Mansion Poker Introduces VIP Loyalty Club
January 27, 2008 | Comments Off
Now players at Mansion Poker can enjoy more benefits for playing at Mansion.com. In addition to a 100% first deposit match, Mansion Poker Referral Code, up to $500, players at Mansion Poker now get automatically enrolled into the all new Mansion Poker VIP Loyalty Club.
VIP Loyalty Club
The VIP Loyalty Club at Mansion Poker is a system in which players earn points for playing poker at MansionPoker.com. These VPP (VIP Poker Points) can be redeemed for special invitational tournaments, exclusive VIP rewards, and much more.
Mansion Poker VIP Loyalty Club Levels
Green: 0 – 15,999
Silver: 16,000 – 49,999 +5%
Gold: 50,000 – 149,999 +10%
Platinum: 150,000 – 249,999 + 15%
Black: 250,000 + 20%
The bonus of +5% to +20% is added to your VIP Loyalty Club account at the end of the month.
$1 WSOP Qualifiers at PartyPoker
January 26, 2008 | Comments Off
PartyPoker has started their series of WSOP qualifiers with something new this year. For $1, players can enter a daily WSOP subqualifier speed, rebuy, Multi-Table Tournaments. For every $64 in the prize pool, 1 entry to the Friday WSOP SubQualifier will be awarded.
There is also a $3 Multi-Table SubQualifier that offers one entry for every $64 in prize pool money, as well.
The main daily Friday WSOP SubQualifier (played at 3:40 EST daily) buy-in is $64 and for every ten players that enter, one ticket to the weekly, Friday WSOP qualifier will be awarded.
The weekly Friday WSOP buy-in is $550+30 and for every ten poker players at this event, one WSOP $11,000 prize package will be awarded. PartyPoker is also guaranteeing a minimum of 2 WSOP prize packages a week.
Our Thoughts
PartyPoker has been around for ages, it’s a shame that they don’t accept American players or I’d be all over this and their PartyPoker Sign Up Bonus Code getting an extra $25 FREE.
Online Poker Ads Against Horse Racing Policy
January 26, 2008 | Comments Off
ESPN.com is reporting a story on Horse Jockey Jeremy Rose and the fact that he wore an advertisement for ParadisePoker on his pants back in 2005 at the Kentucky Derby. Apparently, the Horse Racing industry had an absolute fit over this and fined him $5k and suspended him from racing for 15 days.
Rose, who donated the money from the advertisment to pediatric cancer research, is fighting the suspension.
According to Kentucky racing law, all riders must get permission for displaying such advertisements. Jeremy Rose has been fighting this decision and has filed a petition in Kentucky courts to declare this law unconstitutional. Rose’s lawyer, Michael Goodwin, is arguing that this law violates Rose’s right to free speech.
Our Thoughts
Apparently big brother is in other industries besides the online gaming industry. It seems ironic to me that a poker ad would be banned from a horse racing event to begin with. Most would consider both gambling but I would definitely consider horse racing to be more of a gamble (and risk) than online poker.
Online Poker Games
January 23, 2008 | Comments Off
As I mentioned in my article on playing online poker, it is very important that you have a full understanding of the different online poker games. Some of these online poker games get a little crazy, like crazy pineapple, for instance. And some of these online poker games, like Razz Poker, just seem to be a bit silly to me.
Other online poker games are rock solid. Poker games online like Texas Hold’em poker, Omaha Poker, 7-card stud, and the slight variants such as the Hi/Lo betting and the different betting structures are where you want to get your start in playing online poker.
Different online poker rooms offer different online poker games. Be sure and check with the poker room before signing up. To make things simpler we have included, in our online poker review section, a breakdown of each online poker room and the different online poker games that each room offers. FullTilt Poker & UltimateBet seem to offer the most online games between all of the different rooms.
We also have an extensive rules section of online poker games including:
- Texas Hold’em Poker
- 7-Card Stud Poker
- 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Poker
- Omaha Hold’em Poker
- Omaha Hi/Lo Hold’em Poker
- 5-card Stud Poker
- 5-Card Draw Poker
- Razz Poker
- Crazy Pineapple Poker
Playing Online Poker
January 23, 2008 | Comments Off
Want to get started playing online poker? There are quite a few things that you need to know before you get started.
Playing Online Poker, especially for real money can be a bit scary for people, but the fact is that online poker playing is one of the safest bets on the internet. There are, however, many complex aspects to playing online poker, I will try and cover as many of them as thoroughly as possible.
After all, you need to decide which poker games to play and learn the rules of poker games before you can get started. One of the best ways of doing that is by playing online poker for free. After that, things like which online poker rooms do I choose? And, when you are ready to start playing online poker for real money, what are your deposit options and bonuses.
Playing Online Poker
Online poker games – When Playing Online Poker, it is imperitive to have a full working knowledge of the rules of the most popular forms of poker. Poker comes in all different varieties, there is the ever popular Texas Hold’em Poker, followed by Omaha Poker. Seven Card Stud Poker is also popular but seems to have less of a following than Texas Holdem Poker and Omaha Poker.
Due to the nature of the rules of omaha poker and the rules of 7-card stud poker, there are variation in betting that lead to Hi/Lo Omaha Poker and Hi/Lo 7 card stud. These poker games are slightly more advanced than other poker games and I feel that you should first have a full understanding of regular omaha and 7 card stud poker before diving into the more advanced betting games.
However, it is with these poker games that you get your start playing online poker.
Play Free Online Poker – The best way to start out playing online poker, by far, is by playing online poker for free. This way, you can get a good feel for the software and graphics of the online poker room that you are playing. After all, it is the software interface of the online poker room that is where all of the action is. I have several different internet poker rooms that I use for playing poker online, in my online poker reviews section, I have reviewed each of them in detail, and provided a general break-down of each different online poker room. Here are quick links to each room:
AbsolutePoker Review | FullTilt Poker | Pokerroom.com | UltimateBet | PokerStars |
Play poker for real money – After you get a feel for playing online poker for free money and get pretty good at it, I recommend that you try playing online poker for real money next. Sure, when you are playing online poker for free money, you get a chance to learn the rules of poker and you get comfortable with the poker software interface, but you don’t get a feel of what online poker is actually like. You see, people tend to bet a bit more carelessly when playing with fake money. When it’s actually money involved, people tend to play online poker a bit differently.
Makes sense, right?
Well, when you finally do decide to come to the real money tables when playing online poker, check out our online poker bonus codes to make sure you maximize your money when first starting out. These online poker rooms love to give free money to new players making their first deposit. Also, they make it very easy with lots of different deposit options. Be sure to check out our detailed online poker review of Absolute Poker, FullTilt, Pokerrom.com, UltimateBet, and PokerStars. We are adding new online reviews every week, so be sure to check back.
See you at the tables!!!
Golden Spirit Poker
January 23, 2008 | Comments Off
Golden Spirit Poker
Golden Spirit Poker is a now defunct online poker room that was promoted by Anna Benson, wife of baseball player Chris Benson. Golden Spirit Poker was part of the Ongame network which features other online card rooms such as Mansion Poker, Pokerroom.com, Hollywood Poker, Holdem Poker, Euro Poker, and the newer Chan Poker.
Golden Spirit Poker is Closed
If you were looking for Golden Spirit Poker, I would suggest checking out one of the other, more sucessful rooms from the onGame network. Golden Spirit Poker is now closed to all players.
Test PokerStars
January 23, 2008 | Comments Off
Test PokerStarsGive PokerStars a test and give this world class online poker room a try for free. | |
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click to enlarge | click to enlarge |
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Getting On Tilt in Poker
January 22, 2008 | Comments Off
Playing Poker on Tilt means letting your emotions disrupt your ability to play. All poker players go on tilt at least once during their career, but limiting these episodes is essential to winning at poker. Poker is a game that requires reason. If you have Qs Js, and the flop comes Ah Qh 10h, and there is a lot of betting action, you need to know to fold. If you were on tilt, you would let your emotions take control and make you do whatever it took to take down the pot. You would keep chasing, hoping to catch a king and hoping that no one had a flush.In general, people who get upset and don’t stay focused and reasonable will lose all the money they brought to the table. Poker is almost anti-human in the way it triggers emotions but rewards people who are made of stone. I don’t mean to scare you or act as if all poker players are unemotional stones, but it is imperative to stay focused and rational while at the poker table.
Generally, most players tilt due to a bad beat or if they just can’t seem to win a hand. Some players have a slight tilt after they win a big hand or two, but those episodes generally are much shorter than tilts caused by losing.
For example, take this hand I played recently:
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Me | Opponent | Flop |
I bet at the flop and was called. 10came on the turn. I bet, he called. River was 6. I bet, and he raised. I decided to just call, thinking he may have actually had KJ. No, he had 6 6. The idiot had called me to the river with little hope but won on a very lucky river catch. Needless to say, I was not playing well the next couple of hands.
While going on tilt is natural, you need to limit it. Generally, the best way is to sit out a couple of hands and go for a walk.
Another good way to handle a bad beat is to just think about all the bad beats you have laid in the past. After the bad beat I mentioned above, I sat back and thought about the time I stupidly went all-in during a Pot-Limit Omaha with bottom set.
3d 3s 7s Js | Ac Kc 8d 8h | 3c 6h 8s |
Me | Opponent | Flop |
My opponent had the best hand when all the money went into the pot. I was lucky enough to catch a backdoor flush on the turn and river and took down a huge pot. That day, I went on to win the most money that I have ever won. If I had lost that hand, I probably would have called it quits and never would have won all of that money. Thinking about the time I pulled off this bad beat and went on to win such a huge sum helps me get through the times that some idiot rivers me.
Listening to music is another way to avoid tilt. The positive vibes you get from a song you enjoy will help counteract the negative emotions from a bad beat. I would also suggest changing songs or CD’s after you have suffered a bad beat. This way you distract yourself from getting too emotionally caught up in the poker game.
Many people, myself included, tend to curse at the computer if they get bad beat. However, for myself at least, cursing is not nearly as therapeutic as thinking about that huge bad beat I laid at the Omaha table. Cursing tends to make you more mad and will cause you to develop some bad habits. When you are about to go on tilt, sit out and think of happy thoughts (as cheesy as it sounds, it’s true) and hopefully you can resume playing your best.
Poker Tells
January 22, 2008 | Comments Off
Poker Tells are traditionally associated with people’s physical twitches in which one gives away the strength of his or her hand. Tells exist both in the brick and mortar and the online world. Here is a list of certain common tells:
Online:
1. In limit, a quick call with two flush or straight cards out generally means a draw.
2. In limit, a quick raise on the flop generally means top pair.
3. A poor player who is thinking generally has a weaker holding and is debating a call.
4. Generally if someone thinks for awhile and then raises, it is not a bluff.
5. Someone who is frequently raising the pot preflop and then folds at the flop if someone bets at him is likely to be on tilt.Live:
1. When a poor player puts a hand over his mouth, it generally means he has a strong hand. Generally he is concealing a smile.
2. Shaking hands means the player is nervous. However, this can mean he is bluffing or that he has a very strong hand.
3. A player reaching for a drink also is a sign of being nervous.
4. When a poor player ’stares you down,’ generally it means he is bluffing.
5. When the flop comes and a player quickly looks at his chips, he is likely to have a strong hand.
Skill Versus Luck in Poker
January 22, 2008 | Comments Off
The money to be gained or lost in a home game tends to mean next to nothing and everyone almost always plays every hand to the end. Add in to that, dealer’s choice & the ever popular “wild cards” and you have a recipe for gambling on your hand, not playing it. In these situations, it’s often the middle hand that wins by catching a lucky card on the river.
Another reason why luck has such a big role in home-style poker games is that many of the skills we use in pro-style games just don’t come into play in a home game. Skills such as patience in determining which hands to play, when to bluff, and how to read your opponent just aren’t used when playing such low-limit against your family. If you are playing too many hands in a tough poker game, you will find yourself short stacked in no time.
Patience
The plain fact is that if you play too many hands in a pro-level poker game, you won’t win. It’s mathematically impossible for you to last for any length of time. But, if you play this many hands in a home game, you may fair better because the sheer size of the pot from the hands you draw out on may offer sufficient pot-odds to draw on that inside straight or whatever the case may be. Especially, if there are “wild cards”.
Bluffing
Another big difference between home poker games and pro-style games is bluffing. Bluffing will actually succeed in a pro game, where everyone will just call you in a low-limit family-style game. It is extremely hard to pull off a bluff in the family oriented game. The main reason for this is the limits are set against you. That 25 cents you’ve raised the pot isn’t going to be enough to scare anyone away, even if it was a check-raise. Anyone would call that, even if they thought they were beaten.
In a pro game, however, bluffing is a sound strategy. If you’ve played very few hands, it’s very possible to steal a pot at the end of a hand by becoming overly agressive at the right time. Your opponents will almost certainly put you on a strong hand, if not the nuts.
Reading your opponent
Another very important element in pro games is the ability to read your opponent. Are they full of crap or are they the real thing? In most home games, there is so much money in the pot (relative to the size of the amount to call) that there is no need to even consider this factor. In pro poker, however, there is enough money involved that a good read can be very valuable.
The simple fact is, if serious poker was a mere game of chance, there would be no such thing as a professionaly poker player and the people you see on the television constantly winning tournaments (i.e. Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negraneu, etc) would just have to be the luckiest people in the world. This, obviously, is not the case and many a professional poker can have very successful careers by honing their poker skills.