It seems to be a quiet period for poker tournaments in bricks and mortar casinos - but the opportunities to enter online poker satellites for future tournaments are as strong as ever. Playing in online satellite tournaments is a great way to find out if you really are ready to take on the big boys at poker, as only the winner will be invited to attend the actual poker tournament – usually at the expense of the poker website running the satellite.

What are poker satellites?

No dear - sending your cards into orbit is nothing to do with poker satellites!

Originally a poker satellite was just one poker table giving the winner a seat at a big championship like the WSOP. Nowadays, especially for online poker satellites, they are multi-table poker games creating a super satellite poker environment that will draw in really inexperienced players who, if you’ve been reading our articles carefully, should be easy pickings for you. Poker satellites are an ideal way to get into those bigger tournaments as although your aim is to play tournament poker, you can play the satellite exactly the same as you play your regular poker game. The only thing you’ve got to remember is you’re playing to win the satellite, so play the long game. Most poker websites will give you a fixed amount of chips to play with and you have to build a winning stack from that, you can’t buy extra chips during the satellite – a big incentive to avoid betting when you can call!

Poker website generosity.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the terms “poker website” and “generosity” go together, especially if you’re only breaking even with them at the moment. But the fact is that when it comes to poker satellites – poker website generosity becomes a reality. Not only do they give you chips to start playing in the satellite but they’ll also offer a range of other bonuses for you. OK, so you get to a poker tournament or championship – but what about the buy-ins, no worries the poker website will give you cash for the buy-ins. What about travel and accommodation – again no worries the poker website will also take care of those.

It was only a few weeks ago that we were speculating if 2011 could be the year that finally sees a federal law passed to legalize online poker in the States, following the news that the “Internet Poker Act 2010” was managing to make some progress. However, internet poker players everywhere this week should breath a sigh of relief as one State, New Jersey, having tired of the interminable deliberations in Washington – have passed their own State laws legalizing online poker games.

New Jersey Online Gambling Legislation.

Legalized online poker in New Jersey - just waiting for his signature.

Back in November 2010 the New Jersey Senate passed an Internet Gambling Bill and this week, January 2011, saw the State Assembly vote 63-11 in favor of approving the Bill that will allow internet wagering throughout the State of New Jersey – with effect from July 4^th 2011. The only thing that can now prevent playing online poker from being completely legal would be the intervention of Governor Chris Christie. The Bill is now in his office for signing or vetoing. To date he’s not had much to say about the Bill and is expected to sign it or at least ignore it for 45 days, in which case it becomes law anyway.  As the name of the Bill implies it won’t just legalize sitting at an online poker table but will cover all online betting such as casino games and sports bets.

The New Jersey payoff!

Needless to say the move to legalize online poker and gambling by the New Jersey politicians isn’t without an ulterior motive. They see the opening up of legalized online gambling and poker as an opportunity to raise taxes and to help the Atlantic City casinos. To that end the online casinos and poker websites etc will all have to be hosted by an Atlantic City casino. One result of this is that, with the federal laws still as they are, only US residents in New Jersey will be able to play them online, despite the anomaly of overseas players being able to register accounts and play at will through NJ hosted gambling websites. Another potential downside is that with NJ ring-fencing online gambling the big international gambling and poker websites like PokerStars etc could well cease operating in NJ, the same as they did in Washington State. That would mean NJ poker players only being able to play against ‘local’ opposition; missing out on playing against the big name poker players.

With a very welcome break over the Christmas period comes the opportunity for even more rookie poker players to start enjoying the delights of online poker games. So, for those rookies out there, what tips and advice can we give them to make sure they get the most out of their Christmas holiday poker?

Who knows - you might even get to play with one of Santa’s helpers?

Keep your cool.

Perhaps the first thing to remember is, the same as when you’re doing anything online, to always keep your cool. Playing poker online is pretty well the same as playing poker in a casino and you can expect to get a run of bad hands, that’s just the way the cards and dealt and not some internet conspiracy to rip you off. Similarly, if you think the poker game is running slow – before blaming the poker website you might want to check your computer settings and broadband speed, as the poker websites are rarely at fault here. After all they want to keep you playing and not going off to some other online poker game.

Know your game!

Presuming you already know the basics of playing poker and making poker bets, then you should already be familiar with the terms loose and tight play. You should try and avoid becoming a predictably loose or tight player, as the opposition will soon be able to predict what you’re going to do in certain situations and win that pot from you. So it is vital that you have a game plan that allows you to move between being a loose or tight player. However, that’s not to say you can’t also try the occasional bluff – just do make sure it is an occasional bluff.

The cost of poker.

It’s especially important as a rookie not to get too carried away too quickly with what you think you can achieve at poker. So, to remind yourself you’re still a rookie set yourself a daily cash limit and when you’ve got up to that limit, that’s enough for one day – the online poker tables will still be there tomorrow. Also, remember, you can get just as much enjoyment out of playing $1/$2 games as you can out of $100/$200 ones – the winning cards are always the same regardless of the betting stakes or pot.

Introduction.

Just a few weeks ago we speculated, in our article “Poker Law Update”, that the mid-term elections would mean the end to any hopes of legalizing online poker in the USA before the end of 2010. Well whilst that prediction is now going to come true, with Barney Frank’s Bill seemingly moribund despite clearing the House Financial Services Committee, there is now hope in the form of a new online poker Bill being promoted in the Senate by Nevada Democrat Harry Reid.

Nevada never ceases to surprise you – eh?

Harry Reid - Promoter of the Internet Poker Act of 2010

Will 2011 be the year?

Foremost amongst the supporters of Reid’s plans is the Poker Players Alliance who have, for many years already, pointed out that the current online poker “status quo is not tenable”. It is certainly true that the current US online poker laws are in desperate need of clarification, if not being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21^st century. So could it be that 2011 will be the year that online poker is finally legalized and regulated in the USA? Well we can only hope so as not forgetting Jim McDermott’s Bill about internet gambling taxation there are now three Bills on the go involving online poker – so surely Congress must now agree that change is needed? ]]> http://www.pokertipsbook.com/online-poker-law-latest/feed/ 0 http://www.pokertipsbook.com/wsop-2010-final-table/ http://www.pokertipsbook.com/wsop-2010-final-table/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:02:46 +0000 editor http://www.pokertipsbook.com/?p=738 Introduction

The WSOP 2010 final table started on Saturday November 6^th and was completed in the early morning of the following Monday. The nine players sat down at that final poker table were: Jonathan Duhamel, John Racener, Filippo Candio, Michael Mizrachi, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Jason Senti, Mather Jarvis and Soi Nguyen – so that was 6 poker players wrapped in Old Glory, two in the Maple Leaf and one in the Tricolor.

Day 1 decimation!

Day 1 turned out to be decimation day as 7 players were eliminated, leaving all of the second days play to the final two. First to go was Nguyen who must have realized what it can be like to lose a regular job, being the last one in to the 2010 WSOP final table and the first to go from it! However, Soi must have been feeling sore at the way he went out, having Ad & Kc in the hole he went out to Senti, Senti had a pair of Queens and when another Queen came at the flop – Nguyen was undone despite a King appearing at the turn. Next out was the Canadian Jarvis in another close-call game. Head-to-Head with Mizrachi, Jarvis was holding Ad & Qd with Qs, Qc & 8d on the table; whilst Jarvis held 9c & 9h. When the 9s came at the turn, the river became the vital card to see – which was nothing other than the As! Next out was Dolan, followed by Mizrachi, despite having earlier collected 30 million chips from the Senti pot. Candio, the first Italian player ever to make it to the WSOP final table, went out in 4^th place; despite having the biggest stack just an hour before being eliminated. Cheong went out in third place; leaving Racener and Duhamel to go head-to-head on Day 2.

WSOP 2010 winner.

With a stack like that - little wonder Jonathan Duhamel went on to win WSOP 2010

From the outset on Day 2 all the money was on a Duhamel win, as Duhamel held nearly 200 million chips to Racener’s meager 30 odd million! Having said, that Racener put up a good fight that took Duhamel nearly 6 hours to break down. Duhamel’s win after some 43 hands was pretty straightforward with an ace; he held As & Jh to Racener’s Kd & 8d – with 9d, 4d, 4c, 6c and 5c community cards. So, WSOP 2010 brought about another first at the final table – a win by a Canadian picking up just under $9 million and another gold bracelet.

Next week we’ll know for sure but the way things are going the mid-terms could prove to be mighty tough on the Democrats and, as if it’s not struggled enough anyway, could prove to be the downfall of Barney Franks’ Bill to relax the online poker and gambling laws. Although the Bill has passed through the Financial Services Committee it’s not got any further due to the impending mid-terms and a complication caused by Jim McDermott’s internet gambling tax Bill.

Stand up and be counted.

OK, so we can’t say for sure that if the Republicans gain strength from the mid-term elections that Barney Frank’s Bill is doomed, but it won’t look too good for it either. The answer then is for all online poker players and online betting fans to do their bit and make sure that the candidates who’ll help Barney Frank’s Bill to fully legalize online poker get elected. If you think that’s likely to be a one sided affair all blue and donkeys, think again as there are some Republicans out there to vote for too.

Check your candidate.

She’d sure get my vote!

If you live in New Jersey, Illinois, New York, Texas, California, Nevada or Georgia – rejoice as there are mid-term candidates you can vote for, and get your friends and fellow poker players to vote for, who will be supporting the Barney Frank legislation once the Capitol is back up and working. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has drawn up a list of 58 candidates known to be supportive of legalizing poker and 15 of them are Republicans. With all the House of Representatives all up for re-election there’s still time to exert pressure on candidates of any persuasion, who’ll all be eager for our votes and whose congress voices in favor of legalizing online poker could only help the cause.

No need for the London fog cloud your poker play!

‘Old Blue Eyes’ himself sang about “a foggy day in London town” and if you fancy tasting the Fall weather in England and you’re a poker fan – then get yourself off to London at the end of September for the London event in the European Poker Tour (EPT). Sponsored by pokerstars this poker tournament begins September 27^th and runs all week through to October 4^th; and it will be held at the Metropole Hilton, in the heart of this city renowned for its foggy autumnal days. If you want a bit of a classic reference to what an early autumn day can be like over the pond – try Keats’ ‘Ode to Autumn’ and his “mists of mellow fruitfulness” etc.

Enough of this literary stuff – let’s get back to the poker

Yeah, yeah, yeah – I hear you, I know, you only want to read about the poker. Well, just for that – don’t forget the end of September also sees the 2010 Ryder Cup taking place in the UK at the Celtic Manor course, in the principality of Wales. So, you might just also want to pull in one of the great golfing tournaments between the top European and USA players. OK, now back to the poker.

Buy-ins and games.

Being sponsored by pokerstars there are plenty of online satellite tournaments for online poker players to qualify through if you’re not yet ready to simply register and play directly. Buy-ins start from just £30 +£6, that’s around $45 + $10 in real money, and rise up to a maximum of £5000 + £250 (c. $8000 + $400) for the Main Event and the high-roller No Limits games. The tournament is dominated by No Limit and Hold’em games, the Brits and Europeans do like their Texas Hold ‘em, but with so many NL games this won’t be a tournament for the feint hearted.

Is it worth going?

The $64,000 question – and only you can decide that. If you crash out in the first few days there is always that Ryder Cup match or you can just enjoy a short vacation in one of the most iconic of European cities. However, there are plenty of cash prizes to be won from a total of 37 poker games. Last year our very own Aaron Gustavson, who won his seat through a satellite game, beat the poker pro Peter Eastgate to win the Main Event and a very cool £850,000 – which is well over $1.25 million! So you decide if you think that’s worth the trip or not!

Just over a week ago the poker blogosphere was awash with excited comments about Barney Frank’s Bill to license and regulate internet poker finally being approved. Alas, but if you were thinking “alleluia” and “about time too” – well sorry, but again the state of play regarding the legality of playing online poker is yet again back in limbo.

Some progress made

It is true and fair to say that last week the Barney Frank Bill did make some progress through the House of Representatives, but the speed of that progress is truly glacial. One report that I read last week boldly stated that the Barney Frank Bill had been “voted on and approved by the senate”. Now whilst that statement was true, some further digging reveals that unfortunately it does not tell the whole story, so you still can’t be that fully 100% sure that the law won’t come knocking on your door if you start betting in your favorite online poker cash game - even in the privacy of your own home! The reason is that – yes, the Bill was voted on and did secure enough votes to be passed (approved if you will) but the vote only referred to it passing through the committee stage, of the House Financial Services Committee. Sadly even that doesn’t mean it will now be voted on by the House as Jim McDermott’s separate Bill to tax internet gambling is stuck in the Ways and Means committee. Yes, you guessed it, until that Bill passes through its Congress committee as well – legalized poker online is held in limbo.

Legalized online poker in 2010 – no way?

They all look like legal poker players to me.

With the summer recess rapidly approaching then mid-term elections further delaying proceedings the chances of McDermott’s Bill clearing it’s committee, both Bills being voted through by Congress and then their equivalent Bills passing through Senate by the end of 2010 is, at best, fanciful. In fact, despite having made some real progress this year, the whole prospect of legalized online poker could be sunk for a couple of years at least, if the Republicans end up with a majority in both houses come November. So, whilst progress is undoubtedly being made in terms of being able to play online casino games legally, it is hard to see that online poker will be legalized and poker players protected by the law until next year at the very earliest.

Week 6 of the 2010 WSOP and the countdown to the final of the Main Event game, a $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold ‘em tournament, has begun. As in other recent years the actual champion won’t be known until November as, once again, that is when the final table of 9 poker players will reconvene to battle it out for the most prestigious of all poker titles.

WSOP national results so far

So, with just one game left what can be said about the nations that have produced winners at WSOP 2010?  A question here of course is should we measure this by cashes, totals or bracelets awarded?  Well, for the reason you’ll appreciate soon – we’ll go with gold bracelets awarded. Somewhat unsurprisingly the USA has produced the biggest number of bracelets at 39 winners and some 5000 cashes. Total earnings for USA poker players are over a staggering $81 million. With a surprise in store in second place – it was Canada that was third in the international stakes with 4 bracelets and about 450 cashes totaling over $8 million. The surprise in second place was the United Kingdom, or Britain as we prefer to say, who despite only making around 230 cashes totaling some $7 million – they actually accumulated 5 gold bracelets.

5 gold bracelets – big deal huh!

Sure looks like a British winner to me!

OK, so 5 gold bracelets might seem small fry compared to the number that the USA won but – there is a real significance in this. Quite simply in winning 5 gold bracelets at WSOP 2010 the Brits have set a new record as – never before has a foreign nation won so many gold bracelets at any particular world series before! So, for all the online poker players out there – FTW! The winners were: Praz Banzi, James Dempsey, Richard Ashby, Mike Ellis and Steve Jelinek. Although Praz was the biggest single winner taking home $515k along with his bracelet Steve Jelinek probably produced the best win, for $245k – as he was playing in a $1500 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Hi Low Split 8 or better game. So, being a Hi-Low game both the highest and lowest poker hands can claim a share of the pot – requiring a whole different strategy to the more regular games. As in a regular Omaha poker game looking for the nut flush is always a good bet, but you’ll always be hoping to have an ace in your hand to be confident of pressing for a win.

No point playing poker when you’re about to fall asleep!

Here at pokertipsbook.com we’re aware of an article, emanating from the UK, about their perceived unfairness over the transatlantic time difference when it comes to playing online poker tournaments. Now before we all jump up and down shouting “whingeing limeys” and other such good humored insults – what about a west coast poker tournament and east coast poker players participating in it?

So, with regard to things like the recent Spring Championship of Online Poker, where a buy-in of just $22 could have net you $55k – can anything be done to equalize things out time wise.

Time just doesn’t stand still

First of all you need to remember that regardless of where you are in the USA, let alone the world, the fact that online poker tournaments are open to anyone and anywhere – inevitably means that somewhere someone will feel aggrieved by the time difference. This is true for say a Las Vegas online tournament starting at 8pm local time when it will be 11 pm in New York, 4am in London (UK) and even 1pm the next day in Sydney (Australia). You can extrapolate those times backwards and forwards for a tournament based in London, New York etc – but the same is always true, someone somewhere will shout foul, especially if they’re losing at poker. Add into this equation the confusion caused by various time zones adopting daylight saving schemes and you could easily completely miss out on tournament.

The simple answer

There is, of course, a simple answer. If you truly want to play for serious money in an online poker tournament do some homework. Find out in advance what the local start time will be and what the time will be that you’ll need to sit at your computer to play the poker game. Presuming you have a day-job and can’t lead the life of a poker pro, rising when most folk are just getting home form work and then playing cards ‘til dawn the next day … If it is something like a 4am start for you sitting at home, then you can’t expect to have worked all day, stay awake and still stand any sort of chance of making any money playing poker before falling asleep by 5am. So prepare yourself! Get home early from work, have a meal and get some seep for a few hours then, on getting up, shower and change your clothes and then you’ll feel ready to hit those poker tables.