back to playing chess. You must represent strength, AA or KK. Make your opponent fold. If you hit your Ace or King, you are in good shape to bet heavy. To find out more about playing Big Slick, enter our poker forums.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 10th, 2005
Football Sunday = Poker Saturday

If you didn’t know by now, the NFL kicks off its first Sunday game this weekend. What does this mean? It means you better get your poker game on Saturday. Actually, it doesn’t have to be this way anymore. With today’s modern technology, you can do both quite easily. Get yourself a wireless router and bring your laptop into the family room for unlimited action. The free money that is guaranteed in the Bodog Sunday 100K tournament will make the Cleveland Browns look exciting.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 7th, 2005
Poker Stocks Take a Plunge On Slow Growth?

Have we peaked? Its hard to tell, but it appears that there may be a slowdown in the amount of new players. Even though the popularity continues to grow, people are still concerned about making a real money deposit to an online poker room. We’ve all been there before, but in the end it is no big deal. All you have to do is setup an account with Neteller, FirePay or FPS-Passport and your off. Clean secure transactions. It’s a breeze. If you have any questions or concerns please contact support.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 4th, 2005
Jennifer Tilly is Queen of the Ladies

Ms. Tilly has now won her second poker tournament in just a couple of months. She won her first event at the World Series of Poker and now took the down the lades at The Bicycle Casino. This victory gives her a guaranteed seat at the $25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship. It must be nice to have professional poker player Phil “Unabomber” Laak as your boyfriend.

Online Poker TournamentsSeptember 1st, 2005
Tournament Brings Help To Hurricane Victims

AbsolutePoker is sponsoring an online donation poker tournament to raise money for the Red Cross. Absolute will match 100 Percent of all funds raised to help victims. If this doesn’t inspire you to play poker then at least give something to the people in need. We at Tips4poker send our prayers and condolences to all the families and communities affected by this event.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 30th, 2005
How To Select Your Fantasy Poker Team?

If you had to create a cheat sheet for your fantasy poker draft, who would you put in the top five? How do you know who the busts and sleepers are? It would be fun to have Brunson, Hellmuth and Hanson go against Lederer, Ferguson and Ivey in week one. The hardest thing about making this work is whether your player is going to play when you need them. You may need to go to the waiver wire if Negreanu is too drunk to play that weekend or if Annie Duke is tied up in her hotel room. Our advice is to stick to fantasy football. Drafts are occurring as we speak and if you haven’t joined a league yet, you better hurry up. You can always find the latest football odds at Bodog.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 26th, 2005
Full House on 5th Street

It’s 2:00 in the morning and your itching to go to sleep, when all the sudden 5th street brings you that lovely Full House. You’re confident that you have the strongest hand when all the sudden the player next to you decides to put you all in. What do you do? Well it’s 2:00AM, don’t you think it’s obvious. You CALL. You take down a monster pot. Now, what do you do? Play another hand or go to sleep. We’ll leave that one up to you. If you are up for a nice game of poker come join us at UltimateBet.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 23rd, 2005
Poker For Pets

That’s right. How about a poker tournament dedicated to supporting all the rescued animals in the Gainesville, FL area. Pokerforpets.org is a non-profit website that delivers cash prizes to the animals we all love. After running a successful tournament in July, they plan to offer the community a monthly event. Each event will generate charity contributions for a new animal rescue in the area. The prize pool varies on the Buy-in. Since poker is illegal, they give out merchandise as the prizes to the players. To learn more about this great cause go to Poker For Pets and sign up for the next tournament.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 20th, 2005
Poker and Football

Summer is winding down and football is starting to show it’s face on the HDTV. Of course it is only preseason, but the real thing is coming up faster than you think. There is nothing like a Sunday full of football and poker. This year the football pokerparty is going to be rocking. Getting the good friends together for a game of football and poker is what we call entertainment. Keep us posted about your poker party in our forums.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 17th, 2005
World Poker Tour 2006 Comes To XBOX & PS2

We are trying to understand the reasoning behind the video game. We all know how unreal the play money tables are in any online poker room. How would this be different in the end? If you want a taste of the real thing, you’re better off making the $25 deposit to Ultimate Bet.

It probably brings home some pretty good entertainment value for the young adults however, aren’t we getting them started a little early. Many poker pros are endorsing the product, but going against 9 other poker bots seems a bit off. We’ll have to wait to see the product for real, until we can be a good judge.

You can qualify to win a Rolex Submariner and many other great gifts, just for playing online poker at Ultimate Bet. This promotion runs through September, so start now. More Information.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 15th, 2005
Ultimate Bet Bonus Code

It may be time to try a new poker room. Ultimate Bet wants everyone to know about their latest bonus code. “Marley” is the bonus code that will get you up to 50% extra on your initial deposit. There is plenty of ring game action and great tournaments. Tips4Poker is also having it’s biggest promotion ever at UltimateBet. The Poker Rolex invitational is an extraordinary poker tournament that anyone can join. Sign up at Ultimate Bet, play enough raked hands and your in the tournament.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 11th, 2005
Tiger Woods Vs. Phil Ivey

The PGA championship is this weekend and you know who is coming to play. Well it sure isn’t Phil Ivey. Tiger Woods is 9/5 favor to win the Cup. Check Bodog for the latest lines on all the players. Meanwhile, Mr. Ivey will most likely be playing in the 2005 WSOP Tournament Circuit-Grand Tunica. This tournaments final round has a $10,000 buy-in just like the World Series of Poker.

We still want everyone to be aware of our current promotion. You can qualify to win a Rolex Submariner and many other great gifts, just for playing online poker at Ultimate Bet. This promotion runs through September, so start now. More Information.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 8th, 2005
Play Poker For a Rolex Submariner

For the month of August and September we will be giving away a free Rolex Submariner. There will also be additional prizes awarded, guaranteeing $6000 in prizes for each month. The Way it Works:

The Top 7 players are FreeRolled into the main tournament where 10 players will play for the free watch. The next 20 (plus the 10 that make it through the open tournament) players will play for 3 spots at the final table. The open tournament is for anyone who plays 2000 hands at Ultimate Bet. They will play for 10 spots in the second tier tournament. Everyone has a shot at this, but the people who play the most time and hands have a better chance. This promotion will be based on the combination of hands and points. You have two opportunities at the Rolex, so get started now. This is for new UltimateBet players. Find out more information in our Forum.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 5th, 2005
Shana Hiatt Is Off The Market

World Poker Tour announcer is now engaged to Hollywood movie producer Todd Garner. First we have to deal with her not hosting the Wednesday night events, she is also taken off the singles market. We’ve had several good year’s with Shana at the helm, but we assure all Shana fans that the next betty will be twice the poker babe. To see some more poker babe action, check out our poker babe section.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 3rd, 2005
Poker Challenge FreeRoll Tonight

The Poker Challenge registration at Bodog will end at 8:14pm tonight and the first bad beat will take place soon after. You still have time to join us for a great poker FreeRoll. If you think you have a good game then take the challenge against the best Tips4poker members. It’s not to late to join the pokerparty. For more information, come to our forums.

Online Poker TournamentsAugust 1st, 2005
FreeRoll Registration Begins Shortly

The Tips4poker Poker Challenge registration at Bodog begins within 24 hours. The question we have for you is, Are you Ready? Come join us on August 3rd at 8:15PM Eastern for the first Poker Challenge. All you have to do is signup for a new account at Bodog and send us your screen name. We will give you the password and a chance to claim the Poker Challenge prize. Email your information to support. If you have any questions please come join our forums. The Poker Party is about to get loud.

Online Poker TournamentsJuly 31st, 2005
The Poker Challenge FreeRoll Is Now Posted

The Tips4poker Poker Challenge is now listed under the Bodog tournament schedule. You will find the tournament under Private tournaments. It is set to kick off at 8:15PM Eastern Standard time on August 3rd. You can begin to register 48 Hours before the tournament. If you still need the password please email us.

While our FreeRoll is being held at Bodog, we highly recommend trying The Gaming Club for some great Poker action.

party_poker_strategy_guide

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Click here to go directly to PartyPoker!

Basic Poker Strategy

Odds and OutsKeeping NotesTournament Play

Odds and Outs in Poker

Know Your Outs:

The rule of four-two is an extremely easy way to figure out basic poker odds for most situations where you know your outs. This method is not 100% accurate but it will supply you with an idea of your chances for making a decent poker hand. Here is how it works:

With two cards to come after the flop you multiply your number of outs by four. With one card to come after the turn, you multiply your number of outs by two. This will give you a quick figure to work with. If you have a four-card flush after the flop you have nine outs. With two cards to come, you multiply the nine by four and you get 36 percent chance of making the flush. The chart shows the true odds at 35 percent. With one card to come you multiply nine by two and get 18 percent. The chart shows that the true figure is 19.6. It is not completely accurate but it is pretty close, and it is an easy calculation to do in your head.

Poker Odds Calculators:

Poker and Pot Odds CalculatorIf you are not an “old school” sort of guy and think you can handle your own when it comes to Online Poker. Step into the 22nd century my friend and try out Automatic Poker Odds Calculators , or Poker Software.

What these 3rd Party Programs AKA Poker Software do for you is automatically determine your odds of making a hand by reading your hold cards and the board cards. Don’t worry – this isn’t cheating!

Click here to read our reviews on automatic odds calculating programs and what they can do for your poker game today!

Keeping Poker Notes:
Advantages To Keeping Notes

The reason why Online Poker can be more profitable (to the user) than live poker is simple. There are many features that a user can utilize that live poker never could offer.

For instance, some advantages that online poker has over live poker is the ability to have multiple windows open, taking player notes, and advice from friends or experts.

The advantage we are focusing on here is taking players notes.

Taking detailed notes is EXTREMELY important. WHY? Because, if your serious about playing online – YOU MUST KEEP DETAILED notes on players. Plain and simple, you will encounter the same player again.

It’s so important that we have dedicated a whole section to teaching you how to keep details notes.

Click HERE to read the Players Notes Section.

Programs That Keep Notes For You

Lazy, Aye?

Check out our 3rd Party Programs Section.

There are a number of programs that will either take notes for you, or take detailed statistics on your fellow players.

IE) Poker Office, Poker Edge, Etc.

Tournament Play Strategy:

Basic Tournament Strategy

* Play Less Hands (Common Sense Rule #1)

The less hands you play, the more money you keep. This doesn’t just go for tournaments but for poker in general. Play only the best possible hands you can! Meaning, only play the hands that will give you the best return on your investment. Duh!

* Use Your Mind (Common Sense Rule #2)

Think through every hand. The pro’s get to the final tournaments because they think through every hand and every move the person made. Think HARD! What hand do you think they have? What hand do you think they just made? Why are they betting this much? Are just a few examples of questions you should be asking yourself.

* Switch Up Your Play (Common Sense Rule #3)

Just Bluffed a big hand? Consider showing your bluffed hand to the table, then next time you have a huge hand bet really strong – you might get a few people who still think your bluffing! Alternate your play in a non-predictable manner but try to keep your betting rhythmic and predictable no matter what hand you have!

* Feel Out The Situation and Bluff HARD (C/S Rule #4)

Poker bankrollDon’t bluff when you have Two Pair and a flush draw on the flop? No one betting, but you have position? Make a smart-bluff at the pot. Make a bet that you think that is big, but callable. Like you want someone to call you. If no one has anything watch them all fold like cowards.

Don’t be scared if you get a caller, REbluff him on the next card – IF you don’t think it helped him.

If that fails, don’t hesitate to fold

Taking Notes In a Tournament

A very valuable skill in an online tournament is taking notes.

A good player (in a multiple table tourney situation) will be watching multiple tables and taking notes on each player — knowing he will shortly encounter that player. However, focus more on the players play, than taking notes itself. By this I mean watch the players play, rather than focusing on trying to keep up with typing notes about him.

The advantage is he will now know for the most part exactly how he plays. His bluffs, his tells (if any) and his betting structure.

Taking notes during a tournament not only keeps you alert and busy but, it keeps you from playing the hands that will bust you out of the tournament quick.

3rd Party Programs In a Tournament Situation

Using a program such as Poker Office, a tournament player can gain an advantage very easily.

By monitoring his/hers own play – the player can find the mistakes they are making and quickly remedy them.

Programs like Poker Office, also watches your opponents. Giving you a great idea of their play style. IE) loose, reckless, aggressive, etc.

You should step up to a program such as Poker Office and see your tournament play increase almost instantly.

Advanced Strategy

Basic and Advance Strategy – Betting Structures

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FullTilt Four Colored DeckUse A Four Color Deck:

This might seem basic, but, its actually quite advanced. In a recent survey, 6/10 people actually refuse (or don’t know how) to change their options to 4-Color Decks.

Its fairly simple and seemingly obvious, just go into the options section and click the Four Color Decks. You now have an advantage over many mistake making folks out there!

Everyone who has played long enough has probably misread their cards at some point or another (usually after a long stretch), especially flushes. Using a four colored deck makes it much easier to identify flushes (and more importantly flush draw threats) and enables you to use your brain powers elsewhere.

Waiting For The Blind:

By waiting a full rotation before posting you are allowing yourself a huge advantage. You get to watch how everyone plays/reacts etc. before you even spend a penny. So unless you are familiar with the players do yourself a favor and sit out until the BB comes around.

In the meantime be taking notes on each players actions, or use a 3rd Party Program to do so.

Learn To LEAVE!

Not only is this a great tip for poker players – but gamblers in general. However, this rule is often overlooked, even by professionals.

There is a simple rule of thumb, when your up LEAVE! Odd’s are that you can only go down from here. So, do yourself a favor and listen to the voice of reason nagging at you in the back of your head. It’s there for a reason.

Another huge advantage to Online Poker is that there is always another table just waiting for you, so if you’ve experienced 5 bad beats in a row at one table. It’s quite simple – just get up and leave.

You might be wondering why this rule is in the ADVANCED strategy section. Quite simply, its what sets apart professional gamblers from amateurs. Professionals know when its time to walk.

Aggression is the name of the game. Bet, Bet and Bet some more – even when your beat you have to keep betting. Bet the good hands, Bet the bad hands. Every hand will start off by someone raising and then someone either calling or three betting.

From there the person with the last raise preflop has the initiative and they will keep betting until someone takes the initiative away from them. Slow playing will not work in a game like that. You won’t get enough cards to compete with them blinding you to death. You’ll need to mix it up with them.

The first concept you need to understand is that you aren’t playing a numbers game anymore, it is a person game. If you check, they bet. That means that you aren’t concerned about odds; you’re only goal is to beat the person you are in the pot with. If a hand is almost worth a call, then it is definitely worth a bet in shorthanded play. Always be the bettor or raiser. Pay attention to who you are playing and try to get a handle on what they raise with and how they play their hands after the flop, on the turn and river. Will they raise from late position everytime and bet religiously unless you reraise? Will they check raise on a bluff? Will they raise or reraise with no pair on the flop or draw? These things help you out a little; you’ll be able to save a few bets.

Next, expect some fluctuation in your stack. That’s normal. You’ll be winning and losing a lot of hands. You will inevitably pay off some good hands but you can’t let that stop you. How loose you play post flop depends on how loose the other guy is playing. If he is betting nothing you may raise even bottom pair. You’ll go farther with your overcards and you need to be capable of a check raise bluff or semi-bluff on the turn card. That’s a very powerful move in shorthanded games. Occasionally check raise with middle pair on the turn. It only costs you another big bet or two and you’ll get much more value on your next hand when it is a monster.

Lastly, for hand selection you’ll want to play middle cards, pairs and above. Avoid hands with low cards like 2, 3 and 4 (unless with an A). You want to be able to draw to either card and hit a pair to win. Hands like J8 and T7 are playable against really aggressive loose players. You’ll also throw in hands like K6s Q5s etc. You’ll also be raising a lot from on the button as well as reraising with the hands above. Remember it only costs you one more small bet preflop but then you have the initiative.

Playing poker shorthanded is nothing like in a full game. Many of the moves you do at a table with 3 or 4 people would be totally wrong at a full game. Short handed games are fun because you get to play way more cards and it is a much faster pace.

Buy-In More Than Necessary:

There are more than a variety of reasons for buying in more than necessary at the poker table.

Intimidation Factor

Reserves

Having “THE NUTS” and not being able to raise.

Although, the minimum suggested 20times the big blind is hardly what people buy-in with to this day. I would recommend a buy-in more on the lines of at least 50times the big blind.

After you start doing this – you will notice people respect your raises/play more. You will always have the opportunity to raise (not be the person who flops a boat, and is out of cash). And will always have a cash reserve after a bad beat.

Betting Structure:

This section is different from others, in that it ONLY has external links… The following links will take you AWAY From Tips4Poker.com (because we lack the information your seeking.) Here are a few articles on Betting Structures:

* How To Bet (definitions of betting)
* No Limit Betting Amounts (no limit betting)

Tournament Play Strategy:

* Basic Tournament Strategy
* Taking Tournament Notes
* 3rd Party Programs In A Tournament Situation

Basic Tournament Strategy

* Play Less Hands (Common Sense Rule #1)

The less hands you play, the more money you keep. This doesn’t just go for tournaments but for poker in general. Play only the best possible hands you can! Meaning, only play the hands that will give you the best return on your investment. Duh!

* Use Your Mind (Common Sense Rule #2)

Think through every hand. The pro’s get to the final tournaments because they think through every hand and every move the person made. Think HARD! What hand do you think they have? What hand do you think they just made? Why are they betting this much? Are just a few examples of questions you should be asking yourself.

* Switch Up Your Play (Common Sense Rule #3)

Just Bluffed a big hand? Consider showing your bluffed hand to the table, then next time you have a huge hand bet really strong – you might get a few people who still think your bluffing! Alternate your play in a non-predictable manner but try to keep your betting rhythmic and predictable no matter what hand you have!

* Feel Out The Situation and Bluff HARD (C/S Rule #4)

Don’t bluff when you have Two Pair and a flush draw on the flop? No one betting, but you have position? Make a smart-bluff at the pot. Make a bet that you think that is big, but callable. Like you want someone to call you. If no one has anything watch them all fold like cowards.

Don’t be scared if you get a caller, REbluff him on the next card – IF you don’t think it helped him.

If that fails, don’t hesitate to fold

Taking Notes In a Tournament

A very valuable skill in an online poker tournament is taking notes.

A good player (in a multiple table tourney situation) will be watching multiple tables and taking notes on each player — knowing he will shortly encounter that player.

The advantage is he will now know for the most part exactly how he plays. His bluffs, his tells (if any) and his betting structure.

Taking notes during a tournament not only keeps you alert and busy but, it keeps you from playing the hands that will bust you out of the tournament quick.

3rd Party Programs In a Tournament Situation

Using a program such as Poker Office, a tournament player can gain an advantage very easily.

By monitoring his/hers own play – the player can find the mistakes they are making and quickly remedy them.

Programs like Poker Office, also watches your opponents. Giving you a great idea of their play style. IE) loose, reckless, aggressive, etc.

You should step up to a program such as Poker Office and see your tournament play increase almost instantly.

Site Specific Tips (Party Poker)

* Add fish to your Buddy List
This is a pretty popular tip used by many of the good players on Party Poker. By checking your buddy list off and on, you can see when your favorite maniacs are logging on to play. Though you are unable to see exactly which table they are seated at, you can manually search through the tables to look for your target.

This tip is mainly useful if you are adding maniacs to your buddy list, as maniacs tend to create table dynamics that are much better for you than say, a calling station. With a maniac at the table and five calling stations for example, there will be serious pots being generated, so you can score big if you hit your cards. At the same token however, with so many drawers in the pot, your chances for getting outdrawn are very high. Just remember that.

Click between game tabs to refresh your table listings
This trick is useful mainly for SnG (sit and go / single table) tournaments, which are notoriously quick to fill up. Many times, you’ll see “Wtng for 5 players” as the table status, but when you click on the game, it will have already started. This is due to the table status not updating quickly, which you can force by clicking between tabs. Of note however, is that Party Poker has recently upped the refresh rate of the tables substantially, so this isn’t a major issue like it used to be.

Get hand histories when players don’t show their at the river:
Great Poker Party trick that I’m sure many people have figured out. Many times on the river, only the winning hand is shown – but you are very interested in seeing what the loser was holding too. Simply click on the hand number at the top right of the screen and request the hand history for that game.

Scroll to the bottom of the history and you can instantly find out what the other player was holding. I normally do this in conjunction with player notes, to get me a good idea of what a player is willing to play with on a river. Showdown information is always the most critical, as you can analyze their decision making process from the ground up.

Turn on your sound, turn down the music:
It’s no secret that us humans work better using more of our senses, otherwise we wouldn’t have been born the way we are. Yes, it may get annoying to hear the dinks, beeps and chip sounds of the game after awhile, but hearing those audible cues are vital to your play. You are much less prone to make mistakes when you can hear and see what people are doing, as opposed to just seeing it. For me, I notice it helps my timing when I am trying to figure out if I am onto a online tell or not, based on the delay during the other person’s actions.

Show the avatars (people in chairs), but don’t stereotype them:
This is probably the most debatable tip I’m guessing, because if you’ve turned them off, you probably really don’t like the avatars to begin with. And if you do like avatars, well, they’re probably on already. I just want to get my two cents in about this Party Poker tip by saying that even though avatars are computer graphics, it’s again human nature to easily identify faces. That means we can more easily associate a personality to a face, so it makes it easier to remember how someone is playing when we can attach a face to a playing style.

Move out of the $5 tournaments ASAP:
This isn’t as much a trick as it is advice. The $5 sit and go tournaments on Party Poker are cheap, but at a price. With a $1 entry fee, this amounts to a 20% rake, which is no light task to beat. If you are good enough to win enough $5 tournaments that you can beat this rake, you are good enough to be playing at the $10 tournaments. There really is no difference between the two; and in my opinion, the $10 tournaments might even be easier because you don’t get filled out tables of nothing but calling stations. Try as you might and throw the book of poker at me, but there almost nothing humanly possible you can do at an entire table of maniacs or calling stations. The game makes more sense at $10 and even more sense at $30.

* Protect your computer!
This may sound like some paranoid or strange advice, but it never hurts to take extra precautions when it comes to protecting your computer and poker information. Anti-virus software of course is nice, but in reality isn’t as much a threat as spyware or Trojans. I recommend getting Ad-Aware 6, which is a very popular (and free!) spyware killer that will thoroughly clean your system out of tracking junk on your computer. Firewall software is great too and highly recommended. Windows XP comes built in with it’s own firewall that you can enable, but other software like BlackIce defender are even better. Chances are nobody will be coming after you for your poker passwords, but why chance it?

Poker Tournaments

hands

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Home Of The ULTIMATE Partypoker Bonus & Strategy Guide

A lot is placed on the starting hand in Texas Hold-Em. Professional’s will tell you to play less hands and the less (but better) hand’s that you play will give you more money for your value. There are a few way’s to determine these values. In our 3rd Party Poker Software Program section there are several programs that help determine your odd’s of winning but these charts let you know how much money you can expect to win by playing a hand.

Jonathan Little Poker Check

Click Here to see how Jonathan Little Took down a WPT title and got this Check

As implied by the name, this is only a “expected” value and will not be given every time. So enjoy these charts and use them wisely. This page has more statistics than the eye can handle, use what you need!

Poker Room has this chart, which you enter your hand through the web and it determines the expected value you can get by playing the hand.

Calculatem Pro Free Download

Other Charts:

Starting poker hand charts are as follows:

Starting Poker Hands in Texas Hold'em

Position
Cards SB BB 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 D
AA 2.71 2.82 2.49 2.52 2.74 2.78 2.80 2.74 2.88 2.96
KK 1.89 1.73 1.72 1.69 1.58 1.91 2.02 1.95 1.95 2.10
QQ 1.19 1.23 1.30 1.19 1.20 1.22 1.24 1.20 1.49 1.36
JJ 0.68 0.63 0.84 0.66 0.85 0.76 0.90 1.02 1.01 0.87
TT 0.37 0.35 0.45 0.52 0.43 0.42 0.45 0.54 0.50 0.56
99 0.17 0.16 0.33 0.14 0.31 0.34 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.23
88 0.11 0.08 0.20 0.07 0.15 0.19 0.16 0.26 0.21 0.26
77 -0.07 -0.01 0.04 0.11 0.08 0.15 0.09 0.19 0.17 0.15
66 -0.01 -0.07 -0.01 0.08 0.21 0.14 0.05 -0.02 0.06 0.14
55 -0.02 -0.11 0.02 -0.01 -0.04 -0.00 -0.00 -0.04 -0.00 0.08
44 0.05 -0.10 -0.09 -0.06 -0.01 0.11 0.02 0.02 -0.06 -0.04
33 -0.10 -0.16 -0.06 -0.03 -0.02 -0.04 -0.00 0.07 -0.04 0.04
22 -0.11 -0.10 -0.11 -0.02 -0.05 0.03 0.03 -0.06 -0.01 -0.12
AK 0.42 0.42 0.47 0.41 0.55 0.51 0.50 0.56 0.59 0.62
AK s 0.68 0.79 0.78 0.92 0.85 0.83 0.87 0.82 1.03 1.00
AQ 0.18 0.16 0.20 0.30 0.21 0.32 0.26 0.33 0.31 0.37
AQ s 0.59 0.51 0.51 0.59 0.54 0.49 0.70 0.66 0.66 0.64
AJ 0.03 0.11 0.03 0.10 0.10 0.07 0.16 0.09 0.20 0.15
AJ s 0.43 0.27 0.28 0.41 0.40 0.44 0.50 0.52 0.56 0.49
AT -0.08 -0.04 -0.07 -0.02 0.01 0.01 -0.01 0.03 -0.01 0.06
AT s 0.20 0.24 0.28 0.23 0.23 0.40 0.28 0.26 0.31 0.47
A9 -0.21 -0.18 -0.08 -0.11 -0.13 -0.07 -0.09 -0.12 -0.10 -0.03
A9 s 0.17 0.05 0.24 0.07 0.14 0.12 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20
A8 -0.21 -0.28 -0.18 -0.08 -0.10 -0.09 -0.08 -0.17 -0.06 -0.09
A8 s -0.02 -0.13 0.12 0.03 0.18 0.07 0.08 0.03 0.11 0.15
A7 -0.22 -0.26 -0.14 -0.12 -0.11 -0.12 -0.15 -0.10 -0.10 -0.05
A7 s -0.06 -0.05 0.03 0.13 -0.01 0.09 0.27 0.10 0.01 0.07
A6 -0.29 -0.27 -0.18 -0.15 -0.12 -0.11 -0.13 -0.10 -0.13 -0.10
A6 s 0.01 -0.15 -0.14 0.05 -0.04 0.01 0.06 -0.04 0.01 0.01
A5 -0.25 -0.30 -0.12 -0.15 -0.12 -0.15 -0.12 -0.11 -0.08 -0.12
A5 s 0.13 0.02 0.09 0.06 -0.02 0.08 0.02 0.02 0.19 0.18
A4 -0.26 -0.30 -0.12 -0.11 -0.15 -0.13 -0.08 -0.10 -0.10 -0.10
A4 s -0.03 -0.06 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.05 0.19 0.03 0.18 0.08
A3 -0.28 -0.34 -0.17 -0.11 -0.12 -0.12 -0.09 -0.11 -0.12 -0.10
A3 s -0.12 0.02 -0.06 0.07 0.10 -0.08 -0.08 0.12 0.01 0.04
A2 -0.28 -0.35 -0.16 -0.14 -0.15 -0.15 -0.13 -0.09 -0.06 -0.14
A2 s -0.12 -0.14 -0.01 -0.03 0.06 0.03 0.03 -0.10 0.00 0.12
KQ 0.02 -0.01 0.05 0.16 0.08 0.09 0.13 0.15 0.15 0.17
KQ s 0.38 0.18 0.40 0.31 0.35 0.28 0.41 0.45 0.39 0.42
KJ -0.08 -0.16 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04 0.05 0.01 0.08 0.06
KJ s 0.17 0.12 0.15 0.28 0.32 0.22 0.23 0.28 0.28 0.40
KT -0.20 -0.16 -0.08 -0.09 -0.05 -0.06 -0.05 -0.04 0.01 0.07
KT s 0.16 0.02 0.11 0.20 0.16 0.10 0.27 0.07 0.09 0.30
K9 -0.26 -0.21 -0.12 -0.10 -0.09 -0.11 -0.09 -0.10 -0.06 -0.05
K9 s -0.07 -0.03 -0.05 0.06 0.15 0.04 0.02 0.07 0.10 0.03
K8 -0.27 -0.28 -0.13 -0.09 -0.09 -0.06 -0.08 -0.07 -0.06 -0.08
K8 s -0.09 -0.11 -0.03 -0.01 -0.03 0.01 -0.10 0.08 0.00 0.00
K7 -0.26 -0.31 -0.13 -0.10 -0.07 -0.07 -0.09 -0.06 -0.05 -0.04
K7 s -0.07 -0.12 -0.08 -0.03 0.14 -0.03 -0.04 -0.03 0.04 -0.01
K6 -0.26 -0.32 -0.10 -0.05 -0.07 -0.06 -0.07 -0.06 -0.07 -0.07
K6 s -0.16 -0.16 -0.10 0.02 -0.03 -0.08 -0.06 0.07 0.01 -0.02
K5 -0.28 -0.34 -0.11 -0.08 -0.07 -0.09 -0.07 -0.08 -0.09 -0.03
K5 s -0.21 -0.13 -0.06 -0.04 -0.05 -0.01 0.01 -0.09 0.01 -0.01
K4 -0.30 -0.37 -0.11 -0.08 -0.07 -0.06 -0.08 -0.07 -0.06 0.01
K4 s -0.16 -0.07 -0.09 -0.09 0.04 -0.04 -0.08 -0.05 -0.04 -0.10
K3 -0.28 -0.37 -0.13 -0.07 -0.07 -0.07 -0.08 -0.06 -0.06 -0.05
K3 s -0.11 -0.12 -0.09 -0.12 -0.10 -0.02 -0.09 -0.01 -0.09 -0.05
K2 -0.27 -0.37 -0.11 -0.06 -0.06 -0.07 -0.07 -0.05 -0.05 -0.06
K2 s -0.15 -0.22 -0.16 -0.03 -0.07 -0.09 -0.10 -0.05 -0.00 -0.12
QJ -0.09 -0.12 -0.11 -0.08 -0.00 -0.09 0.03 -0.02 0.03 0.02
QJ s 0.18 0.07 0.16 0.10 0.17 0.31 0.10 0.20 0.36 0.24
QT -0.17 -0.16 -0.10 -0.07 -0.05 -0.09 -0.12 -0.02 -0.03 0.02
QT s 0.01 -0.02 0.04 0.11 0.13 0.03 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.07
Q9 -0.25 -0.22 -0.11 -0.11 -0.05 -0.09 -0.08 -0.04 -0.06 -0.06
Q9 s -0.07 -0.12 -0.05 0.13 0.07 0.06 -0.07 -0.01 -0.01 -0.00
Q8 -0.27 -0.30 -0.11 -0.10 -0.08 -0.09 -0.02 -0.07 -0.05 -0.07
Q8 s -0.10 -0.18 -0.07 -0.07 -0.12 0.01 0.02 -0.05 -0.08 0.02
Q7 -0.29 -0.33 -0.11 -0.07 -0.06 -0.07 -0.05 -0.06 -0.07 -0.05
Q7 s -0.18 -0.17 -0.04 -0.13 -0.10 -0.09 -0.03 -0.04 -0.07 0.04
Q6 -0.28 -0.38 -0.11 -0.07 -0.06 -0.06 -0.05 -0.05 -0.04 -0.07
Q6 s -0.21 -0.14 -0.17 -0.11 -0.05 -0.14 -0.03 -0.07 -0.03 -0.03
Q5 -0.31 -0.39 -0.11 -0.07 -0.04 -0.05 -0.03 -0.05 -0.04 -0.05
Q5 s -0.22 -0.14 -0.02 -0.02 -0.09 -0.04 -0.05 -0.12 -0.05 -0.09
Q4 -0.27 -0.40 -0.08 -0.05 -0.03 -0.04 -0.05 -0.04 -0.03 -0.05
Q4 s -0.19 -0.24 -0.09 -0.12 -0.11 -0.13 -0.08 -0.02 -0.05 -0.07
Q3 -0.27 -0.34 -0.12 -0.03 -0.05 -0.03 -0.05 -0.05 -0.04 -0.05
Q3 s -0.27 -0.33 -0.01 -0.13 -0.08 -0.01 -0.07 -0.14 -0.13 0.01
Q2 -0.31 -0.41 -0.11 -0.05 -0.05 -0.05 -0.05 -0.04 -0.04 -0.04
Q2 s -0.29 -0.24 -0.11 -0.09 -0.11 -0.11 -0.05 -0.12 -0.10 -0.07
JT -0.21 -0.19 -0.13 -0.10 -0.02 -0.07 -0.02 0.01 -0.03 -0.01
JT s 0.07 0.02 -0.04 0.09 0.02 0.14 0.16 0.13 0.19 0.15
J9 -0.21 -0.27 -0.16 -0.08 -0.07 -0.08 -0.10 -0.09 -0.08 -0.06
J9 s -0.03 -0.12 -0.10 -0.04 -0.09 -0.02 -0.01 -0.00 0.06 0.19
J8 -0.27 -0.26 -0.08 -0.08 -0.07 -0.07 -0.09 -0.04 -0.06 -0.06
J8 s -0.09 -0.23 -0.06 -0.19 -0.12 -0.03 -0.05 0.02 -0.01 -0.02
J7 -0.28 -0.34 -0.10 -0.07 -0.07 -0.04 -0.05 -0.04 -0.05 -0.05
J7 s -0.15 -0.23 -0.12 -0.01 -0.01 -0.11 -0.06 -0.07 -0.01 -0.07
J6 -0.28 -0.37 -0.07 -0.06 -0.05 -0.04 -0.04 -0.04 -0.04 -0.04
J6 s -0.20 -0.27 -0.18 -0.11 -0.16 -0.05 -0.03 -0.07 -0.07 0.00
J5 -0.28 -0.38 -0.11 -0.05 -0.06 -0.05 -0.05 -0.03 -0.05 -0.03
J5 s -0.26 -0.22 -0.18 -0.06 -0.09 -0.10 -0.14 -0.17 -0.08 -0.11
J4 -0.27 -0.38 -0.10 -0.04 -0.05 -0.04 -0.03 -0.04 -0.03 -0.04
J4 s -0.27 -0.20 -0.09 -0.03 -0.12 -0.04 -0.06 -0.10 0.06 -0.08
J3 -0.28 -0.43 -0.12 -0.05 -0.03 -0.03 -0.04 -0.03 -0.03 -0.03
J3 s -0.27 -0.31 -0.09 -0.06 -0.10 -0.14 -0.11 -0.07 -0.10 -0.03
J2 -0.28 -0.43 -0.09 -0.04 -0.04 -0.03 -0.04 -0.03 -0.02 -0.04
J2 s -0.28 -0.31 -0.12 -0.12 -0.09 -0.07 -0.01 -0.08 -0.10 -0.11
T9 -0.13 -0.31 -0.09 -0.07 -0.08 -0.07 -0.07 -0.09 -0.05 -0.06
T9 s -0.06 -0.11 -0.06 -0.02 0.10 -0.10 0.06 0.03 0.04 0.10
T8 -0.25 -0.29 -0.11 -0.06 -0.04 -0.06 -0.04 -0.05 -0.04 -0.05
T8 s -0.14 -0.16 -0.02 -0.08 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.04 0.07 0.08
T7 -0.26 -0.33 -0.07 -0.04 -0.02 -0.03 -0.01 -0.05 -0.03 -0.03
T7 s -0.17 -0.13 -0.13 -0.07 -0.04 -0.06 -0.09 0.04 0.06 -0.09
T6 -0.31 -0.36 -0.10 -0.04 -0.02 -0.01 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03
T6 s -0.20 -0.32 -0.15 -0.12 -0.12 -0.06 -0.12 -0.07 -0.07 -0.04
T5 -0.29 -0.39 -0.09 -0.03 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02
T5 s -0.29 -0.22 -0.10 -0.07 0.01 -0.10 -0.06 -0.01 -0.03 -0.08
T4 -0.27 -0.40 -0.09 -0.03 -0.02 0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.01
T4 s -0.25 -0.34 -0.12 -0.08 -0.08 -0.06 -0.12 -0.13 -0.05 -0.06
T3 -0.28 -0.41 -0.09 -0.03 -0.03 -0.01 -0.01 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02
T3 s -0.24 -0.30 -0.11 -0.08 -0.04 -0.04 -0.03 -0.05 -0.04 -0.12
T2 -0.28 -0.42 -0.10 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.01
T2 s -0.29 -0.30 -0.12 -0.10 -0.08 -0.07 -0.07 -0.09 -0.06 -0.10
98 -0.18 -0.32 -0.10 -0.07 -0.08 -0.05 -0.08 -0.05 -0.04 -0.09
98 s -0.03 -0.17 -0.11 -0.06 -0.15 -0.11 0.03 0.06 0.04 0.08
97 -0.22 -0.32 -0.09 -0.03 -0.04 -0.04 -0.02 -0.03 -0.05 -0.06
97 s -0.17 -0.12 0.05 -0.08 -0.04 0.05 -0.08 -0.02 -0.14 0.04
96 -0.29 -0.34 -0.09 -0.04 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04 -0.04 -0.02 -0.03
96 s -0.18 -0.22 -0.13 -0.10 -0.08 -0.08 -0.07 -0.09 -0.09 -0.04
95 -0.27 -0.39 -0.08 -0.04 -0.02 -0.02 -0.04 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03
95 s -0.22 -0.29 -0.12 -0.09 -0.10 -0.10 -0.08 -0.07 -0.08 -0.08
94 -0.28 -0.43 -0.09 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 0.01 -0.02
94 s -0.29 -0.38 -0.11 -0.10 -0.08 -0.05 -0.08 -0.07 -0.12 -0.07
93 -0.26 -0.41 -0.08 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02
93 s -0.17 -0.39 -0.11 -0.07 -0.06 -0.16 -0.10 -0.03 -0.09 -0.09
92 -0.26 -0.39 -0.08 -0.02 0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01
92 s -0.22 -0.34 -0.11 -0.07 -0.10 -0.09 -0.11 -0.11 -0.08 -0.09
87 -0.23 -0.32 -0.13 -0.08 -0.08 -0.08 -0.06 -0.08 -0.09 -0.08
87 s -0.16 -0.19 0.11 -0.01 -0.08 -0.05 -0.01 -0.08 -0.00 0.02
86 -0.25 -0.30 -0.09 -0.03 -0.05 -0.03 -0.04 -0.03 -0.03 -0.02
86 s -0.17 -0.22 -0.04 -0.09 -0.09 -0.07 -0.03 -0.05 -0.02 0.00
85 -0.25 -0.37 -0.07 -0.04 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.00 -0.02 -0.02
85 s -0.23 -0.28 -0.11 -0.10 -0.04 -0.10 -0.11 -0.05 -0.11 -0.03
84 -0.28 -0.38 -0.08 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02
84 s -0.19 -0.29 -0.12 -0.09 -0.10 -0.10 -0.08 -0.08 -0.15 -0.15
83 -0.29 -0.41 -0.08 -0.04 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01
83 s -0.25 -0.31 -0.13 -0.08 -0.08 -0.09 -0.11 -0.06 -0.09 -0.12
82 -0.27 -0.40 -0.08 0.02 -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01
82 s -0.25 -0.35 -0.16 -0.08 -0.09 -0.08 -0.07 -0.06 0.06 -0.03
76 -0.25 -0.32 -0.07 -0.07 -0.04 -0.01 -0.06 -0.03 -0.02 -0.05
76 s -0.17 -0.10 -0.04 -0.03 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 0.03 0.01 0.14
75 -0.27 -0.35 -0.07 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03
75 s -0.17 -0.25 -0.14 -0.08 -0.03 -0.06 -0.10 -0.05 -0.08 0.07
74 -0.27 -0.38 -0.07 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02
74 s -0.17 -0.24 -0.10 -0.10 -0.08 0.07 -0.06 -0.04 0.04 -0.07
73 -0.26 -0.42 -0.08 -0.03 -0.02 -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 0.00 -0.01
73 s -0.27 -0.33 -0.12 -0.10 -0.07 -0.10 -0.05 -0.08 -0.10 -0.08
72 -0.27 -0.41 -0.08 -0.03 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01
72 s -0.26 -0.33 -0.13 -0.08 -0.08 -0.06 -0.06 -0.07 -0.08 -0.07
65 -0.27 -0.31 -0.07 -0.06 -0.05 -0.04 -0.05 -0.05 -0.05 -0.03
65 s -0.15 -0.23 -0.08 -0.07 -0.06 -0.06 -0.14 -0.02 0.08 -0.05
64 -0.27 -0.33 -0.08 -0.03 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03 -0.02 -0.03
64 s -0.18 -0.21 0.08 -0.05 -0.06 -0.02 0.04 -0.03 -0.01 -0.04
63 -0.25 -0.37 -0.10 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.03
63 s -0.21 -0.30 -0.12 -0.15 -0.04 -0.12 -0.07 -0.08 0.00 0.04
62 -0.27 -0.41 -0.09 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01 -0.01
62 s -0.25 -0.31 -0.07 -0.09 -0.07 -0.10 -0.07 -0.07 -0.08 -0.10
54 -0.27 -0.32 -0.08 -0.06 -0.05 -0.03 -0.06 -0.04 0.03 -0.06
54 s -0.19 -0.15 -0.08 -0.02 -0.04 -0.07 -0.01 -0.03 -0.00 0.01
53 -0.24 -0.33 -0.07 -0.03 -0.02 -0.02 0.01 -0.03 -0.03 -0.04
53 s -0.24 -0.27 -0.08 -0.07 0.04 -0.04 -0.10 -0.08 -0.08 -0.04
52 -0.25 -0.37 -0.09 -0.02 -0.03 -0.01 -0.02 -0.02 -0.01 -0.02
52 s -0.21 -0.30 -0.12 -0.11 -0.06 -0.10 -0.10 -0.02 -0.07 -0.02
43 -0.27 -0.36 -0.09 -0.07 -0.03 -0.04 -0.04 -0.02 -0.03 -0.05
43 s -0.25 -0.23 -0.03 -0.05 -0.07 -0.09 -0.08 -0.04 -0.06 -0.11
42 -0.26 -0.40 -0.09 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02
42 s -0.29 -0.26 -0.18 -0.11 -0.07 -0.09 0.04 -0.07 -0.06 -0.03
32 -0.29 -0.41 -0.07 -0.05 -0.03 -0.04 -0.04 -0.04 -0.03 -0.04
32 s -0.17 -0.33 -0.13 -0.08 -0.10 -0.07 -0.09 -0.06 -0.09 -0.09
Total EV stats ordered by value

Cards EV Count
AA 2.32 521,324
KK 1.67 522,652
QQ 1.22 520,663
JJ 0.86 521,866
AK s 0.78 348,364
AQ s 0.59 348,759
TT 0.58 520,705
AK 0.51 1,048,008
AJ s 0.44 348,126
KQ s 0.39 346,772
99 0.38 522,454
AT s 0.32 348,013
AQ 0.31 1,042,962
KJ s 0.29 346,582
88 0.25 521,972
QJ s 0.23 348,870
KT s 0.20 348,774
A9 s 0.19 348,992
AJ 0.19 1,045,857
QT s 0.17 346,115
KQ 0.16 1,045,069
77 0.16 524,345
JT s 0.15 348,235
A8 s 0.10 349,431
K9 s 0.09 348,286
AT 0.08 1,047,289
A5 s 0.08 348,544
A7s 0.08 349,949
KJ 0.08 1,047,098
66 0.07 520,946
T9 s 0.05 348,264
A4 s 0.05 347,862
Q9 s 0.05 348,760
J9 s 0.04 349,965
QJ 0.03 1,044,338
A6 s 0.03 347,677
55 0.02 521,945
A3 s 0.02 347,895
K8 s 0.01 350,401
KT 0.01 1,045,392
98 s 0.00 348,759
T8 s -0.00 347,443
K7 s -0.00 348,341
A2 s 0.00 347,318
87 s -0.02 348,348
QT -0.02 1,047,827
Q8 s -0.02 348,381
44 -0.03 523,398
A9 -0.03 1,047,672
J8 s -0.03 348,046
76 s -0.03 347,540
JT -0.03 1,043,812
97 s -0.04 350,158
K6 s -0.04 347,029
K5 s -0.05 349,320
K4 s -0.05 348,681
T7 s -0.05 347,638
Cards EV Count
Q7 s -0.06 348,073
K9 -0.07 1,045,630
65 s -0.07 348,590
T9 -0.07 1,045,306
86 s -0.07 348,374
A8 -0.07 1,042,209
J7 s -0.07 345,009
33 -0.07 522,632
54 s -0.08 348,260
Q6 s -0.08 349,068
K3 s -0.08 348,865
Q9 -0.08 1,049,468
75 s -0.09 349,781
22 -0.09 524,131
J9 -0.09 1,044,150
64 s -0.09 349,689
Q5 s -0.09 350,110
K2 s -0.09 349,276
96 s -0.09 349,514
Q3 s -0.10 348,009
J8 -0.10 1,046,506
98 -0.10 1,044,759
T8 -0.10 1,048,779
97 -0.10 1,046,152
A7 -0.10 1,046,587
T7 -0.10 1,044,950
Q4 s -0.10 348,979
Q8 -0.11 1,048,251
J5 s -0.11 348,923
T6 -0.11 1,043,014
75 -0.11 1,047,447
J4 s -0.11 347,508
74 s -0.11 350,325
K8 -0.11 1,048,167
86 -0.11 1,047,524
53 s -0.11 346,930
K7 -0.11 1,043,698
63 s -0.11 346,449
J6 s -0.11 347,570
85 -0.11 1,048,159
T6 s -0.11 348,875
76 -0.11 1,046,722
A6 -0.12 1,046,762
T2 -0.12 1,047,032
95 s -0.12 348,477
84 -0.12 1,046,266
62 -0.12 1,049,495
T5 s -0.12 348,928
95 -0.12 1,044,601
A5 -0.12 1,046,285
Q7 -0.12 1,046,099
T5 -0.12 1,048,428
87 -0.12 1,044,635
83 -0.12 1,048,550
65 -0.12 1,045,971
Q2 s -0.12 348,912
94 -0.12 1,047,422
Cards EV Count
74 -0.12 1,043,278
54 -0.12 1,046,435
A4 -0.12 1,046,931
T4 -0.12 1,047,976
82 -0.12 1,043,638
64 -0.12 1,043,079
42 -0.12 1,043,357
J7 -0.12 1,046,565
93 -0.12 1,045,989
85 s -0.12 347,928
73 -0.12 1,047,020
53 -0.12 1,047,022
T3 -0.12 1,043,908
63 -0.12 1,044,818
K6 -0.12 1,045,039
J6 -0.12 1,045,991
96 -0.12 1,047,156
92 -0.12 1,049,342
72 -0.12 1,046,167
52 -0.12 1,049,213
Q4 -0.13 1,045,087
K5 -0.13 1,047,359
J5 -0.13 1,047,697
43 s -0.13 348,802
Q3 -0.13 1,047,649
43 -0.13 1,047,900
K4 -0.13 1,046,562
J4 -0.13 1,048,129
T4 s -0.13 350,639
Q6 -0.13 1,046,958
Q2 -0.13 1,046,353
J3 s -0.13 349,254
J3 -0.13 1,046,204
T3 s -0.13 349,673
A3 -0.13 1,046,970
Q5 -0.13 1,047,946
J2 -0.13 1,045,715
84 s -0.13 349,390
82 s -0.14 348,622
42 s -0.14 350,591
93 s -0.14 348,835
73 s -0.14 349,007
K3 -0.14 1,045,968
J2 s -0.14 348,259
92 s -0.14 347,868
52 s -0.14 348,401
K2 -0.14 1,048,521
T2 s -0.14 349,612
62 s -0.14 348,033
32 -0.14 1,044,956
A2 -0.15 1,047,979
83 s -0.15 349,355
94 s -0.15 348,259
72 s -0.15 348,368
32 s -0.15 349,794


The statistics are based on 115,591,080 pair of pocket cards dealt at the real money tables. The unit for EV is average profit in big bets.

cheating_online_poker_article

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

As Originally Posted: Poker Cheating Article
By Brad Arkin Frank Hill Scott Marks Matt Schmid and Thomas John Walls

Poker Robot

September 28, 1999

By Brad Arkin, Frank Hill, Scott Marks, Matt Schmid, Thomas John Walls, and Gary McGraw Reliable Software Technologies Software Security Group

Poker is a card game that many people around the world enjoy. Poker is played at kitchen tables, in casinos, and cardrooms — and more recently, the Web. A few of us here at Reliable Software Technologies play poker. Since many of us spend a good amount of our days online, it was only a matter of time before some of us put the two interests together. This is the story of how our interest in online poker and software security mixed to create a spectacular security exploit. The PlanetPoker Internet cardroom offers real-time Texas Hold’em games against other people on the Web for real money. Being software professionals who help companies deliver secure, reliable, and robust software, we were curious about the software behind the online game. How did it work? Was it fair? An examination of the FAQs at PlanetPoker, including the shuffling algorithm (which was ironically published to help demonstrate the game’s integrity) was enough to start our analysis wheels rolling. As soon as we saw the shuffling algorithm, we began to suspect there might be a problem. A little investigation proved that this intuition was correct.

The Game

In Texas Hold’em, each player is dealt two cards (called the pocket cards). The initial deal is followed by a round of betting. After the first round, all remaining cards are dealt face up and shared by all players. The dealer places three cards face up on the board (called the flop). A second round of betting then takes place. Texas Hold’em is usually a fixed limit game, meaning that there are fixed amounts that a player may bet in each betting round. For example, in a $3 to $6 game, the first two betting rounds are $3 bets while the third and fourth betting rounds are $6 bets. After the second round of betting, the dealer places another card face up on the board (called the turn). A third round of betting then takes place. Finally, the dealer places the last card face up on the board (called the river), and a final round of betting ensues. Each remaining player takes their two pocket cards and combines them with the five community cards to make the best five-card poker hand. The best hand among the players is determined by standard poker hand order.Texas Hold’em is a fast-paced and exciting game. Bluffing is an essential part of the game, and quick decisions about who is holding what sorts of cards separate winners from losers. Interestingly, Texas Hold’em is the poker game played at the World Series of Poker which is held annually in Las Vegas.Now that everybody and their dog is online, and virtually all types of businesses are represented on the Internet, it’s only natural that casinos and cardrooms are there too. Even with the reasonably easy availability of casinos on Indian reservations and riverboats, there is still real demand for more accessible games. Being able to play online in the comfort of your own home (not to mention in your pajamas), without having to endure second-hand smoke and obnoxious players, is definitely appealing.

Security Risks Abound

All this convenience comes at a price. Unfortunately, there are real risks to playing poker online. The casino may be a fraud, existing only to take money from naïve players without ever intending to pay back winnings. The server running the online casino could be cracked by a malicious attacker looking for credit card numbers, or trying to leverage some advantage in the game. Since a majority of casinos don’t authenticate or encrypt the network traffic between the player running the client program and the server hosting the card game, a malicious player could conceivably examine the network traffic (with a classic person-in-the-middle attack) for the purposes of determining his opponent’s cards. These risks are all very familiar to Internet security experts.Collusion is a problem that is unique to poker (as opposed to other games like blackjack or craps), since poker players play against each other and not the casino itself. Collusion occurs when two or more players seated at the same table work together as a team, often using the same bankroll. Colluding players know what their team members’ hands are (often through subtle signals), and bet with the purpose of maximizing their team’s profits on any given hand. Though collusion is a problem in real cardrooms, it is a much more serious problem for online poker. Using tools like instant messaging and telephone conference calls makes collusion a serious risk to online poker players. What if all the players in an online game are all cooperating to bilk an unsuspecting Web patsy? How can you be assured that you’re never a victim of this attack?Last, but not least (especially in terms of our story), there is a real risk that the software behind an online poker game may be flawed. Software problems are a notorious form of security risk often overlooked by companies obsessed with firewalls and cryptography. The problem is that a software application can introduce truck-sized security holes into a system. We spend a great deal of time in our day jobs finding and solving software security problems. It is only natural that we turned our attention to online poker. The rest of this article is devoted to a discussion of software security problems we found in a popular online poker game.

Software Security Risks

Shuffling a Virtual Deck of Cards The first software flaw we’ll focus on involves shuffling virtual cards. What does it mean to shuffle a deck of cards fairly? Essentially, every possible combination of cards should have an equal likelihood of appearing. We’ll call each such ordering of the 52 cards a shuffle.In a real deck of cards, there are 52! (approximately 2^226) possible unique shuffles. When a computer shuffles a virtual deck of cards, it selects one of these possible combinations. There are many algorithms that can be used to shuffle a deck of cards, some of which are better than others (and some of which are just plain wrong).

We found that the algorithm used by ASF Software, Inc., the company that produces the software used by most of the online poker games, suffered from many flaws. ASF has changed their algorithm since we contacted them regarding our discovery. We have not looked at their new approach. Getting everything exactly right from a security perspective is not easy (as the rest of this article will show).

Figure 1: The Flawed ASF Shuffling Algorithm

procedure TDeck.Shuffle;
var
ctr: Byte;
tmp: Byte;

random_number: Byte;
begin
{ Fill the deck with unique cards }
for ctr := 1 to 52 do
Card[ctr] := ctr;

{ Generate a new seed based on the system clock }
randomize;

{ Randomly rearrange each card }
for ctr := 1 to 52 do begin
random_number := random(51)+1;
tmp := card[random_number];
card[random_number] := card[ctr];
card[ctr] := tmp;
end;

CurrentCard := 1;
JustShuffled := True;
end;

The shuffling algorithm shown in Figure 1 was posted by ASF Software in order to convince people that their computer-generated shuffles were entirely fair. Ironically, it had the exact opposite effect on us.

The algorithm starts by initializing an array with values in order from 1 to 52, representing the 52 possible cards. Then, the program initializes a pseudo-random number generator using the system clock with a call to Randomize(). The actual shuffle is performed by swapping every position in the array, in turn, with a randomly chosen position. The position to swap with is chosen by calls to the pseudo-random number generator.

Problem One: An Off-By-One Error

Astute programmers will have noticed that the algorithm in question contains an off-by-one error. The algorithm is supposed to traverse the initial deck while swapping each card with any other card. Unlike most Pascal functions, the function Random(n) actually returns a number between 0 and n-1 instead of a number between 1 and n. The algorithm uses the following snippet of code to choose which card to swap with the current card: . The formula sets random_number to a value between 1 and 51. In short, the algorithm in question never chooses to swap the current card with the last card. When ctr finally reaches the last card, 52, that card is swapped with any other card except itself. That means this shuffling algorithm never allows the 52nd card to end up in the 52nd place. This is an obvious, but easily correctable, violation of fairness.

Problem Two: Bad Distribution Of Shuffles A closer examination of the shuffling algorithm reveals that, regardless of the off-by-one problem, it doesn’t return an even distribution of decks. The basic algorithm at the heart of the shuffle is shown in Figure 2.

Shuffling

A closer examination of the algorithm reveals that, regardless of the off-by-one error, it doesn’t return an even distribution of shuffles. That is, some shuffles are more likely to be produced than others are. This uneven distribution can be leveraged into an advantage if a tipped-off player is willing to sit at the table long enough.

To illustrate this problem using a small example, we’ll shuffle a deck consisting of only three cards (i.e, n=3) using the algorithm described above.

Figure 2: How not to shuffle cards

for (i is 1 to n)
Swap i with random position between 1 and n

Figure 2 contains the algorithm we used to shuffle our deck of three cards, and also depicts the tree of all possible decks using this shuffling algorithm. If our random number source is a good one, then each leaf on the tree in Figure 2 has an equal probability of being produced.

Given even this small example, you can see that the algorithm does not produce shuffles with equal probability. It will produce the decks 231, 213, and 132 more often than the decks 312, 321, 123. If you were betting on the first card and you knew about these probabilities, you would know that card 2 is more likely to appear than any other card. The uneven probabilities become increasingly exaggerated as the number of cards in the deck increase. When a full deck of 52 cards is shuffled using the algorithm listed above (n=52), the unequal distribution of decks skews the probabilities of certain hands and changes the betting odds. Experienced poker players (who play the odds as a normal course of business) can take advantage of the skewed probabilities.

Figure 3: How to shuffle cards

for (i is 1 to 3)
Swap i with random position between i and 3

Figure 3 provides a much better shuffling algorithm. The crucial difference between the two algorithms is that number of possible swap positions decreases as you progress through the deck. Once again, we show a tree illustrating this algorithm on our sample deck of three cards. The change between this new algorithm and the one used by ASF is that each card i is swapped with a card from the range [i, n], not [1, n]. This reduces the number of leaves from the 3^3 = 27 given by the bad algorithm listed above to 3! = 6. The change is important because the n! number of unique leaves means that the new shuffling algorithm generates each possible deck only once. Notice that each possible shuffle is produced once and only once so that each deck has an equal probability of occurring. Now that’s fair!

Generating Random Numbers on a Deterministic Machine

The first set of software flaws we discussed merely changes the probabilities that certain cards will come up. The associated skews can be used by a clever gambler to gain an edge, but the flaws really don’t constitute a complete break in the system. By contrast, the third flaw, which we explain in this section, is a doozy that allows online poker to be completely compromised. A short tutorial on pseudo-random number generators sets the stage for the rest of our story.

How Pseudo-Random Number Generators Work

Suppose we want to generate a random number between 1 and 52, where every number has an equal probability of appearing. Ideally, we would generate a value on the range from 0 to 1 where every value will occur with equal probability, regardless of the previous value, then multiply that value by 52. Note that there are an infinite number of values between 0 and 1. Also note that computers do not offer infinite precision!

In order to program a computer to do something like the algorithm presented above, a pseudo-random number generator typically produces an integer on the range from 0 to N and returns that number divided by N. The resulting number is always between 0 and 1. Subsequent calls to the generator take the integer result from the first run and pass it through a function to produce a new integer between 0 and N, then return the new integer divided by N. This means the number of unique values returned by any pseudo-random number generator is limited by number of integers between 0 and N. In most common random number generators, N is 2^32 (approximately 4 billion) which is the largest value that will fit into a 32-bit number. Put another way, there are at most 4 billion possible values produced by this sort of number generator. To tip our hand a bit, this 4 billion number is not all that large.

A number known as the seed is provided to a pseudo-random generator as an initial integer to pass through the function. The seed is used to get the ball rolling. Notice that there is nothing unpredictable about the output of a pseudo-random generator. Each value returned by a pseudo-random number generator is completely determined by the previous value it returned (and ultimately, the seed that started it all). If we know the integer used to compute any one value then we know every subsequent value returned from the generator.

The pseudo-random number generator distributed with Borland compilers makes a good example and is reproduced in Figure 4. If we know that the current value of RandSeed is 12345, then the next integer produced will be 1655067934 and the value returned will be 20. The same thing happens every time (which should not be surprising to anyone since computers are completely deterministic).

Figure 4: Borland’s implementation of Random()

long long RandSeed = #### ;

unsigned long Random(long max)
{
long long x ;
double i ;
unsigned long final ;
x = 0xffffffff;
x += 1 ;

RandSeed *= ((long long)134775813);
RandSeed += 1 ;
RandSeed = RandSeed % x ;
i = ((double)RandSeed) / (double)0xffffffff ;
final = (long) (max * i) ;

return (unsigned long)final;
}

Based on historical precedent, seeds for number generators are usually produced based on the system clock. The idea is to use some aspect of system time as the seed. This implies if you can figure out what time a generator is seeded, you will know every value produced by the generator (including what order numbers will appear in). The upshot of all this is that there is nothing unpredictable about pseudo-random numbers. Needless to say, this fact has a profound impact on shuffling algorithms!

On To Poker, Or How To Use A Random Number Generator Badly

The shuffling algorithm used in the ASF software always starts with an ordered deck of cards, and then generates a sequence of random numbers used to re-order the deck. Recall that in a real deck of cards, there are 52! (approximately 2^226) possible unique shuffles. Also recall that the seed for a 32-bit random number generator must be a 32-bit number, meaning that there are just over 4 billion possible seeds. Since the deck is reinitialized and the generator re-seeded before each shuffle, only 4 billion possible shuffles can result from this algorithm. Four billion possible shuffles is alarmingly less than 52!.

To make matters worse, the algorithm of Figure 1 chooses the seed for the random number generator using the Pascal function Randomize(). This particular Randomize() function chooses a seed based on the number of milliseconds since midnight. There are a mere 86,400,000 milliseconds in a day. Since this number was being used as the seed for the random number generator, the number of possible decks now reduces to 86,400,000. Eight-six million is alarmingly less than four billion. But that’s not all. It gets worse.

Breaking the System

The system clock seed gave us an idea that reduced the number of possible shuffles even further. By synchronizing our program with the system clock on the server generating the pseudo-random number, we are able to reduce the number of possible combinations down to a number on the order of 200,000 possibilities. After that move, the system is ours, since searching through this tiny set of shuffles is trivial and can be done on a PC in real time.

The RST exploit itself requires five cards from the deck to be known. Based on the five known cards, our program searches through the few hundred thousand possible shuffles and deduces which one is a perfect match. In the case of Texas Hold’em poker, this means our program takes as input the two cards that the cheating player is dealt, plus the first three community cards that are dealt face up (the flop). These five cards are known after the first of four rounds of betting and are enough for us to determine (in real time, during play) the exact shuffle. Figure 5 shows the GUI we slapped on our exploit. The “Site Parameters” box in the upper left is used to synchronize the clocks. The “Game Parameters” box in the upper right is used to enter the five cards and initiate the search. Figure 5 is a screen shot taken after all cards have been determined by our program. We know who holds what cards, what the rest of the flop looks, and who is going to win in advance.

Figure 5: The GUI for our exploit

Once it knows the five cards, our program generates shuffles until it discovers the shuffle that contains the five cards in the proper order. Since the Randomize() function is based on the server’s system time, it is not very difficult to guess a starting seed with a reasonable degree of accuracy. (The closer you get, the fewer possible shuffles you have to look through.) Here’s the kicker though; after finding a correct seed once, it is possible to synchronize our exploit program with the server to within a few seconds. This post facto synchronization allows our program to determine the seed being used by the random number generator, and to identify the shuffle being used during all future games in less than one second!

Technical detail aside, our exploit garnered spectacular press coverage. The coverage emphasizes the human side of our discovery. See our Web site for our original press release, the CNN video clip, and a New York Times story .

Doing Things Properly, or How to Shuffle Virtual Cards

As we have shown, shuffling virtual cards isn’t as easy as it may appear at first blush. The best way to go about creating a shuffling algorithm is to develop a technique that can securely produce a well-shuffled deck of cards by relying on sound mathematics. Furthermore, we believe that publishing a good algorithm and opening it up to real-world scrutiny is a good idea (which meshes nicely with the opinions of the Open Source zealots). The main thing here is not relying on security by obscurity. Publishing a bad algorithm (like AFS did) is a bad idea, but so is not publishing a bad algorithm!

Cryptography relies on solid mathematics, not obscurity, to develop strong algorithms used to protect individual, government, and commercial secrets. We think shuffling is similar. We can stretch the analogy to include a parallel between cryptographic key length (which is directly proportional to the strength of many cryptographic algorithms) and the size of the random seed that is used to produce a shuffled deck of cards.

Developing a card-shuffling algorithm is a fairly straightforward task. The first thing to realize is that an algorithm capable of producing each of the 52! shuffles is not really required. The reasoning underlying this claim is that only an infinitesimally small percent of the 52! shuffles will ever be used during play. It is important, however, that the shuffles the algorithm produces maintain an even distribution of cards. A good distribution ensures that each position in the shuffle has an approximately equal chance of holding any one particular card. The distribution requirement is relatively easy to achieve and verify. The following pseudo-code gives a simple card-shuffling algorithm that, when paired with the right random number generator, produces decks of cards with an even distribution.

START WITH FRESH DECK
GET RANDOM SEED
FOR CT = 1, WHILE CT <= 52, DO
X = RANDOM NUMBER BETWEEN CT AND 52 INCLUSIVE
SWAP DECK[CT] WITH DECK[X]

Key to the success of our algorithm is the choice of a random number generator (RNG). The RNG has a direct impact on whether the algorithm above will successfully produce decks of even distribution as well as whether these decks will be useful for secure online card play. To begin with, the RNG itself must produce an even distribution of random numbers. Pseudo-random number generators (PRNG), such as those based on the Lehmer algorithm, have been shown to possess this mathematical property. It is therefore sufficient to use a good PRNG to produce “random” numbers for card shuffling.

As we have seen, choice of initial seed for the PRNG is a make or break proposition. Everything boils down to the seed. It’s absolutely essential that players using a deck of cards generated using a PRNG can’t determine the seed used to produce that particular shuffle.

A brute force attempt to determine the seed used to produce a particular shuffle can be made by systematically going through each of the possible seeds, producing the associated shuffle, and comparing the result against the deck you’re searching for. To avoid susceptibility to this kind of attack, the number of possible seeds needs to be large enough that it is computationally infeasible to perform an exhaustive search within certain time constraints. Note that on average only half of the seed space will need to be searched until a match is found. For the purposes of an online card game, the time constraint would be the length of that game, which is usually on the order of minutes.

In our experience, a simple program running on a Pentium 400 computer is able to examine approximately 2 million seeds per minute. At this rate, this single machine could exhaustively search a 32-bit seed space (2^32 possible seeds) in a little over a day. Although that time period is certainly beyond the time constraints we have imposed on ourselves, it is certainly not infeasible to use a network of computers to perform a distributed search within our real time bounds.

The subject of brute force attacks serves to emphasize the aptness of our analogy between key length in a cryptographic algorithm and the seed behind shuffling. A brute-force cryptographic attack involves attempting every possible key in order to decrypt a secret message. Likewise a brute-force attack against a shuffling algorithm involves examining every possible seed. A significant body of research studying the necessary lengths of cryptographic keys already exists. Generally speaking, things look like this:
Algorithm Weak Key Typical Key Strong Key
DES 40 or 56 56 Triple-DES
RC4 60 80 128
RSA 512 768 or 1024 2048
ECC 125 170 230

People used to think that cracking 56-bit DES in real time would take too long to be feasible, but history has shown otherwise. In January 1997, a secret DES key was recovered in 96 days. Later efforts broke keys in 41 days, then 56 hours, and, in January 1999, in 22 hours and 15 minutes. The leap forward in cracking ability doesn’t bode well for small key lengths or small sets of seeds!

People have even gone so far as to invent special machines to crack cryptographic algorithms. In 1998, the EFF created a special-purpose machine to crack DES messages. The purpose of the machine was to emphasize just how vulnerable DES (a popular, government-sanction algorithm) really is. (For more on the DES cracker, see http://www.eff.org/descracker/.) The ease of “breaking” DES is directly related to the length of its key. Special machines to uncover RNG seeds are not outside the realm of possibility.

We believe that a 32-bit seed space is not sufficient to resist a determined brute-force attack. On the other hand, a 64-bit seed should be resistant to almost any brute force attack. A 64-bit seed makes sense since many computers provide the ability to work with 64-bit integers off the shelf, and a 64-bit number should be sufficient for the purposes of protecting card shuffling against brute-force attacks.

64-bits alone won’t do it though. We can’t overemphasize that there must be absolutely no way for an attacker to predict or approximate the seed that is used by the PRNG. If there is a way to predict the seed, then the computationally-taxing brute-force attack outlined above becomes irrelevant (since the entire system breaks much more easily). In terms of our exploit, not only did ASF’s flawed approach rely on a too-small 32-bit PRNG, but the approach relies on a seed based on the time of day as well. As our exploit demonstrated, there is very little randomness in such an approach.

In final analysis, the security of the entire system relies on picking a random seed in a non-predictable manner. The best techniques for choosing such a random number are hardware-based. Hardware-based approaches rely on unpredictably random data gathered directly from the physical environment. Since online poker and other games involving real money are extremely security critical undertakings, it’s probably worth investing the necessary resources to ensure that random number generation is done correctly.

In concert, a good shuffling algorithm and a 64-bit pseudo-random number generator seeded with a proven hardware device should produce shuffles that are both fair and secure. Implementing a fair system is not overly difficult. Online poker players should demand it.

online_poker_cheating

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

How People Cheat Online Poker?
The latest on known online cheats. Party Poker, Bodog, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and More.


www.quatrocasino.com


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Hacking Online Poker

Hacking in the Past

Hacking Online Poker is largely a myth. There is only one ever recorded case of it happening. Click here to read it. This specific case involves taking advantage of a flaw in a random number generation code. This has been fixed by specific verification of their RNG’s (random number generator).

Hacking Doesn’t Happen

Hacking just cannot happen — at least not from the outside. Why? Well any semi-legitimate online poker company employs 128bit encryption. Such as digital certificates from companies like THAWTE. The value of these certificates is that the client side program (say partypoker client) connects on a secure level to their server – therefore it is encrypted on your computer and decrypted on the server side. Making it nearly impossible to hack, the server that is.

Online Poker Bot

Hacking the Client

Hacking the client is something that happens quite frequently.

Hacking Images:

For instance, you can open your poker directory.

c:\program files\poker client\images\

and you could open all those images and modify them. The new images would appear on your client only.

Example: modify table.jpg to add a pot odds chart instead of blank table felt.

Hex-Editing:

Another way to hack the client is to “Hex-Edit” it. Goto Download.com search for the programs by the name of “Hex Edit” and download one. Then use this program to open the client example “pokerclient.exe” . And you can view alot of information programmed into the client.

For the most part this is just an interesting way to look at how the program runs. However, in the past its been used to modify a couple interesting things such as registering banned names on that poker client. Such as “POKERCLIENT SUPPORT” or “ASSHOLEPLAYER” , etc.

Phishing

Old Method, New Target

Phishing is one of the oldest known methods of scamming people on the Internet. However, it is relatively new to online poker.

What is Phishing?
Phishing attacks use ‘spoofed’ e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers, etc. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them. (from Anti-Phishing.org)

Bearing On Online Poker
Recently people have been victim to this form of fraud with their online poker accounts. What happens is that they get an e-mail that looks like this :
From: [email protected]
Subject: IMPORTANT Need Account Info

Hello,

Regarding your recent cash-out. PartyPoker needs to verify your account information. If you do not fill out this required information you will not get a cash-out. Click here immediately.

Regards,

Party Poker Support

Protect Yourself:
Click here to read information on how to protect yourself against PHISHING.
Phishing is particularly vulnerable to online poker because its legal grey area.

Collusion
Its Not An Illusion

Collusion is the most widely known method of online poker cheating.

Online Poker CollusionWhat is Collusion?

Collusion is the co-operation of two or more players at the same table to better their odds at winning.

They could collude through telephones, instant messaging, etc. There are virtually an unlimited amount of colluding methods.

Click here to join our Members Only Section to find out EXACTLY how people do collusion!

Self-Collusion
Newest Method Of Cheating

Self-Collusion also referred to as the “Boiler Room” method. Click here to join our Members Only Section and find out exactly how Self-Collusion is accomplished.

Self Collusion in Poker

Self-Collusion: Involves setting up a number of computers in the same room and running all of them yourself. By doing so, in theory, you could run a poker room where everyone in that room is colluding, except for one or two people. Who stand no chance.

Join Our Members Only Section to read more on how Self-Collusion works.

Poker Bots
Money Making Machines
No we don’t mean Poker Playing Robots:
Poker Bots can be found at almost every room.

Poker Robots

Online Poker Bot

A Pokerbot is a utility that you set up to play online poker and win 1+ pots an hour. In order to profit without you doing anything.

Programs such as WinHoldEm, in our 3rd Party Poker Software Program section can achieve this. However, are banned in many poker rooms.

But, on the other hand – where there is a will there is a way. These people continually find new ways to dupe the poker rooms. And PokerBots continue to exist, successfully.

Join Our Members Only Section to read more on how PokerBots work.

razz_strategy_play_poker

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Play Razz Poker Online @ Poker Stars .

Razz Poker is a game that many poker players love to hate. Part lowball, part 7 card stud, the goal is to make the best five-card low hand from the seven cards you are dealt. It is played with anywhere from 2-8 players.

Each player starts with two hole cards and one upcard; the dealer then gives each active player three more upcards, and then a final downcard. Each player ends up with seven cards, four face up and three face down. At the showdown, the player holding the best low hand using only five of his seven cards wins the pot. Aces are always low, and flushes and straights have no effect on the value of a hand. The best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5. If at any point only one player remains at the end of any round of betting, that player wins the pot.

The Best Razz Hand is the Wheel.

Best Poker Hands in Razz

Each new hand begins with each player putting an ante into the pot. For example, in a $2/$4 limit game, each player would ante 40 cents. The ante does not count toward any future bets.

When you first sit down at a table, you are prompted to ante, after which you will immediately receive a hand.

Razz has five rounds of betting:

1. The dealer gives each player two cards face down and one card face up (third street). Only you can see your hole cards. You can tell which are your hole cards and which is your upcard, because the hole cards are situated lower than the upcard. The first round of betting commences. On the first round, the betting starts with the player having the highest upcard. This bet is a forced bet. The bet must be at least a specified minimum (called the bring-in), but can be more.

Each player in turn can call the bring-in, or complete the bet, that is, raise to the limit. For example, in a $2/$4 game, the bring-in is 50 cents. Any player can call that bet, or complete to $2.

Once completed, there is a limit of 3 reraises on the betting round. For example, in a $2/$4 game, the complete bet would be $2, with the betting being capped at $8 (first reraise to $4, second reraise to $6, and the final reraise to $8).

2. The dealer deals each active player a second upcard (fourth street). Players still in the hand participate in a round of betting. The betting on fourth street always proceeds at the lower limit. Unlike 7 card stud, an open pair does not affect the betting limit. All bets and raises on fourth street will be equal to the lower limit bet size.

3. The dealer deals each active player a third upcard (fifth street). Players still in the hand participate in a round of betting, but the bet size is now equal to the higher limit bet size. All bets from here on out will be at the higher limit.

4. The dealer deals each active player a fourth upcard (sixth street). Players still in the hand participate in a round of betting.

5. The dealer deals each active player a final card, face down (seventh street, or the river card). Players still in the hand participate in a final round of betting.

In the rare event that all eight players remain in the hand at this point, there would not be enough cards for each player to receive another card. Should this occur, a single “common” card is placed in the middle of the table face up which every player is free to use.

After the final round of betting, the software awards the pot to the holder of the best hand, and a new hand begins.

The software prompts you whether to post, when to put up the ante, when it is your turn to bet, and presents the choices for that bet (including the option to check or fold, as appropriate). To speed things up, you can select “Auto-Post Ante”, and your ante will be posted for you without prompting you. Additionally, during any round of betting, if it is not yet your turn, you may select your betting action in advance using the “Advanced Actions” located in the lower right portion of the screen.

More Information:

Comprehensive Guide To Razz Poker

poker_affiliate_reviews

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Pick a program that works for you is what is most important when selecting an affiliate program. Because there are so many of these programs, you are best sticking to just one or two out of the gate. Eventually you will want to add a bunch based on a sites growth, payouts, and the direction of the overall market. Several of the good programs are below. You can get a feel for what they offer, but you will only completly understand what being an affiliate is after you signup and get the ball rolling. The process is easy to get started. The tough part is creating a business once you finish the paperwork. Don’t expect to be making $1000’s of dollars right away. It can take you months before you get your first signup. Don’t let this discourage you. If you have a little patience, you will find your niche and the patience will pay off.

PartyPoker.com Affiliate Program

Pictured above is a successful sub-affiliate of Tips For Poker, who under the guidance of Tips For Poker, became a huge money maker almost overnight!

A successful partypoker.com affiliate should have both CPA and Revenus Sharing (MGR) Players. By slowly building up a legion of (MGR) Players while enjoying the benefits of CPA money – it ensures you have money both now and later. Thus Maximizing your profits and ensuring you get paid for the life of the program.

Poker Affiliating Truth

So you think you’ve got what it takes to be a gambling affiliate? You want to make thousands in a matter of months. Well I’ve got bad news for you. It’s harder than you think. Much much harder. Why, if it was easy then everyone would do it. This is why most affiliates refer one or two people then give up and disappear into the night — just like the casino company wanted them to.

But, I have some good news for you. Luckily there are those of us who have already gone through the hardships of being a poker affiliate and can help you in your choice to become a successful affiliate. The only thing we ask for in return is that you use our links to sign-up for your affiliate program. That way we can benefit as you also benefit! Thus, we want you to succeed. And, we will do anything we can to help you succeed. Read this guide and heed its knowledge and you will be a successful affiliate in no time at all. Good luck and start signing up players today!

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2. Sign-Up for the BEST AFFILIATES through us! We’re trying to make a dollar too!
3. Link to us : Title: Poker Tips – http://www.tips4poker.com
Description: Tips For Poker Features the Ultimate in Online Poker Strategy Tips, poker room reviews and bonus codes.

Listed Below are our Top Five Favorite Affiliate Programs

Party Poker Affiliate Program Sign-up

PartyPoker is probably the easiest to advertise, simply because its the most widely recognized name brand poker room. The disadvantage is that so many people advertise partypoker.com and its unlikely you find people that aren’t already registered at partypoker, at least with a play money account. The good thing is that they pay well, and the check comes quick.

Overall the program receives 5 Chips for being one of the strongest brands in the market. The only downside is the lack of US players, which loses a significant part of the market. PartyPartners.com Sign-Up Page.


Full Tilt Poker – Affiliate Program

You have no better choice then FullTilt behind you when marketing poker rooms to future online players. If you haven’t noticed their name is every where you look on TV during poker events then you haven’t been paying attention.

FullTilt.com offers you two options when you sign up. You can take the CPA deal or the MGR. This is strictly up to you. The terms for CPA requirements has gone up, so an MRG deal may seem more ideal. FullTiltPoker Affiliate Program for more details.


RewardsAffiliates.com – Sign-up Today!

The leading casino affiliate program in the market place with certainly the best affiliate management team. You get great customer service and you can almost trust the tracking of your links. This is one program you need to have in your repertoire as an affiliate.

You get excellent affiliate back end tools and reporting systems. The RewardsAffiliates.com program has only grown since it’s inception and it doesn’t seem to be slowing. You can check out Rewards Affiliates for more details.


Ultimate Bet – Chipleader Affiliate Program

Chipleader.com is the affiliate program for both UltimateBet.com and AbsolutePoker.com. All you have to do is sign up in one spot and you have both names under one roof. With a pretty decent player database, you have plenty of room with these two rooms in the future.

In the end, you will be happy you signed up with Chipleader. Although it may take a while to start bringing in some players, these are two rooms you want behind you when you start your marketing efforts. Click here to see the ChipLeader Affiliate Program and begin making some cash.


Fortune Affiliates – Affiliate Program Sign-up!

Overall a great affiliate. The tracking software is flawless and provides an easy to understand overview of your players. They also offer you $150 FREE to be an affiliate. You just have to meet the easy (5) person sign-up and boom an extra $150. Their support is easily available and is a good experience.

This is another program you should consider when trying to reach all kinds of players. They do have great management and will communicate with you when you need it. Payments are made on time and they strive to be the best. For more information on Fortune Affiliates please check out our their site directly.


Cash Per Player or Percentage of Player Play
By: EG (Main Editor for Tips4Poker.com)
Brief Overview : Basically when you sign-up for most affiliate programs they have two options. Option one, you get a certain set amount (say $65) per person who signs up through you. Option two, you get a percentage of however much the player plays. So if the player only plays $50 and loses it all in 10minutes you get $2, on the other hand if a player plays $1,000 and continually wins you get lots more than $65, and its a steady income. The question is, how much do you trust your players? This article provides an in-depth look at your two options and will help you find what is the best option for you.

Cash Per Player (> 20 Signups or Less per month): It’s great, you get the money right away and no one can take it from you! But, what if that player you recommended is addicted to playing poker at work and could have made you $100/Month for the next 4years? Well like a lot of things in life its a gamble. But, analyzing some studies we discover a few things. CPP is good when your referring your friends, family and other close people. But when you have a major website (such as Tips4Poker) and have a consistent number of sign-up’s per month a better option is usually Player Percentage.

Player Percentage (< 20 Signups or More per month): Gamble, after all it is what your advertising so if you are confident in how many people you can refer this is clearly the better option. Instead of being greedy and taking that initial $65 one-time you could be on the receiving end of $1,000+/Month. That is the reason casinos offer the one-time sign-up payout. To save them money. If you make the wrong choice and choose the instant payment you loose out on your share of the cash. Over the career of any decent poker player online they will have spent hundreds in rake every month. Rake that you can share up to 50% of. This is defiantly an option for major website owners and others who refer more than 20 people a month.

Great & Free Utilities

Search Engine Optimization Tools
http://www.webconfs.com
This site has three different tools that are really cool. One is a Search Engine Spider Simulator, which displays exactly what a spider would see when it visits your page. Another frëe tool is the Google Backlink Checker, which lets you know who’s linking to your site and what link text they’re using. The last tool is the Similar Page Checker. We all know that “duplicate content” is a no no. This neat tool will determine the similarity between two pages.

Marketleap Search Engine Marketing Tools
http://www.marketleap.com/services/freetools/default.htm
My favorite tool on this page is the Link Popularity-Check. Enter your URL and up to three comparison URLs, and the site will let you know what your link popularity is in AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google, Inktomi, and MSN. It also compares your site’s link popularity to other URLs you listed as well as other sites on the Net. The Search Engine Saturation tool determines how many pages a given search engine has in its index for your Web site. You can compare your site to five other sites with this tool. Finally, the Keyword Verification Tool checks to see if your page is in the top three pages of a search engine’s results for a certain keyword or keyword phrase.

Website Security Report
http://security.computer-concierge.net/security/website_security_report.asp
This very cool tool lets you find out how secure your Web site is. When I first used it, it found more holes in the security of my Web site than the laws allows, and I promptly changed to a different hostïng company!

Your Computer’s Security
http://grc.com/default.htm
Gibson Research Corporation offers a really neat (and frëe) tool for checking the security of your computer: ShieldsUp. Scroll down on the page to the Hot Spots area, where you’ll find the link to ShieldsUp. Be sure to go through each of the checks in the ShieldsUp section (File Sharing, Common Ports, etc.).

Reverse DNS Lookup
http://remote.12dt.com/rns/
This service converts an IP address to the host name by searching domain name service tables.

Doctor HTML
http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/
Clïck on Single Page, and the frëe service will analyze your Web page based on document structure, image syntax, table analysis, browser support, verify hyperlinks, and much more.

GifBot by NetMechanic
http://www.netmechanic.com/accelerate.htm
GifBot will compress your GIF, JPEG, and animated GIF images by decreasing the file size without sacrificing the quality of the image. So, your pages load faster!

AnyBrowser.com Screen Size Tester
http://anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html
Have you ever been to a Web site and not been able to scroll to the bottom of the page? The scroll bar is there, but you can’t get down that far to scroll. It’s not a pleasant experience. At the Screen Size Tester, you can test your Web pages in different screen resolutions so that you can be assured that all of your visitors can view your site in its entirety.

Anti-Spam and Security Fix for FormMail.pl Scrïpt
http://mailvalley.com/formmail/
“Formmail.pl, one of the most-used perl scripts on the Web, is designed to send data entered into a Web-form to an e-mail address. This scrïpt could be exploited by a malicious user who could use Formmail as a sp@m server. If you use this scrïpt, spammers may be able to use it to send sp@m freely using your server’s resources.” This site offers a patched version that prevents the scrïpt from being used by spammers.

Comprehensive Guide to .htaccess

http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess.shtml
Though not a “tool” per se, this comprehensive tutorial about how to use the .htaccess file is excellent.
Top Ten Web Design Mistakes for 2002

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021223.html
Though also not a tool, this handy list is something that we should all be aware of. For example, don’t use horizontal scrolling!
Originally posted by SEO expert Robin: ([email protected]). Of Search Engine Workshops

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table

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

If you’re a veteran to the online poker world, you know picking a poker room can be a little intimidating at first. After a while, you’ve figured out where most of the big games and tournamnets are held and who has the toughest players as well as the fish. With so many rooms to choose from finding the BEST poker room is really up to the players preference.

Picking a room is broken down in a few important aspects.

1. You want a room with enough players so you can always find a game.
2. You want to make sure the online poker room provider is secure and honest and has excellent customer support.
3. You may want to play in a US friendly room or stick with rooms like PartyPoker if you don’t live in the US.
4. Make sure you take advantage of the first deposit bonus these rooms offer.
5. Learn as much as you can about the game, because in the long run knowledge is power.

Full Tilt Poker – 100% up to $600 Sign Up Bonus!

When online poker really started to kick in, it was FullTilt that decided to use Poker Pros as a source of power. Many years later they are one of the best poker rooms online. With over 100,000 players online daily, you will have no trouble finding a no limit Texas Hold’em game or tournament of your choice.

With an exclusive bonus offer by Tips4Poker we find FullTilt.net to be one of your first choices when it comes to selection time. You may even get to play against some of the best Poker pros in the world. Check out our FullTiltPoker.net review for more details.


PokerStars.com – 100% up to $600 Sign Up Bonus!

PokerStars has a solid reputation for being reliable, good software and the best games on the Internet. In addition to being a good poker room, it’s made several WSOP champions. Both Raymer and Moneymaker started out here when online poker began it’s launch. So what does that tell us? It must have some sort of incredible luck drawn to it!

Overall Pokerstars is worth playing on. The Tournaments are pretty live and it was the first place I actually profited from online and truely made me believe in online poker. For more information on PokerStars.net please check out our latest review.


Party Poker – 100% up to $500 Sign Up Bonus!

Hands down Party Poker was the original room that launched and made it big in the early 2000’s. Unfortunately due to US Govt. tactics, Poker Party closed it’s doors to US players. By puling out of the USA market they definitely took a step back, but still rule the European markets.

Where PartyPoker.com goes from here is unknown, but as long as the online poker market still thrives so will PartyPoker.com Through acquisitions, Party will keep expanding as well. Check out our full PartyPoker.net review now.


Ultimate Bet – 100% up to $1100 Sign Up Bonus!

With a lot of players trying out new sites all the time people tend to come back to Ultimate Bet for their software and game play. Recently merging with AbsolutePoker.com to form the Cereus Poker Network, UB.com still stands as one of the market leaders.

Still in the US market, UltimateBet allows you to go up against poker pros such as Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. I love how they try to make Annie Duke all sexy like, which is just a horrible idea. She is better staying behind her computer screen if you ask me. To hear more about UltimateBet.net and begin winning some cash.


BodogPoker – 100% up to $1100 Sign Up Bonus!

For a small poker room Bodog.com holds a powerful punch on the poker market. Their games are not huge, but the one thing that keeps people around is the huge overlay they have on their Sunday $100k. This is one of our favorite tournaments of the week due to the free money Bodog adds or should I say has to make up for the guarantee.

You’re not going to find the dozens of poker pros that FullTilt or PokerStars has, but you may run into Evelyn Ng. She is a prized possesion when it comes to poker babes. A must see when you get a chance. For a more extensive review click Bodog.net review.


Absolute Poker – 100% up to $1100 Sign Up Bonus!

Like UB.com, AbsolutePoker.com came on the scene when things were just getting started. Since joining with UB to form the Cereus poker network, AP has continued to make a strong name for themselves. Like most rooms they’ve had a few issues, but now they are poised to grow much bigger and they do accept US players.

With an exclusive bonus of up to $1100, you can get started playing and earning right away. AP does have some poker pros on it’s payroll including the lovely Lacey Jones who is pretty sweet poker hottie. Read more in our AbsolutePoker.net review.


Sportsbook – 100% up to $650 Sign Up Bonus!

With the expnasion of the Merge Network, Sportsbook.com is becoming a strong player in the Internet poker world. With several great sites playing up against each other, the competition is spread versus one big room like FullTilt or PokerStar. Besides the bonuses there are a lot of great things to say about Sportsbook.com.

Of course they are known for their sports book, they do offer a wide variety of poker games and tournaments. Come see our latest SportsBook.com review and see our exclusive promo codes.


Titan Poker – 100% up to $500 Sign Up Bonus!

The thing about www.TitanPoker.com is their great bonuses and wonderful software. They’ve been around a long time. They don’t accept players from the US, but for the thousand’s of poker players outside the US, Titan is a viable option for you.

TitanPoker.com does offer a lot of different options since they use the Playtech Casino Software. Being a casino room as well as a solid poker room, www.titanpoker.com is not far behind the big beast that is PartyPoker.com. Read our full TitanPoker.com review here.


Pacific Poker – 100% up to $500 Sign Up Bonus!

PacificPoker.com stands on it’s own two feet for their great name branding. 888.com owns the rights to PacificPoker and back in the day, this was a top five room. Since the loss of US players, Pacific falls way back in the list. However, you can still find some good games with some weak competition at 888poker.com.

There really isn’t much to PacificPoker.net, but if you are looking for a change they may be the place for you. Please read our latest PacificPoker.com review.


Cake Poker – 110% up to $600 Sign Up Bonus!

One of the fastest growing networks online, CakePoker.com is striving to be the biggest and the best. Accepting US players, offering great bonuses, and Cake Poker Rakeback is the reason they round out the Top 10.

With great guarantee tournaments being offered daily, CakePoker.com should hold some market share. Click here to see our full CakePoker.com review and get a little more information about their bonuses.


If you are still looking for poker websites that may get your game going, then look no further. There are plenty of rooms with plenty of action. Make sure you do your due diligence and it will pay in the long run. There is some fine print when it comes to bonus codes, so pay attention when you make your deposit. You also may want to get some second opinions from the viewers in our poker forums. Everyone has their own opinion, but it may help you decide on what you’re looking for.