Amarillo Slim – The First Poker TV Star
Amarillo Slim wasn’t always known by this name. Born Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. in December 21, 1938 in Johnson, Arkansas, the first time he won the Main Event of the World Series of Poker was in 1972. Yet before he became famous for his tournament poker skills, Amarillo Slim was already quite well known in...
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Stu Ungar – Gambler, Addict, Loser, Legend
If you chance upon a cluster of people at a party chitchatting about great poker players, there would be no doubt that you would hear the name Stu Ungar come up at least once. There are a lot of people in the poker world who actually consider Stu Ungar the greatest poker player of all time – second to none....
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Scotty Nguyen – A Poker Legend
Born as Thuan Nguyen in October 28, 1962 in Nha Trang Vietnam, Scotty’s life is reminiscent of thousands of other young children in the 70s. This was the time when the communists had a firm foothold on Vietnam and refugees from this country were spread all over the world – from other Asian countries to the...
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An Introduction To Community Poker
Community poker is perhaps one of the most played groups of poker games today. The name community poker is derived from the fact that some cards are shared by all the players. Quite obviously, these are the community cards. Though there are many different kinds of community poker games, the basic idea behind them...
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Poker Strategy: Why Not To Call By Default
A lot of poker players call by default—meaning, it’s not a strategic decision, but a gut reaction, an easy response, a habit. You see a spread, and unless some very big red flags force you to do otherwise, you call. Calling is a cautious reaction, the “happy medium” that lets you save money that might...
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The History Of Poker Chips
In a recent post, I talked about how you can start your own home game. One of the requisites of doing this however, is having the right equipment and what is the most vital piece of equipment for poker? Chips, poker chips that is. For the uninitiated, once you’ve seen poker chips (even on TV), they’re all...
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How To Start Your Own Home Poker Game
Watching all those TV shows of poker tournaments has made many people crave for the same excitement experienced in a real life poker game. The majority of poker games are played online, but poker enthusiasts know that nothing can compare to real life games. Yet finding tournaments offline are not always that easy....
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Tournament Poker Basics and Advanced Strategies
It may come as a surprise that the strategies that one will use for a poker tournament differs greatly from the strategies that are used in a live ring game structure. Even though a player will have to look out for the same things when playing poker – trying to spot favorable odds and also a positive expected...
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Feel Like Taking A Poker Vacation?
Poker tournaments — they’re everywhere. Not just the big, worldwide competitions that attract thousands of players (and require thousands of dollars to join). There are also smaller events organized by websites, which require smaller buy-ins and allow recreational players to test their skills without being...
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Poker Etiquette – Ain’t Misbehaving
Tournaments are supposed to be fun…and they usually are. Unfortunately, a few people who have no respect for rules and get their kicks out of making everyone else miserable can ruin an event. They get into fights, insult other players, distract other people with their tantrums, and generally think that being...
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Poker Tournament Basics (Part 2)
Poker players can sometimes look for more than the thrill that they get from playing in casinos or online gambling sites. Sometimes they want something that will really give them an additional level of challenges and bring some adrenaline fueled action to their game. And they usually get this kind of thrill by...
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Poker Tournament Basics (Part 1)
Basically, there are two types of tournaments that are popular in the poker circuit – freeze outs and rebuy. A freeze out tournament will usually start with all of the players starting with the same number of chips. This kind of structure means that a player must have a tighter playing strategy. Once a player...
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Shout-Outs (Multi-Table Tournaments)
In Europe, “rounders” are not the people who go from table to table, or even that cult movie with Matt Damon and Edward Norton (and if you don’t know what movie we’re talking about, you have no business saying that you love your poker!). Rounders are step tourneys, or multi-table tournaments. They are...
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Beginner To Poker? Think Omaha Poker!
Poker has several variations, with different levels of complexity. Poker enthusiasts can pick from the whole lot, finding the game play they find most interesting and appropriate for their skill level. For example, relatively new poker players may be better off trying Omaha Poker before jumping into Texas Hold...
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Poker Goes To Hollywood (Part 2)
Hollywood tends to distort poker with stereotypes and really stupid moves and tricks described by scriptwriters who obviously know nothing about the game. But once in a while, you come across a movie that does a decent job of bringing the excitement of poker to the big screen. Here are a few films to rent, enjoy,...
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Poker Goes To Hollywood (Part 1)
Many movies incorporate the high-stakes, fast-action world of poker — hoping, perhaps, to spice up their plot and add edgy glamour to their characters. Unfortunately, many of those gambling scenes border on the ridiculous. Think of the downright ludicrous House of Games, the painfully stilted Honeymoon in Vegas,...
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Texas Holdem – What You Need To Know
Who hasn’t heard of the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tournament? These two very popular tournaments have contributed a lot to making Texas Holdem Poker become one of the most popular variations of poker in existence today. From face to face games to online gambling, Texas Holdem Poker is played...
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Why Einstein Would’ve Made a Good Poker Player
Thanks to cheesy Hollywood movies, some people think that poker is all about mindgames: outwitting the opponents, making a cool bluff. Take the phrase “poker faced”: expressionless, unreadable. They get the impression that Poker is about knowing how to tell a good lie. Well, possibly, but some “mindgames”...
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