Avoiding Tilt in Poker

Ah, the tilt. If a poker player claims never to have stared faced down the barrel of an upcoming tilt they are either lying or they haven't been playing long enough. This doesn't mean of course that everyone has gone on tilt before, some people have great willpower and take their losses as a loss and leave it at that. To be a strong poker player, it is very important to treat your wins and your losses in the same manner with no emotion. You play the game the same way you did after taking a tough beat as you would after winning a huge hand. All poker pros are not tempted by tilting after a bad beat as they are very seasoned and you should be to.

You must understand that you can't win every hand your in, even if you are heavily favoured. Hands which usually make people go on tilt are hands that you were the favourite or at least thought you were until you were rivered and you lost a big chunk of your stack. Bad beats are going to happen. Face that fact right now, I'll say it again if your brother players cards, if your mother plays cards, if your grandma plays cards We all have bad beats sometimes. It is an inevitable effect of playing texas holdem, or for that matter any kind of poker.

Since we are assumingly (most of us)are in the game for one purpose to make money, it would make sense that we would play accordingly to maximixe profits. Now let's say you are up $100 off of a $100 deposit, and you take a large blow in a NL game and your stack is down to $120. You've lost $80 in a hand where you were sure to pick up $200 when you went all-in on the flop and had a 10 to 1 advantage. And that fish! He sucked you out on the river right? Well stop right here. This is a classic opportunity for a new player to start tilting. They just lost too much money on one hand that they should have won and they are angry.

Being on a Poker Run

One of the greatest feelings in a poker player's world is going on a huge poker run. A poker run is when you have a rush of strong hands and win lots of pots right in a row. Poker runs are a poker player's ultimate dream in this respect.

After slumping for a while or going on tilt, hitting a serious poker run can be just what you need to get you going again. I have been sitting at a table where someone has won 10 hands in a row, showing down. Winning this many hands in a row is rare but it does happen and it's a memory to keep.

The only way you can actually go on a poker run is to play any hand directly after you win. There is exceptions of total garbage of course but you get the point. Both online and casino poker have crazy poker runs and the more you play, the more chance you will have to experience this wonderful feeling.

Source: Poker Articles at Hustle Cards

Why to Raise in Poker

Today we will talk about The secret art of raising. Most people think that you only raise when you have a good hand and you want to win more money. This is correct but there are many other reasons to raise and to be a winning player you need to know what you want to get from a raise and if it is working.

There are 5 major reasons to raise:

To get more money from your hand.
To eliminate players.
To get a card.
To gain information.
To bluff or semi-bluff

1. To get more money from your hand.
This is the simplest reason to raise a pot. Basically when you feel that you have the best had you are going to raise to try to get more money in the pot. If you have the the best hand possible at the time this is the only reason you should raise. Sometimes you may not want to raise in this case. You may want to slow play the hand.

2. To eliminate players.

This is a pretty simple concept as well. This is the reason you raise with AA or KK. You want to get people out before they can see the flop. AA and KK do very well against a few people but against a lot of people there's a good chance you will loose after all 5 cards come out. Another time when you might raise to eliminate players is when you flop top pair, example: You hold AK and the flop comes 9 10 K, You now have top pair with the best kicker. Here you would want to get people out of the hand so they don't make 2 pair, a straight, or a flush.

3. To get a card.

Well you don't get it for free but it costs you less. You would raise to get a free card if you flop and open ended straight draw or flush draw and were in a later position. See if you were playing 3-6 and you raised on the flop you would put an extra 3 dollars but in most cases the other player or players will check to you assuming you have a better hand. This saves you from calling a 6 dollar bet on the turn, instead you get it for free. You might also want to raise the flop in late position when you have top pair and a weak kicker or mid pair with a good kicker.

4. To gain information.

This is a more complex reason to raise. This move works best on or before the flop. Before the flop you don't know anything about a players hand other than it could be anything but if you raise and a player re-raises then you know he has a good hand. Most likely a hand in Group #1 or maybe #2. If he just calls you know that he probably doesn't have a hand. Now lest say after the flop you have a pair of aces with a 7 kicker, and your opponent bets into you. Now if you call you couldn't really tell how big of a hand he has but if you raise him and he re-raises you are probably beat at least with a better kicker. This is a way to actually save money. If you called all the way down to see his AK then you have lost a lot more than you have to.

5. To bluff or semi-bluff.

We wont get into bluffing right now. You really wont need to do much bluffing in lower limit games. Most bluffing goes on in higher limit games, No-limit games, and no-limit tournaments. Semi-bluffing however is something you need to know about. Semi-bluffing is betting a hand that probably isn't the best one at the time but can improve with more cards. The real goal to semi-bluffing is to win the pot right then and there. So you only want to semi- bluff when there are only a few player in the pot, you think you everyone might fold after you bet or raise, and you are very sure that no one will check raise you. There are many opportunities to semi-bluff in every game, most of the time they are not the right move though. Remember to semi-bluff accordingly.

If you look back at all the reasons to raise you will see that a lot of the times when you raise you might accomplish more than one goal. You might raise to get a free card but also gain information and get more money in the pot. Its good to have a specific reason or two in your mind before every raise, this way you wont be raising just for the sake of raising.

When to Bet and When Not to Bet

article by Kyle Healey on Hustlecards.com

You are sitting pretty with pocket Queens and you raise pre-flop under the gun and get two callers. To your amazement the flop comes with a third Queen and you hit your set. Now you have a decision to make “ do you slow-play the hand or do you simply bet your monster. There are many factors that will play into your decision of whether or not you should bet your monster or not.

Firstly, what do you think of the other players? Will they likely call a large bet right now if you decided to bet? If they would, it strongly suggests that you should bet your monster. If you think your opponent is maybe weak and will fold to your bet, however, you may want to check your hand and try to induce a bluff. Another consideration to take into hand is whether or not there is any obvious straight or flush draws on the board. If your opponents are likely to hold some sort of draw, betting your monster once again seems like the best move because they will be forced to pay for their draw cards “ the last thing you want is to let them see two free cards and then fold their hand after you could have got two solid betting rounds in.

You also need to look at the risks of picking each option. For instance, if you slow play your big hand it is possible that your opponents can chase down free cards and outdraw you, when they would have folded if you bet. Those are lost chips for you. Also, if they are planning on chasing you will want to make them pay for the cards and not give them for free. A possible risk of betting out your hand is that you may cancel out an attempt of a possible bluff by an opponent who would likely bet if you slow played your hand.

These are all considerations you have to think of before deciding whether or not to slow play your monster or bet it strong.

When processing the information your given, make a choice you think is right and make your move. You will most likely win a pot when you have flopped a huge hand but whether or not you maximize your chips will depend on exactly how you play it

Position on the Poker Table

article by Johnny Profit on Hustlecards.com

Positioning is everything. Why? Why would my position at the table mean anything at all? Position, although highly overlooked, can be the determining factor to win the hand and furthermore increase you ability to survive. Position, (the actual seat number you are occupying at the table) is a crucial instrument that can be utilized to its maximum potential or left unscathed and forgotten about. You table position can increase the strength of your hand regardless of the cards you are holding. If you know anything about poker than you know that a large amount of the time, especially at a shorter table, you are playing the player and not the cards.

As your position decreases, (further from the button) as does your ability to use this to its full potential. Thus, the best possible position you could achieve in a hand is the dealer. As an exception to this rule, if every one has folded, in the sense that you are not legally the dealer but are last to act anyways, this will uphold the strength of your position. Okay, now that we understand where you should be in terms of strength we can see why position is essential.

A large degree of winning a poker hand successfully, regardless of your card strength, is deciphering the strength of the other player's hand. If you can reasonably assume that your opponent's hand is weak than you can buy the pot almost every time, depending on the previous image you have displayed until this point. How can you decipher another's hand effectively? This article will not be able to cover this as it could induce a large novel regarding the psychology of the game. However, I will provide a couple of ways you can start. Back to positioning. You are last to act, there are two players ahead of you and they are the small and the large blind. Every other person has folded, what do you do? Providing that at this point you know nothing about the players in the blinds, maybe this is your first hand, you position allows you to raise in order to attempt to steal the blinds.

Now I must point out here that there are an endless amount of variables. By this I mean situations can occur in which you would not want to make this move. Maybe you know the big blind to be extremely aggressive and you know he will surely re-raise over the top. Maybe you have a very powerful hand and you do not want to take the chance of having the only remaining players fold. Maybe you feel the other players will call your bluff and discredit you from future possible thefts. As one can see, there are an infinite number of circumstances you would have to consider before using this position to your advantage. As any good poker player would agree, judgment is essential to properly executing strategic moves.

Now, take for example you are involved in a hand. You are the dealer and you are left with the small and large blinds. In this scenario, you raised pre-flop but both of the blinds call. The flop comes and it is checked to you.

Your position on the table can prove to be advantageous or result in your downfall. The closer to the button you are, the better your position.

Alcohol and Poker

If you are like me you are always looking for something extra to boost your edge in a game. If I'm playing online, I try to get that edge through table selection. There are generally hundreds of tables going on sites like Party Poker, so it's not hard to find a loose one. But if I'm playing with my friends I generally don't have that option. Now I'm not trying to say I'm unpopular, but getting several hundred games together would be a bit of a stretch.

But luckily there is an easy solution to making even a tight home game juicy. And that would be beer! the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. Now if you haven't had the privilege of playing with drunken players you don't know what you are missing. No pair and no draw??? Sounds good enough to call for them. Like they say, if you're trying to beat a game, skill can kill, but liquor is quicker.

So if you are organizing a home game, just make sure that the alcohol is flowing freely. In fact you might want to break it out before the game if you are waiting on someone. Often you can even subsidize all of your booze expenditures by having every one toss in a few extra bucks in the buy in.

So now that you've got your friends all liquored up how should you play against them? I recommend playing a loose, aggressive game. You want to see a lot of cheap flops, and when you do hit a hand bet it, because you will get called down. The value of preflop raises decreases if your opponents are drunk, because it is very hard to get them to lay down hands, so you don't want to invest a lot of money before you know what you have. Additionally bluffs are right out. There are very few mistakes that will cost you more than trying to bluff an intoxicated person out of a pot who is more than happy to call you down with A-7

There is some question of how ethical it is to use this method. After all they are your friends right? With that being said I would have no hesitation at all from taking 10-20 bucks away from a guy even if he didn't know which side of the card had the values, but I would cut them off from playing before they lost too much and it would endanger tuition and rent.

Three Concepts of Texas Holdem Strategy

This texas holdem strategy article is aimed at new players. Advanced players, or complete newbies, will probably not find this article very useful.

Concept #1 - Pot Odds
Long-term profits in holdem come from making bets with a positive expectation. You only have a positive expectation when your payoff is higher than your risk. Casinos make money from negative expectation games like roulette. The single number bet in roulette pays off at 35 to 1, but the odds of winning the bet are 37 to 1. The difference between the 37 and the 35 is the casino's profit margin.

You need a basic understanding of how to calculate pot odds while playing in order to determine when to play. You should only play a hand when you have a positive expectation, otherwise you should fold. Basically you compare the number of chips in the pot with your chances of winning the pot when you decide whether or not to play a hand.

Suppose there is $150 in a pot, and you're on the flop with 4 to a flush. An easy way to approximate the odds of hitting the flush is to take the number of cards that will make your hand and multiply that by the number of cards that are still going to be dealt, and multiply that by 2. There are 13 cards in a suit and you have 4 of them. So there are 9 cards left. 9 times 2 more cards times 2% equals 36%, or about 1 in 3. You will win an average of once every three times and lose the other two times. So the pot needs to offer you at least 2 to 1 for you to call a bet. If someone bets $50, you stand to win $200 on a $50 bet, which gives you appropriate pot odds to call.

This basic concept is essential to holdem success. Other concepts to start thinking about are the odds of your opponent folding if you raise. This will change the pot odds. A rule of thumb is that the fewer opponents, the more likely you’ll be able to take down an uncontested pot. Another rule of thumb is that if you have a drawing hand, a big pot, and a small bet to call, then you should call. If the pot's small, and the bet’s big, then you should fold.

Concept #2 - Starting Hand Selection & Position
Position is critical when deciding what kind of hands to actually play before the flop. The rule of thumb is that you play much tighter (have higher starting hand requirements) in early position and play looser in late position. Your advantage in late position is that you can see what the other players do before you decide what to do.

This is a simplification, and a lot of people aren't going to like the way I do it, but I divide starting hands into just three groups. There are definitely sub-divisions and subteleties between these groupsbut starting out, you're basically looking at just three different groups: strong hands, drawing hands, and unplayable hands.

Strong hands are pairs of 10 or higher, plus AK suited. A's and KK's almost always warrant raising preflop, unless you're in early position and you're hoping for someone to raise behind you. AK suited, QQ's, JJ's, and 10's are worth raising with if no one else has raise, they're sometimes worth raising with if someone else has raised, and they're almost always worth calling with.
Drawing hands are hands that need to improve on the flop to win. Pairs of 99's or lower and suited connectors are usually drawing hands, and so are big-little suited. (Big little suited is an ace and one smaller card of the same suit, and it's a playable hand sometimes because of its flush potential.) Suited connectors are adjacent in rank and of the same suit, so they have the potential to make a flush or a straight or possibly even a straight flush. And the smaller pairs go down in value as they get lower in rank. They're normally worth calling if no one’s raised unless you're in early position, when you should usually fold them. Sometimes pairs of 77's, 88's, and 99's are good starting hands to play strongly with too, especially if your opponents are very tight and you could win the pot right there without a showdown.

Concept #3 - What to do on the Flop
Fit or fold is the common wisdom on this subject. You should be in a good position to decide what to do on the flop. I've always played overpairs and top pairs a little too strongly, and that works well at a weak table with calling stations, but you have to be more cautious with better players. The average winning hand in Texas holdem at a showdown is two pairs or better.

If your starting cards were a drawing hand, you need to hit your hand in order to play it. If you had pocket 66's, you really need to hit 3 of a kind to continue playing the hand, otherwise you should fold. 4 to an open-ended straight is playable unless there's a potential flush draw on the board. 4 to a flush is usually a good hand to play. But if you're playing a small pair and there are overcards on the board, you're probably going to have to get away from the hand. Texas holdem is a game of high cards.

This is a very basic introduction to the things you should think about in Texas holdem strategy. There are tremendous subtleties and complexities beyond this introduction, and entire books are written on strategies for limit, pot limit, and no limit Texas holdem. You’re encouraged to start reading them and think about them while you play.

Poker Articles at Hustle Cards

Texas Hold 'Em in James Bond 007 Casino Royale

I just went and saw the new 007 movie yesterday, Casino Royale. Aside from being an excellent movie, I thought I'd bring up the part where they play high stakes Hold 'em at Casino Royale. Aside from being an excellent game to watch, it was also an interesting insight into different tactics used by players to win themselves a hand. The bad guy character, Le Chiffre, using mathmatics and odds to work out his players, and Bond using his uncanny ability to read his opponents, and call their bluff.

The amount of money involved in this game was ridiculous, espaecially when the pot reached a total of over 100 million. The type of game played in the movie was updated from the book to the now popular Texas Hold 'Em, and I think it works a treat, keeping the flow of movie absorbing and providing a stimulating game for poker fans and non-fans alike.
What did you think?

Knowing Your Poker Opponents

Following on from the afore mentioned post about Bond reading his opponents, I found this article from hustlecards.com that discusses each type of poker player, and how to play against them:

article written by Graham Easton

There are many types of Texas Holdem Poker player, and, of course, many levels of experience between those players. Texas Holdem the card game is similar to pushing spaghetti around a plate – some will get more, others will get less and the house always takes a slice. The statistics of cards over time dictate that we all have the same opportunities. The key to maximizing our potential gains is to quickly identify your opponent type and skill level. If you can correctly identify your opponent then you will be able to alter your playing style to maximize your win, and just as significantly, minimize your loss.

Let's review the various playing styles that you will come across in an average Texas Holdem Poker cash game. Players will either be:

Rocks
Tight Players
Calling Stations
Maniacs

And within these styles you will find a range of aggression that goes from passive to aggressive. What follows are some strategic hints and tips to help you play against each form of poker player in an online environment.

Rocks
Rocks are the most common type of Texas Holdem Player. They are the easiest to beat and usually are inexperienced new players who think the game revolves around the cards that are dealt. It's also the most natural playing style and so you will come across them regularly. These are the people you should look to play against. Controlled aggression is the way to proceed. Bet at these players when flops look ugly and they'll most likely fold. If they re-raise you in return, step aside and let them take the hand, coming right back at them next round. A rock who has been sitting folding the last 20 hands, only to come out betting, is the easiest read of all. If you can't see them coming then I'd suggest you take up a different game.

Tight Players
Tight players are usually battle hardened. The difference between a tight player and a rock is that they understand the need to come out more often, with the occasional bluff here and there. More importantly they usually use the time spent sitting out, to identify opponent characteristics in order to play their weaknesses. The best of all players sit in this category - Tight Aggressive No Limit Texas Holdem players need to be identified early on and avoided at all cost. Find one and you should re-examine your table selection (yes you should move table). Real life examples of this type of player would be Howard Lederer and Erick Lindgren.

Calling Stations
Calling stations present an interesting playing style and are the second most common type you'll find in online poker. By definition fairly weak, these players rarely take the initiative and thereby have to rely on the luck of running up against an aggressive player while holding the nut or near nut hand. More often than not these people will lose because they are:

1) Playing their cards and not their opponent
2) Have no initiative
3) Regularly rely on card catching strategies

It's worth pointing out at this stage that card catching is a bad idea in almost any circumstances (except as part of a semi-bluff play).

Maniacs
Maniacs are a rare breed of player seldom seen in low limit or tournament Texas Holdem Poker games. They have no fear of losing, indeed it'll look like they want to, and it is this that sets them apart from most players online today. Difficult to play against, these opponents rely on your fear of losing your stack to gain chips. Often seen with large chip stacks relative to the table, Maniacs will bet large regularly, and whatever hand you choose to play, it is likely that you will have to be prepared to go all-in with it. No card catching against these opponents - if you try you will be punished.

The identification of Maniacs is easy, as is your assault on their playing style. Clearly the weakness these players have is that they are susceptible to large pocket pairs (AA, KK, QQ, even AK). The difficulty is that you will likely have to wait a good number of cards before you get to play such a hand. Maniacs are far from stupid (they often evolve in experience terms from Rocks or Calling Stations that have read Doyle Brunson's Super System books and progressed from there. To hit them properly you have to either get lucky early on with the big pair or play enough cards so you are not identified as a waiting Rock (obviously you don't want them to get out of your way when the time is right).

If you beat an aggressive Maniac once, you'll find they go on Tilt really easily, which provides further opportunity for the brave. I recall hitting one for $800 from $200 in 3 hands because he went all-in 3 times in a row with no cards at all. He incorrectly judged that I would fold rather than re-stake my entire winnings on each of the next 2 poker hands. Fortunately for me they were fairly solid starting hands in the circumstances but I can tell you it's not easy going all-in pre-flop for $500 with just King Jack. I'd be mad to do that in any other circumstance but I felt I had a good read on the player type and his hand which turned out to be 92 unsuited didn't stand up.

Hopefully you'll observe playing styles and look to pick off Rocks and Calling Stations. If you come up against a tight (particularly Tight Aggressive) player, with no other easy to beat players around, you should move on. I've been at many tables where the poor players have lost and left, the good ones remain, and one off those triggers the table's break up by saying no easy money here, the only winner will be the rake, lets move on.

If you've not had this said to you, or you've not made the statement yourself then consider that you may be a fish.

Some Fun Facts About Poker

So your a poker player. Whether you are good or bad, I'm sure you probably don't know all of the following facts on the origins of cards and poker. These are pretty interesting to know for any type of player.

• Playing cards were invented in China.


• A fifth suit was added in 1937 but never caught on because people had to buy all new decks.


• At least 65,000,000 Americans regularly play poker, and more are playing every day.


• Dead mans hand is Ace's and Eights


• Getting dealt 10, 2 is referred to as Doyle Brunson because he won back to back World Series with the hand.


• In the 1800's, 2,000 to 2,500 riverboat gamblers played poker on American Waterways, By contemporary accounts, no more than four of these poker players were honest all the time. A straight beat a flush at this time.


• Las Vegas Casinos are not legally obligated to pay off there gambling debts.
  
• Due to French Influence, Spades represent Royalty, Diamonds represent Merchants, Clubs represent the peasants, and hearts represent the clergy.


• Edmond Hoyle lived to be 97, but died 150 years before Poker was invented.


• Playing cards were introduced in Europe in the 1300's.


• When Columbus landed in 1492 in North America, his men plucked wide leaves from trees, drew pictures on them and played cards.


• Historians generally agree that Bill Hickock was a lousy poker player.


• Groucho Marx got his name from carrying his poker money in a "grouch bag."


• Former President Richard Nixon won $6,000 playing poker in his first two months in the U.S. Navy during WWll. That's equal to roughly $42,640 in 2004 dollars. He used that money as well as more poker winnings to finance his run for the U.S. Congress in 1946, for which he won.
  

The Truth About Bad Bets in Poker

Article by Alan Bloomfield

If you play poker you've been there before and you know exactly what I'm talking about. You get your money in the pot as a huge favorite only to lose the hand when your opponet catches that miracle river card.

Most players, including myself, get mad or upset when this happens to them. You say to yourself, or the player that just gave you that bad beat, "How can you call with that hand" or "why were you even playing that?"

Most poker players get upset at their opponent for making a bad call and then winning the hand. In reality, you should be glad that you are playing against such an opponet because they are giving you a great opportunity to win money.

Bad Players Give Bad Beats
Usually the people that are giving bad beats are bad players. It usually takes a bad call or a bad play for a bad beat to happen. If it wasn't for these bad beats, bad players simply wouldn't play poker.

Think about it, if bad players lost every time they got their money into the pot they simply would quit playing. Is this what we really want? The answer is no, because if there wasn't someone out there trying to give thier money away, this game would be impossible to beat. The only people playing would be solid players that never make mistakes. Then the only people making money off of poker would be the casinos.

Not only do the bad beats keep the bad players in the game, in a way it prevents them from improving their game and becoming better players. The luck that's involved with poker can convince a bad player that they might be good. These bad players can have a winning session because of a few bad beats. Then on nights they don't win they can also convince themselves that it was just bad luck that they had a losing session.

Good Players Suffer More Bad Beats
Good players will suffer more bad beats than they will ever give out. The reason is good players get their money into the pot when they are ahead more often than when they are behind. This is the reason why good players are good.

Good players will pick their spots and make better decisions to get their money in as a favorite. When you are constantly ahead and everybody is trying to outdraw you, they're going to get lucky every now and then.

Conclusion
Poker players need to think more long term than they do short term. Think of a poker session as a life long project. Whenever you do take a bad beat and lose a big pot, think long term instead of short term. If you get your money into the pot 1,000 times in that same exact situation how many much money am I going to win? Just an example, if you get all your money in the pot 1,000 times with AA vs. QTo for $300 a pot, you are going to win about 836 times and lose about 160 of them. Over a 1,000 hands you will win about $202,800. So don't get upset over the 160 times you lose that hand and just continue your life long session and wait for you next opportunity.

Playing Poker on a Cruise Ship

Here's an amusing little story from the WPT Mexican Cruise with Daniel Negreanu and Erik Lindgren.

Card Player Magazine, one of the premier poker magazines out of Las Vegas, enlists Linda Johnson (The First Lady of Poker) as the honcho on Card Player Cruises. She has run more than 40 of them and knows her business. More than that, she also knows Card Player Magazine, having been the owner for eight years prior to 2001. She sold out, but kept the rights to the cruises. Good idea!

Her poker cruises go where most cruises go: Transatlantic, the Mexican Riviera, the Caribbean, Alaska, Russia, and South America. On a recent Mexican cruise, most of the players were beginners, booking to see what the poker phenomenon was all about and to pick up some tequila, high quality silver jewelry, and perhaps a sombrero.

There is another kind of poker played on another kind of cruise event that Linda also runs. In conjunction with the World Poker Tour (WPT), an annual No Limit Texas Hold em tournament has been held on chartered just for the poker gang - Holland America ships.

In 2004, Erick Lindgren beat his best buddy, Daniel Negreanu, to snag a million dollar prize on a WPT Mexican cruise. Negreanu didn't hold his defeat against Lindgren: soon after, Erick was Daniel's best man at his wedding to Lori.

Back to the cruise and Erick's victory: to celebrate, he ordered drinks for the house in The Crow's Nest Bar on the ship, the beautiful MS Ryndam. It seemed like a good idea at the time, maybe until Erick woke up the next morning (or was it afternoon?), to discover a receipt for a $22,000 bar tab by his bed. Ouch!!

The Stop and Go Betting Strategy

I think that one under-utilized strategy is stop and go betting. What this refers to is if you have a short stack in a tournament and it is raised to you simply call instead of going all in. Then plan on going all in whatever the flop is. This works especially well if you are the first to act after the flop, i.e. one of the blinds.

The reason that I advocate using this strategy at times is that you may be able to win a few extra hands by inducing a fold where you would have otherwise been called. For instance, if it is raised to you preflop, and you go all in for less than a pot sized bet, you are almost sure to be called. This ensures that all five cards will come out giving your opponent the best chance to beat you. If you are the short stack then surviving is key, therefore you want to maximize your chances of getting your opponent to lay down a hand and winning the pot uncontested.

If your opponent doesn't have a pocket pair, there is an approximately 60% chance that the flop will miss him. So if you fire a bet at him, even a small bet, with all your remaining chips there is a good chance that he will fold and not try to catch the two more cards that might kill you. And if he does call you would be no worse off than if you went all in preflop, i.e. you're seeing all five cards and whomever has the best hand at the end will take it down.

The basic point is that you should always be looking for more ways to win than to just shove your chips in the center and let the cards fall where they will. Unless you have an excellent hand it is almost always best to win without a showdown, because even AK has a 33% chance of getting knocked off by a lousy 7-2.

source: Poker Articles at Hustle Cards

Not Second Guessing Your Poker Hand

You should never outguess yourself when you are at the poker table. I will give you an example; consider the following hand:

You hold: 6c, 6d,

Your opponent in early position raises 4x to 5x bb and you place him on AK.

Flop: Kc, 6h, 7d

Now you have flopped a set, and your opponent is first to act. He sets out and bets just like you expected him to. You play back at him and re-raise. He immediately re-raises you all-in. At this point you have to call. You can't try to outguess your self in this situation and put him on 77 or KK for a higher set. You had originally put him on AK, and if he has a higher set, you are just going to have to pay them off.

At the point where he is re-raising you all-in, you are already pot committed and have to call. There is also a possibility that you misread him and he only holds AA in which case you are dominating that hand as well.

Avoid Common Beginner Poker Mistakes - Part 1

Poker is becoming more popular these days by the day, it seems that television stations are full of live poker tournaments. Just about every sports game you get to watch on the old tube has banners of online casinos and casino resorts in the background. All of these expenses on advertising seem to be paying off, especially to the online casino industry. According to some reports this industry is at 9 billion a year and is expected to grow up to 15 billion within the next year or so.

Many new players are joining the ranks of older, mature, and more experienced poker players. Poker players that have earned their battle scars, sort of speak. These newbies, or rookies seem to think that just by watching a few games on the television set they know it all. It takes long hours at the poker table to learn all the tricks of the trade. If you are one of these rookies, here are some tips for you to remember and follow. Basically, a list, of the do's and don'ts, because remember one thing, these old foxes at the table can read you right off the bat.

1. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is playing in tough games. Beginners will often place themselves in games against competition they just can't handle. Rather than playing in smaller limit games, against opponents of comparable skill, they prefer to go head to head with the big boys. Try not to get to over confident right at the beginning, these big boy games are not like the games with your friends at home.

2. Playing too many hands is another common mistake. Rookies play more hands than they should, not understanding the importance of starting with premium hands in premium situations because faking hands does not work all the time. Pick up a book or two before sitting down to play, and you'll understand why 9-3 is a bad hand to start with, whether it's suited or not, there is no excuse for lacking fundamental poker knowledge.

3. Patience, patience and than, some more patience. The lack of patience will always get you. Playing poker means you will go through long periods of sheer boredom waiting for good cards. Rookies often don't have the patience to wait for quality cards out of boredom; they will start playing hands they know they should not be playing.

4. Drinking alcohol while playing is something that you might do at home while playing with the boys. But playing in a tournament or any casino environment you will need to have all of your concentration, and the little talent that you might have acquired until now with you in order to make quality decisions at the table. Remember that the casinos serve free alcohol at the table for a good reason. It will cloud your judgment and will have you making plays you should not have considered making in the first place.

5. Playing too many hours will affect your brain. At some point it will just cease to function well especially after 12 hours of sitting at the table playing poker. It is always best to get some rest, and come back sharp and fresh the next day, most beginners will end up playing too many hours trying to chase their money back or trying to be a pig about it and win some more. In the process, they end up throwing away all their winnings (if they gained some) and even more. Your mind will play tricks on you after playing for to many hours, and you will often convince yourself that you are playing well. Chances are, you might not.

source: Poker Articles at Hustle Cards

Avoid Common Beginner Poker Mistakes - Part 2

6. Bluffing too much and too often is an extremely common mistake rookies make. Most new players that have watched too many movies seem to have convinced themselves that poker is all about bluffing. Somehow, they think that if they just keep betting, everyone will fall into their bluff and get out of their way. The opposite is true. Experienced poker players catch on to the habitual bluffer very fast, and they use it against him.

7. Trying to look as the tough guy, or the big shot at the table by playing limits you can not afford is another common mistake. Nothing is more harmful to your confidence, and your bankroll, than gambling with your rent or bill money, basically with money you can not afford to gamble away. Due to the pressure this will create on you, you can not make smart decisions when you are worrying about how you are going to pay the rent if you will lose. It is always best for you to play within a budget you can afford.

8. When ahead at the game, you should not be in a hurry to take your winnings and run. There is no system for figuring out when you should keep on playing and when it is time to pack up and leave. The best is not to make a plan as far as when to leave. Many rookies seem to hit and run after very small wins, yet they continue to play when they are behind. When you are on a winning role, you have a powerful table presence and you should exploit that presence to the max. On the other hand when you are losing, that image at the table is tarnished and can have a negative effect on the way you play the game.

9. Over-blown egos will always get players, especially rookies. Remember that even if you were top tog player at home. The casino and especially the tournament scene is completely different and you are not as good as you might think you are. Once you realize that you do not know everything about poker is the day that you might start learning a thing or two and have a better chance at winning. It is always important to be objective about your poker abilities or disabilities as the case might be.

10. Playing after you have lost a few hands to the point that it damaged your faith or self confidence in your game, is not a good idea. Keep in mind that every poker player losses a few hands. The best thing to do is to just walk away ,clear your mind and come back when your confidence came back. A player that losses his confidence in his game yet continues to play will dig himself further in the hole, since he is not playing with a cool mind, and therefore with bad judgment.

Now that you have read these 10 key points for rookies to remember, let them soak in, memorize the does and don'ts and abide by them.

Source: Poker Articles at Hustle Cards

Drinking Alcohol and Playing Poker - Its Effects

If you are like most people, you are always looking for something extra to boost your edge in a game. If I'm playing online, I try to get that edge through table selection. There are generally hundreds of tables going on sites like Party Poker, so it's not hard to find a loose one. But if I'm playing with my friends I generally don't have that option. Now I'm not trying to say I'm unpopular, but getting several hundred games together would be a bit of a stretch.

But luckily there is an easy solution to making even a tight home game juicy. And that would be beer, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. Now if you haven't had the privilege of playing with drunken players you don't know what you are missing. No pair and no draw? Sounds good enough to call for them. Like they say, if you're trying to beat a game, skill can kill, but liquor is quicker.

So if you are organizing a home game, just make sure that the alcohol is flowing freely. In fact you might want to break it out before the game if you are waiting on someone. Often you can even subsidize all of your booze expenditures by having every one toss in a few extra bucks in the buy in.

So now that you've got your friends all liquored up how should you play against them? I recommend playing a loose, aggressive game. You want to see a lot of cheap flops, and when you do hit a hand bet it, because you will get called down. The value of preflop raise decreases if your opponents are drunk, because it is very hard to get them to lay down hands, so you don't want to invest a lot of money before you know what you have. Additionally bluffs are right out. There are very few mistakes that will cost you more than trying to bluff an intoxicated person out of a pot who is more than happy to call you down with A-7

There is some question of how ethical it is to use this method. After all they are your friends right? With that being said I would have no hesitation at all from taking 10-20 bucks away from a guy even if he didn't know which side of the card had the values, but I would cut them off from playing before they lost too much.

- source: Hustlecards.com

Trump101 - Finest Quality

I’ve worked hard to make sure the Trump name is only on projects of the highest calibre and finest quality.
I won’t approve anything that isn’t the top of line because when people hear or see Trump they expect the best.
That’s just basic marketing and good business.

Donald Trump - Trump101

How to Improve Your Tournament Game

Gain experience online
Online tournaments are a great way to gain experience. The poker rooms on the Internet offer tournaments with re-buys or freeze outs, with buy-ins ranging from $1 to several thousand dollars. The size of the buy-in will not affect your basic strategy very much. There may be several hundred players in a "cheap" tournament and it will not be easy to win.

Online games are quicker
Online games are much quicker than live ones - there is no shuffling, no chip counting and so on. You play a considerably higher number of hands per hour and thus gain more experience. The online poker rooms also offer many one or two table tournaments. That is a good way to practice final table play.

Source: WSOP

The Final Table

Final table strategy
When you're at the final table your aim should be to finish in the top three places because usually that's where the big prizes are. The closer you get to the top spots the more aggressive you should be. This is especially effective if you have been playing passively earlier in the game. Your opponents might be trying to outlast each other and that is something you should take full advantage of. Try to steal the blinds and/or antes whenever you get a chance.

Adjusting to stack size
The size of your chips stack influences the way you should act at the final table. If your stack is medium sized or big you should use basic poker tournament strategy to achieve your goal - pick on the small stacks but avoid confrontation with the big stacks if you can. If you have a small stack you have to act before it gets so small that doubling up won't make a difference. You can't afford to be picky - choose a hand a go with it and remember to be the aggressor and not the caller. The exception is if you get a really strong hand - in that case you might slow play in order to maximize the payoff.

Source: WSOP

Late Stage Strategy

Big or middle sized stack
Every poker players dream is reaching the late stages of a tournament with a big stack of chips. If you should find yourself in this position you have a huge advantage you must capitalize on. Only in this situation can you afford to play a bit more passively until you are close to the money. When you are only a few places away from the prizes, you should pick up the pace with your big stack (or even with a medium stack).

The risk of going broke will scare your opponents into playing tight and you will have plenty of opportunities to steal pots and make bluffs. A really aggressive playing style is recommended under these circumstances and you should make sure that you are the aggressor and not the caller. You should avoid confrontations with other big stacks and pick on the smaller stacks instead in order to avoid going broke.

Small stack
If you're stack is small you want to make a move before it's too late. If you wait too long you will become so short stacked that the other players will bully you around regardless of what cards they're holding. If you're dealt really good cards you should do all you can to get action in order to double up. For example, you might slow play hands you normally wouldn't risk going broke with.

In this situation you have to gamble more and take risks if you want a chance of winning the tournament. Needless to say you run a greater risk of going broke but that's a price you have to pay.

Source: WSOP

Middle Stage Strategy

Your goal in this stage of the tournament is simple - you want to make it to the late stages and you want to do it with a big stack. However, this won't happen by itself. The stakes are rising at a regular basis and you can't afford to sit back and wait for really strong cards before you get involved in the action. The blinds and/or antes now hurt your stack and you have to open up your game and start picking up pots. You have to be aggressive and take more risks in this stage of the tournament. As always it's vital that you keep track of your opponents playing styles. If they play tight you should loosen up, and if they play loose you should tighten up. Your knowledge about the opponents will be valuable in many other ways. You will know which players you can bluff and which ones are "calling stations". If you use this information correctly you will have very good chances of increasing your chips stack.

Source: WSOP

Early Stage Strategy

The beginning of a tournament is the time to accumulate chips in order to gain a strong position in the game. In the early stages of a poker tournament you will normally have a lot of chips compared to the stakes. In other words you're not running the risk of getting anted or blinded out of the tournament. Consequently you can afford the luxury to wait for strong cards before getting heavily involved in the action. The best way to go is to play patient, solid poker and try to trap weaker players. Don't make any big gambles where you risk going broke in this stage of the tournament. If you play your cards wisely you will hopefully have a decent sized chips stack pretty soon.

Source: WSOP

The Gap Concept

A key to tournament poker
Tournament poker requires special strategies and tactics. One thing you have to be familiar with is the gap concept. This concept was introduced by the famous poker theorist David Sklansky and it's actually rather simple - in a poker tournament, you will generally need a better hand to play against someone who has opened the betting than what you need to open the betting with yourself. The difference between the two mentioned hands is called the gap.

Using the gap
The width of the gap gets bigger if you're facing a tight opponent and smaller if you're facing a loose opponent. As a result of this you should make raises with many hands you would never call a raise with. If you have late position and a decent stack in a Hold'em game and no one has opened the action, you might well raise with hands as weak as A-x, K-9s and 2-2. However, you should always be aware of extremely aggressive players. If a player that often plays back is sitting in the blinds you have to be careful and more selective.

Source: WSOP

The Stack Size

The size of your chip stack is a very important factor in poker tournaments. For example, it greatly influences the way you should apply the gap concept.

Small stack
If you're stack is small the gap decreases. In these cases you can't afford to risk chips by steal raising with average or weak cards. However, you should keep in mind that a paradox exists here that opens up plenty of opportunity for reverse psychology. Since you have a small stack, your opponents will be less inclined to call or re-raise you if they're not holding very good cards.

This reason for this is the fact that they know you are not as likely to be bluffing with a small stack, and they will be reluctant to gamble against you with weaker cards since there is not much for them to gain. Therefore, your chances of making successful bluffs actually increase in situations like this. On the other hand, a player with a big stack might take this (rather small) risk in order to knock you out of the tournament. Your ability to read your opponents correctly is really tested at times like this.

Medium stack
Playing with a medium sized stack is actually much more difficult. When you have a medium sized stack you're forced to make a number of tricky decisions - you are trying to increase your stack to a big one but, at the same time, trying to avoid becoming short-stacked. Your poker skills are really tested in these situations. Generally, you should play more hands against the smaller stacks and avoid the bigger ones.

Big stack
Your stack is your primary weapon in a poker tournament and when it's big you have every chance of dominating the game. However, you must keep in mind that the other players will be expecting you to play more aggressively and will try to trap you in the hopes of doubling up. You should play aggressively but not carelessly. When you're stack is large, the gap gets bigger and you will be able to take more risks. Use your stack to put pressure on the other players by betting, raising and re-raising. But as mentioned, you should not get reckless. If you do, you will take unnecessary hits and might suddenly find yourself with a medium or small sized stack.

Source: WSOP

The New Poker Tournament Strategy Section

The following section in the blog is designed to provide you with tips and strategies in playing within a poker tournament. This is a 9 part section, that will be updated daily. Hopefully this will improve your game.

Tournaments and Ring Games Differences

Many experienced and skilled ring games players fail to adapt their strategies to tournaments and vice versa. These are some of the differences you have to consider when you make the switch from one playing form to another.

• All-ins before all the cards are dealt are common in poker tournaments. This is normally not a recommended strategy if you want to maximize your winnings in ring games.


• The participants in a poker tournament are eventually forced to take action since the stakes are regularly raised. It's easier to stick to a game plan when you're playing in a ring game.


• If you lose all your chips in a poker tournament you will be eliminated (if it's not a re-buy tournament). In a ring game you can buy more chips when you're cleaned out.


• In tournaments, the prize structure often influences the game. A player's actions will to somewhat depend on the size of his (or hers) stack size and what phase the tournament is in. When you're playing in a ring game your goal is to winning as much as possible in every single hand.


• In tournaments the tables are broken up as players are knocked out. As a result of this there is a constant shift of players. In a ring game you could very well be playing against the same players for a long time. However, if you're playing in a ring game online, you should be prepared for constantly changing games.

How You Play a Poker Tournament

Source: WSOP

There are many different types of poker tournaments. These are some basic tournament structure guidelines.

• All participants enter the tournament for the same cost (if it's not a free roll). This is known as the buy-in.
  
  
• The casino or poker room takes out an entry fee from all participating players (if it's not a free roll). If the buy-in is $60 the entry fee might be $6, making the total amount paid by the players in the tournament $66.
  
  
• In this case, if there are 100 players in the tournament, the total prize pool will be 100 x $60 = $6,000. The casino or poker room will take out a total sum of $600 in entry fees. That's how they profit from hosting tournaments.
  
  
• All participants will have the same number of chips at the beginning of the tournament. $1,000 or $1,500 are examples of common starting amounts.
  In a tournament with 100 participating players there will normally be ten tables with ten players each at the start.
  
  
• As the tournament progresses, the stakes (antes and/or blinds) are generally raised in 15-60 minute intervals.
  
  
• When a player loses all his chips he will be eliminated from the tournament (if it's not a re-buy tournament. In those a player has the chance of buying in again during a specified time period).
  
  
• As players get knocked out of the tournament, the tables are broken-up and re-configured and other participants are moved around. For instance, if there are ten players at one table and seven players on two others, two players from the ten-handed table might move to the seven-handed tables. This will result in three eight-handed tables.
  
  
• The tournament is over when one player has eliminated all his opponents and has all the chips. This lucky player will receive the first prize. In this example it would be 30% of $5,000 = $1,500.
  
  
• A common prize structure is to have a prize for about every ten players in the tournament. In this case (with 100 players), it might be 30% for first place followed by 20%, 13%, 10%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, and 2% respectively. Ten prizes in total.
  
  More Tomorrow

Some More Poker Tips

Source: World Series of Poker

Select the right game for your skill level and pocket: Don’t jump into a game with higher stakes just because you just won an easier one. It’s better to be the best player at an easier table than the loser at the harder one.

Don't play when you are emotional: You won’t play your best if you play “on tilt” -- playing emotionally, not rationally. If you lose your cool during a game, take time out to calm down -- otherwise, you risk having other players pick up on your state of mind and take advantage of you.

Be willing to fold more often: Don’t feel like you have to play every hand – you will only lose more this way. If you are dealt a poor hand, don’t stick with it hoping to improve it. If you are obviously beaten, be willing to part ways with your hand, no matter how good it was when it was dealt, or how much money you’ve put into the pot.

Pay attention to the other players: Watch other players, even if you’ve already folded. Watch for patterns, player reactions, and body language. File this information in your mind and use it when you need it.

Don’t assume that playing at the casino is just like playing online: At the casino, you’ll have to play more wisely against possibly more skilled players. Also, your body language and tells are now on display for all to see, which is not as easy to figure out online.

Texas Hold'em 101 - Part One

Source: Casino Gambling

Some Winning Tips

Before the Flop:
Starting Hands: Position, Patience and Power are the key to winning in Texas Hold’em. The most important decision you will make is choosing to play a starting hand. The biggest mistake a player makes is playing too many hands. Being aware of your Position in relationhip to the dealer is important in Texas Hold’em. You need a stronger hand to act from early position because you have more players acting after you who may raise or re-raise the pot. It is important that you are Patient and wait for Powerful starting hands to play from the correct position.

The player to the left of the big blind acts first before the flop. He along with the other two players to his left are in early position. The next three players are middle position and the ones after that are in late position.

The blinds act last before the flop and first after it. Here are some guidelines for stating hands that I recommend you play when you are starting out. They are fairly tight but will give you a good foundation to work with until you learn a little more about the game.

In Early position
Raise with A-A, K-K and A-Ks from any position. (s denotes suited cards) Call with A-K, A-Qs, K-Qs and Q-Q J-J, T-T and fold everything else.

In Middle position
Call with, 9-9, 8-8, A-Js, A-Ts, Q-Js, A-Q, K-Q

In Late position
Call with A-Xs, K-Ts, Q-Ts, J-Ts, A-J, A-T and small pairs. (note x denotes any card) It takes a stronger hand to call a raise than it does to make with one, If there is a raise before it is your turn to act you should fold. Why put in two bets with marginal hands?

Note: Many players will play any two suited cards from any position and they will play an Ace with any small kicker. These hands are losers in the long run and you should avoid getting into the habit of playing them. They are traps that will cost you money.

Texas Hold'em 101 - Part Two

Source: Casino Gambling.com

The Blinds
Once you post your blind the money no longer belongs to you. Many players feel they must defend their blinds by calling all raises even with marginal hands. Don’t waste additional money on marginal hands. Also, don’t automatically call with the small blind if you have nothing. Saving a half bet will pay for your next small blind.

The Flop
Deciding whether to continue playing after seeing the flop will be your second biggest decision. It can also be one of the most costly decisions if you continue after the flop with an inferior hand. It is said that the flop defines your hand. That is because after the flop your hand will be 71 percent complete. Where does this figure come from? Assuming you play your hand out to the end, it will consist of seven cards. After the flop you have seen five cards or 5/7 of the final hand, which is equal to 71 percent.

With this much of your hand completed you should have enough information to determine whether to continue. Poker Author Shane Smith coined the phrase “Fit or Fold. If the flop does not fit your hand by giving you top pair, or better or a straight or flush draw, then you should fold if there is a bet in front of you. If you played a small pair from late position and you do not flop a third one to make a set you should throw the pair away if there is a bet.

The Turn
If you think you have the best hand after seeing the Turn card and are first to act, then go ahead and bet. Many players will try to get fancy and attempt to check raise in this position. If the other players also check, you have lost a bet or two. In low limit games the straight forward approach is usually the best as there are plenty of players who will call you. Make them pay. Why give them a free card if you don’t have to.

If another player raises on the turn and you hold only one pair you are more than likely beaten and should fold.

If you get to the Turn and you hold only two unsuited overcards (two cards higher that any cards on the board) with no flush or straight draws, then you should fold if there is a bet in front of you. Too much money is lost by players who hope to catch a miracle card on the river. The best hand you can make with two unsuited overcards is a pair which will probably lose anyways.

Michael Jordan wins another trophy!

Source: Poker.com

Recently longtime New York Knick player Trent Tucker, had a charity event to benefit the “Trent Tucker Youth Program.”Normally, this event is all about the golf, and people pay a minimum of $5,000 per person to play with the likes of Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, Patrick Ewing, Byron Scott, Charles Oakley, Scottie Pippen and many other NBA stars and celebrities. The 2006 version included a no-limit Hold ’em charity poker tournament at Canterbury Card Casino.

About 120 players entered the poker tournament including Johnny Chan, Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi, Greg Raymer, Phil Gordon, Liz Liu, John Phan, Patrick Antonious, Marcel Luske, Phil Hellmuth and of course the No. 1 celebrity in the world, Michael Jordan. Jordan was chip leader for most of the night, at one stage he called the $4,000 big blind bet (he limped in) in late position with A-A.

Limping in with pocket aces is a pretty sophisticated play, and it worked like a charm when the flop came down 8-6-2, and he busted the player in the small blind (who was holding Q-8). Later Jordan limped in with A-J, whereupon the small blind moved all-in with A-10, and the big blind called all-in with his short stack of chips with 10-3. He called, and was a huge favorite to win an enormous pot. The flop was J-4-4 and Jordan busted two players on one hand on his way to the final table still in the chip lead.

Phil Gordon announced the final table action while the spectators gathered around seven deep to watch Jordan attempt to win one more championship. One key hand Jordan had 5-5, with a flop of 7s-7d-2s, and he bet out. The only player at the table that had him covered moved all-in, and Jordan — who had been playing with that particular player all night — studied for almost 80 seconds before he called. It was a great call, and Jordan now took a huge chip lead with three players remaining. When Jordan made it down to the final two players, he was all-in with A-7 vs. his opponents Q-9. He needed the A-7 to stand up (he was about a 57 percent favorite), and if it did, then he would have a huge chip lead.

The flop came down 8-7-6, and now the player with the Q-9 needed a five, a nine, a ten, or a queen. It was a dangerous flop for Jordan, but the next card was a seven, and now he only had to hold off a five or a 10 on the last card. The last card was a jack, and Jordan went on to win the title, the trophy, and the $25,000 first place prize, which he promptly donated right back to the Trent Tucker Charity, along with the $50,000 he paid for the custom made “chopper” motorcycle he bought for his friend Mr. Oakley.

This was Jordan's first Hold ’em tournament win, but he is a man who collects titles, so watch out poker world!

France Arrests Two Online Bookmaker Executives

Source: Pokernews.com

France has now joined the United States in the pursuit of online gaming companies after their law enforcement authorities took two executives of a prominent company into custody on Friday. Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger, the two leaders of Austrian online bookmaker Bwin, were arrested during a press conference unveiling their sponsorship of a soccer team from Monaco. The two were arrested for "organizing illegal bets online" and "advertising online betting" which are against the law in France. Against the law, that is, unless the companies are French in origin.

While the French authorities have said that "online bets are forbidden in France", there are legally accepted companies, French in origin, that are allowed to operate. The French Lottery is allowed to wager online as are two French bookmaking operations, Francaise des Jeux and Pari Mutuel Urbain, which have faced no action and are actually state sponsored by the government. Again it seems that if the company is sponsored by the goverment, and the government receives kickback from these ventures, all of a sudden it becomes ok. Nothing dodgy here.

In a pending case in front of the European Union trade organization, France is one of the seven countries that have faced scrutiny over prevention of outside foreign competition in the online gaming industry. When asked if there would be more arrests of online executives in the future, a French intelligence official said, "If we have evidence, we will look at them." This has helped to cause a fall in the stock prices of many of the online firms that trade on the London Stock Market.

The French arrests follow on the heels of two online executives being arrested in the United States over the past two months. Peter Carruthers, former CEO of BetOnSports, was taken into custody in July and Peter Dicks, former chairman of SportingBet, was arrested earlier this month, both for their companies acceptance of wagers from Americans. The major difference between these arrests is, in Europe, online bookmaking is a regulated and recognized industry, something that was pointed out vehemently by Bwin officials.

So it seems the online gambling war continues. More tomorrow.

Backdoor move to ban Web gambling fizzles

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., tried to attach an Internet gambling ban to a defense bill last week but was rebuffed by two powerful senators, congressional sources said Monday.

Despite the setback, advocates said GOP leaders will keep trying to add an online wagering prohibition to must-pass legislation until Congress adjourns this year. AdvertisementFrist approached Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and asked him to add an Internet gambling ban to a defense authorization bill, according to congressional staffers who requested anonymity.

But after checking with Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the committee, Warner rejected the idea because an online wagering ban would not be relevant to defense legislation.

A source close to Frist confirmed the majority leader made the proposal to Warner, but declined to elaborate. After hearing of Frist's proposal, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., sent Warner a letter urging him to reject any amendment that would ban online betting."We must not use this important (defense) bill as a convenient vehicle for political pet issues such as a ban on Internet gaming," Berkley said.

Berkley opposed an Internet gambling ban that passed the House 317-93 in July. Although the Department of Justice has said Internet gambling is illegal, the $12 billion industry continues to grow, with more than 2,300 Web sites. Frist, who has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, criticized online wagering during an August visit to Iowa. While in Iowa, Frist joined Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, one of the two main sponsors of the ban that passed the House, in conducting an informal field hearing critical of Internet gambling. On Sept. 5, the day Congress returned from its August recess, Frist made a speech on the Senate floor and listed an Internet gambling ban as one of his priorities as Congress rushes toward adjournment. Frist's second term expires this year, and he is not running for re-election.

------Here's the 2+2 thread if you want to keep track of the analysis.

Source: Guiness and Poker

Poker Book Review

The Illustrated Guide to No Limit Texas Hold'Em

Author: Dennis Purdy

This book is a great starting book for beginners. I think most intermediate and advanced players will already be applying the principles covered, though some of the Limit/No Limit differences may be subtle enough to peak your interest.

The main part of this book is the 150 real game situations, which are quite comprehensive in terms of coverage. For each situation, it details the win rate of the starting hand and lists the chip stacks and positions of your opponents. A question is then posed and a subsequent answer is given, often with a detailed explanation of what the options are, which is the best option and why.

There is quite a bit of continuity between the situations where the starting hand is taken through to the showdown and each succeeding situation covers what your options are at each stage.

Aside from a few illustrative errors (Page 148 where you have a Seven of Clubs in your hand as well as on the board for instance), it covers all of the things a beginner should be learning about. Starting hand strength and win rate, pot odds, assessing what your opponent has and most importantly, when to lay those killer starting hands down post flop.

It only covers tournament situations but the basic principles can be applied to cash games.
All in all, a quick and easy read for those wanting to gain some knowledge in some basic No Limit Hold'Em strategy.

The Death of AdSense

Everywhere you look you will see: The Death of AdSense There is a lot of "b..ls..t" being written about this report.

I think you should read it: by following this link: And make up your own mind.


This is what Eric Giguere is saying - he is THE Google Adsense guru:

There’s certainly some truth to the assertion that things changed rapidly for big-time AdSense publishers after this change was made. It didn’t take long for advertisers to start excluding their ads from the content network, especially for pricey things. But it’s kind of like crying wolf — after all, many (most) of the big-time publishers were making their money using MFA (made for AdSense) sites that really didn’t profit the advertisers when compared to the ads that were shown on the SERPs. So the smart advertisers use split campaigns now, paying less for ads shown on the content network than those shown on Google’s sites. Why not? It’s what I’d do (and in fact what I do do) as an advertiser.

Poker Terms Part One

POKER TERMS:

A Hand: Five cards, which player collects from pocket cards and community cards.

Action: Money that is being bet.

All-In: A bet that places all of a player's chips into the pot.

Ante: A small bet all players are required to make before a hand is dealt.

Big blind: An amount of chips that second player to the left of the dealer has to bet, depending on stakes.

Buy-In: The minimum amount of money required to join a game; the actual amount of money used to join the game.

Call: To put in to the pot the minimum amount of money necessary to continue playing.

Check: To pass on betting.

Check Raise: To check initially, then raise a bet made later on in the same betting round.

Cold Call: Calling a bet and raise at the same time instead of calling a bet first, then later calling a raise.

Community Cards: Cards that are dealt face up in the center of the table, available for all players to use in making a hand.

Dealer: A person who shuffles a deck and deals cards to players.

Dealer button: A red button which indicates the dealer. It is passed clockwise after every hand.

Draw Out: To receive a card that transforms your hand from a losing hand to a winning hand.

Flat Call: To call a bet without raising.

Flop: The first three cards that are dealt on the board.

Flush: A poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit.

FOLD: To give up by placing your cards face down on the table, and losing whatever you have bet so far. You only "fold" when you think your hand is too weak to compete against the other players.

Four Flush: Four cards to a flush

Four of a Kind: A hand containing all four cards of the same rank.

Full House: A hand consisting of 3-of-a-kind and a (different) pair.

Heads Up: Playing a single opponent.

Hold'em: a poker game in which players receive a certain number (2 to 4) of hole cards and 5 community cards. Normally, there are betting rounds after dealing the hole cards, then after dealing 3 upcards (Flop), after dealing a 4th upcard (Turn) and finally after dealing a 5th upcard (River).

Hole Cards: The face-down cards dealt to each player in stud and Hold'em games.

No-Limit Poker: A poker game where there is no maximum bet - players can wager any amount up to the amount of money on the table in front of him.

Omaha: A variety of Hold'em in which players receive 4 hole cards and must use exactly two of them (together with 3 of 5 board cards) to make a hand.

Source: World Series of Poker

Poker Terms Part 2

Open: If no betting has been done when your turn comes, you may "open" the kitty. This allows you to make the first bet (any amount up to the betting limit).

Open-Handed: A category of games characterized by a part of each player's hand being exposed.

Overpair: n. In Hold'em, a pair in the hole that is larger than any community card on the board.

Pair: Two cards of the same rank.

Pocket Card: First two cards that were dealt by dealer.

Quads: n. Four of a kind.

Rainbow: adj. In flop games, a flop in which no two cards are of the same suit. "The flop was A 9 7 rainbow."

Raise: To wager more than the minimum required to call, forcing other players to put in more money as well.

River card: Fifth card of the board.

Royal Flush: n. An ace-high straight flush, the best possible hand in regular poker.

See: When you "see" another player it means that you match their bet. So whatever the other player bets and you still want to stay in the game, however you have to "see" their bet by placing the same amount into the kitty.

Showdown: At the end of the final betting round, all active players turn their cards face up to see who has won the pot.

Small blind: An amount of chips that player to the left of the dealer has to bet, depending on stakes.

Straight: n. A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence but not in suit.

Straight Flush: n. A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence and the same suit.

Table Stakes: A standard rule whereby during a hand players can only bet the money they have on the table. If the bet to a player is more than the player's stack, that player may call with all his chips and be eligible to win only that portion of the pot he contributed to equally. A side pot is created, for which only the remaining players may compete.

Three of A Kind: n. Three cards all the same rank.

Turn card: Fourth card of the board. It is called fourth river as well.

Source: World Series of Poker

Jamie Gold: The 2006 WSOP Champion

Tonight we saw what proved to be a truly action-packed final table with Jamie Gold personally knocking out seven of the other eight players. Gold certainly had some help from the cards in this match but showed that he was able to mix it up with some well-timed bluffs and key plays as well. After eliminating Paul Wasicka a short time into heads-up play, Jamie was able to put on the bracelet he had worked so hard to earn and finally bask in the knowledge that he had done the seemingly impossible and become this year's World Champion of Poker. In a short Q&A session after the match, Gold talked a bit about his experience at the WSOP this year.

With the chip lead you had coming into this final table this event was really yours to lose, how did you deal with that here tonight?
Absolutely, I didn't focus on it. A few of my friends said "C'mon, there's no way you can lose this." I just didn't want to listen to that, I didn't think about it. All I thought about were the players I was playing with at each table, I never thought about the tournament, everyday I would think about my table and I crushed every table I played at except for one that I was on with Danny Negreanu. I could not beat him. He was amazing - I could not beat him.

Daniel actually gave you a lot of compliments tonight; he said he couldn't figure your game out.
Well, I think he's incredible. I tried to bluff him and he caught me with the one hand we were in together. I can't play as well as he plays, but I played pretty well in this tournament.

You're your own agent, how are you going to market yourself now?
I'm actually not. I have amazing agents. I'm not going to market myself at all, but these guys are amazing and I'm really lucky to be with them.

You're very successful in Hollywood, so how are you going to bridge the gap, because you're going to be amazing for poker with your communication skills.
I'm going to do both. I have incredible partners who have allowed me to take two weeks off while I'm supposed to be in charge of a production that's happening right now, but they believed in me and understood that this was something that was so important to me. I told them I wanted to give it one shot. I've never played in the World Series before, but I believed I could do it. I've won a lot of small tournaments but I wanted to see if I could compete with the best.

Johnny Chan told me I could, all my friends told me that I could, I thought that I could and my partners were kind enough to let me do it.

Whenever I'm not working, all I do is play poker, and I really love it, and I'm going to continue doing it. I'm going to play as many tournaments as I can, and my partners will understand but I'm not going to leave them. Next week I'm going back to work.

Your style of play has been described as "controlled chaos," do you agree with that and if so what does it mean?
Absolutely, I don't have a style of play. I change my style based on the players I'm playing against. I happen to get great reads on most of the players I play against, except Daniel Negreanu. Thank god he wasn't at the final table.

Are you going to be here next year to defend your title?
Oh yeah. Unless I'm in a hospital somewhere, I'm going to be here. I can't wait to play again.

Source: 2006 WSOP

Poker Tips

• Don’t assume that playing at the casino is just like playing online: At the casino, you’ll have to play more wisely against possibly more skilled players. Also, your body language and tells are now on display for all to see, which is not as easy to figure out online.




• Select the right game for your skill level and pocket: Don’t jump into a poker game with higher stakes just because you just won an easier one. It’s better to be the best player at an easier table than the loser at the harder one.




• Don't play when you are emotional: You won’t play your best if you play “on tilt” -- playing emotionally, not rationally. If you lose your cool during a game, take time out to calm down -- otherwise, you risk having other players pick up on your state of mind and take advantage of you.




• Be willing to fold more often: Don’t feel like you have to play every hand – you will only lose more this way. If you are dealt a poor hand, don’t stick with it hoping to improve it. If you are obviously beaten, be willing to part ways with your hand, no matter how good it was when it was dealt, or how much money you’ve put into the pot.




• Pay attention to the other players: Watch other players, even if you’ve already folded. Watch for patterns, player reactions, and body language. File this information in your mind and use it when you need it.




• Bluff wisely and sparingly: Don’t bluff just for the sake of bluffing. Don't use it as a way to get yourself out of folding all the time. Fold if you have to -- bluff occasionally.

How to Play Texas Holdem Game - Part 1

So you're new to Texas Hold'Em poker? Not a problem. Texas Hold 'Em poker is by far the best game for a beginner to learn. Instead of other poker games like Omaha High or 7 card stud which entail a great many more possibilities for calculating odds and perhaps even trying to count cards, Hold'Em can be learned in a few minutes by anyone, and you can be playing fairly well with a few hours practice. In order to learn the game, however, you must play and you must play fairly often.

One poker room, PacificPoker, offers a wide variety of play money tables for beginners to practice their skills until they're ready to move up to the fun at real money tables. We recommend this card room to new players, as this site is one of the fastest growing new cardrooms (and full of other new players!)

A Texas Hold em poker game goes as follows:

• The betting structure can vary. Sometimes antes are used, but most games start with two players to the left of the dealer placing out a predetermined amount of money so there is an initial amount to get things started. This is called posting the blinds. Check out our page on blinds and antes.
• The dealer shuffles up a standard deck of 52 playing cards.
  
• Each player is dealt two cards face down. These are called your hole or pocket cards.
  
• Then there is a round of betting starting with the guy to the left of the two who posted the blinds. This round is usually referred to by the term pre-flop.
  
• The amount a player can bet depends on what kind of game it is. (Check out our page on betting structures)
  
• Much like most games of poker, players can call, raise, or fold.
  
• After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card. This is done to prevent cheating.
  

Source: Texas Holdem Poker