By Carl “The Dean” Sampson of PokerSharkPool.com
Psychologists always tell us that to achieve true expert status usually takes around ten years of continuous study along with practical experience. Fortunately for us, learning how to make money from poker doesn’t take anywhere near that length of time!
Event 49 is hotting up with 19 of the 95 runners still remaining. Last years champ Scotty Nguyen is out, leaving some of the hot players of 2009 WSOP fighting for the coveted bracelet. 16 get paid, so the bubble is fast approaching as day 3 begins.
Steve Wills – the new co-host of the weekly show joins us to discuss poker and many things related to it.
If you wish to download (right click and save target as) Click Here to Download
For previous podcasts click here (or the banner above) to be taken to our podcast download page.
We feel that a weekly podcast about poker is something that we lack here at itsawinner. So we are sorting that out straight away! After the success of Gary Hurst’s pokercast, we have decided to bring you a weekly downloadable podcast featuring Mal Clarke (owner of itsawinner), Gary Hurst, and local player Steve Wills who as a former poker mc, and regular player will help us make the show excellent as you download each week (which of course you MUST do!)
We will be discussing all things poker, from our own play to news from the poker world. Hopefully it will be a good laugh and we will be able to entertain you directly on your Ipod or through your computer.
If you would like to be interviewed or call into the show, then please contact us and we can arrange to skype you during the show. Make sure you check back soon where the first show will be available for downloading. Until then, keep an eye open for new articles and video from our normal updates.
For those interested, I have found an interview with Steve conducted at a recent tournament where he finished 6th. I’m sure he’ll be an excellent addition to the podcast and we welcome him to the team.
A lot of people simply do not gamble online just because it may seem confusing, or totally different from a real casino. This is simply not true.
When going through an online casino, it’s much easier to access the games without real-life hassles. You don’t have to bother with people, you don’t have to make the drive, and all you have to do is login. There are tons of games: video poker, roulette, slots; probably more games than your local casino has. So, what is the difference between a poker room and an online poker room?
First of all, playing online is much easier. There are no unnecessary waits, no old people, and you can win much faster. The casino games you would play by yourself can go much faster, and in the case ok poker or other card games that you play with other participants, you can keep a mean poker face.
Or you can just try online casinos, and figure out for yourself why the virtual poker room is better than the real one. They’re always there, and you can play whenever you want. You don’t have to plan a trip; you can just get to an online casino in a matter of seconds.
But you shouldn’t let someone decide for you; go ahead and try both online poker rooms and real-life ones. Online casinos try to cater to the gambler better than real-life ones, though. They have sped-up games, and you can always find a table with players, no matter what time of night it is.
So it ends up on personal preference. Try out both, online poker and real-life, and decide for yourself. The best casinos are the ones that appeal the most to you, and that is something that no one can change.
Jeffrey Lisandro has got three World Series of Poker bracelets, all of which have come in the discipline of Stud! An amazing record for Jeffrey who has had four cashes in the 2009 WSOP and is enjoying a brilliant run. Read on for details of his dominance of the Stud tournaments at this years WSOP.
Here at itawinner we like to research the various poker and gaming websites out there and give my thoughts on them. I do not encourage people to gamble, that decision is yours. 888.com offer a user-friendly place to play, and are a reputable and safe website to wager at.
What impresses me about the way 888 work is that they are really diversifying their products, despite being a massive poker room.
888 are pushing the envelope by targeting overseas markets like the Australian market, sponsoring high profile former cricketer Shane Warne to help their online poker presence. 888.com is a well-established poker room, offering plenty of games like Stud, Omaha and of course everyone’s favourte game, Texas Holdem You can always find a game at this poker room.
If you are interested in sports betting, then check out 888sport.com which may be right up your street. They have a large range of betting options for many sports.
20,647 of 50,000 have been played with a monster session being logged at the World Series of Poker (which was quite unexpected).
Durrr overturned a $-500,000 hole to move $+726,546.50 into the lead, giving Antonius a massive loss himself to overturn. As we move closer to the final hands, things are sure to heat up in this challenge with the action definitely going to be insane.
Durrr is proving himself one of the best players in the world, with even Phil Hellmuth recently commenting on how he has massive respect for him in a recent interview.
Stay tuned for further Durrr Challenge updates.
There is a growing rumour that the large website pokerroad is about to close.
The website was the brainchild of a collection of pros headed (and I believe bankrolled to a large degree) by Barry Greenstein and his step-son Joe Sebok. The site has got a load of excellent podcasts, and home to the excellent red pro discussion forum, which limits posting only to well-known and successful professionals. It is a great read, but unfortunately updates are rare as all the players are battling for bracelets in Vegas.
Barry was quoted as saying that if pokerroad does not improve it’s financial performance then he would be reviewing things after the WSOP. Considering there has not been one pro post in the red pro forum, and podcasts are becoming sporadic, things certainly does not look good for the sites future. Hopefully this will change as it would be a shame to see a good site like this fold.
There are some amazing offers on for deposit bonuses. PKR have just done a major upgrade and are offering players the opportunity to sign up for their site and get the best bonus offer on the market!
For a long time PKR have promised a lot but now they are beginning to deliver on their massive potential. See below for details!
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It seems like every time you tune into a WPT broadcast half the people at the final table are online poker players. If you have aspirations to being the next poker millionaire, playing poker online is a proven way to do it. Let’s take a look at playing with discipline, bank roll management and setting a stop loss, three concepts you need to become a winning online poker player.
Discipline
This is very important in online poker. It is easy to suffer a few bad beats and decide that you should be playing hands you normally wouldn’t. You see other players winning with them so why not you? Pay closer attention and you will notice that the vast majority of those players give that money back to the table and then some. Play your game and in the long run you will see positive results. You are going to see more bad beats playing online than you do in a traditional card room. This is because you are seeing more hands. In a brick and mortar casino you might see 35 or 40 hands an hour. At an online table you will see 100 or more hands every hour.
Bankroll Management
The money you have set aside for playing poker is your bankroll. You deposit the money you want to play poker with on the poker site and you can only use it to play at their site. A big part of managing your bankroll is not playing in a game too big for your bankroll. As a general rule, the buy in for a tournament should not be more than 2% of your bankroll. Cash game buy ins should not be greater than 5%. The reason behind this is simple. You will not always win. By keeping the amount of money invested in each session small compared to your bankroll, you will be able to continue playing at that level even if you suffer a few reversals. Even the professionals you see on TV suffer losing streaks.
Stop Loss
Setting a stop loss limit when playing in cash games is critical. The concept is simple, decide how much you are willing to lose in a single session. If you reach this limit, you stop playing at that table and move to another one or go do something else. You cannot win all the time. Keeping your losses small is key to your success. The opposite is not true. You don’t want to set a stop win. As long as you are winning, keep playing. Stop when you are tired or have other things you need or want to do. Don’t stop just because you are ahead a set amount at the time.
These concepts have been critical to the success of numerous professional and amateur poker players for years.. When you are effective in your bankroll management, consistently employing stop losses and playing with discipline day in and day out, you will be a winning online poker player.
Seven-card stud is a classic version of poker still enjoying popularity, played with a table of 2 to 8 players.
Every player remaining in the hand is dealt two face-down cards, four cards exposed, and a seventh card down. If played 8-handed and players remain in the hand such that there are insufficient cards remaining to deal each player a seventh card, then a single seventh card is dealt face up as a shared community card. As in Texas Hold’em, cards are known as “streets”. The first card dealt exposed is “third street”, the final card is “seventh street”, and so on.
The betting is usually fixed-limit, meaning players may only bet a set amount. The fixed limit includes both a small bet and a big bet; for example, in $2/$4 a small bet of $2 and a big bet of $4. The hand starts with each player putting an ante into the pot that is some percentage of the small bet – assume 20% or $0.40 in the above example. The first round of betting occurs after third street. The lowest card exposed is required to make a forced opening bet known as the “bring in”. In the example above, the bring in would be $0.80. That player has the option to complete the small bet, betting a full $2 rather than 80 cents. Play continues around the table with each player having the option of folding, calling the bet, or raising. After the first small bet is reached, players raise in increments of the small bet. Betting is capped at four bets per round. On fifth and subsequent streets, the big bet becomes the betting increment.
On fourth street and beyond, betting is opened by the player showing the strongest exposed cards; he may either check or bet. “Strongest” means the best cards in terms of pairs and high cards. If two players reach sixth street and one has a pair of twos exposed while the other shows the 6, 7, 8, 9 all suited, the deuces would open even though the other hand is a better drawing hand. If the final bet is called on seventh street or the round is checked down, then the cards are revealed to determine the best 5-card hand.
Strategy contrasts from Texas Hold’em, where the only cards exposed during betting are community cards. In stud, if a player’s board shows a pair of aces, he cannot disguise that hand strength by slow playing. If his board shows 4 cards to a straight or flush, he will ultimately have three hole cards, any one of which could possibly complete his hand. Any 7-card hand could conceivably hold a full house or even quads, though no pairs are visible.
It is vital to see what cards have been revealed on every player’s board. Folded hands are discarded into the muck, so you need to remember what cards are dead. As players receive their cards, consider which are likely to improve the displayed hand when deciding your bet.
Novice players tend to call too many bets, “chasing” in hands where they are behind. An adage to remember is that it is better to fold a bad hand early rather than late.
