Gus Hansen, why not get your picture removed here?

I mean, do you really want your photo linked with Full Tilt Poker and the US Department of Justice?

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

Please note: This post is not meant to offend. Only to provide a chuckle or perhaps two chuckles from the reader. If you are one who gets offended with poor attempts at humor, please do not continue reading...but if you do read on, please accept my aplology.

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

10. Opening a plaid fashion store on the Strip

9. Avoiding the constant calls from Matt Giannatti's girlfriend

8. Upgrading his home's dial-up connection to the Internet

7. Getting texts from Howard Lederer to be the new face of Full Tilt Poker

6. Buying the Czech Republic

5. Hiring Jason Bourne to liquidate Pius Heinz

4. Sacrificing two virgins to the poker gods for his success but having to leave Vegas to find them

3. Taking Rosetta Stone courses to learn how to say in 36 languages: "Damn, I should haven't called all-in with a lousy flush draw!"

2. Ending his 1-2 Koruna home poker game with Boris, Bogdan and Dudek

1. Making a sex video with Kim Kardashian

Poker Tells: What Caro and Navarro Don't Tell

Image by Bahi P via FlickrPoker Tells: What Caro and Navarro Don't Tell

When I started playing poker I followed the basic concept of "fit or fold." This means that if your starting two cards hit the flop with a pair or better, or if it provided you with a draw, your hand is said to "fit" the board. If it did fit, you would have a reason to play on.

After a while, though, I realized that this fundamental approach to poker was really just a more advanced game of bingo.

Next, I learned about poker tells. My definition of a poker tell may be broader than most. I believe that a poker tell is anything your opponent does that provides a reliable signal to you about the strength of his hand.

Learning about poker tells and putting them into practice makes poker more fun and more profitable for me. I hope this article does the same for you.

Mike Caro and Joe Navarro: The Best at Providing Poker Tell Advice

I find that these two poker authors do an excellent job at providing poker players advice on tells.
Mike Caro's top advice is about how players tend to consciously act in a way opposite of their hand strength. Essentially, if a player acts strong, he is weak and if he acts weak, he is strong.

Joe Navarro uses his FBI background to provide advice on how players subconciously act in a way to give away their hand strength. Examples include watching an opponent's face for minor facial expressions.

Of course, when was the last time, Caro or Navarro won money in a poker game? Or, even played poker? And, if they are playing, how come they are not killing the competition?

My Recent Experience at the WSOP

On Day 6 of the Main Event, I was in the Amazon ballroom of the Rio. The Amazon room is the size of a football field. For the tournament, there is a large area set apart for the ESPN featured and secondary tables. I was seated at one of the other eight poker tables, spread out in the ballroom. What you don't see at home on TV are the camera crews, press and officials who surround these tables watching and recording the action.

When you get to the final 100 players there is quite a bit of pressure as every decision can cost you a shot at winning close to $9 million. Given the importance of every action at the table, things slow down. With those all-in decisions, your tournament life is at stake and the action stops as a player thinks. The ESPN cameras focus on the face of the players involved. Inevitably, one player will study his opponent for a long time. It can be a glance. It can be a glare. It can take minutes.

I found it funny.

I wasn't laughing inside at the importance of these decisions. What I was laughing about was how often a top professional player, who spent all this time studying his opponent, would make the wrong decision. It seemed that the more time the player studied an opponent, the more likely his read was wrong!

I found it very unfunny when I was sitting with pocket Kings, my opponent studied me for a long time, moved all-in with his Ace-Ten hand, and knocked me out with an Ace on the turn. Not funny at all.

Guidelines to Poker Tells That Work

First, I do not pretend to be the best poker player in the world. If I was the best poker player, my Kings would have held up.
Second, I promise you that these poker tells work for me but are based on tournament poker.
Third, you have to decide what will work for you.

My advice is to take just one guideline at a time and try it out at your next game. Using poker tells is so much more fun, especially when you see the results in your bottom line.

Guideline #1. Look at your first two cards as soon as you get them, so you can study your opponents.

Today, most players wait until the preflop action gets to them before they peek at their hole cards. I believe this is a mistake.

By looking at your cards right away it allows you to do the following:
-Study your opponents actions when they first see their hole cards. Often you will notice a slight difference when someone has pocket Aces.
-Gives you time to think over your decision before the action gets to you.
-Gives you an opportunity to provide a reverse tell to your aware opponents. Example: You can behave exactly as you have in the past when you folded to get action from the player to your right when you have a premium hand.

Guideline #2. Study the player to your left.

This is obvious. Some unaware players tell you if they will fold or play pre-flop by their actions.
This is valuable when you are on the button or small blind. Notice any difference in how they hold their cards, where they place a chip to protect their cards, if they glance at their chips after looking at their cards, or anything that signals a change.

Of course, if they don't peek at their cards before you act, none of this will happen.

Guideline #3. Study the most aggressive player at your table and look for any difference in his actions.

The most aggressive player will be the easiest to read as he will be the most active. This player will be the one you will most likely be playing hands again.

Watch to see if this player has any changes in his actions when he is in a hand. Does his pose change when the is strong or weak? Does the way he place his bets into the pot change? Does the speed or force of a bet change?

You are looking for any differences. When you spot these differences, you want to associate a strong or weak hand when the final hand is revealed.

While you can do this for all your opponents, it is easier to focus on one player as a starting point.

Guideline #4. Watch for betting patterns and bet sizing.

All players have a betting pattern that tells you if they are strong or weak.

Here is a common pattern: a preflop raise, followed by a cbet on the flop, and a check on the turn. It is a sign of weakness.

Players often show fear by the size of their bets, especially on the turn. Here is a common bet sizing pattern: a preflop raise, followed by a cbet on the flop, and then a turn bet which is slightly bigger than the cbet. It is a sign of weakness.

Guideline #5. Watch for how fast or slow a player acts before he makes a bet.

This is missed by many players who are too involved with their own cards.

If you make a preflop raise and then a cbet on the flop, notice the speed of an opponents reaction to your bet. If a player calls you without missing a beat, it tends to mean he is on a draw. Why? It is an easy decision--no time is needed to make a call.

But, if your opponent thinks a while before calling your bet, it means the flop fits his hand. It is a sign to take notice act accordingly on the turn.

Another example is when a player never slows down in his betting. For example, if you called an opponent's bet preflop, flop and turn with position, and now a scare card hits the river, observe how fast your opponent bets. The fact is that unless your opponent is dead, he has to slow down for a second or two before deciding if to bet and how much to bet when a scare card comes on the river. If your opponent bets out without missing a beat, this is often a sign of weakness.

A popular tell is when your opponent takes longer than normal to place a bet into the pot. Often, this is a sign of a players who is acting weak when he has the nuts. Most often you will see this long poker pause on the river, before your opponent moves all in.

Guideline #6. Personal Appearance

Most poker players believe they are better players than they are. Often, these guys dress the part, especially the younger guys. When you are in a hand with these professional wanna be players, you can make a weak/small bet that indicates fear when you have a monster hand.

Of course, your personal "table image" effects the effectiveness of this play. If you look like a young poker pro, your opponent will be more suspicious of a small bet.

Guideline #7. Use reverse tells.

Some players are aware of their opponents actions and table image, and others are not. Use reverse tells to your advantage on these aware opponents.

Frankly, on that last hand at the WSOP, I induced my opponent to move all-in on me when I had pocket Kings. Here is how I did it. A few hands earlier the player to his left reraised me preflop. I was going to fold, but I waited untill I knew other players were looking at me. I made a subtle facial change to signal weakness and folded. In this hand, I gave the same slight facial change when my opponent looked my way. My guess is that he picked up this change subconsciously, thought I was weak, and moved all-in.

Finally, ask yourself after each poker session if you learned something new. If not, you are not working to get better. And, if you are not working to get better, then why did you even bother to read this article?

Best of luck!

Online Poker In The U.S.: Time To Do The Right Thing

Cover of Do the Right Thing [Blu-ray]Online Poker In The U.S.: Time To Do The Right Thing

Given the Full Tilt Poker disaster, I believe it will be more difficult than ever before to get the U.S. Congress to approve legalization. Never the less, I would love to see online poker be legal so millions of U.S. citizens can play poker anywhere and anytime via the internet.

I believe that the online poker companies should be aggressive in putting together a plan of what they will do to make sure that online poker is good for the U.S. economy, good for its citizens, is a fair game, prohibits underage gambling, and addresses problem gamblers.

Here are 11 areas that I would like online poker companies to promise to the U.S. Congress and poker players:

1. All companies must be headquartered in the U.S. to operate a legal online poker site in the U.S.

2. Jobs to operate online poker companies must include U.S. citizens in a similar percentage to the revenue anticipated from the U.S. poker players. If 70% of revenue is from U.S. poker players, then the online site must hire 70% of their total employees from the U.S.

3. No top executives, directors or major shareholders in online poker sites can have a criminal record.

4. Online poker companies must pay a U.S. tax rate that is similar to brick and mortar casinos.

5. Online poker companies must issue 1099's for all players that cash over $5,000.

6. The online poker industry must fund and create an independent agency to monitor their sites. This agency will have the power to penalize or shut down sites that do not adhere to the rules. The funding for the agency will come from an annual fee per online site based on total revenues.

7. The online poker sites must take adequate steps to prevent gambling by U.S. citizens under the age of 21.

8. There must be one universal poker dealing program that all sites use. This poker dealing program must be developed, tested and proven to replicate the randomness of live poker dealing. While each site will have its own design, format, promotions, etc., the dealing of poker hands must be fair and true to the game.

9. Online poker sites must identify the types of cheating that is possible by online players and agree to the best practices to try to prevent and stop these practices. Each poker site must have an internal group to audit the poker tables, investigate player complaints of cheating, and to act promptly.

Money lost by players due to cheating will be returned to players. The players caught cheating will be banned for life at all online poker sites. The names of these cheaters will be made public.

10. Online poker sites will not allow players to use online poker tools that provide data as to the betting habits and trends of individual poker players. This type of information is not available in a live poker game and will not be allowed online. Players caught using these online poker tools will be banned for life at all online poker sites.

11. Online poker sites must provide information to their players about responsible gambling and where to go if there is a problem. An online poker site can prohibit a player from continuing to participate on their site, if they perceive a player as a problem gambler.

I believe it is time for the online poker sites to take the initiative and go above and beyond what has been done in the past in order to get online poker legal in the U.S.

What do you think?

My Trip To The WSOP & Full Tilt Poker Rumor

My Trip To The WSOP & Full Tilt Poker Rumor

WSOP 2011

I fly into Vegas on Thursday night. It was rather quiet in the Rio for a WSOP.

It was around 9 pm, so I decided to play in a middle limit hold'em cash game. There was only one $5-$10 and $10-$20 game going. Oh my, how times have changed.

After a 15 minute wait, I sat down at the $5-$10 game.
I played for 3 hours...and incredibly I won $700. It is remarkable to win so much at a limit game at this low a level. Frankly, I got the right mix of good cards, luck, a few good moves and bad players.

The next day I entered the $1,500 limit hold'em tournament. I didn't even make it to the dinner break.

The players were making some surprising pre-flop calls of raises. For example, a player raised under the gun, I found K-K and re-raised, and the player to my left called. The flop came down A-A-3. I bet and he raised. He was predictable after the flop, so he had to have an Ace, right? We both checked the turn and river since four hearts were on board. He showed A-7 of spades. That was a loose call, in my opinion, but he won the pot.

I left the Rio and went to the Mirage to check out their poker room. It was rather dead. No limit holdem games only no limit games. I wonder where all those Mirage, limit poker pros are these days?

They were about to start a $70 sit n go, so I signed up. The players in this game were novice ones, except for me and one other guy. Sure enough, he and I were the ones left to play for the money. He ended up getting some great hands heads up and beat me. I cashed but I was not happy about it.

On Saturday, I entered the super satellite for $330 to win a main even seat. There were over 80 players and again, I was fortunate in that the competition was not that strong. The payout was going to be 2 seats plus a third place cash of $3,400.

In the middle of the event, I took a tough beat with my K-Q vs 9-7--it cut my stack almost in half. The action was that he moved all-in pre-flop and I called on the big blind. I had just moved to this table and it was clear that players were pushing with a wide wide range of hands.

Fortunately, I came back to be at the final table. I believe of the times I moved all-in, I was only called once throughout the entire event. It was at the final table. I had 5-5, moved in, and was called by K-J. I won that pot.

When it got down to 5 players we agreed to a chop. One player was way ahead since he recently found pocket aces on the big blind after the small blind moved all-in with K-Q. The rest of us were about even in stacks so we agreed to the chip leader having the seat and the rest of us chopping things based on chips. It took 6 hours and it was a nice cash win.

One bad note about the satellite was the guy who was the WSOP satellite director for our game. The guy was bad news. It was like the Rio was the last place he wanted to be at the moment. He made one really bad decision at the final table and he useless when we wanted to calculate the payouts for chopping. The guy needs a major attitude adjustment.

His poor decision was the following. A player with a big stack raised in early position. Another player with a smaller stack pushed all of his chips into the pot and then said "Ok, I call." The first player, believing that his opponent had more chips, says "I'll call whatever is in there." The dealer turns over the cards and the original raiser wins.

Now, the dealer counts the chips of the small stack and realizes that he put out more than the original raise. He calls over the tournament director who says "verbal is binding" so the small stack doesn't lose all of this chips. Not correct. Verbal is binding when there is no action. There was action before he made his statement. Anyway, it was no big deal as this small stack eventually got knocked out, but still it should not have happened.

After that event was over, I went to Aria. I had not been there before and I wanted to check out their poker.

I arrived a little after 11pm. The poker room was packed. The hotel was packed. But, the restaurants adjacent to the poker room were both closed. And, if you wanted to order from the table it was at least a one hour wait.

Who is the genius at Aria who decided no one wants to eat after 11pm on a Saturday night in Vegas?

Anyway, after an hour wait, I sat down at the $2-$5 no limit cash game. I don't care for this style of poker even if it is the most popular now. It is boring to me, since the action often slows to a crawl. And the play is so predictable. But, I thought I would give it another try since it is almost the only game in town.

I played for 2 hours and I couldn't take it anymore. I won $100 but the whole thing is so boring to me.

The guy who was the worst player lost the most money--but he was some rich guy with a stack of hundreds in his pocket who wanted to play stupid starting hands to surprise his opponent with a stupid hand to win the pot. Everyone at the table won because of his play.

Brad Garrett, from Everyone Loves Raymond, sat down and played at our table for one round. The man is tall and has hands that are huge. He wore earbuds so he did not interact much--which is totally understandable. He was very polite. He had his tall, blonde girlfriend with him.

Net, I ended up adding to my Sunday Oaks win with this trip. I may try to head back for some more action at the WSOP. Overall, it did appear that fewer players were attending probably due to the economy, the end of online poker and, of course, not getting their money back from Full Tilt.

Full Tilt Poker Rumor

Here is what I heard. I did not substantiate this information, although my source is fairly reliable.

Phil Ivey is suing Full Tilt since they are not paying the players back, and he is not attending the WSOP. This has already been in the news. Now, for the rest of the story...

Ivey owns about 10% of Full Tilt. He has made millions and millions of dollars due to his ownership. (Does that mean he is suing himself..lol?)

I was told that the owners, including Ivey, had a vote about paying the players back. Ivey voted against paying the players since he wanted to get his money out of Full Tilt before the players would see a penny. When that was not approved, Ivey was not happy. Instead, he decided to play the publicity game and sue...not really on behalf of the players but really just wanting the money he is owed. What a gem of a guy, if this is true.

It seems that Full Tilt may counter sue, of course. (I wonder where all this lawyer-ing will take place?)

Overall, Ivey sounds like a real jerk here. Who knows maybe he needs the money for all the money he loses playing craps.

More importantly, I think this is another bad sign for players getting their money back. It smells more and more like these guys ran a Ponzi scheme on us.

Oh yeah, my source told me that no one has heard from Lederer or Ferguson, and they may not make an appearance at the WSOP.

That is the rumor I heard. If you know the real story, please share. Thanks!

List of Poker Pros Who Are Shareholders in Full Tilt Poker

Image via WikipediaList of Poker Pros Who Are Shareholders in Full Tilt Poker

Howard Lederer

Andrew Bloch

Phillip Ivey

Christopher Ferguson

John Juanda

Phillip Gordon

Erick Lindgren

Erik Seidel

Jennifer Harman-Traniello

Michael Matusow

Allen Cunningham

Gus Hansen

Patrick Antonious

You have to wonder what the U.S. Department of Justice is going to do with these pros. Jail, fines and/or both? Or, nothing at all, as the pros position themselves as simply "shareholders." (Earnings from being a shareholder probably starts in the millions of dollars and goes to the hundreds of millions of dollars.)

Of course, this brings up other issues that pertain to the integrity of poker games on their site and when these pros compete in live events. But, that would be speculation on my part, and right now, they are probably in deep shit over the illegal activity pertaining to breaking the US laws that allowed the FBI to close down Full Tilt.

Frankly, I have my doubts that us players are ever going to get their money back, but I hope I am wrong.

What do you think?

List Source:

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/clonie-gowen-lawsuit-sheds-some-light-full-tilt-poker-corporate-structure-042511.html

Greg Raymer is No Longer a PokerStar

Greg Raymer is No Longer a PokerStar

I ran across an article that Greg Raymer and PokerStars split company. The speculation is that PokerStars is cutting back its support of World Series of Poker winners as they focus more on non-US pros and online winners.

First, I've never played against Greg Raymer. Second, from watching him play on TV, Greg appears to be an excellent player who enjoys putting pressure on his opponents whether he has the goods or not. Of course, the best evidence of his skill is his winning the 2004 World Series of Poker. Third, he seems like a really nice guy and I am sure he will end up getting his support from another online poker site.

And, that's my problem. Online poker sites should not be paying star players to play at their sites. If they want poker stars to appear in their ads or promotions, that is fine. But, to give them money to play at their site is just cheating the game, and the players at the site.

I don't blame the players for taking the money. Heck, no matter how good a poker player you are, you are going to have long stretches of losing your money. But, giving players an edge like this, especially the "pros," is just wrong IMHO.

Personal Experience Being Sponsored, sort of.

I would like to come up with an analogy that helps illustrate my point, but I don't have one. Poker is gambling. It is skill and luck. And, the combination of these two ingredients weighs heavier on the "luck" factor than any other sporting competition I can think of.

Players who don't care about the money are going to play different than if the money was coming out of their own pocket. At least that is what I have found in my own play.

For example, I was visiting a friend and he said that he wanted to see me play a poker tournament at a local casino. I guess he gave me grief because I had a book on tournament poker, and he wanted to get a good laugh when some young kid knocked me out. I told him I wasn't interested in playing.

To convince me to play, though, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He would give me the buy-in for the event and I could keep whatever I won. I didn't realize it at the time, but that is the kind of deal these poker stars get from the online poker sites.

Of course, I took him up on his offer, and entered the event. I guess it was a psychological thing or something, because I took more chances than I normally would do in a poker tournament. I'd like to say I won the event, but I didn't win. I finished second.

This was not some major poker tournament. It was a local game with maybe 100 players. And, my friend thought some of my all-in moves were too risky. Maybe, probably, actually, yes for sure! Why? I wasn't gambling at all. I had no risk. I wasn't using my money.

Oh yeah, let me share with you how I got knocked out at the end...I am ashamed to say that I tried to bluff out my opponent pre-flop when he was holding pocket Kings. Now you know why I'm not sponsored by a poker site :-)

My point to all of this is that online poker sites should not be influencing the results of any poker event. But, by paying poker pros to play at their sites, they are doing precisely that. Pay these stars to promote your site in all the other traditional marketing ways--from PR to advertising to promotion. Just not in a way that effects the outcome of the actual events where everyone else is risking their hard earned money.

If you agree, please let me know. If you disagree, I am sure I will read your comments.

10 Reasons To Play Online Poker

10 Reasons To Play Online Poker

Since almost all poker players compete online, I thought I would write one column on 10 Reasons To Play Online Poker and another column on 10 Reasons NOT To Play Online Poker. My bias is that I enjoy playing at a club more, probably because my results are much better.

Here are my 10 reasons why you should play online poker:

1. Online Poker is the Most Convenient Way to Play Poker

You can play poker 24/7 right from your desktop. And you can even watch TV, read a book, or multitask while playing.

2. Online Poker is Fun

It's fun to play poker, and online poker is fun since it's poker with some interesting additions like avatars, faster action, the ability to play multiple tables, and chatting with players, and being anonymous at the same time.

3. It Provides the Widest Choice of Poker Games

Online poker lets you play the widest range of poker games possible. And most of these games aren't even available in a casino or card room. Only at online poker can you can be almost guaranteed to find Razz poker, Omaha or a mixed game.

4. There are at Least 100 Online Poker Sites To Choose From

If you don't like one poker site, there are plenty to test out. While you may run into the top players at Full Tilt and Poker Stars, you may find that smaller sites like Bodog and Doyle's Room have less skilled players.

5. You Can Learn How to Play Better, Much Faster

You can play for free online or for money. The more you play poker, the more your game can improve. The non-stop action at online poker allows you to get better. You can even play multiple tables at the same time.

6. It's Less Intimidating than Going to Play at a Casino.

Going to a card room can be risky. There is the trip to and from the card room. The location of the card room and the unknown characters you may run across. And, then, there is the intimidation of playing in person with a lot of strangers. With online poker, you don't have to worry about any of these things.

7. There are Advantages to Online Poker to Help Your Bank Roll.

Online poker has deposit bonuses, jackpots and rakeback. You don't have to tip the dealer. And you will find a lot more people playing poorly.

8. You Can Win Big Money Playing Online Poker.

Since there are more players entering events, the prize pools are bigger. The dream of a big win at the biggest sites is very alluring. In addition, many poker sites now have bad beat jackpots that can be worth $100,000+.

9. Online Poker Eliminates Your Poker Tells

Most players have poker tells that give away the strength of their hand. No one is going to pick up on your tells online.

10. You Can Play Online Poker Naked.

Or you can imagine that the women at your poker table are naked and beautiful.

I am not recommending you play online poker. In fact, I rarely play online poker for the reasons on my next post 10 Reasons Not To Play Online Poker. I know a lot of players will not agree with me, but that's poker.

How Chris Ferguson turned $0 into $10,000 in 16 months

From $0 to $10,000

I picked up this information from the Full Tilt Site.

Looking at their write up, Chris Ferguson used very strict guidelines and had to start playing in freerolls. It took him 7 months to have enough of a bankroll to play in cash games!

Image via Wikipedia

When he finished 2nd at a MTT he won $100+. From there it took him 9 months to take that $100 and turn it into $10,000.

I wonder if it was harder to get out of the freeroll level and into cash, or to go from $100 to $10,000?

You can check out the article on the Full Tilt website: http://snipurl.com/r2qne

I posted his guidelines here in case you wanted to give it a try:

* He never bought into a cash game or a Sit & Go for more than 5 percent of his total bankroll; the only exception was at the lowest limits: he was allowed to buy into any game with a buy-in of $2.50 or less
* He didn’t buy into any multi-table tournaments for more than 2 percent of his total bankroll; the only exception was $1 MTTs
* If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represented more than 10 percent of his total bankroll, he had to leave the game when the blinds reached him

I wonder what Chris did to pay the bills during those 16 months=)

The Simple Secret to Winning at Online Poker

Here is something that you probably already know, but you haven't acted on:

The simple secret to winning at online poker is to play where the players are the weakest!

Fact #1: The Top Tier Poker Sites Attract the Toughest Players.

My guess is that you play at Full Tilt and/or Poker Stars because you are lured by the constant action, variety of games, and big prize pools. Guess what? So are the best poker players in the world!

I believe you should play at one or both of these sites and take a shot at a big payday. That is fun.

But do you really need to spend all those hours trying to beat the best?

Fact #2: A Second Tier Poker Site Increases Your Chance to Win. Try Bodog!

I know that Bodog doesn't see itself as second tier. But it is when it comes to the number of players and the size of the prize pool. Less action, smaller prizes and few top players at Bodog.

You won't run into Cunnigham, Ivey, or Negreanu at Bodog. But you will run into Donk, Fish and Tuccus.

I play at Bodog and it's the only site where I have won thousands of dollars. It's sad to say, but it's true, I haven't been able to win consistently on the top two poker sites.

Think of Bodog as a friendlier place to play not because you won't experience bad beats (heck Bodog can stand up to Poker Stars and Full Tilt any day of the week on freaking bad beats), but because the games are softer. That's a good thing for you...and me.

Fact #3: My Secret to Winning at Online Poker is Bodog.

The simple secret to winning at online poker is to play against the weaker players at Bodog. Therefore, I recommend that you:

1. Sign up at Poker Stars and/or Full Tilt (click banners on left for new player deposit bonus). Play the satellites to win a seat at a bigger game, and give yourself a chance for a big score.

2. Sign up at Bodog (click banner on left for new player deposit bonus). Go for those decent sized, easier cash wins.

You know in your heart and mind that this is all true. Don't let your ego stand in the way of playing at this site (as it does mine.)

Try Bodog. You lost against the best. Now win against the rest.

Good luck!

Oh yeah, if you play against me on Bodog and I raise, please fold:-)

You can join any or all three of these online poker sites and get the deposit bonuses by clicking on the banner on the left column. All three accept US players.

Full Disclosure: I just signed up as an affiliate for all three poker sites. I have played and won money at various times on all three sites over the years. However, the only online poker site where I won and cashed out for thousands of dollars is Bodog.

Online poker--it's truly a joke!

I just deleted everything I wrote about why I think online poker sites like PokerStars and FullTilt are set up to make players lose their money. Overall, I think they suck in players via intermittent rewards and setting up too many premium hand confrontations.

Instead, I have decided to try to set up a way to try to counteract this nonsense.

I am going to rotate between sites...

I will rotate from UltimateBet, Bodog, PokerStars, and any other US permitted sites.

I believe I will be rewarded by the sites for my inactivity. In fact, my theory is that I will win by doing the following:

Play at poker site #1: Enter 3 or 4 events. If I have not won money after these events, I will go to poker site #2. If I am ahead, I will continue to play. If I am not ahead after 3 more events, I will go to poker site #2. Rinse and repeat.

It will either prove me right or wrong...

How I Won a PokerStars event for $1,080

From Full Tilt to Poker Stars

Since I closed my account with Full Tilt Poker, I deposited money into Poker Stars. Frankly, I like the Full Tilt game choices better and the overall feel of the program, but I don't like feeling cheated by Full Tilt.

One of my main problems with Poker Stars is that there are no 45 player, mid-buy-in no limit events. The smallest thing I could find on PS was a 180 player, $22 buy-in no limit event. I reluctantly entered this event, because I don't like spending 5 hours or more in front of computer screen playing poker.

The Tournament Begins

The starting chip stack is $1,500. I was down to $1,000 when I got dealt K-K. The player under the gun raised 3x's the BB. I was next and called. This is a move I write about in my poker book--it's called 2nd hand low. I am hoping that another player re-raises pre-flop, so I can move all-in. It didn't happen. It was heads-up on the flop.

The flop came Q high. My opponent bet 1/3rd the pot, and I raised to match the pot. He moved all-in, and I called. He had A-Q and I doubled up.

I continued to win small pots with small pre-flop raises. I limped with pocket Aces and one player raised. I called. Again, I won a big pot when he flopped top pair with his K-Q.

Down to 40 Players

When the game got to 40 players, I was in the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, I went card dead. I was moving to a dangerous stage--9 times the BB in chips.

I knew I had to look for aggressive plays to accumulate chips--exactly what my prior blog posts were all about...I mean if I write about this stuff, I should follow my own advice!

I got aggressive when other players indicated weakness. The result was that I was able to build up my stack to be above the middle of the pack.

Down to 2 Tables

It was down to 14 players and I raised first in, with K-J. The big blind moved all-in. It would cost me 40% of my stack to call. I decided to fold. I figured I was either behind a lot or it was a coin flip. I didn't want to lose in this situation.

It was down to 12 players...there was 6 players at my table and I raised pre-flop with pocket Jacks. The player to my left moved all-in. Oh no!

He had about the same chip stack as I did. I was in the middle chip position, and if I won I would be near the top. I don't like pocket Jacks--heck, no one does. I figured he had A-K or pocket 9's-A's.

Like I said in my previous post, sometimes you have to make the wrong move at the right time. I called the all-in bet. He turned over pocket Kings.

I turned off the light on my desk lamp and got up ready to turn off the computer. The flop missed me, but the turn was a Jack!

I doubled up!

With 11 players left. I raised first in with K-Q on the small blind. The big blind moved all-in. I called as it was only 30% of my stack. He had pocket 6's. The flop had a 6 and I thought it was over. But, the board showed a straight on the river and we split the pot.

The Final Table

I got moved to a new table as we started playing the final table. I had one of the bigger stacks. I won a few more hands, and hit a big pot when a player raised 3x's the BB, and I found pocket Aces! He had raised to about $5,000, and he had $50,000. I had slightly more chips. What to do?

If I won all his chips, I would be a big chip leader. He had been playing tight, so I put him on a big hand. I moved all-in to make it look like A-K. He insta-called with pocket Queens. A cooler for him.

Now I had $100,000 and I was the chip leader.

Three Handed Play

I have a very difficult time playing three handed poker. And I was getting beaten up by the player to my left when I was in the SB and he was in the BB. If I limped, he would raise, and I'd fold. When I raised, if he called, I would miss the flop and he would win with a bet. I was being played.

I was down to $45,000, the player to my left had $80,000, and the other player had $145,000. I decided to try to trap the BB if I got a decent hand.

On cue, I limped with A-J. He moved all-in. I called. He had A-4, and I doubled up!

A few hands later my nemesis was out, and now it was heads-up.

Heads-Up Play

When it comes to heads-up play, I am not going to lose. I've written before about how I approach heads-up play. My edge is that most players don't have a lot of experience heads-up and get into betting patterns that are easy to figure out.

Unfortunately, in this situation I was down to my opponent about 2-1 in chips. He had about $180,000 and I had $90,000.

Yes, I still liked my chances of winning!

On one of the first hands, I called my opponent down with top pair. He showed a busted flush draw. But, the computer gave him the pot! What!! I looked at the previous hand. It showed that I read the suit wrong on one of the cards! Oh no. He hit the flush on the river.

This was unsettling. It brought back a bad memory. I had entered the main Sunday event on Bodog a few years back. First place was $25,000. When it was heads-up I knew I would win. I was even in chips.

I misread my opponent's bet on a pre-flop raise. It turned out to be a raise for about 95% of his chips, and I called thinking it was a small raise. I read the numbers wrong--Bodog bets go to the pennies. And, for some reason, I misread it.

I finished 2nd, and promptly had my eyes checked! Really!

Now because of this mistake, I was way down again. I was down 4-1. I had $45,000 to his $225,000.

I could have given up here, but I still believed I could win this heads-up battle. I knew his patterns and I played against it.

I slowly but surely started taking down pots. It took a while but I was able to get even.

One of the plays I was making, which I knew was getting him annoyed, was raising pre-flop on the button about 80% of the time. He would fold, and if he called my bet. I would bet on the flop no matter what. I kept winning over and over again.

Finally, I had a slight chip lead. He raised from the button and I called with K-3. The flop came K-8-4, and I check called. The turn was a 4 and I checked called again. The river was an Ace. We both checked. I won a big pot when he only had 2nd pair.

Soon, I had the 2-1 chip lead. My guess was that my opponent was emotionally upset, and felt like he was going to lose.

A couple of hands later, I got a big hand on the button and raised pre-flop with A-Q suited. My opponent moved all-in. I called. He had K-Q.

It was over. I won!

The win paid $1,080.

So why haven't you bought my poker book yet? :)