What is String Betting at pockerstars.com and Why is it Illegal?
Posted on July 24, 2008
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When a player takes off some of their stack and places it in the middle only to go back and reach for more chips to place in the middle as part of the same bet, this is a string bet at pockerstars.com.
In the situation of a player declaring the size of the raise before they bet in such a way, this would not be a problem because verbal bets are binding at pockerstars.
But string betting your chips without declaring the size of your bet first, is not allowed in online poker games. There is a simple reason for this too. Poker has always partly been about reading a persons reactions.
When you place a bet into the pot, it is important that you do not get the chance to read your opponents reaction to your first lot of chips going into the middle, before altering your decision to reach for more.
A bet has to be declared or signified by placing the correct amount in the middle in one movement or clear vocal announcement.
This means that everyone who makes a decision to bet a certain amount, has no chance to change their decision once they have put the chips into the pot. Any confusion in this type of situation could be very costly for a pocker player.
They might see their opponent placing 10,000 in chips into a pot at pockerstars.net and announce ‘call’ only to see the other player reaching back for his other 90,000 he wanted to put in with it, for instance.
For this reason it is integral to the game that bets are made in one continuous action, and that players are always clear about the size of the raise before they react to it.
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2-7 Triple Draw at 888 pacific pocker
Posted on July 14, 2008
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2-7 is a rather curious game at 888 pacific pocker, perhaps the result of looking down at the worst possible cards for a lengthy period of time whilst playing a usual variant of poker.
The aim of course is to make the lowest possible group of five unpaired cards. Each player is dealt five cards at pacificpocker.com and has the option to swap as many as they like on three occassions in each hand, with betting rounds in between.
Generally I like to have four cards 8 or lower to play a hand at 888pocker, but it is not always possible to wait for hands such as this to come around. Often three good low cards will have to suffice as long as it is not being made too expensive for you to play.
As with five card draw, the amount of cards your opponent is swapping give a strong indication of how strong their pocker hand is, so be very mindful of players swapping one or standing pat on the first round of draws. If this does happen and you are faced with a raise, then it is really a case of considering what your chances are of making your hand, as well as what the bet is to call, and the amount of players yet to act.
Once these things are factored into your considerations of the size of the bet you face at online poker, it is really a case of using your best judgement to come to a decision. 2-7 can be infuriating as a game, but the only sure way you can gain a long term advantage over your opponents I feel, is to know your pot odds and outs, and make carefully considered decisons. If you do this without fail, then you should be able to have some success over the long haul, especially as many players you will find online aren’t too experienced.
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Playing at partypocker
Posted on July 9, 2008
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Before you start to play for real money at partypocker you can learn how to play the games for free and when you think you know how to play then you can start playing for real money.
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There are fees charged for playing the games on this site, to play in the tournament games the fees can be anything from 0% - 15% of the buy in amount.
The tournaments that are played at www.partypocker.com are sit & go table, Multi-table, Shootouts and Time-based, these tournaments are played 24/7 and are played on a first come first served basis.
The Sit & Go pocker games will start as soon as the rquired number of players join the game and the seats are given on a first come first served basis, Multi-table sit & go start as soon as the required number of players join the game and all players will be seated randomly, Multi-table games are played at set times and players will be randomly seated.
In Multi-table tournaments there are certain online poker games where late comers will be considered to join into a game that has already started as long as the first level of the game is not completed and one player is eliminated from the tournament.
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Partypocker WSOP Update
Posted on June 29, 2008
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Event 26 saw Barry Greenstein continue what has been an excellent World Series thus far by winning the $1,500 Razz Event.
Barry picked up his 3rd World Series bracelet and $157,619 in prize money after defeating Chris Klodnicki heads up at the end. If you want to play like these guys, try www.partypocker.com.
Event 27 was the $1,500 No Limit Holdem event and saw 2706 players battle it out for the bracelet and $628,417 for first place. After 3 long days of play it was Vitaly Lunkin who was victorious after a heads up battle with Brett Kimes in which his (A,J) held up against Kimes (10,8).
Event 28 was the $5,000 Omaha Event and saw a Pro pocker heavy field yielding a star studded final table with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, John Juanda and other pros all going for the bracelet.
Despite this it was amazingly a relatively unknown partypocker.com internet player called Phil Galfond took the bracelet in a lengthy heads up duel with Adam Hourani. Galfond takes home the bracelet and $817,781 for first place.
Event 29 was the $3,000 NO Limit Holdem Event and saw 716 players battle it out for supremacy. It was John Phan who eventually outlasted the field, defeating Johnny Neckar at the last to claim his first ever World Series bracelet. Only David Singer was at the final table out of the professionals, and came in at a respectable 5th place.
Event 30 saw Full Tilt sponsored pro Rob Hollink take the victory in the $10,000 Limit Holdem Event after a lengthy duel with Jerrod Ankeman. Hollink outlasted 218 players over 3 days to triumph. He takes home $496,931 and his first ever WSOP bracelet.
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Pockerstars.com Flip Hands
Posted on June 22, 2008
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Pockerstars.com is a great place to try out various online pocker theories and strategies. Like the one below on coin flip hands. Give it a shot today!
When people talk about coin flip hands, what they mean are hands such as (9,9) against (A,Q) or any hand in which your odds of winning are close to 50% Two overcards against a pair are the obvious ones which often come up, and I managed to survive two such hands in a pockerstars.net tournament I played in tonight. I felt it was quite possible that I would be involved in this type of hand even before I made the call, but on both occassions I was against a shorter stack so I would still have chips to fight back with if things didn’t go my way, also I may have been overestimating their hands, as being shortstacked they might have been prepared to gamble with a slightly weaker hand too.
Firstly I had (J,J) hold up against (Ac,Kc) and later on against a fairly small stack (2,2) against (Ad,Kd). I was lucky to win both these hands and went on to eventually finish 14th out of a field of 588 players, but I would not have been willing to take this kind of risk if there were players yet to act who might have made it a three way pot, or indeed if my pockerstars.com opponents had enough chips to end my tournament. The importance of these types of hands is partly that they usually yield quite good pots if you win them, but be careful in how you choose to make your stands, If you can expect this to possibly be the situation you are in once you turn the cards over, try to only involve yourself if you heavily outchip your opponent or if you have a large portion of your pockerstars chips in the pot already. This isn’t always possible I know, the important thing as a player though, is that if you find yourself in this position and win, try and use this luck well, and go far into a pockerstars.net tournament, because next time you might not be so lucky.
Pocker H.O.R.S.E. Tournaments
Posted on May 9, 2008
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As the online pocker industry grows, so do the types of tournaments and pocker games on offer.
Players tastes are constantly changing and the need for fulltiltpocker rooms to offer exciting games is more apparent now that ever. H.O.R.S.E. tournaments are amongst the latest hot offers to sweep the pocker world by storm, with the number available in online pocker listings more than doubling over the past six months.
The overwhelming love of H.O.R.S.E. tournaments the world over, is due to the adaptability, demand for attention and skills which they call for! H.O.R.S.E. isn’t just a catchy name, but an acronym representing the scaffold of the tournaments themselves. Players in these tournaments are kept alert and enthralled as each hand during the tournament takes on a different variation of pocker.
H, which stands for Hold’em (Texas Hold’em to be exact), is usually the first hand played in the game. O, representing Omaha quickly follows – messing up new players as they quickly switch their pocker brains over to this very different pocker variation. The other games included in these tournaments are Razz pocker (R), Seven Card Stud (S) and Seven Card Stud Eight or better (E). A variation from the ‘change per hand’ structure is in games where the fulltilt pocker style changes every time the blinds increase.
Many online pocker rooms only offer one or the other (although some do offer both) so be sure to read up on the time intervals before sitting down the play. If you’re starting out make sure you do two things; read up on all the rules and always (always) play your strong hand.
Make sure you understand the rules to each fulltiltpocker game thoroughly, even if it means sticking a note to your screen, and play the most fiercely at games your most practiced at.
If you want to get ahead quick in this tournament arena, learn up on Razz or Seven Card Stud, that way you’re sure to have the upper hand against those www.fulltiltpocker.com players out there relying on their skills at Texas Hold’em and Omaha tables.
Old Movies Featuring Pocker
Posted on April 27, 2008
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When looking at the older, pocker based movies, ‘The Cincinnati Kid’ is a very notable one which embodies much of the understandings of pocker in it’s day.
Included in the film are some famous lines, such as ‘that’s what it’s all about, doing the wrong thing at the right time’ although in reality, doing the right thing at the right time is a more accurate portrayal of the object of 888 pacific pocker. Dating back further still, are films such as ‘The Gambler’ and ‘Three Godfathers’ all including pocker playing with a rather dated interpretation of the game, and with somewhat unrealistic pocker play, but these films can still provide some entertainment of course, to those that enjoy the older movies. Sites like 888 pacific pocker are the best sites to try your pocker skills learned in these classic pocker movies.
As far as pocker movies from a later era go, ‘The Sting’ from 1973 is a well known and popular one with the storyline hingeing on men who are ultimately trying to out cheat each other on a train during a game of pocker, and is certainly an enjoyable film for it’s time too.
One theme which is always recurring in these older movies I find, is the attitudes towards pocker in those days being very visible, with shady characters and criminals always drinking, and cheating each other out of money. As such it is debateable as to whether many of these older pocker movies really do anything for the game itself, mostly I feel that, although they can be very enjoyable to watch, they serve as a constant reminder of how far pocker, and the average persons opinion of the game have moved on from several decades ago.
As the times and opinions change towards pocker, of course the often do too, and I personally have heard rumours of a much more up to date pocker based film being made at the moment, and with the recent surge of interest in the game it seems very possible indeed.
I shall definitely be keeping an eye out for it, if and when it is released, and with any luck it can throw off the old cliches of pocker and be a real hit.
Until then, head on over to 888 pacific pocker and brush up on your pocker skills so that you can appreciate these great movies!
Pockerstars and the WSOP
Posted on April 25, 2008
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Each year some of the finest pocker players around can be seen competing at the WSOP, amongst these are professionals who have been sponsored by pockerstars, and also a number of players who have gained access to the tournament through satellites onsite. Sign Up Today at pockerstars and you never know, we may profile you next!
Through sites such as pockerstars online pocker players have the chance to compete on pockers biggest stage and some of these online qualifiers have been extremely successful too, Chris Moneymaker, for instance, having been an internet qualifier for the tournament, went on to win the main event and is now part of the pockerstars sponsored team of influential professionals.
Other illustrious names that can be found both at the WSOP and playing on pockerstars site are, Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Tuan Lam amongst others. With such a list of professionals adorned with the ‘pockerstars’ logo, the amount of new players that take the time to check out the site must be numerous, especially given that these sponsored players often make it far into the WSOP and consequently see their fair share of cameras giving coverage on the event.
As the site grows further over the coming years as I am sure it will, expect to see more internet qualifying players and players sponsored by pockerstars getting deep into major tournaments, both at the WSOP and all across the globe.
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Partypocker Player Profile - Phil Hellmuth jr
Posted on April 24, 2008
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Phil Hellmuth jr A.K.A ‘The pocker Brat’ gained his nickname from his occassional fiery outbursts at the pocker tables, particularly when lady luck decides to be less than pleasant towards him.
You could be just like Phil and play in the WSOP poker by practicing your skils at partypocker.
He is however, widely regarded as one of the greatest pocker players on the planet and once famously quipped ‘if there was no luck involved in pocker, I’d win every time’ and with his unrivalled total of 11 World Series bracelets, it would be difficult to argue against this claim.
Phil was born on July 16th 1964 in Wisconsin and began his pocker playing in college, gradually building up enough money to pay off his tuition fees. It wasn’t long though before Phil moved onto the bigger stage and eventually won the WSOP main event in 1989 at the young age of 24, he continues to play at, and be extremely successful in the WSOP.www.partypocker.com
He has an estimated career earnings total of over $9 million and has had several books on pocker published which hold a wealth of wisdom for both amateurs and seasoned professionals alike.
With this years World Series just around the corner he will no doubt be preparing for his attempt to extend his lead over Doyle Brunson (10) and Johnny Chan (10) in the WSOP bracelet count.
With a glittering pocker career thus far and one of the best all round games out there, who would bet against him moving further ahead of the two pocker legends hot on his heels at this years World Series.
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Pockerstars.com Player Profile - 2007 WSOP Finalist Tuan Lam
Posted on April 22, 2008
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Tuan Lam was born on the 1st of January 1966 in Vietnam and after emigrating to canada aged 19 he took on labouring jobs earn his living, but after being laid off from his job in a metal working company, he then had little choice but to take on a job as a card dealer he was offered at a small local game, and immediately began to gain an interest in the game of pocker.
As his pocker game developed he started to set his sights higher and began to look to the World Series as the place to truly test himself. Some successes followed at the WSOP in 2005 and 2006 with cash finishes, his achievment in 2007 however, was a huge step up from anything he had achieved before, especially as he regards himself as primarily a pockerstars.com cash game specialist.
His finish of 2nd place in 2007 earned him over $4.5 million and a great amount respect on the pocker circuit, he has also since become a member of pockerstars.com distinguished team of professional players and plays on their site, mainly in limit cash games.
With his commitments to pockerstars taking him to an increasing number of tournaments as well as his usual, and favoured cash games, he may well be a name to look out for at this years main event too.
Having had such an excellent tournament last year, I am sure many of the top names, and indeed any other player, will be wary of him if they find themselves seated at his pockerstars.com table.


