Best Poker Sites

My Poker Videos (Partial List)
WSOP-04(all events), 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 95, 94, 93, 91, 90, 88, 87, 86, 83, 81, 79, 78, 73 (please contact me if you have the missing years)
WPT-All Season 1 & 2
Poker Million
Poker Million Masters
Poker for Dummies
Poker After Dark
All Lederer, Hellmuth and Caro instructional

"Vince Van Patten digs up his poker roots" or Vince's Painful Secret: HE WAS BORN HAIRLESS!
(From hollywood poker forum)
"Vince Van Patten digs up his poker roots
He hasn't come a long way from sporting fake facial hair...
I started playing at age nine and was taught by my father. I watched him play in a weekly game, which was a pretty decent size for back then, when poker wasn’t as big. They’d play every kind of poker you can think of and often, I’d be up watching until five in the morning. At age 14, I was asked to play with them and I loved it. I was incredible passionate about it and I learned a lot.When I was about 15 ฝ, I went to Gardena in California, where poker had been legalized. Still, the legal age to gamble was 21, so I put on a fake beard and moustache to get in. No one said anything, but I know I looked like a freak. To this day I still must wear a fake beard and moustache to get in casinos and adult book stores. Obviously, my playing wasn’t top-notch then, so I was broke within an hour.I’ve learned though, and I continue to learn. While after a certain point, your playing may never get better, there are always nuances of the game you can learn. It’s this boldness and maturity that really contribute to your knowledge of the game. I know I've learned some valuable stuff from my mistakes and from being as hairless as a cueball.
To ask Vince Van Patten a poker-related question, e-mail me (Hairless Vince)!"


Newbies' Safe & Simple Strategy for 1-2, 2-4 or 3-6 Limit Holdem
You need A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K, or A-Q suited, to raise, reraise, or cap it. In short, just put more money in. If you have 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, any suited blackjack or suited 20-point hand, you can call one bet. But if it’s raised to you and you can’t reraise, you can’t call two bets cold; you have to fold. After the flop, you can continue if you have top pair (or could beat top pair), an open-end straight draw, or a flush draw. Anything else, you are done with the hand!


Low-Limit Holdem Starting Hands ( Ring Game/Cash)

EARLY

RAISE
Pairs: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, (R & RR) (TT) (R)
Suit: AKs, AQs, AJs, KQs (R)
Unst: AKo, AQo (R)
CALL
Pairs: TT, 99, 88, 77
Suit: KJs, QJs, JTs, ATs A9s
Unst: KQo

MIDDLE


3 callers or less in front
RAISE
Pairs: AA, KK, QQ , JJ, TT, 99, 88
Suit: AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, KQs , KJs,
Unst: AKo, AQo , AJo, ATo, KQo
CALL
Pairs: 77, 66, 55
Suit: Axs, Kxs-8s, QTs, JTs, J9s, T9s, 98s
Unst: KJo, QJo, JTo

4 callers or more in front
RAISE
Pairs: AA, KK, QQ , JJ, TT, 99, 88
Suit: AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, KQs , KJs,
Unst: AKo, AQo , AJo, ATo, KQo
CALL
Pairs: 77-22
Suit: Axs, Kxs-8s, QTs, JTs, J9s, T9s, T8s, 98s, 87s, 76s
Unst: KJo, QJo, JTo


Luck versus Skill in Poker

Most people today misunderstand poker. Let's be frank: most people know poker from the low-stakes games they now play (or grew up playing) with their family and friends. In these low-stakes home games, luck often plays a much bigger role than skill.
The money to be gained or lost in a home tends to mean next to nothing, and everyone at the table plays almost every hand to the end. The dealer's choice games are often nonstandard, even bizarre variations (often fun) where, for example, deuces, black kings, or one-eyed jacks (or all of them) are wild. In this type of poker game, people just put their money in the middle (in the "pot") and hope to make the best hand. Often, there doesn't seem to be much strategy or thought involved. When the evening winds up, everyone seems to agree that "Mark sure was hot tonight!" You don't hear anyone saying, "Boy, did Mark play great tonight. I sure am afraid of him at the poker table."
One reason why luck has such a big role in home-style poker games is that many of the skills used in pro-style games just don't come into play in a home game. For example, three of the more important skills that used are being patient in determining which starting hands to play, bluffing, and reading people. Patience, like discipline, is a virtue in many areas of life, and poker is no exception. It is in the nature of professional or tough high-stakes poker games that it is mathematically correct to fold a lot of hands right away. If you are playing too many hands (which equates to too many bad hands) in a tough poker game, you will often find yourself "drawing mighty thin," that is, trying to win by catching particular cards that are in short supply.
The plain fact is that if you play too many hands in a pro-level poker game, you just cannot win, certainly not in the long run and probably not even on just one given night, no matter how lucky you are. But if you're playing a lot of hands in a home poker game, you may be in good shape anyway, because the sheer size of the pot will wind up offering you odds sufficient to draw to an inside straight (add a nine, for example, to your 7-8-10-J hand) or another "unlikely to hit" hand. You'll usually lose, but when you do manage to hit the card you need, you're going to win a huge pot.
Further, the number of cards that can complete what you need in the late rounds of a hand in a home game is often larger than one sees in the pro game, because the dealer has designated various wild cards or rules that allow you extra draws or give you chances to buy another card or replace a card.
Because you don't see these big pots and people paying you off with weak hands in a pro poker game, patience is crucial there. In the traditional home-style poker games, patience not only is not as important but may actually clash with the "spirit" of the game —that "We're all here just to have fun and gamble." Playing a more technically informed style may win you more money in a home game, but it might also mean that you're not invited back the next time the game is held! In a casino poker game or an online poker game, of course, you don't need to be concerned that you might not be invited back.
Another key difference between home poker games and the games that the pros play is that bluffing actually succeeds in the pro-style games! In a home game, it's extremely hard to pull off a bluff, because you usually can't bet enough money on the last bet to get your opponents to fold. For 25 cents, someone who is convinced he is beaten is nonetheless willing to throw the two bits into the pot, just to see what you have, and, oops, there goes your attempted bluff. In fact, in most situations in these home games where there is a "bet on the end" (in the last round of action in a given hand), someone is always egging someone else on to be the "sheriff." "Oscar, you call that boy and be the sheriff this hand! We can't let him bluff us!"
In the pro game, bluffing is a sound strategy, because in the late stages of a hand there aren't many people who haven't folded. If you've been playing very few hands (that is, patiently), and have seldom been caught bluffing during a day of play, then when you do bluff, it's hard for those remaining in the hand to "call you down" through the last bet. Long live the bluff! Bluffing well is an art form. The bluff is one of the poker craftsman's tools that is seldom available to players in wild, friendly, low-stakes games.
Another important element in pro poker games is reading your opponents. Are they riding on "hot air" or the real thing? In a lot of home games, there is just so much money in the pot, relative to the size of the final bet, that it makes sense to call that bet. (What do you have to lose?) In pro poker, there is enough money involved, and enough actual thought processes are being utilized, that many situations come up where you can take advantage of a good read—which might arise either from your ability to detect weakness or strength in body language or from your ability to assess the implications of the betting pattern on the hand—and make either a good call or a good fold. But it's hard to read someone who hasn't really been thinking about the hand and can't possibly be nervous about losing $1.75! The skill factor in poker is much higher in the pro game. There is just too much at stake for anyone to rely solely on luck.
Let's take a quick glimpse at the high-stakes poker world. At this level, too, luck is a factor on any given day, week, or month, but what's different is that if you play better poker than your opponents do, pretty consistently, you'll find that over almost any two-month period your winnings have exceeded your losses. Furthermore, if you play better poker than your opponents over a six-month period, your results will have moved very solidly in the winning direction. Making a few well-timed bluffs each day will add up to a lot of money each year!
In fact, if an inexperienced poker player were to sit down for a few hours with a group of world-class poker players, he would have virtually no chance to win over even an eight-hour period. This very fact is why five or six top pros might be willing to sit down in the same game with this fellow and each other: the money that even one amateur is likely to contribute makes it worth their while to do battle with so many respected opponents.
Right now, as you're reading this, there is a $600–$1,200-limit poker game at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas and a $400–$800-limit poker game at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. There is a $200–$400-limit poker game in Tunica, Mississippi; a $100–$200-limit game at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City; and a $200–$400-limit game somewhere in New York City. They're playing no-limit poker in San Francisco at the Lucky Chances Casino and high-stakes pot-limit poker in London at the Grosvenor Victoria ("The Vic") and in Paris at the Aviation Club de France. In Vienna, at the Concorde Card Casino, they're playing $75–$150 Seven-Card Stud.
If that's not enough action for you, four nights a week in Los Angeles, there is a $2,000–$4,000-limit Seven-Card Stud game at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club Casino, with Larry himself often playing. In the $400–$800-limit poker game it's easy to take a $25,000 swing in one hour. In the $2,000–$4,000-limit game, where movie stars, former governors and billionaires play, it's not uncommon for someone to win or lose $250,000 in one night. In these "nosebleed" poker games (the term refers to the altitude of the stakes), strategy, discipline, calculation of the odds, and practiced observation contribute to a game that involves much more skill. Better play wins more hands in the long run.
Imagine facing down Larry Flynt in the $2,000–$4,000 Seven-Card Stud game at the Hustler Club Casino. You're sitting there trying to figure out if he has a strong hand or is full of hot air (bluffing). If you decide right, you will win $25,000, but if you're wrong, it will cost you $25,000. What do you do? You make a good read—of the situation, of the odds, of your opponent—and make an educated guess, rather than a plain old boldfaced guess! The chief difference between your home poker game and the games of the big players is the preponderance of luck in the one and the preponderance of skill in the other. In a game (the Flynt game) where winning just one $4,000 bet a night would mean an income of $16,000 per week (this game runs four days a week), one carefully earned bet can make a great deal of difference.
That's the way things look in the high-stakes "side game" world at large, but there is even more evidence that skill is present and important in high-stakes poker tournaments today. (When I say "side-game" world, I mean the nontournament poker world.) Why do the same people, by and large, keep winning poker tournaments year after year? They win because they apply finely honed strategies and tactics, calculate and recalculate the odds, read their opponents well, avoid becoming predictable, and know how and when to make a good bluff.
Some of the most famous poker players in the world today have made their names in poker tournaments. Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson has eight bracelets (titles) from the World Series of Poker at age 66. Phil Hellmuth and Johnny "The Oriental Express" Chan both have nine. "Amarillo Slim" Preston has nine WSOP titles, depending, as Slim himself would say, on "who does the telling."
If serious poker were a game where luck predominates, this would not and could not happen. Everyone involved would win about the same number of tournaments as everyone else (as tends to happen in slot tournaments or craps tournaments), and no one would make (or lose) any serious money. But that's not what years and years of proven, recorded results show.

HOW TO PICK AN ONLINE POKER ROOM
Online gambling is increasing at a staggering rate worldwide.
Total revenues for online gambling worldwide in 2003 were an
estimated $5 Billion – over 4.3% of all worldwide ecommerce.
The world's first virtual online casino, Internet Casinos, Inc.
commenced operation on August 18, 1995 with 18 different casino
games and is now publicly traded on NASDAQ. Most of these
online gambling companies are located outside of the U.S. to avoid
government prosecution. ICI operates out of the Turks and
Cayucos Islands and WagerNet is based in Belize. Site users can
either send cash through one of the companies offering secure
payment systems for the Internet or open an offshore account, a
requirement for Americans to use ICI's site. A number of foreign
governments have entered the business of online casinos holding
their sites out to people worldwide. For instance, the government
of Liechtenstein is operating an online international lottery in six
different languages, including Chinese. According to Rolling Good
Times Online gambling magazine, there are over 1300 gambling
related sites on the net and more are up and running every day.
The economics of the industry are amazing. While it may cost up
to $300 million to build a new bricks and mortar resort casino,
most virtual casinos can be developed for between $1 & 2 million
and will employ only 10 – 20 people as opposed to thousands for a
traditional casino. The industry averages about a twenty-five (25%)
profit margin, versus the typical U.S. casino, which ranges between
eight percent (8%) to sixteen (16%) of each dollar wagered.
Interactive Gaming & Communications International handled $48
million dollars in its first year of operations and has made a
staggering profit ever since.
In sum, an estimated twenty million people are currently on line
with a projected 160 million online by the year 2020. The major
online casinos register over 7,000,000 visits per month.
According to surveys conducted by the US government, the
majority of gamblers, 83%, play online, however, only a third of
that group plays for real money. In other words, the major
attraction for online players are casinos that offer free games. In
all, 28% of those who gamble do so online for real money.
According to a recent study 73% percent of those who play for real
money both online and offline lost money in the past month, while
80% of land-based-only players lost money.
If you’re wondering how safe your money is at an online casino,
there are a number of things to consider. Over the past few years
there have been a number of cases of winners at online poker
casinos being denied payment. Remember, as online gambling is
not allowed in the U.S., you have no legal recourse to recover
funds. My advice is to stay with well established online casinos
with an extensive track record and a reputation for paying out
winners. I list the largest & best known . All
have excellent track records, use well established software to
deliver the gaming experience and offer a wide range of tables to
select from.
You will be tempted sometimes by very generous offers of large
player bonuses from online casinos you’ve never heard of. Think
about it – if you started a new casino in a very crowded market,
how would you get the attention of potential new players? My
suggestion is to avoid these casinos. What good would it do to win
$10,000 and then find you can never claim the money? There are
numerous ‘systems’ being promoted that suggest you can use
these bonuses to multiply your winnings – even play for free.
That’s nonsense. Bonuses, if they are based on the number of
hands, will be returned to the house through the rake. Pick your
casino based on play quality and the volume of table options.
That’s the real key to winning.
I often get questions about how fair certain casinos are.
Electronic games of all types use random number generator (RNG)
software algorithm to determine card outcome,
the RNG algorithm is called into play
hundreds of times per second. The RNG has approximately
16,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible outcomes and, depending of
course on the type of game, there will be billions and billions of
outcomes that map into any set of cards. This ensures that all game
outcomes are completely random. There are no ‘hiccups’ in the
process you can use to beat the virtual dealer. The science of
random number generation is well established and impossible to
beat.
Here are a number of factors you can use to choose the best online
poker room.
Security and Privacy
You want as much reassurance that your credit info is safe, your
identity and contact info won't be sold and that game conditions
are as safe and as fair as possible (e.g. that the software isn't
vulnerable to manipulation; players aren't colluding because a
system of checks is in place; etc.). Secure servers are a necessity.
Sites should elaborate on the encryption system that they use. All
good sites should address the above issues to your satisfaction. Do
they discuss issues like their card-shuffling algorithm? Also, what
kind of RNG (random number generator) do they use? The best
ones increase the level of unpredictability in the cards being
played. What other safeguards do they have in place to prevent
game-rigging, collusion, hacker intrusions, etc.? You should
always read a site's privacy policy, including the small print.
Action
How many players log on to the games? Can you get action in the
poker game of your choice anytime, day or night? Do they have
diverse offerings with enough players to keep tables full? The
larger the pool, the more action you'll see in both game play and
cash winnings. I visit the sites at different times to see what the
overall action is like as well as the variety of players in all games
offered.
Gameplay
If your money and personal info are secure but the ease of game
play and visuals suck, then chances are you're not going to come
back. I look at the variety of poker games offered and keep a
close eye on how well a site creates a good poker environ-
ment. How easy is it to play? Converse with other players (or mute
them, if you wish)? Are the graphics and sounds fun? Interesting?
Can I play even if my system doesn't support the absolutely latest
graphics, etc.? Is all the information needed to play easy to access
and clearly stated? Some sites definitely have more appealing
gameplay than others.
Connectivity
How often does the game crash due to server issues at the online
poker room's end? How bad are the delays in transfer of info?
What about disconnection's? Are they repeated? Anything that
disrupts game play on a regular basis is going to be an annoyance
and a major problem (at the worst if the stakes are high and you're
on a streak). We realize problems can occur at the player's end
(with their computer and their particular ISP) but there's no
denying some sites are more reliable and offer less .downtime.
and other such irritations than others.
Cashouts
How much money have players won at their poker games? How
easy is it to cash out your winnings? Do they credit your credit
card? What charges are applied? How long does it take to receive
winnings? You shouldn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out
how to cash out what you've won and whether extra charges,
delays, etc. are worth it. Or have the patience of a saint. And we
like features such as email confirmations of the withdrawal
transactions verifying request, dates, and amounts.
Free Play
Testing out poker game play, environment, percentage, etc. helps
to familiarize yourself with what to do in the event of server
crashes, how well you've understood the written rules of play at
the particular online poker room, and the mixed quality of other
players you may encounter.
This is an important feature of any good poker site – playing
first for free , although I recognize that people play very
differently when they've got real money on the line.
Some sites make it easier than others to identify how to get in on
the free play action without submitting heaps of personal
information in advance.
Other Features
Some sites will let you choose a character image which becomes
identified with you. Others will track your game play statistics for
you. Some provide no charges for certain kinds of cash outs. Some
track the top players. Some allow you to beta-test new games or
poker tournaments in development. Others offer good poker
resources in terms of celebrity columns, advice, links, etc. We like
both access to quality information that's useful to us in playing
poker as well as convenience.
Online casinos offer players bonus incentives to come play at their
casinos. These are know as casino bonuses, casino promotion, free
chip offers, and although there are several other terms used to
describe the free money given to players by the casinos the bottom
line is that it's free money. Outlined below are a few descriptions
of the different types of bonuses offered by online casinos.
No Deposit Casino Bonuses
This type of bonus is offered to players just for trying and
downloading and trying the casinos software out. In general this
type of casino bonus is in the range of $10 to $25.
Online Casino Match Bonuses
With a casino match bonus the casino gives players additional cash
to play at the casino upon making a first deposit. If a player
deposits $50 in a 100% match bonus situation the player would get
an additional $50 to play with at the casino.
Alternative Banking Bonuses
Since online gambling transactions made by players may
encounter some rejections by credit card companies many casinos
have resorted to alternative payment solutions. These include
NETeller, FirePay, PrePaidATM and others. Some casinos offer
players additional bonuses on top of their existing no deposit
bonuses and match bonuses for deposits made through these
alternative banking methods.
WHICH CASINO DO YOU TRUST?
You can’t go wrong if you select a poker site that has been in
business for several years, uses established and accredited gaming
software interfaces and has a record of paying big winners in a
timely manner. There are thousands of
casinos with new ones opening every day. Great player interfaces
are a real attraction for players but in the end, if the casino doesn’t
offer a multitude of tables and traffic and doesn’t pay off bets
quickly, what’s the point? You can not go wrong with the poker sites I list. They are the
most highly regarded and attended of all online poker sites.
9:41 PM

General George S. Patton's Poker Thought for Today
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.”

May 01
Edgar Allen Poe's Definition of a Great Poker Player
From The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe
The measures, then," he continued, "were good in their kind, and well executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case, and to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the Prefect, a sort of Procrustean bed, to which he forcibly adapts his designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow, for the matter in hand; and many a schoolboy is a better reasoner than he. I knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in the game of 'even and odd' attracted universal admiration. This game is simple, and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a number of these toys, and demands of another whether that number is even or odd. If the guess is right, the guesser wins one; if wrong, he loses one. The boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of the school. Of course he had some principle of guessing; and this lay in mere observation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For example, an arrant simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his closed hand, asks, 'are they even or odd?' Our schoolboy replies, 'odd,' and loses; but upon the second trial he wins, for he then says to himself, the simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon the second; I will therefore guess odd'; --he guesses odd, and wins. Now, with a simpleton a degree above the first, he would have reasoned thus: 'This fellow finds that in the first instance I guessed odd, and, in the second, he will propose to himself upon the first impulse, a simple variation from even to odd, as did the first simpleton; but then a second thought will suggest that this is too simple a variation, and finally he will decide upon putting it even as before. I will therefore guess even' guesses even, and wins. Now this mode of reasoning in the schoolboy, whom his fellows termed "lucky," --what, in its last analysis, is it?"
"It is merely," I said, "an identification of the reasoner's intellect with that of his opponent."
"It is," said Dupin;" and, upon inquiring of the boy by what means he effected the thorough identification in which his success consisted, I received answer as follows: 'When I wish to find out how wise, or how stupid, or how good, or how wicked is any one, or what are his thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression.' This response of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the spurious profundity which has been attributed to Rochefoucauld, to La Bougive, to Machiavelli, and to Campanella."
"And the identification," I said, "of the reasoner's intellect with that of his opponent, depends, if I understand you aright upon the accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is admeasured."
"For its practical value it depends upon this," replied Dupin; and the Prefect and his cohort fall so frequently, first, by default of this identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather through non-admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are engaged. They consider only their own ideas of ingenuity; and, in searching for anything hidden, advert only to the modes in which they would have hidden it. They are right in this much --that their own ingenuity is a faithful representative of that of the mass; but when the cunning of the individual felon is diverse in character from their own, the felon foils them, of course. This always happens when it is above their own, and very usually when it is below. They have no variation of principle in their investigations; at best, when urged by some unusual emergency --by some extraordinary reward --they extend or exaggerate their old modes of practice, without touching their principles.

Digital Poker and Blackjack Books
I have a large collection of poker and blackjack ebooks. If you will leave your email address in the comment below I will be happy to send you a list of them so that you can download them from me.
Light At the End of the Tunnel (Finally a poker room!)
I am doing the moon walk and playing the touchdown "hey" song as I type. No, I didn't win the lottery but I feel like I did. After nine years of living in Thailand there are finally plans for a 2 billion dollar casino (WITH A POKER ROOM!) in Singapore. Their government finally oked it after years of wrangling. It will be built and managed by the same folks who do Crown Casino in Australia. POKER HAS FINALLY COME TO ASIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poker Room Etiquette???
First, when you win a pot you should gloat loudly and tell your opponenthow badly he played. Always be sure to tell everyone how well you play andyour strategy for winning. Always explain in great detail why you make theplays you do. Tell your opponents how well you read them and point out everylittle error.Secondly, when you lose a pot you should throw the cards at the dealer andin a loud voice complain bitterly to the person that beat you about what a badplayer he is.Third. Always ask for new decks and setups and constantly complain abouthow the dealer in the box "cold decks" you whenever he deals. Tell the currentdealer and everyone at the table you will never play on one of his downs everagain and not only that he can't even deal the cards without making a mistake. Even if he doesn't make a mistake wait patiently for some very minor infractionand then loudly complain about his indiscretions.Fourth. Don't forget to glare and stare at players and dealers and try tointimidate people with your mean callous disposition. Constantly mutter underyour breath, always speaking just loud enough so people can hear the fouleststream of obscenities that you can possibly think of.Last. When you miss your straight, flush or full house or fail to maketwo pair when necessary, cry like a little baby about how unlucky you are andhow you never catch any cards. Moan and groan about how unlucky you are. Always complain out loud about the odds against your opponent beating you. Never forget to mention that he had only one card in the deck with which towin. Tell everyone how you can never catch a break. Let people know that ifit wasn't for the complete morons sitting at this table, you would be winning alot of money. Tell them that the world sucks, and wonder out loud about howyou could be so unlucky. Tell them you are the best player in the room, yetyou are still losing to a bunch of idiots that can't even spell poker.All of the above are acceptable, desirable character traits for partakingin any casino poker activity.

From a hollywood poker advice forum (lmfao)
Vince Van Patten's Tip of the week! March 18, 2005
Hollay's question:How do you disguise a big hand? What's your technique?Vince's answer: Be extremely deceptive and contrarian; leave your ego out of the game! To ask Vince Van Patten a poker-related question, e-mail me!

Vince attributes his amazing poker insight (or lack therof) to dick ...(his dad, I think).


No fold'em hold'em
No fold'em hold'em games are indeed beatable. Unfortunately, the frustration level in these games is extremely high for skilled players who patiently wait for premium cards to play because when they finally get dealt a good hand, with six or seven opponents drawing against them, it seems that someone invariably gets there. But that isn't always the case. Two aces is the best hand, period. Even though they are not the favorite to win the pot against seven opponents, I still would rather have aces than any drawing hand. And when they do hold up, you will win much bigger pots than you would have won with fewer callers.In no fold'em hold'em games, you will have much bigger fluctuations than in normal games, which means that your losses will be bigger ... but so will your wins. You must remain patient and not sink to your opponents' level. You see everybody playing trash hands so you start playing trash, too. When you lower your game to your opponents' level of play, it decreases your chances to win because now you are playing the same way that they are comfortable playing. They like playing 4-3 offsuit for a raise!In the short run it is true that any two cards can win, but in the long run you will get punished by playing trash. Solid play will win in the end - you should be able to make more money at no fold'em hold'em games that you can make in more traditional games.
Some poker players are on lifelong losing streaks mainly because they never have taken the time to learn how to play well. Sometimes when you change a game or a limit, you may not be a winning player at the new game or the new limit. Conquering one game and one limit doesn't mean that you will be an immediate favorite in a new scenario. Some winning players deceive themselves in this regard, when in reality they may only be able to win in a particular game or limit. As you escalate the limits that you play, the level of competition also rises and the games are tougher to beat.Also sorry to say that if you normally are a solid, winning player, it is not unusual to go for six months or more without making any money at poker. Tournaments are streakier than side games, of course, because the luck factor is higher than it is in ring play.
If you're playing correctly and don't make any radical adjustments to your usual winning style, eventually things should work out for you. It is OK to change games, limits, or casinos, and I also am a big believer in "manufacturing" a winning streak - that is, get in a game, try to win a hand or two, and then take the rest of the day off as soon as you're a little bit ahead. Now you've broken your losing streak. It's a psychological thing that helps you to get out of your negative frame of mind. Having a positive attitude is very important: If you expect a negative result, you're almost never disappointed. On the other hand, if you play your best at all times and start scoring even small wins, you begin to regain your confidence. Positive builds on positive just as negative can build on negative.

Our Inner Voice
There's this guy who lives in Thailand and one morning, he hears a voice in his head. The voice says, "Quit your job, sell your house, take all your money, and go to Las Vegas."
He ignores the voice.
Later in the day, he hears the voice again."Quit your job, sell your house, take all your money, and go to Las Vegas."
Again, he ignores the voice.
Soon he hears the voice every minute of the day. "Quit your job, sell your house, take all your money, and go to Las Vegas."
He can't take it anymore. He believes the voice. He quits his job, sells his house, takes all his money, and flies to Las Vegas.As soon as he steps off the plane, the voice says, "Go to Harrahs."
He goes to Harrahs.
The voice says, "Put all your money into a World Series of Poker (WSOP) entry."
He puts up his $10,000 and buys an entry into the WSOP.
He goes to his assigned tournament table. The first hand is dealt and the guy is dealt As & Ad.
The voice says, "Go all in."
He pushes his entire $10,000 bankroll into the pot. Three players call.
The dealer lays down the flop which is 8h9h10h.
The voice says, "UhOh..."
Toke the Dealer!
In a 10-20 Hold'em game at the Mirage, a drunk was begining to get out of hand. "Well that was one shitty river card from you dealer!" he bellowed after missing a flush. The dealer beheld the drunk gravely; "Sir, there is a young lady at the table. If you don't control your language, you will have to leave." On the next hand, the drunk doesn't improve his set on the flop and loses to a straight. "Jesus Christ! Why don't you just light my fucking wallet on fire pinhead!" The dealer was absolutely at his limit; "Sir, I'm telling you for the last time; there is a young lady at the table! Control your language or you will be escorted out of the casino!" On the following hand, every player in the game wades into the pot. There are raises and caps on every card. In the end, the drunk sucks out an inside straight and wins the 10-20 pot of the month. The drunk looks out over his pile of chips at the dealer and asks, "Do you boys pool your tips together or do you keep them for yourselves?" The dealer replies "All dealers here keep their own tips." The drunk tosses two green chips at the dealer and says with a grin; "Well have a Goddamn toke on me, motherfucker." The dealer picks up the $50, turns to the young woman and says, "Miss, I'm afraid you'll have to leave the table."


Poker Monkey
A guy shows up at the Bellagio poker room with his monkey. The monkey jumps on on an empty seat and the guy buys him some chips.
As the dealer starts to pass the monkey by, the guy says, "Hey, deal my monkey in!" Everyone looks rather askance but they deal him in.
To everyone's surprise, the monkey picks up the cards and begins to play!After a few hands one of the guys says, "Say, that's amazing! Your monkey ought to be in the Guiness Book of Records!"
The owner says, "Nah, he sees too many flops and is a sucker for a check-raise."

My Odds Winning WSOP Main Event
What are the odds of me winning the main event at the World Series of Poker? Theoretically, if there are 2500 entrants, the unbiased odds of any player winning would be 2499-1 (against). However, some players are superior, while others are inferior, to the average entrant. This means that the actual odds on most players would deviate from the base figure. The vast majority of entrants face very long odds — perhaps 5,000-1, 10,000-1, or even higher. But what about top players? What are the odds of a world-class player winning the championship? The chances are substantially better than 2499-1, but by how much?
David Sklansky addressed this question. He assessed the odds of a top player winning at no greater than 50-1 (based on 300 entrants). “Even a superstar is at least a 50-to-1 underdog,” Sklansky wrote. “Excellent players (as opposed to superstars) are about 100-to-1 to win a championship with the current fields.”
Winning the WSOP main event is becoming more difficult every year. This is occurring for two reasons. First, the number of entrants continues to increase each year. Second, the main event has become extremely competitive — much more so than just 15 or 20 years ago when the fields were still limited to approximately 100 entrants and the elite players were easy to identify. Clearly, the disparity of years past will be blurred by the sea of bodies at the WSOP this year making this year’s task even more challenging.
Based on the increase in the number of entrants since 1998 , and Sklansky’s 50-1 estimate, the odds of a top player winning are probably no greater than about 175-1. This estimate also affects the odds of an “excellent” player winning — which is probably no better than about 350-1 in today’s fields. Therefore, superstars are about six times as likely to win as an average entrant. An excellent player is about three times as likely to win. A very good tournament professional might be 600-1 or higher.
It's estimated that about 50 players would fit into either the “superstar” or “excellent” player category (this too is debatable). Of course, the decision as to exactly which players should be ranked in the top 50 is highly prejudiced, since there are no clear distinctions between talent levels in poker, and every observer is likely to have a different opinion. Where I fit in this scheme is........

WSOP 2005 preregistration
Hmmm, I only need a bit over 100k to enter all events.....
Unless otherwise noted, all events will be held at the Rio, Las Vegas.
Event Date Buy-In Description 1 June 2, Thursday $500.00 Casino Employee No-limit Hold'em 2 June 3, Friday $1,500.00 No-limit Hold'em 3 June 4, Saturday $1,500.00 Pot-limit Hold'em 4 June 5, Sunday $1,500.00 Limit Hold'em 5 June 6, Monday $1,500.00 Omaha Hi-low Split 6 June 7, Tuesday $2,500.00 Short Handed (6/table) No-limit Hold'em 7 June 8, Wednesday $1,000.00 No-limit Hold'em w/rebuys 8 June 9, Thursday $1,500.00 Seven Card Stud 9 June 10, Friday $2,000.00 No-limit Hold'em 10 June 11, Saturday $2,000.00 Limit Hold'em 11 June 12, Sunday $2,000.00 Pot-limit Hold'em 12 June 13, Monday $2,000.00 Pot-limit Omaha w/re-buys 13 June 14, Tuesday $5,000.00 No-limit Hold'em 14 June 15, Wednesday $1,000.00 Seven Card Stud Hi-low Split 15 June 16, Thursday $1,500.00 Limit Hold'em Shootout 16 June 17, Friday $1,500.00 No-limit Hold'em Shootout 17 June 18, Saturday $2,500.00 Limit Hold'em 18 June 19, Sunday $2,000.00 Seven Card Stud Hi-low Split 2pm start 19 June 19, Sunday $1,500.00 Pot Limit Omaha 20 June 20, Monday $5,000.00 Pot-limit Hold'em 21 June 21, Tuesday $2,500.00 Omaha Hi-low Split 22 June 22, Wednesday $1,500.00 No-limit Hold'em 23 June 23, Thursday $5,000.00 Seven Card Stud 24 June 24, Friday $2,500.00 No-Limit Hold'em 25 June 25, Saturday $2,500.00 Pot-limit Hold'em 26 June 26, Sunday $1,000.00 Ladies Event No-limit Hold'em 2pm start 1 day event 27 June 26, Sunday $5,000.00 Pot-limit Omaha w/re-buys 28 June 27, Monday $5,000.00 Limit Hold'em 29 June 28, Tuesday $2,000.00 No-limit Hold'em 30 June 29, Wednesday $1,500.00 Seven Card Razz 1 day event, 2pm start 31 June 29, Wednesday $5,000.00 No-limit Hold'em-Short handed 6/table 32 June 30, Thursday $5,000.00 Omaha hi-low split 33 July 1, Friday $3,000.00 No-limit Hold'em 34 July 2, Saturday $1,000.00 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em 1day event 35 July 2, Saturday $10,000.00 Pot-limit Omaha 2pm start 36 July 3, Sunday $3,000.00 Limit Hold'em 37 July 4, Monday $1,000.00 No-limit Hold'em w/re-buys 38 July 5, Tuesday $1,000.00 Super satellite day (10am/3pm/8pm)* Pre-registration not available for satellite events. Registration must happen the day of the event. 39 July 5, Tuesday $5,000.00 No-limit 2 to 7 Draw Lowball w/re-buys 40 July 6, Wednesday $1,000.00 Super satellite day (9am/2pm/9pm)* Pre-registration not available for satellite events. Registration must happen the day of the event. 42 July 7-15th, Thursday - Friday $10,000.00 No-limit Texas Hold'em World Championship Event July 7-13: Rio, Las Vegas July 14-15: Binion’s Horseshoe, Las Vegas 43 July 11th, Monday $1,500.00 No-limit Hold'em 1 day event 44 July 12th, Tuesday $1,000.00 No-limit Hold'em 1 day event 45 July 13th, Wednesday $1,000.00 No-limit Hold'em 1 day event

You Know You're Running Bad When...
You Know You're Running Bad When...From a thread on rec.gambling.poker
The last thing you hear is, "His 6 plays, Sir." -- SYeates485
You are down three racks, and have no bad beat stories to tell. -- John Cervanyk
You raise under the gun and it's a family pot. -- John Cervanyk
The board is four to a straight flush, and you bet your top pair top kicker. -- John Cervanyk
At the river, players start taking turns guessing your hole cards, and they're right 99% of the time. -- John Cervanyk
On every bet, the other players first look to see if you are in or not. -- John Cervanyk
The guy next to you keeps telling you where the ATM is. -- John Cervanyk
You start to straddle under the gun because it might be lucky. -- John Cervanyk
You order a cheese sandwich at $1.10, and by the time the waitress brings it, you can't pay for it. -- Gary Carson
When there is a waiting list for the table you're playing at, and the list goes with you when you change tables. -- Gunmetal
When you would ask for a seat change whenever a seat opens up (any seat is better than the one you're already in). -- Gunmetal
When you ask the dealer to change the deck every other hand. -- Gunmetal
When you ask for a new setup every third hand. -- Gunmetal
When you steal your kid's lucky rabbit's foot to "protect" your cards. -- Gunmetal
When you start cussing out someone for calling your pre-flop raise with JQ (suited)... -- Gunmetal
When you start to wear a hockey goalie's mask to hide your tells. -- Gunmetal
Sir, you turned over your cards, and there is still another card to flop. -- Art Santella
Did I fall asleep? -- Art Santella
I really don't give a damn anymore, just deal. -- Art Santella
What did he beat me with? -- Art Santella
Can I borrow another $500 from you, dealer? -- Art Santella
When you leave the table to go to the bathroom and you look back, and see the dealer and all the players with their feet up on the table, reading the newspapers and waiting for you to get back. -- Art Santella
You leave a full table to cash out the few chips you have left after 6 hours and see the game break as you are walking toward the door. -- Ken Kubey
You call two bets cold with K-9 offsuit. -- Ken Kubey
You win a hand playing 5-3 offsuit in early position and the guy next to you checks your pulse. -- Ken Kubey
The only things you say all night are "Nice hand," "Well played," and "Chips!!" -- Ken Kubey
You promise the Omaha-8 dealer a $2 tip if you win any part of a pot and then have to give him $2 after the next hand when you get 1/6th of the pot with the nut low. -- Ken Kubey
You try a check-raise bluff on the river for the first time in a week and get re-raised. You fold and then the re-raiser shows you a bluffing hand that was even worse than yours. -- Ken Kubey
When you have a big stack of chips and you hear several players say, "At least the money is in the right hands." -- Richard Farver
The nice little old lady with the big pile of (your) chips in front of her inquires if you play here often. -- Linda Sherman
Nobody seems to mind if you get a peek at their hole cards. -- Linda Sherman
The DEALER tells you how he would have played your hand. -- Linda Sherman
People keep asking you what you do for a living. -- Linda Sherman
You stand up to split from a table solid with players, the board has a long waiting list. You gather your few remaining chips and in one voice you hear, "You're not leaving are you? You're gonna break up the game." -- Smokie
You start thinking that you should limit your play to Wilson software. -- Ashley
You start tipping in quarters to save money. -- Ashley
You eye the 1-3 game to see if there are any bad players over there. -- Ashley
You eye the slot machines because you know the house edge is only 7%. -- Ashley
You actually think about playing to YOUR left to take advantage of bad loose play. -- Ashley
You start to wish for a heavy smoker to sit down next to you so you can have a good excuse to leave with some dignity intact. -- Ashley
Your mind wanders and you start thinking about what a wonderful game HEARTS can be. -- Ashley
You catch a fifth diamond on sixth street, raise and reraise an obvious straight held by an awful player. Bet and raise and reraise on the River and announce, finally and loudly, FLUSH only to see that you have only four diamonds and a heart. -- Ashley
You're thinking: "OK as soon as I'm only down $500 I'm going home." -- Ashley
The people who were in the game with you yesterday are playing again, and when you enter the room they all say, "Hey, seat open!!" -- Llew
You raise on the river, get called by 2 players, turn over your hand and say, "Straight flush! Oh, no it's not..."

You Might Have A Poker Addiction When...
You Might Have A Poker Addiction When...From a thread on rec.gambling.poker
You don't get "road rage," you start driving "on tilt." -- Terrence Chan
You start classifying people on your life as "weak-tight" or "loose-passive," even when they've never set foot in a poker room. -- Terrence Chan
You can stack $10.00 worth of quarters into 8 perfect stacks of 5 quarters each in three seconds flat. -- Terrence Chan
You yell, "Send it!" at the ATM when you withdraw cash. -- Terrence Chan
You go out to a restaurant and tip the waitress the second she brings your food. -- Terrence Chan
You use the phrase "bad beat" when lending a sympathetic ear to a friend. -- Terrence Chan
The guy on TV didn't win the lottery, he had the "nut ticket". -- Terrence Chan
You drive 35 miles with a bad battery and know you'll need a jump when you leave. -- SYeates485
But you pawn your jumper cables for a buy-in. -- Gary Carson
You fill up your gas tank before going in almost like a savings account you cannot lose. -- SYeates485
You tip your wife $.50 when she brings you a beer while watching baseball on tv. -- NoPairKid
You intentionally start a fight with your spouse so you can righteously storm out of the house saying "I don't have to take this!" and head to the poker room. -- Claude
It's been more than 24 hours since the first time you told yourself "Just one more round and then I'll get some sleep." -- Claude
Your two ATM cards and five credit cards have all reached their maximum cash advance for the day. -- Claude
You figure if your family leaves you that will give you more time and money and you can move up to a bigger limit. -- Claude
You figure there's still another higher game to get you unstuck after you started at 10-20 and moved up to 15-30, then 30-60, trying to get even. -- Claude
You finally get back to even on IRC, check the log in the player info, and see you've been playing for 19 hours and 59 minutes. -- John Cervanyk
You get an invite to a new home game and play until 3:30 am. It takes a solid week of begging and promises to your wife to get to go to the second game, and you play until 6:00 am. -- John Cervanyk
You lose down to two chips and you still can't make yourself get up and go home. -- John Cervanyk
You check for new posts in RGP more often than you check your e-mail. -- John Cervanyk
Your kids are named Check and Raise. -- John Cervanyk
You have 12 games on your computer, solitaire, minesweeper, and 10 poker games. -- John Cervanyk
Your bathroom library consists of Card Player and Poker Digest. -- John Cervanyk
You are a charter member of alt.cheap.bastard but you have $600 worth of chips in your collection. -- John Cervanyk
The only reason you go to your in-law's for Thanksgiving is for the nickel, dime, quarter game after dinner. -- John Cervanyk
Or because they live closer to Oceans 11. -- SYeates485
You are having such a bad day at hold 'em that you decide to take a break... and play Omaha. -- Michael Geifman
The only time you play tight is from 11:40 p.m. to 12 so that you won't lose your seat before you can hit the ATM for your next day's withdrawl. -- Ken Kubey
Your sweetie gets a certain look in her eye and you think it means that she want to go to the cardroom. -- Ken Kubey
You have nightmares about your cards changing during the hand. -- Ken Kubey
You have dreams about poker where you bet food instead of chips. -- Ken Kubey
You fret over whether you should get a medium or large Coke at McDonald's, but laugh at the $3 ATM fee at your local cardroom. -- Ken Kubey
You play all night, drive home, take a quick shower, go to work, leave work eight hours later and go play five hours of live no-limit hold 'em. -- Ken Kubey
You have a poker chip in your pocket right now. -- Ken Kubey
You nearly explode your bladder because, "That next hand might be the one where I get back to even." -- Ashley

Luck In Poker
The next hand always is based on a nearly random shuffle of cards, favoring no one in particular. No matter what has happened in the past, the next deal always means a brand-new start for you. The cards don't remember who won the last hand. But even if they did remember, they probably would be too lazy to gang up on you. It takes too much effort. The cards don't conspire to favor certain players or to aggravate others. But streaks do exist. The Way it Should Be
But this is all natural. This is what's supposed to happen. This is the way it should be. Streaks are normal, not something to be surprised about. If you flip a coin 20 times and it comes out tails, tails, tails, heads, tails, tails, heads, tails, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, tails, heads, tails, tails, tails, heads - that's nothing amazing. There were six heads in a row, but so what? If the sequence came heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, that's peculiar. Each sequence is equally rare (just over a million to one against, in fact), but sequences with recognizable patterns suggest that something might be interfering with random events. There might be a bias - not necessarily, but maybe. There also may be a bias when you see long streaks, but probably not. Always remember that streaks are natural, something you need to learn to live through. If you don't, you will be unprepared to win at poker.
Luck has influence, but the longer you play poker, the weaker its influence. And the big secret is that the more you act as if forces other than fair and random distribution of cards determine your fate, the worse you'll do. If the game is honest, there are no mysterious forces to fear.
But your opponents will fall victim to the illusion of luck - and that's good. You just need to figure out how to take advantage.
Using the Illusion of Luck to Win Money
It's much better to declare that you're lucky than to let opponents know that you're running badly. If opponents truly believe you're lucky, you actually can see the fear in their eyes.
Conceptually, luck is the most powerful element of profit. But not your luck. It's everyone's luck - yours and your opponents' - that influences the way players will react. You can tap into their reactions to luck to make much profit. But don't trick yourself into thinking that luck is earning the money for you. You're earning the money because you understand the absurdity of putting faith in luck. And your opponents are losing the money because they do not understand this.
There is no guarantee that the cards will break even in poker in your lifetime. But if you have skill and you make each decision matter, you'll probably win even without your "fair share" of luck.
Even in life itself, things don't break even. Some people waste away in hospitals and other prance down pretty paths. In poker, it's possible for two break-even players to sit in the same $75-$150 game for a year. One might win $150,000. One might lose $150,000. It will be all dumb luck, but which one do you think will be giving the lessons? Which one will be taking the lessons?
Even if the cards do break even, other elements may not. Some of these other elements are: (1) whether you are able to find the best games; (2) the size of the games you're playing when you get your best and biggest cards; (3) getting backing for games beyond your bankroll; and (4) being in the right place when the "producer" comes to town to unload $10 million.
Good luck has great influence on your foes. They lose by calling more often with weak hands, because they can't believe what they're seeing. (Also, there's not as much discredit in being beaten by someone on a winning streak, so the weak calls won't be scrutinized if they lose.) They lose by not betting or raising with winning hands, because they're intimidated. If you think opponents stay out of your way when they think you're running well, you need to re-examine this. You need to make continual value bets and raises when you're conspicuously lucky. Opponents will call more. They also will be less likely to maximize their advantage by raising when they have quality hands. Both of these factors play heavily in your favor and dictate that you should go into high gear and bet and raise with small advantages. You've probably heard that so-and-so "knows how to play a rush." Well, now you know what that means. Nothing more.
Opponents tend to call more liberally whether they're on a winning streak or a losing streak. On a winning streak, they think that luck is with them and they should stretch their calling to take advantage. On a losing streak, they just don't care.
This means that you should value bet less often into opponents who are conspicuously lucky or conspicuously unlucky.
Streaks can be seen only in the rear-view mirror. They always are things that already have happened. They never have any influence on what the next cards will be.
Bet more liberally when winning; bet less liberally when losing. When you're winning, most opponents are too intimidated to try tricky responses to your bets. They'll usually call when weak and often won't raise when strong. But when you're losing, opponents are inspired. They play better against you. They raise for value when you least expect it. For this reason, value bets simply don't work as well - and often don't work at all - when you're losing.
Players who are complaining about their bad luck seldom bluff. So, seldom call. They would rather just show their bad hands and ask, "See what I mean?"
Never complain about your bad luck. Opponents won't be sympathetic. They'll be inspired. And they'll play better. Simply deny that you're experiencing bad luck. That's the road to profit