Boeree Bubbles EPO Final

A total of 193 players entered the £3500+£250 EPO main event over two starting days, including names like James Akenhead, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Neil Channing, and Annette Obrestad.

EPT San Remo champ Liv Boeree made 12th for £9,500, practically bubbling the final nine late on Day 2 Monday.

Mathew Frankland, whose under $10k in career tournament earnings includes a World Series of Poker cash this summer, will have the chip lead coming into the chase for a £220,650 first-place prize.

German Fabian Quoss, who made runner-up in a $5k at the 2009 WSOP is close, along with the lesser known Sebastian Crul.

The rest of the final nine is headlined by PartyPoker pro Felipe Ramos, who counts a WSOP final table as one of his biggest poker accomplishments.

All nine players are guaranteed at least £13,600 when the final goes off at 3 p.m. London time Tuesday.

Here’s how they stack up coming in with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and an ante of 1,000:

Mathew Frankland 668,000

Sebastian Crul 583,500

Fabian Quoss 559,000

Andrew Brennan 336,000

Mark Norman 224,500

Felipe Ramos 196,500

Stephen Chimelski 191,000

Brent Lehring 94,500

Salman Behbehani 72,000

Visit PokerListings.com

How to Maintain a Direction of Attention

Employees of a surveillance room must be alert and attentive at all times with their focus facing outward. When focus is diverted to the surveillance room and the employees inside, trouble ensues. Political games and other foolishness may occur with the casino floor being neglected.

Where to Keep the Focus

Employees of the surveillance room should always be watching games, cages, slots, count rooms, pits, change booths as well as monitoring all activities of security. The only reason an operator should be focused on the surveillance room is to monitor equipment to ensure it is working correctly. This includes ensuring that logging and reporting are completely correctly.

This is a shared responsibility between operators and the Director of Surveillance. In addition to camera coverage, the director is primarily focused on scheduling, equipment repairs and the addition of any equipment.

Higher Management

Despite these responsibilities, supervisors and directors must maintain an outward focus as well. They must act as a connection between the security, cage, slot and pit departments. Also, they must keep in constant communication with casino management to ensure a smooth transfer of information.

Common Inward Focuses

Within a surveillance room there are many distractions and inward focuses that can occur. Some of these include, others in the surveillance room, rivalries between individuals and departments, internal concerns and others on different shifts. Meanwhile surveillance of the casino floor and coverage areas is neglected.

Errors that may occur during this transfer of focus include, a lack of tap rewinding and missing tape entries into the log. Major errors include, cameras being left off of a specific game and incorrect information being communicated to co-workers and superiors.

Handling These Issues

The best response to these errors is to fix them and move on, not waste time tracking who made the blunder. Many managers opt to send out a general notice or memo to the staff regarding the issue at hand. A heavy internal investigation is usually not needed. A memo can be just as effective while continuing to keep the department focused on the gaming floor.

Like any work area, there are distractions. However, in the casino industry, these distractions and mistakes could cause major liabilities and cost significantly more than just lost productivity. Therefore, keeping your attention in the correct places not only helps you with an excellent review, but also significantly helps the casino.

Fun Site: The World of Playing Cards

Because of my love of poker, I have amassed quite the collection of playing cards -- I get them a lot as gifts and freebies, and also like to buy packs of cards as souvenirs when I travel. So of course I love this site: the world of playing cards. It'll tell you more about playing cards than you've ever even wanted to know, from what the first cards looked like to how to make your own deck. Check it out!

...

Read Full Post

Benefield Burns Ziigmund for $160k

Sahamies and Benefield played over 500 hands of $500/$1,000 Cap PLO with Benefield taking over near the end of the session, winning the majority of the biggest pots.

Finally, after Benefield had picked up $160k, they decided to end the session. Sahamies wasn’t pleased with the outcome and voiced his feelings in the chatbox.

“Ziigmund: i take your money later if u havent lost those for someone else” “Ziigmund: f fish” “Ziigmund: biggest fish”

It’s been a good year for Benefield who has now has earned a total of $1.2 million in 2010 with very few swings.

The polar opposite is true for Ziigmund who started the year down $600k, rocketed up to $2.3 million in profit, lost it all and was down $600k at one point last month.

Fortunately for Ziigmund, he was able to finish August strong booking a win in a massive session with Cole South to boost his earnings to $826k. Despite this weekend’s loss, he’s still up over $700k in 2010.

Sahamies wasn’t the only player to lose some cash this weekend as Gus Hansen dropped $176k. Hansen started 2010 up over $2 million, but has been in a virtual freefall since and is now down $2.4 million.

The biggest loser over the weekend, however, was Sauce1234 who lost a total of $307,189.

A number of well-known players including Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius were inactive this weekend. Ivey and Dwan have already been spotted around London and with the World Series of Poker Europe beginning Tuesday, the rest of the high-stakes community should follow.

Here are a few of the biggest hands from the weekend. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more.

 

Raptor tears into Ziigmund.

 

More from David Benefield.

 

Visit PokerListings.com

The Sunday Scoop: Flushed Down The-Toilet

A total of 5,799 players shelled out the $500+$30 buy in for WCOOP 22, a two-day tournament carrying a $3 million guaranteed prize pool.

When all was said and done Sunday, just 209 players remained with skylarsash holding the overnight chip lead.

They will get back up and running at 5 p.m. ET Monday with a $469,290 first-place prize on the line, six-figure scores for the top five finishers and a few big names still in the hunt, including Team PokerStars Pro Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu.

Meanwhile, WCOOP 21 held a very Sunday-Million like $215 entry fee and $1.5 million guarantee.

A total of 10,492 players created a guarantee smashing $2,098,400 prize pool and Antoshka walked away with the biggest share, banking $280k after a three way deal with UndrAAge and vic_xcite.

Over on UB, WPT Player of the Year Faraz “THE-TOILET” Jaka turned the site’s biggest tournaments into his personal ATM, making fourth in both the $100k and $200k Guaranteed events.

Jaka earned almost $25k on the day while LUCKY89BLUNT went on to win the $200k title and $44,660, besting a final table that also included Matt Vengrin (6th) and “Hollywood” Dave Stann (7th).

DONNIESLASKO won the $100k for $37,375, getting past a final nine that also included Bryan Devonshire (3rd).

In the meantime, it was business as usual over on Full Tilt with 522 players jumping in the weekly $750k Guaranteed.

Crf88 took down the title, booking a $132,787.50 score.

Meanwhile, evenkeal777 took down The Sunday Brawl for $113,071, besting a final table that featured Scandinavian star Trond Eidsvig (8th).

Visit PokerListings.com

Silver Grabs UKIPT Dublin Gold

Tuffnell Park’s Max Silver won the PokerStars.com UKIPT Dublin main event at the Burlington Hotel, booking the €70k+ score and a seat in the £5,250 PokerStars EPT London event later this month - The season finale to the UK & Ireland Poker Tour.

“It feels absolutely fabulous to win,” he said. “It never really sunk in that I could win until we got to the last four.

“I had already planned to play London but this is just a nice bonus. I can’t wait to get back to my hometown. I’ll be playing a lot of events there. Actually, hopefully I’ll just be playing one all the way through.”

Silver, who now lives in Dublin, bested a field of 589 to win the €500+60 tournament, just weeks after he final tabled UKIPT Edinburgh.

He is now a threat to take the top spot on UKIPT leaderboard with a deep finish in London, an honor that guarantees entry into the entire UKIPT schedule of events next season.

EPT London is set for Sep. 29- Oct. 4 at the Hilton Metropole.

Visit PokerListings.com

The Forgotten Honor?

Is the WSOP's Player of the Year award lacking the prestige and exposure that it deserves?

Poker News in Brief: Sep. 6-12

Add in some high stakes action, the UKIPT heading to Ireland and the Partouche Poker Tour setting its own November Nine and it was a busy week in the PokerListings news room.

A few stories may have slipped through the cracks, but we've gathered them below in our regular Poker News in Brief feature.

This week, the WCOOP main event gets the biggest guarantee ever, Boxing legend Evander Holyfield hits the felt, UB's bad beat jackpot is claimed and more.

$2 Million for WCOOP Champ

PokerStars is now offering a record-breaking guaranteed payout to the winner of this year’s World Championship of Online Poker main event.

The 2010 WCOOP main event champion will walk away with a guaranteed $2 million payday, the largest first-place prize for an online poker tournament in history.

The $5,200 two-day main event begins Sep. 26.

Last year Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko won the title and $1,715,200 first-place prize.

High Heels Heads West

The first all women’s poker tour launched on the East Coast, is headed west.

The High Heels Poker Tour will hit the Wildhorse Resort Casino in Pendleton, Oregon. The Nov. 8 for its $165 Fall Round Up Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event.

For more information, including dates, times and buy-ins go to www.highheelspokertour.com.

Still The Champ

Evander Holyfield won the celebrity 'Beat the Champ' poker tournament live at Poker in the Park in London this week.

London's Leicester Square played host to thousands of fans attending Europe's largest poker festival including one Midlands man who got the chance to take on the former Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World on the felt.

"It's like fighting," Holyfield explained. "If you want to win you have to focus and prepare and that's exactly what I did for this tournament, just like I do for any challenge." Leif G. won his way into the tournament through RealDealPoker.com.

Bad Beat?

A Ferris, Texas woman lost with quads, but won $218,115 in Bad Beat Jackpot money on UB this week.

KAPPIT saw her four nines crushed by CJBV’s quad queens at a $0.25/0.50 table, triggering the payday.

For his part, CJBV picked up $109,057.85 while the seven other players banked at least $1,000 just for being there.

Plus 610 others grabbed $89.36 because they were playing the same limit.

"I've been playing Poker for 45 years now, mostly live poker, and I hit a jackpot once in a land-based Casino, but this is the biggest prize I've ever got,” she said. “Keep those jackpots coming UB... Dreams do come true."

Full Tilt Sponsors MMA Series

Full Tilt Poker is putting its name on the Bellator Fighting Championships.

Now in its third season, the Bellator Fighting Championships is a continuing series of televised World Class Mixed Martial Arts presented in a tournament format.

This week marked the first of eight nationally and internationally televised Bellator events sponsored by Full Tilt.

Visit PokerListings.com

Weekly Freerolls: Cash Back!

The highlight of the week could very well be the $2,000 freerolls that are happening on SportsBook Poker and PlayersOnly Poker on Sunday.

It won’t be happening this week but players will also want to take special note of the $5,000 freeroll on PokerStars that will take place Oct. 3. It only takes 250 player points to qualify. Any player who deposited $50 or more in August qualifies for the freeroll.

The following freerolls are open to all PokerListings.com players. Qualify in the specified qualification period, and then take your seat to potentially win baskets of free cash.

If you're not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site's name in the list to sign up.

Titan Poker

Titan Poker is running weekly $1,000 freerolls for PokerListings players that cost just one Titan Poker Point to buy into.

Date: Sept. 11
Value: $1,000
Qualify with: Use 1 Titan Poker Point.
Sign up here

SportsBook Poker

Every month SportsBook Poker will award $2,000 in a freeroll to players who sign up through PokerListings.com.

Date: Sept. 12
Value: $2,000
Qualify with: Deposit at least $50
Qualify between: Aug. 1-31
Sign up here

PlayersOnly Poker

PlayersOnly Poker will also be giving away $2,000 in a freeroll to players who sign up through PokerListings.com.

Date: Sept. 12
Value: $2,000
Qualify with: Deposit at least $50
Qualify between: Aug. 1-31
Sign up here

888poker

888poker is currently running weekly $500 freerolls for PokerListings players who earn 100 frequent player points in the previous month.

Date: Sep. 14
Value: $500
Qualify with: Deposit in the last month
Sign up here

PartyPoker

PokerListings players on PartyPoker get special access to exclusive $2,000 monthly freerolls.

Date: Sept. 18
Value: $2,000
Qualify with: 100 player points
Qualify between: Aug. 1-31
Sign up here

UB Poker

UB Poker is giving away $5,000 in exclusive PokerListings freerolls every month.

Date: Sept. 19
Value: $5,000
Qualify with: 100 raked hands
Qualify between: Aug. 1-31
Sign up here

bwin Poker

bwin Poker is running $2,000 monthly freerolls for Pokerlistings players.

Date: Sept. 19
Value: $2,000
Qualify with: New deposit or earn 50 player points
Qualify between: May 19-Sept. 7
Sign up here

PokerStars

In October PokerStars will run an exclusive $5,000 freeroll for PokerListings players.

Date: Oct. 3
Value: $5,000
Qualify with: 250 Frequent Player Points
Qualify between: Sept. 1-30
Sign up here


Visit PokerListings.com

Trickett Takes World Poker Open Title

Coming off a final table appearance at EPT Vilamoura less than two weeks ago, Trickett breezed through his opening round heat at the Palm Beach Casino, Mayfair and outplayed a tough final table to bank the event’s $200,000 first-place prize.

Fellow Brit Toby Lewis fell third while Trickett was forced to tangle with Yevgeniy Timoshenko heads up for the title, only pushing past him when he rivered two pair against the Ukrainian-American’s top pair.

Trickett now appears to be one of the hottest players in the UK heading into next week’s World Series of Poker Europe in the British Capital.

He had six cashes at the 2010 WSOP for almost $700k, including one-final table and a seventh place finish in the $25k Six-Max event.

Here’s how the PartyPoker World Poker Open VI final finished up:

1 Sam Trickett - $200,000

2 Yevgeniy Timoshenko - $110,000

3 Toby Lewis - $75,000

4 Juha Helppi -$35,000

5 John Duthie - $25,000

6 Andrew Robl -$20,000

7 Dale Hoy - $15,000

Visit PokerListings.com

Poker with Friends

As the summer winds down, I'm planning one last get together with pals to enjoy  some delish barbecue and a friendly poker game. With a more casual group of players, I like to play dealer's choice and introduce some fun new poker games. Why not try it out with your pals this weekend?

...

Read Full Post

A Look at Mississippi Gaming Regulations

Mississippi is yet another river state that has implemented riverboat gaming legislation. The state followed the structure of Iowa and Illinois to create their governing body. In addition to gambling on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, gaming is also permitted on Oxbow Lakes that border the river, in three Gulf Coast counties and in the Mississippi Sound. This all became effective as of April 1^st, 1990.

The state of Mississippi permits all forms of gambling including charitable bingo. New games are subject to review and approval by the Mississippi Gaming Commission. Although all forms of gambling are legal, counties cannot automatically open casinos. They must file a notice of intent.

If no petition is signed within 30 days, the country Board of Supervisors must create a resolution approving legalized gambling within their county borders. On the other hand, if 20 percent or 1,500 registered voters of that county (whichever is less) file a petition against gaming in that area, an election must be held. This must occur within 60 days of the certified petition. The state gaming body then evaluates whether the site for the casino is too close to a residential area or church.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission comprises only three board members that serve four-year tiered terms without compensation. Commission members may only serve two terms with one member being a resident for at least five years. The Governor and the Senate work to appoint the commission members.

The Commission regulates, licenses and adopts new laws. An executive director serves full-time to administer legislature and makes recommendations to the Commission. There are many rules the Gaming Commission enforces including:

• Procedures to apply for gaming licenses
• Payment for background checks of applicants
• Size of a gaming area
• Credit and debt collection procedures by casinos
• Acceptable games
• Procedures for hearings

Gaming is only permitted by those that are at least 21 years old and on the grounds of a casino. Although local governments have little input into the issuance and gaming regulations, they can create zoning restrictions that isolate gaming to a specific area within a town, city or county.

The gambling tax structure in Mississippi is fairly standard. Those boarding a gaming vessel are charged $3.50 by the government. 60 percent goes to the state, 20 percent to the county and 20 percent to the city. Gaming establishments pay a 4 percent sliding tax on the first $50,000 in revenue, 6 percent on $84,000 and 8 percent on anything over $134,000. Local governments can impose a tax of up to 3.2 percent.

Mississippi gaming laws are similar to other boarding river states that permit land-based casinos as well as riverboat gaming. As the economy continues to decline along with the gaming industry, perhaps regulations may loosen to spark new business.

Ziigmund, jungleman12 Finish Week on Top

Sahamies was actually down $80,000 before yesterday, when he went on absolutely tear against Cole South, extracting $709k over a few hours in $500/$1,000 PLO.

It was one of the biggest days for Sahamies this year and one of the biggest sessions of 2010.

Meanwhile jungleman12 continues to impress poker fans with his consistent play. This week Cates recorded about 1,000 hands of $100/$200 PLO, $500/$1,000 NLHE and even $25/$50 NLHE to bag $384,980 for the week.

There’s a good chance a few months ago most casual fans hadn’t even heard of jungleman12 but thanks to the durrrr Challenge and overall strong play he’s now one of the most talked about online cash game players.

Cates is currently second in 2010 online earnings with $3.7 million and is looking to overtake Phil Ivey who is first with $3.8 million.

For his part Ivey was one of the biggest winners of the week with $256k profit in just over 500 hands.

Brian Hastings had a swingy week that saw him come out of the weekend $582k ahead but then he proceeded to donate a large portion of it back throughout the week. He finished up $255k.

Cole South was the biggest loser of the week thanks to his disastrous match against Ziigmund yesterday. South ended up down $648,000 over the week.

Next up was Limit specialist deprimiert who recorded huge losses against both Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius in $2,000/$4,000 Limit Hold’em. deprimiert lost $482,017 this week.

The durrrr cold streak also continued this week as Tom Dwan lost $223k. Dwan has been unable to return to his winning ways after hitting a serious roadblock in the durrrr Challenge against jungleman12.

Here are a few of the biggest hands from the week. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.

 

Boom! Biggest pot of the week.

 

Welcome to Ivey Thunderdome!

 

Patrik Antonius stings Brian Hastings.

 

Visit PokerListings.com

Helppi Captures World Open VI Final Seat

Juha Helppi, Finland’s all-time leading money winner with over $3 million in career tournament earnings, pushed past a heat that included PartyPoker spokesman Mike Sexton, French legend Bruno Fitoussi and red-hot Canadian Sorel Mizzi inside London’s Palm Beach Casino Thursday.

However, the toughest test came from the two women in the heat, Jennifer Tilly and Sandra Naujoks, who finished second and third.

Helppi will join Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Dale Hoy, Sam Trickett, Andrew Robl and John Duthie in Friday's final.

Plus, the winner of a runner-up heat that includes Tilly, Frank Kassela, Marty Smyth, Brandon Cantu, Toby Lewis and MB Mahmoud.

The $480,000 prize pool will be shared amongst the finalists with $200,000 going to the winner.

Visit PokerListings.com

UKIPT Dublin Smashes Guarantee

Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso, Jude Ainsworth, Julian Thew and JP Kelly were among the hopefuls in attendance.

The field also included a group of Irish sports legends, including ex-Ireland rugby captain Reggie Corrigan, ex-footballer Tony Cascarino and former world snooker champion Ken Doherty.

All were chasing a piece of a €295,000 prize pool, including the €72,000 first-place prize, through the first seven levels of play.

In the end, just 307 remained heading into Day 2 Friday, with Irishman Shane Crosby on top for the moment.

Simon Bernsten and the aforementioned Kelly are right in the thick of it.

A winner will be crowned Sep. 12.

Visit PokerListings.com

An Introduction to Let it Ride

First introduced in 1993 by Shuffle Master, Inc., Let it Ride has developed into a popular game due to the high payouts. Since players are betting against the house, a fun and social atmosphere develops at the table or in online casinos. Also, the rules of Let it Ride are easy to learn and many simple strategies have been developed.

Let it Ride is played on a table that resembles Blackjack. Each seat has three circles on the table marked with the numbers 1 and 2 and character $. Play commences with each player placing three equal bets in each circle on the table. The dealer distributes three cards at a time to each player. The dealer takes three and removes one card, leaving two face-down cards.

Next, you are permitted to view your three card hand. The betting options include:

• Taking back your bet placed in the first circle
• Accepting your hand and letting it ride

The most common indicator of a take back is scraping your cards against the table. Once you have made a decision, the dealer flips the first of the two community cards in front of him. This card represents your fourth toward the five card poker hand. Once again you can take back your second bet or let it ride. You can take away the second bet only, but the first bet will remain.

During the final round, the dealer turns over the second community card for you to make your best five card poker hand. The dealer will now pay out the winners according to a specific betting chart.

When playing the correct strategy and robust poker, the house edge for Let it Ride is approximately 3.5 percent. To play correctly, you must know which hands to take back the bet and which hands are worthy of letting the wager ride. There are specific strategies for each betting round within the game.

Let it Ride is a fun and exciting twist on five card poker. The camaraderie that develops at the table, the high payouts and the easy to learn rules make this one of the most popular games in the casino. The strategies are also easy to learn and can be applied instantly to either an online or live game with only memorization. Let it Ride is a great game to try when looking for excitement.

How to Play Let it Ride

The casino table game "Let it Ride" can now be found in hundreds of casinos all around the world. This fun game based on five-card stud poker is a great game to play and very easy to learn. Here's how to play Let it Ride.

...

Read Full Post

Ziigmund Strikes South for $700k

South and Sahamies faced off in a series of heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO matches over two tables. Unlike many of the PLO games that have been going on recently, they decided to play the non-Cap version of the game.

After a couple hours Ziigmund started to pull away from South and near the end of the session it turned into an all-out bloodbath.

Ziigmund raked numerous pots that were worth over $150,000 and at one point had $1.2 million spread across both tables.

After 791 hands South had apparently reached his breaking point and offered the obligatory “gg” before leaving. Ziigmund finished up $709k, which is his biggest score in months, while South ended up down $638k.

The always swingy Ziigmund improved from being almost even in 2010 to nearly $1 million earned while South, who had a terrific start to 2010 with nearly $2 million won, falls down to about $900k profit for the year.

Several big name players were busy last night as skervoy won $247,157, Dan “jungleman12” Cates took $161k and Phil Ivey added $137k to his online bankroll.

Meanwhile durrrr was a big loser, dropping $247k and Di “Urindanger” Dang also didn’t fare well losing $218k.

Here are a few of the biggest hands from the session earlier today. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.

 

The Ziggy fans go wild.

 

Cole South with ye ole nut Flush.

 

Three Kings: Starring Ziigmund.

 

Visit PokerListings.com

Timoshenko, Hoy Advance to World Open VI Final

Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who was perhaps the hottest player in poker this time last year, having won both the WPT Championship and PokerStars WCOOP main event, has advanced.

He got past a heat that included recently crowned WPT London Poker Classic champion Jake Cody and 2009 WSOPE finalist Praz Bansi.

But Timoshenko’s toughest test was 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, who only fell heads-up when he ran ace-king into the young Ukranian-American’s aces.

Dale Hoy, whose resume is filled with similar UK poker TV appearances, also pushed through to the final, getting past a heat that included World Open V winner Phil Laak and former WSOP Main Event winner Huck Seed.

The 48-player event will run until Friday with the winners of two more eight-seat heats making up the seven-player final table.

Timoshenko and Hoy join Sam Trickett, Andrew Robl and John Duthie as the five players with seats already secured.

The PartyPoker World Open VI buy-in is $10,000 with a total prize pool of $480,000 and $200,000 reserved for the winner.

Visit PokerListings.com

LAPT Plans Argentinian Final

The $5,000 Grand Final of the Latin American Poker Tour will run Sep. 23-26 inside the City Center Casino in Rosario, hailed as the most luxurious casino in South America.

“I don’t think we could get better than this,” said LAPT President David Carrion. “The beautiful city of Rosario; the fantastic City Center Casino; hundreds of the best players in the world, all making for a fitting finale to what has been a truly memorable year on the LAPT.”

Already confirmed are Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker, Victor Ramdin, Dennis Phillips, Ruben Visser and Jorge Arias.

This third LAPT season featured two new stops with the tour going to Lima, Peru and Florianopolis, Brazil for the first time.

There has already been more than $3,500,000 in prize money awarded, three new champions crowned, and the first LAPT double champion: Jose “Nacho” Barbero.

Satellites for the grand final are already underway on PokerStars and there will be live satellites in Rosario on the day before the Main Event.

A number of different side events will run alongside the main event.

For more information go to the LAPT website.

Visit PokerListings.com

The Legalization of Internet Gaming

Large U.S. casinos are seeing dollars signs with the potential to legalize Internet gambling but neighborhood casinos are seeing problems. Small, local casinos in Nevada comprise most of the gaming halls in the state of Nevada which has the world’s largest concentration of casinos. There is already enough competition amongst land-based casinos; adding legalized Internet gaming could be disastrous.

Why this is an Issue

Local casinos make their money through convenience of reaching a small, localized market and building strong, lasting relationships with their customers. Adding online properties to the mix will result in the biggest brands acquiring the most customers thus phasing out smaller competitors. It’s a simple matter of economies of scale. Those that offer the largest service will continue to expand, grow and attract more customers.

Supporters of Legalization

The primary supporters of the legalization of gambling include foreign-based gaming websites, celebrities, no-name poker players, a few U.S. casino companies and recently the American Gaming Association (AGA) who is lobbying for tough licensing requirements. A select few in Congress have argued that prohibition is ineffective and U.S.-based players are simply spending their money overseas which is continuing to hurt the American economy.

The Las Vegas Culinary Union supports the legalization of online poker. Additionally, gaming giant Harrah’s Entertainment supports online gaming.  Harrah’s commissioned a study in 2009 that concluded the legalization of online gaming could triple the industry as opposed to hinder it. The study was based on the continued growth of Internet poker rooms; European growth and U.S. retail chains that have boosted sales following the launch of Internet stores.

In the past 10 years, it is proven those businesses that have not adopted the Internet as a medium of growth have died out and those supporters have shown vast growth and expansion. This is an excellent opportunity for older casinos to cater to the younger crowd using technology as its medium.

The Opposition

Few U.S. casinos have someone in Washington lobbying for legalization. 14 California tribes that own and operate major casinos are against the bill stating the tribal members will suffer because of extra competition. Additionally, the nation’s largest poker room, Commerce Casino, is against online wagering. The Nevada Resort Association has not yet taken a position on the matter. They represent large casinos at the state level.

The legalization of online gaming has been a long, heated debate. The mechanisms in place to stop problem gamblers or those underage have been minimal. On the other hand, through prohibition the U.S. is losing out money that is being pumped into foreign markets. The country is at crossroad and a firm decision must be made.

Jake Cody and Justin Smith win in London and the Partouche Poker Tour's November Nine is set

The World Poker Tour completed its first stop in London with a pair of young champions who are continuing to have great years. The London Poker Classic Main Event concluded on Saturday with 22-year-old poker phenom Jake Cody taking down the title and 273,783 pounds. This was Cody's second major victory of the year (he won the EPT Deauville main event in January) and is now two-thirds of the way to the poker triple crown with a win on the EPT and WPT. His $1.6 million in tournament earnings this year...

Why Poker Position Matters

The last time I played  a limit Hold'em tournament, and I was struck with how much position matters in poker. Most of the time when I was on the button, I raised and won the pot right there. I didn't even need to use my skills in reading poker tells -- though of course that helped, too!

...

Read Full Post

Antonius Disassembles deprimiert for $400k

The pair played 605 hands of $2,000/$4,000 Limit Hold’em on Full Tilt Poker and Antonius was essentially unstoppable.

The session marked the second time in barely a week that Antonius has dominated deprimiert. Last week Antonius beat deprimiert for $306k.

Antonius did get some help from the cards, flopping a straight with 3-5 in a $50k pot and then rivering a straight with 6-7 in another huge hand.

After a little over three hours, the pair finally decided to call it a night. By that time Antonius had racked up $391k in winnings.

Despite the victory, Antonius is still up only $74,000 in September thanks to losses accrued earlier this week.

Meanwhile the losses are starting to mount for deprimiert, who is rumored to be a German Limit Hold’em expert. At one point last month deprimiert was up over $200k but he’s already down $259,667 in September alone.

Noted CardRunners instructor Brian Hastings is the biggest winner in the month of September thus far with $458k in profit. The majority of Hastings' winnings have come from Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.

Here’s a couple of the biggest pots from the Patrik Antonius/deprimiert session last night. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.

 

All Patrik Antonius, all the way.

 

deprimiert finds a sliver of redemption.

 

Visit PokerListings.com

Duthie Through to World Open VI Final

Sucked out on in a massive pot that would likely have guaranteed him at least second-place money at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Duthie’s big hands held up this time around, pushing him into the final where previous heat winners Sam Trickett and Andrew Robl already await.

Getting there was no easy feat, however, as Duthie’s heat included 2007 WSOPE champion Annette Obrestad, veteran UK pros Barny Boatman and Liam Flood, plus online legend David ‘Viffer’ Peat.

The fourth heat will go off in London Wednesday and will include no less than WPT London Poker Classic champion Jake Cody, 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, 2009 WSOPE finalist Praz Bansi and 2009 WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

The 48-player event will run until Friday with eight-seat heats putting seven players in the final.

The buy-in is $10,000 with a total prize pool of $480,000 and $200,000 reserved for the winner.

Phil Laak won in 2009.

Visit PokerListings.com

Star-Studded PPT November Nine set in Cannes

The €3 Million Guaranteed €8,500 PPT Season 3 Main Event drew 764 players to the Palm Beach Casino Cannes this week, including some of the top poker players on the planet.

So it is to no one’s surprise, the final table, which was set Tuesday and will return to play out on Nov. 6 and 7, is full of recognizable names.

Newly minted Team PokerStars Pro, NAPT Mohegan Sun champ and WSOP bracelet holder Vanessa Selbst has the chip lead.

However, French pro Fabrice Soulier has over $1.8 million in career tournament earnings and is right behind her.

German Ali Tekintamgac is coming off a WPT Spanish Championship win, IPT final table and a deep run at EPT Tallinn and sits within striking distance, while 2007 EPT Grand Final third-place finisher Soren Konsgaard is not far off the pace.

While there are a few new faces in the final nine in Cannes, Tobias Reinkemeier is certainly not one of them.

The German cashed in four EPT main events last year, took down the €25,000 High Roller Event at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo for $1.2 million and despite being short stacked heading into the November final, he is certainly a threat.

The €5,684,160 prize pool in Cannes pays 81 spots with each of the nine players making the final guaranteed at least €110,300.

But it’s the €1,300,000 first-place prize that will be on the minds of at least those nine people until November.

Here’s the entire list of PPT Main Event finalists and their chip counts:

1 Vanessa Selbst 3,951,000

2 Fabrice Soulier 3,652,000

3 Ibrahim Raouf 3,492,000

4 Ali Tekintamgac 3,289,000

5 Mickael Etalapera 3,129,000

6 Raphael Kroll 2,390,000

7 Soren Konsgaard 1,073,000

8 Tobias Reinkemeier 819,000

9 Cyril André 600,000

Visit PokerListings.com

How to Beat the Casino With Playing Poker

If you want to know how to beat the casino while playing poker you need to know first where and how to get started. Playing poker is an addictive and yet occupying game to engage yourself in. Many people have earned a living from these games by perfecting their skills. However, in spite of there being so many types of poker games in the world today, Holdem variant poker is the biggest of them all.

This is a game in which players are dealt with cards which they combine with personal cards in order to form a five card hand. The popularity of this poker game has gained so much popularity that has led to the development of systems to help monitor one's moves, offer guidance as well as prevent fooling. The use of the poker system in Holdem variant has many benefits to the players.

To start with, the use of the system ensures one of utter foolproof. The system is designed to ensure that all the game rules are followed to the latter so that the players do not have to worry of foul play. Moreover, the system shows one how to dominate their sits and goes from $5 to $10 and so on. There is utter convenience in your playing.

Another benefit to this system is that it offers customizable seasons feature. This is done when registering the software, one is required to choose the seasons of their interest and the central control system will send you the information you need. This enables a player to track winners of the past, know how they made their moves and in which season they played. Moreover, you get also to learn of the dominating winners in the Holdem variant.

Knowing more of your opponents is a vital thing. With this poker system, one is guaranteed of essential basic details regarding an opponent. One gets to know the qualification of their opponent by knowing their previous game wins, losses and the money that they have ever made. Moreover, you can also get their basic details so that you are not scared of insecurity since the person you compete against has their details displayed to you.

The system has a very powerful scheduling feature. This enables one to check or send emails to potential opponents who you would love to challenge in your Holdem variant poker. It is easy to do and when one confirms their participation, the system will alert you on their confirmation so that you know how many people to expect on your table.

Upcoming news, game comments and other essential information is a comfort that the users of the Poker system get to enjoy. The software has an effective method of alerting the players the upcoming information that they are interested in. This helps one counter the new upcoming in poker games so that they remain up to date. This enables one counter the new developments in the software as well as more news regarding the field of Holdem variants.

All this features might depict that the poker software is very expensive. However, it is not. Once you have paid the initial registration, the rest of the features you receive for free with no strings attached. Try it today and you will not regret spending a single penny on it.

So know that you know all on how to play poker and the poker system you know everything about how to beat the casino.

NAPT L.A. set for November

The 14-day NAPT Los Angeles poker festival will go off at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California Nov. 8- 21 with 21 different events.

Buy-ins will range from $335 up to $5,000. The $5k main event will play out Nov. 12-17.

There will be both a $5k Heads-Up and a $5k H.O.R.S.E. tournament as well.

"This is truly a festival with something for everyone," said Team PokerStars Pro and PokerListings Blogger Jason Mercier.

Live satellites will be offered throughout the festival at the Bike. 

“We're very excited to be hosting the West Coast leg of the tour,” said Kelley O'Hara, the Bicycle Casino's Director of Marketing.

“NAPT has already impressed players, providing a first class poker experience that is creating quite the buzz."

The full schedule of events can be found on the NAPT website.

Satellites are already up and running on PokerStars.

Visit PokerListings.com

Texas Holdem Poker Winning Strategy!

Many poker players go broke chasing massive guaranteed prize pools, placed in online multi table tournaments. The problem is there are normally another 5000+ people trying to do the same thing and the only way you can win is by getting lucky. True! You may play well but ultimately in tournaments with thousands of players you will need lady luck on your shoulder, especially when you are up against a wide range of terrible internet players.

So, where can you win more using this system?.... Sit n go's! Honestly you can literally sit in the comfort of your own home, play 10 sit n go tournaments a day and to make comfortable living. For the purpose of this article we are going to have a bankroll of $220 and we will be playing 9 player sit n go's with $20+$2 buy-in.

On a normal speed table with 9 players the payouts are as follows: 1st place = $90, 2nd = $54 and 3rd = $36. For the sake of easy mathematics, lets say you win 5/10 games. 5 games will give you a daily average winnings of $450 minus $220 buy-in fees equals a very healthy profit of $230 per day. Interested? Read on to find out how.

Firstly do not get caught up with the fish calling with any two cards, you'll need to reign in your game and play a lot tighter than you probably do now. Sit n go poker players (especially online) are loose and are easy to beat, all you need to do is follow this guide to the point and you will win a lot more often.

Step 1) With 7 - 10 players on a table you only want to be playing premium hands like AA, KK, QQ. Play these hands aggressively or you will get callers limping in with two raggy cards, that can ultimately crack your monster hand. Other than these obvious monsters you can still play AK, wired pairs and suited connectors but only spare a small percentage of your chips with hands in order to hit the flop, if you miss fold em.

Step 2) Now were down to 5 - 7 players, you should tighten up a little bit more and allow the fish to knock each other out whilst building a chip stack steadily. Continue to play aggressively, don't limp or call. When you have a premium starting hand or high pocket pair get the suited connectors out the hand and dominate the play. Remember not to get to attached to you 99 and 10,10 when a face card hit's the flop.

Step 3) Only 5 - 4 players left and everybody starts getting tight in order to place in the money. This is where you can use your position and aggression to steal pots from those players worrying about going out on the bubble. Don't waste your chips but don't let short stacks see free cards.

Step 4) 3 players left and you are in the money. Don't get relaxed just yet, 3rd prize is often a third of what you'll get for winning. Continue to be aggressive and steal pots where possible. Use your position to steal the blinds from opponents, at these stage in the game they soon build up. Push allin with premium hands, because of your aggressive play, players with KJ, JQ and KT will start to call you.

Step 5) Heads up play starts. If you're the chip leader put pressure on your opponent by raising his blind and pushing him all in. On the other hand if you are the short stack then double up as quick as possible, push allin with any pocket pair, face cards and A? suited.

NL No Limit Hold Em Poker - Tricky Hands to Watch Out For

The following NL No limit Hold Em Poker hands are tricky ones that can cause catastrophe. Protect yourself and don't fall victim to these hands.

NL No Limit Hold Em Poker is a great game however there are some dangerous pit falls lurking around the place. Some of which draw new players into a false sense of security. Don't be tricked. Avoid the following hands to ensure you have real, long lasting success in poker.

Face Cards And Low Cards

I reckon that these would have the be the worst cards that dupe so many players into losing so much money. For some reason, when someone sees paint they automatically think they have a great hand. Well I'm sorry, but a Q-2 or J-3 isn't a good hand. Even watch out when its a King or Ace because they aren't that good just by themselves.

These pockets get new players time and time over. Most of all, when the pressures on and the need for a good hand is at it's highest, players will see these and think they've got gold. Sadly, this isn't the case, and playing these cards when in a corner is one of the worst things you can do.

Coin Flip Hands

Coin flip hands are the hands that you get where at the draw you have about a 50-50 chance of winning or losing, based on the draw. These cards are dangerous because you are practically just betting on pure luck to win.

This isn't a good idea. You should be playing poker on skill and probability and be sure (well, almost sure) you are going to win. Just closing your eyes and saying 'flip the coin, I'll take 1 in 2 odds' is like drawing a barrel to your head and playing Russian roulette with your stack.

Free Poker Money - Online Gambling Without The Risk

Go to any casino in the world. Step inside, and what's the first thing you see? Chances are whatever your answer, it is not that you were immediately awarded with free poker money that would allow you to play at the house's risk. That sort of thing only goes on in the online world. For this reason, many newbie and veteran gamblers alike are giving up the atmosphere of the brick and mortar casino for the real earning potential of cyberspace. But before you start down that road, keep a few things in mind to help you get the most out of your play time.

First, make sure that you completely understand how the bonuses work. Every online casino must have certain stipulations in place to curb potential loss and create a fair incentive for everyone. Sometimes you are awarded a flat fee based on an initial deposit. Other times, you are given a percentage of what you contribute. Either way, the bonus is determined by your contributions, which brings one to the next point.

Addition of incentives does not mean the elimination of risk. It's still important that you respect the house and the other players by thinking through your game play. There is a thin line between playing your free poker money, and playing your actual assets. One can very easily carry over into the other if you're not as plugged in to the game as you would be if you bore all the risk.

Make sure that you don't risk anything until you understand the game inside and out. How is it played? What is a conservative move versus a liberal move? How can you successfully hedge your bets to provide for minimal loss? And pertaining to the latter:

Be prepared to lose. Any site that tries to convince you the odds are always in your favor is one that you probably want to avoid. See, without keeping realistic expectations of the way online casinos operate, you can end up chasing some pretty crazy dreams that can land you in the poorhouse within minutes. Never under any circumstances risk everything on one desperate bet. That's tantamount to buying a lottery ticket, and everyone knows you're not going to win that. Instead, know what the odds are, and try to stay on the winning side.

It's important to remember that free poker money does not mean something for nothing. You still have to ante up and stay in the game. But if you're the type of player who takes the good with the bad and the wins with the losses, then any little extra that you get will always play to your advantage. And that can make you a winner every time.

Mobile Lottery from Spin3

Spin3 is the mobile gaming brand of powerhouse casino software developer Microgaming. They recently introduced an interactive lottery system called LottoSpin. This software is available for online and mobile gamers. LottoSpin is powered by Microgaming and will be offered to players globally, even in the United States. In the U.S., the lottery will be provided on a state-by-state basis. The bundle will contain a variety of games and support for over 2,000 of the most popular mobile devices.

LottoSpin Features

Although there are other mobile lottery systems available, LottoSpin offers a few unique features to differentiate them from the competition. For instance, while other systems use text-based technology, LottoSpin will be based on an advanced graphics system. Also, the system features location based transaction technology which prevents gamblers from purchasing lottery tickets in unapproved areas. User’s information is secured due to the system’s innovative SpinLoc technology.

Target Markets

The United States is the primary market for Spin3. Executives believe that the first area of mobile gaming to be regulated is state lotteries. The company has two large deals lined up to help with the release of this system. One is in the United States to target U.S. players and the other will launch globally. The clients have exact specifications for launch which Spin3 has customized to match.

Brief Background

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation was the first online casino run by the government in North America. It was hosted through the PlayNow website. Within a single day of launch, the site had to be shut down due to an online security violation. Spin3 has observed and learned from this security issue. They have implemented a system that is tremendously robust and secure to protect the confidentiality and personal information of their clients.

The issue with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation served as a reminder to Microgaming the importance of thorough testing, analysis and robustness prior to launching a major endeavor such as LottoSpin. Without this, they could be shut down as quickly as their predecessors.

Although mobile lottery has been unleashed to the consumer in the past, this is a new innovative twist on an old idea. With advanced graphics displays, top-notch security and innovative features, Spin3 will have the player returning for more. Microgaming is bringing a whole new product to the table that has a great chance of increasing their popularity and thus their bottom line.

Is Poker Software Ruining Online Poker?

From Poker Office to Poker Tracker, Holdem Manager to Tournament Indicator; there are more than 50 different poker tools I could recollect that have been placed on the online poker market to help give an edge to players.

My question is, to what extent are these good for the game?

Poker is a game of skill, maths and reading. The skill comes from the positional play opponent of poker, knowing whether to exploit weakness at the table in a given position or continuation bet a flop from the blinds against a TAG (tight aggressive opponent). Understanding someone's game and what hands they play, how many bluffs they make, whether they'll 3bet light; it's all something accomplished players develop precocious skill over.

The concept of maths in poker: that of expected value and implied odds is also extremely important. As is picking up reads on opponents. A solid LAG post-flop player will be able to hit back at his opponent and create enough action to know when he's behind or in front. But, the last few years have heavily changed and arguably dismantled the previous dynamics of online poker.

When you set up an account as a new player at a site like PokerStars, everyone will already know something about you. There is too much transparency in the game now. You'll be targeted as a fish and placed on everyone's "fishometer. You'll find opponents will hit back at you far more often and try to gain relative position of you. Is this really fair? The problem as I see it, is that anyone who wants to make money in online poker will now have to buy these tools. Poker no longer becomes a game about hand-reads and table image, but about stats figures and numbers. Is this really the game we all admire and see publicised on shows like Late Night Poker and Poker After Dark?

The online version of poker is rapidly departing from its live sibling. The new generation of players is nothing more than a heave of stats junkies who multi-table 20 or so games at a time. Compare someone of Tom Dwan's ability to that of Doyle Brunson or Phil Hellmuth and tell me the progress is a good thing.

Personally, I think sometimes we have to say no to technology and prevent it from taking over sports or games that otherwise would leave it quixotic and automated by technology. The President of FIFA's decision to not introduce goal-line technology is an apotheosis of this idea. Sports and games such as poker should not diminish from their "human" soul to become ruthless autarkic games with technology.

In conclusion, I am perfectly aware of the many advantages poker software such as a HUD can offer users. But, there comes a point when it has come too far: for PokerStars this was evident by their "ban" of poker-edge software on their site which uses a central database of billions of opponent stats as opposed to a player's own private collection. There is too much weight placed on poker tools now to give opponents an edge. I think the poker sites should work together and ban these types of tracking software altogether.

Be a Billionaire by Playing Poker Games

The online poker game is now a mainstream gambling entertainment, particularly in the area of America. It has been the conventional game among the land-based casinos. Of course, poker in the casino and online poker do have some differences although they are of the similar systems and rules. If you are accustomed to playing poker in casinos, you should have no trouble enjoying the game via internet.

Perhaps one of the biggest differences between casino poker and online poker is the availability of cheating. You cannot possibly cheat via online as you do not play realistically facing other players for them to read your physical demeanor. There is not even a single opportunity for players to leak out any signs of cheating to the other gamblers. In contrary to the virtual table, you will have more playing options regarding the amount to play and where to place your bet as there are plenty of rooms available. For online game, you are not able to place the bets on the tables. So, instead of depositing chips to a real cashier, you will be doing it to the software's cashier in the online game. You can easily quit the game anytime and withdraw the remaining balance in your account.

Aside from those mentioned, the hands, rules and overall gaming scheme are rather similar to the ordinary poker table game. Of course, there are still important guidelines to emphasize on if you play poker online. It is common for people who intend to cheat or bluff to deliver hidden messages through gestures as facial expressions are easily seen. But in the online poker, you can only cheat by playing high stake of your cards, giving an indication to other players that your cards are good and you are prepared to defeat them.

Besides, be aware that you would need a long of time in order to establish a good reputation in the online poker game. Similar to the freedom on virtual casinos, players are allowed to move around to give you the possibility of playing with many different players in case there are times when you despise anyone's gaming style. No doubt, generally in any competition, the gaming style and personality do play an important part to keep one's reputation. However, a game is all about winning and losing. If you are a soft-hearted person then perhaps poker is probably not your game. You need patience and commitment to grasp a good position in the poker game or any other games.

Play Safe Online Poker

Online poker sites are the latest rage on the internet for enthusiasts where you can play poker for free. It is good for novices to try out games instead of going to an actual casino. It is also much cheaper as stakes are low, so playing such games is easier on the pocket. Poker games have become very popular and there are many websites which focus only on this particular game.

Why Play Online

If you want to play poker on the internet it is easy now, if you are interested in the game.

*There are many websites offering the game online and you can choose a safe site which guarantees a satisfying experience without dangers of fraud.

*In traditional casinos the stakes may be too high for players who don't want to spend too much on the game.

*So many varieties of the game are offered that you will be enticed to play no matter what your motivation.

*Online poker has been legalized in many countries.

*Many online poker websites have certification from major auditing companies and gaming commissions.

*Playing online can improve your skills at poker by analyzing your opponents' strategy, where you can also practice your playing style. Reading your opponents' style can teach you bluffing and betting habits. Switching styles can also help in developing your strategy of play. A good player can become a great player and a beginner can acquire new skills. Free poker games can help you hone your skills with the free software. Your fellow players are more friendly and ready to advise you as the game is not very serious. You will also learn patience and the ability to read your opponent. Once you have gained experience you can play for money.

*Websites offering poker games have anti collusion software which looks into the hand history of previous players to prevent fraud.

*Some online poker rooms teach novices the steps to play the game and the opportunity to practise their skills without risking money.

Variety Of Poker Rooms

There are a variety of poker rooms available online which provide interesting selections for players to choose from.

*Party Poker: This is one of the most popular rooms for UK residents and has innovative features and uses pounds sterling.

*Virgin Poker: This game has great tournaments and has great rewards for winners.

*Titan Poker: They have the best bonuses and easy to use software.

*Full Tilt Poker: This game has a range of options for players and is very popular.

*Captain Cook's Poker: There are a variety of games and limits from one dollar to no limits.

*Pacific Poker: This site offers safe online poker and is a trusted site among players. It offers a variety of poker games, including downloadable and non downloadable versions. You can even chat with other players adding to your excitement.

When you play online poker you have to be careful in choosing a site which is safe and secure and well known. The software of casinos varies and the best sites have regular auditing of their payouts by certified auditing firms. Friendly customer service which is available at all times is another feature of the legality and safety of a gaming site. Once you are confident of a poker website you can enjoy your game and maybe even become an expert player.

A Texas Holdem Poker Table Makes a Game More Real

What can a Texas Holdem Poker Table do for you? If you are currently playing with your buddies on your kitchen or dining room table, it can add quite a bit.

So your poker buddies show up for your regular scheduled game and you break out the cards, beer, some department store poker chips, and sit around your old, hardwood table. You deal the cards being careful not to throw too hard since it will fly off the table and flip up on the floor.

Now you ante up and the nice plastic sound of a cheap, thin poker chip strikes the table and bounces to the floor. One of your friends gets excited at his win and knocks over his beer and soaks and ruins your cardboard playing cards. You wipe them off as best you can and continue the game with the warped cards.

OK, so maybe you decided for a little more authentic play, you throw an old wool army blanket over the table. At least this muffles the poker chips a bit but the blanket bunches up when you try to rake in your winnings and knocks over someone's chip stack.

If this sounds familiar, you are going to be very pleased when you upgrade to a real Texas Holdem Poker Table. Now let's try the same night with your new table and some real clay poker chips. And for an added boost we will even use a deck of Kem or Copag plastic playing cards.

You unfold your poker table and set up chairs around it while you poker friends all comment on the plush padded green felt and how it makes them feel like they are at the casino. They lean their elbows on the comfortable padded vinyl armrest waiting for the deal.

You grab the deck of cards and notice the silky feel and how easily they shuffle. They glide across the table to the other players who deftly try to crimp one in half. But it can't be done. The card just springs back to it's shape. Uncle Joe can spill his beer on these to no avail. They are washable.

Now the players ante up and really feel like they are at the casino. Their chips are at least twice the thickness of those cheap poker chips and have a nice heavy feel in their hands. As the chips strike each other in the pot you notice a nice plink sound instead of the plastic, and a soft thud as they hit the padded felt. The rough texture of the chips makes them stay in place and stack nicely, even as you slide the stacks across the table.

Well, now you are playing poker. This is what a good Texas Holdem Poker Table and other authentic poker supplies will bring to your game. You just can't beat the realistic casino look, sound, and feel you have been missing. So if you have been wondering whether it's worth it, now you know.

Online Poker Tips - How To Spot an Online Poker Tell

Live poker is sometimes more popular for its poker tells and 'reading your opponent' moments then it is for the game itself. Even kids now understand what a 'Poker face' means after Lady Gaga popularised it with her massive world-wide number 1 hit in the music charts in 2009. But is there any way that we can tell if someone is weak or strong when we are playing online poker? You are probably thinking 'How the hell can you get a tell from some one who is sitting in front of their laptop in their jocks and socks in a small apartment in Copenhagen when I'm all the way over here?' Well you can and they are called timing tells.

Here is the general guide line for online poker timing tells. If your opponent acts super quick then they are weak

Follow this rule until you have proof of otherwise but in general it holds true against your average and below average players. Here is a prime example.

If a fish calls your pre-flop raise and he insta-calls your continuation bet, then he is calling with either overcard/s or a weak draw. Always double barrel again on turn unless the obvious draw hits. He will either fold or insta-call if he still wants to continue drawing. If his hand has improved he will think before making a move so you can decide there and then to give up on the hand and do not invest any more in the pot.

So the premise to this timing tell is if a player insta-calls it means he did not put any thought into the call. If the player had a decent hand he would at least take a few seconds to figure out what the best way would be to play it to get the most value from his hand. So therefore an insta-call is more than likely a speculative call.

Another timing tell is when you complete the small blind and the big blind instantly checks. These means that the opponent on the big blind had the auto check/fold option ticked so you can bet any flop with any 2 cards and he will fold the majority of the time against you.

Please be aware as the higher up you go in levels, the better your opponents will become and some of the really good players will try and trick you by using reverse timing tells. However for the most part this will not happen at 200nl and below.

Another way to pick up timing tells is to take detailed notes on your regular opponents. I have an absolutely stone cold timing tell versus one of the biggest winners in my regular game. He takes 'play your monster hands fast' to the next level.

He triple barrels his monster hands instantaneously, however he also double barrels his big draws very quickly as well. Where his timing tell comes in is on the river. If he takes his time and then bets, he is weak, but when he fires the third bullet immediately he has the nuts. So as a way of exploiting this I fold to his insta-bet on the river, but I call with my showdown type hands when he takes his time, or else I will raise his river triple barrel bet if I have no showdown value and he folds 100% of the time.

Without taking detailed notes on this opponent I would never have found this goldmine of a tell. I trust you found the above online poker tips helpful and will hopefully make you more money on the poker tables.

Psychology of Poker - Book Review

I just finished reading the "Psychology of Poker," by Alan Schoonmaker. As an avid online and offline poker player and poker blogger, I read as many books as I can on the topic of poker. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest books ever written. This book really focuses on the psychology of the game and why players play like they do and why you play like you do. This book does not cover or basic skills.

The greatest thing about this book is that it skips the basics and focuses on the finer more subtle parts of the game. In my opinion, these are the things you need to know to be a champion. The book is full of original content and is written in a clear and concise fashion. The book is easy to understand and even though the author dives into some complex issues. I also like the chapter that discusses how to make strategic adjustments based on the types of players you are playing. The author has a Ph.D. in psychology and this is great because he is not like every other poker strategy expert, he gives you advice based on quantifiable scientific evidence.

The one drawback of the book is that it basically ignores the topic of online play. As online poker continues to become more popular, I am afraid this book will become less relevant.

In closing, I highly recommend this book for the intermediate to expert level poker player. What you learn will definitely improve your game.

Online Poker Myths Revealed

Before you start believing all they tell you and lose quite a bit of dough because of that, identify online poker myths as myths and stop banking on them.

Myth # 1: Online poker sites are rigged. Another variation of this myth that is around says that new players win a lot of money initially before fading out into a losing spree. All poker sites that pay you can not afford to rig their RNGs (Random Number Generator) - it is impossible to get away with it.

Myth # 2: Changing sites helps. It's as simple as that - it makes no difference. Every online casino uses Random Number Generators. No one RNG will favor you more than another.

Myth # 3: Online poker wins you more money than real-life poker. This myth probably has its roots in the fact that you see royal flushes and full houses so much more often in online rooms than in brick-n-mortar casinos. The reason is that you play a lot more hands online than in casinos, so the chances of coming across a royal flush online are obviously higher!

Myth # 4: Bots play better than humans. This certainly will be true for a game like chess; it becomes a sad misconception in poker. There is absolutely no certainty about how players go about playing, and bots can not speculate like humans can, giving them a pronounced disadvantage.

Myth # 5: My cards can be seen by others through hacking. False, false, false! The security of any online poker room ensures that your cards are seen no where but on your computer screen!

Myth # 6: Cashing out brings bad luck. This has to be the most ignorant myth of all times! No online casino ever loses anything when you cash your money out. They earn through commissions, and money in your account will get them nothing, so there is no reason why they should curse you with bad luck when you cash out!

Myth # 7: Playing against bad players means I lose. I have said this, and I hear it all the time. This myth is just repeated to assure ourselves how divine our strategy is and how it is not our fault that there isn't enough skill on the table to execute the strategy on. If you really have a good game, you will not bank upon the skill of your opponents to win.

Myth # 8: Aggressive play for-the-win! Haha, so you actually bought the Superman stereotyping. Regular aggressive play will make your opponents dismiss you as a guy with a lonely boner and won't help you get them to fold. Balance is the key.

Myth # 9: Bluff for-the-win! Bluffing occasionally is very effective in winning you a huge pot, but when you do it again and again, you end up losing more than you can win back. Learn the skill of bluffing before you even begin with it.

Unbelievable Myth # 10: If you have played poker, then you know where to hit your head if you believe this: Poker requires no skill. Strategy and skill are so important in poker that the best players are those who win something even out of bad hands. You can not calculate odds without needing skill, nor can you know when to bluff, when to call, fold or bluff just by chance!

Lina Wang is VP of Business Development in Cybertech International, a Hong Kong based company that specializes in building gaming and poker software.

Poker Image and the Art of Winning

Your poker table image is the perception by your opponent of your poker game play. The first impression is said to be the last impression. However when it comes to a poker game impressions rarely count. By observing the patterns of one's opponents, one can make educated guesses about their potential hands.

The more you play against an opponent the more you get to know of their game play. If a player who keeps folding, suddenly calls or raises, one may surmise that he/she has stronger than average set of cards in their hand. On the other hand, a player can also leverage his table image by fooling your opponent into thinking that you have a weak hand.

Even body movements and words said during the game play have a lot to say about your opponent and yourself. If you have been watching WSOP on TV then you will see what I mean here. Players will be wearing dark glasses and hoods just to mask their image/ poker face.

When does one win at poker? It does seem to be a very nice question to ask, but a very difficult one to crack. One way of explaining a win would be when you play a hand the way you would if you could see your opponent's cards. Conversely you would also gain if your opponent plays his cards differently from the way he would have played them if he could see your cards.

This simply means that if you are successful in inducing your opponents to play differently than they would if they could see your cards than most of the time you would end up winning. Bluffing and slow play are classic examples of this. Bluffing helps in masking your hand from that of the opponent and induces them to fold superior hands. However if a player observes that you never bluff then you have had it. They won't call their bets unless they have very good hands.

Slow playing is just the converse of bluffing where you bet low even if you have a great hand. However if your opponents observe that you never slow play then they will pounce on any sign of weakness.

All in all, do understand that to really win at poker you need to play as many hands as you can.

Lina Wang is VP of Business Development in Cybertech International, a Hong Kong based company that specializes in building gaming and poker software.

Play Poker For a Poker Bonus

Generally the online poker bonus offers are everywhere. The poker bonus is the figure of cash that any online gambling site may offer to you the moment you sign up to their website. This is possibly one of the advertising gimmicks by sacrificing part of their margin to boost their market shares. You can fine these bonus offers in multiple online gaming websites as well as searching for bonus codes in some poker magazines. But these poker codes for bonuses are meant for larger amounts such as $500 for a 100 percent match. Of course, you would not be getting the extra $500 that easily. Hence you need to beware with the advertisements available and look for the best bonus deals.

Any online poker game sites that offer the bonus deposit of 100 percent would deliver you an equal amount to what you deposit. But this amount will not be credited into your bank account instantaneously as it will be transferred into a bonus account. To withdraw the money in the bonus account you will need a regular account and to obtain the money via your regular account, you are required to perform something called bonus clearance.

The only path you can take to clear your online poker bonus is by playing poker. Certainly, you should have prepared to play the game in order to acquire the bonus. You can conduct your bonus clearance upon achieving the requisite number of raked hands. The number of raked hands would depend on the site you access but it is often seen that the figure would be ten times the amount of bonus you intend to clear. Some websites even require players to generate an equal amount of rake to the bonus via cash play.

Back then bonuses can only be cleared through the raked hands but now, certain sites offer the clearance though tournament online poker game. The tournaments will earn you points and the moment you attain the minimum points required, you can perform the bonus clearance. However, the bonus clearance is subjected to a time constraint so you should constantly update yourself with the amount of time left for you to clear your bonus. Of course, the failure to clear the bonus within the time frame would forfeit your bonus, indicating the waste of money that you have earned. The poker bonus alone would not guarantee you in becoming a winner but is sure to help you on a long-term basis. Beginners may make use of the bonus as a reimbursement for their mistakes while experienced gamblers may take it as an additional bankroll of money.

The Poker Brat!

If there is one thing that could be learned from Poker at least from the example of Phil Hellmuth, it is power. Power of money, power of achievement, power of living life on your own terms, basically the power within!

A college drop out, the success story of Phil began in 1988. And that story would make quite a fat book should we say?! Just a few chapters to mention: won the main event at the Seven card Hi/Low tournament being the youngest payer to do so, one of only three players in history to win three gold bracelets within a single year, a feat not unsurpassed of three consecutive WSOP (World Series of Poker) wins in three consecutive days, At age 42, he is already a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. Hellmuth currently holds the record for most championship bracelets won in the WSOP

Love him, hate him, cant ignore him! This former world champion is called the Poker Brat because of his brash attitude and ego. He is arguably the most successful tournament poker player in the history of the game.

Hellmuth has penned two books, "Play Poker Like the Pros" and the semi-autobiographical "Poker Brat." This brat has come a long long way from when he first defeated two time Poker world champion Johnny Chan at the WSOP main event as a skinny college kid at the age of 24 being the youngest player to do so then!

Hellmuth's style of play is extremely aggressive, showing off his strong hands very explicitly is believed to be his greatest weakness and strength in one breath by critics. To add to it he has a sharp ability to read tells.

A strong family person, Hellmuth respects players who set their priorities right in the game. He strives to find and bear in mind just the best in each person which he believes is simply the solution for the violence in people's mind these days. According to Hellmuth, one of the things that keeps him on his toes is that he remembers the hard times.

He aspires to take efforts that common people understand Poker as a game of opportunities which transcends beyond age, sex, religion, physical prowess or social standing! That everyone can win!
Spoken like a true winner!

Lina Wang is VP of Business Development in Cybertech International, a Hong Kong based company that specializes in building gaming and poker software.

Making Money Playing Poker - The Importance of Bankroll Management

Online Poker Rooms have caused the games popularity to skyrocket in recent years. More and more people are playing and playing more often then ever before. As a result the number of good poker players is also on the rise. But being a good poker player is not enough to consistently be profitable, if need to properly manage your bankroll.

No matter how good a player you are and how many good choices you make there are going to be times when you lose. We all have time were we go all in with the best hand and the other guy gets lucky, sometimes this can happen several times over a short period of time. Also as hard as it is to admit sometimes we all make mistakes. Making sure you do not go broke during these times is key to being successful. If you have $100 and bring it all to a no limit hold'em table and win several hands and build your stack to $500, it only takes one bad beat to wipe it all away. You have to expect to get beat sometimes when the odds are in your favor. The best hand in hold'em AA gets beat by the worst hand 7 2 about 15% of the time, and a more likely thing to happen is having a Big pair like AA or KK going against a smaller pair like QQ or JJ, in these cases you are a huge favorite to win, but will still lose about one our of every 5 times. Most of the time we are playing hands that are not that big a favorite and if you can get your chips in with a 60-65% chance to win you are doing very well.

The key to not going broke when we run into a dry spell were we just not not hitting our hands and our opponents keep hitting their outs vs us is to manage your bankroll so that you never have too much of your money at risk at one time. For example do not bring more then 10% of your bankroll to a table or do not use more then 5% of your bankroll to buy into a tournament.. As the stakes get bigger and the competition tough you may want to tighten up even more. If the go a losing streak then you will be force to play for lower limits. If you make good choices and follow a bankroll management strategy then you will be well on your way to being consistently profitable.

Full Tilt Poker Review - Online Poker Reviews

Full Review

Launched in 2004, Full Tilt Poker is currently one of the biggest and most famous poker sites online today. Full Tilt Poker has been in the online poker market for thirteen years and over that time has made a big impact on the online poker community while building a reputable brand for itself. Full Tilt Poker lets players "Learn, Chat and Play With The Pros." It is the home to many pro players like Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Phil Ivey, and Andy Bloch. The site accepts all American players, processes Visa and MasterCard deposits, and offers check withdrawals.

Bonus (8)

Full Tilt Poker offers a 100% first deposit bonus up to $600 to all players who sign up and use promotion code POKERSET at sign up, this is a very good bonus. When you sign up, every dollar that you deposit (up to $600) is worth an additional dollar in bonus money. After you deposit, your amount will show in your "Cashier" account, and the bonus money will show in your "Pending Bonus" account. If you want to play with the bonus money, you have to "clear" the bonus to your Cashier. To clear the bonus you have to earn a certain amount of "Full Tilt Points" (FTPs).

Every FTP is worth $0.06 towards clearing your bonus to your "Cahier" account in increments of $20, or 10% of the initial deposit (whichever one is smaller). For example, if you deposit $500 and receive a $500 bonus, you will be receiving $20 increments of your bonus every time you earn 333.3 FTPs. You will have 120 days to clear your bonus money and after that any remaining bonus money will expire. The cashier is simple and easy to use, and "Cash outs" are fast, smooth, simple and efficient.

Software (9)

Full Tilt Poker's software is one of the best in the industry. It has very good customization options, impressive graphics, fast and smooth game play, and high reliability. It offers all the major functions including hand histories, player notes, statistics and multi-table play, option to disable unwanted sounds and graphics, plus a number of other top-notch features that really enhance game play. The software also offers smooth multi-tabling up to 8 tables. It also offers players to use different avatars with different facial expressions to choose from during game play. This is an excellent software.

Support (8)

Full Tilt Poker' support response time is timely and efficient. Some support lag has been known to occur at times, due to the high demands of players or during a large software update.

Deposit Withdrawal Options (9)

Deposit Options:Visa, MasterCard, eCheck, Neteller, InstaDebit, Moneybookers, ClickandBuy, EntroPay, Webmoney, Click2Pay and cash transfers.

Withdrawal Options: Visa, Moneybookers, Click2Pay, ClickandBuy, InstaDebit and check.

Overall Review

Full Tilt Poker is highly recommended for its excellent software, generous bonuses, high security standards, and for the chance to play with poker royalty at the tables.

Final Result: Full Tilt Poker Receives a final overall score of 8.6 out of 10.

Multitabling For Beginners - Playing Multiple Poker Tables

Normally who plays online poker since long time never plays at one table only. So, if you are playing at few tables like I do, pay really attention to my words. Multitable is the name of this process, in other words playing simultaneously more than one table. You could have the idea to play at 3 or 4 tables, but this is might not be a brilliant idea at the moment, add 4 or more tables to your list must be an ongoing process in my humble opinion. Multitable for beginners is not a perfect science, but taking little steps is surely the common best way to get to your target.

The real secret is patience, so instead of playing at one table next time you decide to sit at the tables, open two. Once this new path goes well, you can open up a third table, and so on. While the dissimilarity between playing one and many tables is big, it is only a little step to go from four to a lot of tables like eight or nine. Don't be scared to try open that extra table while you are playing your next session. When the day will be over, you will close all the tables just as fast as you previously opened it. When multitabling, the first important thing to do is to make sure to play at the best level of your skills at each table. It's very important to do not start gambling on one table only because at the moment you are already up three buy-ins at table number 6. Stealing blinds is always a good thing to do, pay really caution at your cards and don't play without thinking about what you are doing.

Multitable tournaments or Sit N Go could be a decent source of money. These are very important aspects of your poker game. If you are a multitable beginner, you need to remember to have something to drink always next to you and taking breaks sometimes is also very important. You need to keep your mind clear in order to play multitable.

On The Road: Live Tournament Briefs

That means telling you what happened, what is happening and what’s coming up.

Our new “On The Road” live tournament briefs feature aims to give you a quick look at upcoming events along the live tournament trail.

Have a look below to find out what the WSOPC, APPT and UKIPT are up to over the next little while.

WSOPC Dallas

The World Series of Poker Circuit has added a Dallas-area stop to the tour.

The Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma – an hour north of Dallas, Texas - will host its first-ever WSOPC event from Jan. 6-25, 2011.

The 2010-11 WSOPC schedule now includes 13 official tour stops, with one more expected to be added.

Fresh off a $300 million expansion, the Choctaw Casino Resort WSOP Circuit event will feature 10 WSOP ring events and a total of 54 different events.

 “After visiting the property, it was a must that we brought a WSOP Circuit stop to Choctaw Casino Resort,” said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart.  “This is a huge poker market that has clamored for high stakes tournament poker and we’re ecstatic to be hosting a WSOP Circuit in this gorgeous property in Durant come January.”

For more information, check out the schedule at WSOP.com.

APPT Goes Down Under

On hold since a stop in Macau this past May, The PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour is firing up again.

The tour is headed to Auckland, New Zealand, for a NZD $3,250 Main Event at the Sky City Casino Sep. 15-19.

Last season, 263 players entered the tournament with local Simon Watt banking the NZD $209,000 first-place prize.

This is the third stop on the APPT’s fourth season, already having been to Manila and Macau.

For more details go to the APPT website.

UKIPT Goes Irish

The PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour is headed to Dublin this week.

PokerStars has guaranteed a €250,000 prize pool for the €500 main event.

A winner will be crowned Sep. 12.

For more details on UKIPT Dublin and the rest of the tour, go to the UKIPT website.

Visit PokerListings.com

BoostedJ Banks WPT London High Roller Win

After over 12 hours of final-table action, including 8.5 hours of eight-handed play, the 22-year-old Floridian, who now calls Los Angeles home, beat Tony G heads-up to win £141,000.

“It is brilliant to finally get a first place on the WPT after my near misses at the Bellagio,” said Smith. “This was quite some battle – the line-up was so tough. I am satisfied, but completely exhausted.”

Smith finished second and third, respectively, at the WPT Bellagio Cup the past two years.

“For me it wasn’t about the money it was about the pride of taking first place but what will be will be,” said runner-up Guoga.

French poker legend Bruno Fitoussi bubbled the money while Freddy Deeb finished third.

A day earlier, 22-year-old Jake Cody won the inaugural WPT London Poker Classic main event for £273,783. Cody is now two-thirds of the way towards winning poker’s Triple Crown after the UK native won EPT Deauville earlier this year.

The star-studded PartyPoker.com World Open V is now underway at the Palm Beach Casino.

Online high-stakes pro Andrew Robl has already won his opening heat, defeating a lineup that included Tom ”durrrr” Dwan, Brandon Cantu and Roland de Wolfe.

Sam Trickett was victorious in a heat that included James Akenhead and Neil Channing.

Phil Laak won the event last year.

Visit PokerListings.com

Poker Cup Sets Macau on Fire

PokerStars Macau at Casino Grand Lisboa played host to the 5-day poker celebration from Sep. 1-5 and awarded a record HKD $4,512,353 in prize money.

Three tournaments set record prize pools and total player entries crossed the 4-figure mark for the first time with 1,060 players registered.

A total of 314 players entered the Red Dragon main event, creating a HKD $2,859,912 prize pool that made it the second largest in the event's history.

After a 14-hour final Sunday, Japan’s James McCarty emerged victorious, grabbing the title and HKD $643,000 first-place prize.

Local hero Ginger Keong appeared destined to win three-handed, with over half the chips in play, but pocket aces at the right time sent McCarty into heads-up play with a 7-to-1 chip lead.

“I come here (to PokerStars Macau) every couple months and specifically like the deep tournament structure.” said the 27-year McCarty.

“I feel I played well, but also got lucky at the right time.”

Visit PokerListings.com

"Action Dan" still on top

Dan Harrington reflects on a poker career filled with accomplishments that have changed the game forever.

A Review of Iowa Gaming Laws

Believe it or not, Iowa has gaming regulations consistent with Nevada and New Jersey although most of their laws are geared toward riverboat gambling. In Iowa in 1989, casino gaming was legalized aboard historical river excursion vessels on the Mississippi River, Missouri River and other waterways within the state. At the same time, the state legislature developed the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission

The primary function of the Commission is to oversee pari-mutuel wagering as well as riverboat gaming. The Commission is fairly standard with five members appointed by the Governor of Iowa and reviewed by the Senate. Each member serves an office term of three years. The requirements for the position are by political party, gender and region in the state. The state requires approval from the counties where the riverboat will be based.

Similarity to Large Gaming States

Iowa has modeled their gambling structure after major gaming states like Nevada and New Jersey. The Nevada gaming model has always been regarded as lenient. On the other hand, New Jersey is much stricter. The New Jersey model requires an assessment of the cost of regulation as well as taxes. This was not possible in Iowa due to the high cost for the types of casinos permitted in the state.

Instead, Iowa focused on harsh regulations with regards to security, surveillance and cash control. Also, a networked slot machine data system was a requirement for the tracking of slot games. The state felt they found a balance between regulation and cost-effectiveness. However, casino operators still believed the cost was too high due to the high-priced state police agents aboard each vessel.

Casino Taxes

The tax structure is similar to other states offering riverboat gaming. Operators must pay an annual fee of $5 per person per voyage including the crew. Also, the state levies a $0.50 per head tax with a maximum of $250,000 per boat. Individual counties can implement a $0.50 local tax per passenger. The revenue is on a gradual scale with 5 percent for the first million dollars, 10 percent on the next two million and 20 percent on all revenue above three million.

Iowa initially used the best laws from New Jersey and Nevada to find the proper balance of regulation and cost-efficiency. In such a short time they have implemented a model gaming system for the rest of the country to follow.