Free Poker Games Tournaments Downloads and World Poker Tour Satellites

Blackjack Cash

2006-09-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ive been checking out some of the other casinos that are around and ran across this deal yesterday. These guys have been around forever (since '98) and is a very reputable casino. Anyway, you cant beat a $200 bonus for only depositing 50 bucks! I logged in yesterday, put in 50 and had 250 bucks to play my favorite game of blackjack. As of this morning that original 50 was up to 475 counting the bonus so not too bad for a few hrs of fun. Just click on the banner below, download or play flash version if you dont wanna wait for the download and start playing. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes and they have all the usual casino games plus some huge promotion jackpots

Party Poker Cadillac

2006-04-16T05:43:00.001-07:00

This spring, Party Poker is giving away two 2007 Cadillac* Escalade as first prizes in two tournaments on the 23rd April and the 21st May.

Count me in!
Grab your chance to win one of these highway bad boys by following the steps below:

Download our free software and open a real money account (if you don’t already have one).
Register for the ‘Win a Cadillac’ tournament.
Play in the ‘Win a Cadillac’ qualifiers starting Thursday April 13 and Thursday May 11 at 6:35 p.m. ET.
Event Details
Tournament I:
Registration opens Thursday, April 6.

First qualifier – Thursday, April 13, 6:35p.m. ET
will continue for 10 days from the start date.
The top 250 first seats (rank 1 to 250) will get an entry into the ‘Win a Cadillac’ main event.
Last qualifier – Saturday, April 22, 6:35p.m. ET
Cadillac main event – Sunday, April 23, 6.00p.m. ET
Players must enter the main event via the daily $11 ($10+$1) Satellites
Tournament II:
Registration opens Thursday, April 24.

First qualifier – Thursday, May 11, 6.35p.m. ET
Qualifiers will continue for 10 days from the start date.
The top 250 first seats (rank 1 to 250) will get an entry into the ‘Win a Cadillac’ main event.
Last qualifier – Saturday, May 20, 6.35p.m. ET
Cadillac main event – Sunday, May 21, 6.00p.m. ET
Players must enter the main event via the daily $11 ($10+$1) Satellites
Qualifiers:
The first 220 players will share the prize pool ($10,000 guaranteed) as per our standard payout structure. Also, the 250 first seats (rank 1 to 250) will get an entry into the ‘Win a Cadillac’ main event. The prize structure is as below:

‘Win a Cadillac’ prize table:
2nd US $20,750
3rd US US $12,450
4th US $7,470
5th US $5,810
6th US $4,565
7th US $3,320
8th US $2,490
9th US $1,660
10th US $1,245
11th US $830
12th - 21st US $705.50
22nd - 31st US $581
32nd - 41st US $498
42nd - 51st US $456.50

No Limit Texas Holdem at the 2006 World Series of Poker

2006-04-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

10 frickin places away from going to the 2006 WSOP! Saturday afternoon at Pacific I blew 154k in chips at the final table in the WSOP satellite in a matter of 4 minutes. Read the rest of the story at my WSOP Blog >> WSOP Quest

Pacific Poker

2006-03-25T12:24:00.000-08:00

Been playin a lot of sit n go's at Pacific Poker here lately and actually doing pretty damn good. I play the sit n go's for practice in the WSOP satellites. I'm qualifying for the wsop satellites every week usually by winning a $2 sub-satellite sometime throughout the week, the only problem is I cant catch a fuc*in card on Sat when the big tournament rolls around. 1st place is a 12,500$ entry to the wsop in Vegas this summer 2nd place is usually around 7 grand which aint too bad either. 30th place is the highest ive finished so far in the WSOP main tourney

This is the first yr Ive really tried to get to Vegas for the big one. I did play a few satellites last year but so far Ive played every Sat since Jan 1 for a WSOP seat at Pacific Poker and so far it has cost me 36 bucks for several hrs of good practice so the money isnt the problem and Im winning a few along the way. Its a hell of a lot of fun if youve never played in one of these satellites it costs so little to play but the rewards can make a millionaire out of you if you play your cards right

World Series of Poker WSOP Blog 2006 Satellite Tournaments: Free WSOP Satellites

2006-03-06T03:42:00.000-08:00

Free WSOP Satellites 10 free entries to the 2006 wsop satellite tournaments. Hard to find a deal like this anywhere!

Lucky Dollar Poker Tournament

2006-02-18T18:12:00.001-08:00

When: 7:40 p.m. ET, every day at Party Poker

Click on the Silver Dollar to visit!

Game: No-Limit Hold'em

Buy-in: $1+$0

Eligibility: On the day you make your first real money deposit, you will be eligible for the New Player Lucky Dollar tournament that we hold on that day. You will also be able to participate in the New Player Lucky Dollar tournaments being held over the next six days. For example, if you open an account on June 22, you will be able to participate in all the New Player Lucky Dollar Tournaments that will be held every day until June 28.

To register: Click on the 'Special Tournaments' tab in the Tournament Lobby, click 'New Player Lucky Dollar' and then click the 'Register' tab. Registration closes five minutes prior to the start of the tournament. Registration will be first come first served.

Maximum Seats: 2,500 players.

Prizes: The prize pool will be paid out according to our standard tournament payout structure.

Remember: Registrations for the New Player Lucky Dollar tournaments will close five minutes before the tournament starts. Eligible players must complete their own tournament registration.

Good luck!

Carribean Poker

2006-02-16T05:31:00.000-08:00

I started playing Caribbean Poker yesterday for the first time and I have to admit that I'm hooked. I don't know whether it was the break from Texas Holdem or the amount of money I won but you can bet your ass I'll be playing this game for a while. I started the game with 50$ and after 3 hrs I was up to $167. Now don't get me wrong you can lose very easily because you are playing the house but If you follow a few ground rules you should be in the cash quickly

The game is basically 5 card stud which most of us played as kids but you play against the house instead of other players. I'm sure the house has an edge but after yesterday I'm guessing its a small edge. The dealer has to qualify by having at least A K or a pair and If he doesnt qualify then you win the hand. If you bet structly 1 dollar and bet only when you have A K or a pair then you will make some dough. The key is being discplined enough to bet only on those terms

Here is a
No Download-Flash Version of Caribbean Poker. You start with 1000 play money and can play as long as you wish to get the hang of it. Once you get it down pat just simply make a deposit and presto....just like Vegas baby!

Tag Team Poker

2006-02-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

Ok...so it's not really tag team wrestling action but it is new, fun and creating more rivalrys than college football. Its team play at PokerRoom and the idea is to create a team of buddies and compete against other teams in poker tournaments for cash and prizes but most of all its about the thrill of kicking somebody's ass at the poker tables.

This is without a doubt the best spin on online poker in a long time. I'm tryin to put together a kick ass team and start playing in the league. If you are interested in joining "Team Poker Freak" just sign up Here drop me a line at webmaster(at)worldseriespoker.ws. I want to get 10 damn good players before we create the team, so when the team is created ,its full already and we don't have to worry bout waiting for a full team. SO c'mon people...drop me a line and tell me why you are good enough to play for Team Poker Freak Here are some of the details:

A team consists of a Team Manager and up to nine other players. The Team Manager can recruit and hand-pick his players, accept applications from suitable players or simply allow anyone to join. Naturally he can also fire players.
The team is arranged around a communal Team Wallet whereto the manager and the players can transfer funds. Once funded, the Team Manager can use these Team Wallet to enter the team into league and eliminator events
Once the team is setup and the Team Wallet funded, it’s time for the team to hit the action!
By locating exciting events players can suggest certain events to the rest of the team. If enough team members sign-up for this event, the Team Manager can complete the buy-in and sign the team up for the event. Only team members who have actively registered for an event are affected by it. Only they will pay a share of the buy-in and only they will share any eventual prize money

World Series of Poker Satellites

2006-01-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

Damn....What a year 2005 was, with online poker still booming and poker tournaments practically tripling overnight it's no wonder so many people are shooting for the cash. The WSOP went from 700+ entries in 2003 to 5600 in 2005. The 2006 Satellite Tournaments have already started as the main event is only a few months away. Who in the hell knows how many prople will be in this years tourney but if everything holds true to previous years I would say probably somewhere in the 7500-9000 range. What this means is even more money than '05 which at 7.5 million was already a record but at the same time it also means more competition

Anyway, I posted the satellite schedule Here on my wsop blog. You can enter some of these tourneys for as little as $2 bucks or you can always buy-in direct for as little as $50. This is damn cheap considering you could walk away not just a millionaire but a MULTI-Millionaire. The past 3 years has proven you don't have to be a pro to win as an "unknown" has won 3 years in a row, of course if you do win its a fact that you will no longer be unknown but instead you will probably find that you had friends and cousins that you didnt even know you had!

Click Here to get started NOW cause it will be here quicker than you think

Free Poker Games

2006-01-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

WTF.....Free poker games are everywhere you look these days. You dont have to go very far to find free downloads, free deposit bonuses and just plain free money. With the poker rooms fighting tooth and nail for every new poker player we all win! Almost every room has either WSOP Satellites leading to the world series of poker or WPT Satellites going directly to the world poker tour. The good thing is you can virtually "play" your way to the big shows for free if you are willing to play in the freerolls that take place daily. Check it out for yourself and see what I mean!

Phone Card, Calling Card
The World Largest Prepaid Telecom Directory

Complete Online Poker Game Resources

Bad Beat Syndrome and The Road to Recovery

2005-11-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

If you are suffering from bad beat syndrome or BBS, we have discovered a 12 step program to help recovering bad beat addicts.Although Phil Hellmuth (pictured left) declined the offer to be Spokesman for Bad Beats Anonymous or BBA everyone can still benefit from the program. The first step in the long road to recovery is admitting you have a serious problem. If your friends and family keep telling you to quit whining like a baby everytime you lose then you more than likely are suffering from bad beat syndrome better known as BBS in the poker community. If you or someone you know is suffering from BBS just send them here and tell them to follow the 12 step program.

Step 1- Realizing that you have a problem that can be corrected

Step 2- Knowing that there is no such thing as a bad beat

Step 3- Admitting that poker is a form of gambling

Step 4- Anything can be conquered if approached 1 day at a time

Step 5- Knowing that the only hand that can't be beat is the elusive royal flush

Step 6- Take a shot of vodka every time you think you are having an episode

Step 7-12 Repeat steps 1-6 over and over until you feel better, although you could just keep repeating step 6 if you don't have to work tomorrow

The motto of BBA is the most important of all and should be carried on your person at all times. It is as follows:

I (Your Name) do solemnly swear that I will no longer cry when somebody has the balls to call my AK suited holding only 10-2 offsuit and hereby fully admit for all the world to hear that poker is and always will be a game of chance. I also realize that unless I'm sitting on a royal flush I can be beat at anytime and lose my entire bankroll. This I do solemnly swear with the poker community as my witness

Now...get back to playing and quit crying!

Tags:Poker,World Series Poker,WSOP,Poker Blog,

Blackjack Games at Party Poker

2005-11-14T04:43:00.000-08:00

Party Poker now has blackjack games for those of you that are burned out on poker. I'm not quite burned out yet but it definitely was a nice change of pace. Of course, with bj the house does have a slight advantage although its very slight. If you play your cards right you can win some cash. The thing with black jack is knowing when to quit. If you get way ahead in winnings its time to walk away which is very hard to do. The casino is counting on the fact that you will play long enough to lose all your money, so take your winnings and run....as fast as you can!

On a different note, PartyPoker is also now offering side bets on the flop. This gives you the opportunity to gamble even if you folded your hand. The concept is not new but it is a first for online pokerrooms. You have to be very careful with this kind of betting because your odds arent very high and you lose your bankroll in a hurry but at the same time if used sparingly it can also add to your pot o gold. Go ahead and give it a shot but be careful

poker, wsop,poker tournaments

Why Air Mattress and Kitchen Appliances Should Be in Another Category

2005-11-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

I'll tell ya why.....because its called spamming for fucks sake. If you are selling air mattresses and kitchen appliances you shouldnt have poker tags. If your site is about poker or you write an article about poker then fine, you belong here. But at the very least you should stay in your category. I dont use the tags "christmas gifts" or "camping supplies" in my posts. Get a frickin job

Tags:Poker

Crying the Blues at the 2005 WSOP

2005-11-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

Well, he wasnt crying the blues but he was literally crying in front of millions of people at the 2005 World Series of Poker. This guy had some obvious issues but he was crying because one of the other players hadn't come back from the 15 min. break. Click on the link below to read the rest of the story

World Series of Poker: The WSOP Crybaby

Tags:Poker,World Series Poker,WSOP,Poker Blog,

World Series of Poker: Spotting A Sucker In Online Poker

2005-11-01T03:31:00.000-08:00

What I did was go completely against the grain of everything you probably have ever read and definitely everything you have ever heard here. I have a buddy that has never played poker online at all,he does know how to play and is a pretty good player in the physical world but he wanted to give it a shot online. I talked him into downloading from Party Poker and opening a real account but told him he had to let me play for him for the first month. He immediately wanted to know why and I told him that I had an idea that I thought would make him a lot o cash in the long run. He agreed and we got started
Click on the link to read the rest of the story

World Series of Poker: Spotting A Sucker In Online Poker

Tags:Poker,World Series Poker,WSOP,Poker Blog,

The Streaking Poker Player

2005-10-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is goldenpalace's latest promo to drag in some traffic. These guys never miss a beat and really have some cool ideas

Poker Streaker

Free Million Dollar Online Poker Tournament

2005-10-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

The second annual Free million dollar poker tournament is ready to get under way at paradise. All the details are listed below along with links to the tournament software. This is the worlds largest and highest paying freeroll tournament. This is without a doubt one of the best deals on the net, but also one of the fiercest as far as competition goes. You just never know how the cards are going to fall though and you or me for that matter could be the next poker millionaire! Good luck and maybe I will see you there

Download Now

The winner of this Million Dollar freeroll will walk away with $1,000,000. PLUS over $150,000 in prizes for the Top 500 main event finalists. No strings attached.

Here's everything you'll need to know:

How do I enter?

Can I enter more than once?

$1,000,000 Online Main event

Final 10 play face-to-face in Paradise!

Full prize pool payouts

1. How do I enter?

There is NO Direct entry into the $1,000,000 main event.
Players MUST win their seat into the main event through one of our FREE daily heats.

Starting August 29th and running through to November 30th, we'll be running three heats every day. Each heat will be titled "FreeMillion" and will be FREE to enter. You can find these tournaments listed under the Million Tab in our Tournament Lobby.

The 3 daily "FreeMillion" Heats will start at the times posted below and will award seats as listed:

4pm ET = Top 10 players advance to $1,000,000 main event.
9pm ET = Top 15 players advance to $1,000,000 main event.
1am ET = Top 20 players advance to $1,000,000 main event.
* 9pm, 2am, 6am London time

***IMPORTANT*** Tournament registration will open 2 hours prior to the posted tournament start time! Register early to ensure yourself a seat.

Players can enter any Heat they wish and as many as they wish (subject to terms and conditions below). Each Heat can accept a maximum of 4,000 players. Players are only eligible to win 1 seat into the $1,000,000 main event. The ParadisePoker.com Million Dollar Freeroll is open to anyone that has a real money account (no deposit necessary for your first Heat attempt).

Paradise Poker Million Dollar Freeroll
Direct Download

2. Can I enter more than once?

After your first free heat attempt, you can enter further heats by collecting "Million Points". Collect 100 points and you will receive a pop-up message stating that you are again eligible to enter another heat of your choice.

"Million Points" will start getting counted, starting at zero, for all players, as of 12:01am Eastern on August 29th. For specific details on how these points are collected please click here.

3. $1,000,000 Online Main Event

The $1,000,000 main event will take place on December 3rd at 2pm Eastern (7pm London time).

Note: Given the number of entries, this tournament will be played over 2 days (December 3rd and 4th). Play will start at 2pm Eastern and will continue until Midnight Eastern (5am London) at which time the tournament will be paused at the beginning of the next break. Play will resume on Sunday, December 4th at 2pm EDT and will continue until only 10 players remain.

4. Final 10 will play face-to-face in Paradise!

The 10 players at the final table will be taken on an all-expenses paid luxury vacation to an exotic Paradise location to finish the remaining portion of the tournament face-to-face in front of the tv cameras. The winner will walk away one million dollars richer.

The live final table is tentatively scheduled to take place mid-January 2006.

5. Full Prize Pool Payouts

1st = $1,000,000 (plus a free vacation for two to mystery tropical location)
2nd-10th = $10,000 (plus a free vacation for two to a mystery tropical location)
11th = $1,000 12th-50th = $500
51st-100th = $100
101st -500th = $50

TOTAL: $1,150,000

Paradise Poker Million Dollar Freeroll
Free Download

Online Poker Wins Another Legal Battle

2005-09-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

Internet gambling won another battle in the long fight to legalize poker and other forms of gambling online in the US. This senator has tried unsuccessfully to ban all forms of financial transactions to gaming companies from credit cards based in the US. Apparently the senate has no desire to get involved or even debate the issue of online gaming. This is a win for us as far as i'm concerned. There is a lot of interests in the US for gambling even though most casinos are hosted on offshore servers. In other words......keep playing the game we all have come to love, at least for now

From eGaming Review Magazine

Legislation outlawing online gambling has little chance of success following the failure of the latest attempt in the US Senate, according to two leading industry commentators.

The US Senate rejected a proposed amendment to an Appropriations Bill last week that would have forced banks and credit card companies to block egaming transactions.

It was the seventh time legislation proposed by Senator John Kyl has failed in the US, and analysts instantly reduced their appraisal of regulatory risk to egaming businesses with strong US custom.

A research note by investment bank Cannacord Capital said the senate had shown “little appetite for anti-gaming legislation”.

And David Carruthers, chief executive of BetonSports, said he felt the latest failure from Senator Kyl was reflective of a lack of interest in prohibitive legislation.

“The failure of the Kyl bill is symptomatic of where we are in the debate,” Carruthers said.

“I don’t think there is any traction to internet gaming legislation in the US,” he added.

Bill White, chief executive of software firm Global Cyber GPS, told delegates at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, a US egaming industry was on the way.

“A legitimate, fully lawful Internet gambling industry is coming to the US, and soon,” White said.

But Carruthers said he felt talk of regulated egaming in the US was still some way off.

“I don’t think regulation is around the corner, we are at least five years away, but it is time to start having a serious debate.”

Cannacord also added a note of caution to the positive assessments pointing out there is still the looming spectre of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling.

The US has to confirm by April 2006 if it plans to permit Antiguan egaming firms to offer services to US citizens or ban all forms of remote gambling in the US.

“This Bill is likely to “confirm” or “clarify” as opposed to “authorizse” the US view of online gambling,” Cannacord said.

Poker and DMOZ

2005-09-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

On a important note before I start rambling....The World Poker Tour created another millionaire this past week. The payout was just a tad over 1.2 million dollars and the entry AGAIN came from a small online satellite tournament. This guy paid 40$ to enter an online tourney and ended up winning over 1,000,000 bucks. Call it luck or whatever but, this is getting way too common these days. It shouldn't be that easy to get into the millionaire club but maybe it is ??
Anyway, I paid 25$ to get into one of those poker tournaments earlier in the week and was doing quite well until my power went out because of Hurricane Ophelia. I live about 4 miles from the beach and thought since it was a weak cat 1 the power would stay on but as my luck would have it....a tree in my back yard decided to crash my poker party.
It was just a small pine tree but it was enough to wipe out the powerline to my home. Needless to say,by the time the power came back on the following day, the tourney was over and so was my shot to get in this week. (you can play in these every day if you want,but I limit my play to one tournament a week to keep my wife off my ass!) Stay tuned to follow my quest to get into either the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour. Its really a fairly simple and cheap process to get started

On to the real story:

Some people have recently suggested that dmoz is an outdated useless directory because of the "lack of editors" to quote another blog I read this morning. Apparently, the backlog of sites waiting to be reviewed is over 1 million which means there is an awful lot of work to be done, but yet there are thousands of honest people who really would benefit dmoz and they turn them away daily.
I do understand that lots of people try to become an editor simply to self promote their own sites but, at the same time I also know there are a lot of people who would be great editors (including myself) that have been turned down for no obvious reason. I have applied twice in the last year...both times to categories not even remotely related to my own sites and yet still no offer to join, instead I received a generic sorry but...email. I have coached little league baseball in my town for 9 years and have been involved in baseball for a total of 30 years and Still wasn't qualified to edit a youth baseball category with a grand total of 8 sites. Go figure!

The blog i read this morning suggests that dmoz is a dead fish in the huge pool of water known as the internet. With all the info on the net, its hard to believe that DMOZ just continues to flounder. Yeah, i know its the largest human edited directory in the world but at the same time its also apparently the largest "unedited" directory in the world. I have very mixed feelings about this statement because I have always had such respect for the big D. I used to do all my search there but the web is so much bigger now that the information you find in dmoz is outdated before the site even gets reviewed,much less added to the directory. I really hope that they come out of this slump because all the internet dinosaurs are pretty much gone these days, it would be a shame to lose the last greatest one known

http://www.games-videopoker.com

British Man Wins 865,000$ Tournament With 27$ Entry Fee

2005-09-08T06:55:00.001-07:00

I watched the World Poker Tour on tv last night in astonishment as a man from England wiped out everyone at the final table to win 865,000 $. This guy had never played in any poker tournament before except for online. He won his trip to the Bahamas plus his entry fee to the wpt event by paying 27 bucks at party poker (link is to the right if you want to check it out) to enter one of their qualifying satellite tournaments and went on to win the title. This is just another reason why so many people are jumping on the poker bandwagon.

Your odds of winning large amounts of money are 50 times better than playing the local powerball lottery every week. I was playing casual poker several times a week just to get some spending cash but the more i see these amateurs winning sooooo much cash, the more i want to get in on the action. So....effective immediately I'm gonna start playing these cheap tournaments and see how much real money I can make. I will keep yall posted as to the progress!

Right now, I'm playing about 4-5 hours a week and usually average about 300-400 a week profit by playing tight but it's time to loosen up a little and go for the cash. For those of you wanting to get started, unlike most other poker sites, i think the best way to learn the game is by using real money games. Low limit (.50/1.00 games) is the best way to get real experience. Playing for free is OK but the game action isn't realistic and you will have to adjust your whole style of play when you move to real money games.

The reason for this is everybody plays very loose when it's play money......who cares if you lose 500$ dollars of play money,all you have to do is get more play dollars. The game is very different when real money is on the line. Anyway, I learned this the hard way by playing play money games thinking i was really good,when in actuality i was learning how NOT to play the game. If you don't know how to play at all...then sure go ahead and play the free games but only until you have a good feel for the rules and how things go. In the low limit money games you will very seldom win or lose more than 50$ so the risk is minimal but the rewards from the experience you gain will continue to pay off for a long time!

Still Playing Texas Holdem at 85

2005-09-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Texas holdem is the game of choice these days as millions are flocking to a sport trying to win their share of millions...Where else can you get paid a million dollars by playing as an amateur? There is no age limit and it doesn't matter if you are 18 years old or 85 years young. You don't have to worry about retiring by the time you are 35 because you can't compete as is the case with football,baseball and most other high paying sports. In poker, all you need is a competitive drive from within yourself and the balls to call all-in with a king-ten offsuit. This leads me to my point in todays story

My friends grandfather (Gramps...as we call him) just turned 85 years old last week and invited some of us young guns over to play some poker to celebrate this day. This is the same man who took all of us fishing several times a summer when we were teenagers (brave soul to say the least) on his 28' fishing boat. Even back then he would kick our ass by cranking in more kings (king mackeral...the mack daddy of deep running saltwater fish) than we could even think about.
Anyway, we went over to play poker expecting a lazy game of 5 card draw but he surprised us all when he called $5/10 limit holdem right out of the gate. I thought, what in the hell is wrong with this codger, I don't want to take all of his social security money. Man, was I wrong...and I mean dead wrong. I didn't have to worry about feeling bad by beating him at the game I love because he totally kicked our asses. 4 hours later he had won almost 800 bucks from the 5 of us, one of which was his grandson. I left the old farmhouse wondering what in the hell had just happened but on the drive home I realized that we just learned a lesson in Texas Holdem Poker, and the lesson was it doesn't make any difference how good you think you are, you never quit learning the game. Thanks for the lesson Gramps...and the memories

We Love you Grampa Aug 23, 1920 - Sep 2, 2005

PokerListings.com is the leading online poker guide, featuring the world's largest poker directory, reviews on all poker rooms, top lists of best poker games and poker rules. Find where to play poker online in our daily free roll schedules!
Poker Listings - Play Texas Holdem Poker Online!

Poker Odds Outs and Percentages

2005-08-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

Outs & Pot Odds

- An Introduction to "Outs"
- Recognizing the Percentages
- Outs + Pot Odds = Smart Poker

- An Introduction to "Outs"
Outs refer to the number of cards remaining in the deck that can
improve your hand. If you are holding Kc-Kd and are up against
Ac-Ad with a board showing 3h-8s-9c-5d, there are only 2 cards
remaining in the deck that could give you the winning hand - Kh &
Ks. Therefore you have 2 outs. If the board was showing
9c-10h-Jh-3d, then there would be 6 cards (6 outs) remaining in the
deck that could give you the winning hand, those being 2K's and
4Q's (Making a K high straight).

- Recognizing the Percentages
Knowing your available outs can help you determine your chances of
hitting your hand on either the turn or the river. Study the
following table to improve your chances of making the right decision:

% of Hitting On...
# of Outs Turn or River River
1 4.4 2.2
2 8.4 4.3
3 12.5 6.5
4 (Inside Straight Draw) 16.5 8.7
5 20.3 10.9
6 (Two Overs) 24.1 13
7 27.8 15.2
8 (Open Ended Straight Draw) 31.5 17.4
9 (Flush Draw) 35 19.6
10 38.4 21.7
11 41.7 23.9
12 (Flush Draw & Gut Shot) 45 26.1
13 48.1 28.3
14 51.2 30.4
15 (Straight Flush Draw) 54.1 32.6
16 57 34.8
17 59.8 37
18 62.4 39.1

- Outs + Pot Odds = Smart Poker
Pot odds are basically a ratio of reward to risk, with reward being
the amount of money you could win and risk being the additional
cost you would incur.

Example: Playing $5/$10 holdem, you call from middle position with
Js-10s. One limper and both blinds also call. The flop comes
Ad-3s-Ks giving you an inside straight draw & a flush draw (12
outs). You call a $5 bet along with everyone else, so the pot now
contains $40. The turn comes [Ad-3s-Ks] 6h and a bet of $10 forces
out the 2 players in front of you. You still have 12 outs from the
remaining 46 cards in the deck. That's 12 'good' cards to 34 'bad'
cards, or a bad to good ratio of 34-12 or 2.8-1. There is $50 in
the pot and it will cost you $10 more to see the river card. This
means the pot is laying you odds of $50-$10 or 5-1. Being less than
a 3-1 underdog to hit either the flush or gut shot straight, you
are being more than compensated to make the call.

Online Video Poker

2005-08-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

This article is courtesy of Chip over at Free Gambling Articles This guy writes some good articles so pay him a visit and soak it all in.

Online Video Poker

Playing video poker isn't hard. Winning at video poker, though, is another story. If you want to master the rules and begin collecting the knowledge needed to win, you might want to try online video poker.

Online video poker is in many ways better than casino video poker. It is somewhat the same as home video games are compared to old arcades. Once, the big game machines were best, but now the home computer has caught up and in some ways surpass the machine experience. Online video poker on a home computer is often as colorful and exciting as the casino experience. The online video poker experience comes closest to capturing the casino experience of any online gambling versions on the internet.

Online video poker allows you to see a lot of hands from the comfort of your own home. The "own home" part may be most important. You are able to sit and relax at home, concentrate on the strategy of the game, away from the hustle and bustle of the casino. You can go at your own pace, while listening your favorite music and drinking a Pepsi...or whatever it is you drink these days. Whether you like deuces wild or jacks or better, whether you like to play one hand at a time or multihand, there is some kind of online casino offering the game you want to play.

Just like a casino, you must pay per hand in online video poker. You get the same payouts, though sometimes there are bonus offers online. The competition for costumers is fierce, because it is a world full of potential casino affiliates, so you will find great deals at the online casinos. Almost all online casinos offer play money, free video poker games. These allow you to practice and (sometimes) win special prizes.

There are literally thousands of online video poker games these days, so you should not have any trouble finding the game suited for you. Shop around, have a look at the many options. I recommend any casino powere by Microgaming, Playtech, or Realtime Gaming software for online video poker. For the beginning simply wanting to look at hands, you can look at a thousand hands a week if you are willing to play online video poker just ten hours a week. And let's face it, most of us play that much poker in a week in our sleep.

You have permission to reprint this article on your website, but only if you use the article in its entirety, including this paragraph and the links contained within it. Please visit our site for more free gambling articles. And also visit us if you like poker and want to read a review of Absolute Poker.

The Sexuality of Poker

2005-08-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well...I have to admit, this is the first time i have ever heard the game of poker being referred to as an aphrodisiac or even remotely sexual. This guy definitely has a good point though and I do see the reasoning behind the madness. I have played in poker games in the past where a particular female distracted my thoughts and i'm sure also my poker face and game. I have a hard time shooting down women or even being mean (which you have to be in order to be succesful in poker).

Poker not only involves strategy but also requires a mental toughness that can be distracted by members of the opposite sex. If you lose your concentration , you will lose the hand for sure. This brings me back to the subject of WHY more women aren't playing poker. They stand to make a killing until they piss everybody off in the poker world, but the money is there for the taking. The fish are in the pond and they are hungry for some action

By JAMES McMANUS
Published: August 13, 2005

Despite the fact that bluffing is very much like lying, there is a natural honesty to poker - something along the lines of honor among thieves - as well as a democratic fairness. All players remaining in the hand make equal contributions to the pot. Each betting decision is made freely and openly, and in turn. Except for their hole cards, all players have the same information. Noble birth, Ivy League education or a 6-foot-10-inch athlete's body confers no advantage. Misrepresenting the strength of your hand with a bluff is well within the letter and spirit of poker law.

In her 2003 memoir, "Poker Face," the poet Katy Lederer compares the ruthlessly analytical minds of her famous poker-playing siblings, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, to her own way of thinking. "I was able to 'read' people, but it proved problematic," she writes. "I would sit at my table, look around at my opponents, and try my best to assess them by their postures and expressions, but it would be strangely painful. Or, not painful. It would make me feel dirty. We would sit there, growing filthy together, handling our cards and the dirty plastic chips, trying not to bite our nails for fear of what had lodged itself beneath them."

Poker's "dirty" intimacy and fiduciary hazards aren't for everyone, certainly. Yet its grittiness and peril might help to explain why its outlaw cachet continues to linger, even when today's game is played mostly in state-sanctioned card rooms by well-scrubbed folks sipping mineral water. Crooked Nose McCall gunning down Wild Bill Hickok from behind? An ornery Marlboro Man raising you the ranch from behind mirrored shades? Mirrored shades maybe, but smoking is banned these days in virtually every card room and all major tournaments. So is loutish behavior.

The game's image has also improved because of players like Barry Greenstein, who with good reason is called the Robin Hood of Poker: he donates millions of dollars in tournament prize money to children's charities. He has also just published "Ace on the River: An Advanced Poker Guide."

In the chapter called "How to Behave in the Poker Society," he wonders to what extent character is exposed at the table. "Many players who act appropriately in most social situations behave badly when they are losing," he writes. "Maybe we don't see a person's true character at the poker table, but rather, we see him at his worst." Other people would argue that it's when the chips are down that character is most clearly revealed.

Greenstein admits that at least one ulterior motive for decent behavior is to keep the game "good" - that is, profitable. "A player who wins the pot should let his opponent win the argument," he suggests. "It is bad business to destroy people," this even though "crybabies deserve something to cry about." He goes on to annotate 25 traits of successful players, including being insensitive, manipulative and greedy. Yet it is much more important, in Greenstein's opinion, to be trustworthy, intelligent, honest (with yourself) and psychologically tough. His oversize paperback has hundreds of color photographs of card rooms, casinos and high-stakes players in action, all printed on expensive glossy paper, which gives it the look and feel of an art book - one that happens to dispense wisdom that could help you win large sums of money. Few people have had more success playing poker in the last 35 years, and Greenstein is known for the precision of his ideas on poker and other subjects, so it's not surprising that his book is tactically instructive.

More surprising, perhaps, are the illuminating chapters on brain chemistry, chaos theory, integrity, the hazards of sports betting and how playing poker affects your family and sexuality, and vice versa. "Casinos hire good-looking employees to attract and distract customers," he writes, tongue apparently not in cheek. "If you are sexually frustrated, you may have trouble concentrating on poker." Even winning can lead to problems, because "chips of large denomination can have an aphrodisiac effect." In what sense is this not a good thing? "Becoming a sugar daddy can have a devastating effect on one's gambling bankroll." Better to contribute some of your profits to charity.

The most enlightening passage for a non-sugar daddy like me comes right up front in the dedication, which goes to "the children of gamblers": "They were told everything was done so they could have toys and clothes and a nice place to live, but all they wanted was a little more of their parent's time. I apologize to my children," Greenstein writes before listing their names, "for when I have failed as a parent."

Poker Affiliates Earning More Than Lawyers

2005-08-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Poker affiliates are laughing all the way to the bank these days as online poker has exploded with the popularity of shows like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour. The concensus on the net is an "affiliate program" isn't a real business but with so many people playing poker, there is a LOT of money to be made. Online poker rooms realized from the beginning that word of mouth just wasn't going to be enough to keep the players coming, but with thousands of affiliates things change in a hurry.

Some poker affiliates are now making well over 500,000 per year by promoting their favorite poker room. Now...not every affiliate is making this kind of money but you would probably be surprised at how many actually are. It's estimated that Party Poker has over 50,000 affiliates promoting their site ALL the time, 24 hours a day 365 days a year. You really don't need word of mouth when you have that kind of backup

The poker rooms pay either a percentage of the profits (25-40 %) or some will pay a bounty per player between $65-$150 depending on the poker room. Most affiliates prefer the percentage which is supposed to be based on the "life" of the player that signed up but recent controversy has popped up on poker forums across the net when partypoker changed their "affiliate agreement". Apparently, partypoker has decided that if your player doesn't play for 60 days he/she is no longer your player and your percentage is null and void. If this is true and I'm not saying it is, then the life of the player doesn't mean a hill of beans. I know that I dont always play at the same room every 60 days, sometimes I might go 3 or 4 months playing at pokerroom.com before i go back to play at party.

Needless to say, it has stirred up a growing hornets nest of angry affiliates. I'm sure PP has enough brand recognition now that it wouldn't matter if they lost a few good affiliates here and there but......If 30-40 % got pissed, it could change the whole swing of poker traffic on the net. They might not be the largest room on the net anymore. Let's throw some numbers around and see what would happen if 100 super affiliates that average 500 players a month all of a sudden redirected traffic. Thats 50,000 players gone to another poker room. This is the kind of power that affiliates have on the internet and personally....I think it's a good thing.

My affiliate manager personally told me he has guys making over 100k per MONTH! How's that for an annual salary, that's a cool 1.2 million dollars a year. With that much money on the line it's no wonder they employ full time managers just to take care of affiliates needs. It also goes to show just how much money these casino's and poker rooms are making. The power of the internet!