History of Online Poker

Online gambling can be traced back to the mid-90’s when the net first provided online sportsbooks and online casinos to gamblers in the United States. However, the first online poker room was not established until 1998, Planet Poker, which existed as the only online casino for a very short time. Since then, Planet Poker has fallen to the shadows of mega-poker sites such as PartyPoker.com and bodog.com.

Perhaps the one and only problem that online poker ever saw was in May of 2000 when the one time glitch in funds transfers occurred with Poker Spot. They were unable to take in players deposits or payout winnings and inevitably went under. Funds transfers capabilities were then sharpened and e-cash transfer services became stable vehicles for transferring money online.
As online poker gained popularity quickly, so did the televised tournaments that brought thousands of new poker players to the table. These two poker elements worked hand in hand to market each other, not to mention the poker legends that were born online and found their way to the final table at the World Series of Poker. One such player is Chris Moneymaker, who bought in on Party Poker for $40, won a spot at a live tournament, and ended up winning the World Series of Poker.

Perhaps the latest fate for online gambling is the most depressing. In September 2006, Congress passed a law to restrict online gambling in the United States. According to SFGate.com, “shares of the three companies, which all make most of their money from U.S. gamblers, tumbled, losing $7 billion in market value” the very week after the law was passed.
Some are still hopeful that the litigation is not final and there may be another chapter in the future of online gambling and online poker, but for now, pull out the old green felt table cause it’s back to the basement for passionate poker players in the United States.

The likeable Poker Player

article by Ashley Adams

We have all heard about the importance of position in poker. I’ve written articles about it here and read many elsewhere. For Stud and Holdem, you need to play your hand differently depending on where you are sitting relative to the dealer and relative to other players. There’s no question about it.

We’ve also learned - at least I hope you’ve learned - about the strategic importance of being a fun and easygoing sort of person at the table. It helps you to have people who are not agitated, angry, or unduly somber and serious at the table. Carefree, happy, laughing people are more likely to part easily with their money.

But it’s also important, as I’ll explain in this article, to think about your table demeanor relative to your position. In other words, you want to treat different people differently based on where they are sitting relative to you at the poker table. That may sound a little nuts, but hear me out and I think that by the end of this essay you’ll agree with me.

Have you ever read about the importance of getting the right seat at the poker table - how you want to have certain types of players to your right and other types of players to your left? If you missed that lesson, simply put, it’s that it’s generally to your advantage to have loose or aggressive players to your right - while passive and tight players are better off, most of the time at least, on your left. The reason for this is, broadly speaking, that you want to have first go at the loose players, to try and isolate them with raises or bets that make it expensive for other opponents to enter the pot. And you want to have the benefit of seeing what the strong aggressive players do before you commit your money to the pot. You want the passive and tight players after you because neither will offer you much of a fight. So you don’t mind entering before they act -- since they will rarely be either betting or raising when

Think about this. If you had the ability to stop one player from raising you the whole game, whom would you pick? Would it be the player who acted before you acted, or the player who acted immediately after you did? Think about it for a few seconds. Got the answer yet? Good.

The correct answer is that if you could pick one player who would never raise it would be the player immediately after you. You’d prefer it if he played you softly, since he is the first player to go after you enter the pot. He is the one who has first shot at you. If the player to your right raises, you always have the ability to fold right away. But if the player immediately after you raises then you will always have to decide whether to enter a pot with the risk that he will make it two bets if you decide to play. That’s not good.

We all know that soft-playing someone because he is a friend is against the rules. If, for example, you have two Aces and your buddy on your right has two Kings and you decide to check it down because you’re friends, it’s called collusion and it is grounds for getting kicked out of the card room. You knew that, didn’t you?

Well, even so, it happens all the time. Maybe it happens deliberately. But even if it doesn’t, friends often casually just play more softly against their friends. They check when they might otherwise bet; and they call when they might otherwise raise. It’s human nature not to be as tough on our friends as we are on our enemies.

That being said, what can you do at the table that helps you in this regard? Make friends with the guy on your left. Be charming. Make an effort to engage him in conversation. Listen to his stories; compliment him on his watch or his tie or his cardplay. I’m not saying you have to kiss his ass, but go ahead and kiss his ass. It may not make him your buddy, but it may get him to be less inclined to play the same tough game against you as he does against the rest of the field.

What about the other players? Does it make sense to be charming with them too? Sure it does! You’d like them all to be less inclined to raise you or otherwise take shots at you when you’d prefer to just call along, or check along, and see another card for free or cheaply. But it’s not so important to be this way with them as it is to be charming to the player on your left.

As a practical matter, it’s much easier and simpler to pick one person at the table to befriend. It happens naturally anyway. You’ve seen this I’m sure. People are very tribal. Games develop where one end of the table feels slighted that none of them has won a pot for a while. Alliances develop -- unspoken though they may be -- between a couple of players sitting next to each other. We tend to seek out allies when we are in competition within a group.

Exploit this natural tendency by making sure that you pay attention to this player on your left. That doesn’t mean you have to be mean or ignore everyone else. Hey, if you can get them happy and make them friendly, more power to you. But it takes some energy to show a genuine interest in someone. And that energy is best spent on the person to your left.

Oh, and just in case I haven’t been clear about this, don’t ever talk about forming an alliance or soft-playing each other. That would be cheating. Just become friendly and let the natural tendencies of friendly people not to play strongly against each other take hold.~~

Irish Poker News: Europes Biggest Poker Festival

On April 5-9, 2007, the cream of the world´s poker pros will gather again in Dublin for Europe´s oldest and most prestigious no-limit hold´em tournament.

The Irish Open, Europe´s longest established poker tournament, was first held in 1981 by the late, great Terry Rogers. Terry had visited Vegas and befriended legends such as Benny Binion, Johnny Moss, and Doyle Brunson, taking a keen interest in no-limit Texas hold´em, a variation of the game previously unknown outside the US. Upon returning to Ireland, Terry established the Irish Open which became instrumental in spreading no-limit hold´em´s popularity throughout Ireland and across Europe.

Last year, Dubliner Vincent Melinn took home the €350,000 first prize from a final table that was broadcast live across Europe. The cameras will be there again this year to capture the magic and drama of the Irish Open. In addition there will be plenty of action in the great value money-added side events.

The 26th Irish Open is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated tournaments ever held in Europe. This year ,an expected 700 players will take their seats in Dublin´s luxurious Burlington Hotel for the €2 million-guaranteed main event. The buy-in for this year’s Irish Open main event is €3,300 (+ €200 registration fee), but you can qualify for as little as $1 on PaddyPowerPoker´s monthly shootout tourney. For more Happenings in

Europe, visit CardPlayerEurope.com

TV Poker Been Dealt the Perfect Hand

Televised poker has just been given its best hand ever with new technology which looks set to turn it into mainstream viewing.

Sagentia (until recently Scientific Generics) at Harston has developed special ink and software which will allow invisible infra-red bar codes on the cards to be read via image processing software and then shown on TV. "Televised card games have built a loyal following over recent years, but like snooker, which had to wait for the introduction of colour TV to really take off, televised poker has also been waiting for a breakthrough to realise its true potential as a spectator sport," Sagentia says.

"The traditional approach, involving over shoulder and/or under table cameras, is invasive and costly. Obscured views can result in delays and errors in identifying cards, making captions follow behind the commentary and compromising the 'live' feel of the show." Perlego, which has been developed by Sagentia and their client, iKnowledge, costs a lot less and allows cards to be identified direct to the TV screen from the moment they are dealt. The cards are printed with the special ink, which can be read only via infra red screens placed across a camera lens. They are identified immediately and then appear in screen graphics beside the name of the player, showing viewers which cards he is holding.

iKnowledge says the new technology will make the game much more entertaining for viewers, creating greater tension, and adding an extra dimension, computer forecasting. iKnowledge is part of PA Sport, a leading provider of automated, data-driven TV graphics for a range of televised sports. Sagentia was approached because of its reputation in magnetic tagging.Kevan Moretti, co-founder and commercial director of iKnowledge, said: "Perlego is a dramatic step forward in delivering the fastest and most accurate game play content on-screen."At the same time it offers producers a significant cost advantage for poker and card play productions."

Given how popular poker has become (and the recent creation of many celebrity poker tv specials and tournaments) this could be the big breakthrough for TV poker that fans have been waiting for.

A Card Related Joke

I received this joke today from a colleague. The joke winds up with the protagonist playing black jack, but being a card game (and the fact it got a chuckle out of me) I thought it would be relevant to throw into the poker blog anyway.


Saul is working in his store when he hears a booming voice from above: "Saul, sell your business." He ignores it. It goes on for days. "Saul, sell your business for $3 million." After weeks of this, he relents, sells his store. The voice says 'Saul, go to Las Vegas." He asks why. "Saul, take the $3 million to Las Vegas." He obeys, goes to a casino.

The voice says, "Saul, go to the blackjack table and put it down all on one hand." He hesitates but knows he must. He's dealt an 18. The dealer has a six showing. "Saul, take a card." What? The dealer has -- "Take a card!" He tells the dealer to hit him. Saul gets an ace. Nineteen. He breathes easy. "Saul, take another card." What? "TAKE ANOTHER CARD!" He asks for another card. It's another ace. He has twenty. "Saul, take another card," the voice commands. I have twenty! Saul shouts. "TAKE ANOTHER CARD!!" booms the voice. Hit me, Saul says. He gets another ace. Twenty one. The booming voice goes: "un-bloody-believable!"

Going Back to Basics in Poker

I have recently been playing Texas Hold'Em with a lot of new players. This is great as it gives me the opportunity to play with new people, and its enjoyable for me to be able to teach them how to play and realise how much fun poker really is! With this in mind, I thought it a good idea to create a series of posts that are essentially a beginners guide for new players (or those wishing to brush up) that goes over poker terms, how to play, when to bet and how the game is played.

The Buy-In

1. When you enter a game, you must make a full buy-in for that particular game. A full buy-in at limit poker is at least 10 times th e maximum bet for the game being played, unless designated otherwise. A full buy-in at pot-limit or no-limit poker is 40 times the m inimum bring-in (usually, the size of the big blind), unless designated otherwise.

2. Only one short buy-in is allowed per session.

3. Adding to your stack is not considered a buy-in, and may be done in any quantity between hands.

The Shuffle and Cut

1. In a player-dealt game, the pack must be shuffled and cut before the cards are dealt. The recommended method to protect the integ rity of the game is to have three people involved instead of only two. The dealer on the previous hand takes in the discards and squ ares up the deck prior to the shuffle. The player on the new dealer's left shuffles the cards and then slides the pack to the new de aler, who gets them cut by the player on his right.

2. The deck must be riffled a minimum of four times. The cut must leave a minimum of four cards in each portion.

3. The bottom of the deck should be protected so nobody can see the bottom card. This is done by using a cut-card. A joker can be us ed as a cut-card.

4. Any complaint about the shuffle, cut, or other preparation connected with dealing must be made before the player has looked at hi s hand or betting action has started.

Misdeals

1. The following circumstances cause a misdeal, provided attention is called to the error before two players have acted on their han ds. (If two players have acted in turn, the deal must be played to conclusion, as explained in rule #2)

• The first or second card of the hand has been dealt faceup or exposed through dealer error.


• Two or more cards have been exposed by the dealer.


• Two or more boxed cards (improperly faced cards) are found.


• Two or more extra cards have been dealt in the starting hands of a game.


• An incorrect number of cards has been dealt to a player, except the top card may be dealt if it goes to the player in proper sequence.


• Any card has been dealt out of the proper sequence (except an exposed card may be replaced by the burncard without such action causing a misdeal).


• The button was out of position.


• The first card was dealt to the wrong position.


• Cards have been dealt to an empty seat or a player not entitled to a hand.


• A player has been dealt out who is entitled to a hand. This player must be present at the table or have posted a blind or ante.

2. Action is considered to occur in stud games when two players after the forced bet have acted on their hands. In button games, act ion is considered to occur when two players after the blinds have acted on their hands. Once action occurs, a misdeal can no longer be declared. The hand is played to conclusion and no money is returned to any player whose hand is fouled.

Dead Hands

1. Your hand is declared dead if:

• You fold or announce that you are folding when facing a bet or a raise.



• You throw your hand away in a forward motion causing another player to act behind you (even if not facing a b et).



• In stud, when facing a bet, you pick your upcards off the table, turn your upcards facedown, or mix your upca rds and downcards together.



• The hand does not contain the proper number of cards for that poker form (except at stud a hand missing the f inal card may be ruled live, and at lowball and draw high a hand with too few cards before the draw is live). [See Section 16 - ?Expl anations,? discussion #4, for more information on the stud portion of this rule.]



• You act on a hand with a joker as a holecard in a game not using a joker. (A player who acts on a hand withou t looking at a card assumes the liability of finding an improper card, as given in Irregularities, rule #8.)



• You have the clock on you when facing a bet or raise and exceed the specified time limit.

2. Cards thrown into the muck may be ruled dead. However, a hand that is clearly identifiable may be retrieved if doing so is in the best interest of the game. An extra effort should be made to rule a hand retrievable if it was folded as a result of false infor mation given to the player.

3. Cards thrown into another player's hand are dead, whether they are faceup or facedown.

Irregularities

1. In button games, if it is discovered that the button was placed incorrectly on the previous hand, the button and blinds are co rrected for the new hand in a manner that gives every player one chance for each position on the round (if possible).

2. You must protect your own hand at all times. Your cards can be protected with your hands, a chip, or other object placed on to p of them. If you fail to protect your hand, you have no redress if it becomes fouled or the dealer accidentally kills it.

3. If a card with a different color back appears during a hand, all action is void and all chips in the pot are returned to the r espective bettors. If a card with a different color back is discovered in the stub, all action stands.

4. If two cards of the same rank and suit are found, all action is void, and all chips in the pot are returned to the players who wagered them (subject to next rule).

5. A player who knows the deck is defective has an obligation to point this out. If such a player instead tries to win a pot by t aking aggressive action (trying for a freeroll), the player may lose the right to a refund, and the chips may be required to stay in the pot for the next deal.

6. If there is extra money in the pot on a deal as a result of forfeited money from the previous deal (as per rule #5), or some s imilar reason, only a player dealt in on the previous deal is entitled to a hand.

7. A card discovered faceup in the deck (boxed card) is treated if it were a meaningless scrap of paper. A card being treated as a scrap of paper will be replaced by the next card below it in the deck, except when the next card has already been dealt facedown t o another player and mixed in with other downcards. In that case, the card that was faceup in the deck is replaced after all other c ards are dealt for that round.

8. A joker that appears in a game in which it is not used is treated as a scrap of paper. Discovery of a joker does not cause a m isdeal. If the joker is discovered before a player acts on his or her hand, it is replaced as in the previous rule. If the player do es not call attention to the joker before acting, then the player has a dead hand.

9. If you play a hand without looking at all of your cards, you assume the liability of having an irregular card or an improper j oker.

10. One or more cards missing from the deck does not invalidate the results of a hand.

11. Before the first round of betting, if a dealer deals one additional card, it is returned to the deck and used as the burncard .

12. Procedure for an exposed card varies with the poker form, and is given in the section for each game. A card that is flashed b y a dealer is treated as an exposed card. A card that is flashed by a player plays. To obtain a ruling on whether a card was exposed and should be replaced, a player should announce that the card was flashed or exposed before looking at it. A downcard dealt off th e table is considered an exposed card.

13. If a card is exposed due to dealer error, a player does not have an option to take or reject the card. The situation is gover ned by the rules for the particular game being played.

14. If you drop any cards out of your hand onto the floor, you must still play them.

15. If the dealer prematurely deals any cards before the betting is complete, those cards will not play, even if a player who has not acted decides to fold.

Betting and Raising

1. Check-raise is permitted in all games, except in certain forms of lowball.

2. In no-limit and pot-limit games, unlimited raising is allowed.

3. In limit poker, for a pot involving three or more players who are not all-in, there is a maximum of a bet and three raises all owed.

4. Unlimited raising for money games is allowed in heads-up play. This applies any time the action becomes heads-up before the ra ising has been capped. Once the raising is capped on a betting round, it cannot be uncapped by a subsequent fold that leaves two pla yers heads-up. For tournament play, the three raise maximum for limit poker applies when heads-up as well.

5. In limit play, an all-in wager of less than half a bet does not reopen the betting for any player who has already acted and is in the pot for all previous bets. A player facing less than half a bet can fold, call, or complete the wager. An all-in wager of a half a bet or more is treated as a full bet, and a player may fold, call, or make a full raise. (An example of a full raise is on a $20 betting round, raising a $15 all-in bet to $35).

6. Any wager must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise in that round, unless a player is going all-in.

7. The smallest chip that can be wagered in a game is the smallest chip used in the antes or blinds. Smaller chips than this do n ot play even in quantity, so a player wanting action on such chips must change them up between deals. If betting is in dollar units or greater, a fraction of a dollar does not play. A player going all-in must put all chips that play into the pot.

8. A verbal statement in turn denotes your action and is binding. If in turn you verbally declare a fold, check, bet, call, or ra ise, you are forced to take that action.

9. Rapping the table in turn with your hand is a pass.

10. Deliberately acting out of turn is not tolerated. A player who checks out of turn may not bet or raise on the next turn to ac t. An action or verbal declaration out of turn may be ruled binding if there is no bet, call, or raise by an intervening player acti ng after the infraction has been committed.

11. To retain the right to act, a player must stop the action by announcing ?time? (or an equivalent word). Failure to stop the act ion before three or more players have acted behind you may cause you to lose the right to act. You cannot forfeit your right to act if any player in front of you has not acted, only if you fail to act when it legally becomes your turn. Therefore, if you wait for s omeone whose turn comes before you, and three or more players act behind you, this still does not hinder your right to act.

12. A player who bets or calls by releasing chips into the pot is bound by that action. However, if you are unaware that the pot has been raised, you may withdraw that money and reconsider your action, provided that no one else has acted after you.

13. In limit poker, if you make a forward motion into the pot area with chips and thus cause another player to act, you may be fo rced to complete your action.

14. String raises are not allowed. To protect your right to raise, you should either declare your intention verbally or place the proper amount of chips into the pot. Putting a full bet plus a half-bet or more into the pot is considered to be the same as announ cing a raise, and the raise must be completed. (This does not apply in the use of a single chip of greater value.)

15. If you put a single chip in the pot that is larger than the bet, but do not announce a raise, you are assumed to have only ca lled. Example: In a $3-$6 game, when a player bets $6 and the next player puts a $25 chip in the pot without saying anything, that p layer has merely called the $6 bet.

16. All wagers and calls of an improperly low amount must be brought up to proper size if the error is discovered before the bett ing round has been completed. This includes actions such as betting a lower amount than the minimum bring-in (other than going all-i n) and betting the lower limit on an upper limit betting round. If a wager is supposed to be made in a rounded off amount, is not, a nd must be corrected, it shall be changed to the proper amount nearest in size. No one who has acted can change a call to a raise be cause the wager size has been changed.

The Showdown

1. A player must show all cards in the hand face-up on the table to win any part of the pot.

2. Cards speak (cards read for themselves). The dealer assists in reading hands, but players are responsible for holding onto the ir cards until the winner is declared. Although verbal declarations as to the contents of a hand are not binding, deliberately misca lling a hand with the intent of causing another player to discard a winning hand is unethical and may result in forfeiture of the po t. (For more information on miscalling a hand see ?Section 11 - Lowball,? Rule 15 and Rule 16.)

3. Anyone who sees an incorrect amount of chips put into the pot, or an error about to be made in awarding a pot, has an ethical obligation to point out the error. Please help us keep mistakes of this nature to a minimum.

4. All losing hands must be killed by the dealer before a pot is awarded.

5. Any player who has been dealt in can request to see any hand that has been called, even if the opponent's hand or the winning hand has been mucked. However, this is a privilege that can be revoked if abused. If a player other than the pot winner asks to see a hand that has been folded, that hand is dead. If the winning player asks to see a losing player's hand, both hands are live, and t he best hand wins.

6. If you show cards to another player during or after a deal, any player at the table has the right to see those exposed cards. Cards shown during a deal to a player not in the pot should only be shown to all players when the deal is finished.

7. If everyone checks (or is all-in) on the final betting round, the player who acted first is the first to show the hand. If the re is wagering on the final betting round, the last player to take aggressive action by a bet or raise is the first to show the hand . In order to speed up the game, a player holding a probable winner is encouraged to show the hand without delay. If there is a side pot, players involved in the side pot should show their hands before anyone who is all-in for only the main pot.

Ties

1. The ranking of suits from highest to lowest is spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. Suits never break a tie for winning a pot. Sui ts are used only in stud and then only to break a tie between cards of the same rank (no redeal or redraw).

2. Dealing a card to each player is used to determine things like who moves to another table. If the cards are dealt, the order i s clockwise starting with the first player on the dealer's left (the button position is irrelevant). Drawing a card is used to deter mine things like who gets the button in a new game.

3. An odd chip is broken down to the smallest unit used in the game.

4. No player can receive more than one odd chip.

5. If two or more hands tie, an odd chip is awarded as follows:

• In a button game, the first hand clockwise from the button gets the odd chip.


• In a stud game, the odd chip is given to the highest card by suit in all high games, and to the lowest card b y suit in all low games. (When making this determination, all cards are used, not just the five cards that constitute the player's h and.)


• In high-low split games, the high hand receives the odd chip in a split between the high and the low hands. T he odd chip between tied high hands is awarded as in a high game of that poker form, and the odd chip between tied low hands is awar ded as in a low game of that poker form.


• All side pots and the main pot are split as separate pots, not mixed together