There are some online poker sites which have a VIP membership which carries no benefit at all but this isn\'t the case with Club WPT. In addition to the huge increase in the prize pool, there is plenty more to play for when you play at Club WPT. Bonus points, exclusive tournaments and prizes and cash bonuses are all on offer when you opt for the VIP option using a Club WPT bonus code. It is often nice to be looked out for in life and Club WPT VIP members know all about living the high life!

Play Free at Club WPT

Poker play catches your eye

The eye-catching new prize pool is certainly going to be the thing that grabs your attention but the quality and delivery of games on Club WPT has always been a strong aspect. There are plenty of online poker sites to choose from but this site manages to take on the best and give their members a great online poker experience.

The thing is all of the features, tournaments and promotions you already love at Club WPT are still there. There have been no negative changes or anything going out, this increase to the prize pool has just added to the reasons to join in with the fun at Club WPT and there were already plenty of reasons to sign up in the first place. If you love the glitz and the glamour of poker, Club WPT is the place to be and it could see you taking a seat at some of the most prestigious poker events around the world.

Club WPT can take you to the big events

If your dream is to square off against some of the biggest names in the poker business and perhaps transform your life completely, the satellite events at the Club WPT site could be the perfect way for you to make the breakthrough. You have to be in it to win it so get involved when you can with the satellite events at Club WPT. There is no guarantee of fame or fortune when you play in these events but you just never know what is going to happen.

With more poker games and more opportunities to win, the new changes to the Club WPT set-up should be of great interest to all poker players. Making the most of your online time is very important these days and this means when you play, you should be playing for more money. The addition of an extra $25,000, taking the February Prize Pool to $125,000 makes the Club WPT well worth playing this month but then again, it is a site that is well worth playing every month.

Please click on the following link to learn more about Club WPT by reading PokerBonusCode.net\'s comprehensive Club WPT review.

So if you learn a certain tactic or strategy then you need to be certain that it suits you. For example I have read many players expound on the fact that multi-barrel bluffing is good strong and aggressive poker. This is true but you have to remember that unless you get your timing right here then you are in fact risking far more money playing like this than you stand to gain. So you may end up stacking off and you may end up winning the pot but that doesn\'t necessarily make it the right thing to do.

Sophisticated players will deduce that your range is polarised if you do this too often and weak players will be calling stations and find a reason to call you down. So you can easily end up shipping 100bb in situations where your normal style and preference would have been to go into pot control. However if your normal pot control game is being bullied then either leave the game or adjust. One thing is certain though and this is that you shouldn\'t automatically play poker in a certain way just because other people are doing the same. Do what you feel comfortable with at the end of the day.

Carl "The Dean" Sampson

Carl \"The Dean\" Sampson is an online poker pro, coach and poker writer with many years experience in the poker and gambling industry. Carl has three published books and has written for many leading poker magazines like the WPT and Poker Pro Europe.

Carl plays poker online at www.pokerstars.co.uk, not only the largest online poker room, but also the best!

As a rule then whenever you see someone with a middling stack size then this is usually indicative of a weak player. It is not a given but there are mainly two ways to make money playing cash games and they are to play a short stack or a deep stack..... not in between. Skilled deep stack players will top up when they fall below 100bb and skilled short stack players will not allow themselves to play deep and so they tend to leave the table when their stack reaches 40bb as a maximum or if the buy in is larger then 50-55bb. But if you see a player with say 50bb to 80bb then this is usually indicative of two things..... namely that this player is not a reg and that they are likely not a winning player.

This is not an absolute but it a pretty good place to start when you are table selecting in the lobby for the best games. Also you need to pay attention to how many tables your opponents are playing. If you see a player who is on at least eight tables and has at least 100bb on all of his games then rest assured that this is a player who will not provide you with value because they will play the game very well. Likewise if you see a player on six tables and who has between 20bb-35bb on them all..... clearly a short stack reg and your strategy needs to adjust for that fact.

Carl "The Dean" Sampson

Carl \"The Dean\" Sampson is an online poker pro, coach and poker writer with many years experience in the poker and gambling industry. Carl has three published books and has written for many leading poker magazines like the WPT and Poker Pro Europe.

Carl plays poker online at www.pokerstars.co.uk, not only the largest online poker room, but also the best!

Carl \"The Dean\" Sampson is an online poker pro, coach and poker writer with many years experience in the poker and gambling industry. Carl has three published books and has written for many leading poker magazines like the WPT and Poker Pro Europe.

Carl plays poker online at www.pokerstars.co.uk, not only the largest online poker room, but also the best!

There are many instances where you need to value bet the river in no limit play even if you have very marginal holdings. This is especially the case if you are going up against very sophisticated opponents who have a pretty good angle on your ranges at all stages of the hand. Let us say that you only ever bet the river with very strong hands and bluffs and check the rest for pot control. This strategy is incredibly unbalanced because if you bet the river and make it $75 into a $100 pot for example then your astute opponent can call you with basically anything that beats a bluff.

So if they have say 7-7 on a A-K-Q-4-4 board and they know that you will check hands like A-3 and K-J for example then they know that a big river bet could put your under pressure and could get you off the best hand. But they also know that if you make a $70 bet on the river and the pot is $170 then it is only $70 to them to call and their $70 investment stands to make $170 if you have no hand.

So the call is pretty easy to make here and the hand can be simplified to three possible types and these are strong hands and powerful hands, mediocre hands and weak hands with fresh air. Your hand is weak but your opponent will bet with all of his fresh air type hands on the river. This means that if your opponent only bets the river in these instances then you can call very widely.

This is why better player's value bet the river because they know about polarised hand ranges. So if they have say A-2 then they will bet again on the river. Weaker players would not call down with worse but better players would because better players understand that stronger opponents will barrel more often and so they need to call down wider. So in this instance then if a player knows that he is likely to be called down by weaker hands because their opponent suspect a bluff too often in this situation then they may barrel again on the river with weaker hands than they would normally barrel with in situations of this nature.

Innovation is integral to poker

A large part of this success has to be attributed to the innovations shown by poker sites and this is where Merge Poker sites stand as a great example. These poker sites have been at the forefront of the emerging trends and playing styles in the poker industry and look set to keep evolving to meet player demand. One of the biggest thrills about playing poker was interacting with other players and getting into their minds to determine what they were about to play. The early days of online poker was blighted by some people complaining that this was not possible but in recent times, this is certainly not the case.

Being able to directly interact with fellow players around an online poker table has greatly enhances the enjoyment some players get from playing poker. The Merge Poker sites understand that the thrill of poker is not just about winning; it is about facing up to your opponent and tailoring your game to overcome their nature and personality. Even though the best poker players will have their own playing style and strategy, being able to combat the style of an opponent is a great ability to have at your disposal.

Interact with your opponent

Being able to talk to players during games and in some cases, watch them via web cams, has greatly improved the poker playing experience and this is why some poker sites are being lauded as market leaders. The Merge Poker sites are highly revered in the industry and the great thing about these sites is that there is plenty of variety, so you should find the style of site you are looking for.

Some poker players will want to play in tournaments all the time, whereas others will prefer a more sedate place. Merge Poker understands that different poker players have different needs and their full range of sites provides the different blends that make up the poker world. The style and quality is not compromised across the sites but the variety should ensure you can find a site that is comfortable for you.

With so many sites to choose from, there is no need to compromise or settle for a poker site that you are not comfortable. Being in the right frame of mind will help you to play better poker, so it makes sense to take the time to find the site that is right for you. To find out more about these sites, please visit www.mergepokernetwork.com.

Carl \"The Dean\" Sampson is an online poker pro, coach and poker writer with many years experience in the poker and gambling industry. Carl has three published books and has written for many leading poker magazines like the WPT and Poker Pro Europe.

Carl plays poker online at www.pokerstars.co.uk, not only the largest online poker room, but also the best!

I always think that one of the big key mistakes that many players make in deep stack no limit hold'em games is to allow themselves to get pot committed too often. Let me explain here with an example, it has been folded around to the cut-off at NL100 ring with $100 effective stacks who then makes it $3.50 to go. You see Q-J on the button and decide that your opponent is likely to be stealing and so you three bet to $14.

Both blinds fold but the original raiser calls making the pot $29 before the flop which comes J-9-4 rainbow. Your opponent donk bets into you for $20 and you decide that you hand is just too strong to fold to a single bet and so you call looking to see what your opponent does on the turn. Now the $20 call and the $14 pre-flop three bet has already put 34% of your total pre-flop stack into the middle with two betting rounds to go.

The turn is a brick with the Ad and your opponent checks and so do you for pot control. Both of your ranges at this stage look weak to each other and the river card is good for you and is the Qh giving you two pair. Suddenly your opponent bets $60 into the $69 pot out of the blue. You have already invested $34 into this pot and calling this bet would lose you 94bb if your hand wasn't good.

You decide to call based on the fact that your turn check indicated weakness and you can beat a bluff. You call and your opponent shows A-J for the top two pair that he played in an unorthodox way. You ended up losing almost an entire buy in with two pair but what went wrong? Clearly you could have kept the pot smaller pre-flop by calling the $3.50 raise instead of re-raising. This would make the pot $8.50 on the flop rather than $29.50.

A similar size bet on the flop may have been around $5.50 and so when they check the turn then the pot is around $19 rather than the $69 before. So if you call a near pot sized bet on the river in this instance then your risk is only going to be around $19 at most making your total risk less than $30 in total.

Carl \"The Dean\" Sampson is an online poker pro, coach and poker writer with many years experience in the poker and gambling industry. Carl has three published books and has written for many leading poker magazines like the WPT and Poker Pro Europe.

Carl plays poker online at www.pokerstars.co.uk, not only the largest online poker room, but also the best!

When you sit down to play in any NLHE ring game then you absolutely must have an idea as to where your profit potential will come from. If you do not now this then you are committing the biggest sin of all in poker and that is to guess. As the great Amarillo \"Slim\" Preston once said..... \"Guessing is for losers\". If you sit down in a poker game hoping that playing your hands well will make you money then you are guessing that this process by itself will be enough.

I coach players and one of the biggest mistakes that they make when entering a game is that they simply have no discernable plan of attack to make money. Let us look at a few basic concepts first and foremost in how the average poker player enters a game. The typical rock will sit there playing solid poker, waiting for good hands, trying little steal attempts, not getting out of line and hoping for big implied odds and big pay-offs on their monsters.

This is a good way of playing but only if the environment is conducive to this strategy working. If this rock has used this style of play in the past and made money with it then he is likely to continue with that style. So he sits down as usual in a full ring game and waits for some fish to pass him 100bb in a situation where he is either a lock or massively +EV. However the problem comes when too many other players on his table are doing the same thing.

It is often very difficult to see the EV of a certain strategy in a very short time frame as players tend to be pre-occupied with looking at equity in certain hands and certain situations. What they often fail to do is to look at equity in their overall strategy which is often more difficult to ascertain. If you are sitting in a game with too many players who have short stacks then your 100bb becomes far less effective as a playable stack for example.

The EV that you have against good short stack players and good deep stack players is minimal and so knowing where your likely profits are coming from knocks on into other areas like game selection as well. If you are to make your poker career a success then you need to design strategies for different opponents with different stack sizes and skill levels. This is a mistake that I made very early in my career in NLHE and I paid the price when the online games became tougher.

Online poker has a constantly shifting dynamic and this makes it very difficult for novice players and even intermediate players to become successful at it over the long term. The best strategies are not fixed like with some card dependent strategies for example but highly fluid systems that don\'t even resemble systematic play at all.

Putting the time aside to learn how to calculate pot odds will not only add another powerful element to your poker-arsenal, but will give you an undisputed edge over those players mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Before you throw this article in the \'too hard\' basket, slow down a minute. Neither the principle behind pot odds, nor the process of working them out, is nearly as difficult as you might expect.

Pot Odds - What Are They?

Pot Odds calls the law of averages into play, rather than blind luck, to determine whether or not calling an opponent's bet will likely be a profitable decision. In other words, when applying the calculation of pot odds to your game you are working out your chances of winning the hand and then weighing these chances up against what it is going to cost you to stay in the hand.

This means that the next time you find yourself sitting on a flush or straight draw, you'll be able to work out whether to call or fold based on the size of your opponent's bets.

Working Out Pot Odds

There are two ways that Pot Odds can be calculated.

1. The Ratio Method
2. The Percentage Method

We can talk about gut-feels and instincts all day, but the reality is that if you base all of your drawing decisions on pot odds rather than what 'feels right', you're going to win more money over the course of time.

Pot odds aren't just useful when it comes to making calls either. If you're smart, you can use them to help you decide how much to bet in order to protect a made hand.

If you think an opponent is drawing to a straight or a flush, then you should try and bet an amount that will leave him having to call a greater percentage of the pot than his percentage chance of completing their draw. By doing that, you are giving them every logical reason to fold. Sure, once in a while they might decide to make the call and once in a while they might get lucky. But over the course of time, pot odds will reign supreme - and so will you.

You\'re in middle position admiring your hole cards when, suddenly, there\'s a raise from a player in early position. It\'s folded around to you and you\'re faced with a decision. There isn\'t that much money in the pot just yet, you\'re not getting great odds and you know the original raiser is in front. On top of all of this, there are still four or five players yet to act.

While small suited connectors look gorgeous in the hole, and can be extremely profitable at times, these hands are commonly overvalued by newer and less experienced players.

The ultimate issue at play when it comes to suited connectors is that they don\'t evolve into monster hands as often as we\'d like to think.

Having said this, when these hands do hit, the chances are you\'re going to take your opponent/s by surprise more often than not and this can result in some big pay offs.

Generally speaking, if you are going to enter into a pot with small suited connectors, there are a few boxes you should be looking to tick off on your mental checklist;

• Ideally, you should be in late position.
• There should already be several players in the pot.
• You need to be able to enter the pot for cheap.
• The average stack of the opponents in the pot should generally be 70 big blinds or larger.

Why should I be in late position?

Let\'s go back to the scenario used at the start of this article. You\'re holding 9s Ts and you\'re excited at the prospect of what the flop might bring. The player in early position has raised and it\'s been folded around to you in middle position with five players behind you.

First of all, the big stacks you need to create value might all fold - after all, a raise from early position is a pretty good indicator that he or she is packing a strong hand. If they don\'t fold there\'s always the chance one of them will put in a big raise, by which time you\'ll know you are way too far behind to call.

Sometimes you might try and take your chances and hey - you might sneak in for cheap from early position. But remember; you\'re still going to have to play every street from that position and it\'s going to be extremely hard to chase any draws you might hit profitably.

By waiting until you are in late position to play these hands you are making it easier on yourself by giving yourself the chance to judge pot odds with everyone else acting before you.

Why does there need to be several players in the pot?

First of all the more players in the pot, the better the odds will be for you to chase your draws.
Secondly, we all know how it feels to hit a monster and have nobody willing to play with you. The more people you have in the pot, the greater the chance there'll be action if you do hit.

Let's say you've ended up in the pot with your 9s Ts. You've flopped a straight draw and you're in late position. The pot is $200.

If a player in early position bets out $100, and is called by two of your opponents, you're going to be getting $500 to $100 (5 to 1) on your draw.

Imagine the same scenario where you're in the pot with just one other person. Now, when they make the $100 bet, you're only getting $300 to $100 (3 to 1) on your draw.

How come I need to enter the pot cheaply?

It's tempting to take a chance on suited connectors but at the end of the day all those raises you've called with them are going to add up and eventually end up swallowing the occasional big wins you will have made with similar hands. The money you'll spend seeing flops will eat away at your earnings unless you ensure that every time you're getting involved with suited connectors, you're doing so for cheap.

Sure, there's nothing wrong with calling the occasional raise if you're planning to steal the pot after the flop or if you're playing heads up - but generally speaking you should restrict calling a raise with suited connectors to when several well-stacked players have already made the call.

Shipping It

When it comes to tournaments, suited connectors can often provide you with a good opportunity to take that last stand.

If you're bleeding chips, the blinds are about to jump and you don't have much time to find a strong hand, a hand like 9s Ts or 4d 5d is decent enough to push all-in with.

You're hoping everyone folds so you can take the blinds and fight on, but even if this isn't the case your hand still stands a decent chance. If you're going to go up against As Ah or Ks Kd, you're going to want to do it with suited connectors - they have the best chance of causing an upset.

In addition, when you push with suited connectors and get called, your cards will usually be live.

Frank, who received $18,600 in campaign contributions from Full Tilt since 2007 and $14,000 from the PPA, said \"I\'m really very unpleasantly surprised that these guys were defrauding people\".

This comes on the heels of the New York Attorney in charge of prosecuting Full Tilt after the events of \"Black Friday\" when the US Government closed the poker site and seized its domain name levied new indictments against Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar and Rafe Furst for money laundering and stated that Full Tilt was running a worldwide Ponzi Scheme.

Frank, an avid poker player himself, has been known on Capitol Hill as the US\'s biggest legislative supporter for the online poker industry. His public support of the online poker industry and gambling in general has netted the Massachussetts legislator vast amounts of campaign contributions from industry insiders and players alike. No mention was made of whether or not he intended to return other donations from the gambling industry.

Frank said he wants the US Department of Justice to establish a fund to compensate players who have not been able to recoup their money from the failed poker site. In the event such a fund is established, he will deposit the campaign contributions into the fund. If no fund is established, he said he will donate the money to charity.

The events of Black Friday and the criminal indictments against Full Tilt poker and members of its Board of Directors haven\'t swayed Frank from his support of online gambling. He did, however, state that he now advocates a requirement that online casinos and card rooms keep players funds separate from operating expenses.

On Tuesday, following the U.S. Attorney\'s filing of an Amended Complaint in the federal civil action pending in connection with the April 15th 2011 indictments, Epic Poker League\'s Standards & Conduct Committee indefinitely suspended League members Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson. The Amended Complaint named Lederer and Ferguson as defendants, specifically in relation to their roles as directors of Full Tilt Poker from April 2007 to April 2011. Committee Chairman Stephen Martin said, \"The Committee voted to suspend Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson indefinitely, pending the outcome of the Department of Justice\'s action.\" Martin, a former federal prosecutor, serves as the Independent Ethics Advisor to Epic Poker.

Martin emphasized the following factors in the Committee\'s decision:

1. "Although the Amended Complaint constitutes a civil, and not criminal, action and facts are alleged but not yet proven, the specificity of the allegations and the fact they came from the United States government made this the right course of action in the best interests of the players in the League."
2. "The government chose to name Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson individually in their roles as members of the board of directors Full Tilt."
3. The Committee will continue to monitor the legal actions. "If other members are named in the actions, the Committee will consider additional disciplinary action."

The Committee\'s jurisdiction is based on Player Disciplinary Policy and the Players\' Code of Conduct. Howard Lederer, who has signed those documents and is a 5-year cardholder, is indefinitely suspended. Chris Ferguson, who has not yet signed League documents but is eligible for a 5-year card, has also been suspended. Neither Howard Lederer nor Chris Ferguson has yet to play in an Epic Poker League event.

Committee member Andy Bloch recused himself from consideration of the issue. Commissioner Annie Duke, while a non-voting member of the committee, does not participate in any committee decisions or discussions that involve league member discipline.

Lederer and Ferguson have both been members of the Epic Poker League since 2006.

Williams, who became known after his second place finish in the 2004 World Series of Poker and taking home $3.5 Million for his efforts, also came in second at the Borgata Poker Open in the same year earning just over $573,000. Williams ended his streak of runner up finishes to place first at the 2010 WPT World Championship which earned him $1.5 Million.

He\'s looking for a repeat of first place success at this year\'s Borgata Poker Open. Day three promises excitement as the the final 100 players who finish in the money will be decided and the day is scheduled to end with just 27 players remaining.

Going from day two into day three, there are 170 players remaining and the top 10 chip stacks are:

1. David Williams - 727,100
2. Maurice Hawkins - 646,500
3. David Jones - 643,600
4. Andrew Blake - 534,000
5. Roman Valerstein - 517,200
6. Eric Haber - 496,400
7. Hans Schreiber - 489,400
8. Aaron Belardo - 480,400
9. Daniel Santoro - 457,400
10. David Diaz - 457,100

Dwyte Pilgrim won last year\'s 2010 World Poker Tour Championship event at the Borgata Casino and took home a little over $733,000 for his first place win.

This year\'s event is scheduled to conclude Friday, September 23rd at 3 PM.

Preet Bharara, Attorney for the Southern District of New York, filed an amendment to his complaint that alleges Full Tilt\'s Board of Directors engaged in a multi-million dollar Ponzi Scheme which netted them as much as $443 Million over a 4 year period while refusing to fulfill players cash-out requests.

Bharara said \"Full Tilt insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited. Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme\".

Internal emails between Full Tilt\'s Executive Management indicate that they knew about the companies precarious financial condition and actively worked to keep news of their distress out of the mainstream press. In one email, Bitar said that the company had less than $5 Million on hand for player withdrawals. In another email Bitar wanted to hide the news of employee lay-offs and expressed concern that, if the news became known, it would prevent new players from depositing funds which Full Tilt needed to cover operating expenses.

The US Attorney has also requested that the four individuals named in the amendment pay an additional $115 Million in penalties. These penalties relate directly to claims of money laundering and are completely separate from any other fines the directors of Full Tilt Poker may face.

It is unknown whether the news that the New York Attorney amended his indictments against the founders to include money laundering charges and requesting an additional $115 Million in fines for running a \"worldwide Ponzi Scheme\" affected the day\'s hearings.

Full Tilt Poker, the beleaguered online poker site that had it\'s operations shut down and Internet domain name seized in the events of \"Black Friday\" now stands to have its operating license revoked by the AGCC when the hearing is concluded.

An announcement of the hearing\'s final disposition is expected this week.

By implementing bankroll management effectively, we can allow for variance and still provide ourselves with the best possible opportunity to maximize profit whilst minimizing losses.

What Limits Should I Be Playing?

When it's No Limit Texas Hold'Em we're talking about, your bankroll should generally be 20 times the full buy-in of the limit you want to play. This means that If you really are hell-bent on playing that $2/$4 game, you're not going to be able to play it safely without $8000 to play with.

As mentioned before, your $500 would best be invested in a 10c/25c game, where the full buy in is $25 which, multiplied by 20, gives you $500.

As you move up into some of the higher levels, ($5/$10 and up), you may want to accumulate up 40 buy-ins before moving up levels, to help deal with the more brutal swings that tend to occur at these levels.

What About Tournaments?

When it comes to Sit & Gos and Tournaments, you're going to need 40 buy-ins for the level of tournament you're expecting to play. So if you're going to be making a run at $10+$1 SNGs, you're going to need to start with $440. You really shouldn't be taking a shot a Full Tilt's Fifty-Fifty tournament with a buy-in of $50+$5 unless you've got $2200 to back it up with in case you don't cash.

Basic Bankroll Management Table

• Note: As you move up into some of the higher levels, ($5/$10 and up), you may want to accumulate up 40 buy-ins before moving up levels, to help deal with the more brutal swings that tend to occur at these levels.

Moving Levels

As soon as your bankroll grows large enough to allow you to move up levels, you should look to do so as long as you feel you can beat the level. The higher the level, the greater the wins.

Having said that, should you drop below the 20 buy-ins require to play that level, you will need to drop back down a level until you have built your bankroll back up. Don't be too proud to drop levels - there's no shame in it, it's just sensible poker.

Taking a Shot

Every poker player does it every once in a while. We can't help ourselves.

There are going to be times where we feel like moving up a level even though our bankroll may not permit us to do so. Perhaps you're on the end of a hot run of cards and you want to capitalize or maybe you're just curious to test the waters and see how you fare at that next level.

There's no real harm in this as long as it doesn't become common-place and provided you:

• Don't chase losses at this level - accept your losses and move back into the level you are properly bankrolled to play.
• Don't get carried away by a few big wins - if your bankroll is still too small to make an official move to this level, it's important to remember you're playing outside of it.

In Summary

Being able to effectively manage a bankroll isn't just a 'feather in the cap' for accomplished poker players, nor should it be considered as an advantageous optional extra. Effective bankroll management is an absolutely essential skill and a prerequisite for any player with aspirations of sustaining a poker career in either the live or the online version of the game.

As the poker market matures with more players cottoning on to how to play the game and play it well, bankroll management is what separates the good players from the successful players.

Which would you rather be?

When we talk about bankroll management (BRM), we\'re talking about a system used to protect the funds an individual allocates to poker by never risking a large percentage of this money at any one time.

Sure, you can throw 50 bucks onto your favourite online poker site, whack it all on one table and move up levels every time you double up. That\'d be a bit of fun, and hey - you might even get lucky. But in the end, no matter how lucky you get, you\'re eventually going to lose that money, and it doesn\'t make a bit of difference how good at poker you are. The reason? Variance.

No one, not even the pros, can escape variance. Variance is the term used to describe the inevitable ups and downs of poker.

On any given day you might see an opponent at your table continually making simple mistakes, poor reads or just generally playing bad poker and somehow getting paid off for it. They\'re calling ridiculous bets on no-hope draws and hitting every time. Similarly, on the same day you may not make a single wrong move and yet end up gradually losing every chip in front of you.

You\'ve probably heard poker players talk about \'running hot\' or being cold carded. These are just a couple of terms used to describe the way in which luck can significantly favour or completely evade a player for a particular session, day or even over a matter of weeks!

Over the long run, however, the player who was calling your $100 turn bet to chase his 3-high four card flush, is going to lose. Similarly, if you continue to play perfect poker, over the course of time you are going to profit - and profit well.

What makes good BRM so important is that unless you master the art - you may not have enough money to see out the period of time required to account for variance.

If you bought into a $2/$4 game for $500 and found yourself all in pre-flop with Ac As against an opponent\'s Ad As and end up losing your stack to a ridiculous straight - that\'s just bad luck. If that $500 was your entire bankroll... well, that\'s entirely your fault. It doesn\'t matter that you didn\'t do a thing wrong, your money is still gone and there\'s nothing you can do to get it back.

If you had bought into a 10c/25c game for $25 and lost your stack under same circumstances sure, it would be frustrating, but over the long run it wouldn\'t hurt you at all - you\'d have only lost 1/20th of your entire bankroll and you\'d still have 19 more buy-ins at that level. Over the course of time through good play you\'d not only make it back, but you\'d start to turn a profit. Eventually you\'d turn your $500 into $1000, at which point you could step up to a 25c/50c game.

Sure, a NL25 game isn\'t going to get your adrenaline pumping like a NL400 game, but then again - do you really want your heart to be pumping a million miles an hour when you find your Ac As all in against Qs Jh on a Ts Kc 4s board for your entire bankroll?

Effective BRM allows us to give ourselves the best possible opportunity to maximize profit whilst minimizing losses.

You can learn how to apply effective bankroll management in the following article, which I will publish on Poker For Free somewhere tomorrow morning.

For one thing, you\'re in the blinds every single hand. When you play full ring you\'ll play from the blinds twice per round - twice every ten hands. In heads up play you are always either the small blind or the big blind.

The other major differentiation between heads up and full ring poker is that with only two players involved in each hand, the calibre of hand needed to win a pot drops drastically to that required when facing off against 10 opponents.

Up the Ante when it comes to Aggression

Considering you're being slammed relentlessly by the blinds every hand, there is always some sort of pressure on your stack in heads up play. With this said it should go without saying that you're going to need to step up your aggression when you step into the heads up arena - if for no other reason than the get back the money you're putting into the pot each hand.

You can't afford to wait around for a premium hand when you're playing heads up poker - period. You're going to go broke. To break it down simply, if you intend to sit there and fold to your opponent while you wait for a hand like As Ks or Qc Qd, you'll be folding your blinds to your opponent the vast majority of the time. When, (or if), you do finally wake up to a strong hand you're still going to have to play for the pot, and there's going to be a number of times, albeit a small percentage, when you are going to lose that hand.

If you want to succeed in heads up poker, up the aggression. You're going to need to open up the range of hands you are willing to enter a pot with.

Playing from the Small Blind

When playing heads up, the small blind is the button. This means you\'ll have position from the flop onwards so you should be looking to raise a good percentage of the time. You should be prepared to fire in raises with hands like 9s Ts, Ks Jc and 5d 5c.

Remember, you\'re opening up your starting range so with hands like 6d 7s which isn\'t necessarily strong but does have potential; you should be looking to limp a lot of the time - unless you\'re playing a maniac. If you\'re opposition is intent on pushing all in on every flop it makes no sense to limp in with a hand like this.

Useless hands like 2d 7h still get ditched - we\'re not getting that aggressive.

Playing from the Big Blind

Sure, you\'ve got more in the pot than you will have playing from the small blind, but you\'re also going to be out of position on the flop - you\'re going to need to play a little tighter here.

If you\'re looking down at a mediocre to reasonable hand and your opponent limps, you\'re best off checking to see the flop - that\'s easy. When you have a strong hand you\'re going to want to go ahead and raise most of the time, unless you\'re going to attempt to trap your opponent. That\'s simple.

It\'s when you find yourself in the big blind facing a raise that things start to get a little bit more complex. If your opposition is constantly raising your big blind over and over again, you\'re going to need to adjust your game to make sure you don\'t fold away all your chips.

At the Showdown

In heads up play, the range of hands with showdown value is far greater. On the flop, you should feel comfortable about betting out with middle or bottom pair unless you feel you have a great read on your opposing player, simply based on odds which would suggest that your opponent probably hasn\'t hit any stronger than you.

In fact, if you have hit a pair on the flop you should almost always bet out. Sure, if you\'ve flopped a monster hand you might want to draw things out and attempt to extract maximum value from your adversary, but if you\'ve hit something reasonable but not great - like middle pair, you\'re going to want to take the pot there and then and avoid a suckout on the turn or the river.

When you do end up flopping a big hand you\'re going to have to mix up the way you choose to play it - or else you\'re going to become predictable. Remember - sometimes betting hard at your made hand can be as profitable as slow playing it.

This is a freeroll, remember? You\'re going to have to work a little harder if you want to score any decent sort of payout. The reality is that in order for you to be happy with the amount you bank in relation to the hours you\'ve now invested in this tournament; you\'re probably going to have to put in an appearance at the final table.

Don\'t panic - that was the goal anyway, right?

Just like any tournament, good play isn\'t foolproof, and you\'re going to need to dodge a few remaining donkeys who\'ve managed to accidentally end up with monster stacks, but you can do it.

The blinds are sky high now, and unless you\'re lucky enough to be sitting behind a mountain of chips, you\'re going to have to make a few bluffs to take down pots and stay alive and competitive. The key is in being able to bluff effectively and at the right times. Play smart poker.

Try not to get tangled up in too many pots with the big stacks at your table. By that, I mean don\'t make targets of them. Of course if you end up with a monster hand and you\'re going to be putting your chips in the pot you may as well be looking to get the most out of it, but unless this is the case constantly calling their raises and being strung along in the hopes of hitting is going to hurt you a whole lot more than it is going to hurt them.

Instead, capitalise on the short stacks. They\'re going to be under pressure and anything you can do to add to this pressure is a good thing. When you squeeze a shortstack by raising when they limp, re-raising their initial raise or raising on when they\'re in the blind, they\'re either going to have to fold a large percentage of their stack or push all in. They\'re usually not going to want to do either, but either is a good scenario for you.

If they fold, you\'ve earned a few extra chips and placed them under even more pressure. If they push, it\'s usually going to be because they have to - not because they\'re packing a quality hand. You\'re probably going to be ahead and knock them out and if you\'re not, or if you cop a bad beat, it\'s going to cost you next to nothing.

As the field begins to whittle down its time to start taking note of how some of the stronger players in the tournament are playing. Sure, anything can happen from here, but at this stage you should be able to identify a handful of players who will be hard pressed to miss out on making final table.

Taking note of how they handle themselves in the business end of the tournament can only help you as you\'re going likely to be facing off against some if not all of them once we get down to the final table.

Blinds are crucial. You should be looking to squeeze with any decent hand in late position unless you feel like a player in the blinds is likely to push all in as the short stack, but with a stack big enough to turn you off committing to the hand.

Aggression is key here - you\'re not going to be able to win through passive play. You need to capitalise on weaker opponents by continually building pressure and forcing your adversaries to make hard decisions. Don\'t allow them the opportunity to suck out on you, and don\'t allow yourself to be strung along. Put your foot down and direct the play as you deem fit.

Playing the Final Table - Short Stacked

You\'ve made the final table - but barely. You\'re the short stack and things aren\'t really looking too good. Don\'t sweat it, you\'ve done an incredible job to get this far and anything more than what you\'re currently guaranteed will be an absolute bonus. Having said that it\'s not worth just bleeding your stack out and copping 9th or 10th place. Get your chips in.

You\'re not going to have much time to wait for a hand, the blinds are going to come around eventually and in the meantime you\'ve got antes to worry about. Any Ace, any King or suited connectors are automatic shove hands here. Being dealt a premium hand here is a god send, but the chances are it\'s not going to happen. If none of the above reveals itself to you, you\'re going to have to try and get the most value you can for your all-in bet.

For instance, you have a stack of 30,000 and you have two thirds of your stack committed in the big blind for 20,000 and you\'re holding Ts 2d.

An opponent in early position raises to 60,000 and is called by two opponents. You\'re going to call. The fact that you have Ts 2d is irrelevant. You\'re getting fantastic odds and the fact of the matter is that your cards are most probably live. If you commit your extra 10,000 you\'re giving yourself a chance of bagging a pot of 120,000 - no matter how slim that chance might be.

If you fold, you\'re going to be all-in in the small blind, with no guarantee your hand will be any better. Even if you\'re dealt Ad Ac, you won\'t have the option of raising to isolate or narrow the field. The more people you face off against, the less likely you are to win the hand - and if you get lucky and end up heads up against the big blind, then you haven\'t really got lucky at all - you\'re going to win less than the current big blind back.

Playing the Final Table - Middle Stack

Be cautious and wary of the short-stacks. The fact of the matter is that they are likely to destroy themselves, so don't go looking to take them out. Sure, if the opportunity presents itself and you're looking down at a great hand, strike while the iron is hot! Just don't go trying to be a hero.

If you're not being dealt fire just yet, you're better off stealing blinds where you can and waiting until the short stacks end up all in against your monster or a big stack who can afford to make the call with a marginal hand.

Playing the Final Table - Big Stack

This is where things get fun. Sure, steal a few blinds where you feel it safe to do so but you're not going to be under any pressure to do so, so don't get yourself into any sticky situations you don't need to be in.

You can afford to pick your moments; you're not feeling the pinch. The short stacks are going to be forced to make moves and you will have the luxury of calling them where you deem it fit and folding where you know you're behind or there's no value.

When you get down to the final five it's going to come down to good poker and good luck. The truth is, you've put in a stellar effort to come this far. No matter where you finish from here, you're going to have enough to start building a bankroll from - even if it means you're going to have to start off grinding $1.00 Sit & Go's.

May the deck be with you.

If you\'ve made it this far, congratulations - you\'ve done well to keep disciplined during the early stage, and you\'ve been rewarded for it. Don\'t get too comfortable though, it\'s not all high fives and back-slaps just yet. There\'s still a long way to go before you\'ll be seeing a cent of that freeroll prize pool.

You still won\'t be wanting to pushing all-in without the nuts or at least without knowing you have your opponent crushed, but you can start to open up a little and add hands like Ad Jc, Ac Ts, Kh Jc and Qc Jh to your arsenal when in position. You can even afford to very occasionally limp in with your Kh Th if you really feel like loosening up a bit more when you find yourself in late position.

So much about successful freeroll strategy is not concerned with what to do but rather with what not to do. One more thing you shouldn\'t be doing at this stage of the tournament is getting flustered about where you\'re placing out of the 784 runners remaining or how you stack up against the chip average. At this stage, none of that matters. You\'re still trying to ride out the storm and consolidate the stack you do have.

Don\'t trick yourself into rushing or playing mediocre hands because you don\'t think you\'re keeping up with the tournament. Keep your head screwed on. You can\'t win the tournament yet, so there\'s no use trying to.

You do, however, need to start to become a little more aggressive now. The chasers and the hopefuls will still be out there, but their numbers will have been greatly diminished, so it\'s time to start introducing a few more techniques outside of raising and folding.

This is the perfect time to introduce the semi-bluff if you haven\'t already. If you haven\'t studied up on the art of semi-bluffing, get acquainted here.

But again, don\'t fall into that trap of thinking you need to start rushing. A semi-bluff is, by definition, a calculated move made with a hand which has serious drawing potential. Don\'t try stone cold bluffing just yet unless your opponent seems extremely weak and is obviously going to fold under pressure - it\'s just not worth it at this point. You\'ll need to put a bluff in here and there, but be smart about how and when.

The above advice can be forgotten of course when you find yourself extremely short-stacked. No matter what, if you find yourself sitting behind a stack of 1,500 with the blinds at 100/200 you\'re going to have to make a move. There\'s no point letting your stack drop to the point at which a bluff isn\'t going to put pressure on opponents to fold. You\'re better off being knocked out betting than bleeding yourself out of a tournament.

When the bubble approaches, the field will tend to tighten up. If you find yourself with a few extra chips to play with, you should look to capitalise on this by squeezing where appropriate.

The middle stage of a freeroll tournament is the time to step your play up a gear and look to capitalise on the inexperience of the weaker players still remaining in the tournament, put pressure on the short stacks and look to build your own stack slowly but surely through sold play.
It\'s in the latter stages of the freeroll that things really start to heat up.

With the above taken into account it should come as no surprise that many players will look to play extremely aggressive poker - even crazy, illogical poker early on in an effort to either build a stack capable of giving them a real shot at playing for the cash, or bust out and save them hours of fastidious folds and calculated calls to no avail.

On top of this, freerolls are training grounds for new players, which means there will always be a decent percentage of any freeroll field who are inexperienced and will tend to be unpredictable.

This isn\'t to say that freerolls are simply lottery events because this simply isn\'t the case. In fact, if you are prepared to play a tight game early on, it is possible to be consistently successful in freeroll tournaments.

The key to success in these tournaments lies in the ability to break down your approach towards them into an early-game, mid-game and late-game strategy.

Early Stage Strategy

When we talk about the early stages of a tournament, we\'re typically referring to the period of time between the first hand of the tournament and the first break of the tournament.

As mentioned, early on in a freeroll tournament you are going to find a great deal of players looking for that quick double up or triple up. In fact, a lot of articles on freeroll tournament strategy are going to recommend you do exactly that - chip up or ship out. The reality is, if you want to do well over the long run, this technique isn\'t going to work.

Early on in a tournament you might be dealt KhTh in late position with four limpers in the pot. Maybe you flat call to see a flop or maybe you try to squeeze. Either way, you\'re usually going to end up with more people in the pot than you\'d like and unless you flop a flush or a boat you\'re going to be concerned about what other players might have.

Even with two pair or trips on the flop, you need to realise that no matter how you play out the rest of the hand, there are likely going to be people willing to chase their flush draws, straight draws and low pocket pairs all the way to the river to see if they hit. It won\'t matter how much you bet - it\'s a freeroll after all. They have nothing to lose and a great big pot to win.

Early on in a freeroll tournament it really is crucial to restrict yourself to AcKs, AdQs, KcQd, Ax suited and pocket pairs, although we\'d recommend leaving lower pocket pairs until the mid stages of the tournament unless you can get into a pot for cheap.

When you\'re playing the hands mentioned above, you can hit either card and feel reasonably confident about your kicker (with the exception of Ax suited).

With the blinds so low at the start of the tournament relative to the size of your stack, you\'re going to feel like seeing as many flops as you can. This is a mistake. Sure, sometimes you\'ll flop a monster, but the majority of the time you\'re either going to miss, or be taken for a ride after flopping a sub-par hand or a draw. At this stage in a freeroll, anyone can have anything at any given time. By restricting yourself to only playing premium hands, you greatly reduce the chance of being eliminated early on.

Early Stage All Ins

Early on in a freeroll tournament, players are going to be pushing their stacks into the middle all over the place. We've already discussed why this is, so all we need to really address now is why you shouldn't follow suit.

You shouldn't even be thinking about making the move all in at any stage early on unless you have the nuts or truly believe you have your opponent smashed. If you've been hurt in a previous hand and you really do need to push your chips into the centre, then this is a separate issue, but strictly speaking, you shouldn't be risking your tournament life this early on without the absolute best of it - you just don't know what people will have, or what they might be willing to draw to.

Finding yourself raising each time you're dealt Kc Qs or Ad Qd only to have the very same opponent push all in over the top of you can be extremely frustrating, but don't let it get to you. Keep your cool and wait for the right spot to get your chips into the middle.

Poker player forums across the Internet were abuzz with disgruntled players who have been waiting months to have their funds, which were seized when FTP was shut down, released to them. The move was announced in a statement issued by Andre Wilsenach, Executive Director of the AGCC on September 14. The statement states that the hearing will be held "In Camera" and was decided in response to an application made by the attorneys for Full Tilt Poker.

The full text of the statement:

Full Tilt Poker (FTP) hearing on 19th September 2011

The Commissioners of AGCC forming the tribunal dealing with the regulatory hearing into the affairs of FTP have decided that the hearing will continue on Monday 19th September 2011 but that it be held \'in camera\'. This determination was reached following a pre-hearing application by FTP to further adjourn the hearing.

André Wilsenach, Executive Director, stated:

\"I am pleased that the FTP hearing will continue as scheduled, as was argued on my behalf. However, I am disappointed with the tribunal\'s decision that, notwithstanding my arguments to the contrary, the hearing will be held in private. I believe the public has a right to know the reasoning behind the decisions to suspend FTP\'s licences and call a hearing, and to hear the evidence that will be put forward on my behalf. It is my understanding that the tribunal conducted a difficult balancing exercise of the interests of the various parties, taking into account the legal arguments for and against further postponing the hearing, and for and against allowing the public to attend the proceedings.\"

As a consequence of the tribunal\'s decision members of the public will not be able to attend the hearing. A further statement will be made at the earliest possible opportunity.

Matt was fifth out of six sitting down at the final table with 1,423,000 chips. Byron Kaverman was the chip leader with 2,079,000 and Martin Jacobson\'s 482,000 chips made the short stack. Hugo Lemaire (1,962,000 chips), Mikko Sundell (1,791,000 chips) and Frederic Magen (1,554,000 chips) were also seated.

The short stacked Martin Jacobson made it 27 hands before taking 6th place and €88,900 for his effort. Five hands later, Matt flopped a club flush with his 6 clubs and 5 clubs. Sundell, who held the Ace diamonds and King clubs bet the King high flush draw. Matt pushed all in and Sundell called. With two diamonds falling on the turn and river, Sundell couldn\'t make a hand and Matt took down the 3.7 million chip pot. Sundell was left with 30,000 chips (about one big blind) and was eliminated the next hand.

Within 50 more hands, Kaverman had taken fourth place (€155,550) and Magen took third (€211,100).

This left Matt with a dominating chip lead (7.8 million) over the French pro Lemaire (1.55 million) as heads up play began.

On the third hand of heads up play, it was over. Lemaire held Queen Eight offsuit against Waxman\'s 8 clubs and 9 clubs. 2 clubs showed on the flop along with a Queen giving Waxman a flush draw and Lemaire top pair. With Lemaire all in, the river came 10 of clubs making Waxman his flush while Lemaire had been unable to improve.

Earning this victory, Waxman landed the largest single score of his career by far and almost doubled his lifetime tournament earnings.

This win was Waxman\'s largest ever, doubling his career earnings.

The next World Poker Tour event is to be held at the Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ.

The opening event, a $215 6-max No-Limit Hold\'em tournament with a $1 million guarantee drew in 7,500 players.

Going into the final table in event 1, China_White1 was the low stack (4,296,118 chips) and Fisherman903 was the big stack with nearly five times the chips (20,289,691 chips). After China_White1 managed to triple up to 11.8M early after three quick hands, Fisherman903 began to discuss a deal. The other players were receptive but LOL_U_91, who was squarely in the middle with 11.4M chips said \"not now guys, maybe later\" and it was back to playing poker.

As play progressed, Fisherman903 continued to increase his chip lead and built a 28M stack as the other players busted out. Fisherman also kept pressing to make a deal to split the winnings but LOL_U_91 continued to say no. This proved to be a winning move for LOL_U_91.

As the other players busted out, it left LOL_U_91 as the chip leader and Fisherman903 just 2.8M chips behind playing heads up for the title. Finally a deal was made; $171,500 for Fisherman903, $190,000 for LOL_U_91, and an extra $20,000 for the winner.

Not long after, Fisherman903 flopped two pair and went all in. LOL_U_91 immediately called and turned up a straight. Fisherman903 couldn\'t improve his hand and LOL_U_91 won the series\' first bracelet.

Visit PokerStars Now

The following two tournaments on Sunday were a $10,000+$300 No-Limit Hold\'em High Roller tourney where MONSTER_DONG, who was down to a single big blind at final table came back to take the top prize ($179,569.13) and a $200+$15 No-Limit Hold\'em with a $1,250,000 guarantee where K_0_S_T_Y_A beat a field of 10,000 players to win $288,660.78.

The WCOOP, which over the past ten years has become the ultimate online poker tournament series, promises 62 different events over a three week period and $30 Million in total prize pools. The event draws world famous professional poker players such as Canadian pro Daniel Negreanu who had four cashes in last year\'s WCOOP.

Many poker shows are run as time-buys, which means that they simply buy out the spot, rather than having part of the costs covered by advertising. Infomercials and special promotions are typically run as time-buys because they aren\'t expected to generate much money through advertising; time-buys are often in strange time slots or show material that isn\'t suitable for all audiences. In the case of Poker TV, however, there\'s an easy way to explain why the largest sponsors of the main Poker TV hits would simply buy out the time slot-- for the time that their show is on the air, they can advertise to their hearts content in a way that isn\'t regularly monitored or censored and that is lucrative beyond belief. Some pundits suggest that the advertising that the big poker companies showed during the airing of their shows irked the US Department of Justice into taking action against online gambling. Because there\'s now no benefit to advertising in the US anymore (or at all, if you\'re Full Tilt Poker right now), many of the shows that were time buys have been pulled, and the futures of others are still uncertain.

Here\'s where things stand with your favorite Poker TV shows:

World Series of Poker

As anyone who has tuned in to Poker TV in the last month knows, the World Series of Poker is still alive and kicking-- for the time being. This year\'s stupendous turnout has a lot of people talking about keeping the tournament series on the air, even though many of the sponsors, including Full Tilt and PokerStars, have been pulled. Potential sponsors may be waiting to see how the next year of live poker plays out before investing, in order to see if the poker market stabilizes or is headed for a crash.

World Poker Tour

You can expect to see the World Poker Tour aired on television for some time, as it\'s owned by an online gambling firm out of the UK and hasn\'t suffered substantial losses since Black Friday like other popular Poker TV sponsors. As one of the largest poker tournaments of the year, the World Poker Tour will probably be one of the last things to go; its status gives it incredible staying power that should help it stay afloat.

European Poker Tour

While the EPT site reports that there are countless networks still airing the tournament, it doesn\'t list any. PokerStars, the primary sponsors of the European Poker Tour, has found a new solution: streaming all of the EPT action at PokerStars.tv.

North American Poker Tour

Off the air. After PokerStars was booted from the US market, they pulled their sponsorship, and this time buy went under. Don\'t expect to see the North American Poker Tour show back up on ESPN unless something changes with online poker legislation in the US.

High Stakes Poker

Sponsored by PokerStars, High Stakes Poker is owned by GSN (Game Show Network), but with the main sponsor potentially pulling the plug on the show, there\'s serious danger that it may not return.

Poker After Dark

Poker After Dark, one of the most popular shows on Poker TV, is in serious jeopardy, as its main sponsor was Full Tilt Poker, which is currently in no position to sponsor anything. PAD was on a time buy, and Full Tilt has paid up through the remainder of this season, but whether or not we\'ll see new seasons of this excellent show is still anyone\'s guess.

Epic Poker League

This long-awaited show, brought to you by Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack, just signed a deal with CBS and the Velocity Network, and they\'re guaranteed for a full season of 20 shows. Velocity doesn\'t go live as a network until early October, but the addition of this show to a lineup that\'s otherwise devoid in poker TV is promising, as it means that spectators may be seeing less of an obliteration of their favorite shows and more a change in the way that they\'re presented. With other poker shows off the air, expect to see a lot of the talent flocking to Epic Poker League.

IPT San Remo - 28 July- 1 August, 2011

PokerStars.it is the place to go for the qualifying satellites for this event, which are going on now. The prizes for the satellites includes the €2,200 buy-in at IPT San Remo as well as an additional €500 for expenses (such as travel and accommodation, which are not included).

EPT Tallin - 2-7 August, 2011

Satellite tournaments to qualify for this event are now happening at PokerStars. You can enter for as little as €5.45 or use PokerStars Frequent Player Points to enter for free; the prize for these events includes buy-in, accommodation, and expenses.

LAPT Punta del Este - 3-7 August, 2011

PokerStars is holding online qualifies and is offering the winner(s) a prize package for the Latin American Poker Tour that includes not only a seat at the main event, but also lodging, and expenses. If live competition is more your style, there are also two satellites at the Mantra Casino and Resort in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on August 3rd.

Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leg 4: Luton - 14-21 August, 2011

The GUKPT is currently sponsored by GCasino.com, which offers satellites at different levels, so you can play regardless of your bankroll. The Super Satellites will cost you ₤250 to enter, but if you're looking to save, the site has many less expensive qualifiers every day that will ultimately progress to the Super Satellites. Titan Poker is also running GUKPT satellites with prize packages for buy-in, accommodation, and money for transportation.

APT Asian Series - 17-23 August, 2011

Seats to this event can be gained online through iPoker and Jbet qualifying satellites. If you're looking for live games as a way to qualify for this tournament, you have plenty of options: there are satellites being held at Resorts World Manila leading up to the event, and they have plenty of seats to give away. You can also get in on the action by winning seats that are being given away as prizes at All In Poker Club Cebu, Metro Card Club, Empire Poker Club, and others. Titan Poker is currently running satellites with a prize package that includes buy-in, airfare, and accommodation, making it one of the best ways to play your way into the APT.

GUKPT Goliath at the Ricoh Arena - 24-28 August, 2011

There don't seem to be satellites available for this event, and for good reason. Entry is only going to cost you ₤100 (some satellites cost that much!), and this event is a charity drive: 25% of all entry fees will be given to Marie Curie Cancer Care, which provides terminally ill patients proper medical care and support.

EPT Barcelona/Estrellas Poker Tour Final - 27 August- 1 September, 2011

You can win all your EPT event entries through PokerStars by going to the PokerStars lobby, then clicking "Events" and then "EPT." As soon as satellites for an EPT event become available, they'll appear here.

IPT Nova Gorica - 1-5 September, 2011

Keep an eye on PokerStars.it to win your chance at the Italian Poker Tour's Nova Gorica stop (which is actually in Slovenia). Satellites for this event will start any day, and you can win a prize package that includes buy-in and expenses.

EPT London - 30 September - 6 October, 2011

Like all other EPT events, the satellites are through PokerStars and can be found in Lobby > Events > EPT. The London satellites haven't started yet, but stay tuned to PokerStars for more details!

Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leg 5: Coventry - 9-16 October, 2011

Super Satellites for the GUKPT are currently going on every Sunday over at GCasino.com, while freezeout tournament feeders happen every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the site and start at as little as ₤0.50 for the feeders (well, there are actually freerolls even earlier in the day, so you have a chance to win your seat for free). Re-buy and Add-on tournament feeders are every Wednesday and Friday on the site, and there are freerolls or entries for as little as ₤3.00.

WSOP Europe - 7-20 October, 2011

If you threw a rock at the internet, chances are pretty good that you would hit a World Series of Poker Europe qualifying satellite. One of the best places to find on is at wsop.co.uk, which offers satellites 24 hours a day, all of which offer seats and potentially a lot of other great bonuses. Other sites with great offers include Party Poker, 888 Poker, and Bwin.com-- all of these sites offer seats at the WSOPE.

EPT San Remo - 21-27 October, 2011

Like all other EPT events, the satellites are through PokerStars and can be found in Lobby > Events > EPT. The San Remo satellites haven't started yet, but stay tuned to PokerStars for more details and a chance to win in one of the largest EPT events!

If that wasn't bad enough, the Alderney Gambling Control Coalition (AGCC), the regulating agency for the British Channel Islands, where Full Tilt was registered as a business, revoked the website's eGambling license on 29 June, barring them from taking on new clients, accepting money from or releasing money to current clients, and allowing players to play any kind of poker game, including free poker, on their site. Full Tilt's owners scrambled to sell the company to someone who was willing to bail it out, as over $150 million dollars of funds from US poker players still needed to be paid, and the site was now facing extensive legal costs as well.

Following on the tail of Full Tilt's announcement that they were planning to sell part or all of the company to undisclosed "European investors," reports emerged showing a mass exodus from the website; apparently, players had suffered through more than enough and were now unwilling to wait with the site any more. A class action lawsuit has been filed against Full Tilt in a US District Court in New York against the company and many employees and professional players, including Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey, who had dropped his own suit against Full Tilt not 36 hours earlier. The lawsuit accuses Full Tilt Poker of a "pattern of racketeering" and "wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering." An employee from Full Tilt described the company as being in a state of bewildered chaos since Black Friday.

PokerStars, which was also named in the original suit from the US Department of Justice, has done everything that they can to separate themselves from Full Tilt, including issuing a press statement and taking several opportunities to express to the media that Full Tilt's problems are isolated to that site in particular. This positive spin has apparently worked, as PokerStars has claimed 59% of the players who have left Full Tilt for greener pastures.

The end of Full Tilt Poker as we currently know it isn't entirely bad; several smaller poker sites have stepped up their game in an attempt to win over some of the now-disgruntled Full Tilt customers (and they probably hope to steal some away from PokerStars as well, as the site has only returned about one fifth of the money trapped in customer accounts since Black Friday. Titan Poker is offering huge incentives to join their site, including a 300% match on up to $600 of reload on your account, or, if you're one of the coveted new players, a 200% match on up to $2,000 dollars of your initial deposit. 888 Poker is offering amazing freeroll tournament opportunities to all of their players, including a 99c entry to win a seat at the WSOP.

It is not that winning at Razz requires a poor hand; it is only in comparison to other poker games. The concept of playing and reading other players and combining your cards to obtain a specific outcome are as relevant in Razz as they are in any other game.

Lowest Hand Takes the Pot

What you need to remember about Razz is that if you hold the lowest hand, you win the pot. The style of the game is similar in nature to seven-card stud high but a difference comes with the high card. In this instance, aces are deemed to be low. In Razz, flushes and straights are deemed to have no ranking and the best possible hand you could have would be 5-4-3-2-A, which is called a wheel.

The betting begins by way of a forced bet, which is forced upon the holder of the highest card by suit. After this and in all subsequent rounds, the holder of the low hand is the first to act. If there is a tie involving low hands, the tied player that is closest to the dealer in a clockwise fashion is first to play.

Know Your Limits

Razz can be played as a fixed limit game with the lower limit coming into play on the third and fourth streets. On all subsequent streets, the upper limit is taken and the limit is not affected by an open pair. The dealer will announce all pairs when they first occur with the exception of face card pairs, which are not announced.

It is always good to have variation when playing poker and Razz poker can help you hone your skills. Thinking about the combination of cards and how other players react can always be of benefit to a poker player and Razz is another style of playing. It may not be the common poker game that people play but it can provide an enjoyable twist and a break from the normal routine.

As you may have guessed by the name, 2-7 is a Lo-Ball game in which players strive to make the lowest possible hand. There are 2 variations of 2-7, Single Draw and Triple Draw. In Single Draw each player is given 1 chance to trade in any number of cards in their hand and draw the same number of new cards from the deck. In Triple Draw, as you may have already guessed, each player is given 3 opportunities to draw for new cards from the deck. It is set up much like 5-Card Draw. The blinds go clockwise around the table each hand, with the small blind (half the amount of the big blind) to the left of the dealer chip, and the big blind to the left of the small blind. These are mandatory bets that must be made before any cards are dealt.

Once the blinds have been placed each player is dealt 5 cards face down and a round of betting takes place, starting with the player to the left of the BB, and continuing around the table clockwise. Once all cards have been established each player, starting with the SB is given the opportunity to either draw, or stand pat. In Triple Draw, play continues in this manner, with rounds of betting in between each draw.

The object of the game is to achieve the lowest possible hand. Aces are considered high I this game, and are therefore undesirable. Any other traditional poker hand, pairs, straights, flushes, and full houses are considered bust hands. So you want to avoid a low straight. As a result the best possible hand is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 because 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 would make a straight and be a bust hand. Hence the name 2-7.

Unfortunately there are not may free poker sites offering free 2-7 Lo-Ball games, nor do we. However, if you like to play this game, we can recommend you to try the penny stakes, which is as good as free anyway.

If you learn to place bets at random amounts, regardless of the hand you're holding, this will keep them guessing. If nobody can read your hand, you will be a force to be respected on the poker tables.

The Continuation Bet

The continuation bet, one of the most solid poker strategies, is a bet played by almost every poker player after the flop to get an idea of where they stand. Generally speaking, a continuation bet is about three quarters of the pot. For example, you are dealt pocket kings pre-flop and make the first bet. Two or three players smooth call and you see a flop. The flop comes out with no king to make your set, but there is an ace on the board. You could very well be beat in this situation if any of your opponents are holding an ace, but if they're not, you don't want to give away the fact that you are worried about an ace.

A good poker player will catch on to this and make a well-timed bluff, possibly scaring you out of the pot that rightfully should have been yours. So you place a continuation bet to see how your opponents will react. Nothing so large or so small as to give away your position, but somewhere right in the middle, just enough to make them wonder if you are value betting, or getting an idea of exactly where you stand.

Always remember, the most important thing is poker is to protect your hand. One of the best ways to do this is to use your bets to keep players guessing at what you might be holding. As soon as they learn to pick up on how you bet with certain hands, you need to leave the table. If they can read you, the only time you will be able to get any action in the pot is when they are holding a strong hand too.

"I'm particularly happy to be doing this project because, to be honest, there really isn't a lot of high quality poker instruction out there available for free. This is mostly due to the fact that those who are any good at this, and even a lot that aren't, are charging for their services. That's fine for those who are at the stage where they can afford to spend the money, but for many players, particularly those just starting out, this isn't really an option.

Players in this situation probably need good quality help the most though, and really don't have anywhere to go to get it, besides getting a few basic things here and there. This isn't anywhere near enough to get players in a position to succeed, and far too many just end up losing money over and over again until they get frustrated and end up giving up. For those who do end up lasting, they end up struggling way too much along the way, spend way too much money losing to others while they learn the game, and take way too much time to do it.

I've found though, through doing this over the last seven years and working with a lot of students, that having the right guidance can make a huge difference. The first step is to get to where you're not losing money anymore, or if you're brand new, shortening this phase as much as possible. Then you can continue to work on improving your game, and move up the levels to where you're starting to make some real money at this. I think that pretty much every player envisions this for himself or herself, but they most often end up not achieving it because they didn't get the right help.

I'm here to provide this for you, and am looking forward to putting together what will be the most detailed, comprehensive, and effective series of poker lessons available for free anywhere on the internet. Partnering with PokerForFree.org is a perfect fit as well, as they allow players to receive free poker money to make their step to real money poker easy, or to provide a free bankroll to them to get back in the game. However, the free poker money alone isn't enough, you also need the know how to make proper use of it, and this free series will provide that essential other piece of the puzzle for you."

We are excited as well and feel that once you work your way through Ken's lessons, their quality will speak for themselves, regardless of whether you're brand new or are an experienced player. Ken will be adding new articles regularly, so you'll want to check back frequently.

Play at Titan Poker

Play the satellite for the Irish Open n/l hold em freeze out tournament held every day at 16:00, 17:15, and 17:35, or at 19:00 every day except Sunday to get yourself a cheap ticket into one of the Irish Open satellites. The buy in for these tournaments is €30 + €3, and 1 seat is guaranteed for every €220 added to the prize pool from players' buy ins. The €10 + €1 turbo R/A tournaments are held on a daily basis at 23:25. And on Sunday at 19:00, compete for your seat in the Irish Open satellites in the €10 + €1 speed R/A. Each of these tournaments guarantees 1 seat for every €220 collected from buy ins.

If these tournaments are still more than your bankroll will allow, you can start at an even lower stake level to work your way up into the main event. SnG tournaments are held throughout the day that can get you started on your way towards winning a seat in the Irish Open. The buy in for the 10 handed SnG's is only €6 +€0.60. 5 handed SnG satellites are also running, the buy in for these tournaments is €12 + €1.2. Walk away from either of these tournaments victorious and move yourself one step closer to the €5,000 grand prize and your chance to be seated in one of Europe's most prestigious tournaments of the year.

If you're not already a member of Titan Poker, get yourself signed up as soon as possible so you can take advantage of as many chances to place yourself in Dublin for this tournament as possible.

Sign-up for BestPoker and choose the $2K bonus option using bonus code PFF2000, and you will be credited with an additional $2K in $1,000 increments. For every 8,000 player points you accumulate playing at BestPoker's poker tables or casino games, $1,000 will be credited to your account. You have 20 days to earn as many points as you can in order to receive this bonus after which the promotional offer expires.

Play at BestPoker

Choose the $1,200 bonus offer using bonus code PFF1200 and receive your bonuses in increments of $300 for every 2,400 player point you accumulate playing on the poker tables or casino games. With this option, BestPoker gives you 30 days in which to accumulate as many points as you can to receive the full $1,200 bonus.

The $600 bonus is released in increments of $150 dollars and will be given to you when bonus code PFF600. You must accumulate 1,200 player points to receive each installment of $150 until the full $600 has been released. You will be given 60 days to earn the full 4,800 player points needed to receive the full $600 bonus.

Sign-up for the $300 bonus offer using bonus code PFF300 and receive your bonus money in increments of $75 dollars for every 600 player points earned. The time limit to earn the full bonus with this option is 60 days.

Finally the two bonuses that apply best to players in the hunt for free poker sites, BestPoker's $100 bonus, and BestPoker's $50 bonus.

Make sure to use bonus code PFF100 if you choose the $100 bonus offer, your bonus funds will be released into you player account in $25 increments for every 200 player points earned. If you earn 800 player points in 60 days, you will have earned the full $100 bonus.

The easiest bonus to successfully achieve is the $50 bonus. This one becomes available when using bonus code PFF50. For this bonus option you have a full 90 days in which to earn the required points. The bonus is released in increments of $10 for every 80 player points you earn. Earn the full 400 points within 90 days and you will have earned the full $50 bonus.

All bonuses are paid automatically directly into your online BestPoker player's account as they are earned. So once you sign-up, there is no hassle in receiving the bonus, all you have to do is play.

Play at Celeb Poker

The Double Challenge

This is the newest addition to Celeb Poker's lineup of progressive jackpot tournaments, the Double Challenge guarantees at least a $1,000 jackpot. If you can win two tournaments in the same series, you win the jackpot. Finish in third place or better in both tournaments and walk away with a cool $200 in addition to your tournament winnings. The buy in is $5 + $1 and $0.50 of each tournament fee is added to the progressive jackpot.

Fort Knox Jackpot

The buy in for this progressive jackpot tournament is $50 + $9 and the jackpot is a staggering $50,000. It is no easy feat though, you have to win six Sit 'n Gos in a row to take home the jackpot.

The progressive jackpot gets higher throughout the week until somebody wins, if there is no jackpot winner in a week, the Fort Knox Jackpot rolls over to the next week starting at $60,000. If there is still no winner for the next week, the jackpot continues to climb by $10,000 each week until somebody wins. If you can manage to finish in second for six tournaments in a row, you walk away with a cash bonus of $750.

Rio Jackpot

The minimum jackpot for this tournament is $25,000 and increases by $10,000 every week until there is a winner. To take home the Rio Jackpot you must win six single table SNGs in a row. If don't win all six, but can finish at least second in all six tournaments you walk away with $300 in addition to your tournament winnings.

Maui Jackpot

In the Maui Jackpot progressive tournament you need only win five SNGs in a row. The jackpot starts at $15,000 and raises by $3,500 for each week there is no winner until somebody can claim the jackpot. If you can finish in second or better for five consecutive games, you win $200 in addition to your tournament winnings.

Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen jackpot tournament at Celeb Poker consists of two - six handed tables. The buy in is only $2 + $0.40 and winning four of these tournaments in a row guarantees you the jackpot prize of $2,000.

Keep in touch with the latest happenings in the world of poker with PokerStrategy.com's news page. You can find up to date content on the latest professional games, the most popular online tournaments and events, and even learn about the latest promotional offers being given away at any number of online poker rooms.

Whether you're looking to learn basic knowledge about the game of poker, or want to hone your skills with some more advanced strategy ideas, they have a number of strategy articles for you to look through. These articles cover everything from the basic rules of Texas Hold'em to the more advanced topics such as positional play. Just about anything you can think of, and probably plenty you haven't thought of yet. Learn everything you can, then test your knowledge with their quizzes to give yourself an idea of just how much you've learned. If this still isn't enough, check out their videos. You'll find tons of videos with some of the best online poker players around describe various strategy techniques, show you the do's and don'ts of poker, and take you through a number of game session reviews from their own games.

Join the coaching sessions and learn from the best. PokerStrategy.com has several scheduled coaching sessions in which you can learn from some of the best players out there live. Listen and learn and these pros teach you some of the most valuable information you'll ever learn about poker. You can even chat directly to them and ask questions. Make the most of this experience and learn everything you can from the best.

Refer new members and PokerStrategy.com will give you free money in the poker room account of your choice. Pass their quiz and you'll receive a free $50 deposit to any poker room account you like to get started on your bankroll. Join now and start taking advantage of the wealth of information available to you to take your game to the next level.

The top 500 players on the leader boards for each month during this promotion will receive entry into one of the best free roll tournaments Titan Poker has to offer with a prize pool of $2,500. The top 200 players on the Mt3 leader board each month win cold hard cash in addition to the free roll entry, with first place winning $1,500 each month.

Play at Titan Poker

However, you won't be able to just play several MT3 tournaments, finish 2nd or 3rd every time, and expect to find yourself toward the top of the leader board just because you played more tournaments than the rest of the pack. The idea here is quality, not quantity. Titan Poker is only counting your top 20 wins towards your leader board standings. So the better your best 20 finishes are, the higher you will rank up on the leader board.

At the end of the four months during which this competition takes place, the top 20 players from all four months combined walk away with the $5,000 WSOP experience package in addition to all their other winnings. So break out the lucky mouse, put on a pot of coffee, and get yourself registered into any of the scheduled MT3 tournaments Titan Poker has to offer. If you want a shot at the grand prize, you're going to have to dig your way through hundreds of players.

If you do not have an account with Titan Poker, now is the time to get involved. Make sure to use bonus code PFF500 on first deposit though. This promotion might last for four months, but if you don't get yourself ranked on the leader board ever month, the $5,000 WSOP experience package grand prize will be little more than a dream that you'll have to watch others live.

The first five levels win you entry into some awesome free rolls. Reach level one by earning only 5 points and win a seat in a $5,000 free roll. At 25 points you win entry into another free roll with a prize pool of $10,000. Level three gets you into a $15,000 free roll at 50 points. Earn 100 points and you're entered into a $20,000 free roll. Level five wins you a seat in a free roll with a prize pool of $50,000, and the prizes only get better from there.

Play at Party Poker

Once you reach level six, each following level earns you cash bonuses just for playing. In addition to your cash earned you get to keep your previous winnings, so the more you play, the more you win for simply playing, snowballing into massive amounts of free poker money and tournament entries for you. The cash winnings for each following level reached are as follows:

So, sign-up at Party Poker using our Party Poker bonus code PFF500 for a bonus up to $500, and get started while it's still early in the month so you have as much opportunity to win as much as you can. The promotion expires on Feb 28.

UB.com First Deposit Bonus

UB Poker offers one of the best first time deposit bonuses you can find in online poker rooms. New players can receive 111% of their first deposit (up to $1100) in bonus money which can be used to play any of the ring game tables, SnG tournaments, or scheduled tournaments available on UB. In addition to the match up bonus, new players are given free entry into the $1,000 new player bonus freeroll, which takes place every week at UB.

Want this bonus? Make sure to use UB.com referral code PFF1100, and you'll be playing for the big bucks before you know it!

Royal Flush Jackpot Bonus

If you're a fan of Omaha, then you'll love this promotion. UB offers royal flush jackpot pot limit Omaha tables, where you can win a piece of the jackpot every time you make a royal flush on one of these tables. As if that wasn't enough incentive, not only does the player who makes the royal flush get a piece of the jackpot, but every player at the table, as well as every player on every other royal flush jackpot table of the same stakes.

Just be sitting on any of these tables when a player hits a qualifying royal flush at your table, or any other equal stakes table, and you win! No gimmicks, no special rules you have to follow and abide by, just play like you would any other table and walk away with free cash if you or any other player makes the best hand in poker.

The player who makes the royal flush walks away with 50% of the jackpot. The rest of the players on the same table as the royal flush was made divide up 25% of the bonus, while every other player on every other royal flush jackpot table also divides up the remaining 25% of the jackpot.

Power Hour

Six times every day UB offers double earning on UltimatePoints just for playing any ring game, SnG, or scheduled tournament during the specified hours. UltimatePoints add up to free prizes and bonus offers, so take advantage of the Power Hours every chance you get.

PokerStars is offering anybody that thinks they can the chance to take down Victor "Isildur1" Blom in a high stakes, heads up cash game. The minimum stakes are $50/$100, and if you've got the money, and think you've got the talent, you can have your shot at the big time.

However, you don't have to be rich to get a shot at the Superstar Showdown with Victor "Isildur1" Blom. PokerStars has offered some satellite tournaments that you may participate in to win a sponsorship from PokerStars to take on Isildur1. The winner of the satellite will be given a $15,000 bankroll bring to the table and take on this online poker monster. The format for this promotional tournament is set up exactly as any other Superstar Showdown, but the stakes are only $5/$10.

The final showdown with Isildur1 will be a heads up cash game match of no more than 2500 hands. Whichever player has the largest stack at the end of the match will be declared the winner. Even if you lose, you will get to keep whatever you have remaining in your stack. However, if either player can manage to take the other's entire stack, they will be awarded an extra $10,000 knockout bonus.

There are two ways you can win your seat to the Superstar Showdown. Superstar Showdown Satellite Round 1 is a heads up tournament with a buy in of $10 + $1. One ticket will be awarded to the winner of each round 1 tournament for a seat in the Superstar Showdown Final. There is no buy in for the Superstar Showdown Final, you must win your way in through round 1.

PokerStars is also offering freerolls in which you can win yourself a seat to one of the round 1 tournaments. If you can battle your way through the thousands of players to win your seat, you may just be able to take your place across the table from Isildur1 for free... yes FREE as in Poker For Free.

What is so great about the 3D environment is that it holds the possibility of giving you more tells with which to read your opponent. For example, when you play a live table, one tell you might look for is when a player double checks their hole cards after the flop, turn, or river card is dealt. With the environment on PKR Poker, player's cards are not constantly set up on display for them, but rather face down on the table. If they want to double check to see if they just made that straight because they can't remember exactly what cards they have in the hole, their avatar shows them checking their cards again.

Play at PKR Poker

This is of course only one example of possible tells you can pick up from playing in a 3D environment such as PKR Poker has to offer. There are also emotional actions some players will utilize in an attempt to give you a fake tell. Well, this can also provide an actual tell. Often times players may not realize that they are showing you exactly how strong their hand is, but they think they're being sneaky. In fact, they may very well be being sneaky. If you can learn to manipulate your opponents by using the emotional actions that PKR has made available, so much the better. With other online poker rooms this is simply not an option.

The idea of creating a 3D environment such as PKR has done is one of the coolest things to happen to online poker since... well, ever! It gives you a realistic feel to the game and adds an element that other online poker rooms simply don't match up to. Curious about all the other PKR has to offer? Make sure to read our comprehensive PKR Poker review where you can find the details, see the bous offer, and have a look at some screenshots.

If you can't manage to win both tournaments, but still manage to finish is third place or better in both of them, you don't win the jackpot, but you do get to walk away with a cool $200 for the effort. The exceptions to that rule are: if the same player takes first place in both tournaments, and there is another player who finishes in the top three in both tournaments. In this situation, the $200 prize is not awarded. Or if there is not 100 players or more in both tournaments, the $200 consolation prize is not awarded for finishing 3rd in both tournaments.

Play at Titan Poker

The buy in for these tournaments is only $5 + $1, which is a great buy in price for a minimum of $1,000 jackpot in addition to the tournament winnings. Keep an eye on the progressive jackpot on Titan Poker's website. Every time the jackpot is not won, the jackpot for the next day just keeps getting higher.

New to Titan?

If you're not yet a member of the Titan Poker community, they offer some excellent incentives to get started with them. For your first deposit with Titan Poker, they offer a 100% first deposit match bonus to help you kick start your bankroll. In addition to the first deposit match bonus, you will receive four tokens to participate in Titan Poker's $2,500 prize pool freerolls.

Another promotion offered for new players is their $500 Beginner's Races. The top 100 new players on Titan Poker each week are awarded a share of $500 in cash and other bonuses. In order to compete for these prizes you must play on the Titan Poker "beginners" tables. New players are eligible to participate within the first three months after signing up with Titan Poker, after which time the offer expires.

• Titan Poker Bonus Code: ENPFF500 gets you 100% up to the maximum Titan bonus of $500.

The idea of home games online is something completely new and innovative to the world of online poker. Never before have we seen anything quite like it. Now you can set up weekly games with the same group of players. Hold your weekend poker games with your friends from work without having to worry about cleaning up the mess after. Hats off to PokerStars for this brilliant idea.

Play at PokerStars

To celebrate the start of the new PokerStars Home Games, PokerStars is offering everybody who participates a chance to invite one of the PokerStars team pros to join their home games. If you win the opportunity to have a PokerStars pro join your home games, you will receive an additional $1,000 added to the prize pool of your personal tournament.

To get one of PokerStars' pros in on one of your games your poker club manager must win one of PokerStars weekly freeroll finals. In order to qualify, your poker club will have had to play at least one game during the week preceding the freeroll with no less than eight players participating. So long as those terms are met, and your club manager can manage to win the freeroll tournament, your next private home game could have a PokerStars pro sitting at the table with you and your friends, as well as an additional $1,000 in the prize pool.

If you're interested in setting up a home game, check out PokerStars, download the software if you haven't already, and get yourself signed up to play home games online with PokerStars. Then have your blub manager sign up for the weekly freerolls and have an extra thousand bucks added to your prize pool, not to mention the chance to play a private game with some of the best poker players in the world of online poker.

The newest arrival to the list of FTOPS XIX series of events is a down and dirty heads up tournament scheduled to last for two days. The buy in for this tournament is $10,000 + $300 with a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000. This is sure to be an exciting event that we're certain will make a repeat appearance in the FTOPS series. Players will start this event with a 6,000 chip starting stack - that's 300 times the beginning big blind. Full Tilt Poker will be holding three types of satellites to gain entry into the 10k heads up event - an 8 player SnG with a buy in of $1300 + $25, a 4 player SnG with a $2575 + $45 buy in, and a scheduled tournament on Feb 6 at 18:30 eastern time with a buy in of $350 +$25.

Play at Full Tilt Poker

For all you fans of rush poker, there will be several rush poker FTOPS tournaments as well. Buy your way into event #20 for $200 + $16 and compete in the N/L hold'em rush tournament with Rush $400K guaranteed. Event #26 has the same buy in of $200 + $16 for another N/L hold'em tournament with $350K guaranteed. The most valuable of all the FTOPS rush poker events will be event #41. Buy your way into this one for just $100 + $9 and play for your share of the $600K guaranteed prize pool.

Mini - FTOPS XIX

If the FTOPS are a little out of your league as far as price range is concerned, Full Tilt also has the Mini - FTOPS series taking place at the same time with another $8 million guaranteed. The buy ins for these tournaments are noticeably less expensive, but the prize pools are still phenomenal.

Satellite tournaments are available for the chance to win a seat in any of the FTOPS or Mini - FTOPS XIX events, so take advantage of those and save yourself some money on the entry fees. A single win in any one of these monumental events can jump start your poker career, so don't miss out.

The first thing that is important to know is that in Omaha, you need to make a hand with two of the cards you were dealt and three cards from the board. This is different from Texas Hold'em and can make a big difference to the hand you are able to create. Sometimes it will go for you, at other times it will go against you, it is how you adapt that gives you the best chance of winning at Pot Limit Omaha.

Two blind bets come first

A game of Pot Limit Omaha is started with two blind bets that are made before cards are dealt and these blind bets create the first pot. These blind bets are made by the two players on the immediate left of the dealer and then the deal continues around the table following the playing of each hand. When it comes to the "big blind", it is twice the value of the "small bind".

After the blind bets have taken place, each poker player will be dealt four cards and these cards are dealt face down. It is common to refer to these cards as hold cards and two of them must be used when creating your hand.

Watch out for the minimum and maximum levels

The pre flop betting round is begun by the player that is sat on the left of the "big blind" and when you are playing Pot Limit Omaha, there are minimum and maximum levels that can be bet. The size of the "big blind" is taken to be the minimum level and the maximum level is set at the pot size after any raises have been called. If you feel it is not in your interest to make a bet, a player should just fold their hand.

Following these simple Pot Limit Omaha rules should enable any novice player to get a grip on the game and improve their level of play.

The term Omaha may mean a different variation of the game depending on where you are in the world but in Europe, Omaha tends to refer to the Omaha High game. If you are looking to master the art of the game and learn the best strategies, following the tips and tricks for Omaha High is the best option if you are a UK player.

Know the differences between different poker games

If you are keen to know the differences between Omaha and Texas Hold'em, there are a number of factors you should be aware of. The first difference is that in Omaha, a player receives four hole cards, whereas in Texas Hold'em, they will receive two. In Omaha, it is impossible for a player to utilise three or four hole cards in an attempt to disguise or distract from a strong hand. Equally, a player is not able to use four of five of the community cards in conjunction with less than two from their own hand.

These are the minor differences between the two games but it is also important to bear in mind that a winning strategy for Texas Hold'em is not necessarily a winning strategy in Omaha. In Hold'em, raising and then re-raising with a big pair is a sensible tactic but it does not transfer to Omaha. Omaha is a game where Straights, Flushes and Full Houses are likely to produce a winner, not a pair of aces.

There is a higher pressure at times in Omaha

There is also a psychological difference in the two games, with a large reason for this being due to more people staying in to see the flop. This can lead to pots becoming extremely large in Omaha, which takes a different style of mental strength and courage from players to remain in control of their decision making process.

Omaha is a great poker game but if you are thinking of playing it because you feel there are similarities to Texas Hold'em, be warned there are major differences between the two games.

It is apt that a notorious player like Phil Hellmuth would be representing this new UB offering being that 7 Deuce is the most notorious hand in all of poker. At UB.com's new 7 Deuce tables, all players who sit in are required to pay a prop bet of a set amount into a side pot to be won by the next player at the table to be dealt a 7 Deuce and then win the hand.

Being dealt a 7 Deuce is all left to random chance, but winning with that worst of hands is the farthest thing from chance. It takes a real poker savvy to win with a 7 Deuce, unlike holding the nuts, when it's easy to win the pot. The only stipulation Ultimate Bet puts on winning the side pot is that eligible players have to show the table that they were holding a 7 Deuce in order to win the side pot. In other words, if a player gets a 7 Deuce and wins the hand, but refuses to show the rest of the players after the hand is over that it was a 7 Deuce they were holding, the player does not win the side pot.

Players only pay the prop bet into the side pot one time, when they first sit in at a UB.com 7 Deuce table, until a player wins the side pot. Then every player present has to place a new prop bet so the side pot can start all over again. If a player leaves a 7 Deuce table before the side pot is won, they get to take back their prop bet with them when they go.

The 2010 WPT Festa Al Lago will be taking place this October at the world famous Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 2010 UB.com WPT Festa Al Lago promotion is made up of 3 successive rounds. In Round 1, you enter one of UB.com's ongoing WPT Freeroll tournaments taking place Mondays through Saturdays until October 10th. The top 100 participants in each UB.com WPT freeroll will win a seat in Round 2, the Weekly Final, held every Sunday. The top 100 participants in each Round 2 Freeroll will win free seats in Round 3, the Main Event, at which the sole $12,000 WPT Festa Al Lago 2010 prize package will be awarded.

The winner of the UB.com WPT Festa Al Lago prize package will get the $10,000 + $300 buy-in into the 2010 Festa Al Lago main event and $1,700 to apply toward traveling, accommodations, and expenses.

UB.com, formerly known as Ultimate Bet, is also holding special side events for a separate prize of a Poker Controller. Win your way into one of two Poker Controller Main Events being held September 19 and October 3 by performing well in one of the Sunday freeroll satellites leading up to them. A Poker Controller is a wireless computer accessory for controlling your online poker game without having to be strapped to your computer keyboard or mouse.

There's something for everyone in the PokerStars 50 Billionth Hand promotion, be you a new player, a VIP player, a cash game player, or a Sit & Go Tournament player.

• New players get to compete in exclusive First Depositor Freerolls, with 3 different freerolls each with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool.
• VIP players get to enjoy exclusive VIP Club specials with an instant $50 credited to your account in cash for every 3,000 VPP points you earn during the promotion.
• Cash game players get to race for an ongoing prize pool. Not a points race, like so many other PokerStars cash game races of the past, in this race all you need to do is be present at the table that reaches each million hand milestone when it's reached between now and the 50 billionth hand. The players at the table in each benchmark hand will get a cash prize based on their accumulation of VPP points over the course of the prior 50 hands, multiplied by $50. The winner gets his (or her) share doubled. And the multiplier for the 50 billionth hand, rather than being "just" $50, will be a fat $500. The players in the 50 Billionth Hand also get free tickets into the next World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, coming September 26, 2010.
• Sit & Go tournament players get to compete for another of the $1 million total guaranteed prize pool for the entire 50 Billionth Hand promotion. The winners of every one of the 50 Billionth Hand Sit & Gos splits a share of the total $50,000 guaranteed prize pool for all the 50 Billion Hand Sit & Gos put together. 50 Billion Sit & Gos are being offered by PokerStars at 4 different stakes, ranging from $1.10 to $55.

Play at PokerStars

The 2010 PokerStars WCOOP Reload Bonus is 20% up to $100 (or Canadian dollar, C$). PokerStars members playing in Euros or Pounds can also participate, with a maximum WCOOP Reload Bonus of £65 or €75. You have until September 11 to take advantage of this offer, so hurry and do it fast. All you have to do is making a deposit into your PokerStars real money account using the promo code "WCOOP" before one minute to midnight on Sept 11, 2010.

Play at PokerStars

Do so, and you'll immediately see a pending bonus in your PokerStars account of 20% of your deposit (up to the above-stated maximums). To clear that pending bonus and turn it into real cash, you just need to earn the requisite number of VPPs (or VIP Player Points).

You'll need 20 VPPs to clear each dollar ($1) or Canadian dollar (C$1). You'll need 26 VPPs to clear each €1 and 32 VPPs to clear each £1. Bonuses will be paid out in $10 increments (or 10 of whatever currency you're playing in), which means you'll need 200 to access each $10 of bonus.

Of course probably already know, you earn VIP Player Points by playing at the real money cash tables and tournament games, including Sit 'n Gos, at PokerStars.

The maximum WCOOP Reload Bonus for 2010 is $500. Upon having the bonus credited to your account as a pending bonus, you have only 20 days to clear and redeem as much of it as you are able to.

• First Deposit Bonus PokerStars

Meaning:

If you're an existing Full Tilt Poker member who has already made at least one real money deposit and has cleared either their initial welcome bonus or some other active bonus before one minute to midnight on September 1 (which means already), then you have already received your Fast $50 bonus offer. Notice that doesn't say you've received your Fast $50 yet. Just the offer. Read on... after explaining the other ways to receive the Fast $50 offer, we'll get into what to do with it once you have it.

Play at Full Tilt Poker

If you have yet to make your first real money deposit into a Full Tilt Poker account (which includes people who have yet to sign up for a Full Tilt account, and benefit from our free $35 Full Tilt offer) and you do so, as well as clear your 100% match welcome bonus, all by one minute to midnight on September 9, then you get a Fast $50 offer too.

• Full Tilt Poker Bonus

Lastly, if you are an existing Full Tilt Poker member who has an active bonus and you clear it by one minute to midnight on September 9, then you get the Fast $50 bonus offer too.

Once you have received the Fast $50 bonus offer, which you will get no later than September 10, you have until one minute to midnight on September 12 to accept the offer. Otherwise it expires and you win nothing.

Accept the offer and immediately start playing at Full Tilt Poker's tournaments and tables (Rush Poker included) racking up FTPs and cashing them in for pieces of your bonus, 10% at a time until, after earning 834 FTPs, you clear your entire Fast $50 bonus.