There are many ways to play poker, but the easiest way to explain the proper approach to no-limit hold 'em is to raise and raise often.

Raising the pot can produce two outcomes that can be very good for the players & women poker players making it.

The most important aspect to raising is to drive other players out of the pot. Against more than two opponents, even a powerhouse hand like pocket aces will have a hard time standing up as the best hand after the flop.

The goal is to always whittle the field to two or fewer opponents, with the optimal scenario resulting in either a single caller or folded hands throughout the table.

Assuming that the raiser started the hand with a pretty good holding — there are maniacs out there who will raise with 7s-4d from early position — a good raise is the only way to build a nice pot.

There's nothing more beautiful than to hold a great hand that needs help like As-Ks when an ace hits on the flop of a raised pot. This gives you top pair with top kicker, and it's a nice spot to be in. If you were to raise this hand up to three or four times the big blind and were greeted with two callers, just like that, you'd stand to win at least 12 or more big bets.

This is a very healthy pot to take down no matter what the format. In a poker tournament with the blinds set at $500-$1,000, it would be a $12,000-chip pot which would dramatically increase the health of your stack. In a simple $2-$4 cash game, it could yield $50 and do the same with actual cash.

Raising can also put the poker equivalent to the fear of God in a player when executed at the proper time and place. Raising the pot when there is already a bet thrown into the table is a tremendous sign of strength, and it forces opponents to have an extra special holding to stay in the hand with you.

As long as it's well timed, this move can even be done with air (absolutely nothing) against the right opponents. Play online poker.

A player that calls too often has a tough road to hoe to produce a winning session or playing style. The problem with calling too often is that it fails to provide any information whatsoever for what types of hands you may be up against.

Calling players don't know if they are up against the nuts, a weak draw, or nothing at all.

A savvy player will value-bet you to death when they have you beat, and when they don't, they'll always look for a discounted rate to chase their straight or flush draw. The only advantage to being the type of player who calls often is that players will avoid bluffing you like an incurable disease.

Notable poker guru Phil Gordon labels fancy moves against these players as poker's most unforgivable sin.

"The worst move you can ever make at a table is making a move on a calling station," Gordon said. "They just don't know any better than to play that poorly, so to lose a lot of money to them is completely on you." Download poker wallpapers.

Calling too often presents another problem. It forces the player to have the best hand every time they play down to a showdown, where the cards must be exposed.

This is a very difficult thing to do more than 50 percent of the time and nearly impossible to do more than 60 percent of the time. Since poker is such a guessing game with incomplete information, nobody is that good at being right.

It would be amazing if the technology was present to look back on every playing session just as if it were taped and edited for TV like the World Poker Tour, where all of the cards were exposed. If you watch the show, you'll routinely see players win pots without having the best hand. Play route 66 poker.

They are winning these pots by raising them up, rarely by calling.

Calling has its place but should always be used in moderation in favor of the more dangerous raising option.

Poker News Source: San Antonio Express-News

The China Leisure Sports Administrative Center has tied the knot with World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPT) to promote “the sport of poker, by helping to create, expand and commercialize China’s first ever national poker competition,” the Associated Press reported today.

Well, something like poker, at least.

The Chinese authorities look askance at gambling, much as their soul mates at the American Department of Justice (DOJ) do. As such, no betting will be allowed. Since the stake involved determines much of the strategy and psychology of the game itself, it’s hard to understand how this would qualify as “poker” or, even more importantly for the WPT, just why anyone would want to watch. Online poker.

Poker is what is known as a game of imperfect information, as opposed to a game like chess where the allowable moves are there for all to see, and as such it is beloved of game theory theoreticians. It also includes an element of active disinformation concerning a number of the 45 unknown cards, which is information communicated by the wager itself. It just is not the same without the stake. Play route 66 poker.

Still, the move gives the WPT at least a toehold in the ever-enticing Chinese market, and does provide the opportunity to promote something resembling the game to a huge new market. The Chinese decided to define the game of poker as a sport a few years back, something resembling the various American attempts, which have generally failed, to define the game as one of skill. Women poker players.

Poker has generally been perceived to be a potential breakthrough in American internet gaming law due to the element of skill involved; as many have observed, there are no professional roulette players. Poker is also something of an American tradition - even the Supreme Court had a weekly poker game until relatively recently. Download poker wallpapers.

Of course, with the Presidential election kicking into gear, the shabby state of American law will probably not change anytime soon. Improved regulation at the state level is probably a better bet. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.

Poker News Source: The Register

Online poker player loses Texas Hold'em hand with quad Aces, hitting the highest Bad Beat Jackpot ever at Absolute Poker and winning over $160,000 in cash.

The online poker world is abuzz this morning after a major win that will forever change the life of one lucky Texas Hold'em player. While most poker victory stories this month originate from the World Series of Poker, this latest account comes from far beyond the walls of the Rio.

"With nearly one million hands dealt since the last hit on July 3rd, our Bad Beat Jackpot had climbed to over $464,000," stated David Clainer, senior vice president for Absolute Poker. "Online poker players & women poker players flooded the site in record numbers for a shot at winning an unfathomable amount of cash just by losing a hand."

On July 11th at 11:46 pm ET, an online poker player who goes by the name of Calvinhobbes did just that, losing quad Aces to a Royal Flush in a friendly game of Texas Hold'em at Absolute Poker.

At most online poker rooms and land-based casinos, a loss like that would be devastating.
But not this time. Calvinhobbes was seated at one of Absolute Poker's Bad Beat Jackpot tables. If a player loses a hand holding four 8s or anything better at a Bad Beat Jackpot table, they've hit the jackpot. To help the jackpot build, $0.50 is collected from qualifying hands at Bad Beat Jackpot tables. Play route 66 poker.

By the evening of July 11th, the jackpot had reached a record-setting $464,652.03. The previous jackpot of $297,287.63 was hit on July 3rd. Download poker wallpapers.

Calvinhobbes' share of the poker jackpot stands at $162,628.21. The participants in the bad beat jackpot hand will share an additional $162,628.21 with the pot winner taking over $81,000 and the remaining players walking away with over $20,000 a piece.

"I challenge you to find another online poker room where you can lose quad Aces and win a life-altering amount of cash," said Clainer. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.

Poker News Source: Finance Visor

World Poker Tour Poker Room is 100% PokerPro, World’s Largest Installation of Electronic Poker Tables

Four Winds Casino Resort, in New Buffalo, Michigan, opened the world’s largest automated poker room today, running exclusively on PokerTek (NASDAQ: PTEK) poker tables.

The Four Winds Poker Room features fifteen PokerPro® 10-seat tables and four PokerPro Heads-Up tables.

The Four Winds property, which opened on August 2nd, is owned by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and managed by Lakes Entertainment. Four Winds has over 3,000 slot machines, 100 table games, 6 restaurants, 5 bars and 165 hotel rooms in addition to the 19-table poker room. Online poker.

“Four Winds is committed to delivering the best gaming and entertainment experience possible and PokerPro is part of that commitment,” said Matt Harkness, Four Winds Casino Resort General Manager. “We are proud to open this state-of-the-art, all-PokerPro poker room.”

“The Pokagon Band has been an ideal partner for PokerTek’s largest installation to date,” said Lou White, PokerTek’s Chief Executive Officer. “Their commitment to electronic poker is phenomenal, as evidenced by the size and quality of their new poker room. PokerTek is pleased to be working with an operator whose dedication to making this room a success is only rivaled by their desire to exceed player’s expectations by offering such a broad range of game offerings, poker tournament schedules and major tournament satellite events.”

The room will offer Limit and No Limit Texas Hold’em cash games, Limit and Pot Limit Omaha Hi and Hi/Lo cash games, and Single and Multi-Table tournaments with a variety of buy-ins. Players & women poker players can also play to win seats into major events and compete in heads-up tournaments on one of the four PokerPro Heads-Up tables.

“We’re going to offer the best action in the region,” said Harkness. “Our tournament schedule is second to none, our games are all reasonably priced and playing on PokerPro gives players more action with fewer hassles and distractions.” Play $500 match poker bonus.

PokerPro® is an electronic poker table that allows players to compete against each other in live poker. Players use their individual touch-screen to view their cards, call, raise or fold, while viewing the pot, community cards, and players chip stacks on the large center display. Players will notice that the games are fast with a 50% increase in the hands dealt every hour when compared to a manual poker table, as well as total accuracy and social interaction among players. Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.

For more information and to make reservations, please call 1-866-4WINDS1 or visit www.fourwindscasino.com.

Poker News Source: Business Wire

When trying to steal pots in No-Limit Hold'em, you have to ask yourself questions like: "How likely is it that my opponent has a hand?" and "Does my bet (bluff) make sense in the context of the way the hand played out?" Asking these questions is important. Answering them accurately is critical.

A recent example of a bluff and counter-bluff came up at the $5K No-Limit Hold'em event at the World Series of Poker. I was down to the final two tables and had 6-2 off-suit in the big blind. The small blind called and I checked. The flop came down J-T-6 with two diamonds. My opponent checked and I thought, "I'll take one shot at this." I had a pair and position, and I was going to try to take the pot right there. When my opponent called, I pretty much gave up on the pot.

The next card came a diamond, making a possible flush, and my opponent checked again. I also checked, giving him a pretty good idea that I didn't have the flush. The river card was a blank and he came out betting. Play online poker.

I knew I didn't have a hand, but my read made me pretty sure he didn't have one either. I didn't think he'd hit a flush, and I knew I could make it look like I was trapping on the turn with a flush myself so, after he bet $16,000, I raised to $50,000. After about a minute, he let go of the hand. Women poker.

Now, let's take another look at the action here. When my opponent checked the flop, I saw the opportunity to make a play and tried to steal the pot. He obviously called with some kind of hand. We both checked the turn when the possible flush came and he led out after the river brought no obvious help to either of us. He could have been trying to trap me with the flush, but I just didn't read it that way. When he tried to steal the pot, I couldn't just call even though he almost surely had my 6 beat. Still, I was pretty sure I could make him lay down his hand with a raise.

For these types of plays to be successful, you have to think ahead of the bet you're making and ask yourself how likely it is that the player has a made hand. He had to have a flush to call my raise on the river unless he thought I was making a play. Download poker wallpapers.

Any bluff or counter-bluff you make has to be calculated. Any play should be based on some information from the betting, the player, or from some any reads that you're able to make. This one wasn't so much a read on the player, but a read on the situation. Even though it was possible he had made his flush, I wasn't convinced. That's why I thought I could make him believe I had connected by raising on the river. To him, the action made sense. It looked like I'd made a semi-bluff on the flop, betting with a draw. I'd checked on the turn in order for him to bet on the river so I could raise him with a made hand. He was an intelligent player and I think that's the way he read it back to himself. Play $500 match poker bonus.

You always have to try and gather as much information as you can before you make those kinds of plays. You need to know that the player you're up against is intelligent enough to read the situation. You don't want to be making an advanced play like that on somebody who's not going to be able to make sense of it. By making smart reads and taking advantage of these opportunities over the course of a poker tournament, you can help build your chip stack and put yourself in contention for the final table.

Poker News Source: Swiss Poker

Even basketball star Steve Nash's eyes popped at the 8.8-carat, intense-pink diamond ring Janelle Washington wore at a party and charity poker tournament she and husband Kyle hosted at their Eagle Harbour waterfront home recently. Pal Christie King was encouraged when la Washington murmured its value as "Seven." Figuring $700,000 would be chump change for husband Jamie, who spent close to that on their May, 2000 wedding reception, King thought again when Washington said: "Seven million."

The two own many gems other than the pink monster, which was loaned by Carats dealer Colin Ferguson and overseen by the platoon of security guards his insurance company demanded. Still, other guests saw and raised them bling-wise. Notable was San Diego resident Dominique Plewes, whose father-in-law is billionaire T. Boone Pickens and whose single-stone earrings ran to nine carats -- well over a million smackers -- each side. Play route 66 poker.

Victoria-raised music-biz biggie David Foster entertained at the keyboard. With numerous loving or newlywed couples paying $10,000 to attend, though, his much-rehearsed four-letter shtick about former wives sounded rather off-key.

Hitched in April were former Borden Ladner Gervais securities lawyer Barb Smith and World Poker Tour winner Phil Gordon, who met over a Turks and Caicos Islands beach-volleyball net. No doubt Gordon was observing as a Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation board member rather than to seek a money game replete with bauble bucks. Play online poker.

- - -

DOUBLING UP: Lower Mainland Steel principal Ron McNeil dropped a reported $100,000 into the Face the World gala's million-dollar charity pot this year. Now he's made it back, and more. That was at the firm's seventh-annual golf tournament at Pemberton's Big Sky course Friday. The dough will go to Canuck Place and the Canucks For Kids Fund.

- - -

INSIDE STRAIGHT: The joke about Judson Beaumont's Straight Lines Designs children's-furniture firm -- www.straightlinedesigns.com -- is that curved lines rule there. According to Beaumont's 140-page What's Next? book: "It wasn't until I stopped doing boxy designs and started bending and curving my furniture pieces that my business really took off." Play $500 match poker bonus.

Full of photos and design sketches, the $30 book is stocked at the Cambie-at-Pender Architecture Centre, Duthie's, Oscar's, Sophie's, Voltage and the Emily Carr Institute. Beaumont's target market is evident in the front-cover photo of Bad Table! which raises a pooch-like leg to seemingly pee on a striped rug. His Boom Cabinet seems to be exploding so that the fragmented upper three of its functional six drawers can be mounted anywhere on the wall. Women poker.

Less known are the libraries, playgrounds and waiting rooms Beaumont designs and builds for U.S. universities and hospitals, 10 of them in New York and New Jersey. He's readying one for Staten Island Children's Hospital to simulate Ladder Truck 101, which lost much of its crew in the 9/11 World Trade Center catastrophe. A dozen following rooms "will be themed on heroes like doctors, nurses and social workers."

Security guards watch over eye-popping ring worth $7 million. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.

Poker News Source: The Vancouver Sun

The flags said it all.

The standards for the U.S., England, South Africa, Canada and Denmark were waved proudly in the stands as fans stood in solidarity with their players at the final table of the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event. Add in the birth counties of three other players - Laos, Russian and Vietnam - and the WSOP had its diverse Main Event final table ever.

The international flair at the final table was a microcosm of the entire WSOP. Although U.S.-born players still dominate WSOP fields, more international players than ever competed in 2007. More than 27 % of the field starting Day 2 action came from outside the U.S. And several left the Series as rising superstars.

Russia's Alexander Kravchenko won his first WSOP bracelet and finished fourth in the Main Event. His more than $2 million in 2007 WSOP winnings (six total cashes) vaulted him to the top of Russia's all-time money list.

Same goes for Germany's woman poker player Katja Thater. Already a star in her country because of her performances on the European Poker Tour and her Pokerstars endorsement deal, Thater became the first woman to win an open-WSOP event since 2004. She was also a favorite of the ESPN camera crews with her kind smile and her shiny new bracelet.

"I can't really wear my pajamas to the supermarket anymore," Thater said. "People recognize me (in Germany) now and I sign a lot of autographs."

But perhaps more important to the WSOP's growth is the influx of International players looking to become their country's next big star.

Players like 35-year old Magnus Karlsson, who was born in Sweden but now lives in Costa Rica. He watched fellow Swedes Erik Fridberg and William Thorson become famous in the 2006 Main Event and wants to follow in their footsteps.

Karlsson said he was proud to watch his friends succeed with an aggressive style unfamiliar to most Americans, but innate to most European competitors. He was so inspired that he entered the WSOP for the first time this year.

Poker landscape changing

"It seems like English wasn't the first language at many of the tables this year," said Norman Chad, color analyst for ESPN.

Players from outside the U.S. made up more than 16 percent of all top-50 finishers in the 55 WSOP bracelet events, according to a Casino City survey.

Additionally, 32 percent of the top-25 finishers in the Casino City WSOP Player of the Year race were from countries besides the U.S. Play online poker.

English speaking nations still have a large grip on the WSOP with 91% of the top-50 finishers coming from the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia. But Germany, Sweden, and Italy all boasted double-digit cash figures.

Ten of in the 55 bracelets awarded were handed to players from outside the U.S. with seven countries represented.

Canada led the non-U.S. bracelet race with three winners (Robert Cheung, Jason Warner and Lukasz Dumanski) while Germany grabbed two (Thater and Michael Keiner). Russia's Kravchenko, England's Ram Vaswani, Italy's Jeffrey Lisandro, South Korea's Daniel Schreiber and Israel's Rafi Amit also won gold.

"We came as a group of 10 from Germany," Thater said. "When I wasn't playing I was watching and cheering. I wanted my friends to succeed."

In total, 32 countries made an appearance in the Casino City survey.

Why they keep coming (and why that won't stop)

Television and Internet poker are the two biggest reasons why there are more players at the WSOP from outside the U.S. than ever before, according to experts.

"(International) Players see their countryman on television, winning large amounts of money, and it just looks cool," said John Duthie, creator of the European Poker Tour and a member of Team PokerStars. "Sweden is a good example. It's an acceptable pastime for young players there and as they learn the game and succeed, they seem to branch out to other parts of the world and do well in the biggest events."

But Chad, like many others, believes the increase is in part due to the online gambling restrictions placed on American players.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) made it illegal for U.S. financial institutions to conduct transactions with online gambling firms, thus Chad said, "thousands of Americans players" lost out on a chance to qualify for the WSOP. This left a large, open conduit for international players to qualify and play. Play $500 match poker bonus.

"This is the World Series of Poker," Chad said. "It's not like the World Series of Baseball, which really just crowns a U.S. champion. Anyone from anywhere can win a bracelet or a World Championship here and I think that also draws the players in."

Star power also has an influence. Friberg, a young up and coming player from Sweden in 2006, served as another catalyst for international growth when his aggressive style was showcased on the ESPN Main Event broadcasts.

Other European stars like Friberg, Thater, Thor Hansen, Ram Vaswani and Gus Hansen add color to the game with their personalities and unique playing styles.

"They (international players) bring a little bit extra color a different amount of aggression to the game," Duthie said.

Duthie, one of England's finest players, finished 487th in the Main Event and was a media favorite for spending most of the tournament with a massage therapist behind his chair.

Karlsson said Europeans play poker differently, learning to bluff in drawing games like Omaha and Suki, a five-card-stud game where four-flushes beat pairs. Because success in these games relies heavily on drawing, Karlsson believes Europeans are inherently more aggressive -- bluffing more -- which in turn creates an exciting playing style suited for television.

Denmark's Philip Hilm, a 2007 Main Event final table participant, is a good example. He came to final table as the chip leader, but told ESPN's Phil Gordon after he lost that he was not content to sit back and wait for cards. He wanted to "own" the table. Download poker wallpapers.

When eventual Main Event champ Jerry Yang got aggressive early, Hilm decided to put a stop to it – or lose trying. This attitude culminated in one of the final table's most exciting hands. Hilm pushed more than $20 million chips in the middle with nothing more than third pair and a flush draw, forcing Yang, the other chip leader, to make an early decision for all his chips.

Hilm lost when he missed his outs, but the hand became and instant classic because one of Denmark's rising-stars was willing to risk millions of real dollars on a gamble.

"We put a lot of pressure on our opponents," Karlsson said of European players. "We're not afraid to push, push, push."

International players: The future of the WSOP

The first WSOP Europe kicks off in September, the beginning of a major WSOP expansion into markets outside Las Vegas, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said.

London will play host to WSOP Europe with three bracelet events scheduled, including a $20,000 Main Event. Americans Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Jamie Gold have already committed to playing, but the point of this expansion is to draw international players to the WSOP brand, Pollack said.

"They (international players) are critical to the WSOP," Pollack said. "We are trying to put more World into the World Series of Poker. It's a global game and we want to bring our brand to fans and players around the world through the television and the Internet."

Drawing international players was a focal point of 2007, Pollack said. The International Players Advisory Council (IPAC) was created to help change the WSOP and serve as a compliment to the Player's Advisory Council (PAC), Pollack said.

"We met with the international players last fall and it was a major wake up call for us," Pollack said. "We realized quickly that we needed to do more to better service the International player." Play route 66 poker.

One major change was the registration process.

Given the difficulties with dealing with currency conversions, Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino Director of Customer Service Joe Scibetta created separate lines for international players. The area was staffed with personnel experienced in dealing with foreign money, and the result was a smoother process and shortened wait-times.

"We got some instant feedback that the process was much more efficient this year than last," Scibetta said. "We plan to make similar improvements next year."

Pollack said changes like these will become the norm as the WSOP brand expands.

Duthie believes the international player influx has more to do with the exposure of International players to Americans and vice versa.

"As more Americans are exposed to their colorful international counterparts, a bridge is created through the poker experience that will bring more U.S. players to the European poker tournaments and beyond," Duthie said. "And that will work both ways once more Americans players come to Europe. It already exists, but I think you'll see that it gets larger."

Poker News Source: Casino City Times