Poker Online Series

Poker Room Reviews

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:34:50 +0000

Poker sites base their marketing efforts around big money tournaments and this is hardly any surprise as poker tournaments are the backbone of online poker. Some of the bigger poker sites have the ability to sponsor and host some of the biggest online poker tournaments in the world while other smaller sites concentrate on offering regular quality tournaments to their patrons to facilitate frequent play. We take a look at a few of the best tournament touting sites below.

Full Tilt Poker

One of the most prominent poker sites is Full Tilt Poker.com that offers millions of dollars in guaranteed money every week culminating in their Sunday $750,000 Guaranteed(which turns into a $1Million Guarantee on the last Sunday of each month). Many unique tournaments such as Bounty where players receive bonuses for knocking other players out are available. Cashout tournaments also exist where withdrawal from the tournament can be at any time and one still receives a cash prize equivalent to the value of their chips at withdrawal. Unique to Full Tilt Poker is the automatic dealmaker, whereby if a player goes deep in a tournament they can make deals at the table without waiting for support to arrive and this can take anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. This site offers tournaments in a variety of games such as Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Card Stud etc.

Player traffic is quite high and during peak times there can be up to 60,000 tournaments and 10,000 cash game players found at the money tables. The quality of players tends to be a bit tighter which even though it does not denote necessarily good players, they are harder to beat. The software available runs smoothly and is easy to navigate. Full Tilt Poker has one of the best bonuses-100percent up to $600 by either visiting the site or using the sign up code. Every few months, additional 50% bonuses are offered. Full Tilt customers support is 24 hours with fast response times.

Absolute Poker.com

This site runs dozens of poker tournaments with buy-ins for as low as $0.50. Small buy-in tournaments get a few hundred entrants with the owner getting about 300 times their buy-in. Absolute Poker.com offers tournaments throughout the week. If you prefer bigger stakes, everyday they run a $33 rebuy tournament with a $8,000 guarantee, a $55 one with a $15,000 guarantee and a $25 with a $10,000 guarantee. Sunday stakes are higher with a $30 tournament with a $100,000 guarantee, $215 with a $200,000 and a $130 bounty with a $40,000

The site is top of the log when it comes to bonuses even offering a generous sign up bonus followed by a steady stream of redeposit offers. Due to this, one can expect to find skilled opponents at your table but not everyone. Software wasn’t always their best selling point as in the beginning it would slow down an older computer but over time this has been looked into such that it wouldn’t prevent one from accessing the site. Customer support is also up to speed.

PokerStars.com

This site is excellent for total tournament volume as well as largest online poker tournaments week in week out i.e. they have over $6Million in guaranteed tournament prize money inclusive of their Sunday $1.5Million guaranteed tournament. Other notables include Super Tuesday ($400,000 guaranteed and $1050 buy-in) and Wednesday Quarter Million ($250,000 guaranteed with a $320 buy-in). Casual players can also be interested by playing the many small poker tournaments. They also offer tournaments in Stud, Razz, and Omaha etc.

Bad Beat Heart Breaker

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:50:14 +0000

Jay was dealt with pocket Js in the button. He raised and another player re-raised him. Jay then went all in thinking he could force the other player to fold but his bet was called. The other player revealed pocket aces. Jay was disappointed was his mood quickly changed in the flop when the dealer opened J-5-6. The turn was a 6. Suddenly, all hope is lost when the river came with another ace.

Ultimate Bet

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:47:35 +0000

If you’re looking for a low stakes game then go to Ultimate Bet. Their stakes start at $0.01/$0.02, $0.02/$0.04 and $0.05/$0.10. New online poker players can enjoy the loose play in this level. Players can start at the lowest stakes and once they get their game going, they can then move up the stakes. They also offer tournaments at the $1 to $5 range all throughout the day.

Relationship of Pot Odds and Winning

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:45:46 +0000

Pot odds refer to the ratio of the amount of the pot in relation to the amount of the bet required in order to stay in the pot. If a player must call on a $10 for a $30 pot, his pot odds are 3 to 1. To have a positive expectation, a player’s odds of winning should be higher than his pot odds.

If his odds of winning is equal to his pot odds, and he plays the pot for four games, his expected return is to break even, meaning the player will lose 3 games and win once.

Jennifer Harman

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:44:57 +0000

Being a girl in a male dominated sport didn’t hinder Jennifer Harman from succeeding in the competitive world of professional poker. She has already won two WSOP bracelets and has won at least $1.5 million in pot money.

She started her career when she was 21 years old. She had to quit her job as a bartender in favor of a professional poker career. She did it because it’s fun. She advises player to go to Vegas because that’s where the best competitors are. She likes playing cash games because it gives her the freedom not found in tournaments.

Doyles Room

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:43:51 +0000

Doyles Room is a great online poker site for low stakes players. They always have a $0.10 sit-n-go tournament all the time. Typically the blinds have $0.20/$0.40 limits. Competition is loose at these levels. Good for beginners. It also has regular tournaments that have $0.01, $0.25 and $0.60 buy-ins. There are also various tournaments with the $1 to $5 range. Visit Doyles Room today.

Sit-N-Go Early Stages Play

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:42:56 +0000

The first three blind levels are what are referred as the Early Stages of sit-n-go. A player’s goal in this stage is to survive. To do this, avoid limping when your hands are mediocre. Once you get a strong pre-flop hand, be aggressive. Raise at least 5 o 6 times the big blind. Also keep in mind that unless you have AA or KK, you must not go all in on the pre-flop. If possible, don’t bluff during this stage. During the early stages, you can fold every hand and still manage to be in the middle stages.

Betting in Low Stakes Poker

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:42:04 +0000

An average poker player will enjoy spending his free time playing online low stakes poker. Low stakes or micro-stakes games could also be used as a stepping stone to prepare the player for much larger poker competitions. When you win in a low stakes game, the prize is generally small but this does not mean that it is not profitable for the player. With your low buy-in amount, you can bring home as much as 50 times the starting amount.

The Cowboy still has no Major

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:39:47 +0000

Kenna James, better known as Cowboy in the poker circuit, has 12 career wins but has never won any major event yet. So far he has at least $3 million in career prize money. He has been a runner twice, first at the 2005 Legends of Poker and at the 2006 Party Poker Million.

Cowboy’s most recent win came at the 2006 L.A. Poker Classic where he beat Michael Mizrachi in the finals. He became famous in 2004 when he made four final tables during the Ultimate Poker Challenge. He won two out of the four.