This Poker Week

USA Government Indicts PokerStars, Full Tilt and Cereus

2011-04-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Victory Poker Waves White Flag at Successful Future and Become Defeat Poker on Cereus

2011-04-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

An alliance of the weak was formed this last few weeks as Victory Poker - formerly the flagship poker room on the growing Everleaf Network joined the home of the rooms involved in the Absolute and UB Poker Scandals, the Cereus network. With a roster of well reputed pros one has to wonder how they will feel about being associated with a network even Phil Hellmuth eventually severed ties with.

Victory Poker had briefly tried to move to the Cake network from the Everleaf Network - a bizarre move after spending a fortune advertising based on the soft, growing Everleaf platform. The Cake network has been relatively stagnant and the quality of the poker games not as soft as they once were. No doubt this move led to some loss of player pool - something had to be done.

With a player pool largely based on twoplustwo readers and other experienced poker players I doubt a move to the Cereus network will be a strong one for them. Many of their player pool have deliberately not opened an account with Cereus because of the history. Surely a move to Merge Gaming where on Black Chip Poker 35% Rakeback, 7% VIP on top and bonuses not deducted would have made more sense for them? A growing network, with a great repuation and great games would have been ideal instead of forging an alliance with a third network in such a short time.

No Poker Without Representation! - Why Eastern Europe is Destroying Poker

2011-03-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Bulgarians, Slovenians and Polski's are many on what used to be the fishiest poker sites of the world. They prefer the sites with high rakeback to allow for their 'grinder' mentality where 10 hours a day of $5/hour is perfect melon for their juice. However it's not perfect melon for the game like it used to be. In the past they used to be so tight that a typical TAG could beat them easily just by stealing and the fish didn't find them annoying - probably barely noticed their presence. Now, however, the Bulgarians can play and that poses a unique problem.

In the past part of the reason everyone loved the Eastern European guys is that simply they always had a hand. No semi-bluffs and certainly no 3-betting light preflop. Now they play an aggressive game. Their grinder mentality on many tables doesn't lead to playing pots with fish it leads to lots of aggression regardless - better to 3-bet and get that night's dinner paid for (yeah a Polski can eat for a 3x raise at $25NL!!) than to play a pot at the same time as 10 other tables.

The problem here is not only is the edge in games reduced to the point where Westerners have little incentive to play the microstakes and building a bankroll is like getting ridden by a goat if you compare it to the riding a hot 18 year old chick of years gone by. On top of that the fish leave the tables pretty quickly when there's a lot of aggression. Especially if their favourite situation is ruined. They love to limp in and call a raise then play the flop. If that raise is then reisolated they leave the table pretty quickly. The Bulgski's and Polski's immediately break the table and we're back to square one.

My solution is simple - if your country doesn't produce more poker fish than you provide winning players then you simply shouldn't be allowed to contribute. I used to think the French had it wrong with their isolationist system but I tell ya - imagine playing TAXED in France or playing with a bunch of nits who will keep adding themselves into the ecosystem until the income from the game is $3/hr or less (because with rakeback that's a living to these guys). I choose playing my French Fish if I'm a Frenchman for sure.

This is a tongue in cheek shock-jock style piece not anything more serious. If you don't have a sense of humour and are offended then you need to try being a Western European. We're sat on First Class Trains after our real jobs not caring about the hundo we chucked yesterday at the tables. You'd be wondering which one of your sisters was the most valuable or the most useful with plough!

Exclusive: JTodd Interview With Harrah's and More Poker/Gaming News

2011-03-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

PokerStars Takes the Action as Durrrr Challenge Brings the Yawns

2011-03-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Worlds largest poker room (by PokerScout cash game statistics) continued to extend it's lead in the market by bringing exciting action Isildur1 beating Jungleman12 for $51,000 according to durrchallenge.com.

Viktor Blom captivated the poker world when he rocketed onto the scene and rocked Tom Dwan to the core with some amazing heads up, high stakes No Limit Holdem Action. Full Tilt in my opinion then dropped the ball as they allowed a scandal over Brian Hastings and his Card Runners buddies to dampen the enthusiasm of Blom for their site and PokerStars quickly capitalised with a pro signing.

The Durrrr challenge was meant to be the saviour of the very quiet high stakes poker action on Full Tilt but the first challenge still has thousands of hands to run and Junbleman12 seems much more interested in the only big game action going down at the moment - playing Victor "isildur1" Blom on PokerStars. So with tons of hands left to play and not a lot of action going on at the moment the Durrrr challenge has me yawning and my eyes are very much focussed on the high stakes action on PokerStars.

A Word From Our Sponsors...

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Shock: Latest PartyGaming Rumours!!!

2011-02-20T06:57:00.000-08:00

With J Todd in a holding pattern somewhere in Seattle, industry news focuses on PartyGaming rumors and the World Series of Poker. Also, a special musical tribute to Senator Jon Kyl as he announces his retirement.

APCW: London Poker Affiliates Conference Update

2011-02-13T01:46:00.000-08:00

Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth: Is He a Fish? Surely not....

2011-01-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

An exciting new e-book has been launched by one of the most famous online grinders of all time - Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt. He has done everything from charity poker events to Poker Instructional Videos. His first poker book was a great success and can be purchased online where he discussed how to run your poker as a business and maximise your profits. This new book is set to be something of a mythbuster going over the fallacies of out of date poker advice.

Before the Curve!

Forget ahead of the curve, many of the 'top pros' we watch week in and week out on TV started their careers before there even was a curve in the poker education/study world. All kinds of unusual ideas are meted ot as if they were the gold dust that got them their success. For example Hellmuth the master of advising a fold getting about 40/1 for your last chip if by then it is obvious you are beat - your 'tournament life' has value etc.

The Future

Many of these old and outdated theories have been rubbished by the monster success of the maths based strategies the new internet millionaires of internet poker have mastered. Leatherass and his team plan (according to comments made on a recent DTB video where he coaches) to uncover dozens of such fallacies and expose the reasons why you shouldn't 'Listen to Phil Hellmuth'.

I think it' a controvertial title designed to sell books which just goes to show it's not just his poker he runs like a business, Leatherass runs his business like a business too. I look forward to reading and reviewing his book in due course!

Annie Duke & Hellmuth to Quit UB - Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship?

2010-12-31T05:13:00.000-08:00

Annie Duke posted on her Twitter this week that her time at Ultimate Bet Poker the home of the endless allegations of Ultimate Bet Scandals and often weird software bugs and security holes that have drifted out over the last few years. Despite optimism that the future was bright for the room and they were putting some of these things behind them they have been blasted by the departure of one of their most senior pro team members.

Posters on Two Plus Two reported that Hellmuth - one of the most successful tournament players of all time with multiple World Series Bracelets and more TV appearances than a Ford commercial - was likely to follow suit and sign for another room.

With a string of high profile spats with Daniel Negreanu under her belt many in the poker community wonder if Annie has enough time to restore her reputation and goodwill amongst her peers. Ending this association is definitely a good first step, many were quite pleased when a noted PokerXFactor pro made the decision to quit promoting UB tournaments and this initial good press gives both her and the room she signs for a great opportunity to move things forward for their reputations.

Ho! Ho! Ho! It's an Online Gambling Christmas! APCW Perspectives Weekly for December 17th

2010-12-27T16:32:00.001-08:00

Ultimate Bet Domain Dropped in Attempt to Move on From Scandal

2010-12-05T03:15:00.001-08:00

Not ones to be long out of the headlines for their scandals, security holes and general poor software (not that all those stories are true of course but many are and they have started to pay compensation for the main scandal) Ultimate Bet has dropped the use of that domain to focus on UB.

At first it caused great confusion in the internet poker world as the site initially redirected to a full copy of another affiliate site. UB also appears to own a number of domains (one can only assume for SEO purposes) and many on the 2+2 forums have alleged these contain duplicate/stolen content. Of course proving the ownership/theft would be impossible so I won't be passing judgement on that element of the story here.

On the face of it this makes sense. It's like Accenture no longer is associated in many people's minds with the Enron/Arthur Andersen debacle. A new brand/name etc will gradually ease them away from those stories and also people searching UB will less often come across "ultimate bet scandal" type posts. I guess we have to rewrite some of our old articles as UB scandal, UB scam and UB security flaw so as to ensure people stay informed about the history of this business.

Play Poker on an iPhone, iPad, Android, Tablets and Most Other Mobile Devices

2010-10-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

Switch Poker is a brand new poker room which got off to a flying start two weeks ago by being the ONLY poker room in the world to fully support iPad, iPhone, Android and most other browsers and mobile devices.. You can play on almost anything from poker on your phone to poker on linux, Apple Mac poker and all the other devices and systems which are poorly supported by the major poker rooms.

As you can see above it has a clean stylish look taking advantage of all the space on your iPhone screen to play poker. You can play for real money or for fun against real players from all around the world (although players in the USA cannot currently deposit so you may have to swap funds with a European buddy!).

Special Offers

Click Here and Deposit €150 and get a free iPad after clearing some easy minimum play requirements.

Click Here and Deposit €50 and get a free iPod Touch after clearing an easy minimum play requirement.

The Gameplay

As with most newer and smaller poker rooms there isn't enough action for mass multi-tablers and hardcore professionals to grind out millions of hands. There is no support for the multitude of software they use to gather statistics on players trying to play for fun. This means that smaller poker rooms are perfect for recreational players and perfect for players using mobile devices! Nobody has an advantage over you no matter what system they are playing on and most of your opponents are recreational players too having fun!

The prevalence of recreational players on Switch Poker makes it one of the best places for recreational players to join, learn the game and play for real money for the first time. I cleared my iPod in no time - wish I'd gone for the iPad!!
FasterMule: Professional Poker WebMaster and Amateur Poker Player

Summary

Pros

Easiest Poker Games Online Anywhere

Good Fast Interface Which Works Well on iPhone and iPad devices

Support for Poker on Most Devices Including Android (although not officially supported yet

Get a Free iPod or iPad as a Special Sign up Bonus!

So why not Sign Up Now!! and start earning points towards your Free iPad

Canadian Poker Battles Continue!

2010-10-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hot Talk Online Poker: The Latest From Nevada and California

2010-09-08T02:23:00.001-07:00

French Poker Ban Gets Worse - All International Sites Banned

2010-08-21T04:39:00.001-07:00

Allan Leonard Tribute Episode: APCW Perspectives Weekly

2010-08-07T12:12:00.001-07:00

Online Gaming Regulation in Canada - Perspectives Weekly

2010-07-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

Poker Bot Scandal Rips PokerStars to the Core

2010-07-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Their slogan is "Find the Poker Star in you" but this week things have taken a much more disturbing turn on the World's largest poker site - It's more like "Find the Bot at your table." This is exactly what Poker Table Ratings the largest online collector of information about online poker hands played at the big sites found playing as high as the $200 buy in tables and winning big, big money.

By not having invested in the necessary resources to have already detected these bots or possibly having already detected them and chosen to take no action, Stars has failed once again.
AKingdom (Adept 2+2 Poster)

So what's next? How many undetected bots are out there? What are the experts in the industry saying? Is it safe to continue to play?

First let's look at the evidence. You can view the whole Poker Table Ratings Security Alert but basically it's summarised as follows:

As you can see, these 10 players are clustered in the lower left of the chart. They are virtually identical. The biggest distance within the bot group is Daergy at 2.39. The next closest player has a distance of 32.94.
PokerTableRatings

That's right, they raised and called almost the EXACT same percentages preflop, had almost identical winrates and playing styles postflop. What's even more scary for the future of online poker is they were WINNING, and big money at that. The same PTR article points out:

they have played at least 8,320,121 hands at the $.25/$.50, $.5/$1 and $1/$2 NL levels, generated $186,572 in rake, and made $57,839 in profit (not including VIP benefits).

The simple fact is that PokerStars have a site that's too big for their security to fully monitor (even if they would believe or plan otherwise this case clearly demonstrates there are gaps). Short buy in tables allow a place where simpler strategies and bots can survive profitably. PokerStars again encourages this. Smaller sites with less opportunity for Bots to mass table and rathole their profits (leave if they get a double up so as to continue playing short) might just be the way to go for now.

APCW Video News From Sweden to Las Vegas

2010-07-17T04:36:00.001-07:00

Poker Prohibition Will Fail - The Economist Rails on US Attempts to Block Online Poker

2010-07-14T16:13:00.001-07:00

PROHIBITION destroyed America’s once-robust brewing industry, made smugglers rich and did nothing to curb drinking. Outlawing drugs has been a similarly spectacular failure. There is little reason to suppose that the latest line in American prohibition—an effort to ban online gambling—will fare any better.
The Economist: "You Bet"

Whilst I don't agree that America's brewing industry is still destroyed - the vast number of amazing microbrews (mmmm IPA anyone?) is testament to the recovery that is possible post prohibition. Those who doubt the veracity of claims that legalisation or removal of restrictions in America would lead to a mini poker boom are borderline deranged.

Of course that's hardly the whole story. As defenders of online gaming we face allegations that the whole system itself is an attack on the weak and somehow it's the state's responsibility to protect us all from our weakness. What happened to free will and I'll drink if I want to? Ah well...

The ridiculous situation in France where the Tax on poker has led to strikes on PokerStars is unfortunately likely to follow regulation. Hopes of returning to true free worldwide poker become slimmer by the day and we can only hope that the market in our countries is strong enough to survive as eventually I fear we all face segregation from the 'world' of online poker. It's probably not a case of if but when unless we make a stand now. Write to your politician. Especially if you're in a free country like England with a big gaming lobby. Let's encourage our government and big gaming organisations to stand up against protectionism and anti-competitive moves by countries like France.

Full Tilt to Ban French and Ignore PokerStars Strikes

2010-07-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

Not even the mass organisation of strikes by disaffected French players was enough to discourage Full Tilt Poker for applying for a segregated poker license and a .fr domain. This means of course their French players will in due course be BANNED from the major tournaments on Full Tilt Poker and from playing the worldwide field they have come to love playing.

Various sources on the internet have suggested the French licensing authority had brought it's considerable weight to bear on sites like FTP who have been in their view illegally operating without a license.

The simple truth is these companies are INTERNATIONAL trading businesses who are now having an unfair LOCAL levy imposed on them. On top of that the very essence of international poker is being destroyed by these rules. If this was any other business or trade it would be left alone - but of course because it's something people enjoy our slave masters choose to regulate it and tear it down in front of us. Back to the grind and generate some more tax for our overlords people.

APCW Video News: Casinos Seizing Money and the World Series of Poker

2010-07-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

French Poker Stars Strike Succeeds: More to Follow

2010-07-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Available in French (Courtesy of Google) Les joueurs de poker français arrêter de jouer pendant quatre heures sur PokerStars

French players gave hopes of a smooth transition to a new higher rake structure and segregated poker for French only players (regulated by the French Government) a blow this Sunday as they staged a 4 hour sit out (strike) at the tables on PokerStars (currently the World's largest online poker operator).

Many were frustrated that smaller rivals had absorbed part of the tax increase while they argue PokerStars had used the increased tax as and excuse to further increase rake in other areas. You can see photos of the strike in action as well as more commentary and discussion below.

Courtesy of Two Plus Two Member Pokouz

As you can see the sit out was massive, impressive and widespread. The hatred of the new system does not extend just to the rake. As we had previously reported French Players are Cut Off From the World of Poker and are unable to play all the popular international events such as the Sunday Million. Many feel this is a disgraceful side effect of regulation and want to go back to playing in the vast World Wide poker player pool with a fair rake structure.

this is really one of the greatest things about french culture. their ability to unite and protest is really incredible.

sick respect to all the french people involved with great admiration from the good ol' USA on my behalf.
Two Plus Two Regular "Too Easy"

Support from around the poker community had rained in and comments such as those of "Too Easy" are common in internet forums all across the poker community. Talk has even started about having a mass strike on the main PokerStars.Com domain which would allow the rest of the World to support the French in their stand against this new regime of segregation, taxation and raking to death of online poker players.

California Poker Law Fails at Committee

2010-07-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

Attempts to legalise online gaming in California have failed. The bill didn't make it out of committee stage largely due to opposition from anti-gaming groups and the Indian gaming interests who have yet to find a structure they are willing to support in the state. You can watch the video of this story and more from APCW Perspectives weekly below.

In other industry news this week a separate domain for online gaming sites similar to the triple ex domain for the adult entertainment industry has been suggested. Whilst this initially seems a good idea J Todd points out the sinister truth in this week's video episode.

Uncapped No Limit Holdem Comes to Florida! The Poker Boom Continues!

2010-07-01T13:44:00.001-07:00

In the face of much bad news in the online poker world lately including France walling itself off from the rest of the poker world (read about the French Poker Ban) nothing but great news has been coming from the best places to play live poker.

Today Florida removed the restrictions on the size of it's Poker games which meant for the first time people were seeing playing as high as $50/$100 blinds (you'd typically buy into such a game for $10,000 or more!) in the State. With no State Income Tax and relatively good weather they could rapidly become a popular destination for live players.

Other Recent Live News
Live Poker Comes to Delaware
Healthy Poker Players Get Some Sun!

Negreanu Busts Loose Cannon in PokerStars Big Game in Atrocious Call

2010-06-29T13:25:00.001-07:00

The man who spent most of his latest blog posts continuing his tirade of criticism directed at Annie Duke and her alleged claims to be the best female poker player in the World busted the Loose Cannon in the PokerStars big game second week. Not a surprise you might say, he's one of the biggest names in poker with millions of tournament winnings to his name. Well his cash form on High Stakes Poker and similar TV shows has been questionable of late (despite his constant attacks on Phil Hellmuth for exactly the same situation). His call to bust the loose cannon in a $200k pot that would no doubt have changed his life was pretty gross.

Source: PokerStars the Big Game

You can see for yourself above but the general lowdown was that in a 3-way pot Daniel had pocket queens with one spade and faced top set and the flopped flush (which was held by the loose cannon) and decided to call it off with by far the butt end of the equity. Of course he spiked and was seen laughing away at the end of the show. Naturally he was delighted to be so lucky but it felt a bit cheap to me after dealing such a sick blow to the loose cannon he couldn't show a little more humility.

Although it seems winning on TV is a rare occurrence for Mr Negreanu these days so perhaps it's wise he showboats when he's lucky and keeps attracting attention to himself with constant tirades against Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke.

Video: Regulated Gaming in California and the Kahwanakee Tribe Make a Strategic Alliance

2010-06-27T03:13:00.000-07:00

French Players Banned from Pokerstars Sunday Million and Other WorldWide Tables

2010-06-24T17:04:00.001-07:00

The official dot com for PokerStars is now closed to the French. After successfully gaining a license to operate a .fr domain the worlds largest poker room by cash game volume (and by most other measures you could think of) will be forced to remove French players from all it's international tables.

Italy had already taken steps to force sites down this road and PokerStars had respected this by segregating Italians in a similar way. In some ways this is good for the French players though.

What is not often discussed is that the current poker economy involves the leeching of vast sums out of the microstakes games by very tight players from Eastern Europe who can afford to play for $4/hour. This tightens the games and makes it tougher for regulars in richer countries to make a living and it makes the games less fun for the fish. I would imagine for the most popular game - no limit hold'em cash bot the regulars and the fish in France will have a better time of it after this ban.

Where the downside of course comes is that there will be no more Sunday Million, big special events and the huge selection of alternative games will be closed off to the French. For a lot of players slightly softer games won't nearly compensate them for the loss of choice and fun. I think this move is a shame and probably one that will lead to/encourage more jurisdictions to split their players out of the World pool.

A much better solution would have been some kind of European agreement to allow large rooms to operate across the whole market, regulated fully and in some cases (reputable sites who could prove they would account/pay their tax appropriately) allowing fully international operators. Of course who am I... who am I...!

Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt: American Poker Hero

2010-06-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

Leatherass who used to coach for the now defunct StoxPoker brand (now part of Cardrunners) and currently has his home on Drag the Bar and is a Team PokerStars Pro is one of the most successful grinders of the online poker game with millions in winnings. This unbelievable work ethic would be enough to declare him an American poker hero but it turns out there is a lot more to the man that makes him someone a lot of us can look up to.

I’ve been meaning to make a post following up on the Pay It Forward project I started last Christmas for a long time now.. For those who haven’t been following my blog since then, last Christmas I decided to play poker out in below freezing temperatures alongside homeless people to raise money for them.
Leatherass Blog Cardplayer

It turns out that Dusty's progress through life was hardly uneventful. A heart attack at a surprisingly young age and his father's inability to pay him a wage (he was working for the family business) whilst he recovered could have left him homeless.

Instead of giving up he deposited all his money and ran it up to months of rent and never looked back. Those tough times no doubt helped drive him to be one of the greatest of all time and someone who will be a hero to everyone except the fools on 2+2 who post jealously every time news comes out about Dusty.

The story ends very happily. Leatherass is a wealthy family man who continues to enjoy life and the game and has given something back to the world. He's changed 3 people's lives through his charity project. That's something not many poker players can say and mean it in a good way. Congratulations Dusty.

I could not possibly be more proud to report that I have gotten a chance to meet the people that my poker profits were able to help out and ALL 3 of them are in jobs that they are loving and their employers are impressed, with a couple of them even getting promotions!! They are all about to be on their own with the prepaid rent expiring and all of them will remain in those homes as self sufficient, valuable members of the community.
Leatherass Blog - Cardplayer

Live Poker in Delaware! The Game We Love Continues to Spread

2010-06-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

As table games have started to spread to the casinos across the East Coast of the United States the ability to play poker in multiple States was inevitable. As the online game is often felt to be getting tighter and tougher new and fantastically soft live games continue to spread from coast to coast!

Delaware Park became the state’s second casino to offer players a wide range of games that include poker, roulette, blackjack and craps, over and above the traditional slot games that were offered until now.
Roger S (Compatible Poker)

Delaware had traditionally hosted a number of racetracks. These were able until recently to only offer slot machines. As neighbouring states such as Pennsylvania and Maryland had sought to expand their offerings moving into Poker and other table games was essential to improve the proposition in the State and safeguard tax revenue.

This is nothing but great news for poker players as it will bring a lot more people out of home games (or not playing at all!) and into the poker rooms of Delaware!. The live games are still soft across the world, but particularly in the USA and Great Britain where great Live Poker in the UK Midlands is some of the softest in the whole country.

Great times ahead for Live Poker and even better times ahead for players who live in or near Delaware. Let's hope this trend continues.

Latest Gaming News From Around the World: APCW Perspectives Weekly

2010-06-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Show Summary

Land based casinos in New Jersey are strongly against the internet betting bills there. They also came out attacking the spread of gaming across the state. APCW backs Florida as the most likely State to regulate first.

Further discussion of the EU decision to allow individaul States to regulate their gaming. Malta has opposed the regulation as they license several states already. This will lead to a 1 month delay however more significanly French licenses could be issued on time to sports books for the World Cup and the substantial tax that represents to them.

Watch the show below:

Tougher Online Poker? Growth Drops to Historic Lows

2010-06-17T11:00:00.001-07:00

For a while now many in the online poker universe have been claiming games are getting tighter, tougher and less lucrative. For the first time the numbers are backing that up significantly. As the global recession has started to bite, increased regulation in Italy, China and the USA have started to attack poker sites performance Poker scout reports a critical drop in the pace of growth.

The worldwide online poker market is still growing, but at a historically slow pace. According to PokerScout's ACES indicator, online poker traffic is increasing at an annual rate of 6%.
PokerScout

Of course games ARE still growing. The thing you need to remember though is that the existing player base is improving, becoming more sophisticated and needs a steady supply of 'fish' or losing players to ensure they can continue to make profit. As the supply of new players reduces it pushes profitability down which will lead to a further slowdown in the poker economy as some marginal players quit the game.

Sites that focussed too much on bringing in regular winning players by paying out too many big bonuses are now the biggest losers in the market as the games are just not appealing any more.

The good news is that a number of sites market themselves very well to new players and to recreational players. They have always focussed on providing loose and fun games. If you're having a hard time on Full Tilt Poker or Stars right now I can't think of a better time to try out one of the smaller sites - as shown by the Growth of Black Chip Poker on Merge Gaming - up 140% this year (source: Pokerscout) the gold rush is on and those soft games are waiting!.

Read a full Black Chip Poker Review and get Sign up Instructions courtesy of FasterMule Poker. (or use our 35% rakeback link on the left).

Shaun Deeb: Mocks Women and Plays Ladies Poker Event at World Series

2010-06-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

There's a lot of ways you can describe the men who played the Ladies Event at the World Series of Poker this year. At best it was a foolish attempt to stand up for the idea that poker is an even playing field so a ladies event is not needed. At worst it was selfish, rude and outright pathetic. It all depends on whether you believe a serious message was intended by the get up Shaun Deeb busted out and shown right as he played the event.

Daniel makes some good points (below) and furthermore I'd like to know who these random men think they are to 'stand up for' these apparently unfortunate women who thought they were having a fun day's poker! Sorry ladies you were in fact being oppressed... or not if you ask me. Nice try guys. We also have a video interview with Deeb below.

I mean, you have over 1000 women in that event who love it! Why in the world would we want to spoil their fun in the name of sexual equality? I mean really. Really????? Men have had it pretty good, so whining about sexual equality as a man is a pretty lame excuse to take part in a ladies event. It's beyond lame, it's just plain foolish. You aren't fighting for men's rights, or women's right for that matter, you are just being an ass.
Daniel Negreanu's Blog

The simple truth is this is an attempt to bring exposure to an under-represented group at the WSOP and have a fun event that there very much is demand for. It's not as if money is being taken from other events to pay for it and ladies are free to enter any other events they wish so it's not as if this is their only opportunity to play - it's just an EXTRA opportunity to play in an environment some of them enjoy more and feel more comfortable in.

QuadJacks Interview with Shaun Deeb (For those of you who don't follow the online game as much as you do live players)

Serial No: GRQRKKP9WSE6

European Court Rules in Favour of Higher Taxes for Poker

2010-06-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

Show Highlights

In Europe this week the European Court released two seperate rulings allowing EU countries to preserve their gaming monopolies and regulate at a national level. He implies that increasing taxes and revenue is the only motivation for the new rules not 'player protection'.

The new iPhone application the Poker Players Alliance has launched to help people contact their Congressman to assist in bringing gaming rights issues before government. ThePPA.org.

Nevada: Casinos licensed in the State should keep their distance from internet gaming companies.

Watch the show below:

Courtesy of APCW Perspectives Weekly

Sunshine as Phil Laak Storms World Record Poker Session

2010-06-10T03:49:00.000-07:00

Phil Laak is apparently on his way into the Guinness Book of World Records as he has played the longest poker session in history. 115 hours without sleep would be an impossible challenge in itself to most mortals but Laak, who appears surprisingly full of energy at the 80 hour mark was able to not only achieve this but deliver winning poker as he went.

I have to say I was a little bit worried... I didn't think it would be this positive and uplifting... he's superhuman
Jennifer Tilley (Laak's Partner)

Cameras were on hand during the attempt and Laak explained his motivations as campsunshine.org, the challenge and the fame as the main reasons he wanted to break through the old record.

I think the most exciting part about his achievement is that something so degenerate as staying awake as long as possible and gambling has achieved something so positive. I hope the kids at Camp Sunshine get a great deal of benefit out of the money raised as it certainly seems to be a cause close to Laak's heart.

I-Gaming Supershow Review Video & UIGEA Passes with No Impact!

2010-06-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

J-Todd comes to us from the I-Gaming Supershow with all the latest interviews and news from the online gambling world.

This episode is a little more light-hearted than usual but the key features he covers off are:

- UIGEA passed and nothing happened. He suggests the reason for this is simply that everyone was already in compliance therefore no changes needed to be made by most banks. In that case the online poker and gaming economy in the USA is set to remain stable despite the June 1st Deadline passing.
- Which states might legalise first
- Does Antonio Estafari wax his nose hair?

Vicky Coren Interview: Drink Hard, Sleep Little and Play More BlackJack!

2010-06-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Stunning, sexy poker player from England Vicky Coren gave this great interview as part of her Team PokerStars role.

She discusses the excitement of hitting the tables in the 2008 World Series of Poker and how she likes to prepare to play with some Black Jack and drink.

Whilst it's unlikely any of us would be unlikely to play or drink with the poker stunner I'm sure many of her fans will be following her in this year's World Series of Poker.

Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act: Is it Legal to Gamble Online in the USA?

2010-05-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

The UIGEA enforcement date is just days away (1st June) and many Americans must now be wondering what the outcome will be. Will they be able to deposit after the date passes?Is it even legal to play in the USA after that date?

The APCW gives some guidance and reviews the likely impact of the UIGEA finally passing into law in their latest video review. They conclude 'nothing much' is likely to happen but of course citizens of the USA should ensure playing is legal in their state before playing Online Poker or other Gambling. This Poker Week is not responsible for advice given by the APCW.

Leave Consenting Adults Alone to Gamble: Fox News Guest Argues for Regulation and Legalization

2010-05-28T09:42:00.001-07:00

Show highlights:

- Outlines the reasons gambling can be a problem namely protecting people, safeguarding their families from huge losses etc.
- They discuss the fact that regulation doesn't work - such as prohibition and the fact that online gambling takes tax dollars abroad.
- More Tax, More Freedom came out as arguments for legalisation, against naturally the risk of addiction and social decay.

William Hill, Hollywood Poker Quit French Poker Market

2010-05-27T13:34:00.001-07:00

The new French legalisation of Online Gaming has amounted to more of a ban on former legitimate operators working in the market. Many firms operated well regulated and European based (or at least European Controlled Tax Haven Based) businesses in France.

In the recent grab for power which has seen many jurisdictions lock down their local market the French ban on online poker has now led to further sites withdrawing from the market.

Huge names William Hill and Hollywood Poker recently updated affiliates and news sources by e-mail that they are 'considering' applying for a French license but in the mean time French players will not be accepted.

PokerStars Account Frozen! "The My Brother Did It" Story

2010-05-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

E-checks provide a unique solution to poker rooms who operate in the American market where currently card and bank transfers to and from poker rooms are difficult. However they also pose a unique problem - it's very easy for people to attempt to freeroll the system by making bad e-check deposits then simply vanishing if they lose, or keeping the winnings (less the original deposit which the rooms reclaim) if they win.

Naturally this poses the risk of substantial loss to poker rooms. Many people get caught up in these situations inadvertently when a family member makes bad deposits and they either have shared in the past or currently share a computer or internet connection to play poker.

This feels unfair and stressful to the sibling who has been honest as the Poker room often has no way to tell that the person was not somehow involved in either encouraging or arranging to benefit from the attempt to freeroll the poker room and gamble for free. What would there be to stop anyone with a brother pulling this stunt then attempting to keep the 'clean' PokerStars account in their own name if it all goes wrong and splitting the profit if it went well???

Well - I'll tell you what stops you. PokerStars aren't stupid - they will investigate where your brother connected from, any other connections between your accounts or evidence you play together/live together/share computers or even that your brother hasn't gone online himself and you perpetrated the entire affair. Your 'clean' PokerStars account is NOT safe if a family member steals from them. Even if you're not involved your account seems to be at risk. So in the case of poker it's very different from the real world - keep both your enemies AND your brother far away from your IP, computer and PokerStars if they are likely to tarnish your reputation!

After a full investigation, your association appears close and as
such we cannot proceed until the issues are resolved on
'XXXXXXXXXXXx'. If you are in contact with the owner of this account,
please ask them to contact us immediately so that we may complete
this review.
PokerStars Response Posted on 2+2 From a Recent "My Brother Did It" Story

The War to Legalise Gambling in the USA Continues - Perspectives Weekly Video

2010-05-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Our friends at the APCW continue their battle to get online gaming legalised and they cover the latest news in this weeks show.

The main feature is that various interests (mostly horse racing and sports) made substantial donations to politicians who have subsequently resisted legalising gaming. This is naturally due to the desire to stop the game we love taking away from cruel and pointless horse racing which as we discussed in our previous post is rapidly fading away.

Zigmund Says "What the Fuck is Pokertracker" (Interview from PokerStatic)

2010-05-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

Always entertaining and a man known for drinking, partying and hot ladies away from the table the guys from PokerStatic did a great job interviewing Online Poker SuperStar Zigmund.

He talks about everything from the players he loves to play online including Ivey and Antonius to the fact he has no interest in online poker software like PokerTracker.

You'll also laugh a little when he tells you about his tipping strategy in Vegas - either way whether Zigmund is in town partying or on the high stakes tables you know action is coming your way.

Irish Gambling Tax to Save Dead Racing Industry

2010-05-18T03:39:00.000-07:00

I've long felt that the horse and dog racing industries not only are but deserve to be a fading breed. Animals bred, hit and transported all around the country for the amusement of a few old men hardly sounds like the entertainment of the future.

The Irish Government however apparently feels differently. They feel that all online gambling and players - including people like us who enjoy a game of skill, intelligence and absolutely no animal cruelty - should support this industry through tax and regulation.

This will have the additional benefit of facilitating the extension of the tax regime for the betting industry to all those providing online and telephone betting and so underpin funding for the racing industry.
Cowen was reported as saying by broadcaster RTE Business - Source: EGRMagazine

Of course the likely impacts are minimal - Irish players will still play at offshore sites and those sites will continue to be very successful promoting their services primarily online. With a bit of luck a few existing operators based in Ireland will quit the country reducing tax revenue and this ridiculous plan to prop up an industry on life support with the juice of successful and ethical businesses will backfire spectacularly.

No Limit Holdem 6-Max Cash Free Video

2010-05-17T02:44:00.000-07:00

Bit of a treat for you guys - a free coaching video just out on FasterMule - $50 no limit six max from their guest pro who played $100NL for a living recently sharing some secrets to beating up on these levels. Definitely worth a watch - you can download and keep videos on FasterMule for free.

Unlawful Internet Gaming Act Arrest Reported - APCW Video Newscast

2010-05-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Show Highlights

UIGEA - the first arrest was reported this week across the news. Todd Lyons alledgedly collected $22 million for sportsbetting in Antigua. His crimes appear to be illegal in any case and irrelevant to the core banking issues of UIGEA.

May 27th Poker Player Alliance rally in Washington at the Supreme Court. www.pokerplayersalliance.com

Harry Reid's regulation of online gambling proposals might be watered down to protect Nevada gaming interests.

Rigged Random Number Generator at Ultimate Bet? - Questions Arise Over Quality of Cereus Code

2010-05-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

This is an opinion piece not Poker News
Following from our recent article where we discussed the massive security flaw posed by the Cereus Network (Ultimate Bet - UB, and Absolute Poker - AP) not using SSL and effectively therefore transmitting hands in an extremely insecure manner questions have arisen about the quality of their code. Questions have also arisen about the eCOGRA seal they received for the security and fairness of the code and systems and clearly this is something no competent programmer could have thought was acceptable. Certainly if provided with full details no regulating body should find it acceptable either.

In the face of such incompetence we are assured by the UB website:

The Quad Dimensions RNG uses a widely recognized algorithm to generate random numbers. The numbers generated by this RNG have passed Marsaglia's "diehard" tests for statistical randomness. iTech Labs has also evaluated the shuffling for single and 6 decks games. Chi-squared tests were applied
to over 2.5 million shuffled decks each for single and 6 deck shuffle, using samples ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 deals. The tests were applied to suits, ranks and cards. iTech Labs has found that the number sequences are unpredictable, non-repeatable and the cards are uniformly distributed.
Ultimate Bet Website

Searches for "Quad Dimensions RNG" on Google don't return any useful information. The fact they also do not disclose the algorithm being used and that so many 'widely known' algorithms are horrendously weak and can be cracked should be a massive worry to poker players in light of the fact that they have already been exposed as incompetent in the area of player security by the Poker Table Ratings Report.

Because UB flat out lied about their encryption, one could also logically conclude that their RNG algorithm (they say on their site they use an algorithm, not any specialist hardware) is actually probably grossly simple, with backward logic such as 'the more layers the better', crackable and would be quite interesting to look at. It wouldn't suprise me in the slightest if that was found to be unrandom, and there were hackers out there calculating poeples cards etc.
Gullanian - Respected 2+2 Member

Now don't get me wrong - there's no way anyone at present can tell whether UB/AP have made another blunder with their algorithm here. All we know is the companies that hosted the biggest scandal in the history of Poker and have recently had to own up to having no proper encryption on their games also fail to disclose the full details of their Random Number Generator - which is key to the game. I for one will continue to boycott their action - I would recommend you all do as well as operators like this have no place in a hopefully regulated poker market of the future.

Strip Poker: The Mike Matusow Way (Oh Dear!)

2010-05-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

There have been quite a few chuckles in the poker world this week as news broke of comments Mike Matusow made about women poker players on a recent TV show (Poker2Nite). Well known in the poker world for his endless chatter at the poker table and often inappropriate remarks and terrible timing for his rants it's no surprise to see his name mentioned in a story like this one!

He is reported to have been pretty dismissive of women's chances at the WSOP before finally declaring that he would run naked through Vegas if they achieve 3 bracelets as many expect.

I’ll tell you what: if three women win a bracelet at the World Series of Poker, I’ll run naked down The Strip with a camera behind me. You heard it by me.
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow: Source - Bluff Europe

With so many fantastic women players these days it is pretty likely a couple of bracelets end up in the hands of the lady poker players. Whilst Mike's backside is certainly not something anyone would relish seeing, having him lose this bet after disrespecting so many women players would be pretty funny. Who knows, we might all get lucky and it might even shut "The Mouth" up for a few hours. Though I suspect that is just wishful thinking.

Congress to Discuss New Gambling Law? APCW Perspectives Weekly Video Show

2010-05-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

Our partner newsfeed APCW brings you the latest onling gaming news including the rumours that the US Congress is to Discuss new online gambling laws.

Absolute/Ultimate Bet Security Flaw Found (Again!)

2010-05-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Masters of always being in the press for the wrong reasons, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker were hit once again. This time it is the shocking revelation that they do not have SSL (or similar) encryption on their gaming software connections. So we can honestly say they learned nothing of substance from the Potripper scandal and the fact they had massive holes in their security all those years ago.

Do we need to panic? Well PokerTableRatings expert thinks not:

We have no way of knowing if this exploit has been discovered and used to steal from Cereus users, but it seems unlikely. It is our hope that this information will allow Cereus users to protect themselves.

The issue in general terms is that rather than using industry standard SSL encryption Cereus has used a custom form of encoding (not encryption) which can be cracked using the windows calculator.
Poker Table Ratings Blog

So in summary it seems not the easiest flaw to exploit but one that for a brand that has brought so much shame to the Poker industry with it's failings is surely unforgivable.

I wonder how many more times the alarm bell has to ring before the greedy amongst the poker players online realise guys like UB and AP are bad for the game in the long run and short term support for them is very damaging to the future of online poker. Of course those stupid enough to be both an informed regular and playing on UB/AP proves there is plenty of dead money in the poker world for a long time to come.

Chinese Online Gambling Crackdown Continues

2010-05-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

The house of cards has been falling fast for online gaming as one after another jurisdictions have fallen to regulation and restriction. China has long censored internet gaming (and all sorts of other things but this isn't the place for that discussion!). Now Chinese blocking of online gaming has apparently been stepped up as reported by a Chinese Affiliate operator on the GPWA.

This time it's real!! Crackdown is going on. I heard that $18, 000,000 CNY was frozen in the southern China. Ladbrokes delayed all withdrawals too but it says business is as usual.
WangPoker GPWA Member (Emphasis Added)

Whilst operators are still remaining quiet and saying it is business as usual the affiliate also reports several sites no longer accepting deposits and many with substantial cashout delays including Bodog Sports.

If this is a one off gesture like the US attempt to seize funds last year then the impact will likely be short lived with many operators no doubt willing to bear the brunt of these penalties in order to tap the World's largest potential gaming market. However if things continue to worsen and further seizures occur the familiar sight of Chinese players on the biggest Western poker rooms could well be coming to an end just before the 'boom' really took hold there.

Time of course will tell.

TAG Poker Review: Heads Up Poker Training

2010-05-03T07:47:00.001-07:00

Introduction to TAG Poker

Tag poker is an online poker training school where you get to watch as top instructors play their A game and learn what you can as they explain their plays step by step. The lead instructor is Brokerstar who specialises in Heads Up No Limit Holdem Sit and Go's. As a result this is a heads up training site primarily with some sprinklings of other content.

Who is Brokerstar?

A damned good heads up player who learned from one of the best the $100 stakes game has ever seen. Brokerstar himself has now a great track record in his own right including a couple of insane bankroll challenges he features on Tag Poker where he turns $500 into $5000 and tells you how to do it!

What does Tag Poker Offer

The first and foremost thing it offers for FREE is a range of quite excellent heads up sit and go videos. Yep you read correctly these videos are both excellent AND free.

What's the catch? Well there isn't one really. Brokerstar does sell his own heads up sit and go coaching services through the site as well as offering poker vip and rakeback deals but he does his best to combine those offers giving people a chance to get additional coaching and resources for 'free' by playing on those deals. Those of you who don't want to take part to get the free video's done have to.

There is also a fairly active member forum on the site and for those of you who prefer to chat a lot of the members have joined the #poker chat room on irc.abjects.net (irc://irc.abjects.net/poker) or you can use the web link for poker chat. You'll receive a warm welcome in both the forums of TAG Poker or the live poker chat from both TAG poker members and other poker players at any time.

So to summarise there's forums, articles, and tons of free videos including a series showing you how to turn a small bankroll into $5,000. Pretty much one of the best free sites I've seen in the poker world. To be honest it's a lot better than most of the ones that would seek to charge you for membership - especially the smaller sites.

What Members Are Saying

The depth of information was incredible. You don't have to be an experienced poker player to use this information. Actually, this is the sort of material would have been ideal when i first started out playing poker. It was explained in simplistic terms which was ideal, as i can be a complete poker idiot at times.
Kolonel: TagPoker and 2+2 Member

Head on over to Tag Poker and check the site out for yourself - you won't regret it.

Legal U.S. Online Gambling and Other Fish Tales: APCW Perspectives Weekly for April 30th, 2010

2010-04-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a slow news week in the poker gossip world so I'll bring you this week's episode of Perspectives Weekly on the front page. They cover off the issues facing the online gaming industry at present including the legal situation in the USA and what the future might hold.

You can catch all the back catalogue of perspectives weekly articles in our links page where we permanently feature their episode player as a proud supporter of their campaign. Better deals for gambling players, affiliates and the industry as a whole.

Poker Players: Gambling Addicts

2010-04-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was reading one of those "am I an addicted gambler" or "do I have a gambling problem" questionnaires one can find about the internet and obviously as a regular poker player epically failed it. The first question...

Do you often gamble for long periods alone?

... pretty much finished me off and it went downhill from there. The only positives were I don't chase my losses and I don't let gambling affect my friendships. Some scant consolation for a man who's just failed an addiction test!

Of course the argument many would use against this is that poker is not of course real gambling. The Poker Economy is just like the real economy and skilled players are like stock traders (who also pay rake in the form of transaction fees) who can beat the games and therefore know in the long run they don't 'gamble' in the traditional sense.

It seems ridiculous to say to a poker player he has a problem because after he has a losing week he resolves to work twice as hard and put more hours in to make sure he can pay his bills this month. All the tests and questions in the world just don't apply if what are bad traits for people genuinely gambling in an unbeatable game (such as roulette) are actually good traits in the subject at hand - for example putting more work in.

That said if you are playing and you aren't a long term pro and poker is starting to destroy your life this list on Gamble Aware actually looks reasonable to me as all the points really stress the issues to the PROBLEM level not just the general level.

* Spending more money and time on gambling than you can afford.
* Finding it hard to manage or stop your gambling.
* Having arguments with family or friends about money and gambling.
* Losing interest in usual activities or hobbies like going out with friends or spending time with family.
* Always thinking or talking about gambling.
* Lying about your gambling or hiding it from other people.
* Chasing losses or gambling to get out of financial trouble.
* Gambling until all of your money is gone.
* Borrowing money, selling possessions or not paying bills in order to pay for gambling.
* Needing to gamble with larger amounts of money or for a longer time to get the same feeling of excitement or buzz.
* Neglecting work, school, family, personal needs or household responsibilities because of gambling.
* Feeling anxious, worried, guilty, depressed or irritable.
Gamble Aware UK

Enjoying the thrill of gambling and the ability to take a gamble when required - for example getting AK in preflop sometimes you will be taking a 'flip' against QQ but folding AK all the time would cost you a fortune and make you a losing player in a lot of tough games! - are all important in poker. Many of the top players like Phil Ivey gamble one would think too much away from the poker table. However they have massive fortunes and the rewards for their lifestyle are great. If you aren't receiving those rewards and poker is ruining your life it may be time to seek help rather than throw away thousands of hours at just $6/hr at the tables when you could have a real rewarding career!

Regular Speed $2 SNG iPoker OutrageousJuice

2010-04-23T17:11:00.001-07:00

A quick video picked up from the free poker sit and go videos on FasterMule poker.

Watch as OutrageousJuice chats with Mule about the good solid basic strategy you can use to make some easy money in these soft games.

Link:

Outrageous Juice and FasterMule Play on BetMost - Ultimate Weekly VIP Payments

Healthy Poker Players Get Some Sun!

2010-04-17T15:11:00.001-07:00

It occurred to me whilst looking at a picture of Tom "Durrr" Dwan in his latest Full Tilt Academy video that he was awfully pale. For a man who no doubt spends a lot of time in Las Vegas you have to wonder if catching just a little bit of sun would be good for all of us online poker players.

Image: federico stevanin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Playing good poker whilst cooped up all day with no exercise, sun and pleasure in life might work for the most dedicated players. However many of the rest of us need regular breaks, a good diet and plenty of exposure to the goodness of daylight and excercise!

* Strengthens your immune system-critical to stay healthy and reduce likelihood of serious diseases such as cancer
* Aids sleep
* Sooths joint and muscle pains and aches
* Helps to lower blood pressure
* Stimulates Vitamin D production
* Deeply relaxing and warming
Just some benefits: Realsunlight.co.uk

So next time you're cooped up wit the sun blazing through your window feeling the aches and pains of sitting in your balla grinders chair for too long. Remember to take a break! Get some Sun, take a walk in the park - AND FEEL BETTER!

Stoxtrader Found Guilty in Initial PokerTableRatings Hands Analysis

2010-04-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

The now infamous Nick "Stoxtrader" Grudzien, formerly the Lead Poker Instructor at Stoxpoker (Cardrunners owned brand), was found guilty by NoahSD's analysis of PokerTable Ratings data. NoahSD is a known statistics expert and put together a thorough report and as yet we await a clear response from the Grudzien camp.

NoahSD concluded that Stoxtrader did in fact collude on the accounts 40putts and knockstiff with the accounts kinetica and littlezen. He, argues that anomalies in the game play statistics of how these accounts played against each other, and against their 49 most common opponents, could only indicate that these accounts were in fact colluding.
Poker Table Ratings Blog

This adds a whole new twist to the scandal as he had previously admitted to having multiple accounts and resigned his position as StoxPoker Coach. This embarrassment has led to Cardrunners Closing the StoxPoker Brand and merging it with their own to take attention away from the disaster and save the jobs of the many great instructors who remained on the Stox roster.

I guess it should be no surprise that in this game where millions of dollars can be won and lost at the click of a button the temptation to cheat is enormous. It is just a shame to discover that so many bad apples were in one basket (StoxPoker). Only time will tell if StoxTrader is an innocent victim of statistical anomalies and guilt by association with a bad crowd or yet another blight on the face of the poker community.

Real Deal Poker - A Scam That Tells the Rigtards What they Want to Hear? or the Solution to Rigged Online Poker...

2010-04-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

This is a contributed 'view' column and is not Poker News.

A lot of gamblers are paranoid. It's only human nature to think we ought to win at games. Especially when there's skill involved. We're more skilful than the rest right? Online Poker must be rigged if we're losing... right? surely? It's the rigged random number generator catching up with us again. If only there was some kind of Real Deal going on! Well that's the exact paranoia that Real Deal Poker appears to be targeting with their upcoming launch.

YouTube hosts this video which is a recording of their launch presentation. I've included it for completeness and fairness - you guys can of course make your own minds up about these things.

Initially it all sounds good - let's deal some real cards. Let's make sure it's like live poker. It puts people's minds at rest because a lot of players have doubts and stop playing. This part is very interesting - I wonder how many fish are put off and will play at a site like this?

However it all becomes worrying at the mid-point of the video where truth and fiction blend into this marvellous discussion around why RNG's can't work as if somehow having some stationary pile of cards makes a difference when compared to a 'pile' in the computers mind.

...this effectively means the entire deck is always in play which has a profound impact on the gameplay and the odds... resulting in innacurate... gameplay.
Youtube: Real Deal Poker Launch Presentation

Luckily it's not all as bad as it seems. Gene Gioia actually agrees with us in his 'response to the forums' interview his site put out on Youtube. These changes aren't because they actually make a difference - they are because people who are worried about it being rigged think they do.

It doesn't change the odds in a game.
Gene Gioia of Real Deal Poker@5.44

Unfortunately for Gioia and his Real Deal Poker team that was the only thing I found reassuring about his interview. Some of the questions it sought to address were crisp and well thought out. The answers on the other hand. Well I'll let you decide.

When asked about the capacity of the warehouse needed to deal so many hands he replied:

this is people assuming they can know anything about how a system can work... most people are just capable of linear thinking.
Gene Gioia of Real Deal Poker

The most worrying part of his explanation really reminds me of the smoke and mirrors sales tactics life insurance companies used in days before regulation stopped them. A long rambling and generally incoherent explanation that yes there are a lot of ways a deck can be shuffled. This of course has no bearing on warehouses, number of tables or anything but it somehow was suggested it did. His answer did imply that some kind of pre-shuffling goes on though but I can't state this as fact as you can see in the video he's far from clear.

At the end of the day he's right it comes down to the fact they are launching a system...

...for cardplayers who are concerned about the fairness of games online
Gene Gioia of Real Deal Poker

The question is simply are you jumping from the frying pan of computer generated random decks into the fire of a warehouse in some foreign land assuring you they are shuffling those hidden decks of cards? I'll tell you one thing though, this reporter is a poker player and won't be risking his money when I can't even make sense of the conflicting stories in their own promotional material.

Australian Poker Advertising Boom to Start?

2010-04-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

New blood, new markets new fish and easier poker games. These are the Holy Grail to Online Poker Rooms like Full Tilt Poker. There are many areas left to target and in areas where gaming advertising is technically not allowed Full Tilt and PokerStars are the masters.

They use their '.net' play for free/playmoney sites to advertise to players. Of course many of these end up addicted and playing on the .com real money sites (some probably just assume it's .com and rock right up there first!).

Australia is now hot for the attack as Full Tilt is looking for a longer term deal with Rubgy League as reported in the Morning Herald.

The reason promoting only the "practice" site is crucial, says a lawyer who specialises in the field, is that it allows the sponsor, the NRL and the clubs that endorse it to argue they are doing nothing illegal.
Source: D Lane, Sydney Morning Herald

Hopefully this will be the first step in the breaking down of another barrier to international gaming and advertising and bring more liquidity to the game we love.

New French Law Blocks and Bans Major Poker Sites Including Cake Network

2010-04-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

Une nouvelle loi française Poker: Poker interdits, Lire la suite...
As recently as a few weeks ago the GPWA reported that various locations around the World were considering seizing control of gaming within their borders to raise tax revenue. Various countries and provinces were named including Quebec.

Well one French speaking nation - France itself has made the first move taking steps to block dozens of major poker rooms from their border and increase the state control of gaming.

Due to the recent passage of a new French law all persons resident in France will no longer be allowed to access poker services and play for real money on any turnkey partner site which is part of the Cake Network. As of 4pm GMT, Friday April 9th, no French resident will be able to open a new real money account and any French resident who holds an existing account will not be allowed to play...
Power Poker Press Release Thursday 8th April

This move is a direct reversal of the moves in recent years to liberalise trade and gaming regulation across the world and on the internet. (Except in the most famous gaming nation of all the USA of course where the UIGEA has blighted the industry). It means that French Poker players are now banned from getting 33%+ rakeback on Power Poker as well as French Poker players now being blocked from a range of fantastic deals in favour of a heavily taxed, segregated and as a result smaller range of options which will remain in France.

This is truly a bad thing for French poker and a bad thing for the World poker scene as the large French poker market brought much liquidity to European Networks as well as the likes of Cake, and Power Poker who are US facing.

Two Legal Situations and One Full Tilt Poker

2010-04-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

Full Tilt Poker were the subject of two sets of legal proceeding this week bringing further bad publicity to the room (despite neither situation being in any way their fault as far as I can tell) in the face of a dominating lead for PokerStars in the race for American Poker players.

[Everest's Owners Claim] Harrah’s breached the sponsorship deal when ESPN broadcasts of the tournament by an affiliate in France, television channel RTL9, failed to display Everest’s name and logo and instead featured the name and logo of Everest competitor Full Tilt Poker.
Las Vegas Sun

This alone isn't particularly shocking news regarding Full Tilt. More worrying for the online poker world is the story that broke in the Financial Times in the UK and has been covered extensively across the internet since.

If a recent report in the Financial Times is any indication, online poker room Full Tilt Poker could be in major legal trouble before 2010 is over. According to the article, a federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating the company and some of the big names affiliated with the site. The Times names both Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer as potential targets of the investigation.
Bluff Magazine

Since the initial situation with PartyPoker where the owners ended up in some legal hot water over their continued gaming operations in the USA in the immediate aftermath of the UIGEA people have often questioned how Full Tilt can continue to operate without any consequences. Especially since they have a lot of high stakes regulars who both play on the site and live in the USA. Of course these guys are always on TV and one can only suspect this showboating has brought the recent attention.

Military: Free Supernova VIP Status on PokerStars?

2010-04-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

An interesting discussion has broken out on 2+2 where a number of posters are backing either VIP upgrades or 'automatic qualification' periods for soldiers who are out on deployment under the PokerStars VIP scheme.

For those of you guys who don't know, PokerStars runs a VIP scheme where players must put in high levels of volume in order to start picking up rewards. If you miss out one month and don't achieve enough you get dropped back to the beginning and don't receive any rewards (discount on the rake you pay).

Naturally deployed soldiers will suffer greatly from this. One minute they are at home grinding a ton of hands and close to making top VIP status then the orders come in and they are preparing to ship out. All that hard work grinding towards SuperNova status can be wasted.

It's definitely something I'd support given the sacrifices the men and women who sign up to defend the many countries represented in the PokerStars player community make. However it seems unlikely it will be honoured by the site that puts so many hoops in the way of getting good VIP rewards in the first place!

A good short term solution for American soldiers for example who are looking to get decent rewards without any risk of losing out whilst on duty would be to sign up with a room that offers top level VIP rewards. At This Poker Week we currently recommend Merge Network's 30% Rakeback on Black Chip Poker. If you sign up through our link you get VIP payments and bonus all on top of rakeback (not deducted!). No need to qualify for rewards, no need to worry about downgrades while your away. Most people think the games are easier too!

You can try the software for free as we run a freeroll every 4 hours where $50 is up for grabs and no deposit is required!

gder01 "Water Boat" Poker Interviewed for Comedy Show

2010-04-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well a treat for you from the archives today as the Donkey Talk team interview poker comedy legend gder01, or Water Boat. What does breast milk taste like? Well we didn't get to ask him that but he does talk about how to train your kids up as professional poker grinders!

Video: 100 Tabling Double or Nothing (DoN) Sit and Go's (SNG's) on Pokerstars - Ridiculous?

2010-03-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

I started today looking for a story about online Bots and poker as someone had been discussing this with me recently and I found this thread on the popular Two Plus Two forums where a guy playing 80 tables of $1 double or nothing sit and go's is accused of being a bot.

At first I thought he must be then I found the video featured here. It shows a guy playing over 100 tables of double or nothing sit and go's on PokerStars.

...it get's pretty ridiculous

gnumsploitz: 100 tabling player

This to me is something that's just outright ridiculous. For one having tons of players playing too many tables takes away from the enjoyment of others. For two the ridiculous style whilst not 'profitable' in the long run is probably close enough to breakeven that it increases the 'rake trap' effect of playing these for recreational players.

So many recreational players are put off by the extreme slow playing of even the 16 tabling regulars at the $200NL 6-max level that I feel this should be tackled let alone allowing someone to fire up such a ludicrous number of tables.

New iPoker Software Update - Tables Now Look Great!

2010-03-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

A lot of you have been asking what the new iPoker and Betmost software looks like. The honest answer is that this is one of the best upgrades in recent memory. None of the usual mistakes, slowdowns or crashes. On top of that it looks great! Photos and review below.

As you can see we have a nice resizeable window with good sized avatars (remember the old huge people sitting around the iPoker tables!!). The action moves around smoothly and it's easy to see the clear large 4-colour deck they have developed.

Any of you who weren't sure if the new software would be for you but enjoyed the games before well I can assure you it's time to give iPoker a look again. The games are still great and now the software doesn't suck like it used to! This software is second only to PokerStars just there aren't any sharks here!!!

Get BetMost below and use code "MULE" for a huge bonus and a weekly VIP payment direct into your account every Wed Night/Thursday morning that will blow you away! The more you play the more you get.

Microgaming Stoop Even Lower and Start Legal Moves Over Microgamingscandal.com

2010-03-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

For a long time now we've been following the Microgaming Scandal on the popular Two Plus Two forums. One member there who reportedly lost a substantial sum during the collapse of Tusk which Microgaming has publicly washed it's hands of (see the APCW show in our previous post) is trying to keep the public informed. He made the MicrogamingScandal.Com which currently points to the relevant story on 2+2.

Well shockingly rather than engage in sensible discussion with the likes of the APCW or other representatives of the poker community, Microgaming have chosen to attack one of the victims of their allegedly slack network management that allowed Tusk and Eurolinx to allegedly operate without sufficient licenses and without appropriate player protection.

I've received a cease and desist regarding microgamingscandal.com. Can anyone help me out with this, or should I seek the advice of a lawyer?
skier_5 (on 2+2)

Now I'm not going to rehash an old story by going over everything in detail but I feel like their stance on the APCW report that they are just a software provider is unacceptable. As many of us know who have played on the network in the past, Microgaming security preside over decisions on refunds in network error situations, collusion, cheating etc. Yet when big money is involved and one of their skins is cheating they expect to be able to just turn away and players to not feel cheated and confused? Come on.

Players need to feel safe and secure to keep the flow of fish into our games and keep poker healthy. Networks making it easy for anyone who feels like it to open a poker room and not carrying out sufficient checks isn't something that's ever going to help. There's plenty of good safe poker rooms out there on networks that take security very seriously and don't seek to turn away when things go wrong.

Cake Joins Full Tilt Attacks Shortstackers

2010-03-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

Cake Poker has announced that on their network now the minimum buy in for cash games will be 30 big blinds in No Limit Games. This is significant as Full Tilt had already made moves to encourage shortstack play only on the capped tables they spread.

The Cake network had been coming under pressure as major Skins (or members) of their network have announced moves or have already moved to Merge Gaming. This move is the first step of their fight back looking to appease the high volume and by definition high raking regulars and retain some of them in their games.

PokerStars have announced they are reviewing their response to shortstacking and the community eagerly awaits their response. Most commentators are suggesting we should hear something by the end of April.

The reason shortstackers are hated so much by full stacked players is simple. An easy to learn mathematical style can be applied to a 20 blind stack which exploits full stack regulars taking money from fish by playing a looser style versus the fish. It's nearly impossible to optimise play against the shortstackers and fish but it's most profitable for regulars to attack the fish (since they have more chips). Therefore the shortstackers exploit this and reduce profitability for everyone else with a simple and boring style which many feels take the 'poker' out of the game.

That said I had nothing against it while it was allowed by the sites but if fun and liquidity are being hurt by their play then naturally they will respond.

Scandal and Resignations Lead to Closure of Stoxpoker and Merge With CardRunners Brand

2010-03-25T05:09:00.000-07:00

Another day and another turn in the StoxPoker Story. Cardrunners have decided to bin the brand and close Stox, merging members and instructors into their Cardrunners stable.

Whilst Cardrunners is the premium brand and in the long run this move will cost the members who stay on money the many members who had paid in advance - often for up to a year - who felt let down by the scandal, resignation and issues at Stox get a great deal out of this. For that reason I commend the management team for a strong decision to give the best value to their existing members in the face of a collapsed and hollow shell left under the Stox umbrella.

In lieu of the recent events, it has been decided that the StoxPoker website will be merged with CardRunners. This change will take full-effect on May 1st, 2010.

Alex Huang: Stoxpoker Brand Manager

The Timeline

January 11th: Dusty "Leatherass" Shmidt Leaves StoxPoker

In the first of a series of high profile resignations (already Beachjustice and James262 had quit in a more subdued fashion) Leatherass quit Stoxpoker. His close friend Mbolt1 joined him and a feeling of loss spread through the Stoxpoker community.

January 28th: Jason Ho Scandal Allegations Reach Their Peak

Shortly after the Leatherass departure and as many members of the training community were still feeling the loss of their lead coach allegations surfaced and refused to die that Jason Ho was a scam artist. He is eventually dismissed by Stox Poker.

Present Day

As the Stoxtrader allegations surfaced and we covered here it was becoming clear that a toxic management environment had formed at Stoxpoker. The allegations worsened and Stoxtrader himself resigned leading to the decision by Cardrunners management to merge the brands.

For those of you who prefer a laugh, I'll leave you with the Jason Ho Parody Video Camp Afghanistan (mocking his famous Camp Macau).

$500K For an Indian Poker 8 Year Old?

2010-03-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

The rumour mill over at TwoPlusTwo forums and all over Google has been going crazy at the suggestion an 8 year old from India has won $500,000 at an as yet undisclosed poker site.

Not to be a sceptic but I think FloppyNutz over at 2+2 has it right when he says:-

Only in poker could u read news sites, & it's still 50-50 whether it's BS

I have no real idea how so many sites have broken this story as fact across the internet when there is no apparent source, detail etc. If only it was a few days later in the year and we'd know it was a steaming pile of April Foolery.

To be honest I almost hope it's not true as if the winner truly is very poor from a poor family that amount of money would be huge - the cruelty of having it withheld by the site pretty unimaginable.

David Wintersberger Blasts to a Day One Chiplead at EPT Snowfest

2010-03-23T06:36:00.001-07:00

David Wintersberger who plays for Team RedKings - one of the leading poker rooms on the Ongame network - has blasted to a day one Chiplead at the EPT Snowfest event in Austria. We have the interview from the end of day 1 here.

According to the EPT Official Site

The €3,750 event is taking place in one of Austria’s premier ski areas – Saalbach-Hinterglemm near Salzburg – from March 21 -26, 2010. Home to the Alpine Ski World Championships in 1991, this exciting resort offers some of the finest pistes and off-piste in the country, giving poker players plenty of exhilarating ski and snowboard action when they’re not at the tables.

Dennis Rodman: Poker Bad Boy is Back

2010-03-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

In the same month as it was reported widely across the internet that Tiger Woods had turned down a massive $75,000,000 sponsorship from Paddy Power another 'bad boy' of the sports World, Dennis Rodman has signed with Only Poker. (Basketball Courtesy of I Love Clipart).

Only Poker have their home on the Cake Poker Network and whilst they haven't featured him on their front page yet I can only imagine some heavy sports/basketball related promotions will follow. Whilst many 'internet' players have heavily criticised the decision to sign such a rebellious figure, I think they are missing the obvious benefits here - The people Dennis will attract will be good for the game.

Another thing people often overlook is that Dennis Rodman loves the game of poker and has taken part in charity poker events.

X-basketballer and media stirrer Dennis Rodman is in Sydney to play a charity poker tournament, the Battle of the Codes at Star City to raise funds for Camp Quality

Jollypeople.com

There's definitely no harm in my opinion in having some celebrities bring a bit of flair to the game. Keep everyone focussed on the move to have poker fully legalised in all US states and celebrities having a good time in the game and we'll continue to make progress in growing the game we love!

Ivey Fails and Buys Out of Durrr Vegetarian Bet Early for $150k

2010-03-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Phil Ivey quit his bet with Tom "Durrr" Dwan that he could become a vegetarian for one year. The buy out for finishing the bet early was a cool $150,000 according to Durrr's post on the popular Two Plus Two Forums.

he bought out for 150
edit: sometime in early/mid december

Pretty shocking that after taking the easiest $1,000,000 bet in the history of mankind he should choose to give up so early in the challenge. Durrr however has shown how smart he is and how good he is at reading his opponents both on and away from the tables.

Coaching Chris - I-Poker Regular Speed Sit and Go $2 Buy In

2010-03-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I'll be bringing you some guest free poker training videos. This time it's from FasterMule but as you can see from previous entries there's going to be a lot of content from all around the web.

Chris was struggling with the basics so a poker study group was set up to help him analyse his game and try to improve.

He's been playing on BetMost which I'm proud to be able to offer you guys the best VIP deal allowed on the iPoker network if you use the link below and the code MULE. This is a special offer from FasterMule to go with the free video. They are owned by William Hill so you can be sure you're getting not only the best deal on the network but the safest!

Shock as StoxTrader Resigns as StoxPoker Coach

2010-03-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

StoxPoker Instructional Videos

Poker Training Videos site StoxPoker was hit by a shocking revelation as today their lead instructor and the man the site is named after walked out. The resignation followed intense speculation about his role in multiaccounting on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce my resignation as a stoxpoker coach today. I have put the company in a difficult position given the recent negative publicity surrounding my breaking poker sites terms of service, and refusal to publicly explain my January 2010 account switch. It is true that I had multiple accounts...

StoxTrader explained in what we assume will be his last announcement as a lead instructor at StoxPoker.

This follows the largely shocking Jason Ho Scandal where the vetting process for coaches on the site was found lacking. He eventually was dismissed by the company.

The roster is now significanly depleted by the departure of a number of their lead instructors to Drag The Bar including Hunter "BeachJustice" Bick, Dusty "Leatherass" Shmidt and many more.

Worryingly for management a number of the coaches prefer to publically hide their results and Ed Miller one of the sites owners and leading author for Two Plus Two Publishing continues to insist winrate isn't his main motivation in poker. Whilst that may be true some assurance from it's coaches that some of them are winning is becoming more and more important to members as the house of cards that was the online poker training business Stoxpoker crumbles in front of us.

...what success means to me, personally, as a poker player ... I'll tell you what it isn't. It isn't a winrate.

Miller mused on his latest Blog for Stox and in his article for CardPlayer magazine.

Team Collin Moshman and SNG Variance

2010-03-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

We mentioned in a previous entry that team Collin Moshman was now live and kicking for all you Sit and Go players out there. They offer apprentice positions as well as staking and coaching (on a no win no fee basis) which is pretty unique in the poker world and pretty exciting.

His team member Vandweller in his latest blog post discusses the graph shown on the right and points out that this man is a winning player who suffered a huge 100 bi downswing. When you see the rest of the graph and the discussion on the site it's a real eye opener about variance and Sit and Go Poker.

All you beginners out there struggling for now need to remember that over time even the best players and guys on the leaderboards on SharkScope will take a beating and it's just part of the game we need to fight through.

Durrr Bets Ivey $1 Million To Go Vegetarian

2010-03-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

In what must be the easiest proposition bet of all time CardPlayer magazine reports that on a recent High Stakes Poker episode Ivey agreed to not eat meat for 1 year in exchange for 1 Million Dollars.

What really turned the bet upside down is the comment Ivey made in his interview during the show "...it was something I'd been considering anyway..." he mused. Of course as someone who has gone vegetarian after 'thinking about it anyway' I know how easy it was in any case let alone with $1 Million Dollars of High Stakes Gambling action on the line.

One thing is for sure if Ivey does go for a steak it'd better be at one of the best hotel and casino's in vegas as a $1 million dollar steak is sure gonna have to taste good.

Self Denial and Poker

2010-03-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

So many people play online poker these days and study all the available guides and think they somehow can just 'absorb' talent by magic from a few videos. Or they start to believe that just playing tight preflop gives them an instant right to be a winning player.

They then project this belief onto the tables around them. They see guys playing tight statistics on their Holdem Manager or whatever particular program they use to monitor such things and assume the games are tough - they can't beat them, the tables look tight, so online poker is dead. They start to believe that bad luck is to blame for their losses. They 'run bad' instead of losing because they play bad. Total self denial.

The truth is poker is like a job; it's a lot of hard work. It's not enough to learn some simple preflop rules and concepts and to understand that a continuation bet is profitable. If it were that simple to code a winning solution to poker there would be winning 'bots' all over the tables and millions of us wouldn't find it so fascinating.

There will be more psychology articles to come but for now i'll leave you with a great video I found on the internet about self denial in poker.

Las Vegas Live Poker Advice Part 1

2010-03-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

This is the first part of a series where I hope to give you all some pointers about going to Las Vegas to play live poker. Whether it's the first time you've been to Vegas or the first time you go to take your poker a little more seriously hopefully I'll have some good advice for you.

The first thing I'm going to say is Las Vegas Live Poker is absolutely fantastic. It's the most fun you'll have playing poker because it's wild, loose, fun and the drinks are free.

Unless you plan to stay in the gaming capital of the world for a long time and become a live poker pro I'd say the most important thing to do while your there is have a great time.

ABC poker is all you need - the fish will pay you off (heck they are so drunk they won't even fold second pair to an all-in bet sometimes!). You will run into some grumpy 'older gentlemen' who won't start games shorthanded and will barely play a hand - you know what to do when they raise your bet ;). Also you will run into some goodish regulars at the $1/2 games who make some ok money there but they won't mess with you and you won't mess with them too much - there's just too much juicy free cash at those tables still.

So have fun, check out Poker Travel World for advice on where to play and stay and have a great time.

Article 2 will cover off some table selection and game selection issues for those of you who have some early success and are going back for more!

FasterMule Poker Free Community and Videos Reviewed

2010-03-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Free Poker Video Library

FasterMule poker offers a wide range of poker videos for free. The coaches include a number of winning regulars in the games they make videos for (including myself) and are all aimed at the microstakes audience.

Everything from $2 heads up sit and go's through to multi table tournaments are covered.

The most exciting thing FasterMule poker is doing is teaching people how to build up from a $35 deposit to $500+ whilst playing a range of games and going through learning excercises to build a good poker skill base. Anyone who plays along with the programme is likely to end up well balanced and able to beat the microstakes.

The Forums

Most of the regular members post blogs on the site which gives you a good idea what it's like building up as a microstakes players. There's also a few good blogs from poker pros at the lower stakes keeping you updated on their progress.

The hands section of the site is fairly active and you can often get a reply from someone who plays in the same games as you - a really nice feature for a free site.

Live Chat and Coaching

Several members have received free coaching already by joining in the live chat on the site. All day long people are talking about poker hands, helping each other out, organising live sweat sessions. It's a great community for sure.

Freeroll Availability

Over $1000 is given away every week in exclusive and semiexclusive freerolls. More information can be found in the FasterMule Freerolls section.

Sample Video

FasterMule himself was the Double or Nothing instructor at Grinderschool and one of his videos is included below for you to check out.

Link:

Doyle Brunson Attacks Hellmuth (Clip of the Week!)

2010-03-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

At a recent World Series of Poker Europe event Doyle Brunson got stuck into Phil Hellmuth over his recent attire and rather extravagent entrances to the events in full Roman Empire dress on a Chariot!

Phil Hellmuth is the most successful live tournament player of all time with many doubting his record will ever be matched. Doyle as one of the elder statesmen of the game and a true veteran of Poker feels traditional values are more important "I feel embarrassed for you" Doyle uttered at the end of their discussion about the matter.

This spat is our clip of the week found on Youtube and Embedded below for your convenience you can see their confrontation in full as well as clips of Hellmuth's costume.

PokerTips Free Poker Videos Reviewed and Ozone Interviewed

2010-03-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

In the first of our site reviews I want to cover the site that introduced me to online poker. Before finding this site I felt online poker was probably rigged, full of cheating or otherwise a bad idea.

After watching some great videos from the likes of Cory "Ozone" Albertson (who we interviewed after his Party Poker Million Dollar Cruise final table score below) showed that not online is onlne poker safe but great fun.

The videos are now a little dated so advanced readers won't learn anything new but any beginners will get a lot of value out of the PokerTips site which has a vast array of beginners articles and videos. The cash videos include some at the $100 buy in stakes as well as coverage of their members tournament.

Or watch our Cory "Ozone" Albertson Interview Below!

Link:

Where Can I Practice Real Money Poker for Free? (Freeroll Information)

2010-03-02T00:14:00.000-08:00

What is a Poker Freeroll?

Poker sites need to advertise their software, promotions and poker rooms to the public. Most people want to see what a new room looks like and if they enjoy playing there before they want to make a deposit.

As we all know though, poker is a lot more fun when it's played for real money so poker rooms load up free money and let you try out their games.

What Freerolls Are Available?

There's quite a few freerolls out there but the best are the Sunday $100 freeroll available every single week on FasterMule. This week they are on Poker Time but you should head there now and check them out as there will be an exciting new room to try out for free every week.

FasterMule Poker Freerolls

Black Chip Poker (use our link to the right to get 30% rakeback and a $500 bonus if you decide to play there) have a $50 no deposit freeroll every 4 hours as well as an exciting first depositors freeroll.

New freerolls news, sites and poker information will be released here every week so be sure to bookmark us and check back.

Team Moshman is Live, Isildur1 Back and the Latest from Microgaming

2010-02-21T16:37:00.001-08:00

Every week we'll bring you a news roundup from the poker world as well as a seperate article of poker advice from poker pro known as Erik "Towels" Savage.

Collin Moshman Launches Poker Coaching and Staking Site

Back in 2009 Poker-Spank the comedy poker
training and interviews site released a great interview with Collin "SNGMAN101" Moshman (click Donkey Talk to view the relevant interviews section). They had some great laughs but more importantly they covered the launch of a great new Poker Staking and Profit Share Poker Coaching service called "Team Moshman".

Any of you out there who are playing single table tournaments or any form of sit and go poker who really want to advance your career really need to check out Collin Moshmans' site for more information on Team Moshman. A couple of listeners from Donkey Talk have been accepted for the programme and are making great progress. With his team including instructors from Stoxpoker (like himself), Deuces Cracked and other top training sites you can be sure it's agreat opportunity.

Isildur1

After a period of scandal, shocks and a bustout against Team Cardrunners Isildur1 made a solid return to the high stakes action on Full Tilt Poker this month. Only time will tell if he has the discipline and patience to match his awesome talent and allow him to make a permanent return to the big games.

Microgaming Scandal Latest

The Microgaming Scandal was a real shock to the online poker world and you can read more about it on FasterMule Poker a great resource for online poker training and information.

For those of you not in the loop the cliffs are basically in the space of just 3 years two massive Microgaming skins (or poker rooms) have gone out of business and players have not received their money back. Microgaming as a network (shown being interviewed by the industry Body the APCW below) insist they are "just a software provider". It is worth noting that most other poker networks offer extensive protection to their players including auditing, sometimes even holding funds for their skins. If Microgaming are going to take this totally different approach and offer no protection it might be best to look elsewhere for more protection.

You can watch the full APCW video news report below.