The super duper and helpful moderator of the community and organizer of the private freeroll tournaments

The Ultimatebet scandal has hit the headlines this week after the tape of the discussion between lawyers and Ultimatebet executives including Russ Hamilton was released onto youtube. You can listen tot he tape here http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XrnmyWu1vS0. In later news, Phil Hellmuth has released a statement regarding his association with Ulimatebet. Hellmuth is said to have expressed regret over his association with the cheating online poker enterprise. However, industry observers commented that no mention is made of Hellmuth's alleged ownership stake in the sof...
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No I'm not talking about the warm weather. I'm talking about keeping your cool at the tables.

I played a game this afternoon after having been shopping, which I must add is my least favourite pass time - the shopping that is!

The game was a $5 - 9 seater non-turbo and I really needed to cash in this game to bring my funds back up after such a poor show last weekend.

The game was much like any other; I was posting and folding the usual rubbish. 3 players were out fairly quickly but one player (two seats to my left) was a bit of a pain. Each time...
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PokerStars has released its European Poker Tour Season 10 schedule. You can view the full schedule here http://www.europeanpokertour.com/tournaments/#ept10. President Edgar Stuchly said, "During a successful Season 9 where we decided to host fewer and bigger events incorporating the national tours, we listened to an enormous amount of player feedback who valued less time spent travelling, and more time spent playing. Since the San Remo tournament will be held immediately before the EPT Grand Final in April, it will mean players can spend the whole month of April on the beautiful Riviera."continue

You've probably heard that phrase many times before. As you know, it means things go bad and they just keep getting worse...one bad thing after another.

That pretty much describes my very short afternoon of playing poker. I just lost game after game after game. Not through lack of decent hands, through lack of luck.

The first game I lost I had pocket 6s against pocket 5s. All looked fine and dandy on the flop, the turn was no use for anyone and then the river.....a 5 giving my opponent trips which knocked me out of the game. This was a $2.25 6 seater super tur...
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Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom has been playing high stakes poker again and managed a nice win of $1.37 million last weekend against Ben 'Bttech86' Tollerene at Full Tilt Poker. The game of choice was Pot Limit Omaha. In later news and indeed in a later session, Blom lost $452,000 of the $1.37 million he won earlier.

Poker players located in Nevada can now legally play real money online poker at the Ultimate Poker website. Players older than 21 can play and register an account and deposit online in advance of visiting the State of Nevada whether resident or not. Players must comple...
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Playing micro stakes games, be they ring games (cash), sitngo's or tournaments, do you find that you don't care as much as you do with higher buyin games?

I'm wondering if there is something in the back of the mind telling you it doesn't matter so much because it is a low buy in or the amount you are risking on the cash tables isn't much to worry about. 40c here, 50c there....but these sums certainly mount up. Ten 50c sitngo's lost and you are $5 down from your bankroll.

I played 3 games one after the other; all sitngos and all in order of value . First, the 50...
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Massachusetts has proposed an amendment to a bill to grant licenses for online poker operations in the state. The bill is supported by 18 politicians.

The latest free Android platform app from the iGoogle Store is a Poker Odds app that enables poker players to get an immediate assessment of the odds and value of each hand as the action unfolds.

Two California men were sentenced to federal prison for hacking into the email accounts of several poker pros where they used pictures and information to extort money from the pros. Tyler Schrier, 23, was sentenced to 3.5...
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This afternoon I played a $2.25 Super Turbo at Full Tilt. 300 starting chips and 9 players.

It wasn't until the game started and I saw I only had 300 chips that I realised it was a super turbo. Turbos are not good for my playing style however they are useful to improve my game in more ways than one particularly the small stack, the speed of the game and having to widen my range of hands.

The first hand I folded as I had rubbish but two players were all in. One had A10 and the other pocket 7s. The ace came on teh river on one player was out. The very next hand...
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Chad Elie, the well known US poker payment processor, is now suing his lawyer for professional malpractice. US lawyer Jeff Ifrah was paid $4 million including $1 million in commission payments from his payments processing company for obtaining information regarding the legalities of processing financial transactions related to online poker.

WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event was won by Daniel Negreanu along wth the $1,081,750 first prize. Negreanu said: "With this win, I achieved a few of my goals. Winning a million dollars in a tournament, winning a major tournament. That list of g...
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After having problems trying to get in to Full Tilt Poker today, I eventually managed to login after an upgrade.

The first thing I saw was a "Step 7 $2,010 + $90 sitngo". I noticed there were satellites to this steps sitngo and incredibly, you can get to Step 7 with a starting amount of just $3+30c.

The steps start at 1 and at each level, you can win a ticket to the next step. Here is a breakdown of the steps:

Step 1 - 1st and 2nd win a Step 2 ticket; 3rd, 4th and 5th win a Step 1 ticket

Step 2 - 1st and 2nd win Step 3 ticket; 3rd a...
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iPoker Network has successfully completed the beta phase for anonymous tables and they are now available on all poker skins. Anonymous tables are available on No Limit tables and may well be expanded to other variants in the near future depending on their popularity.

World Series of Poker require Nevada residents to beta test their poker software ready for real money play "coming soon". If you are 21 and over, make sure you visit the WSOP official site for details.

No poker playing skills required for the Massachusetts State Lottery poker tournament. Eugene Con...
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It's amazing how a state of mind can affect your poker play.

I just played a $1 super turbo 9 seater at Full Tilt. 300 starting chips and the blinds increase rapidly.

I'm not that good at these super turbo or any turbos for that matter. They just don't suit my playing style. That said, in this game, I was determined to get into the money.

I stole a few blinds to keep my stack up to at least the 300 mark - I had pocket Kings and an Ace Jack suited and just raised all in pre-flop.

At one point I had pocket 5s and was raised all in ...
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Australian politicians questioned the legality of Apple's PokerStars app which Australians can download and gamble on mobile devices for real money. Senator Richard Di Natale said "We don't allow online poker in Australia for Australian people under the Interactive Gambling Act ... they [Apple] have got an obligation to take down apps that are against Australian law and they should do it."

Amaya Gaming will be moving Interpoker to it's recently acquired Ongame Network. The move will include some player policy changes including a ban on Danish players (until Danish licensing is...
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How often are you in a hand, an Ace falls on the table and then the big bets arrive?

Your opponent is representing the ace in his/her hand but how often do they have it? Did they raise pre flop? What position are they at the table?

All these things can help you determine whether they are just representing the Ace or whether they actually hold the ace and possibly have you beaten. Any hand with an ace in it is a "good hand" to some players and they will raise often.

In order to determine whether a player is just representing a hand or actually has...
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More and more women are participating in online poker action and according to a problem gambling specialist, Liz Karter, online poker is regarded by many professional women as an efficient stress reliever and this may have possible negative implications. Gamcare stats show that half of all women callers to its helplines had problems with internet gambling. This represents a 44 per cent increase compared to the 2011 figures.

Austrian Police took action against illegal poker operators known as card casinos. At Card Casino Graz, 14 poker tables were seized. Rigobert Rainer of the...
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Easter has arrived and no doubt you have received some scrummy chocolate Easter eggs which you can't wait to get stuck into.

Chocolate is fattening when eaten to excess however, the benefits of eating chocolate in moderation are numerous, particularly dark chocolate. It can benefit your cardiovascular health, reduce risks of cancer, coughing and heart disease. It may even lower blood pressure!

One study says that melting chocolate in your mouth produces an increase in brain activity and heart rate that is more intense than that associated with kissing and lasts ...
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On 20th March, BetVictor launched their new Bad Beat Jackpot which will be a record breaking sum of Euros 921,603. The jackpot will be easier to win after the minimum hand has been reduced from 4 of a kind 8s to 4 of a kind 2s. Players can opt into the BBJ by clicking "opt in" before joining a total fo 10c/20c or more. The rake per hand has been reduced to 2c.

Ultimate Poker will be opening an online poker site in the very near operating under a Nevada license. Online poker software developer Cyberarts, which was recently acquired by Fertitta Interactive, will provide the p...
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After withdrawing some cash from Full Tilt Poker I was left with just $3.19 and I thought I would see if I could build up my balance..

I decided to play a $1- 9 seater game and during this game, I also started a super turbo 6 seater game. So $2 is at stake here which leaves me with $1.19.

The 9 seater is not a turbo game as this really doesn't suit my playing style. I like plenty of time to play the premium hands and assess the other players along the way whilst making notes on them!

In the 9 seater, I was posting and folding for quite some time. ...
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Texas legislators could soon be debating online poker with Republican state Senator Leticia R. Van de Putte. Senate Bill 1103 requires the Texas Lottery Commission to comply with any federal law and "...shall promptly adopt all rules and procedures necessary to implement the federal law. It shall notify the governor of the date on which all rules and procedures are adopted."

The California Tribal Business Alliance are supporting the American Gaming Association's attack on the proposed acquisition of the Atlantic Club land casino in New Jersey by PokerStars' parent The Ration...
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I decided to deposit $20 at PokerStars so I could play a few games at a little higher level than I normally do. I've opted for a $3.50 6 seater sitngo.

What I noticed (which I have never seen before), in the lobby of the sitngo, it says the tournament should last between 33 and 65 minutes.

Two hands in and I'm dealt pocket 4s so I limped in. The flop came down 594. Trips on the flop and I'm happy. 4 players in the hand and the player behind me is betting 60. I just flat called not wanting to scare any other opponents off by raising. One player calls and one...
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Poker pro teams from PokerStars and Full Tilt will face each other on three simultaneous freeze-out tables with the winning team taking the majority of the three games. Gus Hansen, Viktor Blom and Tom Dwan will be up against Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Live online coverage through the FTP site will be provided for fans of these big-name players.

The International Stadiums Poker Tour have announced that Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club has signed up to license, market and guarantee for ISPT's inaugural tournament at Wembley in June this year.
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You join a sitngo or tournament and you do all the right moves but you still end up losing.

What is it about certain games that no matter how well you play your hands, you lose?

You wait patiently for all the premium hands before making a move - there's plenty of time as the blinds are still at the lowest level. You raise pre-flop, your opponent keeps calling and you end up with a great hand only to lose it

I've had days where games like this happen time and time again. I was so frustrated at one point, I even tried the "sit me here" button to...
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Intrastate online poker could be on the cards again in California after the launch of another two legislative proposals. Massachusetts is also pushing for legalized online gambling.

Former Full Tilt Poker director Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson and the US Department of Justice have reached an agreement that he will pay $2.35 million together with the contents of a Citibank account without the necessity of admitting wrongdoing or liability.

World Poker Tour Baden was won by Serbian poker player Vladimir Bozinovic along with a first prize payout of $272,258.

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Sign up to a large freeroll and you will find many sitouts at your table.

If you are the only active player at your table, then it's definitely a good thing. You can safely raise every hand and win those blinds and increase your stack at a rapid rate.

If there are one or two players that are active, they will be doing their best to steal the sit out's blinds and if you want to be part of the action and grab some free chips, you will have to join in the fight and it won't be an easy one.

Some players will fight tooth and nail to get these blinds a...
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A recent offer from PokerStars enabled players to gain a free entry into the Cool Million Poker Tourney if they transferred a minimum of $10 from their PokerStars account to their linked Full Tilt account.

Currently 82,000 players have enrolled into this tourney which is well under way. Late Registration is still open. First prize is a cool $90,000 in this Guaranteed tournament.

The list of players is hidden because it takes too long to load. I decided to load it to find a player on there and at the top of the player list in red writing is none other than Vikto...
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Playing a sitngo or a tournament and the same player keeps raising every hand, you just know it's all BS.

I just played a cheap tourney and a fishy player was raising every hand. Other players were calling but then they would fold as soon as the betting was too high for their stack. The fishy player's chip stack was increasing giving him more ammunition to bully and fish.

I'd been watching this player for some time. He would raise pre-flop and maybe get one or two callers. Once the flop came down, he would bet about three quarters of the pot and then maybe get ...
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Nevada is expanding its existing online poker legalisation law. Two major changes are: removing state statutes requiring Nevada to wait for Congress to pass online gaming legislation, and enabling the governor to enter into mutually beneficial compacts with other states that pass bills to legalize online gaming.

There is a lack of interest in the International Stadiums Poker - Lock Poker had to postpone a satellite because only two players registered and Poker770 had to do the same thing. The tournament is to be held at Wembley Stadium and 17,000 participants are needed to mak...
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Spend one dollar, win one million dollars.

That's the message from PokerStars latest opportunity to spend a small amount on a tournament buyin and stand the chance of winning big.

The PokerStars Sunday Million tournament has been running for 7 years and to mark this anniversary, they are guaranteeing a $7 million prize pool.

Here are a few facts about the Sunday Million courtesy of PokerStars:

The first ever Sunday Million was held on March 5, 2006, and was won by ‘aaaaaaaa’ from Massachusetts, USA. A total of 5,893 runners pl...
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Harry Reid was indicted this week over his questionable conduct and bribery in connection with iWorks marketing fraudster and SunFirst Bank online poker payment processor Jeremy Johnson. Apparently $1 million was to be paid to Reid in return for the Senator's cooperation to get an online poker legalisation bill through Congress.

The Full Tilt Poker Challenge has seen the company of Gus 'The Great Dane' Hansen and Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom gracing the $0.50/$1 pot-limit Omaha cash games tables. Ordinary players seated at tables from $0.05/$0.10 ranging up to $3/$6 may well play th...
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I had my own thoughts about what the top 10 mistakes in poker would be but I didn't realise how different the responses would be from different websites.

I've pooled all the answers from 6 different websites and the results are quite surprising.

Some of these results are from poker pros, professional websites that host professional poker tournaments and a few other unknown sites.

Each of the following mistakes were listed on some sites but did not make it into the top 10: (the list does not include all the mistakes that didn't make it into the top ...
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Irish poker pro Paul Carr appeared before Judge Eugene O'Kelly in the Limerick District Court on charges of driving under the influence of cocaine. Carr pleaded not guilty but received a 4 year driving ban and a fine of €2,500.

Pocket Kings Limited, formerly associated to Full Tilt Poker, has filed notice of appointment of liquidator. More information will no doubt follow soon.

The Golden Nugget has recently released an iOS poker application to the Apple iTunes Store. Players cannot deposit funds however hotel packages, seats in poker tournaments, free show t...
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How you play pocket jacks depends on your position and of course, you should take into account the very nature of your opponents.

Generally, most people raise with pocket jacks without even a thought about position or opponents. .

When none of your opponents have raised before you, a strong raise of at least 4 or 5 times the big blind should suffice although do take into account your opponents play, particularly if they are loose players. The idea is to reduce the number of opponents you could be up against and bearing this in mind, a larger raise of up to 10 ti...
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It's been a quiet week for poker news and a great week for Brazilian Nicolau Villa-Lobos who won the Pokerstars UK and Ireland Poker Tour and a prize of £101,000.

English poker pro, Rupert Elder, topped a field of 1337 players at the Crown Casino in Melbourne in the first Aussie Millions poker tournament. He took home a prize of A$250,000.

Betfair has moved onto the iPoker Network. Existing players can choose to move their account to the new network or remain with the existing Ongame network.

The 2013 Betfair Poker LIVE London starts on Janua...
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I recently downloaded 888poker's mobile poker app onto my phone.

I originally signed up to 888 on my pc and got the free $8 no deposit bonus. They are now offering $20/£12, so if you haven't signed up, now is the time!

Anyway, this $8 has lasted me well over a year but I am low on funds now due to some fishy players on the cheap tables whooping me with their rubbish hands.

I opened the app and signed in a couple of weeks ago but I noticed the only options for sitngo games, were $3 tourneys. I really didn't want to pay this kind of money for a m...
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Viktor "isildur1" Blom boosted his winnings at Full Tilt Poker by another $475,000 to over $5 million so far this year. In later news, Blom lost almost $1.1 million to Phil 'OMGClayAitken' Galfond on the $200/$400 PLO tables.

Dimitar Danchev, a 26-year-old Bulgarian poker pro, has come out top in a field of 986 players to take down the 10th PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and netted himself a first prize of $1,859,000. In later news, Vanessa Selbst won the High Roller tournament and walked away with a very nice $1,425,420 win. In later news, the Pokerstars Turbo Championship ...
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I love nothing more than joining late registration tournaments, especially when they are cheap buyins.

I spotted a 25c Satellite to the OSS (Online Super Series II) $150,000 guaranteed. The prize is a ticket to a $7 + 0.70c qualifier.

I paid my 25c and joined a table and all I got was 500 chips! All the other players at the table had more than 2k and the 1st placed player had $15k in chips. I had a long way to go.

Blinds were 100/200 and I lost my stack virtually straight away so I did a double rebuy for 50c which gave me 1,000 chips. I won one h...
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Betfair joined the iPoker Network. The new Playtech-powered offering will be available in the Spanish and Italian markets. The existing Classic Betfair Poker will continue on the Ongame Network for the time being.

So far this year, Viktor 'isildur1' Blom has earned $2.4 million at Full Tilt Poker. In later news, he won a further $425,00 playing mainlyl 2-7 triple draw and Omaha 8. In further news Victor "isildur1" Blom won a further $1.3 million in a high stakes PLO bringing his total winnings so far in 2013 to $4.1 million. In later news, after a rocky start to the day, B...
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The Play2B Poker Network is a new network and Devilfish Poker have moved over to this new network. Personally, I'd never heard of the network before so I took a look at who they are.

This is what they say about themselves:

"Play2B was created to fill the existing gap in the market for professional eGaming business Services and Products for companies who want to run a profitable business in an extremely volatile environment.

With over a decade of eGaming experiences within Play2B we strongly believe we can provide you the right tools and services to...
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"Texas Poker Gaming Act of 2013" was presented to Texas lawmakers in December but it seems online and mobile poker and even electronic poker tables have been excluded.

Victor Blom won $565,000 in one 1,536-hand session playing at Full Tilt Poker. He played PLO and 2-7 Triple Draw at stakes of $1,500 and $3,000. In later news, Blom returned to Full Tilt and won another $700,000.

PokerStars have launched Zoom Poker in tournament mode. It proved to be so popular, they now have 12 or more real-money Zoom Poker tournaments on its daily schedule.

Pad...
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2012 has gone and 2013 has arrived but what poker goals will you set yourself and how good was 2012 for you?

There is little point in complaining that you haven't gone any further ahead in your poker playing in the last year as you can only blame yourself for that! But not furthering yourself in poker doesn't mean that you didn't learn a lot. The famous saying "poker is easy to learn but a lifetime to master" is so true.

You may have learned that just because an ace hits the board and your opponent bets, doesn't mean they have an ace in their hand - it could jus...
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Federal online poker legalization has gloomy prospects in the 2013 session of Congress. There is opposition from republicans whose political manifesto proclaims there should be a "prohibition" on Internet gaming along with tribal groups that seek to keep their first nation sovereignty and individual states and governors who want to maintain their lottery and gambling rights.

Phil Ivey has enjoyed some early Christmas winnings at Full Tilt and PokerStars. He won just over $460,000. In later news, Gus Hanson won over $900,000 at Full Tilt. A nice comeback after some larger lo...
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How frustrating it can be on occasions when you have to make that decision to fold or not.

You've put a fair bit in the pot and the river wasn't the card you were hoping for. Someone bets big and you know if you call, you will lose but you want to see your opponent's hand.

I have actually called just to see opponent's hands. The information it can give you is worth more than the chips you put in the pot. However, there are times when you have to fold because it's too expensive to call and will damage your stack too much.

888Poker have solved th...
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Another skin left the Merge Poker Network this week namely RPM Poker. An acquisition agreement with an unnamed third party who will re-brand and re-launch on the Merge Network. In later news, another poker site is leaving the Merge Network, namely Hero Poker. CEO David Jung said "Hero and Merge weren't going the same direction any longer and it just didn't make sense on both sides to continue."

Amaya Gaming has reached a 50-50 revenue share platform deal with the US company SHFL (formerly Shuffle Master).SHFL will become the exclusive distributor of Amaya’s online poker and...
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It's the season for giving and receiving of gifts and what better time to buy your loved one a really special poker gift.

There is so much to choose from such as poker mugs, wall clocks, T-Shirts, Hoodies and watches. License plate holders, poker odds mouse mats and poker bags. There is a huge range of gifts for you to choose from but do you have a spare $7,500,000 laying around to buy that extra special poker gift?

If you do you can buy the most expensive poker gift ever made. The Geoffrey Parker chip set which costs $7.5 million to buy is a stunning work of a...
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Zynga Inc. has applied to Nevada for a license to operate real money online poker games.

The Fox Poker Club operated by Genting Uk, closed it's doors last week. The following was posted on their website: v“It is with regret that Genting UK Plc today announces that the Fox Poker Club will cease operation. The Management and Staff of Fox Poker Club would like to thank all of its customers for supporting the venture over the past two years. Further information will be released shortly.”

Tom 'durrr' Dwan and Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom have been playing high stakes ...
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Losing a hand that makes you low on chips doesn't mean the game is over.

Quite often you will see players throw their remaining chips in the middle of the table when they lost the majority of their chips on the previous hand. They are probably "on tilt" and generally lose their seat in the tournament or sitngo.

The question is, does patience pay and can you make a comeback with a small stack?

The answer is simple, of course you can.

I played a 6 seater $1 sitngo earlier and lost a load of my chips when I hit a pair of kings only to b...
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PokerStars reached the 90 billionth hand at the beginning of the week. The lucky winner was m1sspiggy who scooped a massive $66,000+ dollars. The entire table won over $229,000 between them. In later news, PokerStars have revealed an updated rewards programme which includes a new VIP level Chromestar.

FTOPS online poker series returns to Full Tilt Poker for another year. With $7.5 million in total up for grabs and $1.5 million to be won in the final main event on 16th December, this promises to be another exceptional online series. In later news, after the successful relaun...
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Patience is one of the key attributes for being a good poker player and waiting for those good hands can take some time and be quite costly.

Whilst you are waiting for the good hands, your opponents are watching your style of play.

They will see you folding to raises on your big blind, folding unraised small blinds and see you generally playing tight waiting for the premium hands. They may even put a player's note on you for next time they bump into you at the table. What does this mean for you?

It generally means that your opponents will start to...
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The state of Nevada saw two more applications to operate online poker from Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and Treasure Island. The list of licensed operators currently includes Boyd Gaming, Golden Nugget, Fertitta Interactive, WMS Gaming Inc, Shuffle Master, South Point Poker, American Casino & Entertainment Properties, International Game Technology, Global Cash Access, Bally Technologies and Monarch Interactive.

A record was set at the World Poker Tour in Montreal. 1,173 players registered for the $1,000 buyin event making it the largest tournament with a buyin of $1,000 or more...
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...and so are the special festive promotions that usually appear at this time of year.

As is traditional at Christmas time, 32Red Poker are offering some amazing freerolls, free chips, guaranteed tournaments and bonuses for every day for the next 32 days from today in their 32 days of Christmas promotion..

To start the proceedings off, there is a guaranteed €500 freeroll at 9pm tonight and tomorrow will see 5 multiplicity freerolls with a guaranteed prize pool of €100 each. Each of the 5 freerolls starts at 5pm. Entrance is free with no restrictions and 32...
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Seven South East London Metropolitan Police lost their jobs after they were caught cleaning golf clubs, playing poker and board games. Hidden cameras and listening devices were these lazy policemen's downfall.

Gus Hanson's week was an expensive one at Full Tilt Poker this week. He lost just over $1.5 million, most of which went to "KPR16". Hanson has become one of the biggest losers of the year.

In later Full Tilt news, it has been stated by The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York that USA players will likely be paid sometim...
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If you're a seasoned poker player, you will know that playing too many hands is not good for your stack and it certainly is not good for your image at the table.

One mistake some players tend to make is to call too many hands. It's an easy mistake to make, after all it doesn't matter, it's only 30 chips in the early stages of the game! Play 10 hands and lose and you are down by 300 chips which will likely equal one fifth of your entire stack.

As for your image, well you will look like a "calling station" and that makes you an easy target for good players. continue

iGAME Malta's iGame, 24HPoker and Pokerihuone have all joined the Microgaming Poker Network.

Bwin.party digital entertainment's co-chief executive officer, Norbert Teufelberger ,was detained and questioned by Belgian authorities. It was believed that it may have been something to do with the blacklist of companies operating illegaly. In later news, it was confirmed that the two hour detention was related to illegal operations and Teufelberger has until 17th December to respond.

The 44th World Series of Poker tournaments for 2013 will be held at the Rio All-Suit...
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Since Full Tilt re-opened it's virtual doors on 6th November, I've played a few $1 buyin sitngo's and the play was just awful!

So rather than moaning about it, I decided to up the stakes a little and play in $2.50 and $5 games.

The first game I played was a $5.00 buy in and I have to admit that it was a pleasant surprise to find players that actually played the game as it should be played. There were no all-ins on the first hand, play was slow and thoughtful and after about 45 minutes, all 9 players were still in and there wasn't too much chip movement. Sounds a...
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A survey was carried out by The National Post on physical versus internet poker rooms in Toronto and it was concluded that the online environment is a favourite among most poker players who move there to escape all the legal restrictions in the United States.

Poker author and strategist, Lou Krieger, has joined BetVictor poker as a coach, The ‘Ask the Coach’ feature enables players to ask questions and receive guidance on ways to impreove their skills.

Betclic and Everest poker have moved to the ipoker Network. The move will lead to benefits for Playtech an...
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On Tuesday 6th November 2012, Full Tilt Poker opened its virtual doors again, thanks to a deal by PokerStars.

I logged in early but it was still in play money mode only. Within a couple of hours though, a little popup message told me that real money play was open.

I immediately signed up for a 1 table 9 seater texas holdem sitngo and it wasn't long before the game was underway.

I did my usual posting and folding of the rubbish hands and I have to say, they truly were rubbish hands. After about two full rounds, I did get pocket aces on my big bli...
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It's been a busy week on the PokerStars tables with millions of dollars changing hands. Ilari Sahamies won over $800,000 Ben Sulsky won over $570,000 and Sam Trickett won over $430,000.

Some bad news arrived this week from the Merge Network. They are banning player to player transfers as from 1st November. This move will certainly prove unpopular for USA players who have been using this to get money from non-US players.

The Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda have expressed opposition to the federal online poker legalization bill proposed by Senators Ha...
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The 43rd World Series of Poker main event has recently finished with Maryland Poker Pro Greg Merson taking home a whopping $8.53 million.

Several further WSOP circuit events continue on until May 2013 but what about the 44th World Series of Poker? Will you be there?

Now is the time to start thinking about qualifying for this amazing poker event which started life with just 30 players back in 1970 at the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino.

You will find freerolls, cheap qualifiers and larger buyins being offered by most poker sites to win your way to a sea...
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PLAOR announced this week that Hollywood Poker successfully re-launched and they would try to provide more celebrity interaction with fans.

Euroclub Network Ltd. announced the launch of a brand new poker network in partnership with their leading customer GoldBet.
Rakeback will not be offered across the network.

Fast Fold poker firm InstaDeal has been chosen by Falconbet who are successful in sports, casino and poker.

Howard Ledered is back at the live poker tables. Daniel Negreanu and Lederer who are not the best of friends since the Full T...
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On 6th November 2012, PokerStars will be opening Full Tilt Poker to customers once again.

In June 2011, the virtual doors were closed due to the license being suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC). The reason for the suspension as per the statement from the AGCC:

"The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by U.S. Attorney General's Office in the Southern District of New York on April 15, 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business...
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A deal with the Bodog Poker Network means Asian facing TLC88 will get a bigger online casino and sports betting product offering.

Coral Poker has moved from the Ongame Network to the Playtech iPoker Network. Rewards/incentives earned on the Ongame network will be transferred and converted into cash on the iPoker Network once players download the ne software.

The Zynga Slingo is due to launch a real money game called Slingo Advance.to be integreated into the social mobile market.

Tom Dwan and Viktor Blom have joined Full Tilt Poker as their resident...
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How come some days, no matter how good your hand is or how well you play, you cannot win?

You sign up to a sitngo or a tournament, you wait for those premium hands early on in the game, raise the appropriate amount only to be beaten by someone with 57 offsuit.

It doesn't matter what level of buyin or the type of game, you can do no right.

I'm sure it's not just me this happens to as it can happen on several different sites on the same day. I played a game earlier on 888 Poker and I had pocket queens.

I raised pre-flop and one player ...
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It seems that PokerStars will offer a "Run It Twice" Option for players after beta testing has been completed.

Crockfords, a top Mayfair Gaming club owned by Genting,has denied paying Phil Ivey a sum of ���£7.2 million he won on the Punto Banco game. So far, all he has been paid is his ���£1million stake. Crockfords have notified the Gambling Commission of their decision not to pay. The reason for non-payment was suspicion of collusion.

An operating license was issued to Full Tilt Poker by Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commiss...
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....Feltstars was gone.

It never fails to shock when a site you may have been playing poker at for a long time, a site that you trust and even love to play at, can disappear over night.

As you probably know, Feltstars closed it's doors for business a couple of days ago.

At first, you might think they are upgrading their site but when you start searching for information on the internet to find out why you can't login, the real story comes to light.

It seems that FeltStars were attempting to control their own cashier totally separate ...
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BluffRoom on the Merge Poker Network will be closing it's virtual doors for good in the very near future. An update will be provided as and when the information comes in.

Ongame Poker Network has been acquired by Amaya Gaming in the sum of $15 million but if the US opens it's doors and becomes regulated in the next 5 years, a further $10 million will be paid.

A number of Revolution Gaming skins (including Cake Poker) have started transferring their US players to the Juicy Stakes’ .com site.

Howard Lederer, the former president of Full Tilt Poker ...
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Isn't technology a wonderful thing!

With your favourite poker sites releasing mobile poker apps, it makes continuing or starting a game of poker on the move a possibility. PokerStars, bwin Poker, 888 Poker and Party Poker are just a few of the sites offering mobile poker games.

Most sites offer apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry so if you have one of these smart devices, you are well on your way to playing poker on the go.

You could start a game at home on your laptop or pc, log out of the poker site and log in on your mobile to continue...
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A new online poker room called Poker Rebel is due to be launched on 1st November. The site supports English and Portuguese and will be focusing on the Brazilian Market.

Juicy Stakes poker have 3 new members joining them including Colt Poker, HiLife Poker and Fugu Poker. Cake Poker site started moving its US players from the .eu site to Juicy Stakes Poker website.

French players will be able to recover their Full Tilt Poker funds early in November. In order to obtain these funds, players will need to login to the FTP French site, enter their username and pass...
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There is nothing more delicious than an Indian curry.

According to the BBC, us Brits consume 18 tonnes of chicken tikka masala across the country each week, served up by 15,000 Indian restaurants.

However, there is nothing to compliment a curry more than a good game of poker and that is exactly what I did last night.

I ordered the takeaway and they said it would be an hour and 10 minutes to wait. I held off from registering for a game until the food arrived. After an hour and twenty minutes my stomach was still rumbling as the food still hadn't ...
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In the news this week, Jonathan Duhamel's ex girlfriend Bianca Rojas-Latraverse is in court for being involved in the theft of $160,000 cash, a $10,000 Rolex watch and a 2010 WSOP bracelet from Duhamells home.

A publicity video has been released by International Stadiums Poker Tour. The Wembley Stadium $20 million prize pool tournament is hoped to attract some 30,000 players with the last 3,000 playing at Wembley in May next year. In later news, it was stated that at least 15,000 players must register for the game to go ahead.

The Senator Heller and Senator Har...
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Cheating at poker is a very touchy subject particularly with the Absolute Poker and Ultimatebet debacle that is still talked about even now and the recent news about the Chinese players cheating on PokerStars.

With the Absolutel Poker/Ultimatebet scandal, "superuser" accounts were enabled to allow players to view everyone's hole cards. With the PokerStars scandal, a group of Chinese players were colluding with each other in high stakes "double or nothing" games. Are these just the tip of the iceberg?

Lets look firstly at the forms of cheating that are out there....
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Two affiliate enterprises were awarded provisional licences by the Nevada Gaming Control Board this week. Both were to Poker Trip Enterprises Inc. of Las Vegas.

The class action against Full Tilt has been withdrawn by legal counsel for the U.S. Full Tilt Poker Player Account holders, Steven Segal. In later news, the relaunch of Full Tilt appears to be coming closer as Full Tilt are advertising for many IT positions. In further news, the US Department of Justice are seeking forfeiture of a total $137 million. These funds were acquired through the use of "an illegal enterprise...
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I played a 9 seater non turbo holdem sitngo with a low buyin of 60c yesterday and right from the beginning, it was obvious who the fish was.

Needless to say, first hand the fish was all in and managed to knock two players out. He had a poor hand, in fact, he had the worst starting hand managing to beat AK and JJ with his Q6 offsuit. He hit queens on the flop and it held to the river.

I immediately made a note on him, the contents of which I cannot repeat here! However, I did make a note of his cards that he went all in with.

This player was rais...
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Michael Phelps has been displaying his poker skills in Caesars Casino in Las Vegas after he won $100,000 playing Texas Hold'em.

US Attorney's Office in Maryland have put up for sale nine of the seized online gambling domains including:Doylesroom.com,
Funtimebingo.com, Truepoker.com, Beted.com, Bookmaker.com, 2Betsdi.com, Goldenarchcasino.com, Betmaker.com, Betgrandesports.com and Betehorse.com.

The PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) kicked off last week and over 20,000 players entered the first two events on day 1. In later news the 201...
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The Hong Kong High Rollers Tournament took place on 31st August and the buyin was HK$2million.

There were 73 players and 21 re-buys which meant the total amount of cash up for grabs was a staggering HK$182.3 million. Twelve players finished in the money and the first prize was a huge HK$50.15m which is equivalent to $6.465m.

Some famous names attended this hgh roller event like Johnny Chan, Phil Ivey, Sam Trickett, Ben Lamb, Brian Rast, Erik Seidel and John Juanda.

The winner was Stanley Choi who managed to win the tournament on the first hand afte...
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A 23 year old unnamed Swedish Poker Player has been arrested for 4 counts of blackmailing, 1 robbery and 1 aggravated robbery. Large amounts of cash are involved.

Player Verify LLC have applied for a Nevada License. The company specialize in player identity services and will help players by not having to submit repeated ID verification.

A new poker site targeting the Asian Market has recently gone live. Poker Ace has been launched under a First Cagayan license in a no-download version and offers all the usual poker games along with Chinese Poker,

...
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Of course it is - it's poker!

Seriously, if you intend to play poker all day and you are a serial multi tabler, it can be quite difficult to fit in a decent break to stretch your legs, get a bite to eat or just generally relax for 10 minutes.

How often have you started a game, be it a tournament or a sitngo, only to realise that you need to visit the bathroom or you fancy a drink.

Rushing back and forth from the kitchen to the game whilst making a coffee can be quite a hilarious affair. You rush out and put the kettle on or the coffee machine, ru...
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Nevada Gaming Commission is considering further regulatory requirements for final approval of internet poker licenses. South Point Poker and Monarch Casino were advised of the new requirements which centre on organisation and integrity.

The $50,000 buy-in EPT Barcelona Super High Roller event was won by Dan Smith. He took the top prize of â$962,925.

NRT Technologies Corp has applied to Nevada for a license in the rush to legalize poker. NRT Technologies are a payment processing equipment manufacturer.

The PokerStars 85 billionth hand has been r...
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A high rollers tournament is set to take place in Hong Kong on 31st August 2012.

The buyin - a mere HKD$2 million.

The high rollers tournament is to be held at the Starworld Casino’s Poker King Club in Macau and of course, there are some very well known poker players attending such as Phill Ivey, Johnny Chan, Sam Trickett, Erik Seidel, Joe Hachem, and Tom Dwan,

The number of players has been capped at 80 however that doesn't mean that the total pot is limited to 80 x HKD$ 2 million. Players have an opportunity to rebuy once up to level 4 and can...
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Information has come to light that Matt Marafioti and Samer Rahman allegedly conspired to view other professional poker player's hole cards by using a hole card viewing trojan. Skype and online chats have been made public between to the two players.

The US Department of Justice has issued an employment offer requesting "independent Claims Administrator" to come forward to deal with US player refunds. $159 million is due to be paid out to some 1.3 million US players

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Team PokerStars pro, has parted company with them on friendly terms. His...
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You may have read that the PokerStars 85 billionth hand is likely to hit the tables on the 20th August.

If you want to be part of the PokerStars ring game fever that is currently going on at the site, make sure to logn and play on the ring game tables.

The tips from PokerStars to maximise your chances of hitting one of the milestone hands (which range between 84,700,000,000 to 85,000,000,000) are as follows:

Play as many ring tables as you can - the more tables you play the better chance of being dealt into one of the milestone hands
Play for...
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It has been reported that online poker in California is unlikely to happen this year due to the August 31 deadline for new legislation. Democrat Darrell Steinberg stated that it is still possible, however it is unlikely to happen in the last four weeks of the current session. In later news, things look more hopeful because of the attempt of one tribal and card room alliance to reach a compromise.

The new reigning Government in Schleswig-Holstein spoke about the liberalisation of gambling and whilst they announced they were against it, they are now sweet talking the operators w...
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If you are searching on the internet for poker tools to assist your poker game and skills, you will see millions of hits offering the latest innovative software to help improve your play, simple poker stats, hand analysis and so much more.

If you are willing to pay good money for this software, there are plenty to choose from but of course how will you know how good it is if you haven't tried it?

Most providers will give you a free trial, which generally lasts for 30 days. You are unlikely to be given complete access to all the features of the software but you wil...
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...playing the most exciting poker games anywhere online.

Those are the words that you may remember seeing every time you logged into Full Tilt Poker and it is more than 15 months since the last time you were able to login.

The news is good though. PokerStars have bought Full Tilt Poker and if they pay the US Government the very large sums they are supposed to be paying i.e. $547 million, the site will be active by 6th November 2012 at the latest.

In a deal with the US Government, PokerStars will be taking over the assets of Full Tilt Poker and wil...
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iPoker have shut down Moore Games without any notifications to it's players and indeed without any explanation to CEO of Moore Games, Samir Mujagic.

The acquisition of Full Tilt Poker by PokerStars has been agreed by the US Departnent of Justice. Whilst civil forfeiture proceedings will end, the criminal charges still stand. $330 million is to be paid by PokerStars to the US out of which USA players claim compensation for their losses. In later news it was reported that the acquisition of Full Tilt by PokerStars, means 200 jobs in Ireland are safe. In further news regarding...
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Absolute Poker's Finance Chief, Brent Beckley, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by Judge Lewis Kaplan. He was charged with conspiring to break U.S. laws against gambling on the Internet to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.

Rumours earlier in the week surrounded Zynga Poker considering real money play - they don't want to be totally reliant upon Facebook. In a later report, it was confirmed that they are ready to launch in early 2013.

Rules for online poker affiliates have been set by Nevada. A Class 3 license is required for anyone who "Provides information...
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I guess you could consider the World Series of Poker as being the "olympics" of the poker world but there is a vast difference between the WSOP and the olympics in only one way.

The WSOP is all about money! If you can afford the buyin you can enter, no matter how good (or bad) you are as a player.

With the olympics, it is all about skill, determination, training, diet, commitment and numerous other words I could use to describe an athlete. As a poker player, you must have many of the disciplines of an athlete i.e. skill, commitment, determination etc etc. continue

Lock Poker players have had trouble depositing to their poker accounts. The money leaves their bank account but doesn't arrive in their poker bankroll. The total lack of communication from Lock Poker has angered players and a boycott has been called for.

The final table was reached in the WSOP and sadly, no women are in the final 9. The game will resume in October. The chip count for the final 9 players is as follows:

1 Russell Thomas 24,800,000
2 Jacob Balsiger 13,115,000
3 ...
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Some time ago, someone mentioned about continuation betting.

I didn't think too deeply about it at the time although I did realise the importance of it. It really hit home today.

I played a freeroll at Betonline and there was the usual freeroll mindless all-in betting at the beginning. After about half of the players had been knocked out, it became a really interesting and dare I say it, quite exciting game. Play was tight and the hands being played were quality.

I had AK suited and decided to raise the pot pre-flop. Most of the players folded...
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Last Sunday, the WSOP main event began with day 1a where 1,066 participants signed up. Day 1b saw a further 2,114 players and Day 1c added a further 3,418 making a grand total of 6,598 total players for the 43rd WSOP main event.

The total prize pool is $62,021,200 and $8,527,982 will be pocketed by the winner and 666th position can expect to be paid $19,,227.. As at day 4, the bubble burst and no less than 4 players finished in 666th position, each taking a share of $4,806.75 each. As at day 5, there were just 282 players left, five of which were women. The top 10 chip holde...
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Playing online is a wonderful way to get a game of poker whenever you fancy one. You can choose the type of game you feel like playing and at the stake that you can afford.

You sit at the table full of epectations and excitement waiting for the game to begin. The game begins and after a few hands, so does the bad language.

Some players believe it is their right to win a hand no matter what rubbish they call with.

I played in a game yesterday, a freeroll, and one player lost quite a few chips to a British player. The language this preson came out...
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As you have probably read by now, Antonio Esfandiari won the World Series of Poker Big One for One Drop Charity tournament and pocketed one of the biggest ever poker game prizes of $18,346,673.

Richard Yong was the first out of the final table losing on the river to Brain Rast's Kings.

Bobby Baldwin was next to go in 7th place on the 41st hand, Baldwin was all in with A10 against Guy Laliberté's pocket Jacks. The best Baldwin could hit was 10s on the flop but it wasn't enough to beat Laliberte's pocket pair.

Next to go was Brian Rast in 6th place...
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Day 3 and the first casualty has just left the table.

Richard Yong was knocked out in eighth place by Brian Rast. After Yong reraising all in Rast shows KsJh to Yong's Ac2h. The flop came down 7d 5c 3c the turn was 2s and Yong was in the lead until Kd came on the river. Yong's prize is $1,237,333.

Chip Count:

Antonio Esfandiari 40,600,000
Sam Trickett 37,850,000
Guy Laliberté 19,375,000
David Einhorn 14,925,000
Brian Rast 13,125,000
Phil Hellmuth 12,775,000
Bobby Baldwin 5,350,000

Th...
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Day two ended with the demise of Mike Sexton with a very "iffy" hand from Esfandiari leaving 8 players for the "TV table" on day 3. Esfandiari raised pre-flop and Sexton called as big blind. The flop came down As Js 3d and both players checked. The turn was 6d and Esfandiari bet 1.15 million. Mike Sexton raised all in and the players showed their cards. Esfandiari had 2 pairs, sixes and threes (holding 6s and 3c) and Sexton showed a pair of Jacks (holding Jd and 10d). The river was the 8c and Mike Sexton was out with a $1,109,333 win in his pocket.

Earlier in the day, Phil ...
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The $1 million dollar WSOP Big One for One Drop is on it's second day now and there are 26 players left with Gus Hanson being the last to go out just before the last break.

Blinds are 40,000 / 80,000 and Ante is 10,000.

On the dealer button, Gus Hansen raised pre-flop to 190,000. Philipp Gruissem re-raised to 580,000 from the big blind and Hansen moved all in for 3.4 million. Gruissem called the all in bet.

Gruissem: showed Ah Kd
Hansen: showed Js 10s

The flop was 7h, 5s, 3d. The turn was As and the river Ad. Gruissem won the ...
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Beta testing has been completed at Party Poker and they have officially announced a Mac friendly version of their software which includes a variety of poker games, is now on offer. Bounty, Event, Freerolls, Regular and Rebuy tournaments along with Qualiiers and Shootouts are now available.for Mac users.

After the issue of licences to Bally Technologies and International Game Technology by the Nevada Gaming Commission, hope rises again for legalization of poker in the US. Bally CEO confirmed that an Internet poker products supply deal has alredy been reached with Golden Nugget ...
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As you may have read in an earlier piece, the $1,000,000 buy in tournament at the World Series of Poker starts in a few hours.

The list of participants is pretty impressive and as previously mentioned, $111,111 of each $1 million buy in will go to the charity One Drop.

Here are the participants (information from WSOP official site)

Bobby Baldwin - Chief Design and Construction Officer, MGM Resorts
Frederic Banjout - CEO, Eden Shoes
Bob Bright - CEO, Bright Trading LLC
Ilya Bulychev - Businessman
Roland De Wolfe - Professi...
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Rafael Nadal Parera (his full name) has just joined PokerStars.

He was born on 3rd June 1986 and was ranked today as the world number 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals. His nickname is "The King of Clay" and he is regarded as the best clay court tennis player in the world. But is he "King of the Felt"?

When it comes to poker, Rafa Nadal may actually need some help and to get that help, he is offering a seat in the European Poker Tour in Barcelona for free.

All you have to do to enter this free contest is submit a video clip of yourself...
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I'm sure you have all seen them and been knocked out by them. I'm talking about freeroll luckers.

It doesn't matter what they do, they will always win the hand.

You settle down for a nice game of poker with your usual high expectations for a good game and perhaps a poisiton in the paying places. The game starts and the table loads.

There are 7 sitouts and just 2 or 3 including yourself playing. The first round, one player is all in, normal so far. The first round takes forever because the clock has to count down on every sitout. The next roun...
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The Wolrd Series of Poker will hold the biggest tournament buy in event ever this year.

The $1 million buy in tournament will be held on July 1st and is the biggest buyin ever in poker history. The tournament is in aid of One Drop, a charity providing safe water to people all around the world.

The minimum number of players needed for the BIG ONE for ONE DROP event to start is 22 and the maximum number of players is capped at 48. The last news I heard is that there are 47 players.

This is an official event and a bracelet will be awarded to the winn...
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...play on and if poker is your food why not enjoy that love with some music.

When you play poker, you need to keep calm, be patient and not lose your cool (or make mistakes).

If you drive a car, you may notice the way you drive can be affected by the music that is playing on the radio. If it is a rock and roll or heavy metal track playing, you may notice that you are speeding now and then or getting impatient or aggressive with other road users whereas when a calming well sung track is playing, you'll be waving others out in front of you and generally being a se...
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A 12 year old borrowed his father's credit card to play online poker for real after he had a lot of success playing with play money. Alas, it was not a success at all. His father discovered that his credit card was maxed out when he tried to use.it and it wasn't until some time later that he learned the truth that his son had spent £7,000 playing poker online. The boy's father decided to go public to warn others about under-age gambling.

A 17 year old was committed to house arrest after being caught running an illegal gambling network in Tel-Aviv. In related news, a Singapo...
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As a poker player, you wil know the Annual 43rd World Series of Poker is well under way.,

The event runs from Sunday, May 27, 2012 to Monday, July 16, 2012 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. The cheapest buyin is Event #1 which is the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em event with a $500 buyin.

The most expensive buyin is Event #55 - The Big One for One Drop - No-Limit Hold'em where the buyin is $1,000,000! The prize pool is expected to be upwards of $35million and takes place on Sun, July 1st and is a 3-Day Event.

The next most expensive buyin ...
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The 43rd World Series of Poker started this week with the Casino Employees event. The $500 buy-in tournament saw a field of more than 750 players begin the battle and reports later in the week revealed that blackjack dealer Chiab Saechao, won the tournament and a very tasty $70k.

The Merge Gaming Network are now offering rakeback again to their players. This was the first time in almost a year to the day that the rakeback programme was ceased at Merge. Players who previously signed up through affiliates offering rakeback, will get the same 35% they were receiving prior to the...
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Poker sites need to attract players in order to survive and to attract players, poker sites need to keep their promotions up to date, interesting, attractive and most of all, give back something to their players.

Plentiful freerolls are the first thing that brings in poker players along with free stuff like poker calculators, poker e-books, poker training, free to enter promotions and decent bonuses.

When it comes down to USA poker sites, the promotions rarely change and some don't even offer freerolls to their players. It is hard to understand why these sites th...
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If you live in the UK and are thinking of changing career then you should be heading off to PokerStars. This week they were voted the number 1 company to work for by The Great Place to Work Institute. Benefits and rewards, strong professional development opportunities and a diverse workforce were among the reasons that made them number one.

PokerStars were also in the news this week after they launched higher stakes Zoom Poker games for Pot Limit Omaha players. Zoom poker seems to be extremely popular since it's launch. There are now play tables if you want to try it out.continue

What is it about poker games today where you are up against the big stacks......and you consistently lose?

It doesn't matter which site you are playing on, if you go up against the big stack of the table, even with pocket aces, you are destined to lose.

I guess I'm ranting about the RNG again but I want to specifically talk about the big stacks at the table.

Have you ever watched the big stack and their hands? It's like watching a "pas de deux". The lead "dancer" raises pre flop and you raise all in with your pocket aces. The cards show and you...
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How come, when it's your last bit of cash you are using to buy into a sitngo or tournament or even a ring game, you can manage to pull your best poker play out of the bag?

I played with the last of my cash this afternoon. If I lost the game, I would have 2c left.

I used my best ally; patience. I waited for those good hands, watched the players carefully, made notes where appropriate and just waited patiently.

At one point I was big blind and I was dealt pocket aces. I hadn't really played a proper hand as such since the game started. I was hopin...
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Since the demise of Full Tilt Poker, it seems a lot of sites have been jumping on the "speed poker" bandwagon.

The latest site to offer a speedy game of poker is Stan James Poker.

"Blaze Poker" is the name and speed is definitely the game. It all sounds pretty much the same as other sites that have adopted this latest craze but unlike the others, with Stan James Poker you can enter the same cash game more than once. Happily, you will never play yourself at the same table. I think there would be something very spooky about seeing yourself seated at the same ta...
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Rumours of problems for the Cake Network surfaced at the beginning of the week and confirmation arrived the following day that Lock Poker were to buy part of Cake. Some rebranding to Revolution Gaming will take place. Further details will no doubt follow shortly.

Thanks to the Nevada Gambling Control Board's recently passed bill, punters will be able to make bets on the final day of most of the World Series of Poker events. However, licensed bookmakers must provide the Enforcement Division with details of the betting terms and conditions via email. Poker News will be the off...
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What is a guaranteed tournament?

A guaranteed tournament is a poker tournament with a set sum that will be available to be won no matter how many entries there are.

Say for example Cake Poker offer a $100,000 guaranteed tournament. This means that $100,000 is available to be won regardless of how many players participate.

Generally, the buyin to the larger tournaments is quite high for low limit tournament players e.g. over $100 plus of course the touranment fee that the site will take. Rebuys will also be available and these will likely be th...
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I've written so many times about raising pre-flop when you want to get the fish and chancers out of a hand and yet I don't seem to listen to my own advice.

Playing in a 100k guaranteed over the weekend, I had quite a large stack of chips and blinds were 3k/6k. I was dealt pocket Jacks and I was in middle position. Play was tight(ish) aggressive at the table. I didn't raise with my Jacks because the big blind had double the stack that I had, I thought I would slow play them to get as many chips as possible and I wanted to see a cheap(ish) flop in case an ace came down.
...
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I've been watching Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu and rUaBot playing two tables heads up at stakes of $200/$400 a pop. The game is limit holdem and rUaBot is miles ahead on the luck stakes!

Almost every hand is a pre-flop raise hand and they are both re-raising too. Daniel's luck seems to be down the pan though and rUaBot can do no wrong.

In one particular hand rUaBot raised pre-flop and KidPoker re-raised and this went on to the cap. The flop came down with a couple of clubs on the table. The betting continued and the turn was also a club. The river was a nothi...
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When Pokerstars announce that another mega milestone will soon be reached,up to 300,000 players log in to get a piece of the payout pie.

The next mega milestone hand is the 80 Billionth hand and there will be payouts along the way for 300 regular Milestone Hands beginning with hand number 79,700,000,000 and ending with hand 79,999,000,000

Some of the tips given by PokerStars are to multi-table: The more tables you are seated at, the greater your chance of being dealt into a milestone hand. Play for longer: Cash prizes during milestone hands are awarded based on t...
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Playing tournaments in real life (IRL) is a very different experience to playing online.

When you are sitting in the comfort of your own home, you don't have to look suitably dressed to play a game of poker, in fact, you can sit around in your pyjamas if you choose to. You can nip out to the kitchen to get yourself a drink, smoke a cigaratte and play other games whilst you are waiting for your turn. If you want to chat with other players, you can, but if you choose not to, you can either minimize the chat or select statistics to view instead. When you play in real life, it's...
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It's been a very busy time in the poker world this week and below is a summary of whats been going on.

The Manila Millions Super High Roller tournament was won by Allan Le. He took home a huge HKD 13,800,000 frist prize ($1.7 million). There were 30 entrants in this tournament and the buyin was $129,000. Famous names like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey took part in this High Roller event but neither of them featured in the prizes.

There was an interesting view from Barney Frank regarding the legalization of online poker in the United States. Barney Frank does not thi...
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It's been just over one year since that fateful day on 15th April 2011 when the US Department of Justice (DoJ) seized Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Absolute Poker's websites.

That day shook the poker world, not just in the US but all around the world. Money laundering, illegal gambling and bank fraud were amongst the charges being brought by the US DoJ.

Players spoke about their loss of freedom and the anger they felt because not only did they lose sites that they loved to play at, they lost their bankrolls too. But what about the American poker pros - what ha...
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If you frequent PokerStars, you may have recently noticed a new tab in amongst the usual sitngo, tournament and Hold'em tabs with Zoom Beta on it.

It's very similar to Rush Poker that used to be available on Full Tilt Poker. There is a pretty cool feature that Zoom Poker has which I will talk about further down.

The games available are Holdem, Omaha and 5 Card Draw; these are all ring games. You can play with real cash or your play money and the smallest real money stakes are 1c/2c. These rise up to the largest stakes of $2.50/$5.00. For the play money tables,...
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When you make a deposit on a poker site and you decide to take a bonus, the terms of the bonus can be very confusing and leave you wondering what to expect.

You will see terms such as rake, fees, FPP or VIP etc. Some sites don't show the full bonus details and this can make it difficult to calculate where you are in terms of your bonus.

Lets create a scenario. You find a bonus that offers 100% up to $1000 bonus. You have 90 days to get as much of the bonus as you can and for every 75 points (FPP or VIP etc) you earn, you get $10 of your bonus. Sounds simple en...
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Small pocket pairs range from 2's to 6's and any other higher pair would be considered a medium or high pocket pair. These low pairs can be deceptively strong but can often land new players in a lot of trouble if they are over-valued.

When you play your small pocket pair, you are likely to be ahead of the other hands on the table pre-flop but once the flop has come down, if you have not improved, you will find yourself in a tricky situation.

How many times have you played your small pocket pair and the community cards show two higher pairs making your pocket pair ...
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What's the point in playing heads up? You only have one opponent, winner takes all and one mistake could see you lose your buyin.

For starters, if you make it to the last 2 in a sitngo, the strategy in heads up play can be applied to this sitngo situation. It can also be applied to final tables in tournaments and ring game play.

How does heads up play differ from normal play?

With heads up play, the cards you are dealt hold more value. An example would be an Ace with anything is always worth raising with but in normal tournament or sitngo play, y...
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Well today is April Fools day and like any other April fools day, I was expecting lots of funny poker stories that turned out to be pranks but alas it did not happen.

It seems though that the Pokerstars game between Viktor Blom (Isildur1) and Isaac Haxton (philivey2694) who are playing a heads-up match for $1 million this weekend was thought to be an April fools joke. The details of the heads up games were released by Pokerstars on 30th March and players believed this was part of an elaborate April Fools Day prank. This is definitely not the case.

They are pla...
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When you enter a small stakes ring game, the buyin is generally limited to a couple of dollars, which means you can't lose your shirt.

Small stakes such as 2c/4c or even as low as 1c/2c can be a relaxing way to spend time playing poker. You don't have to fight to be in the paying places like tournaments or sitngo games, because if you win, you win real cash there and then.

Find yourself a table where the chip stacks held by your opponents are pretty even if you can. If you see one player with a "bigger than the buyin" bankroll, you will know that this player cou...
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I decided to watch a reasonably sized stake ring game to see what the play was like.

The stakes were $50/$100. It looked like the minimum you could take to the table was $500 as several people joined with that amount.

There was the usual blind stealing going on and with a profit of $150 each time, it was definitely a worthwhile action to take. One player was particularly aggressive in his play. He started with $500 and was up to $1200 within a couple of minutes by just stealing blinds. He did this by raising all in the first time and then min raising for a few...
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As a new player just starting out in the world of online poker, you could actually be going into this "thing" with your eyes very firmly shut.

You don't know where your new journey will lead you, you don't know how good you will be or even if you will like the game and stick with it through the bad times.

It has been said many times that poker can take a moment to learn and a lifetime to master. Whoever coined the phrase knew what they were talking about! Anyone can sit down at a virtual table and play poker but it takes someone with the need and urge to play ...
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Quite often when playing poker, you might limp into a hand and hit top pair or even get lucky with two pairs. You feel confident that you are in the lead and then the worst happens, the chip leader raises big, meaning you would be all in if you call.

What is it about this situation that is so unnerving . Do you call and risk all your chips? Is your opponent bluffing or just trying to steal the pot? It's definitely an overbet and the clock is ticking.

You have 8 seconds to make your decision. If you call and they have trips or a straight or are chasing a flush...
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I often think about what online poker will be like in say 10, 15 or even 20 years time.

Think back to the mid 70's and the technology that was around then. No internet, mobile phones as they are used today were massive and usually only "in car" and games like Space Invaders were available on special tables in public houses or "stand alone" units in the corner of the pub Digital technology was unheard of.

Many poker sites are now launching poker on smart phones and you can get a game whenever you want and wherever you are.
Where will the future be in on...
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888Poker offer you $8 absolutely free when you sign up to their site and with low buyin tournaments such as the 60 seater super turbo at only 2c entry cost, you can literally play 400 games with that free cash.

These super turbo games don't last too long as they are speed tournaments and the top prize is only 52c which isn't a huge prize but on the other hand, it isn't a bad return for your 2c buyin.

The play is the usual poor start with dodgy all-ins on the first few hands just to try and build up a stack. That said, there are some good hands played in the middl...
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If you are a seasoned poker player, you will have seen opponents getting lucky with dire starting hands.

I'm taling about players going all in with hands like 9 4 offsuit and hitting a full house or a straight. Is it a fish? Is it a players lucky hand? Or is it something else?

There is plenty of "cheating poker software" on sale over the internet that claims to be able to predict 3 out of the 5 community cards that will flop on the board. You may have seen other software that allows you to "spy" on the other players hands or predict the hole cards of other pla...
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If you are planning on joining the world of online poker and don't know where to start, hopefully the following tips will guide you in the right direction.

You probably feel like jumping right in with both feet, depositng cash and playing cash tables. This is definitely not the best way to start.

To get the feel of the game, start on the play money tables and freerolls. This will give you the opportunity to learn the game and get a good feel for how everything works. You will see a lot of players throwing all their chips in the pot and because these are play m...
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When you start playing poker online, it's a very different experience to playing in real life.

You can meet and chat with players from all over the world, make friends, play in the comfort of your own home and play whenever you want. Before you choose the right poker room for you, there are many things to consider.

With so many poker sites to choose from, you are really spoilt for choice; some offer great freerolls, some offer great guaranteed tournaments and some offer the best software or bonuses. So what is it you are looking for in a poker room and what do...
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You are playing in a multi table tournament, currently in the top half of the positions and wham, the tournament crashes.

You can't rejoin your table, you can't do anything. At some point, you can't even login to the site. Finally you get back onto the poker site and you see that the tournament has been cancelled. So what happens now?

All is not lost. Depending on the position of the tournament i.e. registration still open, rebuy/addon period still running and so on, will depend on what you will get back.

All players already eliminated will ...
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The recent news of the FBI indictment of four of the biggest poker sites namely Pokerstars, Full Tilt, UB.com and Absolute Poker, has come as a huge shock not just to the poker industry itself but also to poker players who make their living at these online poker sites.

So is the seizure a good or bad thing and what will happen next? More USA friendly poker sites being targeted by the FBI? Legalization and regulation? At this point in time, whatever is said is speculation and hope of a future for American poker players.

The remaining USA friendly sites will see...
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All too often I find myself chasing straights and all too often, the hand fails and I lose a large amount of chips.

With a 1 in 6 chance of hitting a gutshot straight draw, the odds are not in my favour. With an openended straight, the odds are slightly improved to 1 in 3. A gutshot straight draw is where you may have cards like 5679 and you are chasing the 8. An openended straight draw is where you have 4 consecutive cards like 5678 and you need either the 4 or the 9 to hit your straight.

With odds that are not so good, why do so many players chase these hands...
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You may or may not have heard of the bubble. What is the bubble?

The bubble is your position in a tournament if you are knocked out just before the paying places. For example if the paying places are 1st to 50th and you were knocked out in 51st or around that area, you went out on the bubble.

You now know what the bubble is but how do you play to stay in at this vital stage of the game. It's a good question but your play may vary depending on a certain few factors. You need to take into account the number of chips you have, the number of chips your opponents h...
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I just wanted to talk about suited hands and the amount of weight some players give these hands, no matter what the cards are.

Picture this. You're in a game and you have pocket Aces. You do the usual big raise pre-flop (unless of course you like to slow play your aces) and a player decides to re-raise you all in. You call their raise and reveal your cards. Your opponent reveals his cards and shows you 4c 5c. You're probably thinking to yourself you've got this one in the bag and then the awful thing happens, three clubs turn up and your aces are cracked.

Why...
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I have to say that I can understand why a new poker player would bust into a private freeroll tournament but that does not mean that I condone it. They have no thought behind the money that is up for grabs, about who paid for that freeroll out of their own pockets or about the originating sites players. They really just don't care at all and their only interest is to win free money for themselves.

Now I know that everyone loves a freeroll - I'm the same. But I do draw the line at busting into another sites freeroll without so much as a by your leave. One post is all it takes...
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I read a news article a while ago that some poker sites want more fish to join their site.

Now this sounds like a bit of a strange thing to say when you first read it but if you think logically about it, it is indeed a clever money making ploy.

The way I see it is this. If a noob fish joins a site and deposits for the first time - lets pick PKR which is a classic site to find fish. As a side note, I have to say that I love this site with its amazing 3D graphics and cheeky emotes etc. but there are indeed fish aplenty. Now as a noob fish on this site, they are d...
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Two poker sites that do not have the usual "RNG" is www.truepoker.com and www.realdealpoker.com.

At True Poker, it is actually just like a home game. Your cards are rubbish and there are no 2 x two suits on the table or the usual hands that can mean that 3 or 4 players are chasing a straight, flush, straight flush or full house. The only problem with this site is that is not frequented by too many players which is a big shame which means the chances of getting a game are remote. The cheapest sitngos are $3 plus 30c buy in and there just aren't enough people on the site to get...
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I thought it was about time I wrote an article about poker on here and the subject I have chosen is RNG or Random Number Generators.

There have been many discussions on the forum about RNG's and what it means to each individual poker player. The common theme and consensus of opinion seems to be "poker RNG's stink".

An RNG is supposed to be a generator of a "random" number (or card in the case of poker) for you and your opponents� next card or the cards that may fall in the middle of the table i.e. the flop, the turn or the river. There are hundreds of thousand...
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Hi everybody - Im blueday your friendly poker moderator. I've been playing poker for a good few years now and love the game of Texas Holdem. I've been the poker mod on here now for quite a while and to say its been a struggle to build up the poker section is an understatement. There aren't that many sites that give free money but the ones that do are listed on LPB and thats what everybody is always searching for.....simply because there are so many new players wanting to play poker.

If you are a new player, you've come to the right place. All the resources you need are here...
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