Online Poker Nut!

Promotions in online poker play have fast become an important way of bringing in customers and keeping them there. These type of promotions have never been there in real life casino play, and perhaps are a substitute for being being able to personally look after players in casinos, and ensure they are happy whilst playing.

Whatever their purpose, promotions are everywhere you look in online poker, as are ever larger gauranteed tournaments and satellites offering a package taking you to a major, annual, live event. I suppose players who spend their time playing the same cash games or tournaments each week, need to have somthing new, and a chance at a bigger prize once in a while to maintain their interest.

This prevents the site from stagnating I feel, and allowing players to become disinterested and drifting away to other sites with new challenges.
When it comes to running an online site you would imagine that as much of the work on promotions is done to keep existing players there, than to bring in new players, and having various new promotions each month seems to accomplish this well.

As well as maintaining interest, certain bonuses and promotions will look to get regular players either spending more money or time on the site, as rewards are offered for certain achievements on the players part. These boosts, in both profits, and general interest from the poker playing populace, are essential to online poker sites and ensure that they are continually moving in the right direction all year round.

There are many games and variations of poker being played these days, some of which are considered different games to poker, and some which are technically classed as a poker variant. Those which fall into the ‘poker variant’ category are not always obviously related to the original game of poker we know. Games such as Omaha and Stud, along with five card draw I would certainly accept as poker variants. This is because the hands which players are attempting to make are the same in each game, and of course the same is the case with Holdem. The hand rankings are listed in the same way for each game and this for me, is what determines what is and is not a poker variation game.

With this in mind, games such as Triple Draw and Razz really do not seem to conform at all. In fact I cannot really see much resemblance whatsoever between these games and poker. Despite this they are included each year in the World Series of Poker, and yet, Five Card Draw somehow is not. Five card Draw is the basic form of poker from which all our variants sprang, and as such, I feel it is a great shame it has been overlooked for tournaments which are supposedly testing the best poker players in the world.

When you consider the games played and not played at this years WSOP, perhaps a title of ‘The World Series of Holdem and Some Other Card based Games’ might have been more apt.

I think Triple Draw should certainly be removed from the WSOP schedule and replaced with five card draw, and perhaps the same for Razz too. Both bear no similarities to poker at all, and Draw is of course the true original game of poker. It should be an obvious decision to make, to ensure that the champions of poker, truly are champions of this game, as opposed to other games which are completely different.

The value of home game experience depends mostly on the type of game you play, with games for chips only, or very small cash games you cannot truly get a feel for playing the game at higher levels.

If you play poker for no money or very little money, you will find that the subtle tactical plays which might work well in a bigger game do not work in the slightest. This is because it doesn’t matter greatly to your opponent if they call a raise and lose. This makes bluffing fairly obsolete.

This is one of the main reasons people play poker for reasonable amounts of money. It means that people attach importance to the decisions they make, and go to great lengths not to make the wrong choice.

If you tend to play home games for an amount of money that is at least partially important to other players to win or not lose, you will find the experience you gain is much more valuable. You have opportunities to make careful pre planned moves in this instance which cause your opponent to make the wrong decisions, and that is the real skill which lies behind the game of poker.

That’s not to say that small stakes poker has no significance, because it can be a great way for people to learn the basics of the game, so it does have some value to amateur players starting out playing poker. If you are in this category though, look to play bigger games once you have learnt the ropes, and you will find your learning curve really begins to move in the right direction.

Firstly I think it’s important to say that poker players do not become famous in the same way as many great sports men and women do, but you can say that they enjoy a lot of limelight though within the poker world, especially if they experience early success in their career.

You could perhaps say that high expectations that follow such early successes are partly to blame for some players seeming to fall below what is hoped of them afterwards. This can in some cases play it’s part, and I think for young players, suddenly having vast amounts of money can make it easy to lose focus too.

Players such as Phil Ivey have sometimes seemed to win less tournaments than you might expect given the brilliant start to their careers. You must remember though that these players participate in high stakes cash games of which there is no official record, and so the amount of titles and bracelets they win does not always give a full picture.

The hype surrounding someone like Phil Hellmuth as the record holder for bracelets is enormous, and you can sense the fact that many poker enthusiasts expect him to win a bracelet every year. We should not feel that such a player is under achieving if they do not, it is incredibly difficult to win one after all, and I don’t think Phil is affected by, or seems to mind the attention surrounding him at all.

Overall I think we can say fame plays some part in players not living up to the start that their career promised, and I can sympathise with that. But for every player who feels the pressures of their previous success, there are many others who also use it to drive them on to even greater things.

Mike is a player who has been around many years. he was a friend of the late great Stu Ungar, but is perhaps better known for his commentating on poker events than his playing in them.

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He was born in Indiana, 1947, and has spent much of his life involved in poker. As well as being a talented player and announcer for the game he also campaigns to bring poker to a wider audience the world over.

Sponsored by PartyPoker, Mike has had nine cashes in major tournaments but has never managed to capture a bracelet thus far. this is surprising after a remarkable career, but perhaps his change of direction towards commentating on, and being an ambassador for the game, has played it’s part here.

Mike has also had a book on the subject of poker published called ‘Shuffle up and Deal’ and continues to be an avid promoter of poker. His current residence as you might expect, is Las Vegas, although he continues to travel to, play in, and be an announcer for, major tournaments every year.

Having amassed tournament earnings recorded at under $400,000, many might say that Mike is not as talented as some of his fellow professionals. However, he continues to make great plays at the World Series and WPT amongst other tournaments, to dispel the thoughts of anyone doubting his ability.

The only thing missing from Mikes achievements is a major title but he is certainly someone you could bet on to accomplish this before his career is over.

When tournaments reach their final phase and you are one of the last two players standing, there will sometimes be a situation facing you whereby you are considerably outchipped. Of course this is not ideal as we all want to reach the heads up stage of a tournament with a chip lead, but of course poker is not always as kind as that.

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So how do you react to this defecit in chips when the blinds are big and causing you immediate problems? The temptation is to wait for a good hand and push all in with it, but the problem is you can often be feeling the damage of the blinds too much to wait around for long.

When I begin heads up play with a small stack it’s important to understand what this means in my opponents mind. More often than not they will see your weak looking chipstack and start raising you preflop to wear you down further. You must immediately stand up and start shooting back in my opinion, if you get called and wind up losing, so be it. At least you didn’t go down without a fight.

In this position I want any Ace, two cards 10 or higher, or suited connectors of any kind. Then I’m going to push all in no matter what my opponent does. Often my opponent will have nothing and fold their hand, feeling further discouraged from trying to steal my blinds on the next couple of hands.

If you keep hitting back in this way, you will either get called and lose (losing being the probable result of going defensive and waiting for a hand anyway), or you will double up. And if you double up, your opponent will often back off and stop applying pressure. Because they now know, they have a game of poker on their hands.

And just in case they havn’t got the message, you need to stay aggressive and keep the pressure on as much as possible, without being overly reckless.

Low pairs can often be tricky to play at doylespoker.com, as they do have some strength but the inevitable overcards on the flop are always going to leave you unsure of where you stand.

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Obviously in the ideal scenario you make a set which is a powerful hand when theres and ace or king out on the flop becuase you are often going to get action from someone who made top pair at www.doylespoker.com.

In terms of playing small pairs at Doylespoker, I only like to from late position where I think I can see a cheap flop. From the flop it’s easy to play them, if you make your set then brilliant and if you don’t then you fold to any bets.

I have seen some poker players seeming more than happy to move all in with them which is ok if you are short stacked and need to gamble. If you do go all in with a small pair and get called though you can expect to be 50% to win the hand most times if you get a caller as they are likely to have two overcards.

The danger however, is someone calling with an overpair in the hole. In this instance you are in a lot of trouble with the hand and will rarely come out on top. You can of course take a flop with small pairs and attempt a steal if you miss the set on the flop.

In general though I would only try this if I was involved in a two way pot at online poker, multiple people in a pot gives a much higher chance of someone making a hand to call with. For the most part though I will usually try and either get in for the flop cheaply or fold the hand.

They do have value of course but are more likely to get you into trouble rather than win you pots most of the time.

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Playing poker at Ladbrokes is a very enjoyable experience, as it isn’t just the play itself, but in general the other players seem friendly and create a good atmosphere.

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Some people do not mind whether they play in silence or with a friendly atmosphere and so to them this is not the most important thing in their poker playing experience, but it is certainly a bonus, and doesn’t replace the fair and enjoyable poker playing experience itself, it adds to it.

In terms of fairness, Ladbrokes are a betting company which has been around for a long time, and always adheres to the highest standards of professionalism in everything they do.

This is integral to any poker playing experience as any serious player will tell you, and Ladbrokes seem to know this.

Adding to the poker playing experience further, are the opportunities offered in terms of satellites to major tournaments, of which there are many, and also other promotions and tournaments on offer, which are of excellent value, and are continuously added to the schedule.

The graphics onsite are good also, and give the poker playing experience the visual backing it deserves to create a great feel to sitting down and playing poker. If STT tournaments are your thing, you will find them at Ladbrokes along with many great value MTT’s too. All in all, a great poker playing experience can be found at Ladbrokes, as they continue striving to be the best in the business.

Playing poker at PKR can never been anything other than thoroughly enjoyable.

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The reasons for this are obvious, with state of the art graphics, fantastic avatars and emotional displays for players to experiment with. These of course can be used to try and mislead the opposing player giving a much more realistic playing experience. The same can be said for players looking at their hole cards, as the other players can see when an opposing player peeks at their cards, and draw extra information from this.

Although you might say it is a money making ploy on the part of PKR, I like the option to buy new clothes for your character and mould them into whichever image you please. this is optional, not mandatory remember.
Even the backgrounds to tables are greatly improved from the usual semi lit carpet surrounding a table, and other sites could learn a lot from the improvements made to online poker by PKR.

All the usual aspects of poker you would expect are in place, with hand history stats, help and support, reliable transactions and much more. The televised tournaments online which were pioneered in recent years have also been embraced giving players the chance to watch re runs of their tournament after it has been played.

All these things will soon be essential to online play I feel, and have been embraced by PKR as a forward thinking, creative site. This all adds up to a great poker playing experience to be had on PKR.

There are plenty of promotional offers on at Pacific Poker, all of which offer their players a good poker playing experience and opportunities to increase their bankroll. Pacific Poker offers a one time only bonus payment for first time depositors onsite, of 100% up to an amount of $400. This is paid firstly in a 25% lump sum payment to get a player started. The rest is paid after the appropriate number of experience points have been earned.

Other promotions include a weekly tournament with a $75,000 prize pool. This is a gauranteed tournament with the sort of prize pool which can really pay out well even for finishing in the lower level ‘cashing’ places. If the buy in for the $75,000 tournament is a little too much for you, then a $25,000 gauranteed tournament which takes place on Mondays, might be more to your tastes. If you need regular tournaments of the larger prize pool variety, then there are even smaller $5,000 and $10,000 gaurantee tournaments to suit your needs. These promotional tournaments amount to over three quarters of a million dollars being paid out every week and so are well worth taking advantage of.

Pacific Poker are also offering their own poker open tournament and have promotional satellites available in order for players to win their seat. The prize pool for this open tournament stand at $648,000 which is an exctiting prospect for players onsite. These offers constitute a great portfolio of promotions and tournaments, available at Pacific Poker.