Are there more chances to win if I play a tight game or loose?

You will undeniably hear two sides of this argument from your poker buddies or even the so-called poker stars. Let’s take a look first at the tight poker players. Each player including yourself will have a hard time winning, if the entire table is playing a tight Texas holdem’ game. What will happen if you have a poker table full of tight players is the poker players will finish up swapping the smaller pots back and forth to each other. In the meantime the casino is raking in heaps of your hard-earned cash, and that of your competition. So now you might think, is it better to play loose? Well, in this circumstance the better players are going to lose fewer hands, but at the end of it all nobody is going to come out on top.

How can I better my Texas holdem’ playing in the long run?

The answer to this question is as simple as a piece of paper and a pen. A good approach to learn a lot about your playing technique and strategy, is to keep some sort of record of your Texas holdem’ playing. It’s possible to write down this information during the poker game, and then pass it to a database on your home computer. This can also help you learn about your challenger’s playing style, and what is the best tactic to conquer them.

Should I use the same strategy for every poker game?

If you think that being predictable is a winning strategy for playing poker, then you should consider varying your Texas holdem’ strategy. The poker pros agree that varying your Texas holdem’ playing approach is the best way to confuse and baffle your Texas holdem’ opponents. You should test a handful of strategies, discover the best ones for each situation and vary them for each Texas holdem’ game.

No Comments »

According to the 2006 WSOP winner, Jamie Gold, he wants to be known as the top bluffer in the game of Texas Holdem’. But if his last Texas Holdem tournament is any sign, his wish may not come true any time soon.

The location is the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic held at the Vegas Bellagio Hotel in 2007. Featuring $50 - $100 blinds and a $15,000 buy-in, Darrell Dicken is hanging on in the tournament for dear life. The seat 4 player has just raised his bet to $300, a minor increase with only one player taking the bait. “I put him as being weak,” Jamie said, “I was thinking about raising, but instead I just called with a 10-3 of hearts to see what would happen.”

Jamie was thinking that Brad Booth would make a move, which he did. He re-raised to $1600 from the big blind. Gold thought that Booth had a decent hand, but he was in a great position to make a move taking into account the amount of dead money in the pot. Dicken folded, and the unknown in Seat 4 called Booth’s raise.

At this point there was more than $4000 in the pot, so Jamie wagered another $4000. His thought was, only if someone else had aces or kings there would be no chance they would make that call. Jamie’s plan was to make a substantial move on the flop, as long as no ace was dealt. The second part of his plan was to get Booth to fold, which he did. Booth folded with pocket queens.

On the flop there was an ace of ace-6-5, two clubs. The player in seat 4 checked and Jamie bet $2000. Jamie’s primary thought was to make him think that he had clubs. Seat 4 threw out a $10,000 chip, but didn’t say anything thus changing his raise into a call. Jamie’s thought was that seat 4 in all likelihood had an ace, but you have to look after it in case he hits his set on the following poker card.

A 2 of hearts came out on the turn, and Jamie quickly folded to what he was thinking was a top pair kicker. Seat 4 showed a king-jack off suit. Seat 4 outplayed Gold by bluffing with a higher hand, he made a terrific poker play and took the bluff all the way through to the finish.

No Comments »

Poker was a game available only in Vegas Casinos or from video poker, but now it is more widespread than ever in Las Vegas, Nevada thanks to the TV and the internet.

The famous Venetian Hotel, is now betting on this popularity with its new audience-participation show called “The Real Deal!” in its showroom located in the Venetian Resort and Casino, starting in October.

Their new show will merge comedy and game show elements to entertain its live audience. The audience will also be able to take part in the great game of Texas Holdem’ alongside the world’s best poker players. Many prizes are available for the audience including a chance to win 1$ million.

In “The Real Deal!” the audience will play with players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. Around 10 professional players have already signed up for the poker game show. The audience will be able to play along with the 90 minute game thanks to handheld, wireless, touch screen devices located on each seat.

“People who take a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada want to play poker,” Negreanu says, “but obviously they can’t play in a top poker tournament with the players like Doyle or Phil Hellmuth. But, in this show, they actually can.” At the start of the show, six audience members will be chosen to sit at the poker table on stage with two pros. Each audience member is then involved in the action by being dealt a unique hand on their devices. Everyone in the showroom is then involved in the action with big-screen monitors located on stage.

Creators of the show say that you don’t have to be a poker player to join in the game. There are other ways to add to your point total, that doesn’t involve poker necessarily. Betting on the suit of the next poker card or trying to guess which state a particular audience member is from, are just some of the ways to come out a big poker winner in this game.

Creators of the show are also betting on the great personalities of the pro poker players to create some great moments. Poker players such as Scotty Nguyen, the flamboyant five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, definitely definitely knows how to entertain the audience and will provide some great entertainment in this TV poker game show .

No Comments »

Shortly after the opening of last week’s charity poker game to aid the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Ben Affleck goes all-in with a flop of Ace-Nine-King and two diamonds. He squirms when two of his opponents call the bet. He yells “Re-buy”, but the turn is a seven of hearts. Affleck is upset when a jack of diamonds is dealt on the river. He took the hand seriously even though there was no real cash at stake. This is just the kind of thing that Affleck and several other poker enthusiasts are pushing for.

Over $100,000 was raised for the paralyzed victims, but this was not the only function of the poker tournament held in Coors Field. Members of the Poker Players Alliance are working very hard to legalize internet poker in the United States. As part of their agenda, they are pushing to repeal the 2006 legislation Congress passed which prohibits U.S. Banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to internet gaming websites.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, is optimistic about the direction that the new congress will lead this decision. Pappas says that the alliance is pushing for a licensed industry, just for internet poker, and not for all internet gambling. Pappas is interested in having a safe, regulated industry that all Americans can enjoy. The group is fighting for the rights of people and the privacy they deserve in their own home.

“There are misconceptions about poker and about online poker,” poker pro Andy Bloch said in between hands during the charity celebrity poker event. “Some people think that online gambling is gambling like a slot machine, and it’s not.”

No Comments »