Posts Tagged ‘poker’

Easing Yourself Into Aggressive Poker Play

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

If you are new to playing poker for real money or are just a generally tight poker player it can be a little nerve wrecking when you think about playing aggressively. After all, if you play aggressively in a high stakes game and lose then you can stand to lose quite a bit of your poker bankroll. However, sometimes you have to play aggressively if you want to maximize your winnings. The following tips can help you ease yourself into playing poker aggressively so that you can maximize your poker winnings.

If you are thinking about playing more aggressively, the first thing you need to think about is your bankroll. You want to play in a game with limits that are affordable, so that even if you play aggressively and lose you won’t be left with nothing. You should try to choose a game with limits that will allow you to make between 200 to 300 big bets, or even more. For instance, if you’ve got only $80 to play with then you don’t want to play in a $2/$4 limit game. It is much better for your bankroll to choose a $0.10/$0.25 game. This way, even if you lose on an aggressive play you aren’t going to eat much of your bankroll.

Also, before you start playing aggressively you want to master strategy. Start out with a free poker game while you are learning about odds and strategy. You only want to play aggressively when you’ve got the nuts and are pretty confident you have a good chance of winning.

Why You Shouldn’t Write Off Free Poker Games

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

A few times a month I get together with some friends to play poker. Last night, one of my buddies was totally off his game. Usually he kills the rest of us at poker, but last night he was playing worse than I’ve ever seen him play before. I asked him what was up and he told me he was out of practice. He and his wife are saving up for a nice vacation later this summer so he hasn’t been playing poker online.

My friend is a big online poker player, but he only plays for real money. He tries to get in at least an hour a night, but in order to avoid losing valuable vacation money he had taken a break from online poker and his game really suffered because of it. I asked him why he didn’t continue playing free games, just to brush up on his skills, and he said that oddly enough he hadn’t even considered that idea.

If I could only give online poker players one piece of advice it would be this: Don’t write off free online poker games! I understand that playing poker for real money is exciting, but sometimes if you are saving money like my friend, or just want to get in a little bit of free poker practice, a free game can be great.

The next time you are thinking about taking a day, or a week or a month off from your real money online poker games to save money, just switch to a free game. You’ll thank yourself for it when you get back to the real money gaming.

Peter Eastgate Throws In His Chips, Retires From Professional Poker at 24

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Peter Eastgate became a household name in the world of professional poker when he beat Ivan Demidov and took home the title in the WSOP 2008 Main Event, taking home $9,152,416. In 2008, Eastgate was the youngest player to ever win a Main Event in the WSOP (though Joe Cada overturned the record the following year). Now, Eastgate is one of the youngest professional poker players to retire, throwing in his chips at the age of 24.

Eastgate has been lucky enough to rake in win after win over the course of his poker career. In 2009, he took home $343,000 in a European Poker Tour Caribbean Poker Adventure Hold’em event; he also won over $1.3 million when he took second place at the EPT London Championship Event. Eastgate is in fourth place on the all-time money winners’ leader board and has earned more than $11.3 million in a few short years. Why is he giving all of this up?

Eastgate says that he never had any intention of playing poker forever, and he’s ready to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. He says, “When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player. My goal was to become financially independent. I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

There are poker players who strive for their entire lives to earn a quarter of what Eastgate has won in the past few years. It will be interesting to see if Eastgate will be as successful at whatever he decides to do with his life as he has been in the world of professional poker.

How To Make More Money In Online Poker Tournaments

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

When you play in real money poker tournaments online, of course your objective is to make money. However, if you stick to playing in the low-limit sit-and-go tournaments you won’t be able to maximize your profits efficiently. Read on for some tips about how to make money when you play in sit-and-go and other tournaments online.

For starters, think about the payoff versus your time. If the first prize in a 1-hour sit-and-go is $5 it’s probably not worth you time, unless your main objective is to work on your tournament skills. You probably wouldn’t do your day job for $5 an hour so think about how much money your time is worth before you sign up to play in a online poker tournament.

It is also important to choose a tournament where you will be competing against other people who play at your same level. If you play against more experience poker players in a tournament then your chances of winning and making any money are pretty slim. Start out with lower level tournaments and work your way up as you win in order to find the perfect level for you. Usually the more experienced players play in more expensive tournaments.

If you need to brush up on your poker skills before you start in with real money tournament play then practice with a free poker game online. Once you are ready for real money play, don’t forget to have fun. Because after all, the time and money isn’t worth it if you aren’t having a good time!

California Will Discuss Intrastate Internet Poker Legislation Today

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Live poker games have been available to Californians for some time now. However, there are currently no licensing requirements, regulations or law enforcement tools designed to protect the millions of poker players in California who play real money games on the Internet. Today at 3:30pm PST, California’s Senate Government Organization Committee will discuss the state’s first Internet poker legislation.

The legislation, known as Senate Bill 1485, will implement several rules and regulations on the Internet poker industry and players in California. The bill will authorize three hub operators to allow legal poker gaming online in the state. This means that Californians will only be able to play at those specified hubs when in California. Additionally, these hubs must fork over at least 20% of their gross revenues to the Internet Gambling Fund each month, a newly created Californian fund. Online poker players must be at least 21 years old.

Both the Morongo Band of Million Indians and the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) have issues with the bill in its present form. John Pappas, the executive director of the PPA said, “We have some legitimate concerns with the legislation that hopefully will get remedied. A lot of people think the chances of this bill moving forward this year are slim because no one has really gotten behind the current draft and there seems to be a lot of division on what the best end product would be.”

It will be interesting to see what results from discussion of the bill in California today.

Phil Ivey Wins 8th World Series Of Poker Bracelet

Friday, June 25th, 2010

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to most poker enthusiasts that Phil Ivey is continuing to kick some serious butt in this year’s World Series of Poker. This week he took home his 8th WSOP bracelet in he $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. Ivey has been on a roll since his first WSOP bracelet win in 2000.

Ivey took home one bracelet in 2000, three bracelets in 2002, one in 2005 and two in 2009. This is his first bracelet win in 2010, but he still could stand to win more! His bracelet wins and events are as follows:

2000 – $195,000 in $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event
2002 – $118,440 in $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Event
2002 – $107,540 in $2,000 S.H.O.E. Event
2002 – $132,000 in $1,500 7 Card Stud Event
2005 – $635,603 in $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event
2009 – $96,367 in $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Event
2009 – $220,538 in $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo / 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Event

The $3000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament is a tournament made up of multiple poker variations. Players compete in Texas Hold’em, Omaha Eights or Better, Omaha Hi, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Eight or Better. Ivey bested poker greats in the event including Jeffrey Lisandro, Chad Brown, John Juanda and Bill Chen. The win puts him in a tie with Erik Seidel for 5th place in all-time WSOP bracelet wins.

Adjusting Your Holdem Strategy for Omaha

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

More and more Texas Holdem players are giving Omaha a try. However, if you are thinking of switching to Omaha don’t be fooled by the similarities in the two games – the strategy for Omaha is actually quite different than the strategy for Texas Holdem. Read on to learn more.

For starters, In Texas Holdem it is important to make big bets before the flop when you have good cards, like pocket aces or kings. The purpose of betting big pre-flop is to knock out other players so that you can narrow the table down to only one or two others. However, in Omaha big pairs don’t mean much if you don’t have the other cards to back them up. For this reason, many Holdem players find that they hurt themselves by making big bets too early, only to find that their pocket aces or kings aren’t such great hands. Play more cautiously in Omaha near the beginning of the game and only start betting big once more cards are dealt and you see where you stand.

In Omaha you will also have to adjust the way that you play after the flop. You need to find the right combination of passive and aggressive play. For instance, too many players play too passively when they’ve got a straight after the flop because they think another player may get a flush. If you play this way you’ll never win. Betting a little bigger may knock other players out of the hand before they have the opportunity to get a flush, securing your spot as the winner.

WSOP 2010 Tournament Of Champions Announced

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

One of the most exciting World Series of Poker events is the Tournament of Champions, an invitation only $1 million freeroll for the world’s top poker players, who are admitted based upon a vote. After more than 350,000 ballots were counted the final lineup for the tournament was announced.

Five players were already shoe-ins for the tournament – Joe Cada, Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Barry Shulman and Mike Sexton – and Andrew Barton and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier were also automatically entered as Team PokerStars sponsor exemptions. However, this year all the rest of the players were decided upon based on a vote.

Ty Stewart, vice president of the WSOP, spoke about the voting and the results. He said, “We’re very pleased with the response to this new format. The selections show that poker has a mass fan base that is knowledgeable about the history of the World Series of Poker.”

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. The list of poker stars voted into the tournament, and the number of votes they received are as follows:

1. Phil Ivey with 16,267 votes

2. Daniel Negreanu with 16, 239 votes

3. Doyle Brunson with 13,796 votes

4. Phil Hellmuth with 12,673 votes

5. Chris Ferguson with 11,585 votes

6. Allen Cunningham with 10,486 votes

7. Johnny Chan with 10,434 votes

8. Scotty Nguyen with 9,806 votes

9. Barry Greenstein with 9,806 votes

10. John Juanda with 8,835 votes

11. Erik Seidel with 8,802 votes

12. Jennifer Harman with 8,206 votes

13. Huck Seed with 8,180 votes

14. Dan Harrington with 7,342 votes

15. T.J. Cloutier with 6,281 votes

16. Sammy Farha with 6,085 votes

17. Howard Lederer with 5,596 votes

18. Grey Raymer with 5,404 votes

19. Joe Hachem with 5,272 votes

20. Antonio Esfandiari with 5,129 votes

Online Poker Myths Debunked

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

In the world of online poker there are a log of myths and rumors circulating. I thought I’d take the time to talk about and debunk a few of the most common myths about online poker. Following are some common misconceptions about online poker and explanations of why they aren’t true.

Online Poker Myth #1: All you have to do in order to win is read your opponents.

A lot of players think that they can win big at online poker by simply reading their opponents. These players think that it doesn’t matter what cards you have – if you can tell that your opponent is bluffing or that your opponent has a great hand then you can act accordingly. The truth of the matter is, your hand is the most important factor in your game. If you don’t have a good hand you should fold and if you have a strong hand you should play it accordingly.

Online Poker Myth #2: When you start playing, online poker sites will give you good cards so you’ll stick around.

This myth is just like the myth that casinos put loose slots near the entrances to attract new players. This is absolutely false. Poker sites use software that deals cards in a completely random fashion to ensure fair gaming.

Online Poker Myth #3: There are hacker players out there that can see everyone’s hole cards.

While there have been instances of high level online casino employees setting themselves up with “super user” poker accounts, this type of occurrence is incredibly rare. You shouldn’t worry that anyone can see your cards.

Men Crash WSOP $1000 Ladies Tournament

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Around half a dozen men registered for this year’s WSOP $1,000 Ladies Tournament. It’s not the first time that men have tried to get in on women’s poker events, but this time officials and tournament players expressed their anger. WSOP officials even threatened to ban the men who registered for the event, which is traditionally reserved for women.

The Director of Communications for the World Series of Poker said that, “We will have our repercussions against any man that entered the ladies tournament. There are consequences for actions, and they’ll pay the price. Players with no class can have their services refused at any time.”

Men trying to enter women’s poker tournaments brings up a lot of questions. For starters, is it fair to have women’s only tournaments? After all, poker is not a sport in which women have a physical or mental disadvantage. Everyone is on the same field. There aren’t men’s poker events in the WSOP that deny women, so why should women get their own event? However, many male poker players take things to far, entering women’s events just to ridicule women. Shaun Deeb, for instance, dressed in drag at a women’s only event.

Women are the minority in poker, and an exclusive event can serve as a nice break from all the men in the poker world. However, many men don’t see the point and want to ruin things for the women. In any case, it should be interesting to see whether anything will happen to the men who tried to enter the event.