After running well over the last few months I could get down on myself after having a slightly down month. However, I actually feel good about my game. I played quite a bit more multi's last month due to vacation time and I landed 3 final tables with unfortunate coinflips going the wrong way missing the big money payouts. I was running white hot on sng's until this month and finally got hammered. Even with the bad luck I think after later review I probably got a little too loose and made the problem worse. I can usually tell if it's partially my fault if I bust out of alot of tourneys too early. I keep records on how long each game takes my and if I have a large number of 5-20 min finishes in sng's or less than 60 min multi's, I'm probably not concetrating and/or playing too reckless. If you try and go by overall money results it can be deceiving if a couple wins disguise numerous other poor performances. I find if I focus on avoiding risky plays early, the results tend to take care of themselves. Another great story this month, my friend Steve Frasure, who won a seat to Aruba last year, at the last minute, won another seat, went to Aruba and made the final 10 players/500+ and is taking home over $30,000!! http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/live_updates/16189/21564 All being said it was a good month with solid potential going into October to have one of my best months this year. Near the end of the month, I quickly picked up and focused on a new game on a smaller site. After 60 hours of play it has shown to be very profitable so far. I'm on vacation again this week and will continue to see how things pan out. I would say it takes at least 100-500 hours of play to really get a semi-reliable statistics, which depending on how your play can still change. My rule of thumb for trying to improve on my game is to try and focus on one game and try to use the same playbook while changing one thing at a time. This way, if your results dramatically improve or fail, it is much easier to pinpoint what works and what doesn't. If you try make make multiple changes to your game it makes it hard to figure out which changes have worked out for the better. Alot of players tend to get bored playing the same game over and over, but let me try and break it down. If I went to school and studied all subjects equally it would take me 10 years to graduate. I might know a fair amount about everything, but if I tried to debate a professional in any one particular field, I would be way out of my class. Another example might be if I had 10 new video games. If I played each game 10% of the time I would be an average player at 10 games. If I played 1 game 90% of the time I would probably be able to master the game in a very short period of time and be able to move on to trying my success in other games much quicker. If you play poker strictly for fun and recreation then by all means play whatever you enjoy most,but if you really care more about making money you might want to specialize. I would like to try and start leaving poker book reviews. I probably have about 90% of the books you'll find at the bookstore and while I don't think a book will necessarily transform your game, for a $20-30 investment if you pick up just one idea or plug one leak the small investment will pay for itself probably multiple times over. I think just the act of reading the book and dedicating yourself to focusing on your game and learning is what pays the real dividends. To the new or casual players, it seems like so much work and so far-fetched, but as with most hobbies or skills you start small and continue to build, until before you know it you've gone from a skinny stick boy to a buffed out poker body builder. The current book I'm reading at the moment is "Poker Essays", by Mason Malmuth. Most of his books I've read tend to be basic strategy books which can be a bit dry even for the greatest of poker enthusiast. "Poker Essays", however, while probably written many years ago and revised, is geared towards all the other things that have to do with poker, other than how to play pocket 77 from UTG+2 with a TAG or your right and LAG on your left, blah, blah, blah. It gets a variety of issues: Money management, Image, taking notes, structure, psychology, etc. Not a bad read so far to kill some time while waiting around. It primarily focuses on live poker and does use some refrences to Stud games (which used to be more popular years ago until No Limit Holdem took over the world). All in all I would say it's worth a look especially when you're bored with the same-old strategy books. It retails for about $24.95 in the U.S. I'm giving it a DonkeyHerding rank of 7 out of 10.Here's this weeks dose of Chinese war master "Sun-Tzu" : "If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant".Good luck grinders, please keep the comments and questions coming. I look forward to reporting on a already great October. Donkeyherder.Here is a link to the "Poker Players Alliance" website which posts the latest poker legislation news and is the largest lobbying group supporting our right to play poker. http://pokerplayersalliance.org/

We played 3 poker games last night with a full house of 9 players (which is the most we've ever had). NEW LEAGUE ENHANCEMENT: You can now filter the league on a Minimum Number of games. You will see this icon on the league scoreboard (top right) - . This eliminates lucky wins - for example, set the view to 10 on our league and it changes dramatically. Man of the Poker Match was Jeff, much to everyone's disgust. Jeff won the first $10 game AND the next $20 game (where some idiot put in $20 too much) and then came 2nd in the final game (after Morgs put a stop to a new record). The 3 games that were played: $10 Game - Jeff wins, with Rod second 1st $20 Game - Jeff wins with Davy a close 2nd 2nd $20 Game - Morgs puts a stop to Jeff's wins and here is the current league scoreboard. Soon the points system on PokerDIY will be implemented so that the league will be based on Points and not cash which should level things out and make it more interesting! See you next Thurs!

The CPL Poker Blog is for all who love the game of poker and for those who run a home poker league! And, check out our (more or less) weekly podcast covering poker and more! Hey, we've had Andy Bloch on the show.

I wrote a long-winded book of a post and misclicked and lost everything. Seems like a paralel to my poker life. You do everything right and forget one detail and it comes back to bite you 10 fold. Basically treat your game like you're going to war and don't let your guard down or even the worst donks and fishes will capitalize. In my dissapearing post I rambled on about how the nature of this game is so deceiving. Winners look like loser, losers look like winners, and for a few hundred bucks you can sit down and actually beat the best players in the world!! What other game/sport could you do this? It also shows how hard it is to make a living at the game and how fast you think you have a game nailed. Basically most pros (if playing in a game that on average they can beat) after subtracting the rake paid to the casino have a small advantage of maybe a few percent. It would be like being able to bet on a coin flip and know that heads is a 55%/45% favorite. It's not hard to see that even as a favorite you could still flip tails 7 times in a row!! Even after months and years of solid results, things turn or leaks grow overnight and next thing you know you've become a donator. If you want to beat this game, you really need to use every advantage you can get. Play small vs. bankroll, find your best $ returning games, stick to those games and try to master them. Take advantage of bonuses and rakeback. One note on bonuses, don't play any higher limits than your used to in order to cash in bonuses. Let them come as freebies on their own. I have in the past played much higher than I'm used to in order to try to claim bonus money before it expired and lost hundreds of dollars in order to claim $100-200.This website routinely posts a daily hand quiz which asks for viewers feedback. Here is the most recent hand that I broke down and left my opinion on: http://www.dailyhandquiz.com/2008/09/26/top-pair-out-of-position-on-the-river-nl-tournament/The last week or two has been a bit distracting. I was on vacation and tried to take advantage of my free time and play more multi's and it threw off my sng routine, coupled with a horrible run of bubbles and suckouts. I eventually decided to play smaller even though I was facing my 1st losing month in a while and only a week or so left in the month. I was very tempted to keep playing somewhat high to make up the difference, but I knew it was smarter to choke up on the bat and just try and make contact until I get make into the routine. I also tried to play a few new games. You never know what might be your next solid money maker and it after a few solid days and tremendous results I might have found something BIG. I'll keep it under raps for now. I need hundreds of games in order to get more accurate stats. It will be smart to scale up the new games if they continue to show potential. You never know, I might be back 2 weeks later with completely different results. This game is so brutal, because you really don't know if you are doing well until a few months later looking back. Here's some more "Sun-Tzu" for you grasshoppers: "All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using forces, we must seem inactive."Good luck fellow poker players and poker followers. Please continue to pass on the questions and comments. DonkeyherderYou can reach me at http://donkeyherder.livejournal.com

Do you look like "The Poker" Brat Phil Hellmuth? Well, if you do, I feel very sorry for you! But there's good news...get down to the World Series of Poker Europe because UB and Phil Hellmuth are hosting a Phil Hellmuth look-a-like contest. The winner will receive ₤2,000 and accompany Phil "The Poker Brat" Hellmuth and a dozen models into the playing area of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Phil Hellmuth is going after WSOP bracelet #12 at the WSOPE so perhaps he's hoping that seeing a bunch of people that look like him will give him the ego boost he needs to get that record 12th WSOP bracelet.

We played 4 poker games last night with a smaller crew than normal (what with the boys being in Fiji and all!) NEW LEAGUE ENHANCEMENT: You can now filter the league on a Minimum Number of games - . This eliminates lucky wins - for example, set the view to 10 on our league and it changes dramatically.

Mike Matusow will try to break his losing streak on Poker After Dark this week as new episodes start airing tonight in "Mission Impossible" week. The "Mission Impossible" is to poke fun at the fact that Mike Matusow has appeared 8 times on Poker After Dark and hasn't won yet. Clonie Gowen (2-4 on PAD), Gavin Smith (1-1 on PAD), Phil Hellmuth (3-7 on PAD), Phil Laak (1-3 on PAD) and David Williams (1-1 on PAD) will try to make it "Mission Impossible" once again for Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and prevent him from getting his first Poker After Dark win. Epsiodes appear weekdays Monday thru Friday late night (early morning) 2:05 AM on NBC with a directors cut appearing late Saturday (early Sunday). On the Poker After Dark site it states: Your mission Mr. Matusow, if you choose to accept it, is to beat five Poker After Dark champions - a title that has eluded you in eight previous attempts. You will face Phil Hellmuth, a player with an encyclopedic knowledge of Hold ‘em. His expertise is especially evident when players send him to the rail he tells them how bad they played against him. Phil Laak is the complete opposite. He tells players how bad he is even when he’s raking in their chips. Clonie Gowen is as beautiful as she is deadly. She’s won two PAD titles in four appearances.  And don’t let the fact that David Williams developed his poker skills by playing "Magic: The Gathering" fool you. This guy’s no nerd. He has a WSOP bracelet and has won over $6 million. Gavin Smith might have a reputation as a party animal, but he’s definitely more ferocious when he’s on the felt. Finally, there’s you, Mr. Matusow. More times than not, you are your own worst enemy. When it comes to this tournament, make sure you don’t self-destruct.

Normally I have been posting after the weeks end, but I have been on vacation from my real job this week and have some extra time. Most of the week I have been babysitting our 11 month old, but I have been able to squeeze in couple multi table tourneys (MTT's) in when my wife gets home from work. Unfortunately my Sit-in-go "SNG" stats have taken a dive after being on a pretty good run over the last couple months. I pretty much expected a bad run eventually, but I've really faced alot of bubble outs and suckouts keeping me out of the money.  Nothing much to worry about. I haven't played enough sng's lately to make the downturn anything out of the norm and I can tell I still playing well, or more importantly, not making any more mistakes than usual. If I was to give advice on downturns it would be to play smaller till the kinks or karma turn around and focus on where I might be a bit out of line.  This is exactly what I did and played a level below my norm and avoided over multi-tabling. It wasn't a major thing and since I had some extra time I've been playing some rebuy multi's and taking a percentage of my buddy T_dawgonu. We've both been running pretty deep into alot of multi's lately, but unfortunately haven't had alot of time invest in multi's together.  He's made a few final tables as of late and won an Aruba WPT trip which he I think he leaves next week. The only problem is we keep getting deep and get busted out like right before final table or 6-9th place and keep getting so close to the big money that any other finish seems like a disapointment and this week I think he hit 2-3 final tables and I hit 2 final tables myself. Again, I got coin flipped out 5th and 7th. I've also been on a great 10 game multi run: 38/232, 13/215, 128/346, 23/127, 7/191, 53/145, 10/45, 5/191, 27/158, and 18/193. So in the end I feel great about my play but need some better luck in the end.  This week I signed up for an account with myspace. My login is under Donkeyherderpoker. Unfortunately some donk already has my name there. Yahoo also has a new blog account called bloglog. I'm leaving links on those sites to my blog which will help expand my blog. Like most serious poker players I'd like to get a few ponsorship/advertising deals and as the blog grows and I keep hitting final tables things should keep rolling. I got an email from an advertiser this week so I expect to get the ball rolling over the next year or two. If anyone else out there who has experience in this dept. has recommondations let me know.  I'm planning on starting to do some reviews on various poker subjects. I've read and own dozens of poker books and plan on sharing a few of my favorites. One book I have is called "Tournament Poker and the Art of War", by David Apostolico, which incorporates Sun-Tzu famous war strategies into sometimes corny but useful poker strategy lessons. Here's a one for you: "If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt."       In general for pay 30-33% Some 10 handers on Cake Poker pay 4 spots: 36-39% might break even, Over 40%=Usually would show a profit, and 45%+ Very profitableFor most good players finish in top 42% or better and most the multi's I play are around 200-400 players so on average I should make a final table at least 1 in every 20-40 tourneysMay 08 - 118/283= 41.7%                                    12 Tourneys - 42/100 - 0 Final tablesJune 08 - 58/138= 42.0%                                    10 Tourneys - 39/100 - 1 Final TableJuly 08 - 86/183= 47.0%                                        9 Tourneys - 33/100 - 2 Final TablesAug 08 - 60/118 = 50.8%                                       9 Tourneys - 36/100 - 1 Final TableSept 08 - 38/97 = 39.2% (So far)                         21 Tourneys - 31/100 - 3 Final Tables  (So Far)Good luck fellow poker players and poker followers. Please continue to pass on the questions and comments. Donkeyherder 

I'm new to poker, although I lived in Las Vegas at one point in my life, I never hit the tables. Mostly I'm here because I'm a DNN developer checking out Rod's great work. For a living I manage the technology group http://www.snapforseniors.com. We help people in the US find senior housing options. Doing this work I've found that senior citizens play a lot of poker and can be pretty serious about it too! Seems like a good way to pass time, stay mentally sharp, and maybe win some extra booty. Cheers, Ralph

I knew the poker karma was flowing and it seems like you never just coast back into your normal winning patterns after a nice hot streak. I think almost every time I basically get slammed against a wall at full speed and I can usually see the wall coming from a mile away and can't do anything about it. I pretty much got bubbled and sucked out and lost every coin flip over the last week.  I won't bore you with a bunch of beat stories, but I thought the start to this weak would be pretty good. On Sunday I played 3 satelites to the Pokerstars $3 million and won 2 of them, basically getting a free entry. The tourney had over 7000 players and after 3 hours was on the leader board which is tough vs thousands of players left, and unfortunately had JJ run into KK and then bad beat a few hands later somewhere around 2000/7000+. After Sunday, which ended as an overall loss, I proceeded to post a loss 4 more days in a row, for around -$1700 :(  Fortunately, I've been able to tread water the last few days and I feel very good about my play and chalk it up to bad luck and knowing I've been running hot for a while. I was also able to squeeze in 9 mutli's this week and cashed 2 including 1 final table in which I was booted 1st hand in on a missed coin flip. I also finished deep in a few of the others. Today I also just missed a final table on a Full tilt $20 rebuy and got KO'd 13th/215 which didn't een show a profit. So my play has felt good, but my luck had fleeted me for a few days. I'm on vacation from my real job next week and should get some extra playing time in, so I still expect to at least finish the month in the positive unless I get involved in alot of multi's that don't hit big. That's definately one topic I'd like to cover that most players probably blow there bankroll on while a few cash big. And the one's who cash big typically want to try and play all sorts of new games and give it all back before they know it.  Believe me I know. Even though I've always ended up at the end of the year in poker, there have been plenty of stretches were I cash a big multi and spend the next few months dumping it all back because of bad luck or loose play thinking I was so good I didn't really need to think out my plays and went on auto-pilot.  I've also fell into the pit of playing a bunch of satelites which I did very well, only to play in the big tournament and constantly bust out, and in the end showing a loss for my efforts, when the whole time I coulda been grinding out SNG's or cash games and made a big profit. If I was training another player, I would tell them to use maybe 25% or less of their profits per month to play in multi's so that the profit part is constant and if you are on a good run you can take a couple shots at a multi and treat it like a lotto ticket with better odds. Variance is hard enough on cash games and sng's, you start smashing things and cursing the world after playing any lengthy amounts of multis (Ask my metal trash can:)  ). Early this week I did get a request to show the difference in playing the same hand in a SNG vs Cash game. I would like to get a few good hands to show but have been pretty busy.  Basically, in a cash game you will play most any hand in any position or circumstance which in the long run shows a profit. That seems obvious, but the real question is how do you know and that's were all the boring research comes into play and all the experience pays off.  Most people don't want to do the research and over time some might get a decent feel for what to do, but if you do the research your learning speed is multiplied. The other part of this is SNG strategy is usually much tighter early on. There are many times I lay down hands which would show a positive return, but it isn't worth the risk of being knocked out of a tourney early in return for a 50% chance of a double up. You have to remember that just because you double up in a tourney doesn't guarantee that you even cash. An example might be if early in a tourney you have AK OR JJ and are pretty sure the other guy is committed and you will win the hand in general 50% or more of the time, but it is only the first few minutes of the tourney. I would pretty much pass up any major risky hand unless I was almost sure I had the odds in my favor.  Another similar example of this might be playing suited connectors. In a cash game with the right odds would be a great investment, but in a tourney you will probably find yourself losing half your stack after missing your draw 2/3 of the time and forced to shove too early when there are more players at the table who can call you down. For now that's it I guess. I'm heads up in a $100 9 player and don't wanna donk off my chips not paying attention as usual. Any other questions or comments I'll be happy to answer next time. GL, Donkeyherder.May 08 - 118/283= 41.7%June 08 - 58/138= 42.0%July 08 - 86/183= 47.0%Aug 08 - 60/118 = 50.8%Sept 08 - 32/74 = 43.2% (So far)    

It seems they have finally agreed that it was unfair to force U.S. financial institutions to implement a law that is unclear and Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has reintroduced the Payments Systems Protection Act HR 6870 which is scheduled for mark up on Tuesday. BUT...and it's a BIG BUT...The regulations that will continue to be upheld are those concerning online sports bettors. So all you sports betters out there in the good ole U.S.A are out of luck for now. This new bill is "to ensure that implementation of proposed regulations under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, does not cause harm to the payments system, and for other purposes."

Our poker league scoreboard has been updated! Rod is still at the top with Jeff breathing on his heals. Noticable movements are Lee pulling away from Benny at the other side of the league and Chris jumping up a couple of places with his recent consistent form.

A new poker reality show debuted last week in Wales called "How to Become a Poker Millionaire" with poker pro Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott. Dave Ulliot will be training a group of young poker players and using his own bankroll to get them started playing online poker. The show will air for 6 weeks and the last remaining player will be awarded a $10,000 buy in to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. "Poker players won't have seen anything like this before," Ulliott said. "It was a real boot camp for the participants and I took no prisoners. There's laughter and tears, good poker and bad poker, and viewers will get to learn many of the tricks of the high-stakes poker trade which took me years and a lot of money to learn." You can watch episodes as they become available in the Poker Video Section.

I have many online poker accounts but I hardly ever play these days as I am always working on improving PokerDIY ;) I was shocked to receive this email from PartyPoker yesterday: " Subject: Your Account has been inactive for 180 days Dear PokerDIYcom, Our records show that that you have not logged in to your account for 180 days. A $4 administration fee** has been charged to your inactive account. The next charge will be deducted from you account balance on: 07-Oct-2008 ET. However, this fee will NOT be charged if your account, or any related account, is reactivated on or before 06-Oct-2008 ET. Reactivating your account is easy: Just log in and place a cash wager, enter a tournament with a cash entry fee, or play a raked hand. **TERMS & CONDITIONS If you do not access your Account by "logging on" to your Account using your Account name and password for any period of 180 days, then after those 180 days (the "180 day grace period") your Account (and any related account with any ESP) will be deemed "Inactive".   If your Account becomes Inactive, then the Company is entitled to charge you an administrative fee (the "Inactive Account Fee"). The Inactive Account Fee shall be deducted from your Account Balance at the end of each calendar month in accordance with the Inactive Account Fee Schedule.   We will stop deducting the Inactive Account Fee from your Account Balance if your Account is re-activated. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our Customer Care team is available 24/7. Sincerely, Party Team " Is this normal? I am of course closing my account and not promoting PartyPoker at ALL on PokerDIY - I find this shocking and unacceptable. It's obviously in the Terms and Conditions but I am insulted beyond belief! This is shock tactics and completely uncool... do any other poker rooms do this?  

This has to be one of the strangest bets a dealer in a casino has ever seen. A man sat down at a 5 card stud poker table  at Casino One gambling establishment in Fresno California. He pulled out a bag with about an ounce of weed, and bet the bag of weed. He figured he bet too much weed, so he took the bag back and grab a few buds to bet instead. It was all caught on security cameras. Security eventually came, police were called and the man was arrested, although he insisted he didn't do anything worng because he bought a "Cannabis Club Card" online.   Click here to watch the video with security footage.

Let me start by saying Enjoy life while you're young and free of responsibilities. Don't get me wrong, I'm definately living a dream in my eyes and most others. Buying my second home, living in Orange County, CA, recently new Corvette, good wife, new baby, good job, and I get to play a fair amount of poker, but add it all up and there is alot of stuff going on and crap to do.  It would be nice to be 16 or even 21 and pretty much come and go as I please. I rountinely pay for alot of things I could probably do myself, but I value my free time so much.  I guess if I was only making $9 an hour at work or cards or whatever I might not feel that way.  In case there are those out there who are looking to make some serious money at poker just remember probably 90%+ of players out there are losing players at least eventually. Many of the so-called big name pros go bust here and there. While I have mentioned I started with only a single $100 deposit and never needed to make one ever again, I was still lucky enough to not go on a bad run and I did practice some live games and alot of play money games before I started and came up with the best strategy I could and actually stuck to my guidelines. I also read alot of books. What I'm getting at is I put in hours everyday every week like any other major hobby or profession and treated it seriously and that is what made me profitable. My first 2 years I made money grinding out hundreds of $10 sit in go''s. It wasn't anything to brag about considering how much time I put in but you gotta pay your dues. Enough with my mini-seminar for now, the first week of Sept. has been ok. I only got to play about 30 collective hours(multitabling hrs. added up) and made a few hundred dollars.  I continued to get sucked into trying out the double-up sng's on Cake which pay 5 outta 10 spots double their buy-in minus fees. They fill well but even the donks play tight and don't donk off their chips. I also lose one of my best plays which if chip leader to abuse all the other stacks near the bubble. In this circumstance that strategy is useless if you can't get paid any more than 5th so it's better to sit back and it then becomes a wait-a-thon and much more reliant on the cards you catch. I decided now I won't play them unless there's nothing else going or other beneficial factors. I worked on some of my stats and have an update on my sng cashing %'s (Again multis and double-ups, heads-ups, etc not included) Sng payouts about 30-40% so anything 40%+ would typically show a profit, 45-50% would be very good results, and 50%+ would be phenomenal and probably running hot as well:May 08 - 118/283= 41.7%June 08 - 58/138= 42.0%July 08 - 86/183= 47.0%Aug 08 - 60/118 = 50.8%Sept 08 - 18/35 = 51.4% (So far)I hope to keep the run going, but with minimal play anything can happen. GL all. If you have any questions or comments I'd like to help if possible. My 1st blog and poker bio started on May 11th if interested:  http://donkeyherder.livejournal.com/2008/05/11/If you would like to check me out you can look me up on a few sites, pokerdb.com shows big tournament results. I play under "Donkeyherder"(Pokerstars),"Chipstacker2000"(FULLTILT), "donkeyherder2"(ULTIMATE BET), "d0nkeyherder"(ABSOLUTE POKER), and a few others. I've never had a losing year.  I won a seat to the 2006 WSOP main event and cashed in the top 10% of the field of over 9000 players.  I've made 81 Final tables, including 11 1st's (50-1555 players). Most of the time you'll find me grinding out Sit-n-Gos. Business opportunity inquiries can reach me at:  Donkeyherder2000@yahoo.com  

I've update the league with last Thursday's games: Jeff continues the onslaught on the small $10 game Lee holds off Rod to win the $20 game Chris comes from behind to win his first $20 game Here is the current poker league scoreboard - Lee has overtaken Benny and both are clawing back some lost ground. With just months till the end of the year can these 2 gain enough ground to make it back into the blue? Chris's win puts him squarely on level pegs - 26 games later! This could be a sign of a challenger on Jeff and Rod's dominance. See you next Thurs...

I just recently got back from a summer vacation and I didn't play any poker during that vacation at all. No online poker - No live poker. So as I've slowly got back into my normal routine the last few days and got back to playing some poker, I found myself having to quit playing sooner than I did before. I would have thought after not playing for so long I should be able to just sit down and play for hours and hours and hours non stop, but my last few sessions I have had to cut short. I will start playing and after a couple hours I call it quits because I'm either not quite into it or just get impatient. What's strange is there were times before where I have not played poker for weeks and each time I was able to come back and it was like I wasn't gone. I would play just as long as I did before I stayed away . This time, I'll sit down, play for 2-3 hours, and I had enough. Do any of you go through periods when you just don't feel it when you're playing poker for whatever reasons?

Although most freerolls are large affairs with thousands of poker players competing for a few dollars, some sites also hold freerolls as single table sit and gos. These usually do not provide cash prizes, rather they are satellites into larger tournaments that award cash prizes. However, all Texas holdem freerolls are great, since they provide a free opportunity to practice and possibly win some free money in the process. How Do You Get Into a Sit and Go Poker Freeroll? You will often have to spend some player points to get into a sit and go poker freeroll. You earn these points through play on the site, so if you have not played any real money games, this may not be an option for you. Remember that you also have a limited number of player points, so choose your sit and go poker freerolls carefully. What Is the Strategy for a Sit and Go Poker Freeroll? You should take a moment to evaluate the players and how they play Texas holdem. There will probably be two kinds. Ones who feel that since no money is involved they should play with reckless abandon and ones who guard their player points jealously and take the whole thing very seriously. Since these freerolls are usually winner take all, you should probably play somewhere in between. Don't be completely reckless but don't be afraid to gamble. How Should You Handle Your Sit and Go Poker Freeroll Opponents? Play conservatively for the first round and let the maniacs bash up against each other, eliminating some of your competition. Don't be afraid to go all in with a monster hand though, there's a good chance you'll get called. Once the field is pared down, play your regular game, but don't bluff too much -- freeroll players are far more likely to look you up.

PokerStars must be taking advantage of the upcoming NHL hockey season by signing Mats Sundin and hoping he'll bring in some hockey fans to the poker room. Sundin will be playing for charity according to the article so I assume they didn't sign him for his poker ability. I never even had a clue he played poker and I'm a huge hockey fan. Poker in Canada has grown considerably over the last few years so this may bring in some more Canadians to poker. Also, Mats Sundin is originally from Sweden so it could bring in more players from there as well. I'm just curious and wondering if any of you here at PokerDIY know who Mats Sundin is? If so please post a comment.   Here's the article... PokerStars, the world's largest online poker room, is pleased to announce another high profile recruitment to its team of international celebrity ambassadors. National Hockey League (NHL) icon and former Toronto Maple Leafs' captain Mats Sundin will play poker both live and online as part of his new brand ambassador role for PokerStars. Playing online as "MatsSundin," the 37-year-old Olympic champion plans frequent appearances playing on PokerStars.net and at live tournaments on the PokerStars' global poker tour circuit. This includes the PokerStars European Poker Tour which starts its fifth season next week in Barcelona. Complete article here.

Dublin is named Europe's #1 destination for Poker and is awarded the European Poker Capital of 2008 as awarded by Bluff Europe Magazine. I haven't been there myself but I think I'll hold up a pint of Guiness and say cheers to that...or should I say "Slainte"? Are there any members here from Dublin? Has anyone from Europe or elsewhere traveled to Dublin and play some poker?   Here's the article... Dublin has been awarded the title of European Poker Capital 2008 by Bluff Europe Magazine. The Irish capital pipped last year's winner, London, to the post -- with Vienna, Amsterdam and Barcelona named third, fourth and fifth places respectively. Bluff Europe praised Dublin's lively and friendly poker scene, as well as the wealth of poker clubs and tournaments available to the poker playing public. Dublin has a fine selection of card rooms and, poker is also growing steadily on a grassroots level in the city through poker societies and pub poker leagues. Each year exciting new tournaments spring up with buy-ins to suit all pockets. Dublin is also home to the Irish Open, the oldest and most revered tournament in Europe. Complete article here.

PartyGaming was once the world's largest online poker room but their competitors like PokerStars and Full Tilt have taken over. I myself started my online poker playing there, but have also moved to the "new players" in the online poker room world. The number of new customers signed fell 32% to 235,200 for PartyGaming.   PartyGaming said its new poker player sign-ups for the six months to June 30 were down by 32% to 235,200. The number of active players slipped 7% to 62,600. Poker performance since the half-year has also disappointed. New chief executive Jim Ryan said the traffic on its PartyPoker site had been "slightly softer than expected" with, on average, 993 player sign-ups and 50,800 active players a day. The division accounts for 55% of group operating profit, compared with 62% a year ago. Complete article here.

I hate it when my pocket rockets get busted.

My 1st blog and poker bio started on May 11th if interested:   Well just rounding up August, it looks like the month will be a decent success after all. I realy didn't expect to make a ton of money this month. Busy with work, moving into a new home, and a little time to play, I really kept my expectations low and was hoping to just finish positive. I ended up only playing a total of 110 hours for the month which sounds like a decent amount, but I play 2-3 sngs at a time and that time is all added together. So real time it's probably in the neighborhood of 45 hours. Before the baby came I was probably playing at least twice as much.  Oh well, I am young and have plenty of time down the road to play more later especially if I decide to go full-time pro in the next year or two. Like I mentioned on my previous post, of my SNG's. In August, I had a pretty amazing run which I'm sure had some good luck involved, and , which is exceptionally high at a $50-100 limit level and sng payout 30-40%. Anything 40%+ would be positive, 45% is pretty good and 50%+ is an exceptional run.  Cake recently offered "Double up SNG's" which pay 50% 5/10 players, but you only get double your buyin back minus about 7% entry fee.  I tried a few of these out and made money, but didn't include them in my cash% stats and I don't think in the long run will pan out to make enough money for me per hour to be worth it to play. I figured even if I cashed 2 outta 3 overall, which is way hi, I'd only make like 30% per game, so unless the $75+ fill well I'll probably just use them as fillers when I can't get anything else going. I did enjoy them and was an interesting change to the avg sng. It plays alot like a multi which guarantees alot of seats in the late stages where everyone is just trying to stay alive and you have a couple renegades who get careless and attack the passive table. They're fun but we'll see.As for multis, I only played about a dozen mid sized tourneys (100-400 players) and actually finished many of them very deep including 1 more final table (6th/200 coin flipped out), and a 16th/202 where I got screwed out (I'll save you the beat stories." I wouldv'e liked to do more cash game play and research, but my poker tracker software didn't give me all the info I was looking for and I will have to manually pull up some of my hands and break them down further to get the data I want and it can be very time consuming. Considering how well my SNG play has been I will chip away the research and ease my way into the cash games later. I have cashed in the positive my last 8 outta 10 days and I don't feel like killing my good run by changing my game focus. I think alot of newer or osing players would fair much better if they stuck to their best type of game or two. SNG's, Cash (NL, Limit, Short handed-Long), Multi's, Holdem, Omaha, Rebuys, etc. Say maybe only 9 handed holdem SNg's and occassional small multi's and just grind it out at a small limit until they show consistent profits and slowly move up and master other games later if they prove to have more potential. Typically most players just play whatever seems fun at the time and above the limit they can beat. I'm sure it's an ego thing or people who play for fun.  It can definately get boring playing the same game over and over but if you're like me you make a game of it and try to master every element and look for and plug every leak. That's also why I would recomend 1 game 75% of the time, your 2nd best game 15-20% of the time and rarely mix in a random game at lower limits to look for better opportunities. Lets face it the game is tougher these days and you need to find a niche to really on a steady winning return on in case of a bad run. Next month will probably be more of the same. I will probably start playing a little bigger since my bankroll has increased $70-100 with a few $200's mixed in here and there if things continue well and maybe in a couple months I'll be ready to play strictly $100's+ Sng's. Things have been good, but I won't push it. I'm feeling a bit luckier than usual and don't want to get ahead of myself. If anyone out there has any questions or topics they would like covered please let me know. Donkeyherder  

With the US Presidential election just about 2 months away I thought I'd bring political discussion to PokerDIY, by bringing up the poker question...   Who would be better for the poker community should they be elected President - Barack Obama or John McCain? Personally I don't think it matters either way with these two. The UIGEA is not going to change under an Obama administration or a McCain administration. Bob Barr of the  Libertarian Party would be the best bet for poker players, but unfortunately due to the two party monopoloy on the US political system it would be hard to elect him President of the United States. So what can American poker players do? Just continue to put pressure on your representatives to put an end to UIGEA!

I've updated the poker league table with last nights poker games:Lia DOES have the highest average still ($10.67 after 15 games - very impressive). Benny and Lee are fighting it out with only $5 difference between them! At this stage it is anyone's game...

How cool would it be if you actually enjoyed going to work?If you are currently out of work, or thinking of doing something different and love poker, then think about this for a second."Poker is hot and it is here to stay. Many call poker a recession proof industry as people always find time and money to play poker. Learn an in demand skill and have a recession proof job that can serve you well today and into the future." - Dealer TrainingIf you don't like the fact that you are not being paid for the amount of work you put in, then think about this...“Poker dealers are often times paid in tips or tokes from every hand dealt, and most well trained poker dealers average 35+ hands per hour.If you are tipped a dollar or two for every hand you deal, and sometimes even more, you can see how much money poker dealers can make dealing poker.Oh, and we are not just talking about casino poker dealers either, and as a matter of fact some of the high stakes poker games at the casinos are some of the worst in terms of tips!There is opportunity for poker dealers in every city and town in the country, and growing around the world.If you want to deal poker at a higher standard, then we would like to welcome you to Dealer Training, The Professional Poker Dealers Training Course.” - Dealer TrainingNow before you say, “WOW…$35 dollars an hour dealing poker?” Let me repeat that VERY GOOD dealers make that and more.The average for someone just starting out would be in the 15-17 hands per hour range. I challenge you to find any other profession that call for no formal education and a starting pay of $15 an hour.If you are looking to deal poker part-time for extra money, or professionally, then you need to deal poker at a high standard. The bottom line: Poker Dealer Training IS necessary.

Warwick Dunnett brings together the world’s top poker professionals to reveal their wisdom for beating No-Limit Hold’em.   Cardoza Publishing, the brand that players have turned to for reliable, unbiased and accurate information for over 25 years are pleased to announce the International launch of their next bestseller. Over the years the world’s foremost publisher in gaming and gambling has produced a number of iconic titles and we are confident that ‘Poker Wizards’ will prove to be as important.   How much would you pay for the opportunity to be coached for a hundred hours by a group of the world’s best poker players? How many people would line up around the block for a chance to sit with Chris Ferguson in a quiet hotel room and talk about poker strategy? Enjoy a long lunch with T.J Cloutier? Learn how to read body language from an expert such as Marc Salem? Receive inspiration from Dan Harrington over the course of an afternoon or get insider poker secrets from the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Kathy Liebert, Mel Judah, Mike Sexton and Marcel Luske?     Within ‘Poker Wizards’ you get to share these secrets with:   Daniel Negreanu Dan Harrington Chris “Jesus” Ferguson Marcel Luske Kathy Liebert Mike Sexton Mel Judah Marc Salem T.J Cloutier   In the tradition of Super System, an exclusive collection of champions and superstars have been brought together to share their strategies, insights, and tactics for winning big money at poker, specifically no-limit hold’em tournaments. This is priceless advice from players who individually have made millions of dollars in tournaments, and collectively, have won more than 20 WSOP bracelets, two main event championships, 100 major tournaments, and $50 million in tournament winnings! This must-read book is a goldmine for all serious players, aspiring pros, and future WSOP champions!   Speaking about the book, Dunnett explains,This book will provide you with various strategies that you can follow to make sure you are heading in the right direction. My main intent has been to give insights into the complex thought processes that champion players employ in their winning journey along the tournament trail. I have sought out answers to a selection of poker’s most difficult questions—questions that are now answered by some of the world’s best players in ‘Poker Wizards’.   Power Wizards by Warrick Dunnett 352 pages, 6 x 9 inches, perfect bound ISBN 1-58042-227-6, ISBN-13 978-1580422277   £13.95 (UK) and €20.30 (Europe) www.cardozabookstore.com   For more information on this great title and news on further new releases please go to: www.cardozabookstore.com     Or contact:   Sam Ladlow - Cardoza London Ltd Tel: +44 207 589 4823 Fax: +44 207 581 6032 sam.ladlow@cardozagames.com   

Arnold Snyder, Blackjack hall of fame member, world renowned gambling mathematics authority and poker pro is back with the follow up to his critically acclaimed 2006 title ‘Poker Tournament Formula’.   Cardoza Publishing, the brand that players have turned to for reliable, unbiased and accurate information for over 25 years are pleased to announce the International launch of their next bestseller. Over the years the world’s foremost publisher in gaming and gambling has produced a number of iconic titles and we are confident that ‘Poker Tournament Formula 2’ will prove to be as important.   Probably the greatest tournament poker book ever written, and the most controversial in the last decade, Snyder’s revolutionary work debunks commonly (and falsely) held beliefs. You’ll learn why so many players today think wrong, play wrong and lose. Learn how to completely change your game to get results. Snyder reveals the power of chip utility — the real secret behind winning tournaments — and covers utility ranks, tournament structures, small- and long-ball strategies, patience factors, the impact of structures, crushing the Harringbots and other player types, tournament phases, and much more.   Speaking about the book Snyder explains some of the controversy surrounding his analysis of Dan Harringtons Tournament Strategy. “I explain exactly where Harrington made his errors, why Harrington’s strategies are incorrect not only for fast tournaments, but for tournaments with slow blind structures as well, and why poker tournament structure, which Harrington ignores , is a key factor in devising optimal tournament Strategies”.   In this long-awaited companion book to Poker Tournament Formula, Snyder tears apart the conventional thinking on poker Tournament strategies, and reveals for the first time what the top pros really are doing. If you’ve got the heart and the guts—and with this book, you’ll now have the Knowledge—you may soon be able to join their ranks.     “There are few books that substantially increase a player’s chances of winning tournaments. This powerful work is one of them. I recommend you get this book.” —Doyle Brunson, Two Time WSOP Champion.     Poker Tournament Formula 2 by Arnold Snyder 496 pages 6 x 9, perfect bound ISBN 1580422268, ISBN-13 978-1580422260   UK £16.95, Europe €24.60   For more information on this great title and news on further new releases please go to: www.cardozabookstore.com     Or contact:   Sam Ladlow - Cardoza London Ltd Tel: +44 207 589 4823 Fax: +44 207 581 6032 sam.ladlow@cardozagames.com

After consistent, outstanding success at the tables Neil Timothy dropped out of college to become a full time Sit-&-Go Professional and has never looked back. In his debut title Neil Timothy explains his proven strategies for the most popular form of online poker.  Cardoza Publishing, the brand that players have turned to for reliable, unbiased and accurate information for over 25 years are pleased to announce the International launch of their next bestseller. Over the years the world’s foremost publisher in gaming and gambling has produced a number of iconic titles and we are confident that ‘How to Beat Sit-&-Go Poker Tournaments’ will prove to be as important.   There is a lot of dead money up for grabs in the lower limit sit-and-gos and Neil Timothy shows you how to go and get it. The author, a professional player, shows you how to reach the last six places of lower limit sit-and-go tournaments four out of five times and then how to get in the money 25-35 percent of the time using his powerful, proven strategies.   This book can turn a losing sit-and-go player into a winner, and a winner into a bigger winner. You’ll learn when to play conservatively and let opponents Knock each other out, when to get aggressive and even hyperaggressive, plus the specific strategies for various stages of a sit-and-go—early, short-handed, the bubble, in the money and heads-up. Twenty-five powerful, but easy chapters, show you how to win.   Speaking about the book Neil says, “I found that there was no book covering sit-and –go tournaments in depth. My main objective was to write a book which was easy to read and understand. I found most books covering no limit hold’em were complex and hard to digest.”     How to Beat Sit-&-Go poker Tournaments by Neil Timothy 184 pages 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, perfect bound ISBN 1580422233, ISBN-13 978-1580422239   UK £9.95, Europe €14.50   For more information on this great title and news on further new releases please go to: www.cardozabookstore.com/sit&go    Or contact:   Sam Ladlow - Cardoza London Ltd Tel: +44 207 589 4823 Fax: +44 207 581 6032 sam.ladlow@cardozagames.com

After 3 loyal years at PokerStars.com I have finally had conclusive evidence that the site is by FAR the best in the business. Back in early 2007 I self-exluded myself myself for a week because I had a terrible run and lost a few hundred $$$. A few days later I got drunk and opened a new account with the same name and details. What a dumbass I am. Of course this is against the TOS and I'm sure everyone knows that. Well anyway, a few weeks ago I won a tidy sum of $2,300 after playing for 7hours on a $11 MTT. I was absolutely elated as this was my biggest win in one sitting after 5 years of playing poker. But oh shit, I've got two accounts. Instantly I think back to my friend who lost $6,500 after withdrawing the whole lot from PKR and getting caught on duplicate and false accounts. He lost all the money and was forced to donate to charity. So I think of a plan... $400 withdrawal every 5 days and it should go under the radar... right? Well skip forward $800 banked and I impatiently make my 3rd withdrawal just one day after the last. Two days later I'm playing a $109 satellite to a big EPT London qualifier and I'm abruptly kicked out of the tournament. "Error 71/1001 please contact support@pokerstars.com" ... "Oh shit" I think to myself, "I've gone and lost my remaining $1,100." ... and being a student in debt that's a big deal! Quick Google check comes up with numerous results "Error 71/1001, my account has been frozen by PokerStars!!! Omgomgomgomg" etc. Well now it's hit me. I've done what my friend has done and gone and lost my bankroll + some luxury spending. What can I do??? I rush around telling my friends in a panic and quickly come to the conclusion I can easily lie and get away with it. "oh, sorry Stars. My brother created a new account under my name because he was underage and didn't want to get caught". But that's bullshit and surely a site like PokerStars would find out the truth if they wanted to. In the end I come to the brutal conclusion that I am just going to have to fess up and be honest. Infact, here's the ball-licking e-mail that I sent: "Dear PokerStars Team, I recently received the error 71/1001 when trying to log into my account. I was told to e-mail support and then found the message below in my inbox. I am deeply sorry that I have broken the TOS of PokerStars.com. I do know and have known that using multiple accounts on PokerStars is illegal under your rules. A while ago (maybe over a year ago) I self-excluded myself on the account ****. Due to my obsession of poker I was unable to cope with not playing tournaments on PokerStars and foolishly created a new account under the username "****". I filled in all my details correctly and since then did not use my "****" account again and considered it closed. I wanted to e-mail support to get it closed, but I was afraid I would have both of my accounts permanently banned and therefore could not play again. I have been a loyal member of PokerStars for the last 3 years now and have rarely stepped elsewhere in online poker. I have had the desperately unforunate problem of winning some money on my account **** and now I am incredibly worried that this money is gone forever. I really hope you can understand why I opened this new account and there was entirely no fraudulent or cheating intention when doing so. I simply and stupidly, could not last the self-exclusion period. I will wait eagerly for a reply. Apologies and Regards, Nick." And guess what. I got all my cash transferred to my other account and my current $400 withdrawal was processed. Ok, so they forgot the W$ that I had on my frozen account but who cares. That was only W$200. Shouldn't I just be grateful that I got my $1,100 back? Yes. I was. However I still mentioned my W$200 a day later and sure enough it was sent through the very same day. They had every right to take my money and keep it for themselves. I ♥ U PokerStars! Blog post courtesy of Poker is Rigged | Poker Blog and Poker is Rigged | Forums

Ok, I know some of you got that look on you face when you read that  title With the 2008 summer olympics in full swing, I thought why not poker as an olympic sport? Most people would probably look at poker and say it's definitely NOT an olympic sport, but let's compare it to some current olympic "sports". There are the obvious sports like swimming, football (soccer), baseball, etc., but there are also some "sports" that are about as physical as poker. Archery, for instance, is not much of a "sport" is it? You just need good aim right? Same with "shooting". You can't tell me Equestrian is a sport and not poker since the horse is doing all the work. If you look at what it takes to win a major poker tournament it takes skill, stamina, endurance. Show me one olympic sport where you have to play as long as you do as poker in terms of hours of play in a single day. Just picture seeing Doyle Brunson standing at the top of the podium collecting that gold medal, Daniel Negreanu picking up the silver metal, and Phil Hellmuth collecting the bronze metal as he whines like a little baby complaining about how bad the other two played. 2012 olympics are not far away...

Hello,I was hoping for some help and good advice and suggestions on online poker and online casinos. Does anyone have any good websites for getting better.I really want to progress with my game but some forums can be intimidating with newby questions. Please help

I found it somewhat strange to find out that The Excalibur in Las Vegas will be closing their traditional poker tables, eliminating Live Dealers and going to all electronic poker tables. August 18 will be the last day poker players will be able to play poker with Live Dealers, and August 22 will be the first day of operation of the new electronic poker tables. They will be using the Poker Tek brand of electronic poker tables. I'm not so sure I like the idea of this myself, although I don't plan to go to the Excalibur anytime soon. When I go to a Casino, I'd like to play live poker. If I want to play electronic poker, I could stay home and play poker online. Are they doing this as purely a financial decision to save money by not having to pay for dealers? This may attract more young poker players would play more poker online, but I have a feeling traditional poker players will not be playing poker at the Excalibur anymore after August 18.

Read the PokerDIY August Newsletter, Edition 4 with poker league updates, site news and loads more...

I was reading this article "Card Playing Bots Could Doom Online Poker" and asked myself, can they? We know there has been cheating scandals in the online poker World already with Absolute and Ultimate Bet. Is it possible there will be future scandals? Sure it's possible. There are criminal always looking to take advantage of any situation they can. But to say online poker will be doomed by bots, I'm not so sure. There will always be new innovations in poker and I'm sure to big poker rooms will be on top of any "bot" situation that arises. What are your thoughts on the potential Poker Playing Bots?

PokerDIY is growing quickly. At the time of this blog post we have an Alexa Ranking of 131 776. There are 8735 registered poker players, 499 poker leagues are being managed using PokerDIY custom poker league software, 496 poker groups throughout the world and we've paid out $4600 in poker freeroll prize money!

Here is the latest league scoreboard... we still need to get Lia to play some more to bring that average down! Special mention to Lee who is clawing back some ground each game - definitely noticed a change in strategy there!

If you have not yet heard, Bodog Pokers' accounts to the tune of 24million have been seized in the US, and prosecutors have begun numerous lawsuits to seize even more. Some of Bodog's cheques have bounced and many players in the site are now worried about their funds - and justifyably, as there is a likelyhood that even more funds will be seized. The full story can be read in Forbes' Web Magazine Here is the link to the article: http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/..._0730ayre.html The dillemma for poker site owners who promote poker sites to poker players is this:Should they continue to carry banners and other promotion material, and pretend that there is no danger to the potential visitor to their site in investing funds with poker sites like Bodog Poker? Should a site owner at least refer their readers to the above article and at least give the information to the player, who can then decide the risk for themselves. To do nothing is burying your head in the sand and totally irresponsible. Beside Bodog Poker, there is UBPoker who is currently ongoing internal investigations and looking at their sites' security breaches.  Personally, I believe poker site owners do have a responsibility to inform and to carry products and services that will benefit the visitor and not harm them financially - if there is a problem with a product or service, it is at the minimum their responsibility to let the visitor to the site know this, to give the information and news to the visitor and to let the "informed' player decide to follow up or not follow up the links to a poker site for download. At the maximum, the poker site should remove all links and banners of sites like Bodog which present a danger to the investing poker player

The blog looks great! I am excited about joining your site. My name is Steve and I operate www.pokerhomesupplies.com where we specialize in cup holders and chip trays for poker table builders. I wanted to offer a 10% discount to your users. Simply type in coupon code "thankyou" during purchase to get your discountl I look forward to posting and reading blogs on your site. Steve

Now everyone can share their poker ramblings and bad beats with other poker players right here on PokerDIY. Start your own poker blog and share your thoughts on anything to do with poker - bad beats, good beats, the poker industry or even a plug for your poker website or product (yes, free poker advertising!)

What is the worst bad beat you have ever seen? I have heard of a person getting 4 of a kind and the other person getting a straight flush (I suppose a Royal Flush would have been worse)... in some places they even give you a Bad Beat Jackpot for this kind of hand (think it is 4 or more)... I used the Poker Hand Replayer to demonstrate: 

I am establishing a free poker league in ft myers fl area and am looking for dealers and directors interested contact  csoriginal@juno.com

As the games today get much tougher, you're likely to see a lot more people "floating" flops against you. Floating the flop is when someone calls your flop bet, with the intention of stealing the pot away from you on the turn or river. Some people will do this with some kind of draw/over card(s), and some people do it constantly with only 5 high. The important point though is to first recognize when someone is likely floating you quite a bit.There are some opponents who believe they can outplay anyone after the flop in position, and will consequently call most pre-flop raises in position with a wide range of hands. Against these opponents, you need to make a few subtle adjustments in order to maximize the value of your hands.

Hey, its fun playing against stoners online, try out: Reefer Poker all players are welcome.  I play there as 420Chick, look for me!!!

The first poker tournaments were winner-take-all. Not that many people entered and it seemed logical that whoever got all the chips would win all the money. As poker tournaments grew, it began to make sense to have graduated payouts so that multiple players have incentive to play. These days, around ten percent of players in a tournament receive some kind of cash prize. At the final table of a tournament, the prize money is still very top-heavy, with the bulk of it going to the top three players. The problem with this is that there is a great deal of volatility at the final table of a poker tournament because the blinds are often high relative to the average stack. To handle this volatility and avoid having thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars riding to such a great extent on luck, players have gotten into the habit of making final table deals. Today, deals are an integrated part of any complete online poker tournament strategy. Deals are perfectly legal providing they are not specifically disallowed by the tournament organizer. World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker events prohibit deals because they dilute the excitement of the final tables which is such a big draw for these tournaments. At your smaller buy-in online or local casino tournaments, this should not be a problem. If you are going to make a deal, it is best to get the tournament staff involved to assure fairness. The most typical type of deal is a chip count deal, where the prize pool is distributed according to how many chips each player has at that point. Commonly at least ten percent of the prize pool is held out for the players to continue to compete for, with the rest given out according to the chip count arrangement. This is not the only arrangement possible; players are free to work out whatever kind of deal they can. However, when you play poker texas holdem online this arrangement is usually suggested by the site, in the case of a deal. Deals are usually less favorable to the shorter stacks. However, if the blinds are high enough, your chances of continuing in the tournament as a short stack may be pretty slim, so you may be willing to get whatever kind of extra money you can. It is essentially a decision on whether you want to gamble or not. As a larger stack, you are more likely to get a favorable deal. However, if you don’t like the deal, feel free to hold out for a better one, or decline the deal altogether. Do not succumb to pressure from other players to make the deal. You are under no obligation to do so and if they end up winning the tournament, they certainly will not complain that you chose to decline. Of course, in satellites the payout structure is usually much flatter, with all or most prizes consisting of a seat. This will be the case when you qualify for 2008 WSOP.

Features cast dialogue from David Cross, Cheryl Hines, Chris Parnell and more carefully placed between the songs as well as incorporated into the songs themselves March 20, 2007. Los Angeles, CA – Composer Stephen Endelman (O Jerusalem, Home of the Brave, Jawbreaker, Ed) reinvents himself once again with this diverse and original score to Zak Penn’s new mockumentary-style film, The Grand.  He combines quirky pop-rock, electronic, orchestral arrangements and folk music to capture the essence of this new and inventive comedy.  He mixes unforgettable cast dialogue from Chris Parnell, Cheryl Hines, David Cross and others from this ensemble cast into the music in such a way that it serves equally as musical lyrics and moments from the film. The soundtrack is available digitally on March 18 and on CD March 25.  The film is being released theatrically by Anchor Bay and opens in NY and LA on March 21 and expands to 20 markets on April 4th. The Grand was made in the tradition of improvisational comedies like Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker. The Grand was improvised from a detailed treatment co-written by Zak Penn and Matt Bierman, who also served as Executive Producer. A Tribeca Film Festival favorite, the film boasts a stellar, international comedic cast and was featured June 8th at the Cinevegas Film Festival in Las Vegas. An eclectic cast brings together many of today’s top comedic actors: Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Dennis Farina, Cheryl Hines, Richard Kind and Chris Parnell. The film also stars award-winning comedian Ray Romano, the legendary German film director Werner Herzog, and sitcom vet Gabe “Welcome Back Kotter” Kaplan. Please forward any press requests for Stephen Endleman to: Nick Bobetsky – Milan Records 818.849.3344 nick.bobetsky@milanrecords.com

A lot of players starting out in poker are concerned about tells. They’re aware of these subconscious signals players can give out that reveal something about their holding and aren’t quite sure how to defend against it. They may not know if they are giving out tells to their opponents and be reluctant to bluff for this reason. Emitting Tells in Poker Most people do not emit a glaringly obvious tell, like eating a cookie differently depending on whether they are strong or weak. If you do, you will probably notice it right away. If not, hopefully friends will point it out. What you have to look out for more is telltale patterns of behavior. Telling Behavior Patterns in Poker What you want to avoid is doing the same thing every time your hand is a certain strength. If you always splash your poker chips into the pot when you are weak and push them in, neatly stacked when you are strong, you may have a problem. If you check whenever you miss the flop and bet whenever you hit it or vice versa, you are giving something away. Disguising Tells in Poker Consistency can be fatal, but it can also be your saving grace. If you act the same way whether you are strong or weak, the other players at the poker table will have a tough time picking anything up from you. If you always wait 15 seconds before you act, then push chips into the pot in one stack with your left hand, you have created a consistent behavior that does not reveal anything. If you don’t talk and always look straight ahead between your bet and another’s call or raise, you won’t give anything away. The main thing to remember with tells is deception. Either play the exact same way, or randomize so frequently that it is impossible for opponents to pick up a pattern. One of these philosophies should adequately disguise the strength of your hand.

A loose passive table is usually considered to be the most suitable for a beginner. This kind of the table is characterized by the flop and non-aggressive betting (few raises or re-raises). And players can see that clearly. In those games they are playing starting hands with negative expected value and they are not protecting strong holdings throughout the pot, and by that means expected value is being missed out. Nevertheless, there are some advanced players who give preference to the games which are loose and rather aggressive with much money filling the pot in throughout the hand on all sides. Besides that, a certain type of higher-stakes players prefers to play in very tight and passive games. Their playing behaviour is unpredictable and aims to dominate and terrorize the game with the help of their aggressive table image and by robbing the blinds from the very beginning. Very often it is enough only one of these wild players to set the whole table on tilt and change the style of game played. It's so interesting to observe this phenomenon, especially when you are a part of it. In order to simplify the life of the beginner, it is recommended for him to search the loosest tables possible with playing straightforward, moderately tight and aggressive game with stable results. Certainly, you will see a slightly higher unsteadiness (rises and falls) in the loosest games because there will be many drawing hands beating you on the last round.

If you’ve watched poker on television, you may have noticed that many players do more with their chips than just bet with them. Poker players have learned a variety of poker chip tricks to keep their hands busy during long texas hold em tournaments. You can learn these tricks too! Here are two of the more basic, famous chip tricks. Chip Trick 1: The Shuffle The shuffle is one of the most common, popular and easy tricks to do. If you don’t get it the first time, don’t be discouraged. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll probably be able to shuffle decent-sized stacks of chips without even thinking about it. Take two stacks of chips and put them next to each other. Make sure you have the same number of chips in each stack. You’ll want to start small, with three chips in each stack, and work your way up as you get comfortable. Using your right hand, place your thumb on the lower left corner of the left stack and your index finger on the upper left corner. Put your pinky and ring finger in the corresponding spots on the right stack. Your middle finger goes in the indent created at the top of where the two stacks join. Use your middle finger to push up slowly and gently on the two stacks. As you lift the stacks, use your other fingers to push the stacks towards each other. Once you have the leverage to start pushing the stacks, ease up on the middle finger so that the two stacks have the freedom to join together. With some practice, you will be able to merge the two stacks into one, alternating chips from each stack. Chip Trick 2: The Roll The chip roll is a fun trick to watch where the player moves one chip along the back of his hand, almost magically. What’s nice about this trick is that you can do it slowly to learn. It will work, but it is not that impressive. Once you get the hang of it though, you can do it repeatedly and quickly and the effect can be quite amazing. It will serve you well in WSOP 2008. Hold the chip flat against the side of your index finger with your thumb. Use your thumb to push the chip onto the top of the index finger, then bring the middle finger up over the edge of the chip and use the middle finger to pull the chip down. The chip will stand up straight and then flip onto the top of the middle finger. Repeat this process with the ring finger and pinky. Now comes the tricky part, which is keeping the trick in motion. You can do this by pushing back with the pinky and sending the chip in the opposite direction back towards the thumb. Or if you want to get really fancy, you can let the chip drop through the gap between your ring finger and pinky onto your thumb and use your thumb to bring the chip back to the start to begin again. When done quickly and correctly, the chip will appear to be dancing over the back of your hand. A chip trick or two is a great ploy to bring to your next home poker game!

Many of you have noticed that this site sometimes is a little slow and unresponsive (especially around Freeroll time!), so we are upgrading to a new, faster server!

      Hold'em is a tricky game, and it's really difficult to gauge whether you're playing well, or not, simply because it has that "any crap hand can win" luck factor. On the subject of bonuses, there are differences between say, Pacific Poker Bones, which tend to encourage you to play at higher limits (bonuses are usually worked out on the amount you stake) and the Inter/Will Hill/Empire/Party which are paid on either the number of hours you play, or the number of hands completed. Clearly, as a novice, you need the latter. There's also a subtle, currency related difference in bonuses. If you play at William Hill's GB£ site, you get £5 an hour, but at the us$ site it's $5 an hour. This is a significant difference with the £ approaching $1.90 It's might be worth noting that the wagerlogic sites often email you re additional boni on certain days of the month, like say, an extra $10 for pocket queens. They also give bad beat bones and royal flush hand-outs. It's unlikely that you'll ever get a royal, (I did once, but Murphy's law had me at another site that didn't pay the damn bonus.) Anyway, the best thing to do, is be patient, and wait until they're paying these special, date specific bonuses, and only play whilst you're getting your £5 per hour, and only play at the $1/$2 tables. This technique should ensure that you don't loose too much at hold'em, and you might win a bit, even if you're a novice. BTW, I don't follow my own advice. But it would be the most logical thing to do. -------------------- "I have enough money to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something." -Jackie Mason "Big bet" means the larger bet in a fixed limit game... in a $10/$20 game, the big bet is $20. How much you can make of course depends on the "quality" of the competition, and how you win pots -- win several pots beating one opponent in a tight game, win one pot in a loose game against many opponents. In lower limit Los Angeles games you might only be dealt 20 hands an hour, with everybody playing ever hand. If you are playing right, you won't play very many (meaning you wouldn't win very many too) but when you win you win huge pots. In higher limit online games, it's not uncommon to face one opponent, where what you both basically do is split up the blinds. These different roads might even lead to the same profit an hour. Personally I never think about money wagered as long as I stay within my bankroll. Then you just decide which game is most profitable to you, or has other reasons to play (most player's brains and stomachs would be better off making $40.05 an hour in a passive game than $40.06 an hour in a wild game).      

For all the advantages of online poker, there is an element of live poker that cannot be truly duplicated by the online game: the ability to talk face-to-face with your opponents. Online poker sites do provide a chat function where you can type conversations as you play but this does not have the same feel as a live dialogue with an opponent. Benefits of Table Talk Talk at the poker table can be used for a number of reasons. It can simply be social, to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere at the game. It can be to gain information, or it can be to needle your opponent and get them to play badly. All of these reasons may be encountered at the poker table and will inspire different kinds of talk. Poker Talking to be Social While social talking is not exactly manipulative table talk, it does have a benefit. Players you can get into a social conversation with may not play their hardest against you. They may be reluctant to bluff a new “friend,” and may be less likely to think you will bluff them. Even with no ulterior motive, talking socially can make the game more fun, help you make an important connection outside of poker or even find someone to analyze poker with away from the table. Poker Talking to Gain Information In most poker rooms you are not supposed to ask specifically what an opponent has, or tell them what you have. However there are a lot of ways to get information without such direct queries. Amarillo Slim is famous for asking an opponent how she liked her drink, then later asking her how she liked her hand and calling her bluff when the tone of her response was different. Poker Talking to Needle an Opponent This is one of the uglier forms of table talk but it is perfectly within the rules and an acceptable way to gain an edge in live poker games. In fact, many strong players are brutally needling and abusive at the table, but as soon as their opponent is knocked out or quit, are nice as can be to their former enemy. Putting opponents on tilt by criticizing their play or showing them how easily you beat them can make a serious positive impact on your results. Notes on Poker Talking If talking at the table doesn’t come naturally, you don’t have to do it. You are not obligated to answer any questions opponents direct at you or to say anything other than check, fold or raise. One player even brings a sign to the table that says “I do not answer questions,” in order to discourage table talk directed at him. If you want to talk at the table for any of the above reasons, great. If not, that’s certainly OK, too.

If you play online poker exclusively, you will never have to even touch a card, let alone shuffle. Even in a live casino, professional