“No”, was my simple reply, but I sense of apprehension kicked in.
“They have frozen my account on Full Tilt Poker, I can’t withdraw any of my bankroll!”, he replied full of anger and outrage.

The Reasons Why

This was completely understandable.
Everyone from the poker community was infuriated, and rightly so. This was the biggest and most notorious blow the online poker industry had ever received. Online poker as a whole and US poker sites in America as we knew them would never be the same again.
On Tuesday the 14th of September, U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara claimed that the FTP board of directors had been operating the company as a massive ponzi scheme.
Millions of dollars were given to professional FTP players and members of its board of directors. The trust which had been so strong within the poker community had literally been broken to millions of pieces. The whole online poker community was in complete disarray.
A total of four board members and an estimated 19 other owners of Tiltware had been accused of receiving a whopping $440 million dollars since April 2007!!
Notorious examples of money laundering included well-known and highly respected players such as Howard Lederer and Christopher “Jesus” Ferguson.

The Personal Effect

The effect which Black Friday had had on US poker sites actually did not affect me directly, at least not in a poker-related way. The reason was that I had my permanent residence in Europe.
The same could not be said for my friend Andrew, who had been outraged by his funds being frozen, had been not only a good friend, but also an inspiring coach of mine.
He never even directly asked me for money for the coaching. I knew how valuable his time when it came to poker. I felt I owed it to him so I had transferred him several hundred bucks over the course of a few months.

I felt sorry for him as well as several other American poker players which I had gotten to know during my stay in the States as an exchange student. Several of the friends were professionals so it meant that their main sources of income had been compromised.
Not only did I feel sorry for my friends, but I felt that I had been betrayed by respected people in a community which I had embraced for so long.
Online poker is not just a game where you can gamble and make money. Posting on forums like 2+2 and making friends with other poker players makes you part of the online poker community.
Also you end up putting trust into US poker sites, even if you do not speak with their representatives directly.

The Sad Truth

In business the rich always get richer and the poor always get poorer. In poker it has proved to be no different. The crimes that Full Tilt Poker had engaged in left a never-ending scar on the online poker industry. More importantly though, they had shattered the trust with their players, which they had spent so many years trying to build up.

Among all the online Poker Spiele, 888poker (previously referred to as Pacific Poker) is undoubtedly the best of the lot and with over 5 million registered users, 888poker is truly set to sizzle the online gaming and gambling world. A mind-boggling and bottle-necking traffic, thriving social community, a hugely interactive user interface, multi-mode gaming availability (Omaha, Texas Hold’em, Seven-Card Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo) and an integrated player reward shop, all these features speak highly of the variety and thrills which 888poker brings to the table.
With a sense of intensified and ‘juicy’ competitions, 888poker beholds many intriguing features that take the game of poker to altogether different pedestal of gambling.

Some of the core features within the game of 888poker are discussed below:

Tournaments at 888 Poker

888poker is best known for its most followed ‘Daily Challenge’ series. All the other tournaments also play their part effectively in drawing out players in big numbers to the website. The poker fever reaches its peak during some of the more prestigious online poker events such as Aussie Millions, European Poker Tour and Irish Open.

888 Promotions

With a clearing period of 90 days from the very first deposit, the pending bonuses in 888poker are released in the form of a $10 increment on every 100 bonus points earned by a player. Plus, there is also a facility of availing reload bonuses after every other month. The much pursued referral system is also very good with a $50 reserved for each friend you refer while the referred player gets $25 in bonus.
The 888poker Application:
The software for the game and the website as a whole is very well devised. A viewed-flop percentage during the peak hours stuttering in just the 50s or 60s is indeed the greatest testament to the dedication and commitment which the regulatory authorities have put into coming up with such a reliable and resolute system.

Final Word:
So, all in all, 888poker has all the necessary ingredients in store to be lauded as a massive success story as far as online games (especially the betting games) are concerned. The software is sturdily designed, the bonuses are alluring, the fan base is gigantic and the prospects of winning seriously big amounts are realistically enormous with your best shot at making profits in 888poker undoubtedly being the Omaha Hi-Lo tables. Hit the online casinos today by logging on to the official website of 888poker at http://www.888.com/.

These tournaments are exactly the same as any other kind of poker tournament except that you do not have to pay a fee in order to gain entry to them. These games have become big business on the internet today as they all you to take part without having to pay any kind of deposit, plus a player does not need to have raked hands or any bonus points all a player needs to do is log in and then they can start playing.

These types of tournaments have become extremely popular with many of the people who now operate online poker rooms as it is a way to not only get players to come to their site, but also to help reward those that continue to use their site as well.

The only real downside to taking part in this kind of online poker game is that the prize money being offered is relatively small compared to those games where an entry free is required. But in even the worse case scenarios a person taking part in such games as these will end up breaking even. For the simple reason although they may not have won anything they haven’t spent anything either.

A lot of players will now use these free poker tournaments as a way of providing them with leverage so that they can take part in more major tournaments and therefore start to win larger sums of money as well without it actually costing them anything. It is a great idea for a player to play a few hands in these types of games using real money and then they may find that they get invited to take part tournaments which are not a risk to them as they do not need to put any entry fee money down. There are even some of these free poker tournaments where a player will be rewarded points for the way that they play and which they can then redeem and use as their way of paying an entry fee to a tournament which they would like to take part in. So you can see there is more to taking part in these kinds of tournaments rather than just learning how to play the game.

Type of Poker

First and foremost you must make sure that the tournament is being played using a format that you are good at. There is no point in joining a 5 card stud turbo, when you only play Texas Holdem and like to take your time about it. This can be a surprisingly easy mistake to make and before you know it you are in a tournament way out of your depth.

Available Bankroll

Managing Poker bankrolls in sit n go tournaments is as important as anywhere else in poker. You must join a tournament that is within your budget and is not likely to bust you out of all your cash. Although the higher entrance fee offers a bigger cash pot at the end these types of tournament generally offer only the top players the prizes. In case you are not yet playing for real money you can get a free poker bankroll.

Amount of Players

Sit n Go’s are as they sound you must sit and wait until the competition is full before it will start. Therefore if the are looking for 90 players and only 10 have signed up you may be in for a long wait before it gets going. If you have the time you can sign up and play some cash games while you wait. The amount of players is also important when the game starts, some people like the multi table tournaments where others like to enter the 1 table, quick fire ones. You will have to get the balance between the amount of time you have and the type of tournament you wish to play in.

Payouts

Another important factor but often overlooked is what places will be paid out at the end. Its typical on a 1 table tournament that only the top 3 get paid and sometimes with a field of 90 as little as 7 get paid. It is very important to check the structure to find out before you start and then ask yourself if you think you are good enough to get in the money. Do not play multi-table tournaments if you don´t have at least 100 Times the buy in in your bankroll.

WSOP stays put and announces a new partnership

With all the noise about the US Government shutting down sites, its hard to find any hope for the US when it comes to poker. However the worlds biggest poker event the World Series Of Poker has announced it will still be played in the poker capital of the world Las Vegas. Where would we be without all the glitz and glamour that Vegas brings us, thank god the Government has not turned on our favourite competition. WSOP also announced this week that they will be teaming up with ESPN to bring us all the coverage of the event. It seems slightly ironic that the winner of the 2003 event, claimed his seat through a qualifying satellite on Pokerstars. This year hopes to be another massive turn out with last year attracting nearly 73,000 entrants.

Party Poker Spring Millions This Sunday

Sunday 1st May sees the Party Poker Millions come round again and you can get yourself a seat through one of the many satellites available on their site, this means you could get a seat for as little as $1. For those of you that would like to buy a seat for the main event, it will cost you a buy in of $600 + $40. Well worth a shot with that kind of money on offer.

It is possible that your pocket aces will loose against a worse starting hand. Why? Probably because you were playing against a lot of people and because they played other types of starting hands with bigger value in hold’em in this situation. It is important to know that starting hands hold a different value depending on each situation and that it can not be generalized. A good hand when many players are at the table is a hand like 8s9s. Sometimes people find it strange that hands like Ks7s are worse that a hand similar to 8s7s. This happens because they are not looking at all at the value of the hand itself, they are just comparing the numbers printed on each card.
Hands like 10-6s, Q-7s, J-7s, J-4s and K-7s are no good in hold’em. Check out the Poker Hand Rankings.

Why a hand like K-7s is such a bad hand is actually an obvious thing. Its chances of actually wining the pot are very low. How can it win actually? Well first you can hope for your king to hit. Not that it is that unlikely but think about it, even if it does hit then what? Then you have a very low kicker for your pair and that kicker will be easily beaten by another hand. Or, you can catch the 7-7 pair but it is a very low pair and most likely there will be other player in the game to top that hand. To get a flush you have low chances. For a straight you would need so many in between cards that it is practically impossible to be the only one with a flush. Two pairs will be possibly toped by a better hand. And so go all the draws for this weak hand. The idea is that if you hold this hand you should fold it or play only if you are in a position and a game that lets you play it very cheap.
Another type of bad starting hand is the Ax off suit when x is a middle card. Middle cards mean below 10 and above 5. The reason this hand is also crappy is quite simple. If the x is not one of the cards above 10 or below 5 them you can’t draw for a straight. For a flush you can’t obviously draw because the cards are off suit in the first place.
So caution when playing any of these hands. The books say they should not be played at all because they involve a great risk but some situation might arise when you need to play them, but be careful not to pay too much for this. A good advice for beginners is to take a look at the poker starting hands charts you find online .

In the past, you need to use your credit card for secure deposit.  In fact, it may even be your only option back then to enjoy a game of online poker.  Today, there is a better way to do that and it does not involve giving out your credit number.  The secret to secure deposit is simple and easy.  It is called a Paysafecard and with it, you can be sure that your money is safe and you can play your favorite game of poker all night long.

So what is a Paysafecard?  The best analogy for it is to compare it to a prepaid card.  Just like your telephone with a prepaid sim, you need to first purchase a card before you can actually use it.  The card comes in 4 values – 10 dollars, 25 dollars, 50 dollars and a hundred dollars.  Naturally, the value that you should pick depends on how often you intend to play the game.  Most Paysafecard users give this new secure deposit method a try first by getting a smaller card amount but upon finding out that it really works, they then start buying a Paysafeguard with higher values.  Now if you are wondering where you can get hold of this card, you will be delighted that it is very accessible and easy to find.  In fact, you can buy it in 300,000 sales outlets everywhere in the world and the number of outlets are still increasing as more and more online poker players are convinced to sue this as their payment method.  So should you need a Paysafecard, try a local store near your place.  Chances are they will have it in stock.

When you buy a Paysafecard, you will be give a 16 digit pin code that you can use at any web shop that you choose.  Aside from the sheer convenience of it, you can be secure of your secure deposit because as you would have noticed throughout the purchase process, you did not enter personal information such as your bank account or your credit card number.  You can’t get any more secure than that.  So next time you play online poker, use Paysafecard, the secure payment method.

Under what circumstances do you attempt starting hands that typically should be thrown away. The hands we specifically are referring to are 5/7u, 6/8u, 7/9u and 8/10u.

The first condition is that the game is limit texas holdem.

As a practical matter we enter the pot knowing we are taking on over cards. Our objective is to see the flop as inexpensively as possible and no limit poses too many problems to achieve that end.

Player style is a critical element in attempting these kinds of hands.

Preferably we look for tables characterized with a good deal of limping, whether it take the form of tight passives or calling stations. If a maniac or tight aggressive remain in the hand it’s best to wait for next time. Then again you might be aware of a tight aggressive player tendency to slow play big pocket pairs in which case you would want to stick around.

You want your card value entry point to be no less than 5/7u.

We know we are behind in the hand, however, the seven helps since there are more ways to make a straight with this card than any other card in the deck.

If the flop hits you with these types of cards it is very unlikely that anyone will put you on a monster.

This is especially true if you are playing outside of the blinds. Imagine flopping 3,4,6 and your opponent(s) has a big pocket pair or any two big desirables that warrant continued play.

OK, what if the flop misses you entirely with As, Kd and 10h?

No problem! You get out and cheaply too. It was worth the shot for concealment purposes alone.

We prefer no less than three players including you.

The reason for this is we want at least two premium hand types squaring off. The hope is that at least one of their outs lay dead in the other player’s hand and all of your outs are live.

Your read on your opponents will dictate how you play the hand for the maximum pay off.

Chances are that if you are up against limpers you will simply bet out and not try anything fancy. On the other hand, if a tight aggressive has been slow playing a big pocket pair evidenced by his raise on the turn you should be able to extract a few more dollars.

The pay offs are nice and in limit doesn’t cost a lot to get involved. My last endeavor involved 6/8u out of the big blind. Two other players slow played big starters and the flop came 10, 8, 8 rainbow. That was fun and rewarding.

Put this into practice and take down the big ones. Find more Poker Strategy Articles.