Poker Bettor

Moves on the turn

Mike — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:45:21 +0000

There is a popular notion in the world of poker strategy that the majority of the effort in a hand that will help to decide the overall outcome comes during the pre-flop and flop action. While I would agree that this is most certainly true, this does not mean that you can simply sit back and let the remaining choices that need to be made on the turn and river happen without your dedicated focus and input. Traditionally, the turn is where you’ll have to evaluate closely whether or not to stay in a hand and how much more money you should invest.

Sticking to the plan

By the time you get to the turn, you should have a pretty good idea of where you sit in the hand. However, if you entered into a pot timidly with a marginal hand and made a call on the flop without having much of a draw to improve upon, then you might feel uncomfortable on fourth street. As wildly successful pro player Nick Schulman explains in a recent blog post on CardPlayer.com, you need to know what your plan of attack should be:

“Very often on the turn, when players are unsure of what’s going on in the hand, they have a tendency to commit themselves to the pot in order to take some of the thinking out of it,” says Schulman. “This can be a mistake for a variety of reasons. Firstly, very often you don’t allow your opponent to bet, and also you sometimes find yourself in a spot where you’re no longer getting value out of your hand.”

The big push

Ideally, you want to be in a position of weakness or uncertainly as little as possible on the turn, and instead use the opportunity to work on extracting as many chips as possible from an opponent in a scenario where the odds are heavily in your favour. It might mean that you need to be more selective with what hands and pots you get heavily involved in, but ultimately that will increase your chances of profitability.

Chris
– Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.

Online poker changes around Europe

Mike — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:45:21 +0000

Over the last couple of days there have been a number of changes in online poker around Europe.

In Bulgaria, for example, they have announced that they are going to lower online gambling tax from 15% to as little as 6 – 8%. It was the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB) who advised that the online gambling tax, which was imposed on the operators in their country, was to fall.

Poker access blocked

The CEDB in Bulgaria realised that the high tax they were levying in their country was stopping foreign operators from setting up and so losing the government and its country extra business and revenue. However, in March 2012 the Bulgarian government put a stop to foreign online gambling operators by passing a law to block them. It would appear that the Bulgarian government does not want this extra revenue.

It is not looking too good for Spanish online poker at the moment as their new regulated online poker goes into operation on the 1^st June. Many of the big online poker sites will be getting their new licences pretty soon, including Ladbrokes, PokerStars and 888. However, what may put a stop to the happy families is that the Spanish government are asking them to pay retrospective taxes from their Spanish gaming going back four years.

Spain looking backwards

This action by the Spanish looks likely to make the larger companies such as PokerStars pull out altogether, as, if the government insists on PokerStars paying these taxes they would have to fork out €200 million. Hopefully they can sort something out!

In Belgium, where the gaming commission approved three online poker sites and ordered their four main internet providers to block access to any and all unauthorised sites, it is all very limiting and confusing. However, the main thing to remember is to always play on their authorised sites or you could face a fine of €25,000, and if you are operating one of the blacklisted sites you could be hit with a €100,000 penalty each time you commit an indiscretion.

Neal
– Neal – originally from Cardiff but now living in Italy, discovered playing poker socially back in 2005 often holding poker evenings at home. By 2007 he was a keen player and started playing online. Writing assignments and projects then further raised his interest in the game, to a stage where he is now a regular reader and commentator on the world of poker.

World Poker Tour schedule announced

Mike — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:45:21 +0000

As the World Poker Tour (WPT) draws to a close, with the World Championships at the Bellagio that start this weekend, they have also announced part of the schedule for their 11^th season on the road.

They have released all the dates and venues that will carry them through to the end of 2012 and have included several new sojourns along the way. These stops include Denmark, Morocco, Copenhagen and Philadelphia, so 2012 is looking good in the poker world.

Global poker reach

When interviewed, WPT CEO Steve Heller announced that the “World Poker Tour is committed to extending its global reach. Not only will Season XI feature new stops in the US and abroad, but World Poker Tour is also widely expanding our Regional and National Series to deliver the WPT experience to as many players and fans as possible.”

The really good thing is that they will also be continuing the regional and national tournaments that have lower buy-ins than the main events, which means that players from all walks of life can have a go at playing. Good on you WPT!

Cyprus start

The first date on their calendar that kicks off the WPT year is the 4^th August in Cyprus and for their second tournament they are taking in the first of the new stops with the WPT Parx Open Poker Classic in Philadelphia, which starts on 10^th August. For all you traditionalists out there do not worry because they have still got some of the old classics too, the Legends of Poker, The Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the Grand Prix de Paris are all on the schedule for 2012.

If you want to know the full schedule and locations, check out the WPT website. We are really looking forward to the start of the WPT season in August, we are also looking forward to their final event this weekend. Bring it on!

Dodging Bullets, Drunks, and Dynamite in Poker

Mike — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:41:50 +0000

Playing against a giant field of bad players in a poker tournament, is a bit like showing up to a room full of partiers who are smoking cigarettes as they dance on boxes of dynamite. Every turn there is somebody trying to blow themselves up and take you out as collateral damage.

Playing against a field of talented players is equally scary for entirely different reasons. It’s more like being a lion tamer without a whip in a cage full of hungry big cats. I got to experience both sensations this past month in my pursuit a spot in the WSOP National Championship bracelet and riches.

In the WSOP National Championship?

I’ve been very hesitant to say that I’ve qualified but as of now, I’m at 135 points and 25th in the rankings. Barring an incredible run of finishes by other players in contention to close out the New Orleans stop, I’m probably in. Many of my peers scoff at my reservations of not saying it, but having watched plenty of sports gamblers celebrate prematurely I know it’s never over until the final whistle.

The top 66 qualify, along with the winners of all Main Events and the casino champions at each Circuit stop (another 34). Essentially, with a guaranteed prize pool of a million we’ve each won a 10k buy-in. We will also get hotel and some travel money. The World Series will also invite the top 100 players in the world to buy-in for 10k to the same tournament.

A Loaded Field

That should be a REALLY tough field. Since ESPN is devoting a lot of television coverage to this, I should be grateful for the big names joining the tournament and pumping an extra million in the prize pool. As the National Championship will be taking place around the same time as the Main Event I doubt any of them will turn down this opportunity. A million dollar overlay? Nah… I don’t think so.

That being said, I’m of mixed minds about joining the likes of Jason Mercier, Ben Lamb (who obviously can’t play… sarcasm) and Phil Hellmuth in a poker tournament. I’m confident I can compete with anybody and on any given day in poker anybody can win. That being said, who would want the best players in the world to join them with millions of dollars on the line.

TV Time a Bad Thing?

I’m not that excited about the prospect of being on TV, though it would be cool for my family and friends to see me compete. I think I play a little unconventionally and don’t want my tactics to be “outed”. I know that’s a little presumptuous but please don’t take that to be egotistical. I think any player that thinks of themselves as good has picked up some tricks over the years they’d rather not share with the world.

Granted if I get TV time that means I’m in the hunt for a big pay day so it’ll be worth it. That being said, TV isn’t that big a deal to me, I think ultimately I’d rather them not play and not have ESPN focused on the event. Course, I understand if they weren’t invited the WSOP might not have this bracelet event at all. So, it’s kind of a necessary evil.

Chester, Pennsylvania; Poker Boot Camp

Recently, I traveled to Chester, Pennsylvania with the sole intention of acquiring points to get to the spot I’m in now. I was fortunate enough to run good against some stellar competition and move from just above the bubble to 15th place (I’ve slipped ten spots since New Orleans started). Seemed like everybody that was in Chester was in the points hunt, and I have to say the excitement this format has built on the circuit is exactly what the World Series brass wanted to create.

It felt a bit like a convention of poker players with hardly any locals in the fields. I saw the same talented players every day, and I got to play repeatedly with elite players from California, St. Louis, Tennessee, Wisconsin, New York, Canada and every corner of North America. Normally, I find hand analysis in a tournament to be excruciating even if I pocket the logic (often faulty) the player uses for future use. However, with these top tier guys I enjoyed the thought processes, the leveling, and the analysis.

When I was a kid I played in the Olympic Development Program and would travel to soccer tournaments representing my state against other states, and competing for a chance to make junior national teams. The ten days in Chester with the dynamics at play had the same type of vibe. In close quarters, you sort of grew close to your competitors and developed respect for their abilities.

Playing in virtually every event gave me plenty of time to scout my competition when we get to Vegas. And the same is true for them of me. We now all have live tournament poker history with each other, the question remains who learned the most and who will do the most with it.

Back to Dancing With Donkeys

I learned some things and improved as a player but I also got tripped up a bit. When I returned to play in New Orleans, at the final stop, the fields weren’t just bloated with good players and one or two donks. Every seat is a mystery and the same tactics that were successful against good players tend to fail against the bad players.

I used to be proficient at switching gears to handle these clueless players who don’t have a grasp of elementary things like pot odds, but after the boot camp at Chester I’m giving them too much credit and over thinking. With that said, I’m off to dance on some dynamite with a lit cigarette, again, hopefully I’ll fare better today.

Bill Phillips
– A New Orleans rounder, “Wild” Bill Phillips, dedicated his game to playing live tournament poker in the aftermath of Black Friday. Playing mostly World Series of Poker Circuit events this season, Phillips is in contention to win one of 66 seats in the million dollar WSOP National Championship. He just narrowly missed winning one of 34 auto-qualification seats by taking second place in a WSOP-C Main Event in late 2011.

Managing cost of living

Mike — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:41:50 +0000

One of the most important non-strategy aspects any serious poker player needs to take into consideration is how they manage their cost of living. Since grinders don’t have regular salaries, money management is even more important to focus on since you never know when your next big payday will be, plus you have to take into account that you can lose money as well during the same time period. If you already have some idea of how to balance a cheque book then you’ll have a head start, but first you’ll need to really examine your scenario.

Working to live

If you’ve ever heard someone say that they were living “paycheck to paycheck,” basically they’re saying that they have no extra cash available after they take care of their living costs, such as rent, food and basic utilities. This is a horrible situation to be in, as a single unexpected setback such as needing to fix your car can leave you literally penniless. If your poker career is just barely paying for your lifestyle, adjustments need to be made so that breathing room can exist.

What do you want vs. need

Alex Fitzgerald, a top online player, struggled heavily since the events of Poker Black Friday, luckily he found the solution to staying afloat, which he talks about in his most recent Bluff Magazine blog:

“My overhead is extremely low,” says Fitzgerald. “It’s not that I live cheaply, it’s just my girlfriend has taught me how to live smarter. I have a pretty large house in a good neighborhood here (in Costa Rica). For what I’m paying in rent here I couldn’t afford a decent studio apartment in Seattle. Fresh fish and vegetables are delivered daily, and cost a tenth of what I would pay in Seattle for them. I live healthy, richly, and thankfully cheaply.”

Just like Fitzgerald says, the single best thing you can do is to watch your overheads. Do you have any unnecessary monthly expenditures that you can get rid of? I personally was paying for cable TV from not one, but TWO, providers at the same time, simply because one company offered channels the other did not. When the recession hit I needed to make cutbacks and get rid of a lot of my luxury expenses, but looking back I actually wish I had done it sooner than I actually did.

Ultimately, if you’re feeling the crunch now, you need to make immediate changes before things actually get worse. You can’t rely on the hopes of winning a major tournament to make all your problems go away, you’re going to need to be proactive in solving them yourself.

Chris
– Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.

Deeb makes SCOOP history

Mike — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:41:50 +0000

The American player, Shaun Deeb, has made history in the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). Deeb has won his fourth title in this PokerStars series and hopefully could go on to win lots more. This is the fourth staging of this virtual poker event and he has managed to scoop three wins in 2012 to add to his 2010 title.

Deeb takes four titles

For a 26-year-old his winnings are looking pretty good this year, with $41,600 when he won the $2,100 Buy-in Seven-Card Stud Event, $44,200 for winning the $2,100 Buy-in Triple Stud Event and then he also collects $40,330 when winning the $2,100 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo Event. To top it all off he also took $1,089 for coming seventh in the low stakes $27 Buy-in. This means that this year alone he has had 19 cashes and a whopping seven appearances at a final table and we are sure there are more to come.

Player of the series

With the closing of the SCOOP tournament coming shortly it is looking likely that Deeb will take the Overall Player of the Series award. At the moment he has a 245-point lead and is looking good to take the fantastic European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final 2013 package that they are awarding to the player of the series. However, as we all know it is not over in this game until the last hand has been dealt.

There are some big names lagging behind Deeb and one of them is none other than Team PokerStars Pro, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who is in fifth place with his 290 points. Another contender for the title and someone able to knock him off the top spot is Lind, who had a good day on the virtual felt with his first success of the series.

This poker festival looks like it is going to go to the wire and give us some very exciting poker play. Good luck to all you guys taking part!

Neal
– Neal – originally from Cardiff but now living in Italy, discovered playing poker socially back in 2005 often holding poker evenings at home. By 2007 he was a keen player and started playing online. Writing assignments and projects then further raised his interest in the game, to a stage where he is now a regular reader and commentator on the world of poker.

Stars will avoid court in poker cash battle

Mike — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:41:49 +0000

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo Dicaprio have all been spared a court appearance that almost certainly would have allegedly revealed plenty about their poker games and their winnings.

The court appearances would have produced an almighty showdown regarding the stars and the rest of the influential card sharks who have been caught up in this legal melee between the hedge fund manager and friend, Bradley Ruderman, who was jailed back in 2010 for conning millions out of innocent investors. We bet he is not a friend anymore!

Appearance not necessary

As the court date got closer it did look as though all the minutiae of their illegal, high-stakes poker games in Hollywood would be exposed but thankfully for all concerned the 22 individuals who were suing Ruderman to get their money back have all settled out of court for just over $1.75 million, which does not seem a lot when you think of the millions he cheated them out of.

Cases settled

The bankruptcy trustee, Howard Ehrenberg, led the case against Maguire and the others in an attempt to get back as much money as he could for the people he represented. When questioned Ehrenberg stated: “All of the poker defendant cases are settled. The settlement of every poker related case without having had to incur the cost of taking any of them to trial means that the fund available for the victims has been maximised.”

It has been said that Ruderman, over a three-year period from 2006 – 2009, used the cash he duped the victims out of to live the high life in Malibu and to help him get into the high-stakes poker world in Beverly Hills. In one case it was stated that Ruderman issued an amount of $311,200 to Maguire but this case is now closed as the actor agreed to hand over $80,000 to settle, which does not seem like a lot to us.

Neal
– Neal – originally from Cardiff but now living in Italy, discovered playing poker socially back in 2005 often holding poker evenings at home. By 2007 he was a keen player and started playing online. Writing assignments and projects then further raised his interest in the game, to a stage where he is now a regular reader and commentator on the world of poker.

Grosvenor to acquire Gala Casinos

Mike — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:52 +0000

The company Rank Group Plc who own BlueSq.com and the Grosvenor Casinos have stated that for £205 million they are going to buy Gala Casinos, who are part of the Gala Coral Group. Rank will be getting 23 of Gala’s casinos in this deal but the Gala Coral group will be keeping the casinos that they have in Dundee and Gibraltar.

This deal will give Rank casinos 58 operating sites and also 13 non-operating licences. Part of their plans for the rebranding of the Gala casinos is to change just nine of them to their G Casino brand and leave the rest as they are.

When interviewed the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Rank said: “We are delighted to have agreed terms with Gala Coral. This acquisition will deliver a step change in Rank‘s earnings by capitalising on our proven record of operational excellence in the British casino sector. By rolling out the G Casino format into the Gala estate and expanding the Grosvenor Casino brand into 11 new cities, we will accelerate the growing awareness of the brand and support the development of a multi-channel gaming business.”

Although the business discussions between Rank and Gala Coral ended in April of this year the deal itself is not expected to be completed until the third quarter of 2012. It is then that we can expect all the changes to come into force and hopefully we will see more venues added to the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT).

It all seems to be happening in the poker world this year with extra tours and bigger venues springing up all over the place. As they say, things can only get better!

Neal
– Neal – originally from Cardiff but now living in Italy, discovered playing poker socially back in 2005 often holding poker evenings at home. By 2007 he was a keen player and started playing online. Writing assignments and projects then further raised his interest in the game, to a stage where he is now a regular reader and commentator on the world of poker.

Online poker back by the holidays?

Mike — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:51 +0000

In the world of online poker, all eyes have been on Nevada as the Silver State leads the effort to bring about the first intrastate internet poker system, with regulators in that region having the biggest head start of any other area in the country. Now it appears that plans to adopt and implement a new set of policies that would allow operators to open and run real-money sites is on a fast track to the extent that the first businesses may be ready to go by this upcoming holiday season.

During a Gaming Policy Committee meeting this past Monday in Las Vegas, Mark Lipparelli, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said that he believes that the first licences for the state’s online gambling initiative will be issued within 60 days, with the initial license holders able to open their doors an additional six to eight days after that. The majority of the process is geared towards the approval of the technology each individual site uses, with private testing having begun just a few months ago.

One of the biggest roadblocks the committee has come up against from detractors of the initiative is the concern that residents from neighbouring states would be able to go online and participate in Nevada’s online poker community. However, Bwin.party Digital Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, who gave a large presentation in front of the panel during the Monday meeting, says that the current technology being used to determine the location of the customer trying to log into the site is 99.8% accurate.

Outside of Nevada, no other state has been officially authorised to begin private lab testing, though they have achieved various levels of advancement through the actual intrastate process. At the moment though, it seems like Nevada residents will have a huge head start to enjoy online poker before the rest of the nation catches up.

Chris
– Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.

Poker world record attempt to aid Help for Heroes

Mike — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:30:44 +0000

A poker player from Manchester is going to attempt to break the world record for the longest ever poker marathon. He is going to have to play for over 115 hours to break this record and he needs volunteer poker players to help him in this five-day epic event.

Barry Denson, who plays for The Nuts Poker League, has joined up with Help for Heroes to lend a hand in raising funds for this very worthwhile cause. The record he is attempting to smash is the Longest Marathon Playing Poker By An Individual. Professional poker player, Phil Laak, set the existing record at 115 hours in Las Vegas back in 2010 in the illustrious surroundings of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino.

The guys at Guinness World Records will give Barry a five-minute break every hour but if he wishes he can bank these and take a longer break when he needs one. As an ex-Territorial Army soldier we are sure that Barry will be able to hold himself together, smash this record and set another one.

In an interview Barry stated: “One of the biggest challenges will be finding enough players to play me. Guinness World Records will only allow other players to play for up to four hours at a time so we need as many players as possible to come along and take part, especially in the early hours or the mornings.”

This great event is taking place at the G Casino in Manchester and starts at midnight on Sunday 1^st July. The casino is inviting all poker players to turn up and play for anything up to four hours. When you have finished playing you can stay and watch the record get broken. Good luck Barry! We hope you do it!

Neal
– Neal – originally from Cardiff but now living in Italy, discovered playing poker socially back in 2005 often holding poker evenings at home. By 2007 he was a keen player and started playing online. Writing assignments and projects then further raised his interest in the game, to a stage where he is now a regular reader and commentator on the world of poker.