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What To Do After A Big Win

You would not think that winning a poker tournament or having a series of substantial wins at the cash game tables could have a negative effect on your game and psyche but often winning big can be worse for a poker player than losing, but only if they handle the big win in the incorrect manner. Between February 27 and March 13 the sixth annual Betfair GSOP $3.3 million guaranteed series takes place and a number of players will be lucky enough to win one of the 15 events on offer, some with guaranteed prizepools of $500,000! Winning such an...

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Playing Poker In Europe

When the United States passed the UIGEA, limiting the ability of Americans to play online poker, some feared that the poker boom would go bust. However, fortunately for video poker online, tons of European players poured in to pick up the slack. While poker has been around in Europe for many years, its growth over the last five years or so has been unprecedented. Poker in Europe has been so successful, in fact, that the current World Champion of Poker, Peter Eastgate, is a European. From Denmark, to be exact. Playing Poker in Europe: Moscow One of the places in...

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Interview With Poker Calculator Creator & CEO (& How To Get Your Free Poker Calculator!)

23 x 12 = 276.  How did I know the answer to that?  I just popped it into my handy calculator and –POOF- out came the answer.  Now imagine being able to so the same thing but for your pocket cards in your next Texas Hold’em game? I recently got a hold of an amazing little physical poker calculator that I just love.  It’s shaped like an actual mini calculator and sort of modeled after one.  It has a really cool interface with custom keys that you punch in to calculate your pre-flop winning odds based on your dealt cards...

Playing Online Poker… To Make Money!

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Playing Online Poker… To Make Money!

When I started playing poker online, I never really gave much thought to making serious money through it.  I enjoyed the fact that I could play the game I love any time of day, any day of the week and always find active players to play against.  It sure beat playing poker on my old monochrome Game Boy (back in the day)! The internet was a game-changer so to speak.  Despite the many websites designed to grab your attention with moneymaking schemes, there are those who seem solid enough. Websites who provide the basic “buy and sell” principle have flourished....

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act (still sucks!)

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The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act (still sucks!)

Years after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act was first introduced to the public, there is still a general pervading sense of hope within the poker community in the United States. Despite the events that have been happening which testify to the strictness and seeming effectiveness of the Gambling Act, poker players – especially the online poker players – still hope that there will be some way to circumvent this law. After all, there have always been loopholes to any law that has been laid down. Yet just recently, someone with authority – a top American gambling administrator, no less –...

Texas Hold ’em Starting Hands

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Texas Hold ’em Starting Hands

Despite the waves that the US Congress Bill has been making, online gamblers all over are still feeling hopeful that somehow this mess will be sorted out. As the saying goes, life goes on… A friend of mine recently bought a 500 piece poker chip set and we had a good old game of Texas Hold ‘em round at his place. This got me thinking that I should write a series of posts about this particular brand of poker, so I’ll start with some facts about starting hands. More than being the current craze in our homes, Texas Hold ‘em...

Poker Pros Speak Out About The Gambling Ban

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Poker Pros Speak Out About The Gambling Ban

Soon after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act was signed, professional poker players from the US and Canada started to make their feelings known. Their reactions ranged from disbelief, to defiant, to downright angry. Personally, it doesn’t surprise me that these poker pros reacted in the way they did. I’m sure that many of them cannot help but take this bill as a personal matter. After all, it’s their livelihood that we’re talking about. Poker expert Tim Lavalli decided to go around and get it from the horses’ mouth. Here are some quotes that he compiled from different poker pros. Read...

The Worst Starting Hands In Texas Hold’em

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The Worst Starting Hands In Texas Hold’em

In my last few articles I’ve taken a break from hands, raising, and other poker terminology. It’s high time that we get back on track. I just realized that after I posted my previous article on choosing starting hands for Texas Hold’em, I didn’t do any follow up. Quite logically, if you can get good starting hands, then you can also have bad starting hands. In this article, let’s take things a bit further and talk about some of the worst starting hands that you can have. 2-7 (off suit) When you find yourself with a 2 and a 7,...

How To Find The Right Poker Room

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How To Find The Right Poker Room

So you’ve decided to try out your career in online poker. Before you actually embark on your journey, you should think about where to start it. There are a multitude of online casinos and online poker rooms to choose from. The bad thing is, not all of them are good places to patronize. As with most things in life, there are those that are reliable and there are some that will just scam you. Then there are a lot of online poker rooms which are not really out to scam players, but that are just not quite good enough in...

How To Build Your Own Poker Table

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How To Build Your Own Poker Table

Earlier on I was talking about different kinds of poker tables. For those of you who are quite handy with a hammer, a saw, nails and that sort of stuff, you’d probably like it better if you had to make your own poker table. This option gives your more control as to exactly how you want your table to look, plus a big plus point to making your own table is the price. You can cut down on a large amount of money if you design your table, purchase the materials needed, and make it yourself. Then, of course, you...

Poker Tables – What Do You Do?

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Poker Tables – What Do You Do?

So you got yourself a nice set of poker chips. Now what, do you think you’re ready for your home game? Before you can actually start your home game, you need another vital piece of equipment – the poker table. In this respect, you have more flexibility than with the poker chips. In deciding to get a poker table, you have three options – buy one, build one, or make use of any table available. The last option is perhaps the most economically feasible. All you need is to clean up an old table at home, line the top with...

Could You Play Online Poker For A Living?

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Could You Play Online Poker For A Living?

If you’re that much of a poker enthusiast, you have to admit it, one of your lifelong dreams is surely to play poker for a living. Come to think of it, almost everyone in this entire world has a similar dream. Find a job that will pay you for doing the thing that you love most and have fun while doing it. It’s not that much different, wanting to play poker for a living. Is it really possible to live off poker, though? More specifically, would it be possible to earn a living playing online poker? If we were to...

Do Online Poker Tells Really Exist?

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Do Online Poker Tells Really Exist?

You’ve got the skills, you’ve chosen your poker room, and you’ve got the best attitude ever. Now what? You’re definitely ready to play online poker, but what if the other more experienced players can sense you’re a newbie? In offline poker, “tells” are one of the most important aspects of the game. In this context, a “tell” is any behavior, habit, or physical reaction that may give the other poker players on the table information regarding the hand of that specific player. In a sense, a tell gives indications as to how you must proceed in the game. The question...

The Art Of Bluffing In Poker

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The Art Of Bluffing In Poker

If there is one thing that the general public knows about poker, it probably is bluffing. Even the uninitiated have heard tales of great bluffing feats to win a game – how a player keeps his emotions in total control, without showing any hint in his body language. Where do you think the widely used expression “poker face” comes from? Yet stop a moment and ask yourself, what do you know about bluffing? Aside from the general idea of misrepresenting yourself (or your hand for that matter), what do you really know about bluffing? What is presented in TV and...

Raising Your Expectations In Poker

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Raising Your Expectations In Poker

Without our being conscious of it, many of us tend to define our hands by what we think our opponents’ cards are. You can see this from the betting process, particularly the raises and reraises. Here’s one example… Let’s say you’re in one of the last positions. You have kings, and you reraised a very strong player seated to your right. The flop was Ac-Kh-4s. He responded with another bet, which you raised. Aaah, here’s where your mind starts thinking really quickly. He decides to reraise. Now, he’s done this before, and you think you know the way he plays....

Understanding Video Poker Machines

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Understanding Video Poker Machines

Gambling and card games may be one of the oldest pastimes in human history, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be touched by technology in some way. In fact, technology is changing the face of gambling and of casinos even as we speak. More and more aspects of gambling are being reimagined with various gizmos and equipment as well as with new machines that offer a fresher experience for old time gaming favorites. For example, there is a growing trend to incorporate electronic forms of casino staples like slots, blackjack and even poker. Video poker in fact made its initial...

The Pre-Flop Re-Steal – No Limit Texas Holdem

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The Pre-Flop Re-Steal – No Limit Texas Holdem

I suppose there is a library of advice that can be offered in regards to every poker play; however, stealing the blinds is a necessity in tournament play if you hope to build your stack towards the leader, and maintain a workable stack as the blinds increase and players decrease. The pre-flop re-steal is simply a re-raise based on an initial raise that someone has bet in an effort to steal the blinds. So if you were thinking it had something to do with robbing a bank with gymnastic ability the day after someone else robbed it, you’ve come to...

Is Poker a Sport, or Not?

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Is Poker a Sport, or Not?

While the argument of whether poker is a game of chance or skill has been debated for as long as one can remember, it is not quite everyday that you will hear people debating whether poker is a sport or not. I came across a British guy’s perspective on this topic. Let’s follow his series of articles on whether or not poker is a sport. Here is what he has to say about it: I have stumbled across many dictionary type definitions of sport, some of which I could have used because they would clearly define poker as a sport,...

How To Play Chinese Poker

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How To Play Chinese Poker

It seems that there is an emerging (though quite not prominent yet) poker variant in existence today. According to Nicole Gordon of PokerNews, well known names in poker have shown quite a propensity for this type of poker. What am I talking about? Chinese poker, or 13 Card poker as it is also known, seems to be catching poker greats in its lure. Stories are rampant wherein poker greats play the main role. Each story varies but the end result is the same – poker players love 13 card poker and spending a lot of money on it. So what...

I Bet My Wife in a Poker Game and Lost!

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I Bet My Wife in a Poker Game and Lost!

I’m sure you’ll have heard poker stories like this before… A gambler is so much into a game but ends up having a bad streak. He loses his cool and is desperate to make a comeback, convinced that the next hand will be THE hand to make him. So there he is, with no more money to put on the table. What does he do? He bets something else of value. Remember the latest James Bond flick, which I actually labeled a poker movie in an article just recently? Remember that poker game between that Greek guy and Agent 007?...