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Beginners Route Map to Poker Success

The point of it all
Poker is cool. Always has been; always will be. That’s why I started playing 12 years ago. That’s why I quit my city job to go to Vegas and play it. That’s why it still steals portions of my life. It’s fun, different, exciting, teaches you about life and yourself [...]

100/200 PLO

Over the past few days there have been some nice 100/200 PLO games running on stars. Unfortunatly they haven’t been going well for me and I lost 40k. In the actual games I am down 80k for the month, but I won alot at 25/50. I think I played pretty well. I didn’t run horribly but I really wasn’t winning to many coinflips and was put in some really tough spots.

Here I am in a really tough spot. I would have prefered to check the flop and see the action of the short stacks. I think this is an incredibly difficult hand.

http://weaktight.com/842624

I think I could have made a small raise preflop but I didn’t think Hazards would jam to many hands if I min reraised. So I full potted. Not much I can do postflop…

http://weaktight.com/842628

I decieded to play my double suited kings aggeressivly preflop. I think against this opponenet flat calling is to weak. Post flop is very standard with two backdoors.

http://weaktight.com/842633

Here my opponent is very aggressive preflop. I think I have enough fold equity/the best hand to make this shove profitable.

http://weaktight.com/842639

Overall the hands I played were tough. And when I did get it in I had alot of equity. On the other end I didn’t win one pot where I was all in of any significant size. So if a few of these hands had gone my way I would have a very nice session. One thing I can say is that once I felt myself not playing really well I quit. These are really tough games and I think I have a nice edge, but if I am tired I would be dog. So I was proud of myself to just call it and quit. I may take off a few days as I am moving or just play some 25/50 to get my head back in the game.

Check Out Brian’s Online Training Site – CardRunners

Bloggers

Nick Wealthall

Kara Scott

Matt Broughton

Brian Townsend

Nick Wright

Liv Boeree

Running hot, up over 700k online

I have started to really run hot towards the end of this month.  I have been allowed to play on stars again and I put in one session this morning.  The games were amazing.  I am really looking forward to playing there.

I have even enjoyed some success at 50/100 this past week, which feels great.  This month I am up 190k at PLO and another 10k at NLH.  As for my challenge I know have over 700k online.  I am proud of myself since September 1st I only had 100k online.  I even went through some really frustrating times at 50/100 where I lost about 300k.  If I had better results there I would be doing amazing.  I still have another 100k to go before I can start taking shots at the 200/400 games.  I am really looking forward to it though.

Here are some hands from me running good.

I played bomberman HU at 50/100.  He’s very aggressive and we get it in a coin flip situation for a 45k pot.  I think both are plays are fine, though I think his is a bit more marginal, but still okay.

http://weaktight.com/834361

Here I win a 24k pot with one pair at 25/50.  The stars games were great, but it is hands like these that I try to remember when things aren’t going my way.  There are big swings in PLO which is evident from hands like this one where I had 40% equity three ways preflop and on the flop.  There are alot of times where you will lose two or three pots like this one, and you have to be sure not to tilt.

http://weaktight.com/834363

Here it’s almost an opposite scenario.  I am up against aces yet I suck out.  I am in no way trying to say PLO is all coin flips, it’s not but when you are running at 32bb/100 over your last 3k hands like I am you are winning in these marginal spots.

http://weaktight.com/834365

I don’t really know what to say about this hand, other than my line probably isn’t the optimum one…

http://weaktight.com/834366

Free rolls are fun, but definitely a setup.

http://weaktight.com/834368

I could show a few losing hands, but there weren’t many the past few days and I like to focus on the positive.

Check Out Brian’s Online Training Site – CardRunners

Poker isn’t just for life…

No one bothered to ask me for a review of 2008, which is a shame as I’m sure it would have been hilarious. I hope, however, that we’re not so far into 2009 that I can’t still talk about one of my favourite poker moments of 2008. I’m referring to the car-crash that was the ‘celebrity’ heat of the Party Poker Women’s World Open; featuring easily one of the best acts of poker numptitude since Jennifer Tilly checked her full house to Patrik Antonius ‘just in case he had quads’ (the twat).

My initial concern was that only one of the ‘celebrities’ was arguably an actual celebrity (and even that was just Cheryl Baker; ever-humoured on English telly because she took her skirt off in 1981 and her thighs won the UK a prize). Not to worry – I thought optimistically – maybe these well-known unknowns can play poker. And then the first hand arrived. Oh dear…

Three female ‘celebrities’ (who neither I nor the dog had ever heard of) folded their cards. The button (a ‘celebrity’) called; the small blind (a ‘celebrity’) called; and the big blind (Cheryl Baker who disappointingly had trousers on and not a scrap of Velcro in sight) took a deep breath and said “stick”. No, seriously… “stick”. Press record lads; I think we might have a poker genius in our midst.

The dealer dealt the flop (which no doubt confused the life out of at least half the women at the table) and the first player announced “check”. The second player now took a moment to consider her options… What to do, what to do? Perhaps check and go for a free card… Maybe take a stab at winning the pot with a well-sized bet, or perhaps… “fold”. What? That’s right: “fold”. Oh, brilliant (I swear the dealer nearly slapped herself on the forehead in response). Meanwhile Cheryl – clearly delighted that someone had accidentally reminded her what the correct term for ‘do nothing’ was – also announced “check”.

With the turn dealt the first player dug deep and placed some chips onto the table. Cheryl sat back, looked at the dealer and – rather than embarrass herself by saying ‘bust’ or ‘Jenga’ or something similarly stupid – said simply: “er… I wanna say the fing you say when you don’t want to go on any more.” (What, like ‘please kill me’?)

“Fold?” ventured the dealer tentatively. “Yes!” exclaimed Cheryl, “that’s the one.” And thus it was that the first hand somehow came to a conclusion without anyone knocking themselves out of the tournament or dieing. My god, this was going to be one hell of a game…

Or at least it would have been had not the wife – who endures more crap TV poker than any reasonable person should have to – chosen this moment to reach out and silently remove the Sky remote from my hand. Pressing ‘backup’ she exited the show, returning to the Sky Plus menu as I looked on quizzically. She then deftly hit the ‘delete’ button, saying “it’s probably for the best”. Now I remember why I married her. Smart girl.

Apart from watching televised poker approximately 365 days of the year (rough estimate. Source: Mrs Matt) then I’m generally playing poker or thinking about it. If I’m not writing about it, then I’m probably on telly blabbing about it, and if I’m not doing any of those things, well… let’s just say there better be a bloody good reason (i.e. family death, birth, marriage, or all three simultaneously). Don’t laugh – you don’t know my family.

Even the water closet – the last sanctuary of modern man – no longer offers safe haven thanks to a magazine rack chock-full of poker magazines, a pile of thicker-than-brick poker books on the end of the bath, and a word search book by the sink (don’t’ worry; the latter belongs to the missus – the dirty bitch.)

I decided that for the good of those unlucky enough to be around me on a regular basis I should perhaps take a break from poker as we entered the Xmas season (i.e. December, not back in late-September when Sainsburys put the tinsel out). Though the idea of not being in a cash game by 10:30am each morning was slightly freaking me out I decided to just try to let poker waft from my mind for a bit. I even went as far as agreeing to visit various naff pre-Xmas bazaars and gift fayres in local halls.

And it was there, dear friends, that I discovered that there really is no escaping poker. Next post I’ll explain how I turned three innocent Xmas activities into poker games.

Remind me again Cheryl: what do you say when you don’t want to go on any more?

Blogger’s Biog’s

NICK WEALTHALL BIOGRAPHY

Nick’s mission is to bring poker to the mainstream UK audience by making it as accessible and entertaining as possible. For the last 4 years Nick has gained a reputation as one of the most informed and entertaining TV hosts in poker. As a face of Poker Night Live (winner of the gaming industry’s award for best poker show) and Sky Poker he regularly entertains and educates an audience of poker enthusiasts. He also commentates for EPT live and on a variety of poker tournaments on channel 4, 5, challenge TV and others.

Nick is a highly respected journalist and author. He writes an extremely popular column and regular strategy features for top selling magazines including Poker Player, Bluff and Flush magazine. He has interviewed most of the big names in poker including Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and countless others.

His first instructional DVD ‘Nick Wealthall on Tournaments‘ was released at the beginning of 2008.

His latest venture is ‘On the Rail’ a poker podcast which features the best guests, hand analysis and entertaining features.  The podcast is aimed at bringing exciting, accessible content to poker’s ever growing younger market and is now the most downloaded poker podcast in the UK.

Before the poker craze swept into the UK Nick already had an established media profile as one the country’s leading comedy writers. He has written for over 30 TV shows as diverse as Have I Got News For You, The Friday Night Project and the National Lottery. He has also made several TV appearances outside poker and countless live appearances in the comedy and corporate world.

Nick’s love affair with poker began over ten years ago on a holiday to Vegas. After building his skills in UK casinos and home games he ran away from his city job to join the poker circus. Nick lived and worked as poker pro in Las Vegas and England for over two years. During this time he beat some of the toughest cash games around and sat with some of the best players in the world. He stopped playing full time to pursue his career as a broadcaster but still competes regularly at a high level.

Click Here To Read Nick’s Blog

KARA SCOTT BIOGRAPHY

Kara was the host for two series of “World Series of Backgammon”, which aired on Eurosport, and was also one of the main hosts of the award winning show “Poker Night Live”. She quickly immersed herself in the poker media and previously wrote a regular column in industry magazine “Flush” as well as having articles published in “Poker Player Magazine” and her poker exploits have been documented in other poker media such as CardPlayer Magazine, Online Gambling Magazine and UK PokerNews. Kara is also one half of the duo behind UK poker podcast ‘On The Rail‘.

Kara was one of the faces of Sky Poker on Sky Television and she has been the TV Host for seasons 4 and 5 of the European Poker Tour for PokerStars. As a sponsored player for PokerStars, Kara played her first World Series of Poker event in Vegas 2008 and placed 104th in the Main Event. Other poker results include an EPT cash (also for PokerStars), Sportstar Challenge III winner and World Women’s Open final table.

Kara is also involved in the film world and was one of the stars (and the line producer) for martial arts film Sucker Punch staring Danny John-Jules.

In 2007, Scott lost a prop bet to Chris Tessaro, Host of The Hardcore Poker Radio Show, resulting in her having to do her commentary from the EPT San Remo while dressed in a bunny suit.

Click Here To Read Kara’s Blog

MATT BROUGHTON BIOGRAPHY

Matt Broughton is well known within the British Poker community for his regular appearance on Sky Poker, as well as the humorous magazine show The Club, which he presents alongside Dan Lobb.

He can often be heard commentating on Matchroom Poker productions alongside friend and broadcaster Jessie May.

In 2007 his first book (co-authored with Dave Woods) ‘How to Play and Win at Poker’ was published.

Before Sky Poker, Matt was a presenter on cult late night show: Poker Night Live.

Matt’s previous jobs include being editor of Flush Magazine, and writing for various magazines and newspapers, including: Poker Player, Cool Player, WPT, The Sportsman, etc. Prior to his involvement in the world of poker, Matt spent 15 years in the video games industry, where he held various roles, including European Marketing Director for Midway Games, and International Director of Communications for Atari.

Matt has been playing poker for over ten years. Originally an Omaha player, Matt quickly migrated over to the increasingly-popular Texas Hold’em variant and has never looked back. Leaving his day job behind, Matt went semi-pro in 2005, regularly playing live in his favourite Vegas poker rooms or across the increasingly-busy internet tables. Matt began writing for various magazines that launched as poker’s popularity grew; also joining the ever-growing ranks of poker bloggers and podcasters.

He also runs a poker events company: Poker Evenings.

He is 38, but doesn’t look it.

Click Here To Read Matt’s Blog

BRIAN TOWNSEND BIOGRAPHY

Brian Townsend is a high limit poker player who plays under the handles sbrugby and aba20. He is 27 and completed an electrical engineering degree from Universityof California-Santa Barbara before he started playing poker full time.

Brian has been playing poker professionally since September 2006. He began playing poker in August 2005. Initially playing .25/.50 limit holdem, Brian quickly moved up the limit ranks to the larger limit games before switching to no limit in the beginning of 2006. From there, he moved up from the smallest no limit games to the largest no limit games in the world in under a year. He can now be found playing 200/400 no limit holdem and pot limit Omaha on any major site.

Although Brian is not a big tournament player, he has one final table in a World Series of Poker circuit event in New Orleans. He was on GSN’s High Stakes Poker show playing with some of the worlds best.

Click Here To Read Brian’s Blog

NICK WRIGHT BIOGRAPHY

Like most twenty-something’s Nick Wright’s first taste of poker was watching Late Night Poker. However, unlike the rest of his poker peers he didn’t immediately rush off to the nearest cardroom to play Hold’em. Instead he bluffed his way into the poker industry nearly four years ago figuring he’d stay for an orbit or two, but he now has no intention of giving his seat.

In the past four years he’s worked for Bluff, Official World Poker Tour Magazine, written for InsidePoker, produced video content for the Party Poker Academy and is currently Strategy Editor on the UK’s biggest selling poker magazine PokerPlayer.

Click Here To Read Nick’s Blog

LIV BOEREE BIOGRAPHY

Olivia “Liv” Boeree is a TV presenter, model and poker player in the United Kingdom. Born in Kent in 1984, Liv studied physics with astrophysics at the University of Manchester before moving to London. She was introduced to the poker industry when she was selected as one of five contestants in the reality TV show “Ultimatepoker.com Showdown”, which aired on Five in autumn 2005. During the show she was coached by top professional players Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke and Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott.

After the show, Liv began playing poker as a serious activity, and in 2006 she became the TV presenter and journalist for Gutshot TV at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Shortly after, she became the host of Challenge TV’s on-line coverage of the European Poker Tour, and also appeared as a reporter at the World Series of Poker Europe on WorldSeriesofPoker.com. Liv writes a regular column in industry magazine “Bluff Europe” and has had front cover features in “Gambling Online”, “World Poker Tour” and “Online Gambler” magazines.

In May 2008 Liv won the 2008 Ladbrokes European Ladies Championships worth $30,000.

Liv cashed in two events at the 2008 World Series of Poker: Event 38 $2000 Pot Limit Holdem, finishing 49th for $ 4,074 and Event 41 $1500 Mixed Limit Holdem, finishing 64th for $ 2,793. She also finished 49th at the 2008 Aruba Classic for $5,500. As of April 2009 her total live tournament winnings exceed $161,000.

Click Here To Read Liv’s Blog

MARK STUART BIOGRAPHY

Mark ‘Shafty’ Stuart has been involved in publishing since graduating from Cardiff University in 2000 and is currently managing editor on the UK’s biggest selling poker magazine, PokerPlayer. In the four years working for the title he has developed a deep passion for the game and puts in almost as many hours a week online as he does at his desk in the office.

Specialising mostly in no-limit Hold’em tournaments his poker highlights include winning a $55 tourney on PokerStars in December 2006 for nearly $10k, and coming ninth for £6,000 at the 2007 GCBPT Grand Final, which featured a final table including Neil Channing, Barny Boatman, Roland de Wolfe and Joe Beevers.

His poker goals include making more money at poker than he does at his job and taking down major online and live poker tournaments. He’ll be sure to let you know when that happens…

Click Here To Read Mark’s Blog

Maria hails from a family of poker players including her uncle, former Late Night Poker & Aussie Millions Champion Peter Costa. She played her first poker tournament over 10 years ago, after being taught to play by her father who insisted that you can tell a person’s character by the way they played cards.

Her first poker buddies were Tony Kendall & Julian Thew, who travelled the medium stakes tournament scene together in the UK until William Hill & stardom beckoned for Julian and an illustrious TV career for Tony. So Maria bought a Fish and Chip shop with her brother and worked solidly for 2 years and sold at a profit to gain her first bank roll.

She has been playing live poker and to a lesser degree online poker tournaments professionally since 2006 and regularly frequents the cardrooms of the Midlands. Maria is lucky to have Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham as her local poker club and made the locals proud by winning the Nottingham leg of the Sky Poker Tour earlier in 2009 on home turf.

Maria has had great success in TV 6 handed fast paced events where out of 3 heats in the Women’s World Open, won her heat twice to final on both occasions collecting a total of $22,000. She also was invited to play in 2008’s legendary Late Night Poker where after coming second in a tough heat went on to gain her seat in the final by winning the Semi-Final and beating the likes of professionals Simon Trumper, Marc Goodwin, Praz Bansi & then Marcel Luske heads up.

Her biggest win though comes in the form of the £1,000 London GUKPT in March 08, where 5th place out of 424 entries earned her £26,500, taking her tournament earnings thus far well over $150,000.

Maria currently works part-time for poker club Dusk Till Dawn with the office poker team as even poker player’s need supplementing sometimes!

Click Here To Read Maria’s Blog

Poker Room Reviews

Choosing an online poker room can be a confusing experience – one size doesn’t fit all. You need to consider your stakes, favoured game, level of skill (both yours and your likely opponents) , bonus or rewards programs etc etc. The great news is there are hundreds of rooms out there all desperate for your action. The bad news is how to do you choose one? Well, hopefully my reviews of the best rooms around will save you time and give you the best shot at making money.

Over the years, I’ve seen rooms come and rooms go. I’ve only reviewed rooms I play at regularly and together, they cover the needs of a broad range of players. I’d recommend them all, depending on your particular requirements.

Below is a short summary of the pros and cons of each. Click on the relevant icons to see my detailed review of each room and find out if it might be right for you.

Big incentives for lower stakes players, limited competition, live festivals!

Limited tracking software support, lacks traffic at middle to upper levels

Play on live TV, great community, good for lower limit & casual players

Difficult to multi-table, lacks action at higher limits

Huge variety of games, industry leading software, tourney central

Stiff competition, no rake back (rewards scheme instead)

Range of games & promotions, speedy software, soft money!

Multi-tabling not the easiest, no rake back (loyalty scheme instead)

Harrington on Holdem: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments Review

What is it?
This is actually a series of 3 quite weighty books looking at No limit tournaments. The first volume looks at playing fundamentals and the beginning and middle of tournaments. The second volume covers the end of tournaments where the money is won. The third volume is a workbook with tens of hands [...]

Podcast Directory

On The Rail Podcast Directory

On The Rail is the UK’s number one poker podcast. Hosted by Nick Wealthall and pokerstars.com Ept hostess Kara Scott each show is packed full of strategy, laughs and the best guests in poker.

Below is a complete lists of shows released to date. If you’re interested in exclusive early access to new shows, please click here for more details.

On The Rail

• On The Rail #31
• On The Rail #30
• On The Rail #29
• On The Rail #28
• On The Rail #27
• On The Rail #26
• On The Rail #25
• On The Rail #24
• On The Rail #23
• On The Rail #22
• On The Rail #21
• On The Rail #20
• On The Rail #19
• On The Rail #18
• On The Rail #17
• On The Rail #16
• On The Rail #15
• On The Rail #14
• On The Rail #13
• On The Rail #12
• On The Rail #11
• On The Rail #10
• On The Rail #9
• On The Rail #8
• On The Rail #7
• On The Rail #6
• On The Rail #5
• On The Rail #4
• On The Rail #3
• On The Rail #2
• On The Rail #1

Rich and Nick Podcast Directory

In Nick’s words:

Once a poker TV channel put Rich and Nick together on a poker TV show. It was an unmitigated disaster.

Not for the viewer – obviously – for them, it was a 3-hour festival of jokes, humour and pure television gold. However, the people in charge of the channel disagreed. So much so that they called Nick to tell him not to tit about on screen in the future.

Of course these attempts by ‘the man’ to intervene could not stop the media juggernaught that had been unleashed. This coupled with their desire to vent their spleens about stuff on a regular basis gave birth to the nugget of MP3 magic, downloadable at your convenience, that is The Rich and Nick Podcast.

They promise to try and make the podcast funny and entertaining and not to sound too similar or too much like grumpy old men 20 years before their time.

In Rich’s words:

This was Nick’s idea, so thank/blame him (delete as applicable). There I was, minding my own business when suddenly he came into my life and turned it upside down. That is to say, he approached me about doing a podcast together.

Did I say yes? Or did I say no? Well, I’ve given you enough clues , the rest is up to you…

• Rich and Nick Podcast - Show 6
• Rich and Nick Podcast - Show 5
• Rich and Nick Podcast - Show 4
• Rich and Nick Podcast - Show 3
• Rich and Nick Podcast - Show 2
• Rich and Nick Podcast - Show 1

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