Internet Texas Holdem

Last week I posted a summary of the WSOP Main Event final table. The WSOP Main Event is the most prestigious event of all the casinos for USA players, and just three players made Day 2 of the final table. Pius Heinz was the chip leader with 90 big blinds, and then Ben Lamb and Martin Staszko were quite far behind with 45 and 35 big blinds respectively.

It became clear that no one was intending on sitting around as the very first hand produced one of the biggest pots of the tournament. After a series of raises, Lamb and Staszko got their stacks in with KJ and 77 respectively. Staszko won the flip, which crippled Lamb. Lamb never recovered and the WSOP Player of the Year for 2011 was soon out in 3rd place.

Stacks were deep, but no one would have guessed that the two remaining players were about to play an incredible 120 hands over 6 hours. Staszko started with a small chip lead when heads-up play began, but this was quickly taken away from him by Heinz a few hands in.

Heinz was able to keep this chip lead for around 30 hands, but then…

It’s been a very long, stuttering road towards legalized online poker in the United States. Ever since the UIGEA was passed in 2006, politicians and lobbyists have been working to get laws enacted, but none have proved successful. However, the winds are changing in Washington and another push for legal online poker is underway.

The House of Representatives has discussed online poker a number of times, with bigwig Barney Frank a consistent instigator of debate. By contrast, the Senate have not touched the issue since the original UIGEA was passed in 2006.

That’s all changed this week, with a hearing having been held to discuss the issue. November 17th played host to a discussion on the ‘Future of Internet Gaming: What’s at Stake for Tribes?’. As you might have guess from the title, it concerned the impact of online gambling on various Indian Tribes. It was designed to consider not only poker, but games like real money slots.

It’s almost traditional in the U.S. for Indians to run casinos and many are understandably concerned about the impact of online gambling on their lifestyles. The hearing was called to consider how the influx of offshore providers like the titan…

The World Series of Poker Main Event has been the biggest tournament in the world for as long as most people can remember. It is the dream of everyone to win it, from new players to talented pros on the PKR download.

This year’s $10,000 WSOP Main Event began with 6,865 players spread out over four Day 1s, and there were two Day 2s to accommodate those remaining from Day 1. In total there was 8 days of play and then everything was stopped once just nine players were left. The November Nine was scheduled for 109 days later on November 6th.

Bob Bounahra, Sam Holden, Anton Makiievskyi, and Pius Heinz had stacks with 40 big blinds or less when the final table got going. These stacks gave them a little breathing room, but they wouldn’t be able to sit around and wait forever. Martin Stazsko began the final table in the pole position with over 80 big blinds.

No one was eliminated until the 51st hand of the day. Holden busted by running AJ suited into Ben Lamb’s AK. Holden was out in 9th place, and everyone else was guaranteed at least $1,010,015 thanks to the…

Something people have come to expect and love about the World Poker Tour is that they are creating new tournaments all the time in different parts of the world. WPT Amneville is a great example of this, and it was hosted by the Seven Casino d’Amnéville in France.

The buy-in for the event was €3.5k, and 379 players put together a total prize pool of €1,164,288. The resulting first place prize was an impressive €310,633. Have you ever seen a prize this huge on the Titan Poker download?

The final table was so close but so far for a couple big name pros. Joseph Cheong came up just short in 11th place for €11,926, and Arnaud Mattern busted a little before that in 14th place.

The 6-max final table started on Day 5 with Scott Baumstein in the chip lead, a lead that he’d had since Day 2. This is a pretty impressive feat! When cards were finally dealt at he final table, Baumstein showed how he had kept the chip lead for so long: he loved to give action and play plenty of pots.

Even though so many pots were played, it was almost 2.5 hours…

Since the online poker best sites have been out of business in the States since April, live tourneys across the country have seen a massive increase in attendance this year. The World Series of Poker Circuit event in Indiana was no exception.

1,615 players showed up and put up $1,600 a piece, which created handsome prize pool of $2,349,825. It was the biggest field the event had ever seen, as first place was scheduled to win $393,584! I doubt that you can win this much playing a normal day on a Ladbrokes Poker download.

The final table started out fast and furious with Eric Crain’s QJ cracking Shawn Quinn’s AK in an all-in preflop confrontation, which sent Quinn out in 9th. The next elimination came at the hands of Bob Chow. He held JT against Drazen Ilich’s KK on a 983 flop and the two of them got it in. Ilich was ahead when the chips went in, but a 7 was dealt on the turn and he was drawing dead.

Joe Hebda didn’t wait long to bust after Ilich as the very next hand he shoved AT into Aaron Steury’s JJ. Steury faded the AT, and…

Over at the Bet365 Download there’s more than one way to add some cash to your account. The site, running on widely used Playtech technology, already has a huge selection of different games available, with Texas Hold ‘em obviously the most popular.

Well travelled players will be up to date on all of this info, but they might not be fully schooled on every way to squeeze the most cash out of the program. The Premium Cash ladder will make your good days even better. It’s likely to suit your online poker best interests.

Only those of us playing in the Premium Table cash games are eligible for this promotion. However, you can’t join up if you are not playing on Bet365, so you are shielded from the rest of the iPoker network. That includes players from the likes of the William Hill Poker Download.

Your bank balance will likely look a little happier after you make the switch. Bet365 are one of the best known sites on the network and so attract in a lot of recreational players. They are perhaps more popular as a betting site, so you’ll have a good time cleaning up all the…

To establish itself as one of the best Euro poker sites on the Internet, PokerStars created the European Poker Tour. San Remo in Italy was the last stop in the eighth season of the EPT that just wrapped up.

The tourney cost €4,900 to enter, and 847 people participated which created a rather large prize pool of €3,734,694. It meant €680,000 for the eventual victor. When I think of how much Deal or No Deal online I could play with that money, I get very excited.

When the final table started, Kevin Macphee was the short stack and Andrew Pateychuck was in fourth place. The final table bubble boy of the event was Johnny Lodden, a PokerStars Pro. Lex Veldhuis, another PokerStars Pro, finished slightly behind him in 15th place for €22,000.

Presumably card dead, Macphee folded the first 34 hands at the final table. He pushed all in on the 35th hand from the small blind with 56o. Barny Boatman, a poker pro, was not fooled, however, and called with Q7s. Macphee could not find his outs, so he was the first final table elimination in 8th place.

The chip leader of the final…

After weeks of deliberation, 2011’s Poker HoF inductees are due to be revealed before the start of the November Nine. Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson are the two names selected to receive the honor this year. This list of poker greats is operated by the World Series of Poker and will commit both names to the record on November 8th.

Anyone who follows poker will know the name Barry Greenstein. Known internationally for his appearances on TV, Greenstein is regarded as one of the toughest cash game players in the world. The proud owner of 3 bracelets and a pair of WPT crowns, Greenstein is no slouch in the tournament area.

Away from the poker table he is a well known philanthropist. For years, he has given his net earnings from poker tournaments to charity, only keeping the money he needs to keep himself in the game. This unparalleled poker generosity has earned him the title the ‘Robin Hood of Poker’.

Alongside the likes of Negreanu and Moneymaker, Barry has been at the forefront of Team PokerStars Bonus Code. Greenstein is also well known for handing out a copy of his book Ace on the River to any player…