Dream Team poker event open to the public at Caesars Palace
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tournament Room in the Poker Complex at Caesars Palace Las Vegas
The second annual Dream Team Poker Event takes place at Caesars Palace from March 27-29.
Unlike last year's event, the $500+50 tourney has now been opened to all, with an opportunity to go up against poker celebrities and professionals.
An expected 100 teams composed of 300 players will be vying for a $150,000 prize pool.
The tournament is patent-pendingly unique in that players compete individually while also receiving scores as part of a team (teams will be given customized jerseys to wear). Players then compete for both individual as well as team prizes.
To register and for more information, visit www.dreamteampoker.com.
Big Super Football Weekend in Las Vegas
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Sports Books will be standing room only on Sunday
Football and Poker. Ask any addict of football and/or poker they will quickly tell you it doesn't get any better than big bowl Sunday in Las Vegas. Las Vegas, the city that's so full of fun it's almost sinful, in fact, TV ads for Las Vegas are deemed to be unfit as a sponsor of Sunday's big game. That's right, you'll see no ads for the crazy Nevada desert Mecca of gambling and fun.
But wait. It keeps getting worse. Las Vegas locals crowd into the sports betting parlors and wager on the big football game. They wager on every aspect of the game. Their gambling has tainted the purity of this gold plated sporting event. Worse yet, Las Vegas permits, even encourages, everyone (21 and up) to put down some sweat money on the outcome and enjoy the game.
And, of course watching the big football game is fun, just like drinking beer is fun, eating sports book hotdogs is fun, betting on the game is fun, playing casino poker is fun, and Las Vegas is fun. Watch the game on any of the thousands of HDTV's located in Las Vegas sports books and poker rooms. Come to Las Vegas this weekend for the football, stay for the poker. It's Las Vegas, can you handle this much fun?
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Las Vegas Poker Rooms will be filled with football fans playing poker
Mixing Up Your Play
Can you never maximize profit in a hand because your opponents always seem to know when you’re holding the best of it and when you are bluffing? Playing predictably is something that all poker players have to worry about, as it pretty much kills any action we can expect from a hand. If the table sees you fold 12 hands in a row, and then turn up pocket aces in the hand you finally do play, you’re already sending a message that you are a very tight player and that when you are involved in a pot it’s because you have something like pocket aces, kings or AK.
Just sticking to a strict method of playing premium hands makes you very easy to read, but at the same time you might not want to play with mediocre cards because you feel you don’t have the ability to play them correctly. That’s fine, you can definitely stick to playing great cards the majority of the time, but you do need to learn to masquerade your style a little so that it isn’t always clear to your opponents what your doing.
One way to do this is simply to play more hands, especially when you have a big stack and the blinds are low. See a bunch of cheap flops and hopefully your rags will turn into a set and the rest of the table will see that you entered the pot with junk like J4 off suit. You don’t have to give the illusion that you’ll play any two cards, you just don’t want to come across as a single style player.
In tournaments this isn’t as important because you normally won’t be sitting with the exact same people any longer than a hour at a time and you have to open up your selection of hands rather quickly, as opposed to a cash game where the blinds are fixed all night and you can wait forever for pocket aces. Like I’ve said before, the best way to make money in poker is through maximizing the profits from every hand you win. You will often win more money with junk cards that are hard to detect that turn into monster hands than you will with pocket aces. Open up your hand selection a little, turn over some bad cards every once in awhile, and keep your opponents guessing at all times as to just what type of player you are.
When Running Bad Turns To Playing Bad- Part III
4. I might be letting outside factors influence me- There are definitely times where it is hard to keep my personal life from affecting my sessions at the table. This is true for a lot of poker players. Maybe you just got in a fight with your significant other. Maybe work is stressing you out. Maybe you’ve been sick. Maybe there are important things you should be doing instead of playing poker…Whatever it is, subconsciously (or consciously) it can affect one’s session at the tables. One cure for this is to take a few days off to resolve your issues so they aren’t weighing on your shoulders. Another cure…do yoga.
5. I might be getting complacent and comfortable- Since I play five or more days a week, there are times that I look at it as work and it can become routine. I notice that I will make plays I normally wouldn’t just to spice it up a bit. I don’t mean changing up my game, I mean making reckless plays that don’t involve making reads on my opponents. This is a prescription for bad poker. In this case I really should take a few days off to have fun, and get out of my poker routine. Even better is to plan a day or two just to get out of the city. If you are a diehard or hardheaded (like me), a change of scenery can do wonders. Change casinos or play on a site that you don’t usually play on. Poker is 95% mental and sometimes perception is key.
Running bad is part of the long term progression of poker. Eventually everyone has their losing sessions. As successful poker players, we need to be able to ride through them and not let it affect our game negatively. One of the best things to do after multiple losing sessions is to evaluate your game and decide if you are playing bad or if it is just bad luck. If it is bad luck, are there things you can do to change it? These are considerations that can’t be taken lightly if you want to change your fortune. Hopefully these tips help the next time you are facing a string of bad luck. I sure hope it helps mine!
When Running Bad Turns To Playing Bad- Part II
Now, I don’t usually advocate altering my style of play when it has done me justice consistently in the past few weeks. However, after four losing sessions in a row, perhaps it is time to assess my game before my four session losing streak turns into ten. All poker players go through the tribulations of losing sessions; it is just part of the game. For me, I will have to assume that there are a few things that I might need to be aware of when I sit down for my next session:
1. I might be playing impatiently- If this is the case I need to slow down. Play ABC poker for a few hours before I start trying to bluff or make big bets on my draws. Also, I should be trying to keep the pots small. One big result of playing impatiently is over betting hands. This is a great time to get some new music on the ipod, or even download a movie to keep you entertained when you are not playing hands. When will they finally come out with a program to allow you to play online poker from your phone?
2. I might be letting my ego take control- I’m a fairly aggressive female player, and I have always wanted to be respected at the tables. Poker is a game of wit and skill, and I like to be regarded as one of the best in my arena, but this can sometimes get me in trouble. I start thinking, “He’s bluffing me, he must be bluffing me,†and shortly after I try to make a superhero call that results in me doubling someone else up. I find in these situations I am listening more to my head than I am to my instincts. If this is the case, I may need to take a few days off to allow my ego to forget the last few weeks of winning sessions. Or I may need to take longer thinking about my hands when I am involved in them. I may need to think things through more instead of simply worrying about someone bluffing me or not.
3. I might be overplaying my hands- After hours of sitting at a table and looking down at AJ suited and missing flops, draws, and having to lay down my good starting hands, it can get irritating. Suddenly, when I hit top pair with AK I think I’m looking at the nuts. Even when the flush hits on the turn I’m ready to shove all in. Maybe not quite, but you get the point. If this is the case, I should strongly consider making it a day. A buy-in saved is a buy-in won. Alternatively, look for another game. Some people like to change seats, but I don’t think this changes your mental perception as much changing tables. Sometimes when you get in a rut, it is easy to start playing tight weak. This doesn’t change when you are playing against the same players you’ve been losing against for the last several hours. If you change tables, it will give you a sense of starting over. You will pay more attention because you will have to gather new information on your opponents, and you will retrieve confidence in your game.
Read Part III for more symptoms and cures for this illness.
Tracking Your Wins/Losses
If I asked you right now whether you’re up or down in your lifetime poker winnings, do you know the answer? The guys that do this for a living could almost tell you the exact number, but for casual players, you should at least have a concept of where you sit financially. This isn’t just for the benefit of tracking your success, but also to see where your biggest wins and losses are coming from.
A typical grinder that makes a average living by playing poker will often keep a journal or stats book of some kind with them at all times. This little accounting book is a record of the fluctuations of the player’s bankroll, where it stands currently and also any additional information such as money they might have staked in other players, on loan, etc. If you are organized enough and trust yourself to constantly update and revise a journal, this is definitely the way to go.
Even if you aren’t looking to earn a living from playing poker, there are still advantages to knowing where the majority of your wins and losses are coming from. Have you played in over 20 tournaments with at least a buy-in of $35? Have you come in the money in any of those events? If not, that’s at least a minimum of $700 that you’ve spent/lossed playing tournaments. If you are often eliminated early from these events and never make it anywhere close to the money, then you’ve found one area of your poker career that is consistently losing money. Perhaps you need to step away from tournament poker until your overall abilities improve, or maybe you need to go online and play some substantially cheaper sit & go’s.
There is absolutely no downside to knowing exactly where you are financially at any given time. Make the commitment to tracking your progress and you will find yourself improving in the right areas much faster.
When Running Bad Turns To Playing Bad- Part I
Sometimes my love hate relationship with poker turns to pure hate. For the past two weeks I’ve been playing cash games and it seemed as if I couldn’t lose. I was bluffing at all the right times, I was betting my draws (and hitting them), and I was making sick calls against my opponents.
Maybe my ego got the best of me, or maybe luck just can’t last forever. I say this because after two weeks of non-stop winning, now I am non-stop losing. Instead of bluffing the right players, I’m bluffing the unbluffable.
You know the kind…the guy that came just to play some cards with his buddies and thinks that top pair crappy kicker is the nuts. Instead of hitting my draws when I bet them, I am missing all of them. Yesterday, I had top pair and a flush draw, the turn gave me a gut shot, and I still lost against bottom set. Instead of winning with my flopped sets, I am getting killed by flush draws on the river. On top of all that, after I spend hours missing every flop, I am having a hard time laying down top pair top kicker even when I know I am beat. It is a case of playing bad because I’m running bad.
Read Part II for symptoms and cures for this illness.
Pennsylvania rules poker a game of skill
A week ago, Pennsylvania became the first state in the nation to deem poker a game of skill.
Judge Thomas A. James ruled that Texas Hold'em holds skill above chance, and is thus not considered unlawful gambling according to the Pennsylvania Code.
James referenced the volumes of books written on how to play poker as proof that learning to play poker could be improved and was therefore a skill.
The ruling came after an undercover police officer raided a rakeless home poker game in Pennsylvania, which then led to the arrest of two people.
The court decision sets a landmark precedent that will test other states.
Amarillo Slim beaten, robbed
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Amarillo Slim playing in Event #41 of the 2007 WSOP
Last Tuesday, poker legend Amarillo Slim was assaulted and robbed while claiming a gambling debt.
Slim, 80, was in his hometown Amarillo, Tex., to allegedly pick up a four-wheeler as a downpayment on a $3,000 gambling debt, where he then suffered a broken jaw and hand.
He was then robbed of $8,000 that he had on him, plus a diamond ring that was worth $85,000.
Winning Tip #1
One of the biggest questions for a poker play is: How do I become a winning player? You may be relieved to know that it has nothing to do with how good of a player you are. It has everything to do with how good of a player your opponent is. Ted is one of the top 10 poker players in the country, and he only plays against the top 10 players.
Bob is one of the top 100 players in his state, and he plays against the top 200 players in the state. Bob is going to be a winning player over Ted. This is because Bob is playing against players that are not as skilled as he is, making it easier for him to make money from his opponents. Ted is playing against players as good or better than he is, so this is going to make it much harder to have profitable sessions. One of the secrets of being a winning poker player is having the ability to find the players on your table that are not as good as you. Once you’ve found those players, you will be able to take advantage of them and recognize when they are playing weak. When playing against better players, it is easy to become
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WSOP Info is your source to online poker news and information regarding the WSOP 2008. The World Series Of Poker is the largest Poker event in the world.
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