The day I was released, I withdrew all of the money and bought a late-night bus ticket for Tunica, Mississippi. My plan was to lose the entire lot in one weekend playing poker, and have a good time doing it, throwing dollars around like someone with a fortune to burn. I didn’t know much about gambling other than the little bit I’d done for cigarettes with big men who took the bets down even when they lost. I doubted they played Spades or Go Fish in casinos. Didn’t matter, though. If somehow I got lucky and won a ton, I’d take it and disappear somewhere, spend the rest of my life coasting around. The house could either kiss or crap on my life and either way it didn’t matter. I wasn’t here to play poker online.
The Greyhound was packed from seam to seam with travel folk. It seemed like more than two-thirds of them were overweight, clogging the aisleways with their beefy limbs. I squeezed my way to the back of the bus into an open row directly across from the toilet. A small sign below the knob that read “OCCUPIED” announced that the unit was out of order. I took my seat and read from a newspaper I found wedged in the pocket of the seat in front of me. “Local man wins millions in World Series of Poker,” the headline said. Soon enough, I thought, when I had enough to get out that far, sure enough that’d be me.
Watching the WSOP main event displays the clear difference between casual poker online players and seasoned professionals. There are so many people in this event that are there just to experience the thrill of playing against the pros in the biggest event in the world, that they lose sight that they are so overmatched.
In one hand, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was involved in a 3-way hand with AK. They did not show the preflop action, but it is assume that one of the three poker players made a raise, and the other two just called. The man in earliest position has AK as well as Elky, who was in middle position. The player in last position had pocket 5s.
The flop came out: 3h-5d-Ks.
The first player, with Top-Top bet 155k. Both Elky and the guy with 55 called. This is interesting. Elky did not reraise preflop with AK or on the flop with Top-Top. What is more interesting is that the guy in last position hit his set and did not raise with two players already going after this flop. Flat calling is probably the right move with a set on a rainbow flop like this, but it’s allowing two interested parties to see another card, for free.
Turn is 3d. It makes 2 diamonds and pairs the board.
The first player with AK led again for 250k and again both players behind flat called. This is perfect for the 55, which now has a full house. He could try to raise here now, hoping that a flush draw might pay more money to see the river, but instead he checks, which is fine.
He should have value bet, or even shoved on the river, forcing the players with AK into a tough decision. There is so much scared money in the WSOP casino main event it is ridiculous.
You might think it would be a blessing to sit down at a casino online table where the guys are playing jack four regularly, but it isn’t always as great as you’d imagine. Though in playing solid and prospective hands, you’re often going to be a favorite going in against the guy who pushes too hard with middling junk such as this, but there is also an added consideration that when they are literally pushing everything, you never really know where you are.
Say you’re at a table where most every hand is a raise and a reraise before the flop. You pick up KK and it gets around to you and you raise the standard 3x to 4x the previous bet, or even more, in that you know you’re going to get action. A few players come in, and the flop comes down, all undercards. The other online poker players come out betting at you. Now, you just have to close your eyes and hope you haven’t been caught up to. Even with a rag board like 3 7 8 they could flop two pair, or they could just have blank.
Though the odds are that you are still good, you just never know. This makes the game of poker online, in this element, a gamble with good odds, but still vulnerable, rather than a game of mostly skill.
Must of use cut our metaphorical poker teeth playing five card draw. This is the most simplistic of the online poker versions, easily accessible to beginning players, and quick to master. The problem with being reared on this simplistic game is that it can throw you for a serious loop when it comes time to play one of the more complicated casino games. I’m talking about stud games of course, which feature bewildering mixes of face up and face down cards.
Stud games are different from draw games because you don’t get to hold all of your cards in your hand at once. Some are placed face up for the other players to see. This can be a really disconcerting experience that first time you play because you are so used to hiding your cards in draw games. You also need to bet far more frequently in stud games than you may be used to. These may seem like minor differences, but I have seen players freeze up at the table because they can’t get used to the other players seeing their cards. Try playing online games first so that it is not as rough a transition when you move to live cash games. If you are comfortable with the differences you are in a much better position to play well.
No matter how good a poker player you are, luck is always gong to have some say in how things will turn out. It can be hugely frustrating when you know that you’ve made all the right moves, all of your opponents have done what you wanted them to, but somehow you’ve been outdrawn.
I was playing a hand last week and was dealt pocket Kings, so I raised ten times the big blind to scare out all of the mediocre hands. Three other online poker players called, and I drew a third King on the flop, which came out an 8 of Spades-9 of Spades-King of Hearts. I chased out two more players with another raise, and went heads up with a player that I knew was a loose aggressive player. The turn was a 6 of Spades, and after he checked, I put my opponent on a pair of Kings and put him all in. He called, shrugged, and turned over his King-10 unsuited. I was mentally raking in my chips when the river showed a 7, giving my opponent a straight, and crippling my stack.
It’s tough to be outdrawn, because you can do ten things right, but if one thing (the one thing you can’t control when you play poker online) goes wrong, all of your hard work, not to mention your chips, goes down the drain.
Your mind is a powerful thing, and the more you know about it, the better off you are in the world. The same goes for online poker , when you understand how your mind processes situations, you can optimize your play and enjoy greater success on the felt. The brain is the controlling organ of your central nervous system, and is the command center for all the actions you take. If you want it to function at its best, you should do everything you can to take care of it. Your brain is tired after a long day of work, so you are less likely to do well if you play after working. Conditioning your mind for the task at hand is essential in playing winning poker online. All great athletes have a focus that separates them from lesser competitors, and as a poker player, you also need to master this type of mindset. Imagine yourself as a laser, thinking about nothing but making the perfect play every hand, and analyzing what works and doesn’t work. The brain needs rest in order to function. Sleep studies have clearly shown that performance falls off after many hours of sleeplessness, so going to bed when you are tired and returning to the poker online game when you are rested and refreshed will be much more profitable than if you were to try to push yourself and play straight through. By treating poker as one long game and not breaking it up session by session, this will be easier to wrap your head around. The importance of rest in preparation for poker play is generally essential to playing winning poker. Even if you just need to take a brief nap to split up your workday and your poker session, take it. It will be time well invested in your success on the felt.
I don’t know about you, but I always assumed that the Main Event at the WSOP of poker determined the true poker and casino poker champion. After all, it was televised, it had publicity, and it was highly dramatic. Little did I know, however, that my thoughts were entirely misplaced due to playing poker online. While the main event may determine the world’s best poker player in the eyes of the general public, it does not serve the same function for people in the poker community.
In fact, the main event actually has no bearing whatsoever on determining the player of the year at the WSOP. The player of the year award is given based on an amount of points accumulated by a player throughout all the different rounds of the tournament. As an interesting comment on the role of the common man at the WSOP, only ‘open; events are eligible for points, That means if the general public cannot enter it, it doesn’t count towards a players points total.
As for my two cents on the matter, I think that an accumulation in points over a variety of different games is a much more accurate reflection of a well rounded player than a fantastic play in the Main Event. It shows that they are predictably good at a wide range of poker games, instead of just being a one trick pony with No Limit Holdem.
While many are hailing the recently completed U.S. presidential election as a historic moment, as Barack Obama became the first black man to be elected to the highest executive office in the nation, there is one election that did not turn out good for online poker players.
In the state of Washington, Democrat Chris Gregoire narrowly defeated Dino Rossi, a former state senator.
Why is this bad for online poker players? Because during her first term, Gregoire became the first state governor to pass legislation making it a Class C felony to play poker on the Web. The punishment: Equivalent to that of a child molester and repeat drunk driver. Now those of you who don’t live in that state or in another country may not care. But as with the case of the Kentucky judge trying to seize the domain names of many online poker sites, what happens in these individual cases could set horrible precedents that would prevent law abiding poker players from around the world from playing online. Over her reign, Gregoire has taken away residents freedoms on the Net that are enjoyed by those living in all the other 49 states in the U.S.
Online Poker players worldwide must remain vigilant in protecting our rights and speak out against these types of injustices wherever they may occur in the world.
One of the most obvious side effects of poker addiction is significant debt. Mostly commonly, debt accrues when a gambler tries to win back their losses in the desperation phase of addiction. By continually throwing money at the problem, addicts can end up with a bottomed out bank account and significant credit card bills. In turn, credit card bills can accrue interest, further increasing debt.
The financial side of addiction can often cause severe mental problems for poker addicts. Addicts tend to worry about how they are going to repay their debt, and become frustrated when there is no apparent answer. In the most extreme cases, debt can even cause addicts to consider suicide as the only way out. Obviously, it is important to provide help for poker addicts before they reach this point.
One option available to gambling addicts is to restructure their debts once they stop playing. Often this process is achieved through a financial advisor who can give you the most recent rules about regulating debt. Many times credit card companies and banks can work together to create a payment plan that meets everyone’s needs. The important thing to remember is that there are always options available to addicts. There is always a way to manage debt, so do not let thoughts of debt stand in the way of your recovery.