THE POKER GOSPEL » Betting

Interview with Mike Matusow

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:36:13 +0000

Interview with Mike Matusow
by Steve Marzolf Mike Matusow, a card-carrying member of team Full Tilt, has been around the pro poker circuit long enough to earn his nickname as “The Mouth” a few times over. Most recently, he took third in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, pulling in just under $370k…and talking some serious smack in the process. But when we caught up with him, he had an ironic message for players out there: “Calm down.” You almost took it all at Bay 101 – what was that like? I’ve only played three WPTs in two years – one last year and two this year. I went down there and played really hard. I went down there hungry and wanting to win, and I played really well. But I wish I would have caught some cards against the lunatics, the ones who were raising and re-raising every hand. Tell us about that three-bet that took you out. I mean, he was just raising at every button, and I thought I had a pretty good read on him. I’d been re-raising and shoving on him left and right. I shoved on him with 2-9. He didn’t have to call me with K-Q. It was still 25 percent of his stack, even if he’s ahead. Most of the time, I’m going to have a pair or an ace there. I didn’t really mind the call, cause once it got down to three-handed, they were playing really carefully against me. They knew that if they opened too much, I’d just keep shipping on them. So they started folding a little bit and limping, and it looked like there was going to be no way I could get chips – especially as card-dead as I was. So I didn’t mind just shipping on him every time he opened the button. I was looking at his face and how he reacted to his cards. I shipped on him six times before, and he insta-folded all six. So I thought I had a tell on him. Maybe that time I just rushed it. You’ve consistently had good showings at WPT games. Yeah. I don’t play many. I don’t chase the tournament circuit anymore. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a losing proposition. It’s $750,000 a year to play on the tournament circuit, and you’ve gotta finish at least second in one tournament to make any money. You’ve been in the game a long time – what are the biggest changes you’ve seen? I mean, these kids play pretty good, but when it’s a deep-stack tournament, they’ve gotta know when to slow down. We were playing 100 big blinds deep, and they’re going raise, re-raise, re-raise, trying to outplay each other, playing four-handed. I was just hoping to pick up 8-8 or anything, but I didn’t even see a playable hand. I think the best hand I saw was K-10 offsuit. If I’d picked up any hand behind them, I’d have gotten all the chips. It was the greatest spot in the world – I was like in heaven – but then I was looking at 2-7 offsuit for like eight hours. What spurs that aggressive play? They’re all used to playing online where you have to 3-bet and 4-bet all the time to stay alive when the blinds get up there. When you’re playing deep-stacked, you’re supposed to just play solid and pick your spots. But these guys were ridiculous. They were so hyper-aggressive it was a joke. It fit perfect into my style. I had two playable hands in 154 hands, and I finished 3rd. If I’d won the hand I went out on, then I’d have 30 percent of the chips and who knows what happens? Where do you think the game is going long-term? I don’t know – there’s just so many good players. I think if they just want to keep running $100,000 buy-in tournaments, they’ll have everybody broke within a year. I’m not a big fan of those tournaments. Then, I was saying the same thing four years ago about the $10,000 buy-in tournaments. Everybody would have gone broke on those too, if they hadn’t been satelliting so many people in. You’ve been at this a long time – what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned? Everybody glorifies these people who play heads-up and win millions of dollars, but they’re going to lose it, too. Ain’t nobody who’s better than anybody else playing heads-up poker. Poker’s about playing and beating bad players. There’s definitely less bad players now – and there’s a lot of good players. It’s tough to win now; it’s a lot harder to make a living. Lucky for me, I don’t have to depend on it anymore. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to grind and make a living online or even live nowadays. It sure wouldn’t be easy. Have cash games in Vegas gotten tougher, too? The mixed games are still good, but the no-limit games are all dried up, unless you get invited to a house game. Poker has become a showdown contest. That’s all it is. It’s just because everybody tries to outplay each other. When I came up, it wasn’t like that. It was about making correct decisions, playing solid, attacking blinds and weakness…just playing good and solid. Now it’s all about three-betting, four-betting, five…Come on man. Tell me about your nickname – how often do you hit your opponents with the trash talk? Not much anymore. Though I did it down in Bay 101. Because I just got hot and started making hands. When people play bad against me, I talk a lot of shit. I catch some cards, I’ll rub it in their face. At the WPT, I had a hand where the guy raises under the gun, and three people call so I call in the big blind with Qd-4d. Flop comes 2-4-Q. I lead out the pot, and the guy who raised under the gun calls. The two who came in behind fold. The turn card is 7d, and I have queens and fours on the flush draw. I bet $4800, he makes it $11,000 so I move all in. He calls and shows me three sevens. And I said, “You gotta be kidding me.” Then it’s a 3d on the river, and I start screaming: “That’ll teach you to play bad against me, motherfucker. You get what you deserve. You’re an idiot.” Then I start berating him something fierce. I lead out into four people with a Q-4-2 rainbow. What do you think I’m leading out with, complete air? Like two sevens are any good there. What have you been playing lately? I don’t play. I went to Australia and won about a quarter million. Then I went to L.A. and played the cash games there for a couple weeks and won another $250,000 there. Then I went down to Bay 101 and cashed $370k there. So it’s been a good year.

The Russian online poker community

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:18:23 +0000

The Russian online poker community
1 February 2009 Betfair announced in a Wednesday press release that it has opened its online client to the Russian poker community.On Wednesday Betfair, which boasts of the world’s biggest sports betting exchange, opened it doors to the Russian online poker community. With the emergence of a myriad of Russian pros on tour, the Eurasian nation has become a hotbed for new poker talent.”Up until now, the clients could only view information on the poker client and promotions in English, Spanish, German, and Italian, ” said Bruce Stubbs Head of Betfair Poker. ”However, we are delighted to start offering updated information to our Russian clients.”As of yet Team Betfair doesn’t boast of any Russians, Team PokerStars Pro already had a couple from the Russian Federation in the stable; 2008 Aussie Millions winner Alex Kostritsyn and WSOP bracelet winner and 2007 final tabler Alex Kravchenko.This year, PokerStars added powerhouse Ivan Demidov, who became the first player to make both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event final tables, finishing in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Fellow Russian Stanislav Alekhin joined Demidov at the WSOPE final table, finishing as runner-up. The WSOPE was sponsored by Betfair.Full Tilt also has a couple red pros from Russia. Nikolay Evdakov burst onto the scene in 2008, setting a record at the WSOP with 10 cashes for the series. Breaking Humberto Brenes and Phil Hellmuth’s cashing record earned him a deal with Full Tilt.The WSOP women’s champ also plays on Full Tilt. Svetlana Gromenkova moved from Moscow to the U.S in 2002, went pro in 2005 and claimed her first bracelet in 2008, when she captured the Ladies Event title.”The Russian market is a fascinating one and one that continues to produced very talented individuals,” continued Stubbs. ”We saw a very strong showing from this region at this year’s WSOP Europe event which we currently sponsor. We hope that the new Russian client shows our commitment to developing and producing new offerings and hope to announce more in the coming year.”The Betfair announcement comes less than two months after PokerStars announced the formation of the Russian Poker Tour (RPT) The RPT just kicked off their inaugural event in St. Petersburg, a $5,000 that will wrap on Feb 1st. After St. Petersburg, it’s off to the $10K event in Moscow Feb.22-28. OPN Staff All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

WCOOP Day 15: Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia Claims $10,000 High Roller Heads-Up Title

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:54:08 +0000

WCOOP Day 15: Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia Claims $10,000 High Roller Heads-Up Title
September 19 2011, Brett Collson, Mickey Doft Related Articles The Sunday Briefing: Jonathan Karamalikis and Dani Stern Among Sunday’s Winners WCOOP Day 14: Steve “gboro780″ Gross Wins His First WCOOP Bracelet WCOOP Day 13: Dan “djk123″ Kelly Captures His Third WCOOP Bracelet Related Players Share It Tags PokerStars, WCOOP, Tournament Results, Online tournament results, Online Poker, Daniel Negreanu Print Day 15 of the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker brought one of the most anticipated events of the entire series. The $10,000 High Roller Heads-Up event crowned a champion late Sunday evening as heads-up specialist Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia bested a field of 32 elite players to win his first WCOOP bracelet and a prize of $119,000. The other winner on Sunday was Sweden’s “bajskorven87,” who collected more than $95,000 by winning the $500 Heads-Up event. PokerStars WCOOP 38 – $500 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Two-Day ($350K Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $500+$30 765 $382,500 Day 2 of the $500 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up event began with 32 of the original 765 players competing for a first-place prize of $95,625. Among the notables still in contention were Grayson “gray31″ Ramage, Andras “probirs” Nemeth, Torsten jetkiss Brinkmann, Nick “caecilius” Petrangelo, and Team PokerStars pro Chad “ChadBrownPRO” Brown. Brown was looking to improve on an eighth-place result in Event #33, but his run ended on the very first hand of Day 2. With the blinds at 25/50, Brown opened with a min-raise and Russia’s “06E3b9HAaa” three-bet to 300. Brown put in a fourth bet to 1,300, and “06E3b9HAaa” moved all-in for the starting stack of 7,500. Brown called with , which was in a race against , but the board brought no help to the PokerStars pro and he exited with $3,060. Three of the aforementioned notables advance to the Elite 8, but none found any success from that point on. Grayson Ramage was the first to bow out when his pocket eights were run down by the pocket threes of Sweden’s “bajskorven87.” Nick Petrangelo had a chance to take a commanding lead in his match against Russia’s “yakimaki,” but his top pair, top kicker finished second-best when “yakimaki” made a flush after all the chips went in on the flop. In the last quarterfinal match to end, Torsten Brinkmann lost to fellow German “0PIGGYBANK” when he moved his short stack in preflop with and couldn’t improve against . That set up the semifinal round with all four players guaranteed at least $26,775. Final Four “bajskorven87″ defeats ” mtvdeuem” Sweden’s “bajskorven87″ broke out to an early lead and was able to put the Slovenian away after 77 hands. On the final hand of the match, “mtvdeuem” raised to 150 (blinds 30/60) and then called a three-bet from “bajskorven87.” The flop brought and “bajskorven87″ fired a bet of 525, which was called quickly by “mtvdeuem.” The hit the turn and “mtvdeuem” called a bet again, this time for 1,125. On the river, the Swede moved all-in and “mtvdeuem” called with for top pair, but he was out-kicked by “bajskorven87’s” . “0PIGGYBANK” defeats “yakimaki” A lengthy heads-up match ended after more than 250 hands with Germany’s “0PIGGYBANK” advancing to the championship round. The German leaned on his counterpart toward the end of the match and finished him off on a flop of . “Yakimaki” got his remaining chips in with , but he was out-kicked by the of “0PIGGYBANK,” who secured the win when the board filled out with the and . Championship “bajskorven87″ defeats “0PIGGYBANK” The final match of the tournament had a casual feel as the two players engaged in friendly conversation while playing for $95,625 and the WCOOP bracelet. That changed, however, when “bajskorven87″ won a massive pot to take a commanding lead. With the blinds at 50/100, the two players saw a coordinated flop of . “Bajskorven87″ check-called a bet of 200 and then checked again on the turn. “0PIGGYBANK” bet 400, and “bajskorven87″ check-raised to 1,125. His opponent called and the fell on the river, putting four to a straight on the board. “bajskorven87″ bet 2,150 and got a call from “0PIGGYBANK,” who mucked when his opponent revealed for a full house. “Bajskorven87″ increased his lead even further over the next level and then finally ended the tournament on the 120th hand of the match. “0PIGGYBANK” called a preflop raise and then checked on the flop. The action moved quickly from there: “bajskorven87″ bet 240, “0PIGGYBANK” raised to 480, “bajskorven87″ three-bet to 1,000, and “0PIGGYBANK” moved all-in for 3,020. “Bajskorven87″ called with for the ace-high flush draw and two over cards, and “0PIGGYBANK” showed for a straight-flush draw. “Bajskorven87″ was a 2-1 favorite with ace-high and that was all he needed as the turn and river secured the title and $95,625 for the Swede. “0PIGGYBANK” collected $49,725 for his runner-up finish. Place Player Prize 1 bajskorven87 $95,625 2 “0PIGGYBANK” $49,725 3 yakimaki $26,775 4 mtvdeuem $26,775 5 Torsten jektiss Brinkmann $12,240 6 Nick “caecilius” Petrangelo $12,240 7 Grayson “gray31″ Ramage $12,240 8 06E3b9HAaa $12,240 Notable Finishes: Andras “probirs” Nemeth (10th – $4,590), Elio “smokrokflock” Fox (15th – $4,590) PokerStars WCOOP 40 – $200 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($1M Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $200+$15 8,332 $1,666,400 Only 57 of the 8,332 entrants advanced to Day 2 of the $200 No-Limit Hold’em event on Sunday, but a handful of well-known pros returned on Monday to play for a top prize of $250,000. Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen and Sandra Naujoks were both in great shape entering the day; Naujoks was among the leaders in the final levels of Day 1 and was 13th in chips heading into Day 2. Other notables in contention were Ryan “Daut44″ Daut, Artem “FaNjkEEE” Kobylynskyi, and Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah, who already won a WCOOP event this year. Here’s a look at the 10 top stacks when play resumed at 1000 EST (1500 BST) on Monday: Place Player Chips 1 moreno007 3,986,982 2 pinduca iret 3,304,783 3 Artem “FaNjkEEE” Kobylynskyi 3,210,705 4 Igor Priva 2,980,859 5 luigy666 2,919,204 6 jambeyang 2,886,391 7 z81ima 2,732,251 8 AverageGreg 2,499,856 9 ggman2 2,380,020 10 bendeauville 2,337,848 PokerStars WCOOP 41 – $10,000 No-Limit Holdem High Roller Heads-Up ($150K Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $10,000+$300 32 $320,000 Always a given to attract big names, the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem High Roller Heads-Up drew a field of 32 players. Last year’s version boasted a $25,000 buy-in and was won by “RaiseOnce,”; however, he was not in the field to defend his title, meaning a new champion would emerge. Among those that participated but exited quickly were 2009 champion Jonathan Iftarii Jaffe, Dan “djk123″ Kelly, Jonathan Duhamel, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Ben “Ben86″ Tollerene, Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan, and Brian “$tinger 88″ Hastings. Four players made the money, and left among the final eight players were Team PokerStars Pros Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu and John Duthie. *(players begin each match with 10,000) Elite Eight Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif defeats John Duthie Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif jumped to a huge lead and took it down at the 25/50 level. Ben Cherif opened to 125 and John Duthie called to see the flop come down . Duthie check-raised Ben Cherif’s bet of 175 to 350, but saw Ben Cherif re-pop it to 935. Duthie called and immediately shoved for 2,124 when the hit the turn. Ben Cherif called and tabled , leading Duthie’s . The river brought the , locking up a final four spot for Ben Cherif. “akut” defeats “Fishenzon” Also advancing in the 25/50 level of the match was “akut.” On the button, “Fishenzon” min-raised to 100 and “akut” called to see a flop fall. A check-raise was on “akut’s” mind, making it 500 after “Fishenzon” bet 150. However, “Fishenzon” came back over the top to 1,500. “Akut” then moved all-in, getting “Fishenzon” to call all-in for another 3,200 with . It was bad news for “Fishenzon” as “akut” tabled an unbeatable to advance to the money. Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu defeats “26071985″ Negreanu took it down at the 30/60 level. With about a 2:1 chip lead, he opened to 180. “26071985″ called and a flop hit the board. It was checked to Negreanu and he made a continuation bet of 300, but was raised to 876 by “26071985.” A call from Negreanu landed the on the turn. “26071985″ checked again, prompting Negreanu to fire 1,660 at the pot. “26071985″ then moved all-in for 5,582 and Negreanu called immediately with . He had “26071985’s” drawing thin and held through the river to guarantee himself a seat in the final four. Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia defeats Maxim Lykov Trailing for much of the match, Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia went on a heater to take the lead and win the match in four hands. At 40/80, Mandavia min-raised to 160, only to see Maxim Lykov pop it to 320. A call from Mandavia delivered a flop of to the board. Lykov’s bet of 450 was called by Mandavia, landing the on the turn. A check from Lykov resulted in Mandavia betting 600. Lykov called and checked when the hit the river. Mandavia bet enough to cover Lykov’s stack. The Russian Pro called all-in and tabled for two pair, but was beat the entire way as Mandavia revealed for Broadway to round out the final four. Final Four Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia defeats Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu At 30/60, Negreanu opened to 150. Mandavia made it 420 to play, Negreanu called, and a flop appeared. Keeping up the heat, Mandavia bet 480. Negreanu called and when the hit the turn, Mandavia bet 1,680. Again Negreanu called, but was faced with a huge decision when Mandavia shoved the river. Negreanu tanked for a little while and ultimately called all-in for 5,589 with . He was dead on the turn as Mandavia tabled for a straight to advance to the championship match. “akut” defeats Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif In a match that lasted more than two hours, “akut” outlasted Ben Cherif. On the final hand with blinds at 50/100, Ben Cherif min-raised to 200 and “akut” shoved with the dominating stack. Ben Cherif called all-in for 1,795 with , racing with the of “akut.” The flop offered little help to Ben Cherif, but the turn did give him a flush draw. The river sealed the deal for “akut,” however, setting the stage for the championship match. Championship Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia defeats “akut” A deal was worked out between “akut” and Mandavia, guaranteeing each $105,000 and leaving $14,000 to be played for. About an hour into the match, Mandavia found a huge double-up to grab the chip lead. With the blinds and antes at 30/60, Mandavia min-raised to 120 on the button, “Akut” popped it to 408, Mandavia called, and the flop came down . A bet of 595 came from “akut,” but Mandavia raised to 1,375. After a few moments, “akut” called to see the turn. A check from “akut” resulted in a bet of 2,780 from Mandavia, but “akut” decided to shove with the bigger stack. Mandavia called all-in with for two pair with a flush draw and needed to dodge a club as “akut” tabled . The river improved Mandavia to a flush and give him a 3:1 chip lead. Twenty-one hands later, Mandavia closed it out. After “akut” min-raised to 120 on the button, Mandavia shoved with the bigger stack. With 1,640 total, “akut” called all-in with and had Mandavia’s dominated. However, the board ran out to clinch the victory for Mandavia. For his effort, he earned $119,000 and the WCOOP bracelet. Place Player Prize *1 Ankush “pistons87″ Mandavia $119,000 *2 akut $104,000 3 Rachid “SkaiWalkurrr” Ben Cherif $48,000 4 Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu $48,000 *denotes heads-up deal PokerStars WCOOP 42 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($1.5M Guaranteed) Buy-in Entrants Prize Pool $1,000+$50 2,207 $2,207,000 After 22 levels of play on Day 1, Event #42, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day, is left with just 111 players from the starting field of 2,207. Leading the way with 1,370,184 is “po77a.” Currently in second place is Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell, the victor in our hand of the day. The blinds and antes were at the 600/1,200/150 level. Under the gun, “rockstar2″ opened to 2,699 and was called by Mitchell on the button. Mick “BIGMICKG” Graydon called from the big blind, too, leading to a flop. Graydon checked it to “rockstar2″ who bet 3,999. Only Mitchell called to see the turn card where “rockstar2″ bet 10,800. Again Mitchell called, landing the river card. A bet of 13,200 came from “rockstar2,” but Mitchell popped it enough to cover his opponent. Instantly, “rockstar2″ called all-in for for 34,770 total with for aces full. Mitchell, though, held for quads. Here are the top ten chip counts heading into Day 2: Place Player Chips 1 po77a 1,370,184 2 Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell 933,090 3 royace1 831,675 4 Matthias “mattidm” De Meulder 698,497 5 Dishboy_SWE 659,677 6 Mximo46 647,500 7 99Jam.Mr 594,430 8 pvas2 593,865 9 Anh Van “Vandiesel” Nguyen 572,866 10 Mick “BIGMICKG” Graydon 564,452 Also still alive in the tournament are Brian “$tinger 88″ Hastings, Ryan “Daut44″ Daut, Tom “hitthehole” Middleton, Adam “squee451″ Sherman, Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde, Jared “jvengrin” Vengrin, Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong, Dave “SexSeen” Sands, Andre “aakkari” Akkari, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. We will be providing in-depth daily recaps of all WCOOP final tables, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews to stay up to date on all of the exciting action as it occurs. For news, updates, and more, follow PokerNews on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter @mrdoft Recent Articles Off the Felt with Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young The Sunday Briefing: Jonathan Karamalikis and Dani Stern Among Sunday’s Winners 2011 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Day 1a: Korotki Leads; Selbst, Failla Thrive Sin City Series: The Emergency Arts PartyPoker Weekly: Watch WPT Malta & Become a WPT Champion Most Popular This Week Backer, Beware! Did Nick Rainey Steal Thousands? The Nightly Turbo: Latest Full Tilt Poker Statement, AGCC Hearing Update, and More Packing Up to Play Poker: London, England Michael DiVita & Epic Poker’s Stephen Martin Speak Out The Nightly Turbo: South Point to Offer Online Poker, Team PokerStars Online, and More Comments

Poker Pros Understand Fold Equity

admin — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:36:12 +0000

Poker Pros Understand Fold Equity
A level of online poker aggression that rarely gets discussed
but yet is quite prevalent and a large part of Texas Holdem poker games is fold equity. Fold equity is an advantage that the poker pro creates for himself by betting and raising
rather than just calling
with the intent of making his opponents fold their hands.

Poker Pros Play Live and Online
Poker played at online poker sites is the way that many professional poker players are playing poker today but it is not the only way. Professional poker players still choose to play at regular land based casinos for their poker action. Some players even do both. Is the game played the same online as it is in local cardrooms?

Poker Professional Reality
With the huge increase of people playing poker online and in casinos
the thought of becoming a poker professional always enters peoples minds. As appealing as becoming a poker professional might be to you
it is not easy to become a poker pro.

Poker Pros Play Live and Online

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:18:18 +0000

Poker Professional Reality
With the huge increase of people playing poker online and in casinos, the thought of becoming a poker professional always enters peoples minds. As appealing as becoming a poker professional might be to you, it is not easy to become a poker pro.

Poker Pros Understand Fold Equity
A level of online poker aggression that rarely gets discussed, but yet is quite prevalent and a large part of Texas Holdem poker games is fold equity. Fold equity is an advantage that the poker pro creates for himself by betting and raising, rather than just calling, with the intent of making his opponents fold their hands.

Online Poker – Everything You Need To Know To Get Started

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:36:29 +0000

Poker includes various card games that are played by at least two people who take turns betting on the value of their hands. Online poker consists of the same games, played against other players over an internet connection. There are numerous web sites set up in which the players can create accounts and play poker with other players, these sites are typically called online poker rooms.

The most commonly played online poker game at the current time is Texas Hold ‘em. The game has a few variations including a no limit version and a pot limit version. The limits apply to the amount players are allowed to wager. Other games are gaining popularity online, including 7 or 5 card stud, Omaha hi, and Omaha low.

Some of the most popular places to play online poker include:

PokerStars.com
Poker.com
Absolute Poker
Bodog
Full Tilt

Each of these online poker rooms offer the option to play for fun, with no real money being wagered, and the option to play with real money. You fund your account with the poker room and then can play in tournaments or cash games. If you lose in a real money game, you lose the amount of money you have paid to play in the tournament or the amount of money wagered in a cash game. A good way to try a new poker room is to play for fun first. This allows you to test out the software the site uses, and test your skills. For strategy and tutorial articles, online poker and casino site promotions and the latest news in the industry, visit jacknoir.com. The site is updated daily and is the online poker and gambler’s best friend.
Understanding the value of the hands is essential to playing any variation of poker, online or off! Here are the poker hand values, from highest to lowest:

Royal Flush: All of the cards are the same suit, and includes the cards 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
Straight Flush: All cards are the same suit, and are in a sequence (2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Four of a Kind: Four cards are the same.
Full house: Three cards that are the same, and two cards with a second rank. (3, 3, 3, 6, 6).
Straight: All cards are in a sequence.
Three of a Kind: Three cards are the same
Two Pair: Two sets of cards that match. (5, 5, 7, 7, anything)
One Pair: Two of the cards match.
High Card: When there are no real hands in poker, the person with the highest ranking card in their hand has the high card and wins that hand. Starts with Ace, moves down the ranks to 2.

If you know how to play poker around the table with a deck of cards and some friends, you will not have difficulty transitioning to the online poker environment. Easy to use options are included with every poker software- allowing users to decide whether to check, fold, call or raise with their hand. If the world of poker is completely new to you, starting online is a great place for you to learn the rules of the game!

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Free Poker Strategy Tips

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:54:10 +0000

The goal of every poker player is to win the game, and winning it with free poker bets is even something more delightful. You can increase your chances of winning by following these free poker strategy tips.

Poker is perhaps the most popular game online. As a matter of fact, the internet is flooded with countless poker sites that offer free to intense poker competitions. One can easily be astounded with the number of poker sites and games available online.

It is crucial that you find a poker site that will offer you the best options, munificent free bets, and unmatched bonuses. In a poker game, it is important that you are able to outwit and outsmart other poker players.

In honing your skills as a player, there are poker strategy tips that you can consider. These poker strategy tips will enable you to become more clever and sharp-witted in poker and will enable you to get the better of your opponents.

One of the more sensible poker strategy tips is to familiarize yourself with the rules of the game from the basic to its variants to the progression of hands to a point where you can consider yourself an expert. Knowing the game thoroughly can definitely give you an intelligent edge over your opponents.

You also have to develop the skill of anticipating the moves of your opponents. You’ve got to think on their lines in order to outwit them or catch them when they try to cheat.

Maintain a calm demeanor when you play even when the game becomes heated. Don’t ever give your opponents hints through your gestures and reactions of what’s going to be your move. Perfect timing is also crucial in a poker game.

Of course, as with everything else in life, an important element in any poker game is preparation. You have to be prepared to play poker. You wouldn’t enter the competition without your armors and tools right? You must be able to know the playing field, the number and strength of your opponents as well as their weaknesses and limitations.

In playing poker online, you may be facing the computer or genuine people as your opponents. With the computer as your opponent, you can sharpen your skills by playing different levels of expertise. But nothing compares to the excitement and thrill of competing against real players. Here, you can study their moves, get to know them better to get the better out of them.

As most poker players are always concentrated on the hand they hold, you can carefully observe from their hands to their eyes how they move to give you hindsight on whether they are holding strong or weak cards.

There are several other poker strategy tips that you can consider as your guide to improve your expertise in playing the game. From mastering the art of bluffing to exercising flexibility, you can always benefit from these poker strategy tips to polish your own individual game. With so many strategies, methods, techniques that you can learn and understand, you can always come out a guaranteed winner in a game of poker.

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Poker Players – How to Earn the Most Money Playing Poker

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:51:02 +0000

There are beginner poker players and there are advanced poker players. Now how to get to being an advanced poker player is what many beginners would like to know. What secrets are there which make poker players earn the most money by playing poker?

For many, the money is not at all what matters, it could be the prestige and pride at winning the games, or the educational profit that many poker players earn are what matters to them. There is such as thing called an Online Poker Training School, and you can start learning how to win at serious poker games by enrolling to this training school. Poker is considered a mental exercise game, which lets you think about how to win with just your hand.

There are those who would rather learn it the easy way, and want to get ahead of others even if it entails cheating at some point. When playing poker, you always hear how people try to read their opponents’ minds, and how they try to gauge which hand they would get dealt next by just looking at their opponents’ movements or actions. Now, there are downloadable software programs which provide assistance to poker players who would like to get ahead a notch or two on their game of poker. Many poker players may have won a game or two this way. But there is no telling for sure whether these programs are 100% accurate. These programs work by reading all the type of hands your opponents have, their style, the number of hands they have been dealt, and everything that has happened around the poker table. The program acts as an advisor, which will tell you exactly what hand to choose, and how to play that hand. It is usually called an odds calculator, computing the odds at which you may or may not win the pot money.

Earning more money playing poker can be a risky task since you would be betting your money on more games just to win at even one. Poker players can possibly become millionaires by betting on high-stakes poker but it rarely happens, and when it does, many players often get their money and try to bet on it to win higher pot money from other games. The trick is to win a game at one poker room and then move onto playing other poker rooms, that way you can also get to play against different poker players with different styles and you can learn from their styles as well.

If you prefer to win at every game against more experienced poker players, find more experience for yourself. Most poker players will advise new players that before playing a game of poker, make sure you know much about the game. If you know a lot more, you will have the right attitude towards the game, and get defeated less often. Play game after game with the goal of just learning. You can bet as much as you can but stay within the limit, that way, you can never be bankrupt or lose all your money over online gambling.

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Congress Gets Graded – By The PPA
The Poker Players Alliance has released a guide that rates member of Congress according to their voting history on poker legislation. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_16102008_60.html

Belgium Seeks to Nationalize Online Poker Industry
Belgian online poker players will be excluded from poker sites situated outside the country’s borders. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_05012010_434.html

Draft California Poker Act Becomes Public
California’s proposed poker legalisation law is released into the wild. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_01052009_215.html

How Omaha Poker Is Played

admin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:01:54 +0000

In online poker, there is no doubt that the Texas hold-em poker is still considered the most popular. But it probably would not hold that spot for long, as Omaha hold-em is steadily gaining ground in the poker popularity contest. You’ll find many respectable poker rooms and other live dealer casinos offering the Omaha Poker version.Omaha hold-em, or simply Omaha, is the game of choice of a lot of poker players because it is perceived that the mathematical probabilities that poker nerds look forward to computing are more obvious there. Also, because these probabilities are more apparent, Omaha is said to be more of a game of wits than a game of chance.Another characteristic that makes Omaha distinct from the other kinds of poker games is that in Omaha, it is not always the player with the highest hand who wins the pot. The object of Omaha is to come up with both the highest and the lowest hand. The two players who got the highest and the lowest hand respectively get to split the pot. In some cases, two or more players tie in having the highest and lowest hand, and so they split the pot amongst themselves. Of course it is entirely possible for just the player with the highest hand to get the whole pot to him/herself.There are, however, restrictions as to how a hand of cards can be considered a low hand. First, the highest card in the hand should have a value not bigger than eight. Second, the five cards making up the hand should all be unpaired.In addition, in Omaha, a player makes up his/her hand, be it the highest or the lowest, using exactly two of his/her four hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards.Here is how Omaha is played, step by step:1. The dealer deals out the four hole cards to each player one at a time. Once all the players have their cards, an initial round of betting is made. The person to the left of the dealer makes the small blind and the one to his/her left makes the big blind. The other players can then check the big blind, raise it, or fold.2. After this first betting round is done, the dealer draws out the first three community cards, also called the flop. Another betting round happens, with players raising, checking or folding. Afterwards, the dealer draws the fourth community card, called the turn, which is then followed by another betting round with the subsequent raising, checking or folding. The same happens with the fifth community card, also known as the river.3. The showdown happens among the players who have not folded after the river is placed down. Again, the players use exactly two of the hole cards and exactly three of the community cards. The players with the highest and the lowest hand win the pot and split it among themselves. If there are no hands that qualified for the lowest hand, then the player who got the highest hand gets to have the pot entirely to him/herself.

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Full Tilt is under fire
The world of poker is a very complex structure built around players, the online poker sites and casinos that provide the games, the limits and games played, rake, backers, and a lot more, and in the end, trying to provide the best game possible that helps everyone. The entire situation with Townsend, Hastings, and Cole [...]

Being Tony G – an interview
Tony in an interview with Rikard from PokerTube. Tony is in LA on business and relaxing and learning new things. Tony says he is in very positive development and working on his site HealthNews.com and he’s getting into health and learning about the body, including relaxation. Rikard asks about the poker business and Tony moving [...]

Folding Poker Tables – 3 Reasons You Want One

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:31:40 +0000

Folding poker tables add an element of fun to your home poker games that just isn’t there when you play on your kitchen table. Like being in a casino
there is an exciting Vegas feel when you splash the pot on the colorful poker felt and out bluff your competition across the table.

So if your poker games with your friends and family are getting a little stale
look at these wonderful benefits when you have your own poker table.

Folding poker tables make the game more realistic. As stated before
instead of throwing your old army blanket over the dining room table and it bunching up when you try to rake in the chips
a poker table has a felt playing area. Under the felt is a pad that absorbs the sound when your chips hit the table which sounds more authentic then that wooden echo and the chips bouncing all over the place
just like real casino tables.

Folding poker tables have features for comfort and convenience. After long hours with your arms creased on the edge of a hard wooden table
you start to get pretty uncomfortable. Poker tables have cushioned armrests that surround the entire perimeter of the table to rest your arms on. They also have built in beverage holders for every player so you have a place to keep that beer from spilling all over the table.

Folding poker tables can be stored easily. Unlike a billiards table
when your poker game is over these can be folded up and put away
ready for your next game. And setup is just as easy. You are ready to play in a few moments. Poker tables are heavy
but they are still portable. You could fold it up and take it to a friends house if your game rotates.

Folding poker tables come in two common shapes
oval for larger games and octagon for smaller more personal games. For those large tournament games with more than 7 or 8 people
the oval tables can be as long as 7 or 8 feet long and have up to 10 player positions. The octagons are 4 feet across and are for up to 8 players where everyone sits facing each other
and all players can reach the pot.

If you have been putting off getting a folding poker table
I hope this has helped encourage you with the reasons why you really do want one. My games have never been as much fun as when I started using a poker table for my home games.

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Full Tilt is under fire

The world of poker is a very complex structure built around players
the online poker sites and casinos that provide the games
the limits and games played
rake
backers
and a lot more
and in the end
trying to provide the best game possible that helps everyone. The entire situation with Townsend
Hastings
and Cole [...]