POKER-ARCADE

Poker Pros Play Live and Online

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:18:30 +0000

Poker Pros Play Live and Online
Poker played at online poker sites is the way that many professional poker players are playing poker today but it is not the only way. Professional poker players still choose to play at regular online casino games for their poker action. Some players even do both. Is the game played the same online as it is in local cardrooms?

Hand Analysis from The Big Game with Andrew Robl
Andrew Robl discusses poker strategy with Kristy Arnett by recounting a hand he played against Daniel Negreanu on the PokerStars.net Big Game.

Heads-up Play Tips

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:36:04 +0000

Heads-up Play Tips
If you happen to play tournament online poker , then you know that heads-up play is inevitable. There comes a moment when there are only two opponents left at the table and they must battle each other for the coveted top place prize. Successful heads-up play requires both opponents to have some experience in texas hold em online poker at coolhandpoker.net, in general, and in ‘one-on-one’ play, in particular. While even the most experienced players tend to lose every once is a while, we believe that the inexperienced player would have a much harder time trying to achieve victory than his more skillful opponent.

The Gladiator Slots machine game is available both as a free trial version as well as for real money.

CelebPoker $9 Free Poker Money

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 05:54:07 +0000

CelebPoker $9 Free Poker Money
There is a new site offering a free bonus at Celeb Poker. The bonus is an up front $9 in free cash with a further pending bonus of up to $190, which makes this potentially the largest free poker bankroll available online at this time. The original offer was for $19 up front, but that was changed at the beginning of March, 2010. This bonus deal is available from CelebPokerMoney. There are a lot of countries that are restricted from claiming this bonus. You can see the full list on the CelebPokerMoney site. As usual, American players can not avail of this offer. See if you qualify: CelebPokerMoney No related posts. Written by admin Filed Under $19 Free, Celeb Poker, no deposit poker bonuses Tagged as , $9 free, $9 free money, big pending bonus, CelebPoker, CelebPokerMoney, country restrictions, free bonus at Celeb Poker, free poker money, no quiz needed, not available to Americans

Player to Dealer and Management Ethics in Poker Tournaments

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:54:14 +0000

Player to Dealer and Management Ethics in Poker Tournaments
Player to Dealer and Management Ethics in Poker Tournaments If you are required to respect the other poker players in the poker tournaments, be it a minor or major poker tournament, you are also required to respect the dealer and the management. The Poker Players and the Dealers Because the dealers treat the poker players who joined in the poker tournaments professionally, so should the poker players treat the dealers professionally. Before the start of the poker tournament, poker players agree to treat the dealers with a professional attitude as well as a respectful demeanor. If a dealer has decided against what a poker player wants, the player can ask the dealer about his decision but never with personal hostility. It cannot be helped that the dealers might commit mistakes and errors, and the players can always bring this to the attention of the dealer. But the player should never use any foul language or aggressive behavior in front of the dealer when discussing the decision. Likewise, the dealers themselves should treat the poker players equally and implement the poker tournaments rules constantly, not giving deference to a poker player over the others. The dealers must never put a stake on a poker players hands and financial outcome. This is strictly prohibited as this promotes biased and prejudiced treatment, making it an unfair fight for the other players. To avoid controversy and further squabbles, the poker players and the dealers must report any inappropriate behavior at the poker table to a supervisor. The Poker Players and the Management The poker players who have joined in the poker tournament should always respect the management and should always employ a professional manner towards the management because the management will always extend the same courtesy towards its players. There will be times when a decision the management has made might not work with what a poker player wants. The decision will be discussed by the management and the poker player, but the player should refrain from making any denigrating remarks during the poker tournament about the management until an official report has been filed to the poker tournament director or at least to his representative. A poker player can definitely question a decision the management has made, but this should be done in a very professional manner and without any personal hostility towards the management. The complaint should be submitted and should only be discussed with the appropriate supervisor or manager, but never in front of other poker players. Likewise, no foul language should be used.

CarbonPoker Exclusive $25,000 Freeroll

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:54:17 +0000

CarbonPoker Exclusive $25,000 Freeroll
Home>Latest Promotions>Poker Promotions An exclusive event that will get 2012 off to a great start with a lot of free real cash! Starting this Sunday, January 29th CarbonPoker will run qualifiers to their exclusive $25,000 poker freeroll to be held on Sunday February 26th at 14:00. FREEROLL Qualifiers From January 29th – February 25th inclusive there will be 3 freeroll qualifiers running each and everyday. Every qualifier will be FREE to enter and will award a seat into the 25,000 Bankroll Booster Freeroll to the top 10 finishers.Freeroll Qualifier Schedule: Daily at 13:30, 17:30 and 21:30.Format: Turbo, 5 minute blinds, 1k starting stack, top 10 advance. Please click here to visit Carbon Poker Promotion Date: 30 January 2012

Interview with Mike Matusow

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:36:08 +0000

Interview with Mike Matusow
by Steve Marzolf Mike Matusow, a card-carrying member of team Full Tilt, has been around the pro poker circuit long enough to earn his nickname as “The Mouth” a few times over. Most recently, he took third in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, pulling in just under $370k…and talking some serious smack in the process. But when we caught up with him, he had an ironic message for players out there: “Calm down.” You almost took it all at Bay 101 – what was that like? I’ve only played three WPTs in two years – one last year and two this year. I went down there and played really hard. I went down there hungry and wanting to win, and I played really well. But I wish I would have caught some cards against the lunatics, the ones who were raising and re-raising every hand. Tell us about that three-bet that took you out. I mean, he was just raising at every button, and I thought I had a pretty good read on him. I’d been re-raising and shoving on him left and right. I shoved on him with 2-9. He didn’t have to call me with K-Q. It was still 25 percent of his stack, even if he’s ahead. Most of the time, I’m going to have a pair or an ace there. I didn’t really mind the call, cause once it got down to three-handed, they were playing really carefully against me. They knew that if they opened too much, I’d just keep shipping on them. So they started folding a little bit and limping, and it looked like there was going to be no way I could get chips – especially as card-dead as I was. So I didn’t mind just shipping on him every time he opened the button. I was looking at his face and how he reacted to his cards. I shipped on him six times before, and he insta-folded all six. So I thought I had a tell on him. Maybe that time I just rushed it. You’ve consistently had good showings at WPT games. Yeah. I don’t play many. I don’t chase the tournament circuit anymore. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a losing proposition. It’s $750,000 a year to play on the tournament circuit, and you’ve gotta finish at least second in one tournament to make any money. You’ve been in the game a long time – what are the biggest changes you’ve seen? I mean, these kids play pretty good, but when it’s a deep-stack tournament, they’ve gotta know when to slow down. We were playing 100 big blinds deep, and they’re going raise, re-raise, re-raise, trying to outplay each other, playing four-handed. I was just hoping to pick up 8-8 or anything, but I didn’t even see a playable hand. I think the best hand I saw was K-10 offsuit. If I’d picked up any hand behind them, I’d have gotten all the chips. It was the greatest spot in the world – I was like in heaven – but then I was looking at 2-7 offsuit for like eight hours. What spurs that aggressive play? They’re all used to playing online where you have to 3-bet and 4-bet all the time to stay alive when the blinds get up there. When you’re playing deep-stacked, you’re supposed to just play solid and pick your spots. But these guys were ridiculous. They were so hyper-aggressive it was a joke. It fit perfect into my style. I had two playable hands in 154 hands, and I finished 3rd. If I’d won the hand I went out on, then I’d have 30 percent of the chips and who knows what happens? Where do you think the game is going long-term? I don’t know – there’s just so many good players. I think if they just want to keep running $100,000 buy-in tournaments, they’ll have everybody broke within a year. I’m not a big fan of those tournaments. Then, I was saying the same thing four years ago about the $10,000 buy-in tournaments. Everybody would have gone broke on those too, if they hadn’t been satelliting so many people in. You’ve been at this a long time – what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned? Everybody glorifies these people who play heads-up and win millions of dollars, but they’re going to lose it, too. Ain’t nobody who’s better than anybody else playing heads-up poker. Poker’s about playing and beating bad players. There’s definitely less bad players now – and there’s a lot of good players. It’s tough to win now; it’s a lot harder to make a living. Lucky for me, I don’t have to depend on it anymore. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to grind and make a living online or even live nowadays. It sure wouldn’t be easy. Have cash games in Vegas gotten tougher, too? The mixed games are still good, but the no-limit games are all dried up, unless you get invited to a house game. Poker has become a showdown contest. That’s all it is. It’s just because everybody tries to outplay each other. When I came up, it wasn’t like that. It was about making correct decisions, playing solid, attacking blinds and weakness…just playing good and solid. Now it’s all about three-betting, four-betting, five…Come on man. Tell me about your nickname – how often do you hit your opponents with the trash talk? Not much anymore. Though I did it down in Bay 101. Because I just got hot and started making hands. When people play bad against me, I talk a lot of shit. I catch some cards, I’ll rub it in their face. At the WPT, I had a hand where the guy raises under the gun, and three people call so I call in the big blind with Qd-4d. Flop comes 2-4-Q. I lead out the pot, and the guy who raised under the gun calls. The two who came in behind fold. The turn card is 7d, and I have queens and fours on the flush draw. I bet $4800, he makes it $11,000 so I move all in. He calls and shows me three sevens. And I said, “You gotta be kidding me.” Then it’s a 3d on the river, and I start screaming: “That’ll teach you to play bad against me, motherfucker. You get what you deserve. You’re an idiot.” Then I start berating him something fierce. I lead out into four people with a Q-4-2 rainbow. What do you think I’m leading out with, complete air? Like two sevens are any good there. What have you been playing lately? I don’t play. I went to Australia and won about a quarter million. Then I went to L.A. and played the cash games there for a couple weeks and won another $250,000 there. Then I went down to Bay 101 and cashed $370k there. So it’s been a good year.

Strategy with Kristy: Jonathan Little Discusses His Poker Strategy Book

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:00:09 +0000

Strategy with Kristy: Jonathan Little Discusses His Poker Strategy Book
March 29 2012, Kristy Arnett Related Articles Strategy with Kristy: Randal Flowers Discusses Bluffing Preflop Strategy with Kristy: Reid Young Discusses Showdown Value Strategy with Kristy: Tax Time Related Players Share It Tags General Poker, Poker Players, Poker Strategy, PokerNews Podcast, PokerNews Strategy, Tournament Strategy, Jonathan Little Print Jonathan Little has not only won more than $5 million in online and live tournaments, but has also penned Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker Volume I and II, with the latter book having been released a few weeks ago. Both books were written in one three-week period, but publishers thought it best to release them in two parts. Little says the first volume focused on teaching fundamentals and basics, and that Volume Two goes into how to correctly apply the basics learned in Volume One. On this week’s Strategy with Kristy podcast, Little discusses a few key topics in Volume II. Here is a snippet from the interview: You have a section in the book about tells. Can you talk about a few basic tells? First, I’ll talk about why tells don’t really matter if you don’t know how to play well and you’re making fundamental blunders in a hand. If you have a tell that your opponent has a strong hand, it doesn’t really matter that much if you’re going to be vastly overplaying your hands or playing too tight. A tell should generally shift a really close call into a fold or a really close call into a raise, or something like that. It should help sway the borderline decisions. Your really standard decisions shouldn’t really sway too much unless your opponent just has a blatantly clear tell. For example, if a player starts breathing really hard when he has a good hand. That’s sort of a basic tell that a lot of players, even competent players, will do. They’ll start breathing really heavy whenever they have a strong hand or they’ll start blinking a lot whenever they have a weak hand. I outline quite a few of these tells in the book. They are pretty much what I’ve observed at the poker tables and also discussed with other poker players. They are all pretty good standard tells that most people don’t control or don’t think about controlling. Can you explain what a reverse tell is and what you think about them? Reverse tells are when you’re trying to throw off someone who knows the basic tells. I generally don’t do reverse tells too often because I think they’re kind of fishy in general. Podcast Powered By Podbean Tune in every week for new episodes of Strategy with Kristy. Feel free to send in questions, ideas or suggestions for the podcast to kristy@pokernews.com. Also remember to follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. Follow Kristy Arnett on Comments

Dealing with Sore Losers

admin — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 08:36:20 +0000

Dealing with Sore Losers
Once in your poker playing life, youll come across one or more players that simply cant step to the beat of losing and winning. These people are those who probably think they should win simply because their opponents seemed to be winning the entire day, which is not a good excuse for losing badly in poker matches. Sometimes, these people are players of online poker who is relatively vulnerable to tilts and emotional overload. These people attitude can range from mildly annoying to downright nasty. Playing with these kinds of players is not a major issue in online poker. It is something poker sharks are actually waiting for to have players make a fool out of themselves and waste even more money on aggressive behavior. While you can very much take advantage of this emotional weakness in a live table, it pays to know what should be done when youre opponents emotional barometer go into overdrive. Take Advantage Live poker matches allows you to put all of your abilities to full use because it allows you to see, hear, and feel the way your opponents play the game (while possible, it is not recommended that you smell or taste your opponent). This is the main source of players frustration because, like we all know, some players are more adept in shuffling cards than in winning a dealt hand. This reaction is normal, but not all players can control it, and those who do have the upper hand in terms of winning in poker matches. You can exploit these weaknesses. You dont even have to provoke him to increase his anger. Emotional outbursts allow you more time to study your hand and more opportunities to study his behavior. Learn how he deals with a strong or a weak hand based on the way his body reacts to a dealt hand. If you have established the pattern and make considerably good choices of moves on the information that you have, you can own the player until he becomes conscious of what he has been doing, or until he ran out of chips to spend. Protect Yourself Sometimes, the emotional outburst become either disruptive or threatening steps are needed to be directed in response to it. While it is tempting to resolve the issue by shoving a closed fist into the perpetrators open mouth, it pays to let the dealer know about the commotion and seek help from him. He and the casino people can deal with unpleasant behavior better than a closed fist. For your part, remember how costly it is to tilt, so better keep your emotional bearings in check and let the casino people do its job.

Secret Santa

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:54:06 +0000

Secret Santa
Americas Cardroom are dropping up to $15,000 in cash and prizes on every poker player from December 2011 untilJanuary 2012. All YOU need to do is collect FPPs (Frequent Player Points) at Americas Cardroom to win. Youll earn one FPP for every cent you generate in rake. Please click here to visit Americas Cardroom Promotion Date: 06 December 2011 Subscribe to this poker promotions feed

Interview with Vanessa Rousso

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:00:12 +0000

Interview with Vanessa Rousso
by Steve Marzolf As a lawyer, poker pro and self-described “huge dork,” Vanessa Rousso has made a name for herself in tournament poker, earning more than $3.7 million since 2006. Lately, she’s been repping for PokerStars and running poker “boot camps” to raise up the next crop of winning players. We called Vanessa up to talk about her tactics for surviving – and thriving – in the high-pressure world of large-buy-in tournaments. So you’re primarily a tournament player? I would say I’m only a tournament player. I can play a cash game or two. But to be honest with you, I play so many tournaments as it is, that if I play cash games too, it’s just too much poker. I like to have balance in my life, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to play tournaments, cash games and do all the other things I like to do. Mike Matusow was complaining to us that high-buy-in tourneys have gotten too risky to profit on – what do you think of that statement? My results are skewed toward high buy-ins. I find that in the smaller buy-ins, I don’t do as well. The higher the buy-in, the more pressure and the better I play. I guess my own particular strategies are more suited to high-buy-in events against better players. So, for me, I’d rather play fewer events that are higher buy-in. What do you think it is about your style that matches up so well with those events? I think it’s probably rooted in logical ability. Basically, the higher the buy-in, the deeper the chip stacks, right? So, there’s more opportunity for telling stories with your bets and raises, and there’s more opportunity for tricking and trapping your opponents. In smaller buy-ins, you have to play more ABC optimally and just exploit the mistakes your opponents are making. At the higher levels, you’re not really waiting for your opponents to make errors – you’re more trying to trick and trap them. So it’s a little bit more of a mind game. I guess I don’t have the patience to play the ABC right way that I should in the smaller buy-ins, and then in the bigger buy-ins, tricking other thinking opponents is enough of a challenge that I give it my A-plus effort every time. But you cut your teeth playing sit-n-go’s, right? Well, I started off playing on the internet for free when I was in college, and then when I turned 21, I started playing live – that was when I was in law school in Miami. The first casino I played at was the Seminole Hard Rock down there, which had sit-n-go’s. I’d play on the weekends, and that’s how I built up my first bankroll. Why did sit-n-go’s work for you? They really had a definable, optimal strategy. Once you figure them out, there are only so many dynamics that can come up in one 10-person, set-blind-structure, $150-buy-in game. There’s just not that many ways it can go down. It took me a couple weeks to figure it out, but once I did, it was a formula that I could apply to that situation. And it was pretty consistent at making money. For beginners who want to follow in your footsteps, what sit-n-go advice do you have for them? I’m really big into reading the books and preparing for poker the same way you would for any money-making opportunity. People don’t just jump into investment banking without any schooling about it. I read like 30 books in a couple months before I started. Also, you need to be a lot more patient than people think you need to be. People come in to play, and they try to take advantage of the low blind levels to play hands that are a little more speculative. But really, the chips are worth next to nothing when the table is still 9- or 10-handed. For instance, many people may find that they double up or even triple up early on in a match, but then don’t even make the top three. Because that early on, those chips just aren’t worth anything. Therefore risking chips to accumulate those early chips isn’t worth it. It’s profitable to play much, much tighter than you think in the early stages. Once your career got moving, was there a moment when things really came together for you? I think it was when I came in 7th in the $25,000 buy-in WPT main event back in 2006. It was the first time I’d taken a shot on the pro circuit, and it worked out. I won a quarter-million dollars, and that pretty much launched my career. It gave me the confidence to continue playing the circuit. Then later that year I won another 400-some thousand in various events. So 2006 was really the big year for me. Can you describe the processes running in your mind when you’re at a game like that and trying to get a read on your opponents? Getting a read all boils down to two categories – are they comfortable or uncomfortable? Because, if they have a good hand and they’re an experienced player, that’s a situation where they’re going to be super-comfortable. Good players have had aces a million times, so their hands aren’t trembling at aces anymore – it’s just something that makes them feel confident. Whereas even a good player can get nervous when they’re in on a big bluff, because that’s a situation that’s less in their control. On the flip side, inexperienced players will be a lot more uncomfortable with good hands because they’re not used to getting aces, kings, queens. The adrenaline’s been released. And since beginners tend to think poker is a lot more about bluffing, they can actually look pretty comfortable holding nothing. Good players, though, know how easy it is to get caught bluffing. So, if you can put your opponent into the comfortable/uncomfortable category, and then determine whether or not they’re an experienced player, it can really help you decide whether they have a hand. Is this the kind of stuff you get into during your poker boot camps? Yeah. I break down tournament strategy into a logical formula and give people guidelines to follow. Rather than vague principles, I give them specific strategies to follow. Mostly, I try to simplify the extremely complex game of tournament poker. Some of the things they can expect to learn are how to use “M” in hand selection; I cover some advanced reading techniques; I cover some game theory and poker stuff, as well. If anyone’s interested, they can get more info at www.bigslickbootcamp.com.