Book Review: The Zen and The Art of Poker

There are thousands of books on the subject of poker and dozens of good ones. Most good poker books have a learning curve that takes some time and practice for you to apply effectively. Learning to calculate odds for example; while it is essential to your long term success initially applying it to your play will slow you down and cost you money. The Zen and The Art of Poker by Larry W. Phillips is one of the few books that can improve your game just by reading it. Don't be put off by the title there is some solid poker strategy and advice that while it is deceptively simple; it is also the foundation for a long and profitable poker career. From the publisher: "Know when to hold, when fold...and play each hand like a master Zen and the art of poker will give the edge as it improves your game and show you how to: Fit yourself into the flow of the game Learn to use inaction as a weapon Pick you times of confrontation Master yourself, not the game Take the long view Play on instinct Prepare for worst-case scenarios Deal with losses, errors, and failure Avoid self-defeating strategies ...And more" The Zen and The Art of Poker is one of The Modern Grinder's most recommended book on poker for players of all skill levels. More from the Recommended reading list here.

Insider Tips For Finding A Great Online Poker Room

Even though they look pretty much the same and they’re all selling essentially the same few games, all Online Poker Rooms are NOT created equal! The differences can go far beyond the look and feel of the software. After you’ve played at several different rooms, you’ll start to see the tell-tale signs of a quality room as opposed to the “back alley” type. Here’s a few things to consider before you plunk down your money. The Number Of Players It simply doesn’t matter how great the software is or how many game variations Are Offered. If you’re sitting alone, staring at the virtual walls ...What Good Is The Poker Room? The great pokerrooms always have lots of real money players --- Playing! Cash Outs Don’t let a big bonus or huge game selection be the only criteria you use when selecting a Pokerroom. Make sure you understand how to cash out, where your money will go and how quickly you’ll get paid. Remember, what good is your bankroll if you don’t have access to it? Customer Service Before you purchase, know the customer service options. Is there a toll free phone number? Is there Online Chat (my personal favorite)? Or is email your only option? Make sure you can contact a rep when you need one. Here’s A Tip: Before You Purchase, Contact Support and Ask a few questions, Just to see how responsive and knowledgeable the staff is. Great Pokerrooms know how important Customer Service is and will make sure their reps are well trained! Bonus/Comps Free Money at sign-up is always nice! But, it’s really not very important. Remember, there are always play through requirements and the more “Free Money” you get the more you’ll have to play before you can actually cash it out. More important then a sign-up bonus is the ongoing comps that are offered. Poker can be a very exciting game, where you have a pretty good chance of consistently winning. Once you find a poker room that you like, chances are you’ll be playing there frequently. A good comp program can directly add to your bottom line! Ease of Use I’m including the entire poker room “experience” in this category. Starting with the first time you visit the site, through the download and sign up process, making a deposit, choosing a table and of course, the actual game-play. The easier it is to get all of this done the better. A clean, simple homepage and intuitive, easily installed software are important factors that shouldn’t be overlooked. And Finally... I’ve outlined what I think are the most important factors in any Pokerroom. Of course, you’ll need to consider your own factors also... For Example: * Do You Like Frequent Tournaments? * What Table Limits Are You Comfortable With? * Are You Interested In Multi-Table Play? An hour or so of research before you actually make your first deposit can go a long way toward improving your online playing experience. Featured Poker sites supporting US players: Doyles Room Full Tilt Poker Ultimate Bet About the Author: David Olsen has been writing about online casinos and casino strategy for over five years and is considered an authority in the online gambling world. His latest website is all about the poker and video poker. Visit it at: http://www.playvideopoker.us/poker_roomsDavid Olsen Read more articles by: Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Free Tournement Entry on Full Tilt Poker

Play Online Poker In addition to the all the great incentives that Full Tilt Poker already offers anyone who signs up through a link on ModernGrinder.com and earns 250 Full Tilt Points by November 30th, 2006 will earn a free $26 tournament entry with which you could win up to $7,000! Qualify in three easy steps: Click on any Full Tilt Link or banner on this site and download Full Tilt's software. Make a real money deposit and start playing. Once you've earn 250 Full Tilt Points fill out the this simple form. Read our Review of Full Tilt Poker Here

The Art Of Bluffing In Online Poker

Ah, bluffing. When you get it right, you feel like a master strategist; when you get it wrong, you feel like a doofus. Bluffing is lying, to put it plainly. To be more specific, bluffing is lying about the strength or weakness of your hand. There is a common school of poker strategy that teaches to play every good hand as if it were a bad one and every bad hand as if it were a good one. Now while that may be a bit too simplistic to be applied across the board, it speaks to a sound underlying principle -- you can win with a good hand and you can win with a bad one; it’s all in how you play. If you’re playing No Limit poker especially you’re going to need to know how to bluff (and as a bonus consequence, how to tell when others are bluffing). Bluffing is generally more effective in No Limit poker than in Limit poker because in Limit poker, you can only raise so much at once, and you can only raise so many times in each round of betting. A player in a Limit poker game is much more inclined to call a bet or a raise with a mediocre hand than a player in a No Limit game, and the main reason why is the size of the bet or raise. In No Limit poker, you can call “All In” at any of your turns and set the whole table on tilt. There’s just no equivalent in Limit play. Now to extend the conversation on bluffing to the online poker arena, there are far fewer methods of bluffing online than there are offline. The main way to bluff online is to place a humongous bet or raise (when your hand doesn’t merit it, of course). You can try a bit of “coffeehousing” or blustering over the chat window, but if your opponents aren’t reading the chat window (or have that feature turned off) you’re wasting your time. One way to heighten the impact of a bluff is to do it quickly and confidently. Though they can’t see your face while you’re doing it, like they could if you really were sitting across the table from them, but they can gauge how long it took you to come up with this maneuver based on how look it took you to execute it. You’ll find 3 basic types of bluffs at the poker table, online or off: The Stone Cold Bluff: Betting a huge amount right away with lousy cards; the choicest time to pull this is when you’re the last player to act in that round of betting and not much action has happened yet; The Semi-Bluff: Betting on a potentially winning hand that for now is worthless (such as four cards to a straight or a flush); it’s considered a bluff because it’s currently a garbage hand, but since it could turn into “the nuts” or the best hand possible at that time, it’s considered to be only a semi-bluff; Representing the Flop: Bluffing in two parts - first, raise a small amount in the initial round of betting, making folks think you have the beginnings of an excellent hand, though it seems clear you need to pull something useful on the flop to make it happen; in this round, you raise just enough to get the majority of players at the table to fold. After the flop, then, go ahead and bet a ton (maybe even going so far as to go All-In) suggesting that you just pulled whatever cards you needed on the flop. It takes nerves of steel to pull off a good bluff, but it takes even more than that to fold when you believe your opponent is bluffing. If your hand is weak, especially, then no matter how convinced you are that your opponent is trying to pull one over on you, you still want to walk away and save your chips for another hand. If you don’t think you can win this round with the cards you’ve got, then by all means you can try bluffing. But if you sense you’re being bluffed, make sure you can beat it before you go ahead and call it. Featured Poker Rooms: Doyles Room Full Tilt Poker Ultimate Bet About the Author: http://Poker-Ranking.com is the premier resource for online poker reviews. Visit http://www.poker-ranking.com for informative articles, poker rules, game strategy, and comprehensive reviews of over 60 online poker rooms. Read more articles by: Sage Kalmus Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Online Poker Tournaments, A Two Part Primer (Part 1)

If you’ve ever watched any of the number of Poker Tournaments on TV you’re probably aware of the excitement these tournaments can generate. There’s really nothing like going “all in” when you’re playing heads up, knowing that the entire prize pool is at stake. Well Tournament Poker is not just for the pros anymore. Your favorite Online Poker Room probably has a tournament going on right now. If you’ve never played in an online tournament here’s some things you ought to know. Anatomy of an Online Poker Tournament Most online poker rooms offer tournament play. A quick visit to their website will tell you everything you’ll need to know about their upcoming tournament schedule. Information like the buy-in, type of tournament, starting time is clearly displayed; you simply read the schedule and then make your decision. Here’s what a typical tournament entry looks like: 6:00 PM ET (10:00 PM GMT) 30+3 NL Texas Hold’em This simply means that the tournament starts at 6PM Eastern Standard Time, it’s a No Limit (NL) Texas Hold’em Game. The 30+3 is the buy-in. These numbers tell you that it will cost you $33 to play in this tournament; it’s listed this way to let you know that you will be paying $30 toward the prize pool and $3 to the pokerroom. To play in this tournament you’ll need to register sometime prior to 6PM. Registration essentially means paying the entry fee ($33). A few minutes before 6PM you should launch the pokerroom and login. Further details are specific to the pokerroom you’re playing at, but most likely you’ll automatically be taken to the tournament at the appropriate time. At the start of the tournament, everyone will have the same number of chips (1,500 is a typical number). Play will commence as usual, blinds, the dealer button and betting order will be handled just like in non-tournament play. As hands won and lost and chips are moved around the table, some players will lose all of the chips and be eliminated. The tournament will continue until one player has won all of the chips. That person will be declared the winner and will take home the largest share of the prize pool. Most tournaments will have more then one winner, some larger tournaments can have five or more. The final player will win the biggest prize; the second, third, forth... place finishers will each win lesser prizes. Any player that wins a prize is said to have finished “in the money” Poker sites supporting US players: Doyles Room Full Tilt Poker Ultimate Bet About the Author: David Olsen has been writing about online casinos and casino strategy for over five years and is considered an authority in the online gambling world. His latest website is all about the poker and video poker. Visit it at: http://www.playvideopoker.us/poker_roomsDavid OlsenRead more articles by: David Olsen Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Poker Tournament Field Sizes

With the advance of online poker, players are no longer relegated to choosing the only tournament available to them at their local card room. The excitement of tournament poker has been a driving force behind the new found interest in the game, as can be seen by the growth in tournament options and availability at all the top online poker rooms. While brick and mortar card rooms have traditionally been limited to 10 player sit & go's or small multi-table tournaments, the now unrestricted web software has brought together literally thousands of players to participate in the same events. Which size of tournament field will be the most profitable for your style of play can sometimes be difficult to discover without a lot of varied tournament experience. The different field sizes can be placed into four general categories, and each have unique features that can help the consideration of which tournaments are best to join. The smallest size of a tournament you can expect to encounter is a 6 to 10 player single table sit & go. Sit & go's are designed to start immediately when enough players sign-up, and their pay-out structure reward those that can earn a first place victory more often than average opponents. These tournaments accentuate player reading skills since each participant will be playing in many pots against the same opponents throughout the course of the tourney. Tournaments that have between 11 and 100 players are usually of the multi-table format, scheduled for a specific time. Online tournaments of this size are usually finished in less than three hours, perfect for those players that lack the endurance or focus to be able to play for too long. In bigger sized tournaments, between 101 and 300 competing players, having an advanced knowledge of hand values, game theory and tournament strategies is an important part of winning. In field sizes this big, poker hand situations are often encountered against unknown players that arrived from other tables, making it impossible to use our player reading skills. Any tournament with over 300 players is often a marathon of poker that will take many hours or even days to complete! Endurance is an extremely redeeming quality at the poker table in tournaments this big because players start to make bad betting decisions when tired. Players able to play their 'A' game over long periods will have a decided advantage in these larger tournaments. An honest evaluation of our poker abilities will help each player discover which tournaments are likely to be our most successful.There are many other factors also to be considered, but consistently choosing the correct size of tournaments for our personal style will have a remarkable influence on our results. Poker sites supporting US players: Doyles Room Full Tilt Poker Ultimate Bet About the Author: Shawn has been playing online poker since it's inception in 1999, all of his poker articles can be found at WinnersTable.com. Read more articles by: Shawn Somerville Article Source: www.iSnare.com