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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

Winner Poker Free Money – $75

admin — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:36:23 +0000

Winner poker Free Money $75

Winner Poker is the latest free money bankroll on offer from PokerSource. This bonus is twenty five dollars free upfront with a further fifty dollars free when you earn 2500 player points at Winner Poker. This bonus is NOT available to players from the United States. Players must be over 21 years old in order [...] Related posts:Players from US No deposit bonus at Bodog Free Full Tilt Poker Money update 22 sept FullTilt free money update – July 17th.

PokerTime adds Razz to its menu

admin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 04:18:12 +0000

PokerTime adds Razz to its menu
With the eye on broadening poker enthusiasts’ horizons, PokerTime has included a new Poker variant to their arsenal Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_02102008_48.html

Charity Poker Tournament Gives Away WSOP Seat
A charity poker tournament in honour of Mindy Trinidad will give the winner a free seat in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_09122008_102.html

Team Titan and Sorel Mizzi on a Roll
Sorel Mizzi, who made his name as a monster online poker player and signed with Team Titan at Titan Poker one month ago, has been burning up the poker tables in Europe. Mizzi finished in the money twice recently. read more

888 Pacific Poker Welcomes Shane Warne

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:18:28 +0000

888 Pacific Poker Welcomes Shane Warne
Australian sports star, Shane Warne, has joined 888 as captain of the Australian poker team. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_13022008_36.html

Free Money at Betfair Poker
The latest free poker money bonus to be released in 2010 is a $10 free bonus offer at Betfair Poker. This offer is ONLY available to all new players from the U.K. You can not already have an existing account. If you do you will not be eligible for this bonus. The free money is [...] Related posts:Winner Poker Free Money – $75 Poker Time Free $10 bonus Free Poker Money at Poker 770 – now $50 free

Players from US No deposit bonus at Bodog

admin — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:18:23 +0000

Players from US No deposit bonus at Bodog
PokerSource have launched a new free poker money bonus offer at Bodog Poker but this offer is exclusively for players from the US. This bonus is a straight $25 free no deposit required bonus. It is only available to American players. You will need to earn 150 Bodog player points in order to be able [...] Related posts:Winner Poker Free Money – $75 More No deposit poker bonuses Free Poker Money at Titan Poker

New Free Bankroll at FullTilt Poker
There is a new free bankroll site called FreePoker.info that is offering a $50 free bankroll at FullTilt Poker. The sign-up procedure seems fairly straight-forward. There is no quiz to take or other requirement, other than you must not already have an account at Full Tilt Poker. The bonus is available to most countries, including [...] Related posts:Free $50 at Absolute Poker Doyles Room Free Poker Bankroll New rooms at PokerStrategy

Winner Poker Free Money $75
Winner Poker is the latest free money bankroll on offer from PokerSource. This bonus is twenty five dollars free upfront with a further fifty dollars free when you earn 2500 player points at Winner Poker. This bonus is NOT available to players from the United States. Players must be over 21 years old in order [...] Related posts:Players from US No deposit bonus at Bodog Free Full Tilt Poker Money update 22 sept FullTilt free money update – July 17th.

VC Poker bonus no longer available

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:54:02 +0000

VC Poker bonus no longer available
The long running free poker bonus from VC Poker has finally come to an end. Available since early 2007, this was one of the longest running free money promotions available directly from an online poker room. Unfortunately, as of September 2009 they have finished it, and VC Poker do not currently have any free money [...] Related posts:Exclusive free money bonus at Poker Time! Poker Time Free $10 bonus PokerTime $10 Free ENDED

CelebPoker $9 Free Poker Money
There is a new site offering a free bonus at Celeb Poker. The bonus is an up front $9 in free cash with a further pending bonus of up to $190, which makes this potentially the largest free poker bankroll available online at this time. The original offer was for $19 up front, but that was changed [...] Related posts:Doyles Room Free Poker Bankroll Free Money at Betfair Poker New rooms at PokerStrategy

Players from US No deposit bonus at Bodog
PokerSource have launched a new free poker money bonus offer at Bodog Poker but this offer is exclusively for players from the US. This bonus is a straight $25 free no deposit required bonus. It is only available to American players. You will need to earn 150 Bodog player points in order to be [...] Related posts:Winner Poker Free Money – $75 More No deposit poker bonuses Free Poker Money at Titan Poker

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 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 Chip Sets – Essential to The Poker Experience

admin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:46:42 +0000

Poker Chip Sets – The Poker Chip and Challenge to Counterfeiters

Poker is a popular card game across the world with the excitement of gambling and potential for huge payoffs. Almost integral to the poker game are the poker chips, and indeed poker does not feel like poker without poker chip sets.

The chips are small discs of various colors representing different denominations, meant as substitutes for real money, which is instead stored in a more secure place. The use of money substitutes, or token money, can be traced back through the 13th to 17th centuries in Europe. Today poker chips are often made according to themes and formats that unite a particular set of chips. This is useful in avoiding counterfeiters, even for games at home or in private.

Casino chips use many different anti-counterfeiting measures, with the most basic being chip coloration and embossed or molded patterning. Holographic inlays, distinctive colored markings on the edges and ultraviolet markings on the inlays further deter potential counterfeiters. Lastly, Radio Frequency Identification or RFID tags are used by some establishments. The latter method can be quite costly, but the establishments that use them feel the cost is justified. Given the difficulty in counterfeiting chips, poker chip frauds in casinos are rare.

If you plan to play in private though, you should be careful of frauds, especially if you are using mass-produced chips. Another reason for these security measures is to identify which casinos they came from. This is usually not a problem, since casinos usually honor only their own chips and it is more of a matter of branding. In Nevada however, casinos are permitted to honor chips from other casinos, and these identifiers make returning chips to the casinos they belong to easier.

Poker Chip Sets – Composition and Coloration

Authentic casino poker chips are made of clay, though not pure clay which is too soft. Special composite mixtures have been made, using trade-secret techniques, the confidential nature of which is yet another speed bump on the counterfeiter’s path. Sometimes, special edition poker chip sets may be bought from casinos, though generally poker chips stay in the casinos. Poker chips made for home use on the other hand may or may not be of the same quality as their casino counterparts.

For home use poker chips, ceramic and ABS plastic are the most common materials. When ceramic is used, special compositions allow them to approximate the feel of real clay while maintaining a lower price profile. Ceramic chips are also used in some casinos. ABS plastic chips on the other hand may be molded with a metal disk or slug inside, to give them some heft. For those in Europe, poker chips may come in mother of pearl, which gives them an incomparable sheen and luster. Coloration is standard for different denominations in one set, but may differ across sets. For example, in some places there are standard coloration schemes for chips, while in others there are none. Of note is the US State of Nevada, where casinos are given free rein on their chip designs and colors.

Poker Chip Sets – Sets and Themes

Since poker games often involve large amounts of money, a large number of chips are needed. Standard sets have 300 pieces, while others can have 500 pieces, and yet others reaching a stunning 1000 pieces. Some casinos sell poker chips similar to those used on the floor but with a few differences for identification purposes. This is great for those who want to emulate the feel of their favorite places of gambling at home games. Limited edition sets can be highly collectible, and there is a thriving community of poker chip collectors.

Many of the poker chips are traded via eBay, and the most special ones can go for thousands of US dollars, regardless of face value. Whole sets of these special poker chips can cost even more than the individual pieces. What really ties the members of all poker chip sets together is the design of the chips. Poker chips in one set are often of identical sizes, of consistent coloration, and having similar inlays. Colors and inlays vary according to denomination, but the idea is that chips from one set are identifiably from the very same set.

The edges and rims may also be embossed with characteristic patterns and even have colored sections made via special multi stage molding techniques. The designs may be simple and straight forward, just simple chips with numbers. They could just as well be whimsical, like having humorous or otherwise interesting prints on the inlays. A set of poker chips will often be packaged in a poker chip case or some such container such as an acrylic poker chip carrier or humidor style wooden poker chip case, in the tradition followed in casinos worldwide. One would suppose that if you are going for the authentic feel, then there’s no point skimping on the little details.

Poker Chip Sets – Elements of Authenticity

Poker chips are essential to playing poker. One can “play” poker without them, but it will not feel like poker without the chips would it? It is the feel of these poker chips that gives a tactile sense of authenticity. The clink of these poker chips as they hit the table and trade hands adds to the ambiance. The nature of these poker chips ensures that no one can weasel out of the bet that they placed, so it ensures a fair game as far as bets are concerned. Speaking of amounts, the printed or inlaid values may vary depending on where you buy your poker chip sets.

It is even possible to find manufacturers that make poker chips that reflect your country’s currency and useful denominations, though generic chips are also available. With the popularity of televised poker and TV series set in casinos, the mystique of poker chip sets has increased, and many people feel that poker chips are the only way with which to play poker. If you are the kind of person who likes taking souvenirs, then chips from the casinos you have visited make fine reminders of good and bad times alike. Poker chips are definitely the elements of authenticity in poker games.

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Women and Poker Part II – the Exploitation of the Female Form

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:07:48 +0000

Some of the main hubs of poker are also the most sexualized cities in the United States
name New Orleans and then later Las Vegas. These cities are absolutely oozing with sex
and although this paper is not trying to make a moralistic argument decrying these wild cities’ lifestyles
much of these images have stuck to the game of poker itself. Perhaps this phenomenon would not be so bad if it played out evenly between the two sexes
but all one sees is the portrayal of partially disrobed women advertising for poker sites. One only needs to log onto the internet and search for “Women and Poker” to have a dozen women in bikinis immediately pop up on the screen.

In fact
yours truly actually did run a search specifically for “Women and Poker”
and here are some of the surprising results. In no particular order we present 10 of the most tasteful poker sites on the web:

-Pokerium Online Poker Room and Casino: The front page of this website is a model of good taste and restraint. Many of the searches yielded interesting results
but this website was head and shoulders ahead. Upon opening the home page one finds an illustration of a scantily clad brown-haired vixen with a flower in her hair(no real women were harmed during the production of this design). The interesting part of this drawing is that she is placed inside of a huge Ace of Clubs. In the middle of the card
where the woman is located
lies a very large club
and the stem of said club just happens to terminate in the center of the woman’s crotch. Although there is a possibility that this not-so-subtle innuendo was unintentional
we would not bet on it.

-Next on our list is the deliciously tasteful advertisement on hollywoodpoker.com for their “Babes & Bounties” tournament. To begin with
the title itself should be enough to ruffle the feathers of most women poker players. Then
the image used on the page is of a woman in a bikini top with money in the background behind her. And finally
for those players who aren’t sold by the picture in the middle
the site claims that “12 of the sexiest poker hostesses in the game” will be present at the table. It’s a good thing too
because most serious poker players refuse to play in tournaments with any less than 8 sexy poker hostesses. Finally
jus tto make sure that one can notice all the different features on the side
there is a picture of a woman on the left-hand side of the screen dressed in her rather unsupportive underwear lying down in front of a laptop with poker chips lying around her body. She is happily wearing a pair of flattering white high heeled shoes so that she can model at any moment during her poker game. A truly classy website.

-PokerWorld.com
an up and coming online card room
is another tastefully crafted website
with nothing to offend save for their new “Topless Bonus”. The “Topless Bonus: The Shape of Things to Come” seems a stretch: with this promotion they will “top up” your account with a free 20% bonus. The stingy bonus does not only fall way short of the 200% bonuses floating around on various sites
it also offends the eye. They advertise it with a small silhouette of a woman
hardly exposing anything whatsoever. Why they chose to try and correlate a 20% with topless women is a mystery
but they surely went for it.

-Not to be outdone
Jungle Poker has its own female spokeswoman: none other than the lovely Cheynelle Fraser
a bartender/model who is now the official face of Jungle Poker. Why a poker site would need a sizzling hot model as a spokeswoman is a grand mystery. We suspect it is because the photos of Cheynelle – which include several excellent cleavage shots – surely have everything to do with poker and nothing with selling sexuality. Although the site may be using the good looks of beautiful Cheynelle to help promote their site
they are not just about T & A on th
eir site: on the front page of the site they have an advertisement for their heads up Sit & Go tournaments
featuring two headshots of a man and a woman
both fully dressed
challenging each other to a card game. Hurray for equality!

-Europeans are no exception when it comes to using alluring images of the female form to help them sell their products. In a recent article published on poker.gamble.co.uk
the author writes about the upcoming Great British Poker Tour
and the centerpiece image of this article is a nude woman relaxing in a bathtub full of poker chips. It’s a good thing that they posted this picture
because nothing says Great British Poker Tour better than a woman bathing nude in poker chips.

-The most morbid result found during the search came from best-poker-rakeback.net on their rakeback advertisement
which features a frightening illustration of zombie woman in a corset
fishnet stockings
heels
and a short skirt using a rake to gather up some playing cards that must have fallen off a tree. Although the idea of having somebody literally raking poker cards is cute
we’re not sure about the need for a sexy undead woman.

-Gambling blog Oddjack paid homage to the women of poker in an article titled “Top 10 Sexiest Women of Poker”. This enlightening four part series takes the readers through their list of what they view as the sexiest women in the poker world. Just to give a small taste of their depictions of these women
we will go over the first three women they talk about. Each woman has a picture with a caption beneath it. At number ten on their list is Courtney Friel
a television hostess for the world poker tour. The picture they have of her is in a lacy tank top: fair enough. She’s obviously OK with the picture considering she modeled for it. Underneath the picure is a caption that says “Stop teasing us Courtney
tear those laces off!”

The next featured profile is that of Evelyn Ng. Underneath her picture they put a quote that says
“Evelyn sure is one sweet ride…” Sadly
they did not even try to be creative with this comment
the only possible connotation for this remark is a sexual one. They also remarked in her profile that she won the WPT Ladies Night event and that
“Yup
she kicked ass. Asses that belong to Annie Duke and Kathy Liebert. Asses I don’t wanna see anytime soon. No matter how much they pay me to.” This hilarious joke about the physical assets of two of poker’s greatest female players was insulting to say the least.

At number 8 on their list is none other than Lily Elviro. This strong poker player who
besides being a strong poker player
is physically well endowed as well. The picture which they used for her was taken during a poker tournament she played in and shows her at the table holding a pair of cards. She is leaning forward a little showing a fair portion of her not so small breasts. Unable to resist
the comment beneath the photo says
“It’s hard for Lily to always carry a heavy set of puppies like that.” If it wasn’t for such brilliant writing most of us would completely miss out on such hard to miss features.

-Next on our list is an article written by Toby Bochan on her poker blog. This photo-article
featured on about.com
is titled “The hottest women of poker”
and it is essentially an amateur photo gallery of professional femal poker players. The women featured in this article are Evelyn Ng
Shannon Elizabeth
Clonie Gowen
Jennifer Tilly
Liz Lieu
Vanessa Rousso
Isabelle Mercier
Cyndy Violette
Jennifer Harman
Annie Duke
Kristy Gazes
Chantel McNutty
and Jennefer “Jennicide” Leigh. Perhaps the most disturbing part about this gallery is not that these women have their pictures posted
but that none of the pictures were studio pictures. They all seem like photos that were taken in a clandestine manner on a digital camera. Does this strike anybody as creepy?

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-Coming l
ast on our list is none other than Full Tilt Poker
who recently issued a challenge between Paris Hilton and Clonie Gowen. Their hearts were definitely in the right place: they were to host a heads-up challenge between the two women and the winner would take the $100
000 prize and donate it to the charity of her choice. This sounds good
so why does this make our trash list? Well
if you go to the website
the page they created for this challenge has these two women stacked up next to each other. The title for their statistics is called their “Sexy Stats”
and just to make sure that the best poker player wins
they even added a “Who is sexier?” poll at the bottom of the page.

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Thus concludes our trashy website list (NEED TO THINK OF A WAY TO PITCH THIS ARTICLE). Part IV will conclude “Women and Poker” by addressing what the future of women and poker may hold.

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