A Bitter Dane Is a Dangerous Dane

There is a song from the sixties that talks about how there is a time for everything. It talks about a time to live, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to give, a time to take, etc., you get the idea. Perhaps hippies from the sixties wouldn't be so reviled if they added "a time to shower" into their list, but that is a topic for another day. Despite the fact that this idea was brought forth by a group of people to whom soap was a strange, alien notion, the song is right: there is a time for everything. Believe us, the time for asking Gus Hansen about blowing one of the biggest chip leads in modern poker history was not ten minutes after his opponent was handed the championship bracelet and a big pile of money.

No New Poker Machines for Queensland

A full stop on video poker machines is the solution put forth from the Queensland Government as the answer to reducing problem gambling. For the next two years no new poker machines will find their ways to pubs and clubs in the area, which already has more poker machines per citizen than anywhere else in Australia. This will stop approximately two thousand poker machines that were already on their way to clubs and pubs...

Poker Software Company Bought Out

The company that created the Poker Ladder software will be purchased by Gaming Ventures Plc for an undisclosed sum. The company, along with the software, has entered into a purchase agreement with Gaming Ventures, which will put the marketing software in their hands. The software is used to ramp up gaming revenues thanks to the poker ladders it displays, displaying poker players on the ladder and showing how they are doing based on the specific game involved...

Poker Tax Debated in New Hampshire

Charities and non profit organizations have been on the winning side of poker tournaments in recent years across the United States, but some fear a proposed tax on Texas Holdem tournaments will change that fact. The concern comes from poker rooms in the state, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee will be taking a look at a bill that has been amended to include a ten percent tax on poker tourneys. There are concerns that this tax will keep players from coming to the race tracks, where many poker rooms are run. Related Articles: Florida poker room future in doubt California bill to study online poker...

Biggest Poker Event in Florida History

Florida is a south eastern US state that has been going back and forth over the poker issue for years, and recently one of their biggest poker rooms at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa held the biggest poker event in the history of the state. The law regarding poker tournaments had been adjusted in the summer of 2007, which made this event possible. The player cap of 600 was hit quickly, and at a thousand dollar buy in the No Limit Holdem poker tournament passed the $100,000 guaranteed pay out for the first place victor. Related Articles: Irish Poker Classic to take place this summer All Japan Poker Championship starts Sunday...

Poker World Open Says No to Nude Player

A player known only as Catgirl was planning on showing up to play in the Poker World Open in her birthday suit, but the Channel 5 no nudity clause came into effect, nipping the idea in the bud. The player, who wound up playing in body paint, played in a heat with Liam Flood, known as the Gentleman, and Surinder Sunar, who has always composed himself at the table. But there was also David "Devilfish" Ulliott, known for his appreciation of the lady poker players, so fans are eager to see how he composed himself at the table. Related Articles: Chiu trumps Hansen at World Poker Tour event All Japan Poker Championship starts Sunday...

GA Poker Run Fundraiser

Over 700 people got on their motorbikes and raced down the road to raise money for charity in the third annual Georgia Sheriff's Boys Ranch Poker Run. A poker run involved cars, motorcycles, and a good time, which is what was going on as participants followed a route and collected poker cards at various stops, trying to get the best hand. But winning the run wasn't the point - raising money to buy Christmas presents for neglected boys and girls was...

He Who Fights and Runs Away, Lives to Fight Another Day

The WPT gave us some real excitement during the Season VI Championship. Whether it was Gus Hansen eliminating player after player on unlikely, game changing river cards, or David Chiu wiping up Hansen's massive chip lead when they were heads up, then sending the Dane to the showers by delivering a bad beat of his own, it was highly entertaining. When you dissect the heads up struggle for the Championship crown, there is a lot to learn about playing from the short stacked position.

Gus Hansen Is Cut Down to Size at the WPT Championship

During the WPT Championship, Gus had personally eliminated Cory Carroll, John Roveto, Jeff King, and Tommy Le. This left only David Chiu standing between Hansen and the WPT season crown. Had things gone as planned, it would have been his fourth WPT bracelet. Things were looking good at first: his chip lead over Chiu was over fifteen million, and even the commentators were joking about how fast Hansen was going to break David. This was not to be. David played poker that on outside looked almost gutless, refusing to engage Gus in big pots, while taking tiny bites during small skirmishes.

Not Every Loss Is a Mistake

A player can lose a big pot in a hand of poker and not have to bother with figuring out what they did wrong. There is a recent story from a Vegas casino. During the game of Holdem, seven players saw the flop, five saw the turn, and three remained in the hand long enough to see the river. Two of them were driving the action. They were raising and re-raising each other at every chance. Neither of them would budge, and they both probably thought they had the best hand. By the time it got to the end they were lucky a slap fight didn't break out.

Kids Come Second to Poker Playing Mom

When the police walked into Woody's Press Box at one in the morning in Wyoming, they were looking for the mother of three kids. The children, found waiting in a car in the parking lot, were without parental supervision but the police were not sure for how long. Ranging in age from five to fifteen, the kids were alone because their mother was inside, where the police found her in the midst of playing a Texas Holdem poker tournament...

Online Poker Exec Arrested in Panama

According to various online sources, one of the chief executives from Nine.com was arrested recently in Panama when he was going about getting a new passport. Identified only by his first name, Rick, this person has ties to the man who used a super user account at Absolute Poker to cheat players in online tournaments. It was not made clear why Rick was arrested in Panama, but it was stated that it was in connection with investigations into operating an online scam...

Annie Duke Hired to Figure Poker Schedule

Big name poker pro Annie Duke has been hired by online poker room Ultimate Bet to serve as the official poker room consultant. In her new role Duke, who was one of the first women to ever make a final table at a World Series of Poker main event, will take over managing the tournament schedule. She must be the right choice - she was also instrumental in designing the software's functionality for Ultimate Bet, and has been an on-again, off-again spokesperson for the site...

Florida Poker Room Future in Doubt

In Central Florida, a group has entered an application to build a horse track and poker room, but an existing track and room further south has moved to block the application. In Florida, a new rule has gone into effect, stating that a new race track must have a minimum of 20 race days a year. The Daytona Beach Kennel Club has lodged their complaint that the application is nothing more than "a place holder" to get in before the new rule had gone into effect...

Money Talks

There are a lot of components to a bluff. Somebody who can face act really well does have a substantial tool in their personal arsenal, but so does somebody whose face moves about as much as a person who has botox running through their veins instead of blood. Tantrums, rolling eyes, twitches, etc are all components to try to sell the bluff, but the most powerful component to make your deception successful is financial. When you're bluffing, what you are fundamentally doing is playing chicken with your chips.

Poker Players to Raise Money for Army Relief

Fort Rucker is once again holding their annual Army Emergency Relief No Limit Texas Holdem Tournament this weekend. The event brings poker players and Army supporters together in order to put money into the reserves of the AER, or Army Emergency Relief. The AER is an organization that provides money through financial assistance to army families in need, a way for the Army to "take care of its own." The game will begin today at 8:30 and the anticipated first-place prize will be $2,500 in cash. Related Articles: Big win for kids thanks to poker event Everybody loves poker charity...

Online Poker Room Offers $20K WSOP Prize Package

Prize packages to major live poker tournaments are a common offering from online poker rooms eager to draw in players, but one online poker room recently announced they were going to kick it up a notch. Titan Poker has announced their Executive Package to the World Series of Poker, worth a big twenty thousand dollars. The prize package will include the buy in to the $10k main event and a two week stay in a luxury suite for two, as well as airfare and spending money, and extra perks such as show tickets and limousine rides. Related Articles: Player on a tear at Titan Poker Online poker room pits country against country...

Step Away from the Cards

We suppose it goes without saying that Texas Holdem is a fun, infectious game. That is why so many people are taking it up nowadays. If other games were as enjoyable Phil Hellmuth would be going nuts over somebody pulling off a "donkey play" during a round of Chutes and Ladders. We would be interested to hear what one gets if they land on Park Place and have a lot of money. Yes, we all love the game of Texas Holdem, but the problem is that some folks like it so much that they play way too many hands of it.

Poker Site Offers Flash for First Time

Online poker room Littlewoods Poker has always been a PC only poker site, with their downloadable software only available to machines that could run Windows operating system. Recently the UK-based poker room has opened its virtual doors for Mac and Unix users thanks to a no-download Flash-based offering that users can launch right from the poker room's website. Players with Macintosh computers can now open accounts, deposit money and play for fun or for real cash at Littlewoods Poker, as long as they have an internet connection and a web browser. Related Articles: New face for online poker room Webcam available at poker site...

Interview with Vanessa Rousso

Vanessa Rousso isn't called "Lady Maverick" because she bears a resemblance to Mel Gibson or James Garner. She earned her nickname by being absolutely deadly with some playing cards in her hand. Not only has she accomplished money finishes at both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, but her tournament winnings are well over a million dollars and she recently won a Poker After Dark championship. It also turns out that Vanessa is also incredibly generous with her time. She recently took time during her dinner break at a tournament to talk to us and give us a little insight into her life.

Folding in the Face of a Death Rattle

In the animal kingdom there are some creatures that can bluff artfully. The frilled lizard spreads out a menacing looking hood to scare off potential predators while the puffer fish will inflate like a balloon in the hopes that its enemies will think it is huge. Both of these critters are relatively harmless and their fearsome displays are simply a deception. Of course not every animal is kidding when it signals you to back off. The point is that sometimes a display of aggression is just a feint and other times it is not.

Online Poker Company Gets Good Rating in Market

Poker is one form of gambling, and investing in the stock market is another. In both situations the players are looking for good information, and in the case of one poker company that is on the market, their shares have been given a "Buy" rating - a green light for investors to pick up the stock. Shares of GigaMedia Ltd went up Wednesday thanks to the Buy rating, given to the company by Brean Murray Carret and Company, which predicted a 40% potential growth for the year of 2008. Related Articles: Poker software company bought out Revenues up for poker firm...

Be a Clockwatcher

In a reasonable world the only type of person who Phil Hellmuth would be a role model for is the type who eventually wind up wearing an orange vest and picking up trash along the highways. And we are speaking about Phil's behavior at the tables - not his poker skills here. In a world where people learn poker from their television sets and Tila Tequila, Phil has a forum to corrupt an entire generation of poker players. This was pretty obvious when a number of people using poker blogs were talking about how Hellmuth is never on time for a tournament.

Annie's Back

We doubt Annie Duke is a frequent visitor to Monster.com or similar sites. There are probably a couple of reasons for this. First of all, there are very few positions where taking other people's money and lying to their faces are part of the actual job description. Most of those went away with Enron. The very few that are left are currently being fought over by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Very few rational people want to get in the middle of that train wreck. Despite the fact that Annie's resume doesn't qualify her for any employment outside of organized crime and politics, she has just landed a new job with a poker site.

To Be Continued

You have an A/Q before the flop and you are feeling that rush of adrenaline that usually comes when really good cards just fall into your lap. It is not unlike the rush one gets when meeting somebody from the Hilton gene pool five minutes before the bar is closing and she is liquored up and feeling lonely. You aggressively bet before the flop in an effort to knock as many people out of the hand as humanly possible. When the flop does come, the board is reading 2/5/9. Your cards have just been neutered, so what do you do?

Video Poker to Take on Console Graphics

Amid reports that video poker machines are going on hold in some parts of Australia comes the report that the Aussie poker industry is ramping up the appeal of their machines by adding graphics akin to console games like the Xbox 360. This is coming out of the recent Future Trends in Gaming conference held in Queensland, where the discussion turned to Generation Y. Gaming rooms are not where you would typically find this generation, so Xbox style graphics and group gaming is on the menu for the future of the industry. Related Articles: No new poker machines for Queensland Poker machine time limits may be forthcoming...

Who Are You?

Profiling is a very big issue worldwide nowadays. The war against profiling is the reason that 80 year old grandmas from the suburbs of Akron, Ohio are padded down for pipe bombs before they get on a plane. They don't do this because they are afraid that these octogenarians are any threat to the world's security. They are subjected to indignity of a security check that is on par with a colonic because it would be unfair to inspect somebody who fits the stereotype, and let the harmless senior citizen walk on the plane unchecked. The fact that nobody wants to talk about is that profiling works. It works in security, it works in law enforcement, and it works at the poker table.

Celebrity Players to Hit Poker Tournament

It is hard to tell these days when talking about celebrity poker players if this refers to poker players who have gained celebrity, or celebrities playing poker, but either way fans of the game win. Online poker rooms such as Doyles Room often bring movie and TV personalities into the game to make it more interesting and draw in the players, such as when Nicky Hilton, sister of the infamous Paris Hilton, will play in the April 23rd Celebrity Bounty Tournament. In addition Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played a minor role on The Sopranos, will play. Related Articles: Glen Chorny wins 2008 EPT Irish Poker Festival...

WSOP Academy Brings Online Players In

When registrants show up for the World Series of Poker Academy at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas they may be surprised to learn that some of their instructors are online poker pros. The WSOP is most certainly a live event, but online poker has progressed to the point that the WSOP Academy has decided to bring along some poker pros who make their living online - Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon and Gary "Debo34" DeBernardi - to teach. Joining them will be some live action pros, including Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, and Shawn Rice. Related Articles: WSOP parent company to change name New class from the World Series of Poker Academy...

WPT Championship Begins

Toho once made a movie called "Destroy All Monsters". It involved a battle royal between Godzilla, Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and a whole host of second string monsters who all got together somewhere around Tokyo for the singular purpose of beating the hell out of each other. Something like this is going on at the Bellagio this week, but we like to call it the World Poker Tour Championship. Any event that involves Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth could be a considered a fight between monsters, but add the softening, yet skillful presences of Erica Schoenberg and Vanessa Rousso and you have something that looks nothing like the slugfest between Godzilla and a bunch of other men dressed as rubbery beasts.

World Poker Tour Settles with Pros

The World Poker Tour has been responsible for creating many poker pros, and for feeding existing pros a lot of money, but a group of seven were so upset about the WPT's release form's language that they took them to court two years ago. Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, and Joe Hachem took issue about the way the WPT could use their images and so refused to sign, and thus were not allowed to play in the events. Raymer and Hachem later relented but the first five kept up the pressure...

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Civil wars are often the most brutal because nobody can get under your skin the way family can. That is true whether it is North vs. South, Cavalier vs. Roundhead, or Hatfield vs. McCoy, the people closest to you can push your buttons like nobody else can. The World Poker Tour has been waging its own little civil war for almost two years, and though the death toll wasn't up there with Antietam or the time that an uppity Quaker named Cromwell had decided that England would do just fine without a King, it has been brutal nonetheless.

How Much Should You Win?

There is something out there called the law of diminishing returns. While this particular law generally refers to resource allocation and productivity, the words can apply to somebody sitting at a poker table. Winning is not a constant state, and for a lot of people their best poker is played during the first few hours of a session. Just like the least amount of work gets done on Friday at businesses across the planet, or near 5:00 pm on any standard work day, the longer a player stays in a game, the more the quality of their play will degrade.

Poker Player Takes Own Life

She was a poker player of some renown, although it seemed more for her antics away from the table than her skill at it: Brandi Hawbaker was found dead at the age of 26 in a California residence. The autopsy ruled it a death by suicide and the chatrooms that typically would report on Hawbaker's behavior were buzzing with the news and speculation. Bryan Micon at NeverWinPoker was one of the hardest on Hawbaker when she was alive, and he was the first to express sorrow at the news of her passing. Related Articles: Poker pro passes Poker player's stabbing death...

Poker After Dark Season Four Over

The hit NBC poker show Poker After Dark has just wrapped up its fourth season and is now in post production. The show, which pits six pro poker players against each other in a No Limit Holdem tournament, requires each player to buy in with $20k of their own money, all of which goes to the winner. There are a few new twists in season four, such as a double elimination heads-up competition with the four winners of NBC's other poker show, the National Heads-Up Championship, from the last four seasons: Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Hellmuth. Related Articles: Heads-up poker a big draw New host for Poker After Dark...

Asian Poker Tour and Matt Savage

One of the most well known names in poker belongs not to a pro player, but to a pro tournament director, Matt Savage. After leaving his spot as top director for the World Series of Poker, Savage has been hired by a number of poker organizations to keep things smooth, and also to lend a little name recognition. Such is the case with the Asian Poker Tour, which recently hired Savage to be their top tournament director...

Money Flow from Finns to Foreign Poker Outfits

Online poker players from Finaland spend a lot of money playing the game they love, and a big chunk of it is going to foreign online poker rooms, according to a report form the Keski-Uusimaa newspaper. The figure is around fifty million euros each and every year according to the report, which also points out that this money could be used for public works if it could be shunted domestically. How much? The director of the Finnish lottery company Veikkaus, Ilkka Juva, thinks as much as two thirds. Related Articles: New Swedish poker study may result in new poker in Sweden Online poker thrives in Germany despite the law...

Anthony Reategui: An Underdog with the WSOP Bracelet

Reategui, who calls Chandler, Arizona his home, would, on the surface, appear to be someone with enough success to disqualify him as an underdog around poker tables, especially in the high-end tournaments. Look at his track record: Anthony scooped up around 25 cashes in 2006 and in 2005 he won a World Series of Poker bracelet to prove he can play with the big dogs. So when Anthony earned his way into a final of Event 13 of the 2006 WSOP, No Limit Holdem event, most of us would not call Reategui an underdog.

Phong Ly: Making a Name for Himself

In poker, other than filling out the registration form, paying your entry fee and proving who you are before you sit in at a professional poker tournament, a lot of players (at least this is the impression we often get watching poker events on TV) happily hide behind sunglasses and under baseball caps â€Â" not really the best way to make yourself unique and stand out for yourself. Phong Ly doesn't really need the poker garb, he might tell you, when he sits down to make a name for himself at the tables.

Misplaced Passion

Passion is a great thing. Without passion neither Valentino nor Fabio would have had much in the way of careers. The problem is when passion becomes misplaced and drives a person to some seriously irrational behavior. It is this sort of misappropriated passion that makes a person cut off their own ear over a case of perfectly normal puppy love. While the chances are pretty low that anybody at the poker table will be performing ritualistic self mutilation as a way of expressing their feelings about a bad beat, becoming too emotionally attached to the occasional disaster at the river can result in a big chunk of your bankroll being sliced off.

Bubble... But...

There is that point in the tournament when you have invested hours - and the next player eliminated is the last person who will have to go away empty handed and broken hearted. The person who finishes after is the first one to finish "in the money". This is called being on the bubble. If you have a short stack by the time you reach the bubble you can feel good about getting this far, but moral victories don't pay the mortgage. If you are short stacked and happen to be in the late position and playing behind a few other people in danger of being victimized by the bubble, this might be a good time to attack.

The Magician Does Well at the European Poker Tour

He's been seen on just about every other poker show and major event, and now the man they call the Magician is tearing up the field in the Grand Finale of the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo. With plenty of top flight talent to compete against, such as Surinder Sunar who busted on the bubble, Antonio Esfandiari has his work cut out for him. By the end of Day Three he held a 300,000 chip lead over the rest of the field, and Day Four saw him in the top six. Related Articles: Norwegians doing well in EPT Championship Irish Poker Open over...

Fold the Sow's Ear

There are a number of factors that go into making a bad hand a winner. First of all, your position at the table is part of the formula. Showing aggression from the Big Blind, such as calling a raise, or re-raising a raise, may knock people out of the hand due to the shock value of this bold move from so compromised a position. There will probably be one or two players who have enough confidence in their cards to stay in the hand. In that case, with a hand like unsuited 2-8, chances are you are beat.

Poker Robbers Sentenced to 18 Months

When two brothers went on a robbing spree in 2005 they wanted to pool the money together for a Las Vegas gambling venture, but instead they will be spending a year and a half in jail. Brothers Mohammed Imran, 33, and Mohammed Irfan, 36, both self styled poker professionals, used a gimmicked card and a loophole in the banking system of Halifax, drawing out more than £150,000 from cash machines. Both has cashed high in the 2005 World Series of Poker, but now will be banned from playing in UK casinos. Related Articles: Suspect charged with aggravated robbery Poker dealers get hard deal...

Suspect Charged with Aggravated Robbery

Some say that playing video poker machines is akin to being robbed, but the police who picked up suspect Matthew Moses Hundley say he was the one robbing the video poker machines. The thirty year old Raleigh County man was jailed in connection with a gunpoint robbery of a video poker parlor, charged with aggravated robbery. The suspect is being held on $200,000 bond while he awaits his turn in the court system, at the Southern Regional Jail...

Norwegians Doing Well in EPT Championship

The European Poker Tour is wrapping up with their Grand Final in Monte Carlo, and odds are looking up for the Norwegians to finish in the top spots. The chip leader, Oyvind Riisem, knows what it is like to do well in a major European poker event, having taken fourth in the first ever World Series of Poker Europe event last year. Johnny Lodden, Borge Dypvik and Andreas Hagen are the other players in the top spots, and all of them hail from Norway...

Shields Up, Mr. Sulu!

Anybody who had even looked at a pocket protector is well aware of the old television series Star Trek. A common occurrence on this show is that Captain Kirk would sit in his command chair (that looked remarkably like a proper Lay-Z-Boy recliner) and order Mr. Sulu to raise the shields. The reason for this order was to keep a hostile Klingon ship from popping a photon torpedo in their ass. While the idea of protecting military vehicles from attack with some sort of force field is still something in the realm of fantasy, poker players have their own form of a shield.

All-Star Dream Team

Dream teams don't always perform as advertised. For example, in 1980 the Soviets fielded an Olympic hockey team that had the sort of talent that would have made Wayne Gretzky look like Pee-wee Herman on ice skates. Most of us know how that ended. Igor Larionov and his all star line up eventually were beat by a group of guys whose day jobs involved the words "Would you like some fries with that?" More recently, the Detroit Tigers expanded their payroll to the third highest in MLB and put together a group of "all stars". What they got for their money was the worst record in all of baseball. So will PokerStars do any better with the additions they made to their all-star poker team?

Playing in a Short Tournament

Most of the big tournaments are like marathon events. They seem to go on forever, and once the fast sprinters have been weeded out, only the strong runners as well as the guys on the sidelines handing out cups of water are left. A tournament of this sort is a skill event, which is why the same people seem to often be at the top of the leader board at events like the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. Somebody who is used to this style of tournament will find themselves in a near fatal state of culture shock when they enter one of the short tournaments that are becoming popular at casinos worldwide.

A Piece of the Pie

For a poker player, going into the fray with the entirety of your bankroll means you have a 50/50 chance of needing to borrow cab fare to get home. The very nature of poker will cut down the odds of you losing the whole thing, in fact there is a good chance it may grow. The problem lies in those times when things are not going your way. Everybody has an off day, and everyone is going to lose money. The problem is that human nature tends to make us want to stop the bleeding.

Gutting Your Top Pair

So you have flopped a top pair, congratulations. Things are looking up but this is not the time to start writing the victory speech and booking a trip to Disney World. There are a ton of things that can go wrong: your top pair is far from safe until the last card has fallen. The first thing you want to do is see how many people are still in the pot, the more people who have chosen to hang around after the flop, the more vulnerable your hand is. What you will want to do in this situation is raise the next time around to force the drawing hands out.

Court Date Moved for Washington Online Poker Case

Washington State is the only state in the United States where online poker playing is counted as a felony, a law that puts poker players in the same class as sex offenders and one that many are seeking to change. Lee Rousso, the regional director for the Poker Players Alliance and recent gubernatorial candidate, is leading the charge and has let it be known that the next court date addressing the issue has been moved to May 15. His case will challenge whether or not the 2006 Washington law in question is constitutional or not...

The Beauty of Flexibility

When we are talking about the topic of backdoor draws, it either means poker is the current subject or somebody is reading the really interesting kind of personal ads that can be found on Craigslist. In this case we are referring to the potential of your hole cards. Nobody is going to argue that a pair of Aces is perhaps the best two cards a person can be dealt before the flop, and how you play those cards is almost self-evident. Almost equally nice, and much more versatile is an overcard paired with another high card of the same suit.

Interview with Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh

Jennifer Leigh has not only made her mark on the poker world with an impressive online record as well as cashing in some of the biggest tournaments in the world, but she has also made a splash in magazines like FHM and Playboy. Most recently she has appeared as Hefner's feature model in the April 4th addition of the popular men's magazine. It would be a mistake to think that she is nothing more than the sum of the parts that the camera has so beautifully captured. We found out that this young lady has much more to offer when we got the opportunity to speak with her recently.

New Swedish Poker Study May Result in New Poker in Sweden

A study which was recently held in Sweden examined the motivation of poker players to choose a privately run poker site over a government run poker site, opening up a great number of possible futures for poker in the country. The only legal poker site in Sweden is Svenska Spel, which is run by the government, but apparently it does not hold large enough tournaments with big enough prizes to satisfy the Swedish poker playing public. This, along with the lack of sign-up bonuses not possible with Svenska Spel, could open the way for privately run poker sites in Sweden's future. Related Articles: EU hunts member nations' poker plans Online poker thrives in Germany despite the law...

Online Poker Thrives in Germany Despite the Law

Online poker is officially illegal in Germany, but a lack of persecution against the law breakers leaves the market wide open, a position that many players and companies have been taking advantage of. According to a recent Deutsche Welle report nearly three hundred thousand Germans regularly play online poker, and the very famous German tennis star Boris Becker is a spokesperson for one of the biggest names in online poker, Poker Stars. Also according to the report, Germans spent more than $1.5 million on online gambling in 2006 alone. Related Articles: EU hunts member nations' poker plans German ban on online poker...

Poker Dealers Get Hard Deal

In South Carolina, more than fifty people were arrested when police raided a home poker game, and of those people the seven identified as the poker dealers as opposed to poker players are to face more serious charges. While dealing is considered a misdemeanor, each dealer convicted will face a $2,000 fine for each count and a year in jail. According to the police investigators the operation was a high stakes one which paid dealers $1,300 a night to deal cards in games such as poker and other casino games. Related Articles: Poker room bust leads to indictments Prosecutor picked up in poker raid...

Seidel Wins WPT Event

Pro poker player and WSOP alumni Erik Seidel has a new accomplishment in the poker world, snagging the victory in a World Poker Tour event, his first WPT title. Seidel sports eight World Series of Poker bracelets, each representing a final table victory in different events and different years, and now he can add WPT champ to his accolades. The Foxwoods Poker Classic was his to win, and he did so, taking down a $992,890 first place payout...

The Deal Movie Coming this April

The timing is just right, a week before the kick off of the 2008 World Series of Poker - that's when the latest poker movie hits the theaters, this time casting a poker playing actress in a pivotal role. The movie, titled "The Deal", features Burt Reynolds as the retired pro poker player who takes on a new kid and then goes heads up with him in a World Poker Tour championship. The love interest in the movie will be played by Shannon Elizabeth, a Hollywood actress who has declared poker her second career. Related Articles: Natalie Portman embraces the dark side Poker pro to play in movie...

Playing with Gusto

Aggression is a demonized trait nowadays. People who are highly aggressive are derided as troglodytes, primitive, mean, insensitive, or any other adjective that suggests they are bad people for wanting to succeed. The one word that is not often attached to them, but is accurate so far is the word "winner". When approaching a hand of poker, your strategic default setting should be a bias toward aggression. Position and the cards you are holding will of course be factors in how you play.

Find Another Security Blanket

Casinos are not the sort of place where the church choir is going to hold their annual retreat. Any place where the waitresses dress in outfits that would make a Victoria's Secret model feel bashful probably isn't the sort of place where one would expect to encounter high moral character either. When it comes to smoking though, it seems there is a push to force everyone to saints. Harrah's in Windsor is now a smoke free establishment, just like the rest of Ontario.

Make 'em Pay

Anybody who walks into a casino poker room with the attitude of "Hey, I'm just here for fun" either has more money than they could ever spend, or has had an aneurysm burst somewhere in their brain. Poker is a blast to play, of this there is no doubt. It is a near perfect merging of luck and strategy, but let's be honest, we play poker at the casino to win money. If we were simply going somewhere to give away money and drink, strip clubs would be a far more attractive option.

Another Shana Hiatt Replacement

Shana Hiatt is one of the most wildly popular hostesses in the short history of televised poker. For an entire audience of early World Poker Tour watchers she was both Ginger and Mary Ann rolled into one. After that her history has been turbulent and has included leaving the WPT which had a bitterness factor on par with the break-up of Van Halen. After that there were lawsuits, out of court settlements, a new show on NBC, and a pregnancy. It would seem that the poker industry is treating replacing Shana Hiatt like a sick little hobby.

Could the 2008 WSOP Final be Delayed?

In the quest to bump ratings and attendance at this and all future World Series of Poker events, the WSOP may delay the final table play of the main event for a few months, in order to broadcast the action live. In the last two years live broadcasting was available, but as a pay per view event. The discussion now is to hold the final table in October, delay the broadcast by a few hours to allow for graphics to be added, and air it for free...

Preflop Raising in No Limit Poker

No Limit poker is a different animal than the Limit game. In other words if you are used to riding a nice, predictable horse playing No Limit would be like jumping on the back of a North American Bison, digging your spurs into its sides, and hoping for the best. So if you are used to the nice, predictable betting structure of Limit poker, the culture shock of the No Limit game can be fatal. So when raising before the flop in No Limit poker, how much should you raise?

How Do I Look?

Part of the beauty of online poker is the anonymity of it. There are those of us who would feel self-conscious going to the casino in our flannel pajamas and bunny slippers, but playing poker online just allows us to look any way we want. There are those of us who are simply hard to look at before some time with a razor, a comb, and perhaps one of those sandblasting tools. Instead of taking a few hours to make oneself presentable, we can just log into our favorite room and play, regardless of how we are dressed, look, or smell. There is a bad trend that may ruin the beautiful anonymity that allows people to play poker while comfortably looking their worst.

New Class from the World Series of Poker Academy

If anyone knows how to make it far in the World Series of Poker it would be players like Annie Duke, Paul Wasicka, Andy Bloch, and Howard Lederer. These are the instructors of the new class from the World Series of Poker Academy - advanced No Limit Texas Holdem theory and strategy. This camp will be held April 18 and 19 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, a comprehensive two-day poker camp covering such topics as heads-up strategy, advanced mathematics of poker, advanced tournament stage strategy, and winning cash game strategy...

Poker After Dark Becomes a Team Event

Under the most ideal circumstances in the minds of most men, any competition that included Vanessa Rousso, Erica Schoenberg, and Clonie Gowen would involve a pillow fight. Of course those who think so also don't quite understand Monty Python, but think the Three Stooges are a gift from God, so their opinions can be quickly dismissed. In reality Vanessa, Erica, and Clonie did find themselves squaring off against each other along with Gus Hansen and Beth Shak. This happened on NBC's Poker After Dark, and there were no pillows involved.

Michael Guttman: Knowing His Poker and His Competition

Michael Guttman is from Melbourne, Australia, and, like fellow countryman Joe Hachem, he is doing his country proud at the poker tables. Although Guttman has not won a main event at the World Series of Poker as Hachem has, there is no denying that Michael is an Aussie poker player to keep an eye on. We are not sure if the blood flows elsewhere when you are from the land of "Down Under" but when Michael takes a seat at the felt he keeps his wits sharp and cagey - and maybe that accent helps, too.

Bluffing Is Not Always the Key

Most people in the free world are familiar with the comic strip "Dilbert". During a particular situation one of the company's micromanaged serfs was trying to explain something to the Pointy Haired Boss. He wasn't really paying attention, but after a while of listening to his underling's prattle, he came to the conclusion that he hadn't nodded in a while. Of course when he did eventually decide to nod he had inadvertently agreed to something that would ensure him the sort of job security that Enron employees enjoyed. A lot of poker players approach bluffing in a manner not unlike the dim witted Pointy Haired Boss.

Check Please

What do you do when you are playing in a tournament and the guy with the shortest stack decides to push all in during a hand and hope for the best? Well, usually this is a sign of desperation, and a last ditch effort by somebody who is desperately trying to avoid being eaten up by the blinds. Their all in bet is maybe an attempt to steal the pot, of course they could be holding a pair of aces as well. The only way to find out is to challenge them.

Inner Space

Casinos are loud places. There is nowhere to escape the sound of clanking coins, sirens, lights, and the excited chatter of strangers. Regardless though, the general activity of a casino can be a huge distraction. This can be doubly so for players who learned the game by playing online in the peace and quiet of their home. As any good poker player knows, distractions and poker go together about as well as Toddlers and Smith and Wesson products. So how does a player filter out the distractions so that they can best concentrate on what they are doing with the cards?

Does Jerry Yang Have Something to Prove?

Does Jerry Yang stink as a poker player? Anyone who would seriously ask a question like that probably also thinks that Jurassic Park is a documentary. Jerry Yang is the 2007 WSOP Main Event champion. Questioning whether or not he is good at the game of poker would be like questioning the outcome of a fight between Godzilla and "Mr. Humphries" from the old British comedy "Are You Being Served?" Of course Yang is an excellent poker player: there are thousands of WSOP also-rans who would attest to this fact. This didn't stop someone from questioning Jerry's skill at the game during a recent tournament.

Competing for Free

A lot of newer players are either uncomfy with the idea of putting up their hard earned money during ring games, and in a situation where their significant other would deliver a savage beating for playing for real money online, or if they live in a country where anything less moral than a game of jacks is deemed illegal by the bevy of elected morons whose hair care bills are much bigger than yearly salaries of the most of their constituents. So where do these people go to satisfy their poker urges?

The Odds

One of the wisest people of the modern age was Foghorn Leghorn. Mr. Leghorn, despite the disadvantage of being a cartoon chicken, made one of the most profound observations of the modern age. He once noted the following, "You can argue with me boy, but you can't argue with math". If more poker players planned their strategy around mathematics, there would be a whole lot less fish in the sea. Strategy is based on information. In poker, your math can be used to give you some insight into a particular situation so you can behave accordingly.

When Girls Are at the Table

For a very long time poker has been predominately a boys club. In this way they were sort of like the Boy Scouts except with a lot more alcohol and swearing. With recent influx of highly attractive women into the sport, a new distraction has been added to the game. Let's face it, in the old days, after 18 hours of play a guy with long hair could get more than a passing glance from the men at the table. Today with women like Jennifer Leigh and Erica Schoenberg entering the game, another distraction that has nothing to do with the game has been introduced into the mix.

Pascal Perrault: Influencing Chance

It is not likely that a large number of poker professionals can claim that they have the ability to do what Pascal Perrault says he can. He truly believes in his own ability to exert an influence on chance. Call it deep intuition or call it crazy - but Perrault insists that his extrasensory perception - or ESP - is the absolute key to his ability to determine the outcome of the game in many instances.

Online Poker Palace Gone

It happens every once in a while: an online poker room falls apart and shuts their virtual doors. This time it was a smaller poker room known as Pharaoh's Poker Palace, and the announcement on their site that they are closing down came as no surprise to those paying attention. Complaints of delays in paying payouts and slow response times had started a few weeks prior, which is always a sign of trouble in a poker room...

Online Poker Player Wins Six Figures

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker recently concluded their $750,000 guaranteed tournament on Easter Sunday and one player left the game with more than $100,000 as his prize. The final table action got underway with nine players out of the field of 3,784, the number of players who put up the $200 buy in to participate in the online tournament. JohnnyBax was the only professional poker player in the game whose name was recognized by those watching...

Company Advertises Ease for Poker Players' Woes

Poker players looking for a way to put money into their poker accounts can now use a company called Poker eChecks, according to the company's recent press release. According to the company notice, eChecks work as fast as credit card deposits, and are as relable and secure as regular paper checks. Players use a regular bank account, from which the funds are drawn for the eCheck electronically, and then deposited in the poker room account...

Report Shows Big Money Rising in Online Poker

The reports on one popular poker site, show that the online poker room prize pools are growing on an average, and that is good news for online poker players. Many of the top online poker rooms have been showing increases in the last quarter of the year, which seems to be in direct opposition to some of the anti-online poker stances that many nations are taking. The same reports show indications of average games being looser than before, which is a good environment for a skilled poker player to make money. Related Articles: Poker expansion causes concern in US states Poker changes not seen as a threat...

Poker Tables for Marines

A small business owner has decided to do his part to support American troops fighting in Iraq by shipping them three custom built poker tables. Randy Ying, who feels it is the least he could do for the Marines risking their lives, owns a Tempe Gaming Supply Company that goes by the name of Rye Park. On the felt surface of each table Ying had printed the VNM-162 Logo of the Marine Corps for that special touch...

Cowboys

Cowboys - and we are not speaking about a starting hand of two kings now - hold a special place for most Holdem players. Afterall, we don't call it just "Holdem," we call it "Texas Holdem" - and there are images of cowboys, smoking cigars, drinking cheap whiskey or tequila, and cheating each other out of massive sums of money. There's another name for these people, specific to Holdem, maniacs. Cowboys are maniacs, and they need to be watched out for.

Playing Against the Weak

The jungle is ruled by certain laws: the strong pick on the weak. This is why leopards rarely tackle anything larger than an antelope and if a lion decides to forego a zebra for a more challenging water buffalo, he brings a bunch of friends with him. If this unwritten rule of survival is good enough for large, predatory cats that are lethally pointy at five out of six ends, then it is good enough for a poker player. Those who want to make money playing poker should put their ego aside. This is not a test of strength.

Jennifer Leigh Goes Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe's first Playboy photo shoot is single handedly responsible for jump starting the Y chromosome of millions of pre-teen boys. It is also probably the contributing factor to the rise of the mid-life crisis. Even though there are those who might debate either of these points, what is true is that any guy who didn't get tingles in socially unacceptable places upon seeing Marilyn posing naked probably also considers "figure skater" as a viable career path. For those who fall into that group, there is always Clark Gable. There will never be another Marilyn, but we now have something just as good.

New Book to Teach How to Score in Poker and Sex

Poker has been compared to many other things: Zen Buddhism, playing the stock market, general business practices, and even how to raise your children - but a new book might be making the first connection between poker and sex. Written by Randall Klitz, "The Winner's Guide to Dating: What I Learned About Love and Sex from Playing Texas Hold'em" gives readers a clear indication on the book's contents with the long title. The author uses stories and humor to draw connections between the two...

Marek Kolk: 2006 UK Pacific Poker Open Winner

You might think that someone who goes by the name "Maverick" is either a Top Gun pilot or a six-gun-toting gambler - you would be half right when it comes to Marek Kolk. Kolk is a gambler, but only in the realm of poker tournaments - in fact, he came by his nickname the old fashioned way, when someone mispronounced his name. Reminiscent of Doyle Brunson picking up "Texas Dolly" when someone mispronounced his first name, Marek Kolk is Estonian, and when he says his name fast with an accent, people think he is saying "Maverick."

The Price of Intelligence

Under most circumstances, if you are giving away money during a game of Texas Holdem somebody has explained the rules to you wrong. With that said, there are some situations where throwing your cash around strategically is perfectly acceptable. Unless we are speaking about an old school Kung Fu movie, blind people usually aren't very good when it comes to a duel with swords. You need your eyes to get a look at what your opponent is doing. In Texas Holdem, your "eyes" are not necessarily those things in your head that you are staring at your cards with.

Natalie Portman Embraces the Dark Side

Whether she likes it or not Natalie Portman will forever be associated with the Star Wars series. Much like Leonard Nimoy who resented his Vulcan alter ego so much that he wrote an autobiography in 1977 called "I Am Not Spock", she has tried to distance herself from her role as the wife of Darth Vader. Of course Nimoy later threw up the white flag and embraced his pointy eared legacy with his 1995 revised autobiography called "I Am Spock". This may be a course that Portman takes as well, but there are a number of steps between point A and point B.

Three of a Kind in Five-Card Draw. Part 2

Remember now that pots are won more often with decent hands than great ones. Three of a kind is a hard hand to play against the flushes, straights and full houses of the world. Where three of a kind is strong is in the low game, where pairs and kickers are the most common winners. Three of a kind, then, allows you to bet with relative confidence in your ability to take control of the pot. In a hand with slow to moderate action, three of a kind can dominate the pot and take control easily, though this may be at the cost of a large pot.

Poker Pro's Good Works Come to Fruition

Diminutive poker pro Jennifer Harman has once again put her love for animals on the table with her second charity poker tournament to benefit the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The event, which last year raised around $130,000 for the organization, drew other poker professionals such as Chip and Karina Jett, Chau Giang, Matt Savage and the Father of Poker himself, Doyle Brunson. They were on hand recently to participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for two new wings for the Nevada SPCA, both made possible due to the tireless efforts of animal lover Jennifer Harman. Related Articles: Ongoing Charity Poker Festival Save animals by playing poker online...

Three of a Kind in Five-Card Draw. Part 1

Three of a kind is one of the strongest hands available in Five-Card Draw. There are a number of reasons for this and a number of benefits that arise from this. At core, though, three of a kind provides you with a strong hand that also has room to move and play the draw/re-draw game. In draw poker, most of your information and the other players' information comes from observing the combination of draws and bets other players take and make. Three of a kind allows you to make draws and re-draws while still holding on to a relatively powerful hand.

Jerry Yang Is Making Us Look Bad

There is a stereotyped vision of a poker player. They are a hard drinking, womanizing pack of greedy drifters who move from city to city in search of games and profit. For a moment, let's suspend the fact that this also describes the sort of politicians who run some states and cities - it is also an image that has attached itself to male poker players like a bad rash. Some players do their best to live up to the rambunctious stereotype, but there are those people who are doing their best to ruin the reputation of card sharks by being really good people.

The Benefits of a Late Arrival

Our first instinct when we sign up for a tournament is to plan to be there on time. This is simply common sense and good manners. Plus those who are late will not be there to defend their blinds, so when it is their turn to do the forced bets, this is simply lost money. Despite these negatives there are those who have made a practice of showing up late on a regular basis. In the past we have had the opportunity to get Vanessa Rousso's take regarding this topic and she had some keen insights on how a late arrival could strategically work in your favor.