Poker Room Hustle

I am glad to announce that the Newtown RSL Poker Room is set to re-open this coming week. The room was one of my favorite venues to play live sit-n-go’s, as it featured a nice amount of tables and you never really had to wait long to get a game going, it was consistently busy on a nightly basis. The PokerDome Network used to run the poker room but they shut it down a few weeks ago, since then i had migrated to Star City and layed off sit-n-go poker for a while as i couldn’t find a poker room that i seemed to like. Anyways i have been informed that the room is set to re-open on the 5th of June, so naturally i believe i will be adding sit-n-go poker to my schedule again. The proceedings will get under way with a $1000 Freeroll on this Thursday at 6.30pm and regular sit-n-gos will commence at 8pm. NPL and Poker HQ are taking over the room so the sit-n-go’s will be in a slightly different format than the PokerDome, this should be an extra benefit to the room as Poker HQ offers tournaments with low buy-ins e.g. $10 Sit-N-Go’s, whereas at the PokerDome you usually had to play a $30 game. For More Info and a Full Event Schedule visit www.pokerhq.com.au.

Absolute Poker is giving its players a chance to build their bankroll even quicker by offering its players the most lucrative bonus deals. Firstly Absolute Poker gives you up to $500 Free when you make your first deposit, whatever you deposit AP will match it in Free bonus money. The other offer that can considerably boost your bankroll is their 100% Reload Bonus, the bonus is offered six to seven times a month, No other poker room offers that many poker deposit bonuses to their players. The value of each bonus ranges from 15 to 100 percent, the highest of which goes to the site’s most loyal and active players. The way the Free cash is released into your account is at a rate of $5 per 30 points, points are earned through playing raked cash games or tournaments and can be accumulated fairly quickly. So head over to Absolute Poker, and take advantage of their rewarding bonuses to hustle up a larger bankroll.

Shannon Elizabeth is probably best known for her sizzling performance in the hit teen flick American Pie, She’s also stared in many other movies like Scary Movie, Tomcats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Besides pursuing her numerous acting ventures and engaging in her Hollywood Lifestyle, Shannon Elizabeth can be regularly found at the Poker Tables. Elizabeth describes herself as a dedicated poker player and claims poker is her “second career”, she has also been noted as one of the leading celebrity poker players. She claims to visit Las Vegas up to three times each month to participate in poker games with the top players of the United States.

Considering Shannon is born and raised in Houston Texas, I believe it is in her roots to play cards. She first learned poker by playing stud and draw games with her family back in Texas. She was introduced to the game of No Limit Texas Holdem later on her Hollywood career and at first she really disliked the game due to the lack of opportunities to draw new cards. However her views on the game were later altered when she began to get mentored from Poker Pros Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari.

With the Magician and the Unabomber as her guides, Elizabeth pursued her poker career with much intensity, playing in home games in Los Angeles and appearing on major televised events. She appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown, on Calvin Klein’s 2nd Annual Celebrity Poker Tournament, and played in many other celebrity poker tournaments.

Shannon has been one the most visible actresses on the worldwide poker scene, since making her appearance on celebrity poker showdown there has been no stopping this poker hottie. She played in the Main Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker and barley missed cashing in on the money, however she did win a special celebrity tournament celebrating the opening of a new poker room at Caesars Palace hotel in January 2006, beating out 83 celebrities and poker professionals to win $55,000. Her game improved over the years and in the 2006 and 2007 World Series Of Poker she ended up cashing out four times. Another notable performance put in by Elizabeth was at the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, where she managed to make the semi-finals after defeating some well known names such as Barry Greenstein and Jeff Madsen.

Elizabeth’s addiction with poker has caused her to intertwine her two careers together and she can be seen starring in the new Movie “Deal”. The Movie is about an ex-gambler who teaches an extremely talented kid the ins and outs of poker, leading him to the World Series Of Poker, the only problem is that his protégé proves to be his hardest competition. Elizabeth like usual, is sexually involved in the movie as she plays a Las Vegas Hooker. Aside from her movie and poker career Elizabeth has also appeared in some steamy photoshoots over the years, posing for Playboy and Maxim Magazine. Overall I think its pretty safe to label Shannon Elizabeth as a Poker Hottie, it is more than likely she turns plenty of heads every time she plays in a live tournament. However if you are still unsure, then check out the pics below, they should remove any doubts you have.

The Biggest buy-in tournament ever played on the internet took place on Full Tilt Poker this Saturday. The $25k entry fee pushed the total prize pool to well over a million dollars and the winner of the tournament, David Singer, banked an astonishing $560,000. Singer defeated a field of 64 runners in a series of six heads up matches between some of the top professionals and high rolling amateurs to be crowned Full Tilt Poker’s Heads Up Champion and win the highest buy-in online poker tournament in history.

Out of the 64 players registered, 22 were Full Tilt Poker Pros, and the event was hosted by Chris Ferguson in order to celebrate his NBC National Heads Up Championship Victory. Other Pros that were featured in the tournament included Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Eli Elezra, Patrick Antonious, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, David Benyamine and many more.

David Singer on his way to the final match deftead OMGClayAiken, Brandon Adams, buck99, mastrblastr and Brian Hastings, He clashed against whitlime in the final match of the tournament and emerged victorious. Runner Up whitelime recived $320,000, Both semi finalist Bloch and Hastings walked way with $168,000 and the rest of the top eight, Finddagrind , Ansky451, Mischiefofmagic and Mastrblastr all claimed $96K.

Visit www.pokerbloggs.com for a full summary of the Tournament.

Well if you can’t make to the World Series in Vegas this year then there is no reason to panic, as Full Tilt Poker is giving you the chance to be a part of your own Mini World Series Of Poker. With Over $700,000 in prize money up for grabs in over 50 events, Full Tilt Poker’s Mini Series Of Poker gives you the opportunity to experience the thrill of the World Series from the comfort of your own home.

The Tournaments will run from May 30^TH Trough till July 5^th on exactly the same days as the tournaments will be running at WSOP in Vegas, the buy-ins range from $10 to $500, allowing everyone to get a piece of the action for just 1/100^th of what it would cost to play in the World Series. Check Out the full list of Tournaments on their Website, you can also qualify for the tournaments for Free with Full Tilt Points or Through $2 Satellites. In addition to the amazing prize pools there is also a 2009 WSOP main event seat up for grabs, Play regularly and Go deep in as many events as possible to work your way up the MSOP Leaderboard and your play could earn you a $10K seat at the 2009 Main Event in Las Vegas.

So If you want to get the feeling that your playing in the World Series Of Poker while it is televised on TV this year then head over to Full Tilt Poker to capture all the thrill and excitement of the most prestigious event in the poker world. You never know you could even be heading to Vegas in 2009 for your own shot at the title.

Play Online Poker

I haven’t posted much hip hop tracks on the site yet and since the majority of the tunes i listen to are mainly from the rap and hip hop genre i think its time to drop some real hip hop gangsta shit. I don’t know what has caused the extensive delay, maybe its because of all the poker i have been playing lately, speaking of which, i am returning from a very nice session at the casino tonight in which i managed to hustle about $600. The big highlight of the night was getting my first ever straight flush, although i didn’t make a killing of the hand it was still a great feeling to make one the best possible hands in Hold Em. Heres how the hand was played out:

I was UTG and raised to $12 with 2 red fours, i get 3 callers and the flop comes 2,3,5 all hearts. Now i am holding 44 with the 4 of hearts so i have an open ended straight flush draw, the pot is around $50 and i bet $45, one player calls and the turn brings another 4 giving me a set of fours. I move all in for my remaining $55 and my opponent calls, the river was a 6 of hearts and i made my straight flush. I took down a pot worth over $200 and received handshakes and great comments from all round the table, it was hektik. Mind you my opponent wasn’t too happy he had the ace of hearts giving him the nut flush, he was burning.

Anyways back to the topic of music, i am posting some old school tracks from Raekwon, if you grew up listening to real hip hop then you are going to love these tracks, they will take you back to the good old days when rap was actually worth listening to.

Track 1 – Raekwon – Live From New York

Track 2 – Raekwon – Incarcerated Scarfaces

In Online Poker you have to make quick decisions in a matter of seconds, the pace is so fast that you don’t have the time and luxury to carefully and correctly analyze your current hand and situation. Unless you keep notes on your opponents or have a great memory you are probably also unaware of how your opponents act and play in different situations. A tool that can add a significant mathematical edge to your game and also offer you vital information about your opponents is Hold Em Indicator. Hold Em Indicator is a unique online poker odds calculator, what sets it apart from the competition is the extensive set of features the software has to offer. The best aspect of the program is the fact that its an empirical poker odds calculator, this means that not only does Hold Em Indicator calculate vital statistics like pot odds and winning odds, it also collects crucial information about your opponents. Based on this extra information, Hold Em Indicator can help support or contradict your impression of certain players playing style and allow you to categorize them as weak or strong opponents.

In Live poker you have the luxury of reading and analyzing your opponents based on your instincts and feel of how the player is acting and behaving, you are able to pick up physical tells and remember how your opponents bet in certain situations e.g. they bet every time they are drawing. All this info helps you figure out whether your opponents are weak or strong and in turn helps you calculate how you should act in certain situations. In Online Poker this is not the case as the only piece of information you have available to you is a screen name and an avatar, how many times have you had to fold your AQ or JJ because you were faced with a raise then a huge re-raise pre-flop from an unknown opponent. Information is the key to becoming a successful online poker player, and if you can obtain essential info about your opponents like, how much he/she raises pre-flop, how often does he/she win showdowns, or their aggression factor you will gain a distinct advantage over your competition. This Valuable Information will allow you to label your opponents as solid, a rock, a fish, a shark and so on. So next time you are faced with a raise or a re-raise from a loose-aggressive player (which Hold Em Indicator will point out) you will know exactly what to do with your AQ or JJ, on the other hand If you face a solid player and have AJ or JJ and you are raised or re-raised preflop you might just want to call so you don’t become an underdog.

Hold Em Indicator’s other main features are that it offers instant poker odds, Expected Value, Sklansky groups and how likely you are to draw out or to be drawn out. How many times have you heard people say that in poker you have to play the player, not the cards? Well, by Hold Em Indicator offering instant pot odds and categorizing your opponents as sharks, fishes, or calling stations you will know exactly which cards to play and who to play them against.

Get Hold Em Indicator For Free

These days everyone seems to be hooked on Online Poker and the majority of the new generation of poker players almost exclusively play online and have probably never seen or played in a live cash game. Back in the days before poker became a global phenomenon it was only played in brick and mortar cardrooms, in casinos, or in illegal cardrooms, there was no internet poker and the game was played in its original normal fashion. Although Internet Poker may be convenient, easily accessible and extremely fast paced, all factors which allow you to maximize your profits efficiently and quickly, there is just simply nothing like a good live game of poker. Personally I need to get away from the constant hustle of online poker every now and then and get my much needed dosage of live poker, Whether it’s the fact you get to socialize and meet new people or maybe because you can read and analyze your opponents more accurately, poker is a game that is enjoyed most while you are playing live. If you’ve never played a live cash game or haven’t been to your local casino in a while then there are some adjustments you will have to make to your game before you step into a live game of poker.

The First adjustment you will have to make is to tighten up and not play too many hands, in online poker the pace is very fast and you get to see about 50-70 hands per hour, whereas in a live casino you usually have a dealer and you will only see about 20-30 hands per hour. What does this mean for you?, well as an online player you are probably used to the quick pace and perhaps play more than 1 table which means you’re used to seeing over 150 hands an hour. Out of these 150 hands the majority are folded and you probably win around 4-5 big pots in a couple of hours, but in Brick and mortar casinos were the pace is much slower you will maybe only win 1-2 big hands in a hour and get garbage hands for a whole hour straight. So you will have to be a lot more patient and adjust to the slower pace, you cannot get bored and start playing too many hands. A lot of tight internet players will approach a live game and get involved in a large number of hands with weak holdings just because they are sick of folding. If you cannot adjust to the different pace of the game then you will be giving up a significant part of your edge and giving the other players at the table a considerable advantage.

If the slower pace causes you to be impatient you should do something to occupy yourself, start Talking to the other players around you, go for a dinner break, or practice your hand reading skills on the hands you’re not involved in. You may even want to start reading a book or playing your PSP if it is allowed in the casino, also you should keep an eye on players that have become impatient with the game or are on tilt and are starting to make rash decisions, these are the players you would like to target.

The next thing you should be ready for in live poker is some ridiculous bad beats, I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere in the casino or something else, but people tend to gamble a lot more when they are playing live. Don’t be surprised to see people chase gut shot straights or call you till the river with pocket 4s and then hit their set on the river to crack your AK, loose players in the casino will chase long shot draws and if they miraculously suck out on you shouldn’t immediately go on tilt. Remember in the long run your stronger hands will hold up against these loose players and eventually you will collect a lot more money than them, the luck factor in poker always evens out so continue to play a solid game and you will reap the rewards. A good way to counteract the bad players at the table is to loosen up your hand selection pre-flop, you may want to start playing with suited connectors and suited aces and face cards a bit more. These hands will fare well in multi-way pots because if you hit your straight or flush you will get a lot of callers and take down a huge pot.

Another adjustment you will have to make is to bring your poker face and reading abilities to the table. In online poker you have around 30 seconds to make a decision on each street and obviously you cannot see your opponents, this takes out a big factor of play in poker, you are unable to read and analyze your opponents based on their reactions and behaviors (also known as tells), hence you usually have to make a decision based on the strength of your cards unless you have previous knowledge of whether the player is loose, tight or aggressive ( Poker Odds Calculators can help you obtain this information).

In live poker there are a lot more factors to consider, in a live game, a large part of a good player’s edge comes from reading his opponents hands based on a “feel” or instincts about what’s going on in the hand, and sometimes this can take awhile so take your time and analyze your opponents correctly. Often in a live game you will know if you can bet your marginal hand for value or whether your opponent has flopped a very strong hand simply based on their physical behavior and betting patterns, so be weary of this and train yourself to read and analyze your opponents accurately, this is one of the main factors in becoming a successful Live Poker Player.

So if you were wondering why you can make a killing of online poker, But end up going bust every time you go and play in a live cash game. Then make some of these adjustments and you should see a major improvement in your overall live poker play.

Does Jennifer Tilly really know how to play poker or is she just at the tables because she was once a hollywood actress and has a nice rack, ill let you judge for yourself after you watch this video. It will leave you in utter amazement and i believe you will able to relate to the look on Phil Ivey’s Face, which sums up the whole situation.

“I Thought You Had Pocket Kings” Are You Serious!

Back in 2004 you could hardly find a single live poker game anywhere in Sydney, even Star City didn’t feature any poker tables and a decent game of poker was nowhere to be found. These days the game of Texas Holdem No Limit Poker has really blown up mainly due to all the televised events and large advertising campaigns of online poker sites, other factors have also contributed such as the moneymaker effect and Joe Hachem winning the World Series of Poker.

Anyhow all this commotion in the world of poker has had a heavy influence on Sydney and the city is hooked on poker, you can find a freeroll tournament almost anywhere in the city everyday of the week and these tournaments pay out cash prizes, go to any RSL Club or Pub In Sydney and you are guaranteed to find a game of poker somewhere in their weekly schedule. So if you wanna have a fun game of poker or simply sharpen your skills abit visit www.playapl.com and you will find a list of venues where you can play poker for Free, another League that runs Freerolls all over Sydney is NPL www.npl.com.au. These leagues also run buy in tournaments all over Sydney so visit their websites and check out where you can play.

If you are a bit more serious about your poker and are looking to get away from your online poker screen for awhile then there are also plenty of decent poker rooms across Sydney that you can check out. The obvious choice would be to head down to Star City and play some live cash games, there a plenty of fish down there that are practically donating their money and you can make a decent amount of money after a good days hustle. They also feature a $300 Buy in tournament every Wednesday which has a guaranteed prize pool of $70k. If you’re more of a tournament or sit-n-go player then you will find the following list of poker rooms very useful.

Where to Play Poker in Sydney:

PokerDome – The pokerdome network has a few rooms all over sydney and, they run sit-n-go tournaments round the clock with buy-ins ranging from $20 to $300. They also feature the OZ Poker Tour Main Event which has a guaranteed prize pool of $20K on every Saturday. There main Poker Room is located at Hurstville however they also have rooms at Coogee and St Marys, check out the website for more info www.pokerdome.com.au

The Vauxhill Inn Poker Room- They run Sit-N-Go Tournament daily with buy-ins starting from $20, visit their website www.vauxhall.com.au

Jade Tavern – If You are looking for a quick $10 sit-n-go game then this is the place to be, They run Sit-n-Go Tournaments round the clock with buy-ins starting from as low as $12, they also feature a $110 deep stack tournament every Friday. www.jadetavern.com.au for more info.

Newtown RSL – This is where i play most of my Live Poker besides star city, the room used to be run by the pokerdome network however it has recently been take over by Poker HQ and NPL. The room runs regular sit-n-go tournaments round the clock with buy-ins starting from as low as $12, They also feature many special tournaments which are run by NPL. Check out www.pokerhq.com.au for more info.