Poker 2004

www.pokerheaven.com - In terms of preflop play, folding (A,K) is a very difficult thing to do, and due to the power of (A,K) preflop, it is usually best to at least take a flop with it if possible. Recently I went out of a tournament whilst holding (A,K) against (A,A), and some might feel my hand was not foldable preflop. After much consideration, I personally feel I could have folded the hand either on or before the flop.

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I was in the big blind, and my opponent raised to 2,200 with blinds at 300/600. Here was where I made my mistake. I thought my opponent may have been trying to pick up the blinds and so I moved all in for my remaining 8,000 chips.

My opponent called me and won with (A,A) of course, but if I had reraised it another 2,200 preflop, my opponent would surely have moved all in. Would I then have had a chance to fold the hand? Some might feel I still had to call after investing so much in the pot, but the strength my opponents shove would have shown, could have convinced me sufficiently that I was beaten. On the other hand, if I had flat called, I would have missed the flop entirely, and had a chance to fold my hand then.

In poker, it is important to remember that the moment you push all in, you take away all of your own options in a hand. (A,K) is a foldable hand preflop, and certainly on the flop also, if you do not hit. The type of player you are up against should help you to determine if you are in front or not, but the fact remains, that if you end up folding the best hand, you are still alive in a tournament.

The homepage at www.pacificpoker.com, has a lot of information on offer to players comapared to other sites I feel, with the section on ‘getting started’ being particularly helpful. As Online poker players, we all started somewhere, and we all must learn how to use online poker rooms, as it can be a daunting prospect, especially if you do not know your way around a computer in the first place.

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As well as the section on getting started, there is an extensive guide to all promotions running at Pacific Poker too. This section gives details of the frequent player points system that is in operation, any special tournaments going on, as well as leaderboards, and their ‘refer a friend’ offer.

Pacificpoker.com also have a section on their homepage which tells players exactly how to deposit and cash out, which can seem complicated to those who are unused to exchanging money online. Also the house rules, and sites initiatives to prevent cheating of any form are available to be read by the customer to ensure they know their money is secure with the site. If you are a player onsite who knows other types of game to your usual choice are being played onsite, but you are unaware of how to play them, then you have no need to worry either.

Pacific Poker offer instructions on many different types of poker game to make sure their players enjoy all the games on offer if they so wish, even including tips and help with the poker lingo. All these things help to provide an enjoyable environment to players, and also aid the development and improvement of what is already a good quality poker room.

The first thing I should mention about www.celebpoker.co.uk is the very generous 200% initial deposit bonus up to an amount of 1,000 Euros.

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This is much higher than the industry average and offers a great bonus for players onsite. Another good aspect of celebpoker.co.uk is the graphics at the tables. They are very smooth and clear, giving a very professional feel to the site. There are also jackpot ‘Sit n Go’ tournaments ongoing at Celeb Poker, these give any player skilled enough to win 6 in a row, a huge payout of 10,000 Euros. If you find yourself unlucky enough to only finish in the top two for 6 tournaments, there is a consolation prize of 200 Euros available. For the really big money players, there is a huge tournament in November with a 20k Euro buy in. With an estimated prize pool of over 1 million Euros, the smaller bankrolled players might want to consider the satellites, by which they could win themselves a seat.

The support options at Celeb Poker are certainly one of the positives in my opinion, with fax, phone, email, and live chat at your fingertips to sort any problems quickly. The lobby onsite is easy to find your way around and is well presented I feel, with an even spread and variety of tournament on offer too.
Aside from a few possible small improvements, I feel that www.celebpoker.co.uk is an excellent site and one which has some of the best bonuses around.

www.strippoker.co.uk is a site quite unlike any other poker site online that I have seen. If you are a poker player who is serious about playing the game for profit, then this is not a site which will be of great interest to you.

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www.strippoker.co.uk does not allow you to place real money wagers as such, and is basically a soft porn website. Ladies who are employed by the site, effectively wager their clothes in each hand, and so successful poker playing will result in your opponent losing her clothes, rather than money.

As I understand it, the site operates with the use of webcams and a form of video poker. The models who undress as the game progresses, are on a live feed, and in a studio as you play poker. You can play the site for free, and get quite a good idea of the site, and what it entails, whilst playing against one of two available models. If you choose to join the site as a member, you get a greater choice of ladies to play against, amongst other things.

I have to say that as a serious poker player, this is not a site which I would choose to play on, but depending on your particular tastes, and if you enjoy this type of game, then I am sure you would find it a lot of fun. I cannot put an exact figure on the amount it costs to join this site as a member, as I would have needed to enter certain details to find out, but I am sure you would be made aware of any costs if you decided to join.

Certainly not the poker experience that I look for, but if you find this type of site enjoyable, then by all means try out the free play.

The use of a bonus code can trigger a $100 monthly reload bonus here at www.coralpoker.co.uk, and alongside this, there is a first time deposit bonus which you get to choose yourself. There is a catch of course, in that you have to earn the required amount of points in the time limit given to receive the payment.

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Currently going on at coralpoker.co.uk, are tournaments which will determine the lucky players to win a seat at the Aussie Millions 2009 main event. For the serious players online, this could be a life changing opportunity, but needless to say, it is a difficult path to earn your way there through satellites.

There is also a $10,000 freeroll running at Coral Poker, with numerous ways to win a seat each month. The graphics at Coral poker are fairly good I feel, on the whole, although there are the same limited choice of avatars that you will find on many online sites these days. There are however, several promotions running which seem to cater as much for the smaller players as the bigger bankrolls, and this is good to see.

There is also a very good flow of players on the site which ensures you can always find a game when you wish to play. Games offered are at present, Omaha, Holdem, and Stud, which should be sufficient for most players, although with the amount of player traffic at the site, I feel they could afford to introduce another game to the site. Overall, I like www.coralpoker.co.uk and they have many plus points, I do however think that they could still improve further.

dailystar.com poker - With the use of a bonus code, it is possible to receive a 150% bonus payment on top of your first deposit.

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This is a very good offer, and one which is above the average for most poker rooms. Live support is available on this site, which is always preferable to me as it is a fast and efficient way of dealing with queries. The games on offer at this site are of a reasonable variety with Omaha, Holdem and Stud available in 5 card and 7 card formats. This is generally accepted as the basic three games which every site should offer if it wishes to be successful, but I personally like to see another game such as 5 Card Draw included too. This certainly wouldn’t bother me too much however, as it is important to remember that sites must be able to think they can fill the tables of a certain type of game, in order to offer it.

Guaranteed tournaments can be found at dailystar.co.uk poker with some tournaments having guaranteed prize pools of up to $250k. Satellites to major land based tournaments can also be found here which is always going to be a draw for players with big aspirations within the game. ‘Sit n Go’s’ are also on offer here, and if you can win 6 in a row, you will be eligible for a large payout, which increases by thousands each week that it goes unclaimed. The smallest of these, with a buy in of only $2.40, requires 4 consecutive wins to trigger a $2,000 windfall.

All in all, I think dailystar.com poker has a chance to do well as a poker room. Much of what is offered would certainly appeal to me as a player, and I hope to see them improving each month.

Pacific Poker currently have some interesting promotions going on and these are as follows. Six days a week there is a $20k gauranteed tournament to keep those of us who like a large prize pool logging in each day. Also running is the very interesting ‘double or nothing’ series of SnG’s.

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These involve half of the table winning double their entrance fee, and the first half to be eliminated, winning nothing. With all the players simply trying to last as far as the money half of the table, I feel this would set the game up for a bolder player use this fact to their advantage.

Referring a friend to pacificpoker.com results in the referring player receiving $50, and the referred new player receiving an extra $25. This is a generous offer I feel.

The first time deposit promotional cash match of 100% is good, although it’s release is triggered partly by the amount of points you earn wagering real money. New players will also be pleased to see that they have access to a $1,000 welcome freeroll to help them get their funds off the ground. If as a player, you like the biggest prize pools and tournaments, the $100k deep stack tournament that runs every sunday, should be for you.

Although the direct buy in might be a little large for some players at $200, there are satellites available so those of more modest means still have a chance of a big payday.

Overall, a nice little package of promotions to keep the players happy at www.pacificpoker.com

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The first point to be made about www.pokerheaven.com is that the first time deposit bonus is of an excellent level at 200% on top of your deposit amount. This bonus is capped at 1,000 Euros, but it is a great offer and is well above the industry average. If this isn’t enough to get you interest, then there are many other promotional offers available too.

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The 160,000 Euro Freeroll Series has just got underway, with players looking to win their way to both an excellent cash prize, as well as a seat in th 100k Euro freeroll at the end of the series. Considering the size of the prizes that are possible, this is a great offer for players to get excited about.

There is also a refer a friend offer available here which entails a 50 Euro payment to the referring player for each new player referred to the site. Poker Heaven are also running a one off, free qualifier to their 1 million Euro tournament in December, which is very generous of them indeed.

There is also a great loyalty points system in place at Poker Heaven, this means that players who are regularly wagering, will soon earn enough points to spend on either tournament buy ins, or merchandise from their online store.

Another great promotion is running here, which gives players who final table 3 gauranteed tournaments in a row, a final table SnG with prizes paid out to all partcipants. First prize for this being 3,500 Euros.
Overall I feel there are a lot of great promotions on offer at Poker Heaven.

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Although poker is a game which does not involve long term preparation before a big game, other than having some experience in the game of course, short term preparation can be important.

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As a player I like to go to a game in a calm and positive frame of mind, and I find certain things help me to do this. Half an hour spent online playing some poker can help get you into a poker mindset, and give you that little bit of extra sharpness going into the first hand I feel. Sometimes going into a tournament having not played for a couple of days, can mean your ‘radar’ is slightly off with reads and suchlike. This might of course not be a problem, but if you get involved in a hand which requires a big decision early on, then you want to be focused enough to get it right.

Sometimes I also find that a glass of wine and some music help me relax too, and put me in the right frame of mind for a big game.

I also know someone who is a little superstitious and likes to bring a lucky charm with them. They also sometimes play out hands of holdem with a deck of cards on their own, and only stop once they have been dealt the losing hand a few times in a row. Their reasoning is that if they do this, they will go into the tournament being due a winning hand, crazy as that sounds.

As much as I think that is ridiculous in some ways, I firmly believe that anything which sends you into a game with more confidence can be helpful in it’s own way.

Whatever your own routine for preparing for tournaments, as long as you go into the game relaxed, positive, and with faith in your ability, you are bound to do as well as is possible.

For me, when a tournament is nearing it’s conclusion and you reach heads up play, you need to be the person that takes charge, if the size of your chipstack allows you to. Often your opponent will start applying pressure immediately, and I personally feel that firing back with reraises and aggression is the only way forward. If you are timid and allow yourself to be pressured into folding every hand preflop, your opponent will be taking your blinds one after another and you cannot afford for this to happen.

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It is true that giving an aggressive opponent some of their own medicine may mean you get knocked out of the tournament, but at least you have gone out with a fight rather than being raised into submission.

The advanatge of putting your opponent into a defensive style of play cannot be understated when you are heads up with big blinds. It doesn’t really matter which poker variation you are playing, although Texas Holdem is especially good for this type of strategy because of the amount of time you do not get dealt a playable hand. If your opponent expects every hand to cost them all their chips to play, they will be putting down hands with the slightest of pressure, and giving you their blinds which soon add up. Within only a few hands, you have often made enough extra chips to be able to take your opponent on with a weaker hand, providing you have them comfortable out chipped that is.

Certainly the most important thing about heads up play I feel, is to be the aggressor and take control of the match at all costs. The moment you do this and make your opponent fold their hands straight away while they wait for something to move in with, you have them on the run, and the momentum is with you.